known honour and integrity, to heed the malevolence of an envious detractorit would not be necessary for a manof sense, connected by sacred ties to his family and the commonwealth, and feeling and fulfilling the important duties of his station, to make himself a mark for empty-headed braggadocios to shoot at. He would be countenanced, by all whom he respected, in supporting his determination not to sport with a life which was given to him for useful purposes, and which he had devoted to the purposes for which it was given. Moreover, the frowns of all peaceable and orderly and estimable men, would be knitted on the approach of a brawler. Wranglers and sharp-shooters would be compelled to keep company with one another; and unless they mended their manners or abandoned their system, their ranks would thin apace.

As the duellum was one of the absurdities of the dark ages, it was to have been hoped and expected that it would have been laid aside with crusades and knighterrantry. But it is continued not only after the principle on which it was founded has been exploded, but till its very origin is forgotten. It was a solemn appeal to God, in days when the administration of justice was interrupted by civil feuds, or obstructed by refractory chieftains, to decide the jarring pretensions of the champions by giving victory to the 'right.' It came at last to be adopted as a means of determining suits in the courts of justice. So preposterous and impious a procedure fell, however, into disuse, when religion began to be better understood. It does not now cloak itself in so saintly a garb. A modern duellist has generally little notion of religion; and acts in defiance of the apprehensions he has of it. He goes into the field not relying on the interposition of heaven in his behalf-not expecting that the issue will be in any way affected by the merits of his cause-but merely to show that he sets no more value on his life than he ought to do-and possibly not so much. In regard to the occasion that called him there this proves nothing. To be sure, to be bold in a bad cause is some evidence of intrepidity—but no man can lack courage in a good one.

That some high minded and virtuous men have given into this execrable mode of seeking honourable reparation, is to be admitted and regretted-but this does not prove it the less idle, nor the less reprehensible. We might find instances of the infraction of half the commandments

in the decalogue, among the patriarchs themselves.

Whether duelling can be suppressed by law, whilst the law refuses to take cognizance of those offences which usually give rise to it, is doubtful. Certainly the law has not done its utmost to prevent the evil, whilst it has provided no punishment for the impeachment of character in the cardinal point of veracityfor an imputation which goes to subvert the foundation of every judicial proceeding, as well as of all the transactions of life; whilst it has omitted to guard female virtue against its own weaknesses, by preparing a gibbet for its base betrayer. It is a mockery to enact statutes against duelling, and to deny legal redress for the most aggravated injuries. A legislature that exacts virtue from its subjects, must give some evidence of virtue in itself. Individuals who enter into the social compact relinquish the natural right of redressing the injuries which they may sustain, on the undertaking of society to provide adequate remedies ;and the breach of this tacit convention is as unjustifiable on the one side as on the other.

There is one point, however, on which we are clear-no candidate for office, nor any other man, ought to be made or suffered to swear that he never has fought a duel, or that he never will fight one. Not only is it futile and unreasonable to require one, who stands charged with no crime, to accuse or excuse himself, on oath or otherwise—but the multiplication of oaths is pregnant with mischiefs more baneful, because more extensive, than the evil which it is proposed to remove. Let education be more generally difused-let the people be well instructed in their moral duties-let them be taught, among other things, that duelling is a crime, but that it is not the more or less a crime on account of one's swearing for or against it; though swearing is a crime in itself. The whole doctrine of oaths is absurd. It is strange that we will not believe a man upon his word, though the same divine law that says thou shalt not murder,' says also thou shalt not bear false witness,'-but we must endeavour to improve upon the sanctions, of the Deity, and compel a fellow being to contravene a sacred injunction, in order to render him amenable for a supererogatory obligation-must force him to commit one contempt against the majesty of Heaven, in order to put him in fear of committing another. Besides, if the terrors of the justice of the Almighty, and of the

inflictions of human law, are insufficient to deter from one offence, they will be equally impotent to restrain from other offences; and if it is necessary to fortify human obedience by express asseverations in a single case, it is alike indispensable in all cases.

