Part 7

The intervention of political and social considerations has not been less injurious to Anthropology than the religious element. When generous philanthropists claimed, with indefatigable constancy, the liberty of the blacks, the partisans of the old system, threatened in their dearest interests, were enchanted to hear that Negros were scarcely human beings, but rather domestic animals, more intelligent and productive than the rest. At that time the scientific question became a question of sentiment, and whoever wished for the abolition of slavery, thought himself bound to admit that Negroes were Caucasians blackened and frizzled by the sun. Now that France and England, the two most civilised nations, have definitively emancipated their slaves, science may claim its rights without caring for the sophisms of slaveholders.

Many honest men think that the moment to speak freely is not yet come, as the emancipation struggle is far from being at an end in the United States of America, and that we should avoid furnishing the slaveholders with arguments. But is it true that the polygenist doctrine, which is scarcely a century old,[86] is any degree responsible for an order of things which has existed from time immemorial, and which has developed and perpetuated itself during a long series of centuries, under the shade of the doctrine of monogenists, which remained so long uncontested? And can we believe that the slave-owners are much embarrassed to find arguments in the Bible? The Rev. John Bachmann, a fervent monogenist of South Carolina, has acquired in the Southern States much popularity by demonstrating, with great unction, that slavery is a divine institution.[87] It is not from the writings of polygenists, but from the Bible, that the representatives of the Slave States have drawn their arguments; and Mr. Bachmann tells us that the Abolitionists of Congress have been struck dumb by such an irrefragable authority! It must, therefore, not be believed that there is any connexion between the scientific and the political question. The difference of origin by no means implicates the subordination of races. It, on the contrary, implicates the idea that each race of men has originated in a determined region, as it were, as the crown of the fauna of that region; and if it were permitted to guess at the intention of nature, we might be led to suppose that she has assigned a distinct inheritance to each race, because, despite of all that has been said of the cosmopolitism of man, the inviolability of the domain of certain races is determined by their climate.

Let this mode of viewing the question be compared with that of the monogenists, and let it be asked which of the two modes is more apt to please the defenders of slavery. If all men are descendants of one couple,--if the inequality of races has been the result of a curse more or less merited,--or again, if the one have degraded themselves, and have allowed the torch of their primitive intelligence to become extinct, whilst the other have carefully guarded the precious gift of the Creator,--in other words, if there be cursed and blessed races,--races which have obeyed the voice of nature and races which have disobeyed it,--then the Rev. John Bachmann is right to say that slavery is a Divine right; that it is a providential punishment; and that it is just, to a certain point, that those races who have degraded themselves should be placed under the _protection_ of others,--to borrow an ingenious euphemism from the language of the defenders of slavery.[88] But if the Ethiopian is king of Soudan by the same right as the Caucasian is king of Europe, what right has he to impose laws upon the former, unless by the right of might? In the first case, slavery presents itself with a certain appearance of legitimacy which might render it excusable in the eyes of certain theoricians; in the second case, it is a fact of pure violence, protested against by all who derive no benefit from it.

From another point of view, it might be said that the polygenist doctrine assigns to the inferior races of humanity a more honourable place than in the opposite doctrine. To be inferior to another man either in intelligence, vigour, or beauty, is not a humiliating condition. On the contrary, one might be ashamed to have undergone a physical or moral degradation, to have descended the scale of beings, and to have lost rank in creation.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Gobineau, _Inégalité des Races Humaines_, 8vo, Paris, 1855; [also translated into English, _On the Inequality of Human Races_, and edited by Henry Hotze, 8vo. EDITOR.]

[2] “The sole action of the laws of Hybridity,” says Nott, “might exterminate the whole human species if all the various types of human beings actually existing on the earth were completely to amalgamate.” _Types of Mankind_, p. 407, eighth edit., Philadelphia, 1857. Dr. Robert Knox is not less explicit. “I do not believe that any Mulatto race can be maintained beyond the third or fourth generation by _Mulattos merely_; they must intermarry with the pure races or perish.” Robert Knox, _The Races of Men_, London, 1850.

[3] Georges Pouchet, _De la Pluralité des Races Humaines_, p. 140, Paris, 1858. [A translation of this work will shortly be published by the Anthropological Society of London, edited by T. Bendyshe, Esq., M.A., F.A.S.L. EDITOR.]

