Akt. III.—1. Researches into the Physical History of Mankind. By James Cowles Pichard, M. D. London. 1841.

2. The Moral and Intellectual Diversity of Races. By Count A. De Gobineau. From the French, with an Analytical Introduction and copious historical notes, by H. Hotz. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co. 1856.

The use of the expression ' Latin Races' has often been objected to as the invention of Louis Napoleon; but the writer of the Life of C,emr no doubt knew quite as well as his critics, that the countries of the Spanish tongue belong by no means to one nationality, and that the aboriginal Indian element plays there a no less important role than the numerous mongrel types. But whether it is really one of the famous idecs Napoliinnes or not, we hold the expression to be perfectly legitimate;. for the Latin element alone,—however small it may now be in those lands, however little it may be understood to modifv the aborigines of the country,—it still represents there the superior culture and intelligence, and has stamped such an uniformity upon all, that those who study the political institutions of any of the Spanish Republics, will find, with few exceptions, in each of them, the same events, the same tendencies, and the same train of ideas. In brief, if we desired to find a general characteristic, there would be no alternative but to elect between the Indian and the Latin raGes; the latter of whom, however, occupies a decidedly higher rank than the former, and supplies even at the present day, in spite of its moral deterioration, most of the leading thoughts arid measures.

But before we undertake to present a connected, though concise, outline of the events which have taken place in the Spanish American States during the last years, it behooves us to point out the causes which have led to the decay of regions SO' lavishly endowed by nature. The description of the events

which follow will thus be more readily understood, and furnish
an illustration to the statements which precede them. This
arrangement will also enable every intelligent reader to draw
his own inferences.
How much nations depend, often unconsciously, in their
views, rights, mental and physical modes of life, on the light
and the air, on the soil and the vegetable kingdom, on t.he cli-
matical as well as the geognical conditions of their home, has
been admirably shown by Buckle in his History of Oifviliza-
tion in England. But it is not these external influences alone,
which exert an irresistible influence on men and peoples: the
relations of race, especially the admixture of blood, which en-
tails a peculiar disposition and capacity on men, are factors no‘
less important in the life of nations. If today we no longer
content ourselves with fragmental histories, but seek to pierce
the mysterious darkness of causes and their often slowly ripen-
ing effects; if we desire to trace the invisible threads of the
human emotions to their converging point, and finally extract
from the stu,dy of history those philosophic conclusions which
enable us to judge intelligently of present events ;-then we
must decompose, etlmologically, the several political bodies into
their various ethnical parts, and ascertain how far they attract
or repel each other, how far their alternating influences effect
their social and political developement.
' \Vithout special reference to America, it may be boldly as-
serted that, as the science of political economy has, in spite of
its comparative youth, forced its way into the front rank of the
studies indispensable to the statesman,-because without it a
correct understanding of liberty is no more possible than the
existence of good government without a proper understanding
ot a people’s wants,-so ethnology will shortly occupy a similar
rank, since it in many respects, not only supplements the po-
litico-economical conditions, but furnishes the basis for them.
Ethnology is therefore a political science; and, claiming this
distinction in its behalf, we only express what every reflecting
statesman must long have seen and felt. Nor is there any
special necessity to go to America to learn this lesson. The
admixture .of various races and nationalties, frequently under

the same political system, has made ethnology an equally indispensable study in Europe. ' The lessons taught by ethnology,-as far as they can be considered settled,-taken in connection with those of history, are however so incisive, cruel, and destructive, that the humanitarians by profession, the numerous genial philanthropists, the men of principle, the ideal dreamers, and all those who affect fine sounding phrases and big words, will probably long repudiate their irrefutable truths, and endeavor to explain them away. But neither they, nor the political parties whose leaders have adopted the equality of race as their battle-cry, can expect to succeed therein. High above sects and parties soar the iron, unchangeable laws of nature, the existence of which can be as little discredited by the denials of the benighted, as the silvery light of the moon is aflected by the barking of a dog. Only by consulting etlmology and its laws, can history really become the teacher of mankind. To-day, when the natural philosophical vie\v of the world gains ground more and more, when the metaphysical fits less and less into the frame of our knowledge, when science is stripped more and more of the supernatural, and 'when the products of investigation in the most diverse fields combine toiexplain and solve in a natural manner the problems of the physical and intellectual life of individuals and nations,-the manifestations of the macrocosm of the brain’s activity,-to-day, we repeat, it is time to meet the negative lessons of history with the same accurate knowledge as the positive ones. History preserves equally the sad story of human errors in what it discloses, as in what it passes over in silence. Wliat is done and what is left undone, must both be taken into account, if history is to be the teacher of mankind. An idea is not to be regarded as objectionable and useless, merely because it has remained partly unexecuted, or has partly miscarried in execution; as little should an idea pass for true, merely because it has happened to be successful. In history, repeated efforts, at ditferent times, have more than once effected what had miscarried at Hrst. When Galileo was compelled to recant his theory of the solar system, the priest-ridden world thought it perfectly right; and the powerful, arbitrary, yet often mistaken, public

