the claims of the negro, ethnologically considered

THE

CLAIMS OF THE NEGBO,ETHNOLOGICALLY CONSIDERED,

AN ADDRESS,

dan t\t Jitorg

WESTERN RESERVE COLLEGE,

At Commencement, July 12, 1854.

BY FREDERICK DOUGLASS.

ROCHESTER:PRINTED BY LEE, MASS & CO., DAILY AMERICAN OF1ICE.

1851

Central Library of Rochester and Monroe County · Historic Monographs Collection

THE

CLAIMS OF THE NEGRO,

ETKNOLOGICAILY CONSIDERED.

AN ADDRESS,

thxt \\t Jitorg

WESTERN RESERVE COLLEGE,

At Commencement, July 12, 1854.

BY FREDERICK ^OUGLASS.

ROCHESTER:POINTED BT LEE, MANN & CO., DAILY AMERICAN OFFICE, RCCHESTEB.

1854.


D

AN ADDRESS.Gentlemen of the Philozetian Society :

h- I propose to submit to you a few thoughts on thej subject of the Claims of the Negro, suggested by

\ ethnological science, or the natural history of man.J But before entering upon that subject, I trust you\ will allow me to make a remark or two, somewhat

^personal to myself. The relation between me andthis occasion may justify what, in others, might seeman offence against good taste.

This occasion is to me one of no ordinary interest,for many reasons; and the honor you have done me,in selecting me as your speaker, is as grateful to myheart, as it is novel in the history of American Col-legiate or Literary Institutions. Surprised as I am,the public are no less surprised, at the spirit of inde"pendence, and the moral courage displayed by thegentlemen at whose call I am here. There is felt to bea principle in the matter, placing it far above egotismor personal vanity ; a principle which gives to thisoccasion a general, and I had almost said, an universal interest. I engage to-day, for the first time,in the exercises of any College Commencement. Itis a new chapter in my humble experience. The

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usual course,*at'siich fiines,.I believe, is to call to theplatform men of age and distinction, eminent foreloquence, mental ability, and scholarly attainments— men whose high culture, severe training, greatexperience, large observation, and peculiar aptitudefor teaching, qualify them to instruct even the al-ready well instructed, and to impart a glow, a lus-tre, to the acquirements of those who are passingfrom the Halls of learning, to the broad theatre ofactive life. To no such high endeavor as this, is yourhumble speaker fitted ; and it was with much dis-trust and hesitation that he accepted the invitation,so kindly and perseveringly given, to occupy a por-tion of your attention here to-day.

I express the hope, then, gentlemen, that this ac-knowledgment of the novelty of my position, and myunaffected and honest confession of inaptitude, willawaken a sentiment of generous indulgence towardsthe scattered thoughts I have been able to fling to-gether, with a view to presenting them as my humblecontribution to these Commencement Exercises.

Interesting to me, personally, as this occasion is, itis still more interesting to you; especially to such ofyou as have completed your education, and who (notwholly unlike the gallant ship, newly launched, fullrigged, and amply fitted, about to quit the placidwaters of the harbor for the boisterous waves of thesea,) are entering upon the active duties and meas-ureless responsibilities incident to the great voyageof life. Before such, the ocean of mind lies out-spread more solemn than the sea, studded with dim-


culties and perils. Thoughts, theories, ideas, andsystems, so various, and so opposite, and leading tosuch diverse results, suggest the wisdom of the utmostprecaution, and the most careful survey, at the start.A false light, a defective chart, an imperfect compass,may cause one to drift in endless bewilderment, or tobe landed at last amid sharp, destructive rocks.

On the other hand, guided by wisdom, mannedwith truth, fidelity and industry, the haven of peace,devoutly wished for "by all, may be reached in safetyby all. The compensation of the preacher is full,when assured that his words have saved even onefrom error and from ruin. My joy shall be full, if,on this occasion, I shall be able to give a right direc-tion to any one mind, touching the question now tobe considered.

Gentlemen, in selecting the Claims of the Negroas the subject of my remarks to-day, I am animatedby a desire to bring before you a matter of livingimportance—matter upon wrhich action, as well asthought is required. The relation subsisting betweenthe white and black people of this country is thevital question of the age. In the solution of thisquestion, the scholars of America will have to take animportant and controling part. This is the moral bat-tle field to which their country and their God now callthem. In the eye of both, the neutral scholar is an ig-noble man. Here, a man must be hot, or be accountedcold, or, perchance, something worse than hot or cold.The lukewarm and the cowardly, will be rejected byearnest men on either side of the controversy. Thecunning man who avoids it, to gain the favor of both


parties, will be rewarded with scorn ; and the timidman who shrinks from it, for fear of offending eitherparty, will be despised. To the lawyer, the preacher,the politician, and to the man of letters, there is noneutral ground. He that is not for us, is against us.Gentlemen, I assume at the start, that wherever elseI may be required to speak with bated breath, here,at least, I may speak with freedom the thought near-est my heart. This liberty is implied, by the call Ihave received to be here; and yet I hope to presentthe subject so that no man can reasonable say, that anoutrage has been committed, or that I have abusedthe privilege with which you have honored me. Ishall aim to discuss the claims of the negro, generaland special, in a manner, though not scientific, stillsufficiently clear and definite to enable my hearers toform an intelligent judgment respecting them.

The first general claim which may here be set up,respects the manhood of the negro. This is an ele-mentary claim, simple enough, but not without ques-tion. It is fiercely opposed. A respectable publicjournal, published in Richmond, Va., bases its wholedefence of the slave system upon a denial of thenegro's manhood.

" The wh'te peasant is free, and if he is a man of will and intellect,can rise in the scale of society; or at least his offspring may. He isnot deprived by law of those ' inalienable rights,' ' liberty and the pur-suit of happiness,' by the use of it. But here is the essence of slavery— that we do declare the negro destitute of these powers. Webind him by law to the condition of the laboring peasant forever, without his consent, and we bind his posterity after him.Now, the true question is, have we a right to do this? If wehave not, all discussions about his comfortable situation, and theactual condition of free laborers elsewhere, are quite beside thepoint. If the negro has the same right to his liberty and the pursuit


of his own happiness that the white man has, then we commit the greatestwrong and robbery to hold him a slave — an act at which the senti-ment of justice must revolt in every heart — and negro slavery is aninstitution which that sentiment must sooner or later blot from theface of the earth."—Richmond Examiner.

