You can find Taine's views of humanity confirmed in Robert Wright's book 'THE MORAL ANIMAL.' (Why we are the way we are.) Taine had full access to the files of the French National archives and these and other original documents.

Taine had received a French classical education and, being foremost among many brilliant men, had a capacity for study and work which we no longer demand from our young.
He accepted Man and society, as they appeared to him, he described his findings without compassion for the hang-ups of his prejudiced countrymen.

He described Man as a gregarious animal living for a brief spell in a remote corner of space, whose different cultures and nations had evolved haphazardly in time, carried along by forces and events exceeding our comprehension, blindly following their innate drives.
These drives were followed with cunning but rarely with far-sighted wisdom.

Taine, the prophet, has more than ever something to tell us.
He warned his countrymen against themselves, their humanity, and hence against their fears, anxieties, greed, ambitions, conceit and excessive imagination.

His remarks and judgments exhort us to be responsible, modest and kind and to select wise and modest leaders.