Such, is the scope of this science — horn, we may. say, within $ur
own generation — and we propose to examine mankind under the
above two-fold aspect, while we point out some of the more salient
results towards which modern investigation is tending. The press
everywhere teems with new hooks on the various partitions of the
wide field of Ethnology; yet there does not exist, in any language, an
attempt, based on the highest scientific lights of the day, at a
systematic treatise on Ethnology in its extended sense. M orton
was the first to conceive the proper plan; hut, unfortunately, lived
not to carry it out; and although the present volume falls very far
below the just requirements of science, we feel assured that it will
at least aid materially in suggesting the right direction to future
investigators.
The grand problem, more particularly interesting to all readers, is
that which involves the common origin of races; for upon the latter
deduction hang not only certain religious dogmas, hut the more
practical question of the equality and perfectibility of races — we say
“ more practical question,” because, while Almighty Power, on the
one hand, is. not responsible .to Man for the distinct origin of human
races, these, on the other, are,, accountable to Him for the manner in
which their delegated power is used towards each other.
Whether an original diversity of races be admitted or not, the
permanence of existing physical types will not be questioned by any
Archaeologist or Naturalist of the present day. Nor, by such competent
arbitrators, can the consequent permanence of moral and
intellectual peculiarities of types be denied. The intellectual man is
inseparable from the physical man; and the nature of the one cannot
be altered without a corresponding change in the other.
The truth of these propositions had long been familiar to the
master-mind of J ohn C. Ca lh o u n ; who regarded them to be of such
paramount importance as to demand the fullest consideration from
those who, like our lamented statesman in his day, wield the destinies
of nations and of races. An anecdote will illustrate the pains-taking
laboriousness of Mr. Calhoun to let no occasion slip whence information
was attainable. Our colleague, G. E. G l id d o n , happened to be in
Washington City, early in May, 1844, on business of his father (United
States’ Consul for Egypt) at the State Department; at which time !
Mr. Calhoun, Secretary of State, was conducting diplomatic negotiations
with France and England, connected with the annexation of
Texas. Mr. Calhoun, suffering from indisposition, sent a message to
Mr. Gliddon, requesting, a visit at his lodgings. In a long interview
which ensued, Mr. Calhoun stated, that England pertinaciously continued
to interfere with our inherited Institution of Negro Slavery,
and in a manner to render it imperative that he should indite very
strong instructions on the subject to the late Mr. Wm. E. K in o , of
Alabama, then our Ambassador to France. He read to Mr. Gliddon
portions of the . manuscript of his celebrated letter to Mr. King, which,
issued on the 12th of the following August, ranks among our ablest
national documents. Mr. Calhoun declared that he could not foresee
what course the negotiation might take, but wished .to, be forearmed
for any emergency. He was convinced that the tmeMlfiieulties of
the subject could not be fully comprehended without first'considering
the radical difference of humanity’s races, which he intended to discuss,
should he be driven to the necessity. Knowing that Mr. Gliddon
had paid attention to the subject of African ethnology ; -and that,
from his long residence in Egypt, he had enjoyed unusual advantages
for its investigation, Mr. Calhoun had summoned him for the purpose
of ascertaining what were the best sources of information in this
country. Mr. Gliddon, after laying before the Secretary what he
conceived to be the true state of the ease, referred him for further
information to several scientific gentlemen, and more particularly to
D r . M orton, of Philadelphia. A correspondence ensued between
Mr. Calhoun and Dr. Morton on the subject, and the Doctor presented
to him copies of the Crania Americana and Ægyptiaca, together with
minor works, all of which Mr. Calhoun studied with no less pleasure
than profit. He soon perceived that the conclusions which he had
long before drawn from history, and from his personal observations
in America, on the Anglo-Saxon, Celtic; Teutonic, French, Spanish,
Negro, and Indian races, were entirely corroborated by the plain
teachings of modern science. He beheld demonstrated in Morton’s
works the important fact, that the Egyptian, Negro, several White, and
sundry Yellow races, had existed, in their present forms, for at least
4000 years ; and that it behoved the statesman to lay aside all current
speculations about the origin and perfectibility of races, and to deal,
in political argument, with the simple facts as they stand.
What, on the vital question of African Slavery in our Southern
States, was the utilitarian consequence of Calhoun’s memorable
dispatch to King ? Strange, yet true, to say, although the English
press anxiously complained that Mr. Calhoun had intruded Ethnology
into diplomatic correspondence, a communication from the Foreign
Office promptly assured our Government that Great Britain had no
intention of intermeddling with the domestic institutions- of other
nations. Nor, from that day to this, has she violated her formal
pledge in our regard. During a sojourn of Mr. Calhoun, on his retirement
from office, with us at Mobile, we enjoyed personal opportunities
of knowing the accuracy of the above facts, no less than of receiving