After stating the question thus, the Examinerboldly asserts that the negro has no such right—BE-CAUSE HE IS NOT A MAN!

There are three ways to answer this denial. Oneis by ridicule ; a second is by denunciation ; and athird is by argument. I hardly know under which ofthese modes my answer to-day will fall. I feel myselfsomewhat on trial; and that this is just the pointwhere there is hesitation, if not serious doubt. I can-not, however, argue; I must assert. To know whethernegro is a man, it must first be known what consti-tutes a man. Here, as well as elsewhere, I take it,that the " coat must be cut according to the cloth."It is not necessary, in order to establish the manhoodof any one making the claim, to prove that such anone equals Clay in eloquence, or Webster and Cal-houn in logical force and directness ; for, tried bysuch standards of mental power as these, it is appre-hended that very few could claim the high designa-tion of man. Yet something like this folly is seenin the arguments directed against the humanity of thenegro. His faculties and powers, uneducated andunimproved, have been contrasted with those of thehighest cultivation; and the world has then beencalled upon to behold the immense and amazing dif-ference between the man admitted, and the man dis-puted. The fact that these intellects, so powerfuland so controlling, are almost, if not quite as excep-


8

tional to the general rule of humanity, in one direc-tion, as the specimen negroes are in the other, is quiteoverlooked.

Man is distinguished from all other animals, by thepossession of certain definite faculties and powers, aswell as by physical organization and proportions.He is the only two-handed animal on the earth—theonly one that laughs, and nearly the only one thatweeps. Men instinctively distinguish between menand brutes. Common sense itself is scarcely neededto detect the absence of manhood in a monkey, or torecognize its presence in a negro. His speech, hisreason, his power to acquire and to retain knowl-edge, his heaven-erected face, his habitudes, hishopes, his fears, his aspirations, his prophecies, plantbetween him and the brute creation, a distinction aseternal as it is palpable. Away, therefore, with allthe scientific moonshine that would connect men withmonkeys; that would have the world believe thathumanity, instead of resting on its own characteristicpedestal — gloriously independent — is a sort of sli-ding scale, making one extreme brother to the ou-rang-ou-tang, and the other to angels, and all the restintermediates ! Tried by all the usual, and all theunusual tests, whether mental, moral, physical, orpsycological, the negro is a MAN— considering himas possessing knowledge, or needing knowledge, hiselevation or his degradation, his virtues, or his vices— whichever road you take, you reach the same con-clusion, the negro is a MAN. His good and his bad,his innocence and his guilt, his joys and his sorrows,


9

proclaim his manhood in speech that all mankindpractically and readily understand.

A very recondite author says, that " man is distkrguished from all other animals, in that he resists as wellas adapts himself to his circumstances." He does nottake things as he finds them, but goes to work to im-prove them. Tried by this test, too, the negro is a man.You may see him yoke the oxen, harness the horseand hold the plow. He can swim the river; but heprefers to fling over it a bridge. The horse bearshim on his back — admits his mastery and dominion.The barn-yard fowl know his step, and flock aroundto receive their morning meal from his sable hand.The dog dances when he comes home, and whinespiteously when he is absent. All these know thatthe negro is a MAET. NOW, presuming that what isevident to beast and to bird, cannot need elaborateargument to be made plain to men, I assume, withthis brief statement, that the negro is a man.

The first claim conceded and settled, let us attendto the second, which is beset with some difficulties,giving rise to many opinions, different from my own,and which opinions I propose to combat.

There was a time when, if you established thepoint that a particular being is a man, it was consid-ered that such a being, of course, had a common an-cestry with the rest of mankind. But it is not sonow. This is, you know, an age of science, and sci-ence is favorable to division. It must explore andanalyze, until all doubt is set at rest. There is, there,fore, another proposition to be stated and maintained,separately, which, in other days, (the 'days before


10

the Notts, the Gliddens, the Agassiz, and Mortons,made their profound discoveries in ethnological sci-ence,) might have been included in the first.

It is somewhat remarkable, that, at a time whenknowledge is so generally diffused, when the geog-raphy of the world is so well understood—whentime and space, in the intercourse of nations, are al-most annihilated—when oceans have become bridges— the earth a magnificent hall — the hollow sky adome — under which a common humanity can meetin friendly conclave — when nationalities are beingswallowed up — and the ends of the earth broughttogether — I say it is remarkable —nay, it is strangethat there should arise a phalanx of learned men —speaking in the name of science — to forbid the mag-nificent reunion of mankind in one brotherhood. Amortifying proof is here given, that the moral growthof a nation, or an age, does not always keep pacewith the increase of knowledge, and suggests the ne-cessity of means to increase human love with humanlearning.

The proposition to which I allude, and which Imean next to assert, is this, that what are technicallycalled the negro race, are a part of the human fami-ly, and are descended from a common ancestry, withthe rest of mankind. The discussion of this pointopens a comprehensive field of inquiry. It involvesthe question of the unity of the human race. Muchhas and can be said on both sides of that question.

Looking out upon the surface of the Globe, withits varieties of climate, soil, and formations, its ele-vations and depressions, its rivers, lakes, oceans,islands, continents, and the vast and striking differ-


11

ences which mark and diversify its multitudinousinhabitants, the question has been raised, and pressedwith increasing ardor and pertinacity, (especially inmodern times,) can all these various tribes, nations,tongues, kindred, so widely separated, and so strange-ly dissimilar, have descended from a common ances-try ? That is the question, and it has been answeredvariously by men of learning. Different modes ofreasoning have been adopted, but the conclusionsreached maybe divided into two—the one YES, andthe other NO. Which of these answers is most inaccordance with facts, with reason, with the welfareof the world, and reflects most glory up:n the wis-dom, power, and goodness of the Author of all ex-istence, is the question for consideration with us ? Onwhich side is the weight of the argument, ratherthan which side is absolutely proved ?

