“I see on the whole surface of the globe only three types or divisions of mankind which seem to me to merit the title of distinct races: the white, more or less colored with red; the yellow, inclining to different tints of copper or bronze; and the black.—I share in the opinion which refers these three races to one and the same primitive stock, and which places their common cradle on the central plateau of Asia.”[138]
Buffon, the brilliant naturalist, whose work is one of the French classics, thus records his judgment:—
“All concurs to prove that the human race is not composed of species essentially different among themselves,—that, on the contrary, there was originally but a single species of men, who, in multiplying and spreading over all the surface of the globe, have undergone different changes through the influence of climate, difference of food, difference in the manner of living, epidemic maladies, and the infinitely varied intermixture of individuals more or less alike.”[139]
Another authority, avoiding the question of origin, has given a summary full of instruction and beauty. I refer to Alexander von Humboldt, the life-long companion of every science, to whom all science was revealed,—who studied Man in both hemispheres, and ever afterwards, throughout his long and glorious career, continued the pursuit. Adopting the words of the great German anatomist, Johannes Müller, that “the different races of mankind are forms of one sole species, by the union of two individuals of which descendants are propagated,”[140] and criticizing the popular classifications of Blumenbach and Prichard as wanting “typical sharpness” or “well-established principle,” the author of “Cosmos” insists that “the distribution of mankind is only a distribution into varieties, which are commonly designated by the somewhat indefinite term races,” and then announces the grand conclusion:—
“Whilst we maintain the unity of the human species, we at the same time repel the depressing assumption of superior and inferior races of men. There are nations more susceptible of cultivation, more highly civilized, more ennobled by mental cultivation, than others, but none in themselves nobler than others.”[141]
Such is the testimony of Science by one of its greatest masters. Rarely have better words been uttered. Nor should it be said longer that Science is silent. Humboldt has spoken. And what he said is much in little,—most simple, but most comprehensive; for, while asserting the Unity of the Human Family, he repels that disheartening pretension of Caste which I insist shall find no place in our political system. Through him Science is enlisted for the Equal Rights of All.
Whatever the judgment on the unity of origin, where, from the nature of the case, there can be no final human testimony, it is a source of infinite consolation that we can anchor to that other unity found in a common organization, a common nature, and a common destiny, being at once physical, moral, and prophetic. This is the true Unity of the Human Family. In all essentials constituting Humanity, in all that makes Man, all varieties of the human species are one and the same. There is no real difference between them. The variance, whether of complexion, configuration, or language, is external and superficial only, like the dress we wear. Here all knowledge and every science concur. Anatomy, physiology, psychology, history, the equal promises to all men, testify. Look at Man on the dissecting table, and he is always the same, no matter in what color he is clad,—same limbs, same bones, same proportions, same structure, same upright stature. Look at Man in the world, and you will find him in nature always the same,—modified only by the civilization about him. There is no human being, black or yellow, who may not apply to himself the language of Shakespeare’s Jew:—
“Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions?—fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer as a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die?”[142]
Look at Man in his destiny here or hereafter, so far as it can be penetrated by mortal vision, and who will venture to claim for any variety or class exclusive prerogatives on earth or in heaven? Where is this preposterous pretender? God has given to all the same longevity, marking a common mortality,—the same cosmopolitan character, marking citizenship everywhere,—and the same capacity for improvement, marking that tendency sometimes called the perfectibility of the race; and He has given to all alike the same promise of immortal life. By these tokens is Man known everywhere to be Man, and by these tokens is he everywhere entitled to the Rights of Man.