opinion of our own day is also found at times arrayed in bitter opposition to the greatest truths of the age.

In America also lies buried a piece of human error. Here also some of the most enlightened and progressive minds have been strangely blind to laws which they should have respected, and all the more because it was out of their power to change them. In the political organization of Latin America not the slightest attention was paid to the ethnological requirements, to the diverse, complicated relations of race, and a state of things was thus brought about which will not soon, if ever, be replaced by a better. The ethnological laws, which were chiefly ignored, may be summed up in a few words; and as the ethnologist has long since ceased to question their correctness, we state them witljout further explanation and proof, as follows: Man is no cosmopolite; like the plant and the animal, each species of the human family is restricted to certain localities, beyond the limits of which it can only be acclimatized and thrive under the same physical conditions as those to which it had been previously accustomed. Like the plant, man suffers, however, even then, many physical and moral changes, that lead him to differ materially from the parent stock. Transplanted to localities varying in their more essential characteristics from the place of his nativity, he perishes, though he may, according to circumstances, languish on for a longer or shorter period in a state of moral deterioration. The Darwinian struggle for existence, and all its consequences, find the fullest application in ethnology. The inequality of the human races is indisputable. The pseudo-philanthropist and visionary may insist upon the equality of the lower and the higher races of man, and place them on the same level; but these experiments have everywhere resulted in misery, bloodshed, and strife. Here and there trifling modifications have occurred in the course of centuries; but, as a whole, the characters of cultivated and barbarous peoples still remain at this day precisely what they were thousands of years ago. The extent of such changes as have been noted is immaterial, and has never yet sufficed to raise an inferior race permanently into a higher category. It is therefore a grave mistake to believe that it will ever be possible to educate a lower race beyond a certain stage; for nature herself has denied to it, not only the physical structure, but the mental capacity, therefor. Under equally favorable climatical and local conditions, the superior race unfailingly supersedes the inferior; for the contact with the culture of the former is deadly poison to the latter. All the efforts made to render an inferior race accessible for the reception of a higher culture only serve to accelerate its doom. An admixture of two unequal races is therefore a cancer, an unpardonable sin against mankind and against nature, which has launched an ever flaming curse on all such connections; inasmuch as she lets the mongrels invariably inherit all the vices and evil traits of both races, and rarely, or never, any of the good. Nature absolutely disallows the adulteration of blood; and herein she shows herself to be an aristocrat of the purest water. Every violation of these laws she visits in the most condign and pitiless manner.

Let us now examine how the Latin races have acted in reference to this natural code; and endeavor to place, even though only in a superficial maimer, the history of their more recent past upon this scientific foundation.

Owing to the abortive attempt lately made to redeem there the Latin element, Mexico has unquestionably excited, in modern times, the greatest interest among all the Spanish American States. The eventful episode of the Maximilian empire is, perhaps, too recent and familiar to require here a detailed recapitulation. At the same time we must occupy our attention with the country itself; because the number of its population alone constitutes it the leading representative of the Latin races on this Continent. Mexico is a large, powerful empire, favored by nature like no other in America; but to what account have its people thus far turned these superior advantages? The answer which every foreigner acquainted with the land will return is—positively none; the Mexicans have not even utilized the thousandth part of the blessings which Providence has so prodigally showered upon them. The emperor Maximilian might have turned the resources of the country to some account. He certainly possessed the necessary intellectual qualifications, and the disposition to use them for the public good; but even