It must be admitted at the beginning, that, viewedapart from the authority of the Bible, neither theunity, nor diversity of origin of the human family, canbe demonstrated. To use the terse expression of theRev. Dr. Anderson, who speaking on this point, says:" It is impossible to get far enough back for that."This much, however, can be done. The evidence onboth sides, can be accurately weighed, and the trutharrived at with almost absolute certainty.

It would be interesting, did time permit, to givehere, some of the most striking features of the va-rious theories, which have, of late, gained attentionand respect in many quarters of our country—touch-ing the origin of mankind—but I must pass this by.The argument to-day, is to the unity, as against thattheory, which affirms the diversity of human origin.


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THE BEARINGS OF THE QUESTION.

A moment's reflection must impress all, that fewquestions have more important and solemn bearings,than the one now under consideration. It is connec-ted with eternal as well as with terrestrial interests.It covers the earth and reaches heaven. The unity ofthe human race—the brotherhood of man—the re-ciprocal duties of all to each, and of each to all, aretoo plainly taught in the Bible to admit of cavil.—The credit of the Bible is at stake—and if it be toomuch to say, that it must stand or fall, by the deci-sion of this question, it is proper to say, that the val-ue of that sacred Book—as a record of the early his-tory of mankind—must be materially affected, bythe decision of the question.

For myself I can say, my reason (not less than myfeeling, and my faith) welcomes with joy, the decla-ration of the Inspired Apostle, "that God has madeof one blood all nations of men for to dwell uponall the face of the earth." But this grand affirmationof the unity of the human race, and many otherslike unto it, together with the whole account of thecreation, given in the early scriptures, must all geta new interpretation or be overthrown altogether, ifa diversity of human origin can be maintained.—Most evidently, this aspect of the question makes itimportant to those, who rely upon the Bible, as thesheet anchor of their hopes—and the frame work ofall religious truth. The young minister must look


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into this subject and settle it for himself, before heascends the pulpit, to preach redemption to a fallenrace.

The bearing of the question upon Revelation, isnot more marked and decided than its relation tothe situation of things in our country, at this moment.One seventh part of the population of this country isof negro descent. The land is peopled by whatmay be called the most dissimilar races on the globe.The black and the white—the negro and the Euro-pean—these constitute the American people—and, inall the likelihoods of the case, they will ever remainthe principal inhabitants of the United States, insome form or other. The European population aregreatly in the ascendant in numbers, wealth andpower. They are the rulers of the country—themasters—the Africans, are the slaves—the proscrib-ed portion of the people—and precisely in propor-tion as the truth of human brotherhood gets recog-nition, will be the freedom and elevation, in this coun-try, of persons of African descent. In truth, thisquestion is at the bottom of the whole controversy,now going on between the slaveholders on the onehand, and the abolitionists on the other. It is thesame old question which has divided the selfish, fromthe philanthropic part of mankind in all ages. It isthe question whether the rights, privileges, and im-munities enjoyed by some ought not to be shared andenjoyed by all.

It is not quite two hundred years ago, when suchwas the simplicity (I will not now say the pride anddepravity) of the Anglo Saxon inhabitants of the


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British West Indies, that the learned and pious God-win, a missionary to the West Indies, deemed it ne-cessary to write a book, to remove what he conceiv-ed to be the injurious belief that it was sinful in thesight of God to baptize negroes and Indians. TheWest Indies have made progress since that time.—God's emancipating angel has broken the fetters ofslavery in those islands, and the praises of the Al-mighty are now sung by the sable lips of eight hun-dred thousand freemen, before deemed only fit forslaves, and to whom even baptismal and burial rightswere denied.

The unassuming work of Godwin may have hadsome agency in producing this glorious result. Oneother remark before entering upon the argument. Itmay be said, that views and opinions, favoring theunity of the human family, coming from one of low-ly condition, are open to the suspicion, that "the wishis father to the thought" and so, indeed, it may be.—But let it be also remembered, that this deductionfrom the weight of the argument on the one side, ismore than counterbalanced by the pride of race andposition arrayed on the other. Indeed, ninety-nineout of every hundred of the advocates of a diverseorigin of the human family in this country, areamong those who hold it to be the privilege of theAnglo-Saxon to enslave and oppress the African—and slaveholders, not a few, like the Richmond Ex-aminer to which I have referred, have admitted, thatthe whole argument in defence of slavery, becomesutterly worthless the moment the African is provedto be equally a man with the Anglo-Saxon. The


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temptation, therefore, to read the negro out op thehuman family is exceedingly strong, and may accountsomewhat for the repeated attempts on the part ofSouthern pretenders to science, to cast a doubt overthe Scriptural account of the origin of mankind. Ifthe origin and motives of most works, opposing thedoctrine of the unity of the human race, could beascertained, it may be doubted whether one suchwork could toast an honest parentage. Pride andselfishness, combined with mental power, never wantfor a theory to justify them—and when men oppresstheir fellow-men, the oppressor ever finds, in thecharacter of the oppressed, a full justification for hisoppression. Ignorance and depravity, and the ina-bility to rise from degradation to civilization and re-spectability, are the most usual allegations againstthe oppressed. The evils most fostered by slaveryand oppression, are precisely those which slavehold-ers and oppressors would transfer from their systemto the inherent character of their victims. Thus thevery crimes of slavery become slavery's best defence.By making the enslaved a character fit only for sla-very, they excuse themselves for refusing to makethe slave a freeman. A wholesale method of accom-plishing this result, is to overthrow the instinctiveconsciousness of the common brotherhood of man.For, let it be once granted that the human race areof multitudinous origin, naturally different in theirmoral, physical, and intellectual capacities, and atonce you make plausible a demand for classes,grades and conditions, for different methods ofculture, different moral, political, and religious


16

institutions, and a chance is left for slavery,as a necessary institution. The debates in Con-gress on the Nebraska Bill during the past winter,will show how slaveholders have availed themselvesof this doctrine in support of slaveholding. Thereis no doubt that Messrs. Nott, Glidden, Morton,Smith and Agassiz were duly consulted by our sla-very propagating statesmen.

