An Essay on the Origin and Relative Status of the White and Colored Races of Mankind

Front matter

AN ESSAY

on the

ORIGIN AND RELATIVE STATUS

Complimentary Notices

COMPLIMENTARY NOTICES.

Among the numerous complimentary letters I have received, relating to my Essay on the Races, since its publication, the following from S.W. Buck, Esq., of this (Bradford) county; Judge Elwell, of Columbia county; and the Rev. Jas. A. Davidson, the late eloquent State Temperance Lecturer of Pennsylvania, and now of Ohio; E. D. Kennedy, Esq., an eminent lawyer, and W. Cochraueel, Esq., the talented editor of the Louisville (Ky.) Commercial, with highly complimentary editorial notices from the Bradford Argus and Towanda Business Item, of this place, and other papers elsewhere, will show that my views on that subiect are fully endorsed, so far as they are known, by the talent and learning of the country.

LeRaysville, Pa., April 20, 1872.

My Dear General: I have perused, with great satisfaction and pleasure, your Essay on the origin of the White and Colored Races, and am indebted to you for clearing up—completely—many things concerning the status of the African race. The profound research and indefatigable perseverance you have given the subject have made many of the points in your arguments unanswerable, aud entitle you to the respect of the American public for clearing up the subject which no one else has done in a satisfactory and indisputable manner. Accept my sincere thanks for the work, and believe me

Gen. W, Patton, Yours very truly,

Towanda. S.W. Buck.

Blooomsburg, March 13, 1872.

Gen. Wm. Patton—Dear Sir: I received a few days since your "Essay on the Origin and Relative Status of the White and Colored Races," and have been much instructed by its perusal. Your reasoning to prove that there are distinct and separate creations, presents that subject in a clear and intelligent light aud goes far to establish the soundness of your position.

I shall preserve this pamphlet for reference, whenever occasion may require consideration of the subject of which it treats.

Yours truly,

Wm. Elwell.

Erie, Pa., February 17, 1872.

Gen. W. Patton—Dear Friend and Brother: Please accept the thanks of Mrs. Davidson and myself for your very interesting and ably written pamphlet "on the Origin and Relative Status of the White and Colored Races." We have been much interested in its perusal, as have some of our neighbors who have been in and looked over it. I must say that you display great ability in the work, and it will be difficult to refute your ideas. May Heaven bless you and long spare your useful life.I1 have received a commission to lecture for G.L. of Ohio, and so will not visit your county.

Truly yours,

Jas. A. Davidson.

Louisville, Ky., February 17, 1872.

Gen. Patton, Towanda, Pa.: Dear General,—Although an entire stranger to you, I take the liberty of addressing you to request of you the favor of a perusal of a work on the races ami origin of men. This work of yours is much spoken of here for its originality of thought and the boldness of its conclusions. Its independence in reasoning and conclusions is said to be quite refreshing when placed beside the hacknied and old time opinions upon this most interesting but most lamentably abused field of scientific and scholarly research. If you have not a copy to spare, pray oblige me with the name of the publisher that I may apply to him.

Truly your friend,

E.D. Kennedy.

Louisville, Ky., March 18, 1872.

Gen. Patton: Your work on the "Origin and Status of the White and Colored Races," is attracting much attention here in literary and scientific circles. As only one or two persons have possession of the work, I take the liberty of asking you to send me a copy. The theories and arguments advanced by you are of such a startling character that even those who have been inclined to concede to Darwin all that is claimed for him, are looking at your work with critical and enquiring eyes. There is a brilliant originality and plausibility in all the leading features of your work, that causes thinkers to regard it as one of the most valuable papers of the age. I can only repeat what the learned savant of this section, Col. Aaron Fontaine, has said, that "Gen. Patton has produced the most startling truths that have been advanced in this age." * * Accept my congratulations for the success with which your great effort has been crowned. I believe it will do good, and obtain wide celebrity for yourself, the talented author; and for the views advanced, God bless you, and keep your intellect clear.

I remain respectfully,

Your obedient servant,

W. Cochraneel,

Editor Louisville Commercial.

Preface

Preface.

To the Public: Having made Nature and the Natural Sciences, my chief study, for the last half century, I submit the following pages to the public, as the result of my investigations relating to the enigmatical assumptions of the equality and unity of the white and colored races of mankind; which has, hitherto, so much perplexed Naturalists and Theologians; and which, I think, the Reader will find to be the only view of the subject, that is reconcileable with the laws of Nature and of Revelation. It is true that eminent Naturalists have foreshadowed separate creations of the Races, as reconcileable with the laws of Nature, but not with Revelation; and I, therefore, only claim to have advanced a step farther, where I find a full accordance with both.

