Finland Swedish linguist, professor and politician (1836–1911)
Axel Olof Freudenthal (12 December 1836 Siuntio - 2 June 1911 Helsinki) was a Swedish-speaking Finnish philologist and politician. He was a linguist, founder of the Finnish Swedish movement and ideological mentor of the Swedish People's Party of Finland, in whose name the Swedish People's Party's highest decoration was awarded for generations until the 21st century.
From: Wikiquote (CC BY-SA 4.0)
The strength of a nation was not based on the number of individuals belonging to it, but on their activity and intelligence. I therefore consider the Finns in Finland to be in the same position in relation to the Swedes as the Welsh are in relation to the English, with the possible consequence of the Swedes becoming Swedes.
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The Finns, who had not proved themselves intelligent enough to become the advocates of civilization, could safely remain peasants, while the most sacred pursuits of mankind [the promotion of culture] were to be left to the more powerful nations; such had been and still were the nations of the Indo-Germanic race.
Those nations which, like the tribes of the Chudo-Finnish, have never proved intelligent enough to become the advocates of freedom or civilisation, may, without the spirit of humanity shedding a tear on their graves, disappear from the earth, or they may, as peaceful peasants and countrymen, content themselves with the idyllic patriarchal life best suited to their loyal and slow nature.