The evident tendency

of this accumulation of oaths and adjurations is to derogate from the simple force of moral obligation, which ought to avail as an adequate motive of conduct, and which should be strengthened by the requisite sanctions of temporal punishment. The introduction, for instance, of an oath to corroborate an averment, is an admission of a distinction which ought never to obtain; and as far as it operates, goes to destroy the sacredness of the duty of speaking the truth on every occasion where one is obliged to speak at all. A man who cannot be believed upon his word, cannot increase his credibility by any invocation. In the words of Dr. Paley

"

It merits public consideration, whether the requiring of oaths on so many frivolous occasions, especially in the customs, and in the qualification for petty offices, has any other effect, than to make them cheap in the minds of the people. A pound of tea cannot travel regularly from the ship to the consumer, without costing half a dozen oaths at the least; and the same security for the due discharge of their office, namely that of an oath, is required from a church-warden and an arch-bishop, from a petty constable and the chief justice of England. Let the law continue its own sanctions, if they be thought requisite; but let it spare the solemnity of an oath. And where, from the want of something better to depend upon, it is necessary to accept men's own word or own account, let it annex to prevarication penalties proportion.. to the public mischief of the offence."

There is no science which has kept so unequal a pace with the march of the human mind as jurisprudence. Notwithstanding the progress of philosophy and refinement, there are features of superstition and barbarity which deform at this day the codes of the most polite and learned nations. We will not now advert to the arbitrary traditions which constitute a great part of the common law, and which are so abhorren to republican institutions that we are led to wonder by what process they were brought to unite in our motley systems of government-there are still more protuberant and ruder fragments of the savage state interpolated into the disproportioned though magnificent edifice of municipal law. Capital punishment, imprisonment for debt, the administration of oaths, and

the laws against usury are among those acknowledged blots in the page of legislation, which no community, however free, unprejudiced and enlightened, has dared to obliterate.

It was to have been hoped that this country, after the proud effort by which it broke the shackles of colonial oppression; after it had by its nascent energies achieved its political emancipation, would continue to exhibit a moral and physical growth equally vigorous with its early indications--and that as the fen and the forest were subdued and fertilized by industrious culture, the regions of mind would be explored, and the barriers to human happiness abated. The prodigious stride which we took in the outset of our career prognosticated a more rapid advancement. We have too often paused, and sometimes have retreated. But, though little has been accomplished in reforming inveterate abuses, many schemes of reformation have been devised, and the public has become accustomed to ponder upon existing inconveniences, and to consider of their remedies. Indeed

something has been actually done in mitigation of most of them. Capital punishment, for instance, is confined to a few atrocious crimes; persons having conscientious scruples are exempted from taking oaths; imprisonment for debt is restricted in some States to debts above a certain amount—and the period of incarceration is limited; whilst a new member of our confederacy has made it an article of its constitution, that no law shall be passed, till a certain number of years has elapsed, to restrain contracts relating to the interest of money. The success of these experiments will probably encourage a further extension of the principles on which they proceed; and may lead to an investigation of the reasonableness of many maxims and regulations by which society has consented to be tramelled, from time immemorial, without presuming to question their propriety.

It has given us infinite satisfaction to find, in the late official communication of the governor of the State of New-York, the recognition and enforcement of many just axioms of polity and political economy, which have been too little understood, or too much neglected among us. We hope and trust that the recommendations contained in this able and perspicuous speech will be met in a proper manner by the body to which it was addressed. The subjects to which it adverts are of prominent interest, and the re

marks in relation to them are, in our opinion, without exception, wise and seasonable. Education and literature occupy, as they should do, a conspicuous rank among the considerations suggested by the executive. They are unquestionably the most potent engines in the hands, of government. By diffusing the elements of knowledge as widely as possible, the number of those capable of judging of the measures of rulers is of course increased. In the same proportion, too, is the number of those augmented who are qualified to take part in the councils of their country. It will therefore always be the policy of an upright and sagacious administration to throw all possible lights upon the public mind-not only as it will serve to illustrate its own course, but as it will tend to exalt public opinion, and give new energy to national character. The force of a people is compounded of their moral and physical vigour—and the enlargement of their understanding is a direct accession to their power. In fact, as the community is composed of individuals, and these individuals are to almost all valuable purposes the creatures of education, it requires no profound argument to show the political importance of a general and judicious system of instruction. But the more important the end, the more effective should be the means adopted to attain it-and in addition to those which have been hinted, we would propose that all public teachers should be examined as to their qualifications, and receive licence to pursue their vocation, if approved. When it is considered how excessively ignorant many of those are who assume the office of tuition, it may be thought worth while to take some steps for preventing able-bodied ignoramuses from deserting those useful occupations for which they were fitted and designed, to enter upon employments in which they are worse than useless themselves, and only stand as an obstacle in the way of the deserving. Added to the frequent ignorance of preceptors of the subjects which it is incumbent on them to treat, the vitiousness of the common modes of elementary instruction is a prodigious hindrance to the progress of the pupil. Whoever has reflected upon the usual methods of learning pursued in our schools, will have perceived, and whoever will consult his own experience must acknowledge, their utter inaptness to the purpose of imparting and acquiring information. It affords us peculiar gratification to see sentiments which we have long entertained, and not unfrequently