Although my essay is mainly confined to the relative status of the extreme, white and black, races, nevertheless, the Reader will perceive, as he progresses, that it also incidentally developes the status of the intermediate Races.

The Author.

Towanda, Pa., November 8th, 1871.

An Essay

An Essay,on the origin and relative status of the white and colored races of mankind.

Anciently, all the interior parts of Africa, lying south of Egypt, were called Ethiopia, and comprised those countries now called Nubia and Abyssinia. The black race who inhabited Ethiopia, were then called Ethiopeans; and every book we open, which treats of the Ethiopean or black Race; is involved in acknowledged obscurity. We find the great mass of the Race, in its own country, in a state of heathenism and barbarism; and, in some localities, they are cannibals to this day. They are divided into numerous Tribes, under Tribal despotisms; and have no general government, nor have they made any material advances towards civilization or Christianity; and, consequently, have no written or even reliable traditional history of their race.

When DuChaillu, the distinguished African explorer, inquired of them concerning their past history, they answered him with emotions of surprise and derisive laughter. There is in fact, no account of the black man, either in the Mosaical history of creation, or among those who were saved in the ark of the Deluge: and the only traces of his genealogy, beyond a limited period, are to be found in the dim mazes of inferential conjectures; and the various supposititious theories of his origin are irreconcileable with Revelation and the laws of Nature.

As the visage of the white Race (especially the feminine sex,) with its prominent outline of features—fair complexion; changeable rosy cheeks: delicate ruby lips; expressive gem-like eyes, of every shade of color; and its high intellectual forehead, surmounted by long straight flowing glossy hair, of various hues, is more attractive and fascinating than a monotonous sooty complexion, with a flat outline of features; eyes of opaque dark color; coarse dingy lips, and a low unintellectual forehead, overtopped with short dull black kinky wool; those who believe in the unity of the Races, with apologetic instinct, seem to think that black could not have been the original complexion of the black man; although its permanency was alluded to, in the early ages, by Jeremiah the Prophet, where he couples him with a wild carniverous animal of the brute creation, and emphatically asks the question—"Can the Ethiopean change his skin or the Leopard his spots?" If black was not his original complexion is it not rather strange that the Prophet should have referred to the permanency of his complexion, as illustrative of the unchangeabhness of the laws of Nature? and is it not equally strange, that, if such change had actually been made by miraculous power; as the only means by which a fixed law of Nature could be changed; that a Prophet endowed with Divine knowledge, such as Jeremiah was, should have been ignorant of it? or that no allusion, whatever, should have been made to it by any of the other inspired writers? We look, in vain, for the evidence of any such miracle.

It is, however, claimed by some that the black man originally descended from Ham, upon whose son, Canaan, Noah pronounced a curse, to punish Ham for his indecent behaviour to his Father, (Noah,) when asleep, and, by which curse, it is claimed that the descendents of Ham were doomed to perpetual servitude; their skin blackened; their features flattened: and their hair changed to wool, &c. The words of the curse were as follows:

"And when Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him, and he said, cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. And he said, Blessed be the Lord God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant."

Here, then, the question arises: Was Noah endowed with miraculous power to change the fixed laws of Nature, so as to cause so great a transformation in Ham or in his descendents? It is said that he built the immense Ark of the Deluge, and filled it with animated beings: but immense as it was, its structure was simple and plain; and it was built under the immediate notice and specific directions of his Creator. We have no account of his endowment with any such miraculous transforming omnipotent power; and if he had been so endowed, it is very clear that by the terms of the curse, the servitude of Canaan was limited to Ham's two brethren, Shem and Japheth, and did not extend to their posterity. If the curse had been couched in terms of ambiguity, there might have been some grounds for construing the servitude to be perpetual, and that construction would, in that case, have been strengthened by his naturally servile character. For it is well known that he subordinates himself to whatever race he is associated with; whether in a state of slavery or of freedom; and would never attempt to rise to social or political equality, with the white race unless prompted to it by a portion of the superior race; as in this country; or aspire to political supremacy, unless incited to it by a vast superiority of numbers, as in St. Domingo. But to leave no doubt about the intended meaning of the curse, Noah specially named each of those brethren of Ham, to whom his son Canaan should be a servant of servants, viz: Shem and Japheth; who were to dwell together in the same tents, whereby Canaan could serve them the more conveniently. And, moreover, there is nothing in that curse, to indicate that either Ham, or his son Canaan, or the posterity of either of them, were to be made black by it. And the expression that Canaan should be "a servant of servants unto his brethren," evidently means that he was to be so humbled, in the sight of his Father, Ham, on whose account the curse was pronounced, as to give, even the servants of Shem and Japheth, authority over him as their subordinate; and hence, the idea of construing that curse, with its limited purpose, so plainly indicated on the face of it, so as to account for the origin and status of the black man, and consigning him thereby to perpetual slavery, is simply as absurd as it is untenable.

