tate in
which the Caucasian race was at the time of the formation of the Greek
republics. The principle of the improvement of the character of races by
the transmission of hereditary qualities has not escaped the observations
of the legislators of the ancient people. By the divine law of Moses the
Israelites were enjoined to preserve the purity of their blood, and there
was no higher crime than that of forming alliances with the idolatrous
nations surrounding them. The Brahmins of Hindostan have established
upon the same principle the law of caste, by which certain professions
were made hereditary. In this warm climate, where labour is so
oppressive, to secure perfection in any series of operations it seems
essential to strengthen the powers by the forces acquired from this
principle of hereditary descent. It will at first perhaps strike your
mind that the mixing or blending of races is in direct opposition to this
principle of perfection; but here I must require you to pause and
consider the nature of the qualities belonging to the human being. Excess
of a particular power, which in itself is a perfection, becomes a defect;
the organs of touch may be so refined as to show a diseased sensibility;
the ear may become so exquisitely sensitive as to be more susceptible to
the uneasiness produced by discords than to the pleasures of harmony. In
the nations which have been long civilised the defects are generally
those dependent on excess of sensibility--defects which are cured in the
next generation by the strength and power belonging to a ruder tribe. In
looking back upon the vision of ancient history, you will find that there
never has been an instance of a migration to any extent of any race but
the Caucasian, and they have usually passed from the North to the South.
The negro race has always been driven before these conquerors of the
world; and the red men, the aborigines of America, are constantly
diminishing in number, and it is probable that in a few centuries more
their pure blood will be entirely extinct. In the population of the
world, the great object is evidently to produce organised frames most
capable of the happy and intellectual enjoyment of life--to raise man
above the mere animal state. To perpetuate the advantages of
civilisation, the races most capable of these advantages are preserved
and extended, and no considerable improvement made by an individual is
ever lost to society. You see living form