CORRESPONDENCE WITH DR. HOWE. 603 



upon a fixed policy. Conceive for a moment 

 the difference it would make in future ages 

 for the prospects of republican institutions, 

 and our civilization generally, if instead of 

 the manly population descended from cognate 

 nations the United States should be inhabited 

 by the effeminate progeny of mixed races, half 

 Indian, half negro, sprinkled with white blood. 

 Can you devise a scheme to rescue the Span- 

 iards of Mexico from their degradation ? Be- 

 ware, then, of any policy which may bring our 

 own race to their level. 



These considerations lead me naturally to 

 the inquiry into the peculiarities of the two 

 races, in order to find out what may be most 

 beneficial for each. I rejoice in the prospect 

 of universal emancipation, not only from a 

 philanthropic point of view, but also because 

 hereafter the physiologist and ethnographer 

 may discuss the question of the races and ad- 

 vocate a discriminating policy regarding them, 

 without seeming to support legal inequality. 

 There is no more one-sided doctrine concern- 

 ing human nature than the idea that all men 

 are equal, in the sense of being equally capable 

 of fostering human progress and advancing 

 civilization, especially in the various spheres 

 of intellectual and moral activity. If this be 