There are others who claim the descent of the Black man from Cain; who murdered Abel, his brother; and, for which God pronounced a curse on him, as is shown in the following Biblical account of the fratricidal crime and consequent curse:

"And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.

"And the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother's keeper?

"And he said. What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground.

"And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand.

"When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength: a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.

"And Cain said unto the Lord, My punishment is greater than I can bear,

"Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth; and from thy face shall I be hid: and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth; and it shall come to pass, that every one that findeth me shall slay me.

"And the Lord said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him seven fold. And the Lord set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him."

And this mark, intended solely for Cain's personal protection, and unaccompanied by any hereditary indication, they say was that which permanently changed his own and his posterity's skin, from a white, or some other undescribed complex ion, to an indelible black; together with other changes affecting his and their whole physical formation, equally conspicuous.

A part of the curse related to Cain's particular vocation, as a tiller of the ground, thus:—"When thou tillest the ground it shall not henceforth yield to thee her strength." The words "thou" and "thee" apply personally to Cain, alone, and not to his posterity; and so it is with the other part of the curse: "a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth," and which, allowing the widest latitude of inference, is not applicable to the black Race, who, in their own country, are not, with extremely limited exceptions, tillers of the ground; and, although they are an inferior and a degraded Race, it is questionable whether they can be said to be as vagabondish as the wandering Arabs or Gypsies: and they cannot fairly be said to be fugitives; because they have a country of their own, which is presumed to have been inhabited by them, for a period, coeval with the inhabitability of other countries, occupied by other Races: for no authentic history or tradition reaches back to the period when their country was first inhabited.

Now is it not rather incredible to suppose that the Lord should, so indefinitely, indicate a change which was permanently to affect Cain's own and his posterity's whole complexion, and every feature of his and their bodies, internally and externally, as I shall show hereafter, by merely saying that he would set a mark upon him to warn others not to slay him?

But as it is palpably evident that that mark was only intended for Cain's personal protection, so there is no evidence, whatever, that it was intended to affect his posterity: for if it had been so intended, the Creator would undoubtedly have made it manifest, as he has in other cases. Such as the curse which was pronounced upon Adam and Eve, in the garden of Eden—and that of visiting tho sins of the Parents upon their children, unto the third and fourth generation, &c, and, moreover, if it were merely an artificial mark, it would not, by the laws of Nature, necessarily be inherited by Cain's posterity; and hence the futility of ascribing the origin of his black complexion, &c, to that cause.

When the descent of the black man from Adam is questioned, then we are confronted, by those who advocate the unity of the races, with a quotation from St. Paul's sermon, when preaching to the Athenians on Mar's Hill, which they regard as proof from holy writ, of the Adamic lineality of his descent; viz: "He" (God,) "hath made of one blood all nations of men, for to dwell on all the face of the earth; and hath determined the times before appointed: and the bounds of their habitation," &c, and which, by a perverted construction, it is gravely argued, establishes his geneology, as a lineal descendant from Adam: whereas, the only reasonable and consistent construction of that expression—"hath made of one blood, all nations of men," &c, is that it was intended to apply to the respective Nations, as individual Nations, and not to the whole number of the inhabitants of the Earth, in their popular or aggregate capacity—or, in other words; that each Nation was of one blood, although it might be of a different blood from that of other Nations.

St. Paul did not say that God made all men, of one blood; but "all Nations of men" of one blood, If it had been intended to apply indiscriminately to all men, merely as individuals, then the words "Nations of," would be mere surplusage; because, the simple expression, that God hath made of one blood, all men, or all mankind, would have fully expressed the idea of its general application to all men , irrespective of their nationalities.

In corroboration of this view, we find the expression—"all men"—without the qualifying words—"all nations of men"—twice used by St. Paul in the same chapter, containing the quoted expression, viz:—in the 30th verse—"And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent," and in the 31st verse, he says—"Whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, that he hath raised him from the dead."

