egro
kingdom, some idea may be conceived from the description of Thebes
given by Denon, who accompanied the French army into Egypt: "This city,
renowned for numerous kings, who through their wisdom have been elevated
to the rank of gods; for laws, which have been revered without being
known; for sciences, which have been confided to proud and mysterious
inscriptions; for wise and earliest monuments of the arts, which time
has respected;--this sanctuary, abandoned, isolated through barbarism,
and surrendered to the desert from which it was won; this city, shrouded
in the veil of mystery by which even colossi are magnified; this remote
city, which imagination has only caught a glimpse of through the
darkness of time--was still so gigantic an apparition, that, at the
sight of its scattered ruins, the army halted of its own accord, and
the soldiers, with one spontaneous movement, clapped their hands."

The honorable Alexander Everett, in his work on America, says: "While
Greece and Rome were yet barbarous, we find the light of learning and
improvement emanating from the continent of Africa, (supposed to be so
degraded and accursed,) out of the midst of this very woolly-haired,
flat-nosed, thick-lipped, coal-black race, which some persons are
tempted to station at a pretty low intermediate point between men and
monkeys. It is to Egypt, if to any nation, that we must look as the
real _antiqua mater_ of the ancient and modern refinement of Europe.
The great lawgiver of the Jews was prepared for his divine mission by
a course of instruction in all the wisdom of the Egyptians."

"The great Assyrian empires of Babylon and Nineveh, hardly less
illustrious than Egypt in arts and arms, were founded by Ethiopian
colonies, and peopled by blacks.

"Palestine, or Canaan, before its conquest by the Jews, is represented
in Scripture, as well as in other histories, as peopled by blacks; and
hence it follows that Tyre and Carthage, the most industrious, wealthy,
and polished states of their time, were of this color."

Another strong argument against the natural inferiority of negroes may
be drawn from the present condition of Africa. Major Denham's account of
the Sultan of Sackatoo proves that the brain is not necessarily rendered
stupid by the color of the face: "The palace as usual in Africa,
consisted of a sort of inclosed town, with an open quadrangle in front.
On entering the gate, he was conducted through three huts serving as
gua