— 40 — 
THE WORLD’s FAIRS 
spirit of industrial and commercial pro- 
gress, peculiar to each section of the 
country, and to force the life of the pro- 
vince8 into the Parisian model. 
It is impossible, and if it were possible, 
it would not be desirable, for a nation 
of 42 tnillions of souls, which unites many 
different peoples with their own peculiar 
habits, tastes and ways of thinking, to at- 
tain excellence in taste, fashion and art, 
by giving these a single, so-called na 
tional, direction. Success can here only 
be obtained by carefuüy developing every- 
thing that is original or peculiar to any 
part ot the country. Diversity is, after 
all, the attraction of life, and particular- 
ity shonld therefore be respected, as much 
as possible, both in the individual and 
in the race. A contrary policy can only 
advance those pernicious theories which 
preach death to individual liberty and de- 
velopement, and finally arm, as we have 
lately seen, the hand of the assassin 
against the sacred representatives of civi- 
lised society. 
If the principle of centralisation were 
to be made the basis of our eutire social 
life, one might as well also decree, that 
only one particular dialect of a language 
be correct, and that the nse of any other 
would be punished as a misdemeanour.