urged, on this head, inculcated from a quarter more capable of giving them their due weight. But there is not only need of revolution in pedagogy—our academies and colleges are placed upon a wrong footing. The first should take the place of the last, and instead of the last, a very few universities should be established in the United States, with the privilege of conferring degrees. 'Liberal education,' as it is called, has become dog-cheap-insomuch that many a baccalaureus or even artium magister, cannot construe his own diploma. This brings a double disgrace upon the country. It renders our pretensions to literature contemptible in the eyes of foreigners, and it fills the learned professions with mountebanks, quacks, and petifoggers, to the great detriment of our best interests, and to our perpetual domestic discomfiture and annoyance. To put an effectual stop to such a pregnant source of chagrin, would require an amendment of the Federal Constitution.

We have been drawn, we believe, by no u mnatural catenation of reasoning, somewhat aside from the original theme of our discourse. But we have entered on a ground so ample, so interesting, and which, withal, we have so great a desire to traverse, that we shall find it exceedingly difficult to arrest our steps. We shall endeavour, however, to find some more favourable opportunity to discuss the momentous questions which have been touched upon, or which are involved in the positions which we have taken. We cannot, however, take leave of the admirable state paper to which we have alluded, without expressing our cordial concurrence in its animadversions upon banking. There is nothing so prejudicial to the well being of this community, nothing so hostile to the genius of republicanism, so inconsistent with common sense, and so incompatible with the actual enjoyment of civil liberty, as the gi gantic coalition of avarice and speculation, which, under the name of banks, is daily devouring the fruits and crippling the efforts of industry. It would require a volume to point out all the deformities of this many headed monster. Banks are most oppressive monopolies-stockholders and directors enjoying most unequal and unmerited privileges, drawing interest on monies which they have not, and paying no taxes on that which they have;

*

they throw a dangerous and un

This is true only in regard to the banks of New-York, and a few other States.

due influence into the hands of a few capitalists they tend unfairly to increase the store of the rich by virtually robbing the poor. These are only a few of the grounds on which we deprecate banks. Some of the objections we have pointed at might be obviated. Banks might be granted to all who chose to apply for them (the legislature reserving to itself the right of investigating at all times the concerns of all corporations deriving their being from charters granted by it)-the stockholders might, as in other partnerships, be held individually responsible for the company's debts-the capital of banks might be roundly taxed towards the support of government-and a summary process provided for compelling payments in specie. In the New England States all these modifications have been adopted. But our opposition extends to the whole fraternity of secular incorporations. They are ungenial to our political institutions-they check the circulation of property, and accumulate it in improper hands. In this country wealth is power; and by the very means which the community, through the medium of their representatives, have granted to capitalists of indulging their cupidity without hazard or remorse, (for corpora

tions have no conscience, and the individuals composing them no responsibility,) these same capitalists have acquired a paramount influence over both the legisÎature and the people. If an effort be not soon made to burst these ignominious bonds, the labouring and productive population of this country will become the mere slaves and drudges of a monied despotism. Already does a spirit of cringing servility manifest itself towards these cut-purses of the empire and the rule,' that it should make the blood of a freeman mantle to think of. A Turkish bashaw or a Persian satrap receives not more contemptible adulation than does a bank director-though often better entitled to deference and homage.

The impolicy and immorality of irresponsible corporations cannot be sufficiently exposed. We have known instances of combinations among monied institutions in this country, for the like of which a society of cordwainers would have been indicted for conspiracy.

But we must reserve ourselves for a more fit occasion to go into the consideration of the subjects we have glanced at-and of many others closely connected with them.

E.

THE author of the work before us appears to be a physician and professor of chemistry in the University of Oxford, England, and to have also united in his person the professorship of mineralogy. These subjects are so connected, and chemistry is so capable of aiding the science of mineralogy, that when we observed them combined in one professorship sustained by a physician, we anticipated much satisfaction in the perusal of his labours, from the display of much learning and research. We were led to anticipate this from the high character of physicians in general for learning and ability; and having observed that some professors of chemistry have been entirely ignorant of mineralogy, and that other persons have studied the latter without an adequate knowledge of chemistry, we were much pleased with the prospect before us, when we observed that Dr. Kidd, professor of chemistry, VOL II.-No. v.

the author under review, was also conversant in mineralogy. Hence we had much to expect on a subject which occupies much attention in the present day, and which is advancing in improvement, together with its kindred science of geology. But upon reading the work, we find that our anticipations were too sanguine, perhaps from too favourable a view of the medical character.