Again, "The bounds of their habitation" evidently means the bounds of their habitations as Nations, as he was then speaking of Nations; because, if it had been intended to apply to them merely as individuals, it would necessarily apply to the bounds of their individual habitations; which, generally, have no permanency, even in civilized countries, where they are marked and defined by fixed bounderies; but are constantly changing. And some of those Nomadic tribes or Nations of the inferior Races, who subsist by hunting and fishing, have no defined individual habitations, but occupy their hunting and fishing grounds, in common, as Tribes or Nations.

The Fishes and Reptiles, being cold blooded, may be said to be of one blood. But it does not follow, that, because they are of the same cold blood, they all come from one common ancestor; when it is notoriously known that all the varieties of them are, and always have been, widely different, in form, size, color, &c, from each other. Some are covered with shells, some with smooth skins; some with small and otherg with large scales; some are short, broad and flat; others are long and round; and, moreover, some are viviperous and others are oviperous. And God has fixed the climatic bounds of their habitations and the habitations of other lower orders of the animal Kingdom, as definitely as Europe is fixed upon for Europeans; Asia for Asiatics; Africa for Africans, and America for Americans.

The frigid zone bounds the habitations of certain land animals—such as the Polar Bear, Reindeer and Arctic Fox. The arctic sea bounds the habitations of certain sea animals—such as the Northren Whale, Walrus and Seal; and the temperate and torrid zones, each bound, with equal definitiveness, the habitations of other sea, land and acquatic animals.

But, if viewed literally, on this point, a scientific chemical analysis of the blood of the black and white Races, has demonstrated the fact that they are not of one blood, because the blood of the Black man is essentially, and materially, different from the blood of the white man—it is thinner, darker, lower in temperature, different in its globules and in its coagulation; and is more venous and carbonaceous, than his. And, hence, in that view, the facts involved, forbid the interpretation claimed by the advocates of the unity of the Races.

If the expression is construed to apply to the two Races, as being the same, in disposition, in intellect, or in religion, it is, in either case, emphatically untrue; because the disposition of the white man is, comparatively, grave or sedate; while that of the black man is volatile. In the comparative strength of intellect, there is a universally admitted difference in favor of the white man. In regard to religion, the black man, in his own country, is a heathen; and so of other colored Races; and the white man, in his own country, is a christian; and, hence, it is clear that the Apostles' expression was only applicable to the Races as Nations. But, if it is construed to apply to a common destiny, my views thereon will be found farther on, in their appropriate connection.

The Descent of Both the White and Black Man, from Adam, impossible.

Assuming as a basis of argument, the fact, that when God created the world He stamped upon the face of creation His immutable laws, that every living thing should bring forth after its hind; I proceed to investigate the fact, according to that standard, whether both the Black and White man could possibly have lineally descended from Adam? and in doing so, the first inquiry that presents itself, is this:—Was the complexion of our First Parents white, yellow, copper colored, brown or black? As these, with their various shades, are the known complexions of the five different Races, or varieties into which the most eminent Naturalists have divided mankind, it is fair to presume that his complexion was like that of some one of their's.

But the learned Theologians say that Adam's name imports that he was a red man. For my part I propose to compromise with the Theologians, by calling him a white man with a reddish complexion—because that is really the natural complexion of white men, generally: but there are some of them who are naturally of such a reddish hue, that it would be no mistake to call them red men; and for aught we know, Adam might have been of that class.

The Indians of this country are called red men; but their complexion is not a true red—they are copper colored—which is a pale brick red tinged with yellow.

The presumption is that Adam and Eve were of the same complexion; as Eve was made from a rib taken from Adam's side, while he was in a deep chloroformic sleep; and was made "bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh."

The most eminent Naturalists agree that there are as many as five distinct varieties or Eaces of the human species or genus Homo, viz: The Caucasion or white Race; The Mongolian or yellow Race; The Indian or copper colored Race; The Malayan or brown Race; and the Etheopian, or black Race.

Now let us see, whehter, by the laws of Nature, either the white or black Race could have come from any combination with each other, or from any of the other Races of an intermediate complexion.

