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exerted upon them from without. They have had the Bhuddist religion intro- 
duced among them ; and whatever we may think of that religion, it is, at any 
rate, a much higher stage than pure barbarism could have invented, and 
would tend to soften and improve very much the character of the people. 
Fere we have a plain testimony that the change which has taken place has 
been introduced ab extra. Let us take another race in the time of J ulius 
Caesar — I mean the Gauls. They had then a certain degree of civilization 
among them, but they were certainly not what we call a savage race ; and in 
them we have a remarkable example of a race in which, prior to their conquest 
by the Romans, we have small evidence of change ; but as soon as the Roman 
conquest took place, the change in them was astonishing. Within the period 
of a century the Gauls were so changed that they became practically 
Romanized ; and here we have a remarkable example in our favour, showing 
that a race not perfectly savage, but yet not civilized, made but small altera- 
tions ; but the moment an external influence was exerted upon them, they 
changed with the utmost rapidity. If we go into Egypt, we have no 
trace of the Egyptians having originated from a previously savage state. 
Professor Macdonald has expressed his belief that prior to the time of the 
Pharaohs there were Negro rulers in Egypt, which may be proved by the 
engravings on the pyramids ; but from my acquaintance with the history of 
Bunsen and the other various sources of Egyptian history, of which I have 
read much, I cannot see any evidence of this. Certainly, the Negro race does 
afford a wonderful example of a race continuing the same from the earliest 
times until the present day ; but that is a great proof of Archbishop 
Whately’s position, that a barbarous race left wholly to themselves have 
never succeeded in civilizing themselves. It is undoubtedly the case that 
the Negro race, from the earliest times to the present day, have remained 
pretty much the same. We cannot say that they have greatly improved 
during the past 3,000 years, or that they have made any efforts to civilize 
themselves. If we go to other parts of the globe, we shall get the same testi- 
mony. We cannot, however, get that testimony from America ; for though 
undoubtedly a civilized race did precede the Aztecs, yet we cannot go beyond 
them for any authentic testimony, and we must beware lest we take mythical 
history for real historical evidence. A great many of the things spoken 
of do not rest on anything like substantial historical evidence. It is 
impossible to say whether the Egyptian race owed its civilization to a Negro 
origin, or to a far higher one. So far as the Assyrians are concerned, their 
civilization existed, and was evidently of a high type, at the earliest dawn 
of history. That is a fact, but all the rest is mere speculation, beyond the 
range of history. If we go beyond that range, we get launched into a region 
of speculation where all things are possible 
Mr. Reddie. — Do you not accept monumental evidence ? 
Mr. Row. — Oh, yes ; I accept it to a certain extent, but it requires careful 
interpretation ; and you may adduce a great deal of monumental evidence 
which is useless for the want of careful interpretation. The monumental 
evidence as yet adduced has a large admixture of theory with it. There is 
