superior intelligence and virtue, strongly evin groundlessness of the opinion that they are inca filling a higher rank than that of Slavery, and demo also, that human nature is too generous and har wholly destroyed in the most unpropitious state. frequently witness in this class "a superior physic lopment, a grace of form and motion, which almost a feeling approaching respect."

H. C. Howells, of Pittsburg, U. S., made the f statement in the Anti-Slavery Convention, in in 1843. "There are in Pittsburg 2500 people of who stand as high in point of intellect, and of mo duct, as the same number of the White population all their disadvantages pressing them down to t there is a buoyancy raising them above everything. are among them whom I love as my dearest kindred who are imbued with the spirit of the gospel in no degree, and whose fidelity would make them ornar any station of life." *

Is it not evident then, to use the words of the e Dr. Channing, whom I have so often quoted, that' holding in bondage one of the best races of the family?" "The Negro," says he, "is among the and gentlest of men. He is singularly susceptible provement from abroad. His children, it is said, more rapidly than ours the elements of knowledge far he can originate improvements, time only ca His nature is affectionate, easily touched; and her more open to religious impressions than the Whi The European races have manifested more courag prise, invention; but in the dispositions which Chr particularly honours, how inferior are they to the When I cast my eyes over our southern region, t of bowie knives, lynch law, and duels,―of chivalry, and revenge, and when I consider that Christi

A Tribute for the Legro.

119

declared to be a spirit of charity, which seeketh not its own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, and endureth all things, can I hesitate in deciding to which of the races in that land, Christianity is most adapted, and in which its noblest disciples are most likely to be reared? The African carries with him, much more than we, the germs of a meek, long-suffering virtue. A short residence among the Negroes in the West Indies impressed me with their capacity of improvement. On all sides I heard of their religious tendencies, the noblest in human nature."

CHAPTER XI

The African race examined in an Intellectual point of view-Their origin - Some and noble ancestry-Ethiopians and Egyptians considered Negroes have arrived at considerable intellectual attainments-Have distinguished themselves variously-Exemplified in Amo-State of learning at Timbuctoo in the sixteenth century-Abdallah-HannibalLislet-Fuller- Banneker Derham Capitein - Ignatius SanchoGustavus Vassa-Lott Carey-Phillis Wheatley-Placido - Jasmin Thoumazeau-Paul Cuffe-Toussaint L'Ouverture, and many others— Further testimony of Blumenbach to their capacity for scientific cultivation-Corroborative evidence in the United States-West IndiesLiberia-Gnadenthal-Further demonstration of Negro capabilities in living witnesses-Jan Tzatzoe-Pennington - Douglass - RemondCrummell-Dr. M'Cune Smith-Edward Frazer, Wesleyan Minister in Antigua-Richard Hill, Esq.-Some of the highest offices of State in Brazil filled by Blacks-Blacks and Mulattoes are distinguished officers in the Brazilian army-Coloured Roman Catholic Clergy-LawyersPhysicians-Dr. Wright's testimony to the capabilities and intellect of the Negro.

With regard to the intellectual capabilities of the African race, it may be observed, that Africa was once the nursery of science and literature, and it was from thence that they were disseminated among the Greeks and Romans. Solon, Plato, Pythagoras, and others of the master spirits of ancient Greece, performed pilgrimages into Africa in search of knowledge; there they sat at the feet of ebon philosophers to drink in wisdom!* How many multitudes flocked from all parts of the world to listen to the instructions of the African Euclid, who, 300 years before Christ, was at the head of the most celebrated mathematical school in the world? Africa had once her churches, her colleges, and repositories of learning and of science; once, she was the emporium of commerce, and the seat of an empire which contended with Rome for the sovereignty of the world;

*It is said that the ancient Greeks represented Minerva, their favourite Goddess of Wisdom, as an African Princess.

G

A Tribute for the Legro.

121

she has been termed the cradle of the ancient Church, and she was the asylum of the infant Saviour. Say not then, that Africa is without her heraldry of science and of fame!

Antiochus the Great welcomed to his court, with the most signal honours, the African Hannibal; and the great conqueror of Hannibal made the African poet, Terence, one of his most intimate associates and confidants! Being emancipated by his master, who took him to Rome and gave him a good education, the young African soon acquired reputation for the talent he displayed in his comedies. His dramatic works were much admired by the Romans for their prudential maxims and moral sentences, and compared with his contemporaries he was much in advance of them in point of style.

Some of the most eminent Fathers and writers in the primitive Church, Origen, Tertullian, Augustine, Clemens Alexandrinus, and Cyril, were Africans. Can the enlightened Negrophobists of America tell us why these tawny Bishops of Africa, of Apostolic renown, were not colonized into a Negro pew, when attending the ecclesiastical councils of their day? And how do they reconcile their actions with the example of the Evangelist Philip, who, in compliance with the intimation of the Spirit, went and joined the Ethiopian in his chariot, preached to him the gospel of Christ, and baptized him in his name?

Most eminent writers and historians concur in the opinion that the ancient Ethiopians were Negroes, though perhaps exhibiting the peculiar features of the race in a less aggravated degree than the dwellers on the coast of Guinea: to the Ethiopians we are justified in ascribing the highest attainments. They appear to have been the parents of Egyptian science and civilization, and attained, as existing monuments attest, a high eminence in many arts in the very earliest periods of history.

Respecting the physical history of the ancient Egyptians, it has been a matter of discussion to what department of

R

mankind they belonged. The fact has been strongly maintained by some that they were Negroes. If we form an opinion of them from the accounts left us by Herodotus and other writers, who say that they were woolly-haired Blacks, with projecting lips," we cannot doubt that they were perfect Negroes. Volney assumes it as a settled point that this was really the case. But the authority of Herodotus is of most weight, as he travelled in Egypt, and was therefore well acquainted, from his own observation, with the appearance of the people; and it is well known that he is generally very faithful in relating the facts, and describing the objects, which fell under his personal observation. In his account of the people of Colchis, he says, that they were a colony of Egyptians, and supports his opinion by this argument, that they were "black in complexion and woolly-haired." These are the exact words (translated) used in his description of undoubted Negroes. But neither the Copts, their descendants, nor the mummies, of which so many thousands are yet extant as unquestionable witnesses, allow the supposition to be maintained that their general complexion was black.*

That the ancient Ethiopians were black, I have stated, most eminent writers are agreed upon; hence the Scripture query, "Can the Ethiopian change his skin?" Now, it is a fact of history, that Egypt and Ethiopia were originally peopled, contemporaneously, by the brothers, Misraim and Cush, and were long confederated under one government, being a similar people in politics and literature, &c. As

* Dr. Prichard, in his History of Man, has brought together, with great learning and industry, most of the ancient testimonies illustrative of the question. By the most extensive researches, he has endeavoured to prove an affinity between the ancient Egyptians and Indians; and to show that both are marked by the characters of the Negro race. Those who desire to study this question in detail, will find ample materials in Dr. Prichard's work, Vol. II., p. 282, 289, 330; in "Volneys Ruins of Empires," App. 278; "Burkhardt's Travels ;" "Denon Descrip. de l'Egypte;" &c.

न