[4] Prichard, _Natural History of Man_.

[5] Davis and Thurnam, _Crania Britannica_, p. 7, No. 4, London, 1856.

[6] See the voyages of Truter and Somerville (1801), Lichtenstein (1805), Campbell (1813), John Philips (1825), Thompson (1824), etc., in the Collection of Voyages by Walkenaer, t. xv-xxi, Paris, 1842. In 1801 Truter and Somerville found near the Orange or Gariep river, in the district where now Griqua town stands, a horde of _Bastaards_ and _Bosjesmen_, commanded by a Bastaard of the name of Kok (t. xvii, p. 364). On their return they found a considerable village, composed of Kaffirs, Hottentots, and mongrel breeds of several varieties, under the command of a chief named Kok (p. 393). In the same year Kitchener, the missionary, assembled the horde in a village. There came pure Hottentots and Namaquas (t. xviii, p. 126). In 1802 Anderson, the missionary, in organising the growing nation, gave authority to the Bastaards (p. 127). The village of Laawater or Klaarwater, which has since become Griqua-town, consisted in 1805, when Lichtenstein visited it, of about thirty families, one-half of which belonged to the Bastaard race, the rest were Namaquas or Hottentots. The village enlarged rapidly “by the arrival of refugees, and by marriages with the women of the Bosjesmen and the Koramas, who lived in the vicinity” (t. xix, p. 355). They practised polygamy. “They constituted a horde of nomadic naked savages, living by pillage and the chase; their bodies were besmeared with red paint, the hair covered with grease, living in ignorance, without any trace of civilisation” (p. 356). After the lapse of five years the missionaries commenced civilising them by giving them the taste for agricultural pursuits. The name, however, of _Bastaards_, which indicated their European origin, was no longer suitable to this nation, in which the African blood was greatly predominating. They took, therefore, the name of _Griquas_. Campbell asserts that they chose that name, as it was that of the principal family (t. xviii, p. 395). This explanation appears to me very doubtful. Ten Rhyne, who explored Southern Africa in 1673, twenty year after the first disembarkation of Europeans, already mentions the existence of a Hottentot people who went by the name of _Gregoriquos_ (t. xv, p. 122). Thirty years after (1705) Kolbe designates the same people _Gauriquas_ (t. xv, p. 253). There existed at that time another people, called _Chirigriquas_. In 1775 Thunberg still speaks of Gauriquas (t. xvi, p. 201), and of Chirigriquas. All these names have evidently the same root, and the singularity of Hottentot enunciation induced probably the various travellers to adopt a different orthography. It is thus presumable that the Hottentots of Klaarwater, in calling themselves Griquas, merely adopted the old name Gauriquas. There exists to this day the people _Koraquas_, signifying “people who wear shoes” (Burchell, t. xx, p. 60). They live in the neighbourhood of Klaarwater. Be this as it may, the new people of the Griquas gave to Klaarwater, influenced by the English missionaries, the name of Griqua-town. This town, called by Malte-Brun Kriqua, grew rapidly by the adjunction of the Koranas. In 1813 there were not less than 1,341 Koranas in a population of 2,607 inhabitants (t. xviii, p. 393). In 1814 the governor of the Cape tried to force the Griquas to furnish men for the indigenous army. The proposal was very badly received, and the nation was nearly in a state of dissolution. A portion of the inhabitants of Griqua-town escaped to the surrounding mountains, and formed bands of robbers, who, under the name of Bergmaars, devastated the country, and, associating with bands of Koranas, pillaged and massacred the Betchouanas and the Bosjesmen, and _carried off their women and children_. In 1825, owing to the intervention of John Philips, the Bergmaars were reduced to order, and returned to Griqua-town. They had now crossed with the Koranas, the Betchouanas, and Bosjesmen (t. xviii, p. 357). Some time previously a grave dissension had broken out among the settled Griquas. The governor of the Cape had sent an agent, John Melvil, with an important charge to a certain Waterboer, a Bosjesman by origin. The supremacy had hitherto belonged to the family Kok, who, proud of the drops of European blood in their veins, would not recognise the authority of Waterboer, and emigrated accordingly. Waterboer was, however, not dismissed; and in 1825 John Philips found the Griquas divided in three kraals, under the chiefs Kok, Berend, and Waterboer (t. xix, p. 370). If Dr. Prichard had taken the trouble to consult these documents he would have recognised that the Griquas had, by so many consecutive crossings, become almost a pure African race. Modern geographers range therefore the Griquas among the Hottentots, calling them Hottentot-Griquas. It is also noteworthy that Prichard, in citing the Griquas as an example of a mixed race, has given no description of them. In order that the example should be of any value, it is requisite that the Griquas should present an intermediate type between the Europeans and the natives. Neither Dr. Prichard nor any travellers say so. There is another consideration. The origin of the Griqua nation dates from the beginning of the nineteenth century. Dr. Prichard last speaks of them in 1843. Two generations had not yet elapsed. There is another point. In 1800 the tribe of Kok was a horde but little numerous; in 1824 it was a people of five thousand souls, including seven hundred armed warriors (Thompson, _loc. cit._, t. xxi, p. 22). It is clear that this people were not descended from the primitive tribe, but had increased by numerous adjunctions. Father Peteam himself, if he were still alive, would be obliged to admit this. I have been very minute as to the Griquas, but I flatter myself that this is sufficient to discard from science the assertion of Prichard, which all modern monogenists have received with so much favour.

