Constitutional Whig

The recent discovery of a civilized nation in Central Africa, may be ranked as one of the phenomena in the wonderful age in which we live. The exploring party beheld the sable sons of Africa not invested with thick curly hair, but with long and graceful locks. The natives were dressed many of them in habiliments of Roman warfare: they were clad in steel helmets, their shields and lances were made of the same material, and they resembled those Carthagenians who once carried fire and sword to the very gates of Rome. There they have been perhaps from the time of Hannibal to the present hour, amidst the flight of centuries unnoticed and unknown, by what we have been pleased to denominate the civilized world, and probably have never heard the roar of a single cannon, nor dreamed that there had ever been such a soldier in the world as Napoleon Bonaparte. We may conceive that this nation is associated by treaties with other nations: that their power is felt and feared amongst the surrounding tribes, with whom they may have carried on cruel and exterminating wars; we may conceive that their poets have sung the fame of their heroes, that they have called on all the world to witness the bravery of their deeds, and yet little better than one year ago they were unknown to the world.