nment, it remained a republic.
Rollin, speaking of the government, says: "The government of Carthage
was founded upon principles of most consummate wisdom; and it is with
reason that Aristotle ranks this republic in the number of those that
were held in the greatest esteem by the ancients, and which were fit
to serve as a model for others. He grounds his opinion on a reflection
which does great honor to Carthage, by remarking that from the
foundation to his time (that is, upward of five hundred years) no
considerable sedition had disturbed the peace, nor any tyrant
oppressed the liberty of the state. Indeed, mixed governments such as
that of Carthage, where the power was divided betwixt the nobles and
the people, are subject to the inconveniences either of degenerating
into an abuse of liberty by the seditions of the populace, as
frequently happened in Athens, and in all the Grecian republics, or in
the oppression of the public liberty by the tyranny of the nobles; as
in Athens, Syracuse, Corinth, Thebes, and Rome itself, under Sylla and
Caesar. It is, therefore, giving Carthage the highest praise to
observe that it had found out the art by the wisdom of its laws, and
the harmony of the different parts of its government, to shun during
so long a series of years, two rocks that are so dangerous, and on
which others so often split. It were to be wished that some ancient
author had left us an accurate and regular description of the customs
and laws of the famous republic."
While we agree with Rollin in his lament of the want of a more
complete history of that ancient Negro republic, yet, if those
Caucasians who are wont to arrogate to themselves all the excellencies
of the world, and deny that the Negro ever has been great, or ever can
be, would take time to read what has been written with sufficient care
to understand it, they would lose some of their self-conceit and add
much to their store of knowledge.
That the ancient Egyptians were black, both the Holy Scriptures and
the discoveries of science, as also the most ancient histories, most
fully attest. But as some profess to have doubts on this point, we
shall take some testimony, which, we think, no fair minded man will
attempt to dispute.
The Psalmist calls to memory the wonders which God wrought for his
people, and celebrates in song his dealings with Israel in Egypt, and
frequently calls Egypt the land of Ham. How can this be accounted for
if Egypt was not peo
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