[7] Quoy et Gaimard, _Observat. sur la constitution physique des Papous_, reproduit dans Lesson. _Complement des Œuvres de Buffon_, t. iii., Paris, 1829.

[8] Domeny de Rienzi, _l’Oceanie_, t. iii, p. 303. Paris, 1837.

[9] Maury, _La terre et l’homme_, p. 365. Paris, 1847.

[10] Latham, _The Natural History of the Varieties of Man_, p. 213. London, 1850. Dr. Latham designates the Malays by the somewhat fantastic name, of Protonesians. There are a great number of neologisms of this kind in his work.

[11] Some geographers say that Waigiou is a large Island; but they give no dimensions. It is, however, scarcely as large as the Island of Majorca. It is of an irregular form, long and narrow; it is about 80 leagues in circumference (Dumont d’Urville in Rienzi, _l’Oceanie_). It is only 25 leagues long and 10 leagues broad, says Henricy (_Histoire de l’Oceanie._ Paris, 1845.) The Island of Majorca is only 22 leagues in length by 16 leagues in breadth. Three races united in such a small territory, cannot long remain strangers to each other.

[12] Lesson, _loc. cit._ t. ii. p. 19.

[13] Davis, _Crania Britannica_. Introduction, p. 8, note.

[14] These geographical denominations are certainly not irreproachable; they have even the inconvenience of giving rise to the false idea, that all races of the same type originated in the same region; that all the Whites came from the Caucasus, all the Mongolians from Mongolia, the Blacks from Nigritia, even the Van-Diemen islanders. I have, however, thought proper to retain these denominations, as they are generally in use, and have no zoological signification. Such is not the case with the denominations adopted by certain authors derived from the colour of the skin. Thus the Caucasians were termed the _white_, the Mongolians the _yellow_, the Ethiopian the _black_, the Malayo-Polynesian the _brown_, and finally, the American the _red_ race. It has been shown that the American type alone includes red, brown, black, white and yellow races. There are brown races in the American, and even in the Caucasian type. All the black races do not belong to the Ethiopian type; and finally, the Malayo-Polynesian type comprises races of colours as various as those belonging to the American type. A classification founded on differences of colour would lead to numerous and serious errors.

[15] It is undoubted that several American races have been destroyed within 300 years; others having been reduced to a few families, will soon disappear. The Charruas were exterminated in 1831 by the Spaniards of South America: root and branch, as Dr. Latham says. In 1835, four years later, the English of Van Diemen’s Land, after a horrible massacre, transported 210 Tasmanians, men, women, and children, to a small island (Flinders), in Bass’ Straits. In 1842, after seven years of exile, the number of these unfortunates amounted to 54! This was all that remained of a race which, 40 years previously, occupied the whole of Van Diemen’s Land, as large as Ireland, and we may soon learn that none of them are in existence. The Malays have entirely destroyed the black races who preceded them in certain isles of the great Indian Archipelago. The Guanches now only exit in a mummified state. The black and prognathous race which occupied the isles of Japan before the arrival of the Mongolians, have left no other traces behind than their crania imbedded in the soil; and it is easy to foresee that within one or two centuries all the black races will have disappeared from these parts, and have been succeeded by Malayans and Europeans.

