THE STUPIDER RACE.
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—Mr. M. H. Mahony informs us in the Spectator of May 14th that "in a collision between two tongues that of the stupider race always prevails." No one will assert that the language of greater literary merit always prevails; but Mr. Mahony's general affirmation is as much as to say that the "Latin races " owe their bond of language to the Romans having been a stupid people as compared with Gauls, Iberians, and Dacians. On the other hand, as Latin never prevailed in Britain, it would seem that the Celts of Britain were stupider than the Romans, and therefore much below the Celts of Gaul. The Greeks must have been exceedingly stupid when every educated man in the Roman Empire had to learn Greek. The Basques, again, must be the stupidest people of all, whatever Pierre Loti and other modern writers may have to say to the contrary. For the same reason, the Arabs in the great age of Mahommedan conquests must have been very stupid people indeed, and so must the Sanskrit-speaking conquerors of Hindostan. It might be pleasant for the " Latin races " to take the fact that they all had to learn Latin as conclusive proof that they were better men than the Romans who conquered them. Other people, including most of the Mahommedan world, may be apt to think that stupidity as ascertained by Mr. Mahony's test is a pretty tolerable state. The real reasons for the success of English in competition with other living languages have often been discussed. Perhaps the best field of observation is the Province of Quebec, where French started with every kind of external advantage.—I am,
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