From whatever cause our disappointment has happened, we shall not stop to regret it, but proceed to notice the work under consideration in some of its details. The subject is geology, which has mineralogy for its handmaid. The former embraces a whole and connected view of the materials of the terraqueous globe, in order to deduce general results, from such consideration, as to the manner of the earth's formation: the latter makes us acquainted with these materials in detail: the former is the application of know

ledge derived from mineralogy, wherefore this must precede geology, and both must be assisted by chemistry.

In referring to the work of Dr. Kidd, we find the title well supported, since having proposed to discuss a question, and taken the negative side, he has made good his positions by giving such limited information, that a person but little conversant on the subject, would conclude from a lack of knowledge, if this were all, in support of a theory of the earth, that the evidence must indeed be imperfect. The tendency of such an essay in the pursuit of science, must be to damp the ardour of those who may engage in it, and to check the progress of knowledge which is the result of inquiry. So deficient is the work in question, that we cannot recommend it to the public as a work of merit. It does indeed contain some useful information, but nothing that cannot be found in other works on geology. Although Dr. Kidd has not convinced us by his view of the subject, he appears to have convinced himself by the imperfect evidence of his own work "in support of a theory of the earth," since in his preface, (page 8,) he says that" in offering this essay to the public, I take a final leave of the pursuit of mineralogy." This determination must have proceeded from conviction, disgust with the subject, or some other cause, and we are inclined to attribute it to his own negative proofs.

The whole work consists of 27 chapters, or subdivisions of the subject, on each of which our author is very brief and limited; but that he may have some chance to be heard, and not be condemned in gross, when he may appear more favourably in detail, we shall notice some parts of the work, as well to give him a fair chance, as to show that we are not in the habit of reviewing works in the United States, as they frequently are in Great Britain, without reading them.

In the first chapter of the work before us, the author attempts to treat "On the nature of the connexion between geological speculations, and the Mosaic history of the Creation and Deluge." Upon the first perusal of this chapter, consisting of fifteen pages, the idea was forcibly impressed upon our mind that the extracts, which compose the principal part of it, were irrelevant to the subject, and that the author wrote as little as possible to the point in conformity to the title of his work, since only the two last pages of the chapter are devoted to the proper consideration of the subject; and the extracts appear to have been promiscuously

made, and with considerable labour and difficulty woven into the work.

The second chapter is "On the general structure of the earth," in which is given an explanation of the nature of stratification, and of a formation, as used to designate primary and secondary rocks; or those, according to the Wernerian arrangement, called primitive, transition, flatz, alluvial, and volcanic: also some other geological terms (p. 21) as escarpments of strata, the line of bearing, their dip and outgoing, which explanations we consider correct and proper; but the whole matter of the chapter does not seem to have any natural connexion, nor does it gradually draw the attention of the reader into the subject, or develop the author's plan. After these explanations, the remaining part treats of the suecession of strata in England, of the internal structure of the strata : uncertain succession of many of the strata: criteria of stratification: inequalities and partial absence of the strata: primary and secondary formations: organic remains: crystalline and mechanical formations: breccias and conglomerates.

After stating that the absence of organic remains in some materials of the globe, and their prevalence in others, has occasioned the great division of the formations into primary and secondary, our author (p. 37) observes, that-" more accurate observation, however, has shown that some of the strata formerly supposed to be primary, do sometimes abound in organic remains; and if, as has been lately asserted, granite has been found alternately with limestone containing organic remains, the relative age of the former must be given up; nor however it might disappoint, could it now surprise any one on any other ground at least than mere novelty, to find organic remains in that hitherto supposed fundamental stratum."

This loose manner of reasoning is unworthy of the author and the subjec.. General deductions have been drawn from certain facts, and Dr. Kidd attempts to show that the generalization of these facts is improper, by an assertion unsupported by any credible testimony, for he refers to no authority, and seems to doubt himself as he says "if, as has been lately asserted, &c." and yet he makes use of this as an argument to show the imperfect evidence in support of a theory of the earth.

There appears to be a want of arrangement and perspicuity in the author's opinions in general, and his views are very limited and confined. We can ex