That climate should also exert a powerful influence on Man may be very reasonably supposed; it has an analogous influence on the other tribes of animated beings. The animal kingdom presents us with numerous striking instances of diversity in the texture and colour of their coverings, occurring, undoubtedly, in the same species. Sheep are particularly marked by the great difference of their fleece, in different latitudes. In Africa, and very warm countries, a coarse rough hair is substituted in the place of its wool, which, in other situations, is soft and delicate. The dog loses its coat entirely in Africa, and has a smooth soft skin. The wool of the sheep is thicker and longer in the winter and in hilly northern situations, than in the summer and on warm plains. Climate, coupled with food, appear to be the great modifying agents, in the production of these and many other varieties in the animal world; but no attempt has been made to assign a separate origin in their case. The white colour, in the northern regions, of many animals, which possess other colours in more temperate latitudes, as the bear, the fox, the hare, beasts of burden, the falcon, crow, jackdaw, chaffinch, &c., seems to arise entirely from climate. This opinion is strengthened by the analogy of those animals which change their colour, in the same country, in the winter season, to white or grey, as the ermine and weasel, hare, squirrel, reindeer, white game, snow bunting, &c. The common bear is differently coloured in different regions.

With regard to the physiological distinctions of Man, there is no point of difference between the several races, which has not been found to arise, in at least an equal degree, among other animals as mere varieties, from the usual causes of degeneration, &c. What differences are there in the figure and proportion of parts in the various breeds of horses; in the Arabian, the Barb, and the German! How striking the contrast between the long-legged cattle of the Cape of Good Hope and the short-legged of England! The same difference is observed in swine. The cattle have no horns in some breeds of England and Ireland; in Sicily, on the contrary, they have very large ones. A breed of sheep, with an extraordinary number of horns, as three, four, or five, occurs in some northern countries—as, for instance, in Ireland—and is accounted a mere variety. The Cretan breed of the same animals has long, large, and twisted horns. We may also point out the broad-tailed sheep of the Cape, in which the tail grows so large that it is placed on a board, supported by wheels, for the convenience of the animal. “Let us compare,” says Buffon, “our pitiful sheep with the mouflon, from which they derived their origin. The mouflon is a large animal; he is fleet as a stag, armed with horns and thick hoofs, covered with coarse hair, and dreads neither the inclemency of the sky nor the voracity of the wolf. He not only escapes from his enemies by the swiftness of his course, scaling with truly wonderful leaps, the most frightful precipices; but he resists them by the strength of his body and the solidity of the arms with which his head and feet are fortified. How different from our sheep, which subsist with difficulty in flocks, who are unable to defend themselves by their numbers, who cannot endure the cold of our winters without shelter, and who would all perish if man withdrew his protection! So completely are the frame and capabilities of this animal degraded by his association with us, that it is no longer able to subsist in a wild state, if turned loose, as the goat, pig, and cattle are. In the warm climates of Asia and Africa, the mouflon, who is the common parent of all the races of this species, appears to be less degenerated than in any other region. Though reduced to a domesticated state, he has preserved his stature and his hair; but the size of his horns is diminished. Of all the domesticated sheep, those of Senegal and India are the largest, and their nature has suffered least degradation. The sheep of Barbary, Egypt, Arabia, Persia, Tartary, &c., have undergone greater changes. In relation to Man, they are improved in some articles, and vitiated in others; but with regard to nature, improvement and degeneration are the same thing; for they both imply an alteration of original constitution. Their coarse hair is changed into fine wool; their tail, loaded with a mass of fat, and sometimes reaching the weight of forty pounds, has acquired a magnitude so incommodious, that the animals trail it with pain. While swollen with superfluous matter, and adorned with a beautiful fleece, their strength, agility, magnitude, and arms are diminished. These long-tailed sheep are half the size only of the mouflon. They can neither fly from danger, nor resist the enemy. To preserve and multiply the species they require the constant care and support of Man. The degeneration of the original species is still greater in our climates. Of all the qualities of the mouflon, our ewes and rams have retained nothing but a small portion of vivacity, which yields to the crook of the shepherd. Timidity, weakness, resignation, and stupidity, are the only melancholy remains of their degraded nature.”*

The pig-kind afford an instructive example, because their descent is more clearly made out than that of many other animals. The dog, indeed, degenerates before our eyes; but it will hardly ever, perhaps, be satisfactorily ascertained whether there is one or more species. The extent of degeneration can be observed in the domestic swine; because no naturalist has hitherto been sceptical enough to doubt whether they descended from the wild boar; and they were certainly first introduced by the Spaniards into the new world. The pigs conveyed in 1509, from Spain to the West Indian island Cubagua, then celebrated for the pearl fishery, degenerated into a monstrous race, with toes half a span long.** Those of Cuba became more than * Buffon, by Wood, vol. 4, page 7. ** Clavigero, Storia Antica del Messico, vol. 4, page 145. twice as large as their European progenitors.* How remarkably, again, have the domestic swine degenerated from the wild ones in the whole world: in the loss of the soft downy hair from between the bristles, in the vast accumulation of fat under the skin, in the form of the cranium, in the figure and growth of the whole body. The varieties of the domestic animal, too, are very numerous: in Piedmont, they are almost invariably black; in Bavaria, reddish brown; in Normandy, white, &c. The breed in England, with straight back, is just the reverse of that in the north of France, with high convex spine and hanging head; and both are different from the German breed; to say nothing of the solidungular race, found in herds in Hungary and Sweden, known by Aristotle, with many other varieties.

