Year: 1867

To the Editor of the True American:


have just seen a report of a speech by
| the Hon. +. 7. Frelinghuysen at the late
Republican Convention of New Jersey,
which contains so many errors, scientific
and historical that have made up my
mind to ask little space in your columns
! for the consideration of few of them. |
shall not dwell upon the error, in the open.
ing Of his speech, where he declared that
! the religions of Greece and Rome denied
the imr ortality of the soul, for every class
ical scholar knows that the assertion is ut.
terly untrue. This attempt to prove the
unity Of the races of men by the text OF
Paul that God has made of one blood all
nations of men, is peculiarly unfortunate,
for it would prove too much for his cause,
as it would prove that the negro does not
belong to the human race; for it is well
known that his blood is, chemically, a very
different fluid from that which courses in
the veins of the white man. This is affirm
ed by every author, without exception, who
has written upon the subject. (See Hunt,
Caldwell, and Pouchet)


But, the truth is, that there is, in the
most ancient Greek manuscripts Of this
text of Paul, no such word as oaimatoS or
Jlood. Sec Tichendorf, the text Of Gle
mems Alexandrinus, and the Codez Fdtt-
canuS. 1t was the unity of the godhead,
and not of the different races of men, that
Paul was preaching about at Mars Hill
The distinguished gentleman said: The
doctrine Of the unity of the races is essen
tial to the maintenance Of the true relations
of the race to God and man." Is such an
argument worthy of the gentleman? As
we'll may he say that the doctrine OF the
unity Of birds and animals is essential to
the maintenance of their true relations to
God and to each other. The relations be-
tween God and created beings is that of
Creator and creature. The owl is nole the
less God creature, because it is not an
eagle, nor the ass because it is not horse.
The difference between the horse and the
ass is certainly not greater than between
the white man and the negro. But the
Hon. Mr.. Frelinghuysen does not find it
necessary to believe that the ass is horse
in order to maintain the true relation be-
tween God and his creatures.


On the other hand, it is precisely neces-
sary to Gtiirm and respect the difference be-
tween the horse and the ass in order to
maintain the true relation Of those creatures
to each other and to their Creator. By
yoking them up together you violate the ma
ture and rights Of each, precisely as you
would by W king together, in the same poll
ty, the white man and the negro There
is no rule by which the ass is made a differ
ent species from the horse that does not
prove the negro to be q different species Of
man from the white race. Indeed there
are no such wide differences between the
brain of the horse and the ass as there are
between the brain of the white man and the
negro The negro brain is not only less in
size, differently shaped but the number Of
its convolutions are less, and its color and
vital chemistry are different. 1t is the uni.
versal testimony cf all learned comparative
psychologists that The negro brain does not
bear a nearer Resemblance to the white race
than it does to that of the anthropoid apes.
That is, in the structure and composition OF
his brain the negro is as far below the white
race on the one hand, as he is above the
man-like apes on the other. Then, taking
the negros anatomy, there is not a bone in
his body that is, either in.its shape, its rela-
tive size. or its composition, like that OF a
white man. The total of the negrO's ana
tony does not resemble that of the white
race more than it does that of the great
apes.


This fact isafiirmed by every learned COM
parative anatomist who has written upon
the subject-See, Vogt, Buchner, Pruner,
Bey, PoucheS, Hunt, Agassiz, Wyman,
Caldwell and Cuvier. What is the use Of
politicians affirming the equality, or the pos
sible equality Of the negro with the white
race, in the fact of these universal insur
mountablc proofs of science2 A society to
convert the shape and composition of the
negro S bones into those of the white race
or to give him hair instead of WOOL or a
white skin instead of a black one, or to put
a bone in his nose, more air-celles into his
lungs, and more pores in his skin, would be
as wise as the effort to make him in end
other respects the equal OF the white race.
The Irish and the Germans with whom the
distinguished gentleman compares the ne
grOes, are of his own species OF men-heve
the same capacity of brain, and in a word,
are the same race. This race is no more to
be compared with the negro than the negro
is to be compared with the gorilla or the
Borneo orang.


The gentlaman says: ''lOng inhabiting
the torred zone, or other cause, has so affec-
led the negro that the same light makes
him one color, and makes us another" 1t
is possible that he does not know that the
negro was painted upon the monumental
walls cf Egypt five thousand years ago
precisely as he is at the II sent GaE Does
he not krow that various branhes Of he
white race have lived in Africa for five
thousand years without becoming negros, or
even showing the least sign of change in
their physical type?
Again he says: "Want of education
through long line of descent has been
unfriendlyto the development Of the brain.
When was it that the negroes OF Africa were
wanting in the opportunities of education?
We know it is not less than five thousand
years since the people of Egypt, and later,
of Abyssnia undertook to educate and civ
ilize the natives of negro land. Two thou
and four hundred years ago the Carthagin-
ans made most determined effort to do
the same thing By colonizing ell the way
along from the Pillars OF Hercules to the
Blight of Bennim. Then, atterward, the
Romans followed. Then other various white
Asiatics.
But all these stupendo,ls effotS to siviizc
wild Africa, or to educate the negro iii tie
arts and restraints of civilization proved ut
terly useless, except when and where he
was held as the subject of the white race.
! Ever since the sixth century Of the Chris
| tiap era what tremendous efforts have been
made to civlize or educate the negro tribes
of Africa. but only with results that are
not merely disheartening, but appalling!
If Is estimated that, since the beginning ot
the historic period, not less than six hun
dred millions OF whito men have I've
| Africa. But to what effect has this per


n, tual light shone over the darkness OF ne


GRO land? In all this time, and in despite


of all the efforts to tame and educate then


the negroes have remained as stationary as


the apes. They have never anywhere ado


pted, exccpt upon comImlsion, the white


mans civilization; and nowhere have they


eyer retained that involuntary civilization i


again left to themselves. Witness Hayti
Jamaica, Trinidad, Peru, Surinam; o