ETHNOLOGICAL UNFAIRNESS TOWARDS THE NEGRO.

£' The lawyers tell us that the credit of a witness isalways in order. Ignorance, malice or prejudice, maydisqualify a witness, and why not an author ? Now,the disposition everywhere evident, among the classof writers alluded to, to separate the negro race fromevery intelligent nation and tribe in Africa, may fair-ly be regarded as one proof, that they have stakedout the ground beforehand, and that they have aim-ed to construct a theory in support of a foregoneconclusion. The desirableness of isolating the negroraq|fe* and especially of separating them from thevarious peoples of Northern Africa, is too plain toneed a remark. Such isolation would remove stu-pendous difficulties in the way of getting the negroin a favorable attitude for the blows of scientificChristendom.

Dr. Samuel George Morton may be referred to asa fair sample of American Ethnologists. His veryable work "Crania Americana? published in Phila-delphia in 1839, is widely read in this country.—In this great work his contempt for negroes, is ever


nconspicuous. I take him as an illustration of whathad been alleged as true of his class.

The fact that Egypt was one of the earliest abodesof learning and civilization, is as firmly establishedas are the everlasting hills, defying, with a calm frontthe boasted mechanical and architectural skill of thenineteenth century—3miling serenely on the assaultsand the mutations of time, there she stands in over-shadowing grandeur, riveting the eye and the mindof the modern world—upon her, in silent and dreamywonder—Greece and Rome—and through them Eu-rope and America have received their civilizationfrom the ancient Egyptians. This fact is not deniedby any body. But Egypt is in Africa. Pity that ithad not been in Europe, or in Asia, or better still, inAmerica! Another unhappy circumstance is, thatthe ancient Egyptians were not white people; butwere, undoubtedly, just about as dark in complexionas many in this country who are considered genuinenegroes; and that is not all, their hair was far frombeing of that graceful lankness which adorns the fairAnglo Saxon head. But the next best thing, afterthese defects, is a positive unlikeness to the negro.Accordingly, our learned author enters into an ela-borate argument to prove that the ancient Egyp-tians were totally distinct from the negroes, and todeny all relationship between. Speaking of the" Copts and Eellahs," whom every body knows aredescendants of the Egyptians, he says, "2 he Copts,though now remarkably distinct from the people thatsurrownd them, derive from their remote ancestorssome mixture of Greek, Arabian, and perhaps even


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negro blood" Now, mark the description given ofthe Egyptians in this Fame work: " Complexionbrown. The nose is straight, excepting the end, whereit is rounded and wide ; the lips are rather thick, andthe hair black and curly T This description wouldcertainly seem to make it safe to suppose the pres-ence of "even negro blood." A man, in our day,with brown complexion, " nose rounded and wide,lips thick, hair black and curly," would, I think,have no difficulty in getting himself recognized as anegro!!

The same authority tells us that the " Copts aresupposed by NEIBHTJK, DENON and others, to be thedescendants of the ancient Egyptians;" and Dr. Mor-ton adds, that it has often been observed that astrong resemblance may be traced between theCoptic visage and that presented in the ancientmummies and statues. Again, he says, the " Coptscan be, at most, but the degenerate remains, both phy-sically and intellectually, of that mighty people whohave claimed the admiration of all ages? Speakingof the Nubians, Dr. Morton says, (page 26,)—

" The hair of the Nubian is thick and black—often curled, eitherby nature or art, and sometimes 'partially frizzled, but never woolly?

Again:—" Although the Nubians occasionally present their national charac-

ters unmixed, they generally show traces of their social intercourse withthe Arabs, and even with the negroes."

The repetition of the adverb here "even" is im-portant, as showing the spirit in which our greatAmerican Ethnologist pursues his work, and what


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deductions may be justly made from the value of hisresearches on that account. In everything touchingthe negro, Dr. Morton, in his " Crania Americana,"betrays the same spirit. He thinks that the Sphinxwas not the representative of an Egyptian Deity,but was a shrine, worshiped at by the degradednegroes of Egypt; and this fact he alleges as the se-cret of the mistake made by Volney, in supposingthat the Egyptians were real negroes. The absur-dity of this assertion will be very apparent, in viewof the fact that the great Sphinx in question was thechief of a series, full two miles in length. Our au-thor again repels the supposition that the Egyptianswere related to negroes, by saying there is no mentionmade of color by the historian, in relating the mar-riage of Solomon with Pharaoh's daughter; and withgenuine American feeling, he says, such a circum-stance as the marrying of an European monarch withthe daughter of a negro would not have been passedover in silence in our day. This is a- sample of thereasoning of men who reason from prejudice ratherthan from facts. It assumes that a Hack shin in theMast excites the same prejudice which we see herein the West. Having denied all relationship of thenegro to the ancient Egyptians, with characteristicAmerican assumption, he says, " It is easy to prove,that whatever may have been the hue of their skin,they belong to the same race with ourselves."

Of course, I do not find fault with Dr. Morton, orany other American, for claiming affinity with Egyp-tians. All that goes in that direction belongs to myside of the question, and is really right.


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The leaning here indicated is natural enough, andmay be explained by the fact, that an educated manin Ireland ceases to be an Irishman; and an intelli-gent black man is always supposed to have derivedhis intelligence from his connection with the whiterace. To be intelligent is to have one's negro bloodignored.

There is, however, a very important physiologicalfact, contradicting this last assumption; and thatfact is, that intellect is uniformly derived from thematernal side. Mulattoes, in this country, may al-most wholly boast of Anglo Saxon male ancestry.