[16] Gerdy, _Physiologie Médicale_, t. i, p. 290. Paris, 1832.

[17] Berard, _Cours de Physiologie_, t. i, p. 465. Paris, 1845.

[18] _Journal de Physiologie_, t. i, p. 120. 1858.

[19] Macedones qui Alexandriam in Ægypto, qui Seleuciam ac Babyloniam, quique alias sparsas per orbem colonias habent in Syros, Parthos, Ægyptos degenerarunt. _Tit. L._, lib. xxxviii., § 217.

[20] All the Gauls were not light haired; but those who, three centuries before our era, invaded Greece and Asia Minor, were fair haired, according to all testimony; they consequently belonged to the Kimri race.

[21] Gliddon, _The Monogenists and the Polygenists_. Philadelphia, 1857. George Pouchet, _De la Pluralité des races humaines_, p. 136. Paris, 1858.

[22] Volney, _Voyage en Syrie et en Egypte_, t. i, p. 98. Paris, 1757.

[23] Knox, _The Races of Man_. 8vo, London, 1850.

[24] Serres, _Rapport sur les resultats scientifiques du voyage de l’Astrolobe et de la Zélée_ (Comptes Rendus, t. xiii, p, 648.). [The size of the penis is not a constant character in the “Ethiopian” male. Instances, however, exist of its enormous development in the west African Negro.--EDITOR.]

[25] Theodor Waitz (of Marburg), _Anthropologie der Naturvölker_, p. 203. Leipzig, 1859. [Translated into English for the Anthropological Society of London, and edited by J. Frederick Collingwood, Esq., F.G.S., F.R.S.L.: 8vo, London, 1863.--EDITOR.] Mollien, _Voyage dans l’intérieur de l’Afrique_. Rafnel, _Voyage dans l’Afrique occidentale_, 1846, p. 51. Mohammed-el-Tounsy, _Voyage au Darfour_, p, 227, trad. Jomard. Paris, 1845.

[26] _Voyage au Pôle sud et dans l’Oceanie sur l’Astrolabe et la Zélée_, sous le commandement de Dumont-d’Urville, pendant les années 1837-1840: _Zoologie_ par M. Jacquinot, commandant de la Zélée, t. ii, pp. 91-93. Paris, 1846.

[27] J. C. Nott, _Hybridity of Animals viewed in connexion with the natural history of mankind: Types of Mankind_. Nott and Gliddon. Philadelphia, 1854.

[28] Within ten years from 1840 to 1850, the number of slaves in South Carolina has increased by 56,786. In 1840, there were 327,934 slaves; in 1850, 384,720. This is an increase of more than 17 per cent. The slaves of all shades are comprised in this account, but the pure Negroes form the great majority, and it is probable that to them exclusively is owing the large increase in the number of slaves. The number of cross-breeds cannot be ascertained by the statistics given. It would, besides, be impossible to distinguish in the reports given the Mestizos born from the union of Mulattoes and Mulatresses, and those from whites and blacks. Statistics thus throw no light upon the question, whether the Mulatto race maintains itself. But there is a peculiar class of men of colour which is the object of attention of certain governments, who maintain with satisfaction that this class notably diminishes. It is the class of free men of colour, enjoying certain civic rights very inconvenient for the slave states. There was a time when the enfranchisement of coloured men had no obstacles to contend with, and the number of free men of colour increased rapidly. Many white owners gave freedom to their natural children. But when restrictive laws were introduced, the number of free coloured men began diminishing. They no longer ally themselves with the Whites, who despise them, nor with the slaves, and are thus reduced to intermarry between themselves. The census of Charleston gave, in 1830, the number of free coloured men and their descendants as amounting to 2,107; in 1848 it was reduced to 1,492, a diminution of 605 in 2,107, more than 29 per cent. The _Charleston Mercury_ published these figures to show that the class of freed slaves need not excite any apprehension in South Carolina, and that the Governor carried his zeal too far in proposing to expel that class. Such an enormous decrease depends, no doubt to a great extent, on the small number of births. There is another circumstance which might have contributed to reduce the caste; which is, that any freed individual, or his descendant, once leaving the state, is not permitted to return; this, however, forms but a minor cause of the decay. (See _Charleston Medical Journal_, May 1851, vol. vi, p. 381).

