Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1867-11-27
"What is the EthnologicaI Status of the
NeerOl,,

Last week We spoke of very remarkable pam
phlct, lately published in Cincinnati, on the eth
biological status Of the negro, designed to prove
that he is not the descendant of Ham that he is
a beast; that niscegenation was the cause of the
food, of the destruction of the tower of Babel, of
Sedan aud Gomorrah, and of the Canaanitish
nations; and that mscegenation is " the unpar-
donable sin" which in the rature of things, can
not be forgiven, but must be punished by the do
struction of those who commit it.
This pamphlet, as wo before retaarked, is at
tracing great attention among whites and Lacks
both North and South; and is being answered, in
more than one place in the South, so far as it at
tempts to make the negro ga beast" and incapa-
BILE of moral and religious elevation. This weaFe
glad to see for surely in this atemptto make the
negro beast, there is something blasphemous,
inhuman, and absurd.
"Ariel," the author of this work, ASSERTS that
tho people of India, China, Turkey and Egypt
who are very far from being negroes-are the de-
scendauts of Ham; and that Oncgro is prinsi-
tive race older than the white, and very far infe-
rier; in which opinion, to be sure, be has been
fotcstaled by vary celebrated British traveller
and e1plorer-Sir Samuel Baker, the discoverer
of the source of the Nile.
The latter thinks that Africa gives unmistaka-
Bile evidences of never having been flooded, and
that its animals and races may, therefore, de
older than any others upon the earth.
However, il were vain for us to follow "ArieP
through all the scrptural and historical proofs Of
his position. But VIC may remark that, afef
showing that the Cenaauitish nations, whose mis-
cradle and terrible destruction has often seemed
hard to Biblc readers, were miscegenationists for
whom nothing but determination would do, be-
cause nothing else would obliterate their crime,
he lays decided stress on the fact that their cup
Of n:quity was full in the fourth generation" SO
that the external vengeance agreed with the
ordinary laws Of nature.
And, at the Same time that we arc shocked at
any attempt toprove so fatal and horrible thing
as the negro being "beast," without soul or
moral nature, yet, in view of the ndisputable
moral, mental and physical inferiority of the
negro to the white man, We think it we'll enough
that something should be written to stnrlle the
masses of tho North, and unite them against ne
gro suffrage, supremacy, equality, and amalgama-
ton. And we understand that this pamphlet
we'll calculated as it is for popular effects hav
ing wide circulation there.
In conclusion, it asserts that, from tho time Of
Abraham, who owned several hundred slaves,
down to the days of Washington and Jefferson,
Divine Providence "never conferred, and never
designed to confer, any great blessing on the
human family, but that it always selected white
slave holder, or one of n white slave holding no
ton, as the medium by or through which that
blessing should reach them"
1t is also argued that the negro -aust either be
sent back to Africa, or be rc-cuslavcd; and that
tho former is much the preferable alternative.
The people of the South are exhortcd to see the
fnger, Of Providence in passing events, 10 do
nothing to invite negro equality, to submiSto Ho
laws, and to believe that tho right will fhallybe
triumphant
And another striking point in this pamphlet
ono which We had forgotten until this moments
that Ariel" dwells. with considerable emphasis
upon that injunction of the law of Moses forbid
ding any one with a fat nose" to approach the
altar.
AS VIC have said above, this argument, so far as
it attempts to make the negro "a beast and In
capable of moral and religious elevation, is being
ably answered here and there. And very lately,
in IN elaborate and carefully considered discourse,
by Row DR.. Girardeau of Charleston, Presbyte-
rian diriDe of great learning and ability, and of
the highest character.
This striking md remarkable pamphlet may be
had from the Holmes Book House" in Charlca-
ton, or from Quinn, in Augusta.