I take it for granted, that it is an admitted fact, that the offspring will follow the complexion of their Parents. If the Parents are white, the children will be white—if they are black, their children will be black: or if one of the Parents is white and the other black, then the complexion of their children will be midway between that of their Parents; and so it is, whatever the complexion of their Parents may be; and, therefore, according to the laws of Nature, the complexion of either the white or black man cannot possibly be derived from any crossing between his race and that of any other. For it is manifest that a cross of the Black man with any other race destroys his black complexion, and that likewise a cross of the white man with any other destroys his white complexion. Then how can the white man's complexion be accounted for, unless it be on the hypothesis that Adam and Eve were both white? Or how can the black man's complexion be accounted for, unlees they were both black? Or, how can either be occounted for, if Adam was white and Eve black? Or vice versa. A response to these questions must irresistibly force us to the conclusion that each of those races is sui generis and derived from separate creations.

It is true that the black race, in some instances, have white children, called "Albinos," who retain their white complexion during life; but they are exceptional cases of lusus naturce—being, probably, less than one to 100,000—and they are evidently freaks of nature—their organism seems to be imperfect; they cannot endure a strong light; because the pigmental membrane, back of the pupil of their eyes, is wanting; and the stratum of rete mucosom underlying the scarf skin, in others, is absent in them; and their complexion is, therefore, an unnatural sickly white; and, like "white black-birds," they do not increase or perpetuate their kind, by consecutive propogation.

Thus we see, that, if our first Parents were both white, it shuts out the black man's claim to lineage from them; If they were both black, it shuts out the white man's claim; and if they were of an intermediate complexion, it shuts out the claims of both the white end black man; and hence, the advocates of the unity of the black and white Races, in groping about for evidence, in support of their theory, have, in their blind zeal, attributed the various complexions of the Races to the effect and influence of climate; and, instinctively, presupposing the first man created to have been white, they alledge that a hot climate will change a white to a black complexion, and as proof of it they say that if a white man exposes himself to the sun, even in a cold climate, it will darken his complexion. I grant it. But. if he returns to the house again and remains there a short time he will resume his fair complexion; but they say that it requires a long time for a hot climate to make a white man black. The celebrated European Naturalist, [Mr. Boyle,] says that "a black complexion cannot be produced by the heat of the climate; for though the heat of the sun may darken the color of the skin, experience does not show that it is sufficient to produce a true blackness like that of the Negroes."

Now, white men—such as Bruce, Valliant, Park, Brown, Burton, Baker, Edwards, Speke, Grant, Du Chaillu, and Livingstone, visited Africa, as Explorers, and remained a long time in that hot climate, where, in some localities, the thermometer sometimes runs up as high as to 160 degrees, and when they returned home to their native land; their complexions, though slightly tanned by exposure, soon became the same as when they left it; and, at Capetown, on the southern coast of Africa, there is a dutch colony of white, who have been there, upwards of 200 years, without any change of complexion; and, moreover, there has been a settlement of Jews on the coast of Malabar, within 10 degrees of the Equator, for over 1500 years, and they still have the features and complexion of the white Caucasian Race. And, on the other hand, the black man, who belonged to that African hot climate, and was brought to this North American latitude, upwards of 200 years ago; his descendants—where thay are unmixed—are as black this day, as their ancestors were when they first landed on our shores. Therefore, if the coloring process of a hot climate, applied to the white man over 1500 years, has made no perceptible change in his complexion—and, as it is a poor rule that wont work both ways—I am curious to know how long the process will require to protuburate the features, straighten the wool, and bleach the black man white? or to flatten the features, and color the white man black? and, moreover, to change his hair to wool, &c.? And whether it would not follow as a natural consequence, that, if climate controls the complexion, then everybody, living in the same climate, would, necessarily, be of the same complexion.

I will now give the true cause of the white and black and intermediate complexions, based upon scientific investigation. There is a stratum of mucous matter, underneath, what is called, the scarf skin, called by anatomists—"rete mucosum," in which there is a pigmentary deposit, which gives to the skin its complexion; and which, in the Caucasian, is white; yellow, in the Mongolian; red or copper colored, in the Indian; brown, in the Malayan; and black in the Etheopian, or black man, and which can be seen, by simply raising a blister on the skin.

Thus the black man inherently carries with him, the natural elements of his own dark complexion; and his black and thick skin; his matted wool; his thick skull, and his strong odor, to repel the baneful effects of the sickening malaria of a hot climate were evidently intended to adapt him to it, and thus, also, the other colored races inherently carry with them the elements of their own native complexions.

In accounting for the darkening process, it is said that children of the black race are born nearly white, and that from the comparative smallness of their lungs, as compared with those of white children, they inhale a larger portion of carbon than of oxigen, and, that the excess of carbon, operating upon the pigmentary deposit, underlying the scarf skin, changes its color; and, consequently, the skin, in a few days, begins to darken, and continues to darken, until it attains its ultimate blackness.