such as the Anglo-Saxon with the Negro, are crossèd, a different result
has course. Their mulatto offspring, if still prolific, are hut partially
so ; and acquire an inherent tendency to run out, and become eventually
extinct when kept apart from the parent stocks. This opinion
is now becoming general among observers in our slave States ; and it
is very strongly insisted upon by M. Jacquinot. This skilful naturalist
(unread in cis-Atlantic literature) claims the discovery as original
with himself; although erroneously, because it had long .previously
been advocated by Estwick and Long, the historians of Jamaica ; by
Dr. Caldwell ;445 by Professors Dickson and Holbrook, of Charleston,
S. C. ; and by numerous other leading medical men of our Southern
States. There are some 4,000,000 of Negroes in the United States ;
about whom circumstances, personal and professional, have afforded
me ample opportunities for observation. I have found it impossible,
nevertheless, to collect such statistics as would be satisfactory to others
on this point; and the difficulty arises solely from the want of chastity
among mulatto women, which is so notorious, as to be proverbial.
Although often married to hybrid males of their own color, their
children are begotten as frequently by white or other men, as by their
husbands. For many years, in my daily professional visits, I have
been in the habit of meeting with mulatto women, either free or
slaves ; and, never omitting an opportunity of inquiry with regard
to their prolificacy, longevity of offspring, color of parents, age, &c.,
the conviction has become indelibly fixed in my mind that the positions
laid down in the beginning of this chapter are true.
Hombron and Jacquinot have asserted on their own authority, as
well as upon that of others, that this law of infertility holds also with
the cross of the European on the Hottentot and Australian.
“ Les quelques tribus qui se trouvaient aux environs de Port Jackson, vont chaque jour
en décroissant, et c’est à peine si l’on cite quelques rares métis d’Australien et d’Européen.
Cette absence de métis entre deux peuples vivant en contacte sur la même terre, prouve bien
incontestablement la différence des espèces. On conçoit du reste que, si ces métis existaient,
ils seraient bien faciles à reconnoitre, et à différencier des espèces mères.
“ A Hobart Town et sur toute la Tasmanie, il n’y a pas d’avantage de métis; tout ce
qui reste des indigènes (quarante environ) à été transporté dans une petite île du détroit de
Bass.”
The official reporte published by the British Parliament confirm this
statement as to Australia.
French and Spanish writers have maintained that, when the grade
of quinteroon is arrived at, the Negro type is lost, and that such man
becomes no longer distinguishable from the pure white. In some of
the West India Islands this grade of slave by law becomes free. Now,
it. must be remembered that the Spaniards, and a certain proportion
of the population of France, are themselves already as dark as any
quinteroon, or even a quadroon; and thus it may readily happen
that very few crosses would merge the dark into the lighter race: but,
when the Anglo-Saxon and the Negro are brought together, no such
result has been perceived, or hinted at, in the United States, where
the latter amalgamation is going on upon an immense scale. Slaves
of Southern States, seduced by delusive representations, are constantly
making attempts to escape to free States; and would succeed without
difficulty.in most cases, were it not for their color: yet they have
rarely, if ever, become so fair through white lineage as to escape detection.
I am not sure that I ever saw at the South, one of such adult
mixed-bloods so fair that I could not instantaneously trace the Negro
type in complexion and feature. When we bear in mind the length
of time during which the two races have been commingling in the
United States, how are we to explain this fact ? The only physiological
reason that may be assigned is this: the mulattoes, or mixed«
breeds, die off before the dark stain can be washed out by amalgamation.
No other rational explanation can be offered.
Mr. Lyell speaks of some mulattoes he met with in North Carolina,
whom, he says, he could not distinguish from whites; but, if any such
examples exjst, among the multiform crosses between Anglo-Saxons
and Negroes, they must be extraordinarily few; because my half
century’s residence in our slave States should have brought me in contact
with many instances. However, an Englishman, coming from
an island where a Negro is a “ rara avis,” and running through the
United States at Mr. Lyell’s speed, could not become familiarized with
these various grades, and therefore his eye might well be deceived.
The great geologist certainly made many other decidedly erroneous
observations in his American tour; quite innocently we all admit.
M. Gerdy claims (Traite de Physiologie) that primitive human species
have all disappeared through amalgamations; giving a most
erudite rehearsal of the wars and migrations which have influenced
races, from the earliest times downwards: but it is a hard matter to
wash out blood; and we oppose the fact, that the representatives of
many original types still live: such as the Greeks (heroic type), the
Basques, the Jews, the Australians, the Indians, and, above all, the
Egyptians.
M. Jacquinot, whose ability and great opportunities for investigation
add much weight to his authority, lays down the following
conclusions: —
“ 1. A species, or race which represents it, is primitive, when all the individuals that compose
it present the same physical characters, same color of skin, same type of face, same
conformation, same kind of hair— notwithstanding the varieties of physiognomy of individuals,
which vary to infinitude in all species.
“ In a species, according to Cuvier, * the children resemble the father and mother, as
much as these resemble each other.*