[29] The first Europeans established at Jamaica were Spaniards or Portuguese; but the island was, 1655, conquered by the English, when all _the old colonists_ retired, carrying away the greater portion of their wealth. Cromwell hastened to re-people the island, by transporting to it a number of political convicts. In 1659, four years after the conquest, there were already 4,500 Europeans and 1,400 Negroes on the island. In 1670, the white population amounted to 7,500, slaves 8,000. It will then, be observed, that the population of Jamaica descends exclusively from _English_ colonists and Negro slaves. With regard to the Caribs, they have been entirely exterminated by the Spaniards a century before the arrival of the English.

[30] Long (Edward), _History of Jamaica_, vol. ii, p. 235, London, 1774, cited in the _Charleston Medical Journal_, vol. vi. 1851.

[31] The relation of Lewis is, in certain respects, more suggestive than that of Long. The latter says that the Mulattoes of the first degree are well constituted; while Lewis pretends that they are mostly _weak and flabby_, whence it results that the physical inferiority becomes manifest at _the very first crossing_. We believe this to be incorrect. The author endeavours to explain the defect of vitality in the children of Mulattoes, and has recourse to a theory which, if well founded, would, instead of weakening, only strengthen the fact. On the other hand, we believe that the assertion of Long, despite of the corrective which accompanies it, is too general. If it were true that the union of Mulattoes is always unproductive in Jamaica, the fact would have been too evident not to have been long known, for _absolute_ sterility is easily ascertained. Relative sterility, however, may long escape notice, considering that there is always in the pure races a certain number of cases of sporadic sterility. It is probable that further investigations will establish for Jamaica conclusions analogous to those adopted by Mr. Nott for South Carolina; namely, that the Mulattoes of this _English_ island are less prolific between themselves than with the whites or blacks, and that their direct descendants are generally less vivacious and prolific than the men of the pure races.

[32] Waitz, _loc. cit._, p. 205. Van Amringe, _Investigation of the Theories of the Natural History of Man_. Hamilton Smith, _Natural History of the Human Species_, 1848. Day, _Five Years Residence in the West Indies_, vol. i, p. 294, 1852.

[33] Seemann, _Reise um die Welt_, bd. 1, p. 314, 1853. Waitz, _Anthropologie_, p. 207.

[34] _Bulletins de la Société d’Anthropologie_: procés-verbal de la séance du 1er Mars, 1860, vol. i, p. 206.

[35] Dr. Tschudi adds, “considered as men, the Zambos are far inferior to the pure races:” _Travels in Peru_, London, 1847. G. Pouchet, _De la Pluralité des Races Humaines_, p. 137. Paris, 1848.

[36] Boudin, _Géographie Médicale_, Introduction, p. 39. Paris, 1857.

[37] Graf Görtz, _Reise_, bd. iii, p. 288. Waitz, _Anthropologie_, bd. i, p. 297. I find in the voyage of Havorinus a passage which may, perhaps, explain the singular act pointed out by Graf Görtz. Having given the number of the European population of Batavia, Havorinus adds, “Among the Europeans figure also such as are born from European parents, among whom females form the great majority” (Havorinus, _Voyage par le Cap de Bonne-Espérance et Samarang, et traduit du Hollandais_, chap. viii, t. II, p. 283. Paris). It seems thus that the influence of climate produces some modification in the generative powers of Europeans, rendering them less apt to procreate males even with the women of their own race. This modification may be transmitted to their descendants by intermixtures. The fact of Havorinus should, however, be verified.

[38] Steen Bille, _Bericht über die Reise der Galathea_, bd. i, p. 376, 1852: Waitz, _loc. cit._

[39] A. de Quatrefages, _Du Croisement des races humaines; Revue des Deux-Mondes_, t. viii, p. 162, _en note_, 1857.