The ass, in its wild state, is remarkably swift and lively, and still continues so in his native Eastern abode.

Common fowl, in different situations, run into almost every conceivable variety. Some are large, some small, some tall, some dwarfish. They may have a small and single, or a large and complicated comb; or great tufts of feathers on the head. Some have no tail. The legs of some are yellow and naked, of others, covered with feathers. There is a breed with their feathers reversed in their direction all over the body; and another in India with white downy feathers, and black skin. All these exhibit endless diversities of colour.**

Most of the mammalia which have been tamed by Man betray their subjugated state, by having the ears and tail pendulous, a condition which does not belong to wild animals; and in many, says Lawrence, the very functions of the body are changed.

The application of these facts to the human species is very obvious. If new characters are produced in the * Herrera, Hechos de los Castellanos en las Islas, &c., vol. 1, page 239. ** Lawrence. domesticated animals, because they have been taken from their primitive condition, and exposed to the operation of many, to them unnatural causes; if the pig is remarkable among these for the number and degree of its varieties, because it has been most exposed to the causes of degeneration; we shall be at no loss to account for the diversities in Man, who is, in the true, though not ordinary sense of the word, more a domesticated animal than any other.* He, like the inferior animals, is liable to run into varieties of form, size, stature, proportions, features, and colour, which being gradually increased, through a long course of ages, have become, to a certain extent, hereditary in families and nations.

That the superficial observer, on beholding the great variation existing between the inhabitants of one portion of the world, and those of another, should be led to query, “Are all these brethren?” need not surprise us; yet, if we examine into the subject, we shall find that there is no one of the varieties to which Man is liable, which does not exist in a still greater degree in animals confessedly the same species, and the numerous examples of the widest deviation in the colour and physiological distinctions of these, fully authorize the conclusion, that, however striking may be the contrast between the fair European and the ebon African, and however unwilling the former may be to trace up his pedigree to the same Adam with the latter, the superficial distinctions by which they are characterized, are altogether insufficient to establish a diversity of species or any insurmountable disparity between the two.

Having adverted to the diversities of external appearance exhibited in the various races of Man, and alluded to the physiological distinctions by which they are marked, let us inquire to what extent their moral and intellectual characters exhibit such peculiarities as the numerous modifications of physical structure might lead us to expect; * Lawrence. whether the appetites and propensities, the moral feelings, and dispositions, and the capabilities of knowledge and reflection, are the same in all. There can be little doubt, that the races of Man are no less characterized by a diversity in the development of the mental and moral faculties, than by those differences of organization which have been already explained. There is an intimate connection between the mind and the body, and the various causes which exert their influence physically, have, to a certain degree, a corresponding effect upon the mental constitution of Man. That climate, again, and other elements of the external condition, are powerful agents in this respect, is very probable, if we may judge from their analogous influence on various animals. We are informed that the dog in Kamtschatka, instead of being faithful and attached to his master, is malignant, treacherous, and full of deceit. He does not bark in the hot parts of Africa, nor in Greenland; and in the latter country, loses his docility so as to be unfit for hunting.*

There is a decided coincidence between the physical characteristics of the varieties of Man, and their moral and social condition, and it also appears that their condition in civilized society produces considerable modification in the intellectual qualities of the race. But this is a subject so extensive in its bearings, and in many particulars so intricate and complex, that I shall not attempt its further investigation here, but refer again to the works of Lawrence and Prichard, in which it is very ably elucidated.

To whatever causes we may, ultimately, be able to attribute the numerous varieties existing amongst mankind, it is evident, if they have not been ordained to bind them together, they were never ordained to subdue the one to the other; but rather to give means and occasions of mutual aid. The good of all has been equally intended in the distribution of the various gifts of heaven; and certain * Rees. it is, that the diversities among men are as nothing, in comparison with those attributes in which they agree: it is this which constitutes their essential equality. “All men have the same rational nature, and the same powers of conscience, and all are equally made for indefinite improvement of these divine faculties, and for the happiness to be found in their virtuous use. Who that comprehends these gifts, does not see that the diversities of the race vanish before them?”*

It was long since declared, and it has been repeated thousands of times, that the Indian and the African, from their nature, are incapable of civilization, and only adapted to a state of servitude. Early in the sixteenth century, the question was regarded as one of such moment that Charles the Fifth ordered a discussion of the subject to be conducted before him. The advocate in favour of this idea was first heard, when a zealous champion, in answer, warmed by the noble cause he was to maintain, and nothing daunted by the august presence in which he stood, delivered himself with fervent eloquence that went directly to the hearts of his auditors. “The Christian religion,” he concluded, “is equal in its operation, and is accommodated to every nation on the globe. It robs no one of his freedom, violates no one of his inherent rights, on the ground that he is of a slavely nature, as pretended; and it well becomes your majesty to banish so monstrous an oppression from your kingdoms, in the beginning of your reign, that the Almighty may make it long and glorious!”

