Show civilization AND INFERIOR RACES naces A lively and interesting discussion on the question ot of the wisdom of the efforts of civilized peoples to elevate interior races took place at the recent meeting ot of tile the british royal association for the advancement of 0 science none one but scientists and men of 0 experience were allowed to enter the lists and the conclusions reached by the debaters have been characterized as startling and revolutionary they ate aie said to indicate a signal change in the opinions entertained by scientific men with reference to the proper treatment ot of uncivilized peoples the discussion was opened by prof F the distinguished egyptologist and ho took the ground that all attempts to impose oar own standards on oil Infer inferior for races aro arc absolutely fatal to them they absorb the vices rather than tile the v virtues ties of civilization and loth moral and physical decay inevitably follow prof jei rie Is reported to have said we may despotically force a bald and senseless imitation of 0 our ways on oil another people but we shall aly only destroy their life without implanting any vitality in its place no change Is legitimate or beneficial to the real character of a people except what flows from conviction and natural growth ct mind and it if the imposition of a loreign foreign system acm is injurious how miserable Is the forcing of a system such as ours chic which it Is the most complex unnatural and artificial that has been known know a system developed in a cold country amid one of the hardest least sym pathetic most self denying and calculating of all the peoples of the world such a system the product of such extreme conditions we attempt to force on the least developed races and expect from them implicit subservience to our illogical law and our inconsistent morality the result Is death we make a death house and call it civilization tion scarcely a single race gracd can call anat lis ar the burden and then we talk compla bently about the mysterious decay of savages before white men prof petrie ridiculed purblind our blind worship of the three Rs rp which die aie deemed the basis of all culture whatever they may be to us they are not at all necessary to other races lie he said sad the exquisite art and noble ure of mycenae A lyce nae the undying song ot of homer 1 the extensive trade ot of the bronze age all belonged to people who never read or wrote some of my best friends in egypt are happily ignorant of such accomplishments the true essentials of character continued the professor are arc moderation justice sympathy and these may be acquired without books as may also be the qualities of quick observation and a keen sense of 0 the uses and properties of t things around us the speakers who followed prof concurred in his leading ideas A summary of the debate Is given in an editorial in the new york sun arid and we reproduce it below lord stanmore better known as sit sir arthur gordon a colonial administrator of vast experience expressed a conviction diction that as much wrong has been inflicted by a desire to carry out civilizing ideas as by violence it was a mistake he said to regard the semi races as Im immoral monal their moral sense Is very unlike our own but it Is none the less real As to the attitude to be assumed toward the social usages and peculiar habits ot of the natives of a given country lord St stanmore artmore of course conceded that certain customs such h as cannibalism infanticide widow burning and the wholesale plundering of inferiors by local chiefs must be put an end to at once and firmly but it would te be well lie he thought to permit the continuance of many usages repugnant and even repulsive to european ideas in such matters he would trust to the transforming influence of time herein he cordially agreed with prof petrie who had reminded I 1 Us is hearers that paul of tarsus did rot deem it needful any more than old EpIc tetus to prohibit slavery poly gamy or even gladiatorial shows the elimination ot of such evils was left to be brought about as it was brought about by the growing enlightenment and energy ot of the public conscience to much the same purpose spoke dr cust long connected with the indian civil service ile he denounced the continual attempts of europeans to uproot ancient civilizations not inferior in some ways to their own and to destroy customs which are not contrary to moral law lie ile implored missionaries to be more tolerant toward native ideas and usages and to do christian things in a christian way A long experience in india had bad convinced dr cust that the wisest plan Is not to interfere in things that are not unlawful and riot not to try to anglicize the people of that country ile he considered it absurd for missionaries to want to alter the marriage customs of a people which only tolerates divorce in the case of europeans and to dictate to natives naturally sober tar far more temperate indeed than englishmen as to what wha t they should eat cat and drink lie ile would even go so far as to protect the people ot of india china and japan from preach preachers who intrude where they are arc not wanted lie he mentioned the instance ot a missionary in china who erected a building under circumstances ivsich made the act a desecration and lit in view ot of cucil sucil performances he was not surprised that from time to time the achl nese rose against tile the foreign devils in closing dr cust referred to the sa sacrilegious ri act committed in fix india uy a wesleyan by whom a chapel was on the edge of a sacred tank but who was forced by lord canning to raze the structure to the ground dr 11 II 0 forbes and prof II addon both of whom had lived in new guinea went further and objected to the methods followed by most missionaries in dealing even with savage tribes dr forbes thought the papu ans should be left alone to adopt civilization in their own time thile he bald that so far as his hla observation V aaion of int missionary 9 work went the actual religious change that took place in a converted nati native was extremely small and times disadvantageous as natives who went to chapel thought themselves better than others and became insubordinate prof gladdon sald said that the desire of the missionaries seemed to lie ba to ta crush the natives in a procrustean be bed d they forgot that the only lasting civilization is that which springs from below re he added that not a few good people confuse clothing with morality and that it the purpose was to extend the market for cotton goods it should be out openly and honestly riot not under the pretense ot of promoting le ie ligion englishmen the professor said in ill conclusion do not theoretically wish to exterminate native races but as a matter of fact they do so and what has happened lit in tasmania whore not a single native survives is likely to happen elsewhere in the islands of 0 the south sea |