It is the province of prejudice to blind; and sci-entific writers, not less than others, write to please,as well as to instruct, and even unconsciously tothemselves, (sometimes,) sacrifice what is true towhat is popular. Fashion is not confined to dress ;but extends to philosophy as well—and it is fashion-able now, in our land, to exaggerate the differencesbetween the negro and the European. If, for in-stance, a phrenologist, or naturalist undertakes torepresent in portraits, the differences between the tworaces—the negro and the European—he will invari-ably present the highest type of the European, andthe lowest type of the negro.

The European face is drawn in harmony with thehighest ideas of beauty, dignity and intellect. Fea-tures regular and brow after the Websterian mold.The negro, on the other hand, appears with featuresdistorted, lips exaggerated, forehead depressed—andthe whole expression of the countenance made toharmonize with the popular idea of negro imbecility


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and degradation. I have seen many pictures of ne-groes and Europeans, in phrenological and ethnolo-gical works; and all, or nearly all, excepting thework of Dr. Prichard, and that other great work,Combs' Constitution of Man, have been more or lessopen to this objection. I think I have never seen asingle picture in an American work, designed to givean idea of the mental endowments of the negro,which did any thing like justice to the subject; nay,that was not infamously distorted. The heads of A.CRUMMEL, HENRY H. GARNET, SAM'L R. WARD, CHAS.

LENOX BEYOND, W J, WILSON, J. W PENINGTON,

J. I. GAINES, M. R. DELANY, J. W. LOGUIN, J. M.WHIT-

FIELD, J. C. HOLLY, and hundreds of others I couldmention, are all better formed, and indicate the pre-sence of intellect more than any pictures I have seenin such works; and while it must be admitted thatthere are negroes answering the description given bythe American ethnologists and others, of the negrorace, I contend that there is every description ofhead among them, ranging from the highest IndooCaucasian downward. If the very best type of theEuropean is always presented, I insist that justice,in all such works, demands that the very best typeof the negro should also be taken. The importanceof this criticism may not be apparent to all;—tothe black man it is very apparent. He sees the in-justice, and writhes under its sting. But to returnto Dr. Morton, or rather to the question of the af-finity of the negroes to the Egyptians.

It seems to me that a man might as well deny theaffinity of the American to the Englishman, as to


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deny such affinity between the negro and the Egyp-tian. He might make out as many points of differ-ence, in the case of the one as in that of the other.Especially could this "be done, if, like ethnologists,in given cases, only typical specimens were resortedto. The lean, slender American, pale and swarthy,if exposed to the sun, wears a very different appear-anca to the full, round Englishman, of clear, hlondecomplexion. One may trace the progress of this dif-ference in the common portraits of the AmericanPresidents. Just study those faces, beginning withWASHINGTON; and as you come thro' the JEFFERSONS,

the ADAMSES, and the MADISONS, you will find an in-creasing bony and wiry appearance about those por-traits, & a greater remove from that serene amplitudewhich characterises the countenances of the earlier Pre-sidents. I may be mistaken, but I think this is a cor-rect index of the change going on in the nation atlarge,—converting Englishmen, Germans, Irishmen,and Frenchmen, into Americans, and causing themto lose, in a common American character, all tracesof their former distinctive national peculiarities.

AUTHORITIES AS TO THE RESEMBLANCE OF THEEGYPTIANS TO NEGROES.

Now, let us see what the best authorities say, asto the personal appearance of the Egyptians. Ithick it will be at once admitted, that while theydiffer very strongly from the negro, debased and en-slaved, that difference is not greater than may beobserved in other quarters of the globe, amongpeople notoriously belonging to the same variety,


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the same original stock; in a word, to the samefamily. If it shall be found that the people of Af-rica have an African character, as general, as welldefined, and as distinct, as have the people of Eu-rope, or the people of Asia, the exceptional differ-ences among them afford no ground for supposing adifference of race; but, on the contrary, it will beinferred that the people of Africa constitute onegreat branch of the human family, whose origin maybe as properly referred to the families of Noah, ascan be any other branch of the human family, fromwhom they differ. Denon, in his ' Travels in Egypt]describes the Egyptians, as of full, but " delicate andvoluptuous forms, countenances sedate and placid,round and soft features, with eyes long and almondshaped, half shut and languishing, and turned up atthe outer angles, as if habitually fatigued by thelight and heat of the sun ; cheeks round; thick lips,full and prominent; mouths large, but cheerful andsmiling; complexion dark, ruddy and coppery, andthe whole aspect displaying—as one of the most gra-phic delineators among modern travelers has observ-ed—the genuine African character, of which thenegro is the exaggerated and extreme representa-tion." Again, Prichard says, (page 152,)—•

" Herodotus traveled in Egypt, and was, therefore, well acquaintedwith the people from personal observation. He does not say anythingdirectly, as to the descriptions of their persons, which were too wellknown to the Greeks to need such an account, but his indirect testi-mony is very strongly expressed. After mentioning a tradition, thatthe people of Colchis were a colony from Egypt, Herodotus says, that' there was one fact strongly in favor of this opinion—the Colchianswere black in complexion and woolly haired.'"


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These are the words by which the complexion andhair of negroes are described. In another passage,he says that

'• The pigeon, said to have fled to Dodona, and to have founded theOracle, was declared to be Hack, and that the meaning of the storywas this: The Oracle was, in reality, founded by a female captive fromthe Thebaid; she was black, being an "Egyptian." " Other Greek wri-ters," says Pritchard, " have expressed themselves in similar terms."

Those who have mentioned the Egyptians as aswarthy people, according to Prichard, might as wellhave applied the term black to them, since they wreredoubtless of a chocolate color. The same authorbrings together the testimony of Eschylus and othersas to the color of the ancient Egyptians, all corres-ponding, more or less, with the foregoing. Amongthe most direct testimony educed by Prichard, is,first that of Volney, who, speaking of the modernCopts, says:

" They have a puffed visage, swollen eyes, flat nose, and thick lips,and bear much resemblance to mulattoes."

Baron Larrey says, in regard to the same people:" They have projecting cheek bones, dilating nostrils, thick lips, and

hair and beard black and crisp?

