NOT NORDIC.

Hokitika Guardian, 28 February 1925, Page 4

NOT NORDIC.

RACIAL REALITIES. Rv Dean Inge, in the “-Morning Dost.”) Not long before the war, the renegade Englishman, Houston Chamberlain, developed for the edification of the Kaiser and his subjects a theory that nearly till great men of history, including the Founder of Christianity, belonged to the Nordic race, a breed ol supermen represented hy the Germans and Scandinavians and. with some dilution, hy the English. Anyone who knows the physical churn cteistics ol the three strains which make up the population of Europe can see tor himself that the Germans are not Nordics, hut a mixed race, in which the stocky, round-head-ed Alpine breed predominates. The purest Nordics are to he found in Sweden ; next to the Swedes in racial purity come the Norwegians, Danes, Dutch, and English. Elsewhere the Nordics are an artisocratic type, differing markedly from the masses, especially in the towns. Has the Nordic race the superiority which has been claimed lor ill' And are racial differences, apart Iron) iiauoiudity. a ivory important Inctor in European history!' Race and nationality are quite different things. The only definition of a nation is a large group of people who yvisli to belong together. The French, for example. are intensely national, but racially they belong to three different stocks. A REMARK ARI.E ROOK. .Mr Lothrop Stoddard, who is well known as a prophet ol racialism in the interpretation of history, has lately put his theory to the lest hy visiting almost every country in Europe, and Inis given his experiences to the world in a brilliant and extremely interesting I.100I; called ■■Racial Realities in Europe.” It is. of course, a defence ol a particular theory, which mav he only one ol several keys for unlocking the mysteries of national life; hut I cannot doubt that the author has opened out a very fruitful line of study, and that the philosophy ol history will in the future have to pay more attention to the factor of race than it lias done hitherto.

The main facts of race distribution are well known, and there is no longer any serious difference of opinion among experts. Europe contains two long-headed races, the Nordics and the .Mediterraneans. and the one round-headed race the Alpines. The Nordic i- tall and lair; the .Mediterranean shorter and more slenderly built: bis hair and eyes are dark. Ids skill olive, or swarthy. The Alpine is broad and sturdy. clumsily made, and usually dark. The Swedes. Spaniards. and Russians supply typical examples of these three types; though we must not select an Aristocratic; Russian, who may be a pure Nordic, nor Ihe Mongolised type. which is verv common, as an impolite proverb about scratching a Russian and finding a Tartar indicates. MINI) AND TEMPER AM EXT. Eilferenees of mind and temperament are as well marked as variations in height, figure and colour. The .Mediterranean is emotional, passionate, wanting in tenacity. He is sociable. Lilt undisciplined, and rarely loiiuds a stable or strong government except under Nordic leadership. He excels in the art-, and in the joy ol living. From various causes, the .Mediterranean- of to-day are racially impoverished. and are somet imse. as in I’orlugal and South Ireland, of very poor quality. The Alpine- are typical peasants, sturdy, tenacious, stolid, and unimaginative. They are not warlike, and luive a gill lor peaceful penetration, soaking in among Mediterranean pop and .11p pI a 11111 e ■ ll.eiu, T lie Nordic- bale comptcrcd them. but have graduallv Keen absorbed by their dogged subjects. In Germany. the Alpines have spread at the expense of tl-.e Nordics, ill France at the expense ol tlm Medi terra lieu ns. Roth eounl l ies are , now predominantly round-headed. The ruling class in an Alpine population is seldom ol the same breed as the ruled. THE NOR DIES. The Nordics are essentially a northern race. i'liey are distinguished by a restless creative energy, which carried them far in the south and east of their hollies. The Aryan conquerors of India. Homer's Aeliaeans, the ruling class in ancient Rome, the Eranks and the Normans, were all Nordics. To-day their chief hope ol racial predominance lies in the Enited States and in the British Domiiiieii-. The Americans have resolved, just in time, that they will not allow themselves to lie swamped In- alien immigrants. The Nordic has political ability, and is too sensitive of Ids personal rights to tolerate tyranny. Towards other races lie is proud and exclusive: he will not willingly mix his blond with theirs. lie loves good li' iug. and is tlierelure a high-stalidald man—a doubtful advantage for his survival value. 'Hu* Nordic is also penalised hy Ids lighting qualities. In every war he is Tile first, to volunteer and the first lo tall. Every great win Ini- diminished the Nordic stock. Peihap.- the three most disastrous struggles, from Ibis point of view, were the Thirty Years War, the American Civil War, and the recent Great War.

It is probable that the hatred of the privileged class, which has several times led to violent revolutions, has a racial origin. One of the cries against the aristocrats in the French Revolution was "Send them back lo t..e German marshes whence they cam And nothing delighted the small, dark mob who gathered round the gullotine more than when the exeoutinner held up the head ol a lady bv her long blond hair. In Russia the aristocracy which has been massacred bv the Bolsheviks was largely of Nordic origin, and the same is true ol Ireland. It lias been proved that almost every distinguished Irishman is of English or Scottish descent. KINDRED BRITAIN.

Mr Stoddard’s theory makes him a wood friend to this country. He considers that we are a very homogeneous nation, since the Alpine roundheads are not represented in our population. This is the more envious, because there was once a round-headed race in Britain. who buried their dead in round harrows: but they seem to have died out after leaving (according to one theory) the so-called Celtic languagt behind them. The British, before the English conquest. ho regards as pure Mediterraneans. who made their way far north „f their usual limit, tempted by tlm mildness of our climate. To me. | ever, it seems improbable that these Mediterranean invaders mingled with an early Neolithic stock, of which nothing is known. The island was inhabited before the coming of the Mediterraneans; and the non-Nordic pa.ts of the population, such as the Welsh, are surely different from the t mi-

Southerners, .sturdier in build, and unlike in feature. The Nordic invaders, including the Normans, were till of kindred race, and fused readdv with each other. I entirely agree with his unstinted admiration of the three Scand'iiuv an nations. He notices the far-seeing wisdom which prevented the Swedes Lout declaring war upon ascending Norway, a war which would have left both tit the mercy of Russia; the moderation of the Danes in claiming only the purely Danish part of Schleswig-Hol-stein, and their good-natured concession of autonomy to the 90,00!) inhabitants of Iceland ; and, lastly the prudent statesmanship of the Swedes ic not taking the purely Swedish Alan Islands from Finland. They knew that a friendly Einfaml might lie very useful to them in the future. nfjyi acaigswasiißs^