The mountain Democrat. [volume] (Placerville, El Dorado County, Calif.) 1863-1943, 1865-01-28

barbarian chiets tor. tha abolition OF .
custorN VNS wEScs~- tNsS -%SSSa;2Sts. and Of .
tra6fc by wnich they are eG1e6ed. Yhe
negro viii work when he 10 compelled,
and abandon his savage habits only when
forced under the influences Of . civilized
master and If We are not prepared To-
apply that compulsion, we may be sure
that he will continue to prefer slave-hunt-
ing to the laborious cultivation Of palm
oil, and to delight his eyes with tho DEATH
agony Of as many fellow creatures a. be
can afford to kill.
In his recent attack upon AbbeokutA,
undertaken soon after the close Of Captain
Burton's mission, Gelele sustained sig.
nal defeat and the power Of Dahome 70,
ceived blow from which it is not likely
to recover. The overthrow Of this ferO-
cious and aggressive kingdom will no
doubt be blessing to its neighbors but
the barbarism Of AbbeokutA is hardly less
laetbsozse tham'rnat OI' Agboms; nor is It
likely that the rich territory Of Dahome
will be cultivated by industrious and
peaceful laborers while it remains under
negro rule. The only hope for the negro
race lies in the presence and control OF
white men under that control, as in the
Southern States Of America, they improve
to such degree Of civilization as their no.
ture and intellectual capacity permit;
without it, as in Africa, they remain in
the most miserable bondage and the most
loathsomc barbarjsm; removed from 1t,
they rapidly sink back into their native
savagery. 1t may be doubted whether
Africa has gained anything by the SUBJ
stitution Of English rule for that of other
races, who, if they thought less highly Of
the negro expected less from him, and
we're therefore more patient with his
shortcomings. The men Of the Southern
States alone Of all the English race have
been successful in the management Of
Africans. Z "'' '.'
Captain Burton, in common with almost
every one else who has ever had any thing
to do with negroes, has no mercy on that
theory which supposes them to be simply
Caucasian men with dark skins, aud sup.
poses color to be the sole distinction be.
tween the slave iace ard its masters. On
the natural and incurable inferiority Of
the negro to the white man, he dwells o.
strongly as any Southern Psychologist,
and warmly accepts the views announced
by DR.. Hunt, and so i'll received by what
he describes as the Ignorant" party in
England. lie lashes with just severity
the fools who imaginc,as many Abolition.
lists have asserted, that Athanasius, Ori.
gen, and Tertulian were negroes, because
they lived in Africa ii. e. Egypt and
Libya, then settled by the Greeks and
Italians); and the knaves who instance
mulattoes and quadroons as examples Of
negro intelligence, eoncealing altogether
the fact of their double origin. With
similar severity be treats some Of the false.
hoods lately propagated by itinerant mu-
latto agents of the Abolitiohists. The
following remarks point to source Of
error that is too generally overlooked in
all controversies on this question:
The second error is the confusion Of
the negroid, the Semitisised, or noble AZ
rican, with the ignobe pure negro. This
is more venial error than the Rrst, be-
cause chronological knowledge is requisite
to draw the distinction, but its effects are
even worse. The traveller is ever falling
into this pit, and the mass observers is
as yet hardly aware Of the distinction Of
the alphabet invented by the Val or Va.
hic-a race cognate with the MaHdenga
and cognisant Of the Koran. Commander
Forbes remarks: GLOW far we must
have mistaken the Africans constitution"
Mr.. Winwood Reade proposes to apply
the term NEGRO" to the maritime races,
and AFRICAN" to those of the interior !;
/ h,,k - ho oootnnI
tribes as purely negro as on the coast
Others would assume 10 N. latitude, and
the same line south Of the equator as the
boundaries of the race; in the interior,
however, it crosses both these limits, nor
has any frontier been traced by travellers.
AS have said, the fctor is the grand dis
crimen; thus we distinguish the Somali
Semitic and freeman from his slave neigh
Dor the KisawahiIl, and the Asiatic Mala.
cash from the negro Johanna-man, who
will call himself an offset from the noble
Arabian KurAyah. By not attending to
this distinction between mobiles and igno-
bles, the Moor of Venice has been repre-.
sented as ''nigger." When such men
as Toussaint rOuverture C'The Opener')
are quoted as "full blooded blacks" we
must discover, before asserting to that
proposition, what was their descent
They might be of lIansn, or other Semiti-
cised blood and this would be confound.
ing Norman with Saxon. The negroid
has taken long step in the way of pro-
gress; for the Arab and the negro, as
might he expected, combine better than
the European and the black. Ell Islam,
by forbiding impure meats and spirtuOus
! liquors, by enjoining ablutions and decent
dress, and by discouraging monogamy
and polyandry, has improved the Africans
physique, and through it, by inevitable
sequence, his morale. Itis cognate and
a coagenGl civilization, not one imported
from 1900 miles Of latitude, and sitting
groteSqucly upon the black mind, as the
accompanying vestments upon the sable
body--both being made contemplate by
the contrast or what is and what ought
to be. The pure negro does not exist In
Scptenrional or in Southern Africa. North
of the Sahara men are more Semiti than
Hamit;c, and resemble the peoples Of
southern Europe more than they do the
typical negro. have elsewhe given
reasons for suspecting in the great Kaffr
family considerable mixture Of Arab,
Persian and other Asiatic blood.
In Captain Burton's works we find
more abundant information concerning
the various African races than is contain
ed in the writings Of any other traveller 4,
combined with practical sense and con.
tempt for sentimental theories which en-
titles him to peculiar confidence. 1t is .
pity that the vehemence Of his language
should occasionally detract from the
dignity which BELTS an impartial witness,
and that his attacks on all who differ with
] him chnnld he So Gerca as to nrnvnka a