Mr. Ledyard, (whose testimony, says our learnedauthority, is of the more value, as he had no theoryto support,) says:

" I suspect the Copts to have been the origin of the negro race;the nose and lips correspond with those of the negro; the hair, whereverI can see it among the people here, is curled, not like that of the ne-groes, but like the mulattoes."

Here I leave our learned authorities, as to the re-semblance of she Egyptians to negroes.

It is not in my power, in a discourse of this soit,to adduce more than a very small part of the testi-mony in support of a near relationship between the


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present enslaved and degraded negroes, and the an-cient highly civilized and wonderfully endowedEgyptians. Sufficient has already been adduced, toshow a marked similarity in regard to features, hair,color, and I doubt not that the philologist can findequal similarity in the structures of their languages.In view of the foregoing, while it may not be claim-ed that the ancient Egyptians were negroes,—viz:—answering, in all respects, to the nations and tribesranged under the general appellation, negro; %till,it may safely be affirmed, that a strong affinity anda direct relationship may be claimed by the negrorace, to THAT GKAJJTDEST OF ALL THE NATIONS OF AN-

TIQUITY, THE BUILDERS OF THE PYEAMIDS.

But there are other evidences of this relationship,more decisive than those alledged in a general simi-larity of personal appearance. Language is held tobe very important, by the best ethnologists, in tra-cing out the remotest affinities of nations, tribes,classes and families. The color of the skin has some-times been less enduring than the speech of a people.I speak by authority, and follow in the footsteps ofsome of the most learned writers on the natural andethnological history of man, when I affirm that oneof the most direct and conclusive proofs of the ge-neral affinity of Northern African nations, with thoseof West, East and South Africa, is found in the gene-ral similarity of their language. The philologist ea-sily discovers, and is able to point out somethinglike the original source of the multiplied tongues nowin use in that yet mysterious quarter of the globe.Dr. R. G. LATHAM, F. R. S., corresponding member


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of the Ethnological Society, New York—in his ad-mirable work, entitled ''Man and his Migrations"—says:

" In the languages of Abyssinia, the Gh«ez and Tigre, admitted, aslong as they have been known at all, to be Semitic, graduate throughthe Amharic, the Talasba, the Harargi, the Gafat and other languages,which may be well studied in Dr. Beke's valuable comparative tables,into the Agovv tongue, unequivocally indigenous to Abyssinia, andthrough this into the true negro classes. But, unequivocal as may bethe Semitic elements of the Berber, Coptic and Galla, their affinitieswith the tongues of Western and Southern Africa are more so. Iweigh my words when I say, not equally, but more; changing theexpression, for every foot in advance which can be made towards theSemitic tongues in one direction, the African philologist can go ayard towards the negro ones in the other."

In a note, just below this remarkable statement,Dr. Latham says:

" A short table of the Berber, and Coptic, as compared with theother African tongues, may be seen in the Classical Museum of theBritish Association, for 1846. In the Transactions of the PhilologicalSociety is a grammatical sketch of the Tumali language, by Dr. S.Tutshek of Munich. The Tumali is a truly negro language, of Kor-dufan; whilst, in respect to the extent to which its inflections are form-ed, by internal changes of vowels and accents, it is fully equal to theSemitic tongues of Palestine and Arabia."

This testimony may not serve prejudice, but to meit seems quite sufficient.

SUPERFICIAL OBJECTIONS.

Let us now glance again at the opposition. Avolume, on the Natural History of the Human Spe-cies, by Charles Hamilton Smith, quite false in ma-ny of its facts, and as mischievous as false, has beenpublished recently in this country, and will, doubt-less, be widely circulated, especially by those towhom the thought of human brotherhood is abhor-rent. This writer says, after mentioning sundry factstouching the dense and spherical structure of thenegro head:


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" This very structure may influence, the erect gait, which occasionsthe practice common also to the Ethiopian, or mixed nations, of carry-ing burdens and light weights, even to a tumbler full of water, uponthe head."

No doubt this seemed a very sage remark to Mr.Smith, and quite important in fixing a character tothe negro skull, although different to that of Europe-ans. But if the learned Mr. Smith had stood, pre-vious to writing it, at our door, (a few days in suc-cession,) he might have seen hundreds of Germansand of Irish people, not bearing burdens of " lightweight," but of heavy weight, upon the same verticalextremity. The carrying of burdens upon the headis as old as Oriental Society; and the man writeshimself a blockhead, who attempts to find in thecustom a proof of original difference. On page 227,the same writer says:

" The voice of the negroes is feeble and hoarse in the male sex."

The explanation of this mistake in our author, isfound in the fact,that an oppressed people, in address-ing their superiors—perhaps I ought to say, their op-pressors—usually assume a minor tone, as less likelyto provoke the charge of intrusiveness. But it isridiculous to pronounce the voice of the negro feeble;and the learned ethnologist must be hard pushed, toestablish differences, when he refers to this as one.Mr. Smith further declares, that

" The typical woolly haired races have never discovered an alpha-bet, framed a grammatical language, nor made the least step in sci-ence or art."

Now, the man is still living, (or was but a few yearssince,) among the Mandingoes of the Western coastof Africa, who has framed an alphabet; and while


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Mr. Smith may be pardoned for his ignorance of thatfact, as an ethnologist, he is inexcusable for not know-ing that the Mpongwe language, spoken on bothsides of the Gaboon River, at Cape Lopez, Cape St.Catharine, and in the interior, to the distance of twoor three hundred miles, is as truly a grammaticallyframed language as any extant. I am indebted, forthis fact, to Rev. Dr. M. B. ANDERSON, President ofthe Rochester University; and by his leave,here is theGrammar—[holding up the Grammar.] Perhaps,of all the attempts ever made to disprove the unityof the human family, and to brand the negro withnatural inferiority, the most compendious and bare-faced is the book, entitled "Types of Mankind," byNott and Glidden. One would be well employed,in a series of Lectures, directed to an exposure ofthe unsoundness, if not the wickedness of this work.

THE AFRICAN EACE BUT ONE PEOPLE.

