Latin America: Its Rise and ProgressGarcía Calderón, Francisco
History
Latin America: Its Rise and Progress
García Calderón, Francisco
Latin America
He goes on to review the German peril, the North American peril, and
the Japanese peril. He does not fail to realise the extent of the
first named, and he complains of the progress of the commercial
immigration of Germans, especially in the southern provinces of
Brazil; but he considers that the German element, in the very process
of fecundation, will disappear amidst the mass of the nation. He is,
on the other hand, very keenly concerned with the North American
peril. Not that he fails to do justice to the marvellous qualities
of the Anglo-Saxon race; not that he is indifferent to the prestige
of the great northern Republic, or that he is forgetful of its
services to the cause of American autonomy; but he feels the
increasing weight of a tutelage originally beneficent, and anxiously
demands, _Quis custodiet custodem_? He is not oblivious of the fact
that the Monroe doctrine is changing, that it has insensibly passed
from the defensive to intervention, and from intervention to
conquest, and this metamorphosis gives him food for reflection.
Whatever the qualities of Yankee civilisation, it is not Latin
civilisation, and {13} M. Calderon would not have the latter
sacrificed to the former. He implores South America to defend itself
against the danger of a Saxon hegemony, to enrich itself by means of
European influences, to encourage French and Italian immigration, and
to purify its races by an influx of new blood.
In the Japanese, as in the German, M. Calderon sees an indefatigable
emissary of the Imperialist idea. According to him, no antagonism is
more irreducible than that of America and Japan. Japanese artisans
are invading the shipyards and foundries of Chili, Peru, and Brazil.
They form a refractory element which will never be assimilated. He
foresees that the supremacy of Japan may shortly extend over the
entire Pacific, and that the whole of America will find it no trivial
task to oppose this formidable power. From beginning to end of this
book we hear the rallying-cry of the Latin republics. I believe that
at heart M. Calderon regrets the excessive division of the states of
South America. But the problem of unity, often brought to the fore
in congresses and conferences, appears to him insoluble, and in
default of this he would be content with intellectual alliances, with
economic or fiscal unions, which would still permit the various
republics to draw nearer to one another, to know one another better,
and in time and on occasion to associate their defensive efforts.
I do not feel competent to criticise the advice which M. Calderon
offers his compatriots.
In particular I cannot speak of his opinions concerning the
presidential system in the republics of South America, and their
constitutional methods, which differ so sensibly from our French
parliamentary methods.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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