The southern press., 1851-04-08
From the Richmond Examiner. /.
The Negro Race.

| In the able and learned lectures of Mr.. Gid
don, our attention was particularly excited by
his accounts Of the antiquities in the Egyptian
| province of Meroe because those antiquities
constitute the most striking illustration of Negro
civilization which history and archaeology can
produca. Meroe was country on the Nile
above Egypt When the last named and most
| famous seat Of ancient civilization was overrun
| by Cambyses, and the other cruel conquerors, a
portion of the inhabitants retreated up the river,
and established themselves in Meroe Hher
they transported their old forms of government
and of worship, their old arts and their antique
customs They built temples, and excavated
tombs; they erected obelisks they covered them
with Inscriptions in their hierogyphc alphabet,
and the inscriptions and sculptures which date
with the first generations of :his colony, are
| found to be as perfect as those OF the Lower
Nile. But the colony was cnt off from the body
of the nation by intervening deserts and fierce
nomads The number of emigrants was never
increased from the old race. Necessarily, the
men were in great disproportion to the women,
and they were forced to take their wives and
concubincs from the capives which they made
in their wars with the surrounding and barbarous
tribes Now, the Egyptians were ohite nlen.
but these tribes were negroes. Hence the second
generation Of the Meroeites were mulattoes-
! The process of anal gamation continued. They
formed har ms from their sable captives, and by
their sable purchases; so that the third genera
ton were Samboes. The next were still nearer
the negro type; and the work proceeded until
all traces of Caucasian blood disappeared, and
Meroe was inhabited by a pure black race like
that of the vast regions on its boundaries
The interesting Circumstance connected with
these facts, is the continued deterioration in the
sculptura remains of the country, and their fin.
al cessation with the disappearance of the
white blood. The inscriptions and portraits of
the original omigrants, as before sad are equal
to those of the Old Empire. But in these of
their muatto children, there is a great differ
ence--The sculpture is clumsy; the nscrip-
tons in bad grammer and in worse orthogra-
ply The next are inferior even to these and
| in the succeeding generation it becomes evident
that they had wholly lost the language, and no
! longer understood what they wrote The in.
scriptions are nothing more than miserable CO.
pies from the earlier works so that on a tomb
which is evidently of late date, will be found
badly executed copy of the inscription on the
tomb ofits owners great grandfather-even the
date and name being unaltred. After that, they
lost even the power of ineligible imitation, and
few scrawis on uncarven rocks are the latest
remains that are found. The Meroecites then
cease to be Egyptians even in the name and ira
dition. They have forgotten language, govern
ment, religion and arts. They have no build
ings, and no enduring tombs. The province is
no longer distinguished from the country The
race has reapsed into absolute negro barbarism.
This illustration of their ncapacity, not me: ely
TO attain civilization, but even to retain it when
given them, is a type Of the universal history of
the negro race. The world has their history in
its hands for space of nearly five thousand
wears Negroes appear on the sculptures of old
Egypt But in that mutitudinons country they
were utterly valueess. The Egyptians consid-
cred them too stupid to be worth teaching even
agricultural drudgery and we only see their fig
ures when led ms captives in the triumph of some
belligerent Pharaoh. From that day until this
the negro has never appeared save in three forms
Of existence Captivity, barbarism, or slavery
The last is the highest form of social life of
which experience at least permits us to suppose
him cannibal.
| Circumstances would never have kept down
any race for five thousand years, which were ca
pable of rising into civilization. All the white
races have been in time barbarian; but all lis
branches have in time left it, and attained their
natural grades of civilization. But the negro
has never left the lowest type of barbarism save
for captivity or slavery In the vast continent of
Africa they have always existed in Millions with
no circumstances to depress them. But there,
we never hear Of them save cannibal savages.
NO such thing az n negro government has
ever existed in Africa. Petty Kingdoms have
and do exist there,--some with so called cities
like Timbuctoo. But the bare-breeched rulers
in all these kingdoms are Moors or Fellahs--a
branch of the Arab family; and the people of
Timbuctoo are Arabs and Fellahs The Repub-
lie OF Liberia can scarcely be called an excep-
ton, since it is watched and guided by the colo
nization society, supported on all sides by Eng
land and by other governments, is reinforced
every year from the United States, and is gov
erned by muattoes. Even with all this assist
auce, it is evidently falling to pieces in the grow
J ing barbarism OF the people. DR.. Mechlin, who