But I must hasten. Having shown that the peo-ple of Africa are, probably, one people; that eachtribe bears an intimate relation to other tribes andnations in that quarter of the globe, and that theEgyptians may have flung off the different tribes seenthere at different tlme3, as implied by the evidentrelations of their language, and by other similarities;it can hardly be deemed unreasonable to suppose,that the African branch of the human species—fromthe once highly civilized Egyptian to the barbarianson the banks of the Niger—may claim brotherhoodwith the great family of Noah, spreading over themore Northern and Eastern parts of the globe. I


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will now proceed to consider those physical peculi-arities of form, features, hair and calory, which.ar,esupposed by some men to mark the African, notonly as an inferior race, but as a distinct species, na-turally and originally different from the rest of man-kind, and as really to place him nearer to the brutethan to man.

THE EFFECT OF CIRCUMSTANCES UPON THE PHY-SICAL MAN.

I may remark, just here, that it is impossible, evenwere it desirable, in a discourse like this, to attendto the anatomical and physiological argument con-nected with this part of the subject. I am not equalto that, and if I were, the occasion does not requireit. The form of the negro—[I use the term negro,precisely in the sense that you use the term AngloSaxon ; and I believe, too, that the former will oneday be as illustrious as the latter]—has often beenthe subject of remark. His flat feet, long arms, highcheek bones and retreating forehead, are especiallydwelt upon, to his disparagement, and just as if therewere no white people with precisely the same pecu-liarities. I think it will ever be found, that the wellor ill condition of any part of mankind, will leave itsmark on the physical as well as on the intellectualpart of man. A hundred instances might be cited,of whole families who have degenerated, and otherswho have improved in personal appearance, by achange of circumstances. A man is worked upon bywhat he works on. He may carve out his circum-stances, but his circumstances will carve him out as

B322200


aowell. I tolil a boot maker, in New Castle upon Tyne,that'*! Kad been" a plantation slave. He said I mustpardon him; but he could not believe it; no planta-tion laborer ever had a high instep. He said he hadnoticed, that the coal heavers and work people in lowcondition, had, for the most part, flat feet, and thathe could tell, by the shape of the feet, whether aman's parents were in high or low condition. Thething was worth a thought, and I have thought ofit, and have looked around me for facts. There issome truth in it; though there are exceptions, in in-dividual cases.

The day I landed in Ireland, nine years ago, I ad-dressed, (in company with Father SPRATT, and thatgood man who has been recently made the subjectof bitter attack; I allude to the philanthropic JAMES

HATTGHTON, of Dublin,) a large meeting of the com-mon people of Ireland, on temperance. Never didhuman faces tell a sadder tale. More than five thou-sand were assembled; and I say, with no wish towound the feelings of any Irishman, that these peo-ple lacked only a black skin and woolly hair, to com-plete their likeness to the plantation negro. Theopen, uneducated mouth—the long, gaunt arm—thebadly formed foot and ankle—the shuffling gait—the retreating forehead and vacant expression—and,their petty quarrels and fights—all reminded me ofthe plantation, and my own cruelly abused people.Yet, that is the land of GKATTAN, of CUKKAN, ofO'CONNELL, and of SHEKIDAN. NOW, while what Ihave said is true of the common people, the fact is,there are no more really handsome people in the


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world, than the educated Irish people. The Irish-man educated, is a model gentleman ; the Irishmanignorant and degraded, compares in form and fea-ture, with the negro!

I am stating facts. If you go into Southern Jn-diana, you will see what climate and habit can do,even in one generation. The man may have comefrom New England, but his hard features, sallowcomplexion, have left little of New England on hisbrow. The right arm of the blacksmith is said tobe larger and stronger than his left. The ship car-penter is at forty round shouldered. The shoemakercarries the marks of his trade. One locality becomesfamous for one thing, another for another. Man-chester and Lowell, in America, Manchester andSheffield, in England, attest this. But what does itall prove ? Why, nothing positively, as to the mainpoint; still, it raises the inquiry—May not the con-dition of men explain their various appearances?Need we go behind the vicissitudes of barbarism foran explanation of the gaunt, wiry, ape like appear-ance of some of the genuine negroes ? Need welook higher than a vertical sun, or lower than thedamp, black soil of the Niger, the Gambia, the Sen-egal, with their heavy and enervating miasma, risingever from the rank growing and decaying vegeta-tion, for an explanation of the negro's color ? If acause, full and adequate, can be found here, whyseek further t

The eminent Dr. LATHAM, already quoted, saysthat nine tenths of the white population of the globeare found between 30 and 65 degrees North latitude.


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Only about one fifth of all the inhabitants of theglobe are white; and they are as far from the Ad-amic complexion as is the negro. The remainderare—what ? Hanging all the way from the brunettetqjet black. There are the red, the reddish coppercolor, the yellowish, the dark brown, the chocolatecolor, and so on, to the jet black. On the moun-tains on the North of Africa, where water freezes inwinter at times, branches of the same people whoare black in the valley are white on the mountains.The Nubian, with his beautiful curly hair, finds itbecoming frizzled, crisped, and even wroolly, as heapproaches the great Sahara. The Portuguese, whitein Europe, is brown in Asia. The Jews, who are tobe found in all countries, never intermarrying, arewhite in Europe, brown in Asia, and black in Africa.Again, what does it all prove ? Nothing, absolutely;nothing which places the question beyond dispute;but it does justify the conjecture before referred to,that outward circumstances may have somethingto do with modifying the various phases of humanity;and that color itself is at the control of the world'sclimate and its various concomitants. It is the sunthat paints the peach—and may it not be, that hepaints the man as well ? My reading, on this point,however, as well as my own observation, have con-vinced me, that from the beginning the Almighty,within certain limits, endowed mankind with organi-zations capable of countless variations in form, fea-ture and color, without having it necessary to begina new creation for every new variety.

