At all
times, however, they have divided human beings into races,
which, while they perhaps transcend scientific definition,
nevertheless, are clearly defined to the eye of the Historian
and Sociologist.
If this be true, then the history of the world is the
history, not of individuals, but of groups, not of nations, but
of races, and he who ignores or seeks to override the race idea
in human history ignores and overrides the central thought of
all history. What, then, is a race? It is a vast family of human
beings, generally of common blood and language, always of common
history, traditions and impulses, who are both voluntarily and
involuntarily striving together for the accomplishment of
certain more or less vividly conceived ideals of life.
Turning to real history, there can be no doubt, first, as
to the widespread, nay, universal, prevalence of the race idea,
the race spirit, the race ideal, and as to its efficiency as the
vastest and most ingenious invention of human progress. We, who
have been reared and trained under the individualistic
philosophy of the Declaration of Independence and the laisser-
faire philosophy of Adam Smith, are loath to see and loath to
acknowledge this patent fact of human history. We see the
Pharaohs, Caesars, Toussaints and Napoleons of history and
forget the vast races of which they were but epitomized
expressions.
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