Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1853-02-05
African Character
BY EDWARD EVERETT.

] say again, Sir, you Caucasian, you proud
Anglo Saxon, you selfsuilicent, attempting
White man, you cannot civilize Africa You
have suldued and appropriated Europe, tho
native races nre melting before YOU in Amer
lea, MS the untinely SHOWS of April before q
veruul sun I; you have possessed yourself Of
India; you menace China aud Japan; tho
renotcst isles of The Pacific are not distant
enough to csrapc your grasp, not insigniii-
cant enough to elude your notice /; but Cen
lral Africa cnnironts you, and bids you defi-
nncc. Your squndrons may range or blockade
her cOnst, but ncitlIer on the erands OF peace
nor the errauGs of war, can you penetrate 10
the interior. The God of Nature, no doubt
for wise purposes, however, inscrlinhe has
drawn across the chief nlrts Gordon you
cannot break through. You may hover on
the coast, hut you dare not set foot on shore.
Death sits FORTRESS AT the undeiended gate
ways of her mudbnilt villages yellow and
intermittent levcrs, blue plngues aud poi
snns that you can see us well us feel, await
your approach. As YOU ascend the river,
pes,llence shoots from the mnngroves that
fringe their noble hanlks, aud the glorious
| sun, which l,indles all inferior nature into
tetniDg, bursting lite, darts Gisense into your
system. No, you are not elected for this mo-
mentous work. The great Disposer, ia an
other branch of his family, has chosen out
race-dcscendnnlS of this torrid region, chill
! dren OF this vertical sun-and fitted them,
by agrs of stern diciplinc, for the gracious
achievement.
From foreign realms and lands remote, support
cd by His care,
They pass unharmed through burning elimcs,
and breath the tainted mir
Sir, believe the auspicious work is begun:
that Africa will he civilzed-civiliZed by her
returning offspring aud descendants; | he
lleve il, because | will not think of this nigh
~ aud fertile region is TO remain forever in
its present siaie-hecnuse can see 10 other
agency adequate to the accomplishment of
the work, aud do behold in this agency
iuosi mysterious fitness. | am aware that
doubts arc entertained of the prclicability of
the work, founded, in part, on the supposed
incnpncity Of tie civilized men of color in this
| countryto carry oh an undertaking oftlis kind
aud parity on tho supposed hopeless birbar-
isH of the native races, which is thought by
some persons 10 be so gross MS to defy tho
APPROACH Of Improvement. II would, think,
be unjust to urge, ms n proof of The intellec-
tial uleriorily Of the civilized men of color
in this country. that they have not made
much intellectual progress. 1t appears TO
me that they have done quite as much as
could be expected from them under the de-
pressing circumstances in which they have
been placed. Whn, branch of the Europe
an family, it held in the same condition for
three centuries, would not be subject to the
same rcprorch? Mr. Jefferson, in his Notes
ON Nirsininy urges the intellectual intirmity
of the African race, as existing in the United
States lie might have been led TO doubt
| the justice of his conclusions, by reflccting
| that IN the very same work he thinks it is
necessary 10 vindicalo the race to which We
| ourselves belong from n charge of degener-
cy, made by an ingenious French writer
| Why, Sr,.it il but n short time since we
Anglo-Amerlcans were hahiiually spoken of
| ly our brethren in England us a degenerate
aud inferior race. Within thirty years il has
been contemporary asked in the liberal Jour-
nails Of Europe, in reference TO the natives
of the country of Franklin and Washington,
aud Adams and Marshall, aud Jefferson and
Madison, Of Irving, Prescott, Bancroft, Tick
uor Bryant and Longtellow, "Who reads
an American book Z" In the face Of iacts
| like these, it becomes us to be somewhat
cautious IN setting duwn the colored race in
! America as one OF hopeless mierioriiy.
Again, Sir, it is doubled whether there is
in the native races Of Africa, basis Of im-
| prOvability il may use thai word, in which
a hope OF their iuturc civilization can be
grounded. 1t is said that they alone, of all
the tribes Of earh, have shown themselves
incapable Of improving their condition. Well
Sir, who knows that? /? OF the early history
of our race we know but little, IN any part
of the globe. dark cloud hangs over il.
The whole North and West OF Europe, till
tho Roman civilization shone in upon il, was
as henighed ms Alrcn is now. II is quito
certain that AZ avery early period OF the his
tory of the world, some of the native races
of Africa had attained high degree of cul-
lure. Such was the case Of tile ancient
Egyptians, dark colored race, thought not
OF what we call tho negro type. They are