[27] Edward W. Blyden, LL.D., of Liberia, says, "Supposing that this term was originally used as a phrase of contempt, is it not with us to elevate it? How often has it not happened that names originally given in reproach have been afterwards adopted as a title of honor by those against whom it was used?--Methodists, Quakers, etc. But as a proof that no unfavorable signification attached to the word when first employed, I may mention, that, long before the slave-trade began, travellers found the blacks on the coast of Africa preferring to be called Negroes" (see Purchas' Pilgrimage ...). And in all the pre-slavetrade literature the word was spelled with a capital _N_. It was the slavery of the blacks which afterwards degraded the term. To say that the name was invented to degrade the race, some of whose members were reduced to slavery, is to be guilty of what in grammar is called a _hysteron proteron_. The disgrace became attached to the name in consequence of slavery; and what we propose to do is, now that slavery is abolished, to restore it to its original place and legitimate use, and therefore to restore the capital _N_." [28] Prichard, vol. ii. p. 44. [29] Josephus, Antiq., lib. 2, chap. 6. [30] Poole. [31] Smyth's Unity Human Races, chap. II, p. 41. [32] Herodotus, vii., 69, 70. Ancient Univ. Hist., vol. xviii. pp. 254, 255. [33] Strabo, vol. I. p. 60. [34] It is not wise, to say the least, for intelligent Negroes in America to seek to drop the word "Negro." It is a good, strong, and healthy word, and ought to live. It should be covered with glory: let Negroes do it. [35] Journal of Ethnology, No. 7, p. 310. [36] Pickering's Races of Men, pp. 185-89. [37] Burckhardt's Travels, p. 341. [38] Euterpe, lib. 6. [39] Jeffries's Nat. Hist. of Human Race, p. 315. [40] Types of Mankind, p. 259. [41] Types of Mankind, p. 262. [42] Even in Africa it is found that Negroes possess great culture. Speaking of Sego, the capital of Bambara, Mr. Park says: "The view of this extensive city, the numerous, canoes upon the river, the crowded population, and the cultivated state of the surrounding country, formed altogether a prospect of civilization and magnificence which I little expected to find in the bosom of Africa." See Park's Travels, chap. ii. Mr. Park also adds, that the population of this city, Sego, is about thirty thousand. It had mosques, and even ferries were busy conveying men and horses over the Niger. [43] See Ambassades Memorables de la Companie des Indes orientales des Provinces Unies vers les Empereurs du Japan, Amst., 1680; and Kaempfer. [44] Wilkinson's Egypt, vol. iii. p. 340. [45] Coleman's Mythology of the Hindus, p. 91. Dr. William Jones, vol. iii., p. 377. [46] Asiatic Researches, vol. vi. pp. 436-448. [47] Heber's Narrative, vol. i. p. 254. [48] Nat. Hist. of the Human Species, pp. 209, 214, 217. [49] Asiatic Researches, vol. i. p 427. Also Sir William Jones, vol. iii. 3d disc.