The southern press. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1851-10-22
From the Frederiek,busg (Ya.) Chriaisa Banner
Unity or Races.

We are happy 10 find That the celebrated phi
losopher and traveller, Humboldt, maintains the
christian and humane doctrine of the unity OF
the human species. The following extract Is
from his last worE. Cosmos, and is distinguished
by noble spirit of humanity:
Whilst we maintain the unity Of the human
species, we at the same time repel the depressing
assumption of superior and inferior races ol
men. There are nations more susceptible oil
cultivation, more highly civilized, more ennobled
by mental cultivation, than Others, but none, in
themselves, nobler than others. All are in like
degree designed for freedom; freedom which
in the ruder conditions Of society belongs only
to the individual but which in social States, en-.
joying political institutions, sppertsins as right
10 the whole body Of the community.
@If we would indicate 81 dsa which through.
out the whole course Of history has even more
and more widely extended its empire, or which
more than any other testifes TO the mnch con-
tested and still more decidedly misunderstood
perfectbility Of the whole human race, Il IL that
Of establishing our common humanity-of
striving 10 remove the barriers which prejudice
and limited views Of every kind have erected
amongst men, and TO treat all mankind, without
reference 10 religion, nations, or order, as one
fraternity, the great community, fitted for the
attainment Of oos object, the unrestrained de-
velopments Of the physical powers. This is
the ultimate and highest aim Of society, identi-
cal with the direction implanted by nature in
the mind Of man towards the indefinite exten.
sion Of his existence. He regards the earth in
all its limits, and the heavens as far as his eye
can scan their bright and starry depths, "a in
wardly his own, given 10 him rs the objects Of
his conten plation, and as a field for the devel-
opement OF his energies. Even the child longs
10 pass the hills or the sess which enclose his
narrow home; yet when his eager steps have
bore him beyond those limits, he pines, like the
plant, for hi. native soil; and il is by this
touching and beau'ifu attribute Of man-this
longing for that which is unknown, and this
fond remembrance Of that which is lost-that
he is spared from an exclusive attachment 10
the present. Thus deeply rooted in the in
nermost nature Of man, aud even enjoined
upon him by his highest tendencies, the recog
milton Of the bond Of humanity becomes one Of
the noblest eading principles in the history OF
mankind. y Wilhelm ron Humboldt, Ueber die
haUi Spra.he, ID. iii, s. 426
with these words, which draw their charm
from the depths Of feeling, let brother be per.
mitted to close this general description Of the
natural phenomena Of the universe. From the
remotest nebule, and from the revolving double
stars, we have descended TO the minutest organ.
isms Of animal creation, whether manifest in the
depths Of ocean or on the surface Of our globe
and 10 the delicate vegetable germs which clothe
the naked declivty OF the icecrowded mountain
summit; and here we have been able to arrange
these phenomena according TO partially known
laws but other laws of a more mysterious ma
ture rule the higher spheres Of the organic world
10 which is comprised the human species In all
its varied conformation, its creative intellectual
power, and the language TO which Il has given
existence. A physical defamation Of nature ter
inmates at the point where the sphere of intel
lect begins, and new world Of mind is opened
to our view. II marks the limit, but does not
pass IL"