SHEMITIC CIVILIZATION. 129 



to be the peculiar inheritance of the Ger- 

 manic and Celtic races. The tender, deep, 

 melancholy emotions, those dreams of the 

 infinite in which all the powers of the soul 

 are mingled, that great consciousness of 

 duty, which alone gives a solid basis to 

 our faith and our hopes, are the work of 

 our race and our climate. Here, then, the 

 labour is mingled. The moral education of 

 mankind is not the exclusive merit of any 

 race. The reason of this is perfectly simple. 

 Morality does not teach more than Poetry ; 

 beautiful aphorisms do not make an honest 

 man. Everyone finds good in the loftiness 

 of his nature, and in the immediate revela- 

 tion of his own heart. 



As regards industry, invention, material 

 civilization, we owe, beyond contradiction, 

 much to the Shemitic nations. Our race, 

 gentlemen, did not begin with a taste for 

 comfort and for business. It was a moral, 

 brave, and warlike race, jealous of liberty 

 and honour, loving Nature, capable of self- 

 devotion, preferring many things to life. 



6* 



