46 



facts which you have already furnished, nor de- 

 sire you to consider whether comparisons of this 

 nature are not degrading to our species, and de- 

 structive of mutual benevolence. But it may be 

 worth your consideration, whether Europe, some 

 ages ago, did not present a spectacle very simi- 

 lar to the most savage and uncultivated parts of 

 Africa or America; whether the naked Pict ex- 

 hibited any superiority on account of the pro- 

 minence of his forehead, or the barbarous Gaul 

 and German discovered any intellectual ability 

 when hunting in their forests. 



This kind of philosophy, which would sub- 

 vert the natural dominion of mind over matter, 

 and reduce the capabilities of the soul to the 

 calculations of nerves, and fibres, and cerebral 

 distinctions, is in direct opposition to those con- 

 clusions which are drawn from the history and 

 experience of mankind. It has hitherto been 

 deemed the triumph and tendency of science to 

 render us more and more independent of these 

 external and accidental distinctions ; to shew 

 that knowledge and education may elevate the 

 lowest and meanest of our race, and bring them 

 to an equality with the most favoured nations of 

 the earth. This, Sir, has been the result of the 

 progress of knowledge and civilization, on what- 

 ever land they have unfurled their standards. 

 But, if your system of materialism should ever 

 unhappily prevail amongst men, (of which, how- 

 ever, I have little apprehension, for it is opposed 

 to the natural sentiments of the heart,) then fare- 



