Yet we are decidedly of opinion, that the differences of intellect are not suffi cient, in any instance, to warrant us in re ferring a particular race to an originally different species ; and we particularly protest against the sentiments of those, who would either entirely deny to the Africans the enjoyment of reason ; or who ascribe to them such vicious, malig nant, and treacherous propensities, as would degrade them even below the le vel of the brute. It can be proved most clearly, and the preceding observations will suffice for this purpose, that there is no circumstance of bodily structure so pe culia• to the Negro, as not to be found. also in other far distant nations ; no cha racter, which does not run into those of other races, by the same insensible gra dations, as those Which connect together all the varieties of mankind. We cannot hut admire the reasoning and humanity of those, who, after tearing the African froM his native soil, carrying him to the West Indies, and dooming him there to perpe tual labour, complain that his understand ing shews no signs of improvement, and that his temper and disposition are incor rigibly perverse, faithless, and treacher ous. Let us, however, observe him in a somewhat more favourable state, than in those dreadful receptacles of human mi sery, the crowded decks-of the ship, or in the less openly shocking, but constrained and extorted, and therefore painful, labours of the sugar plantation. The acute and accurate Barbot, in his large work on Africa, says, " The blacks have sufficient sense and understanding, their conceptions are quick and accurate, and their memory possesses extraordinary strength. For, although they can neither read nor write, they never fill into con fusion or error in the greatest hurry of business and traffic. Their experience of the knavery of Europeans has put them completely on their guard, in transactions of exchange : they carefully examined all our goods, piece by piece, to ascertain if their quality and measure are correctly stated ; and spew as much sagacity and clearness in all these transactions, as any European tradesman could do." Of those imitative arts, in which perfection can be attained only in an improved state of so ciety, it is natural to suppose that the Ne groes can have but little knowledge ; but the fabric and colours of the Guinea, cloths are proofs of their native ingenui ty; and, that they are capable of learn ing all kinds of the more delicate manual labours, is proved by the fact, that nine tenths of the artificers in the West In, dies are Negroes many are expert car penters, and some watchmakers. The travels of Barrow, Le Vaillant, and Mutt go Park, abound with anecdotes honoura ble to the moral character of the Afri cans, and proving that they betray no de ficiency in the amiable qualities of the heart. The former gives us a most in teresting portrait of the chief of a tribe: " His countenance was strongly marked with the habit of reflection ; vigorous in his mental, and amiable in his personal qualities, Gaika n as at once the friend and ruler of a happy people, who univer sally pronounced his name with transport, and blessed his abode as the seat of feli city." Alas ! many European kings would appear to very little advantage by, the side of this savage. The drawings and busts executed by the wild Boshmen, in the neighbourhood of the Cape, are praised by the same traveller, for their accuracy of outline, and correctness of proportion.
Instances are by no means wanting, of Negroes who have distinguished them selves in literature and the arts, when fa voured by fortune with opportunities of education and improvement. Freidig in Vienna was a capital performer on the violin, and an excellent draftsman. Han nibal, a colonel of artillery in the Russian service, was very well informed in the mathematical and physical sciences ; as also was Lislet, of the isle of France, who was made on that account a corresponding member of the French academy. Fuller, of Maryland, was an extraordinary exam ple of arithmetical knowledge : being asked in company how many seconds a man had lived, who was seventy years and some odd months old, he gave the number in a minute and a half: on rec koning it, a different result was obtained ; " you have forgotten the leap years," says the Negro : the necessary addition brought it right. A. W. Amo took the
degree of doctor in philosophy at Wit tenberg, in 1734, and produced two inge nious and well-written dissertations : and Vasa and Ignatius Sancho have distin guished themselves as literary characters in this country. Blumenbach, after men tioning these instances in his Beytrage zur Naturgeschichte, sarcastically ob serves, that entire and large provinces of Europe might be named, which had not furnished such good writers, poets, philo sophers, and correspondents of the French academy ; and he adds, that no savage people have given such strong indications of a capability of improvement, and even of scientific cultivation, as the Negroes ; and consequently, that none can approach more nearly to the polished nations of the globe. Let us conclude, then, with the quaint, but humane observations of the preacher, who called the Negro " God's image, like ourselves, although carved in ebony." We shall conclude the present article with giving the generic character of man ; and a general description of the five varieties, into which the human race has been divided by Blumenbach.
Generic character : erect, two-handed; prominent chin. Teeth of uniform height in an unbroken series ; the lower incisors perpendicular.
As we have she wn, on the one hand, that there is no circumstance of differ ence between the varieties of the human race, which does not appear in a still greater degree among animals, chiefly of the domesticated kinds, arising from the ordinary sources of degeneration; so there is no point, whether of colour, countenance, or stature, which does not pass by imperceivable gradations into the opposite character, rendering all these distinctions merely relative, and reducing them to differences in degree. Hence it is obvious, that any division of the varie ties of the human race must be in a great measure arbitrary. For the same reason, one or two characters are not sufficient for determining the race, but an union of several is required ; and even this is ex posed to many exceptions in each va riety.
1. Caucasian variety. White skin, red cheeks, brownish hair, head of a some what globular form ; oval and straight face, with features moderately separate from each other, expanded forehead, nar row and rather aqueline nose, and small mouth : front teeth of both jaws perpen dicular ; lips gently turned out, and chin full and rounded.
It includes the Europeans (excepting the Laplanders, and rest of the Finnish rate) ; the Western Asiatics, as far as the river Ob, the Caspian sea, and the Gan ges; and the northern Africans.
The name of this variety is derived from Mount Caucasus, because in its neighbourhood we meet with the most beautiful race of men in the world, viz. the Georgians. From the accounts of numerous travellers, who all agree on this subject, we select the remark of Chardin : "The blood of Georgia is the finest in the East, and I may say in the world. I have not observed a single ugly countenance in that country in either sex ; but have seen numerous angelic ones. Nature has bestowed on the women graces and charms, which we see in no other place. It is impossible to look at them without loving them. More beautiful countenances, and finer figures, than those of the Georgian women, can not even be imagined." Various reasons conspire ill inducing us to place the first families of men in this quarter ; and this race forms a me dium between the two following varieties. An argument on this subject arises from the white colour of the Caucasian race, which we should be disposed to consider as the primitive colour of men : since the white easily degenerates into the darker shades, while those, when once fixed, hardly change at all.