Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1868-03-05
MEMPHIS TENNESSEE. THURSDAY EVENING. MARCH s. 1868

| larger nhlfc populatiOu Wltnout tuhl
struggle taking place, II the vital energy
Of the race had not gone. But there Il
no doubt that whenever two races come
in contact with each other in country q
struggle for power ensues-ior power
means existence-and never yet tive
races have been found 70 live in peace
and harmony. The progressive and most
intelligent race being the aggressors.
| Hence you see the Caucasian going az
gressively all over the world-forcing
China and japan TO open their rivers
aud ports 10 them; subjugating India
and many other countries. We do not
see the Chinese aud Japanese come to
us in a high-handed manner aud demand
from us what we ask Of them Butthere
was time when the Chinese did the
same to the countries that surrounded
them. Progression, development Of the
mind, is aggressive. Stagnation is death
TO race. Progression is friendly till II
meets with opposition, then it is aggres
sive. Whatever may be the causes which
have led to the disintegration OF the hu-
man family in so many types aud races,
/ see only the theory Of the origin Of
species by means Of natural selection,
aud the tendency Of varieties to depart
indefinitely from the original type, TO &C.
count for the changes which have taken
place in the human family. This theory
is, it seems to me, the only one by which
we can account for these changes. We
cannot tell what was the original type OF
man, and we know that we have de.
parted from IL. The permanency oi
type is so strong that when they have
disappeared cannot as we'll as the Ian
guage can never be revived. The In
dian by no possible way will revive in
America after the race has died away,
and the same may be said Of the negro,
the Australian, Polenysiau, and other
races. No amount of time will ever
make the Caucasian type, of which the
white man inhabiting those countries is
the representative, go back to the types
of the savsges, which should be the case
if the climate is the cause of the changes
that have taken place in the human
family. | do not believe in the theory
at all. Take the equatorial climate all
over the world. Under and near the
equator it is very nearly alike-plenty
of sand, powerful sun and plenty OF
moisture. The American race Is
different from the negro, though
| living exactly under the same climate.
Take Africa itself-what number
of different people having different types
live there. Arabia is separated from
Africa by narrow arm of the sea, is in
habited by a race quite different from
.Lot &C cr;oa IN tha npnae;fa o;da
remarkable fact is, that the races which
are disappearing now are in no way
physically inferior to their progenitors !;
they have not become dwarfed. The In
dian of the present day is quite as tall
and powerful as the Indian of the former
times. The comparison of their bony
frame shows this assertion to be fact
The tribes of negroes which are now fast
disappearing are in no way inferior to
those who preceded them. We may say
the same of the Australian, Polynesian,
and so forth. There are people who have
made the rash assertion that they begin
to see in the Caucasian race in America
slight tendency toward the Indian type
among the old settlers. If it took place
we would constantly deteriorate, and this
we do not; for the discoveries and inven.
tions made here show in the plainest man.
ner that the inventive genius is at least
equal, and should say more progressive
than in the older Carcasians in Europe.
AS long as there is progression there can
be no deterioration; hence the Caucasians
do not go back toward the Indians. Indeed
| go further and say that, as believe in
progression in the Caucasian race, ]
foresee the time when the race will show
signs of more life, more energy, more in
tellectual development than the people
of Europe. Indeed they show it already.
This attribute chiefly to the intermix-
ing of the different families of the Cau-
casian race, which | consider most bene-
fetal. In Europe you find that the
countries where there has been the
greatest admixture are those who stand
the highest in intellectual development
Such are England and France and Ger
many. While the admixture of the diff
ferent families of the same race is bene-
fetal. and is necessary to keep the
standard of the race, the admixture of
two distinct types is most injurious. The
permanency of type is so strong that a
third race cannot be made by the cross
ing of the type. This hybridization is
not beneficial. Wherever 1t has taken
place on large scale it has poi
soned the whole population. 1t |
has been most injurious. Mexico, st. |
Domingo, and other countries are living |
examples to warn us against this viola
ton of the law of nature, which for some |
cause has degenerated the human family. |
Admitting for single moment, which |
would certainly be contrary to the teach
ing of the facts, that by the crossing Of
superior and inferior race the inferior
gains, the superior loses. | should con-
slider it a great misfortune for mankind
if the doctrine of the crossing of races
should prevail and be put in practice.
should be sorry to see high type
Caucasian marry Hottentot Australian
for the sake of improving them. Hap
PLY the law for natural selection is so
strong for the preservation of the favored
races that / know it cannot take place
on a large scale, and that the adage that
birds of the same feather flock together
is very true. The violation of that law
brings no good, for mongrels and hybriss
among mea cannot, as have said, form
a type of their own hence must dis
appear, and do disappear. The present
races of men, as they now stand, can
never 90 to a primitive type of which
we have no know ledge whatever but
not only all the races cannot 60 to
that primitive type of which they have
departed, but we see no new
type spring from them. Now the ques-
ion: Though permanency Of types di-
rides the human family, can ell the races
of mankind, as they now stand, become
,o-equal in their developments do they
possess the same progressive power1 It
will strike you 81 once that originally
here must haye been causes which have
al l.. |