I am convinced, that the more we examine into the diversities characterizing the various families of Man, the more thoroughly shall we be able to prove, that the coincidence between them is greater than the diversity, and that we shall find nothing to warrant us in referring to any particular race, any further than we should between the rough-hewn and polished marble, a deficiency of those moral and * Dr. Channing. intellectual faculties, which it has pleased the all-wise and beneficent Creator, who “hath made of one blood all the nations of men,” to bestow alike on every portion of the human family. Thought, Reason, Conscience, the capacity of Virtue and of Love, an immortal destiny, an intimate moral connection with God,—these are the attributes of our common humanity, which reduce to insignificance all outward distinctions, and make every human being unspeakably dear to his Maker. No matter how ignorant he may be, the capacity of improvement allies him to the more instructed of his race, and places within his reach, the knowledge and happiness of higher worlds. “The Christian philosopher,” says Dr. Chalmers, “sees in every man, a partaker of his own nature, and a brother of his own species. He contemplates the human mind in the generality of its great elements. He enters upon a wide field of benevolence, and disdains the geographical barriers by which little men would shut out one half of the species from the kind offices of the other. Let man's localities be what they may, it is enough for his large and noble heart, that he is bone of the same bone.”

A powerful argument may yet be adduced, which appears to me conclusive of the whole question relating to man's unity of origin, and that is, the testimony of the sacred Scriptures, which ascribe one origin to the whole human family. Our Scriptures have not left us to determine the title of any tribe to the full honours of humanity by accidental circumstances. One passage affirms, that “God hath made of one blood all the nations of men, for to dwell on all the face of the earth;” that they are of one family, of one origin, of one common nature: the other, that our Saviour became incarnate, “that he, by the grace of God, should taste death for every man.” “Behold then,” says the pious Richard Watson, “the foundation of the fraternity of our race, however coloured and however scattered. Essential distinctions of inferiority and superiority had been, in almost every part of the Gentile world, adopted as the palliation or the justification of the wrongs inflicted by man on man; but against this notion, Christianity, from its first promulgation, has lifted up its voice. God hath made the varied tribes of men ‘of one blood.’ Dost thou wrong a human being? He is thy brother. Art thou his murderer by war, private malice, or a wearing and exhausting oppression? ‘The voice of thy brother's blood crieth to God from the ground.’ Dost thou, because of some accidental circumstances of rank, opulence, and power on thy part, treat him with scorn and contempt? He is thy ‘brother for whom Christ died;’ the incarnate Redeemer assumed his nature as well as thine; He came into the world to seek and to save him as well as thee; and it was in reference to him also that He went through the scenes of the garden and the cross. There is not, then, a man on earth who has not a Father in heaven, and to whom Christ is not an Advocate and Patron; nay, more, because of our common humanity, to whom he is not a Brother.”

I am aware that much has been said on various occasions, respecting the compensations conquered and oppressed nations and people have received for the injuries inflicted upon them, when they have fallen under the sway of empires in a higher state of civilization than themselves. The atrocious outrages of the Slave trade, as we have heard, have been commended on this ground, as affording a means of imparting to the Negroes the blessings of civilization and Christianity, by transplanting them into a land of civilized men and of Christians. Could any plea be more philosophically false? Providence is sometimes pleased to bring good out of evil, but we are by no means justified on this ground in doing evil that good may ensue. On no occasion does God require the aid of our vices. He can overrule them for good, but they are not the chosen instruments of human happiness.

Our war of extermination against the Kafirs has already cost us upwards of three millions, and will probably cost three millions more. How much better would it be to substitute religion and commerce for the sword. A dozen waggons laden with British goods would do more for the civilization and conciliation of that tormented country than all the bayonets of Europe. It is painful to reflect that the history of Africa, a country so long colonized by men professing that faith which teaches us that “God hath made of one blood all the nations of men,” should furnish so few points of relief to the dark shades of a picture, which exhibits the inhabitants of that continent as the wretched victims of the White Man's avarice and cruelty. Yet, thanks be to God, there are some bright spots amidst this gloom of darkness, some fertile spots amidst this extensive waste and wilderness of iniquity and wo, and wherever they meet the eye they cheer the heart. These are principally the results of missionary enterprise, to which our attention will be drawn when we have to consider the advances of the Negro in a religious point of view.