A powerful argument in favor of the oneness of


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the human family, is afforded in the fact that nations,however dissimilar, may be united in one social state,not only without detriment to each other, but, mostclearly, to the advancement of human welfare, hap-piness and perfection. While it is clearly proved, onthe other hand, that those nations freest from for-eign elements, present the most evident marks ofdeterioration. Dr. JAMES MOCUNE SMITH, himself acolored man, a gentleman and scholar, alledges—and not without excellent reason—that this, our owngreat nation, so distinguished for industry and en-terprise, is largely indebted to its composite char-acter. We all know, at any rate, that now, whatconstitutes the very heart of the civilized world—(Iallude to England)—has only risen from barbarismto its present lofty eminence, through successiveinvasions and alliances with her people. The Medesand Persians constituted one of the mightiest empiresthat ever rocked the globe. The most terrible na-tion which now threatens the peace of the world^to make its will the law of Europe, is a grandpiece of Mosaic work, in which almost every na-tion has its characteristic feature, from the wildTartar to the refined Pole.

But, gentlemen, the time fails me, and I mustbring these remarks to a close. My argument hasswelled beyond* its appointed measure. "What Iintended to make special, has become, in its pro-gress, somewhat general. I meant to speak hereto-day, for the lonely and the despised ones, withwhom I was cradled, and with whom I have suffer-ed ; and now, gentlemen, in conclusion, what if all


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this reasoning be unsound ? What if the negro maynot be able to prove his relationship to Nubians,Abysinians and Egyptians? "What if ingenious menare able to find plausible objections to all argumentsmaintaining the oneness of the human race ? What,after all, if they are able to show very good reasonsfor believing the negro to have been created pre-cisely as we find him on the Gold Coast—along theSenegal and the Niger—I say, what of all this ?—" A man's a man for a1 that? I sincerely believe,that the weight of the argument is in favor of theunity of origin of the human race, or species—thatthe arguments on the other side are partial, superfi-cial, utterly subversive of the happiness of man, andinsulting to the wisdom of God. Yet, what if wegrant they are not so % What, if we grant that thecase, on our part, is not made out ? Does it follow,that the negro should be held in contempt ? Does itfollow, that to enslave and imbrute him is either^<stfor wise t I think not. Human rights stand upon acommon basis; and by all the reason that they aresupported, maintained and defended, for one varietyof the human family, they are supported, maintainedand defended for all the human family ; because allmankind have the same wants, arising out of a com-mon nature. A diverse origin does not disprove acommon nature, nor does it disprove a united des-tiny. The essential characteristics of humanity areeverywhere the same. In the language of the elo-quent CUREAF, "No matter what complexion, whetheran Indian or an African sun has burnt upon him," histitle deed to freedom, his claim to life and to liberty,


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to knowledge and to civilization, to society and toChristianity, are just and perfect. It is registeredin the Courts of Heaven, and is enforced by the elo-quence of the God of all the earth.

I have said that the negro and white man arelikely ever to remain the principal inhabitants of thiscountry. I repeat the statement now, to submit thereasons that support it. The blacks can disappearfrom the face of the country by three ways. Theymay be colonized,—they may be exterminated,—or,they may die out. Colonization is out of the ques-tion ; for I know not what hardships the laws of theland can impose, which can induce the coloredcitizen to leave his native soil. He was here in itsinfancy; he is here in its age. Two hundred yearshave passed over him, his tears and blood have beenmixed with the soil, and his attachment to the placeof his birth is stronger than iron. It is not probablethat he will be exterminated; two considerationsmust prevent a crime so stupendous as that—the in-fluence of Christianity on the One hand, and thepower of self interest on the other; and, in regardto their dying out, the statistics of the country af-ford no encouragement for such a conjecture. Thehistory of the negro race proves them to be wonder-fully adapted to all countries, all climates, and allconditions. Their tenacity of life, their powers ofendurance, their maleable toughness, would almostimply especial interposition on their behalf. Theten thousand horrors of slavery, striking hard uponthe sensitive soul, have bruised, and battered, andstung, but have not killed. The poor bondman lifts


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a smiling face above the surface of a sea of agonies,hoping on, hoping ever. His tawny brother, the In-dian, dies, under the flashing glance of the AngloSaxon. Not so the negro; civilization cannot killhim. He accepts it—becomes a part of it. In theChurch, he is an Uncle Tom; in the State, he is themost abused and least offensive. All the facts in hishistory mark out for him a destiny, united to Ame-rica and Americans. Now, whether this populationshall, by FREEDOM, INDUSTRY, VIRTUE and INTELLI-

GENCE, be made a blessing to the country and theworld, or whether their multiplied wrongs shall kin-dle the vengeance of an offended God, will dependupon the conduct of no class of men so much as uponthe Scholars of the country. The future publicopinion of the land, whether anti-slavery or pro sla-very, whether just or unjust, whether magnanimousor mean, must redound to the honor of the Scholarsof the country or cover them with shame. There isbut one safe road for nations or for individuals. Thefate of a wicked man and of a wicked nation is thesame. The flaming sword of offended justice falls ascertainly upon the nation as upon the man. God hasno children whose rights may be safely trampledupon. The sparrow may not fall to the ground with-out the notice of his eye, and men are more thansparrows.

Now, gentlemen, I have done. The subject is be-fore you. I shall not undertake to make the appli-cation. I speak as unto wise men. I stand in thepresence of Scholars. We have met here to-day fromvastly different points in the world's condition. I


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have reached here—if you will pardon the egotism—by little short of a miracle ; at any rate, by dint ofsome application and perseverance. Born, as I was,in obscurity, a stranger to the halls of learning, en-vironed by ignorance, degradation, and their con-comitants, from birth to manhood, I do not feel atliberty to mark out, with any degree of confidence,or dogmatism, what is the precise vocation of theScholar. Yet, this I can say, as a denizen of theworld, and as a citizen of a country rolling in thesin and shame of Slavery, the most flagrant and scan-dalous that ever saw the sun, "Whatsoever thingsare true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoeverthings are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatso-ever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of goodreport, if there be any virtue, and if there be anypraise, think on these things."


the claims of the negro, ethnologically considered

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