When this royal ceremony was
concluded, the prince motioned to the Marquis of Vallombrosa to
accompany him, and then they repaired to an adjacent salon, the door of
which was open, but where they could converse without observation. The
Duke of St. Angelo amused the remaining guests with all the resources of
a man practised in making people feel at their ease, and in this he was
soon greatly assisted by Mr. Waldershare, who was unable to dine with
the prince to-day, but who seemed to take much interest in this arrival
of the representatives of the Latin race.

Baron Sergius and Endymion were sitting together rather apart from the
rest. The baron said, "You have heard to-day a great deal about the
Latin race, their wondrous qualities, their peculiar destiny, their
possible danger. It is a new idea, or rather a new phrase, that I
observe is now getting into the political world, and is probably
destined to produce consequences. No man will treat with indifference
the principle of race. It is the key of history, and why history is
often so confused is that it has been written by men who were ignorant
of this principle and all the knowledge it involves. As one who may
become a statesman and assist in governing mankind, it is necessary that
you should not be insensible to it; whether you encounter its influence
in communities or in individuals, its qualities must ever be taken into
account. But there is no subject which more requires discriminating
knowledge, or where your illustrating principle, if you are not deeply
founded, may not chance to turn out a will-o'-the-wisp. Now this great
question of the Latin race, by which M. de Vallombrosa may succeed in
disturbing the world--it might be well to inquire where the Latin race
is to be found. In the North of Italy, peopled by Germans and named
after Germans, or in the South of Italy, swarming with the descendants
of Normans and Arabs? Shall we find the Latin race in Spain, stocked by
Goths, and Moors, and Jews? Or in France, where there is a great Celtic
nation, occasionally mingled with Franks? Now I do not want to go into
the origin of man and nations--I am essentially practical, and only
endeavour to comprehend that with which I have personally to deal, and
that is sufficiently difficult. In Europe I find three great races with
distinct qualities--the Teutons, the Sclaves, and the Celts; and their
conduct will be influenced by those distinctive qualities. There is
another gr