Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1867-05-03
o lie Republican.
A Man OK q Monkey

~ w II IA Va a. " "
The connection betwe religion and
sc fence, and the striking ways in which
they change and mould each other, is one
of the most interesting facts of our times
1t might be supposed, if we had no proof
to the contrary, that men would not be at
variance as regards the evidence of their
senses, especially as to common objects and
every day occurrences. 1t would hardly
be thought possible that men should need
the light of revelation to show them wheth-
er the sun moved round the earth or the
earth round the sun and il would be
thought by most unbiased minds a very ex-
traOr binary proceeding, to turn to any dog
ma o religion TO settle the question wheth-
er all men are descendants of one single
pair or not. These and the like INQUIRIES
would seem to be strictly within the do
main of natural science, and any knowI
edge respecting them TO be found in a dill
lgent use OF mans senses and powers of
observation, and not by recourse TO secta-
rian creeds or religious doctrines But as
matter of fact we find that many such
questions regarding the nature and econo-
my of the world, and the structure and
characteristics Ofits inhabitants, have been
determined. not by the use of experiment
and the employment of the senses, but by
reasoning from supposed high moral
grounds and received religious truths So
far from being guided by the evidence :,
their senses about things rs 10 which the
senses would seem 10 be the only means
81 knowledge, men deliberately ignore
their evidence, and are governed bv their
moral and religious creeds and teachings
Us regards mankind, nothing has been
more common in the history Of the race.
than for the physical qualities, looks and
habits of one people to be determined by
another without any reference to what
they actually are as judged by sight or
hearing, but solely as they are supposed to
be in the light of some political truth, some
social necessity, or some religious require
ment. To the Greek any other man was
only an outside barbarian, with but few of
the physical characteristics of a true man,
and hardly any human rights or prer oga-
ives. "A Roman citizen was entitled to ev-
cry consideration from every Roman, but
to him who was not they hardly allow ed
either the natural right or the mere bodily
qualifications of ordinary human nature
In our own time, among the most civilized
nations, there are to be found large classes
OF people who are believed ifhuman to be
so only in very low nature, and possess
ing, with degraded and inferior blood.
but few of the genuine qualities, and hardly
any of the acknowledged rights of human
ity.
The question whether the negro is a man,
or only an upper class monkey, had IFS or
igin in this habit of making political and
social necessities and passions, and certain
moral and religious opinions and REQUIRE
ments, the guide and authority in matters
OF natural history. Changes in political or
social condition. with broader morality
and truer religion, alter at once the whole
bodily appearance and physical character
istics of the negro. He no longer looks so
black as he did, or i: he has the same depth
of color il has attained far more agreeable
hue; bis shin has lost very much of its ug-
ly crook his wool is fast turning into curl !
ed and shining black hair. and the smell
that was said to be so offensive TO both
gods and men, is no longer perceived or as
serted TO be the same smell that all men
have under the same circumstances. All |
the monkey is fast fading out from the ne
groe's structure, and the man is rapidly ia !
king its place. Now our eyes are not our |
noses, and all our fine senses remain as !
they were, and the negro in all his physi- |
Cal attributes is just what he was, and yet |
he neither looks the same nor smells the I
same, nor is the same as he was. All this !
transformation has been brought about 1
simply by our looking at him from new !
political Al religious stand point Things |
and persons. are, we are told, just what we |
make them 10 be. c. long as we made
the negro a slave, we were obliged 10 loo. !
upon him as vegJ low kind of creature. /
ugly, malformed and not more than half
human, if not altogether brute Because
only such kind of creatures are fit for slaves.
and the eternal fitness of things, and the
most solemn religious teachings, compelled /
us 10 regard him as less than man if he was
to be treated as brute. Under this over
ruling necessity our senses Welded TO the
pressure, our eyes reported him half mon
ster and hall brute. our noses bore the same
false witness, and natural science after the
most learned investigation proved, beyond
a doubt, that, considered both anatomical
ly and physilogically, he was only higher
Kind of baboon.
The political and social condition hav
ing been all changed. and thus fair and
free field having been laid open for the OPP
Grafton of moral and religious truth, we
lind an almost miraculous change wrought
at once in the physical nature OF the black
man. lie don't look any longer rs he did:
he don't smell as he used to smell. and
having put off the slave he has put on the
man. Natural science is reviewing and
revising all its conclusions. Social science,
in place OF thrusting him down and putting
him beneath lis feet, takes him by the hand
and tells him to go UP higher. Religious
science sees no traces of the monkey in
him, but even calls him man and broth
er. Our senses are no longer made the
fools of ouI political ambition or our social
pride, and eyes and nose affirm the negro
to be man.--CYic. Trib.