0 Foxthe Inflepesident Repub lieas HUMAN UNITY _ Eights, Nature, 011 1 04; and,Dektkny. . . . IT smns thus, upon the authority of flits , • , ti ,r iter-'apa we miglft, quote any amount of . om o logical authority to;the soma ffect.,' or at feast for the hypothesis in respect to' the Eumpean languages- of:,a eemnioriL'Asiatic - (of south-western Asia) erigin,:,Simscrit or Seinitic,•or of all, together—for these Asiatic ionaues • 'are all intimately related among , thems - elyes=it semis t hits- t hat. the languages • of ' Europe, are derived from Oriental `sources -and if the languagea.. ‘ are. derived thence Of course the people . multi he i not only it seems-the Modern languages, but The ancient languages also 'of - Eurapethe Greek and -the Latin—from which it appears that 64 1 progenitors of the'ineient Greeks and .41o• mans must have been derived front the same s ource; And thus 'we Observe the strong and' increasing probability there is—With re spect to Europe espee,.. : merely that it is- largely andlSredomitiantly Asiatic— which will not be disputed—but that it is e'rizinally _entirely : so---only_an Asiatic' uy, its people somewhat diversified among ' thrinSelvea -and from the original'_ stock by local influences--Boni - the-. earliest historic datesove observe men coming .out 'of the East; and numerous significant indications; amounting with respect this fact to scarce ly less-than authentic hifitory, all pointing iti -the same direction, from A, much - earlier peri- - . od=inen continually swarming .oUt . i"of the 'East, as from •rin overflowing fountain, ward the \Vest, but moving,in no lother-di . reetion in 'such a manner, as to strord any presumption that the source Or supply has been an originatotiside currents, indeed,: ; cross currents, and"slight occasional edunter currents,therebake:been, but nothing upon which to-found any such presumption as this. • • "yestiiiird the course - of empire takes.itsWay," a c r JoiMori observation—the - greatand gen eral course of emigrationhis been westward; but We confidently-challenge thi; iattempt to show any reason.whY•it"should -be so; Other than the one we are herc-seonsidering, Aar the one stream of human existence took its rise from some locality " Eastward:'' .• All 0: her, considerable emigrations hate taken place by invitation and allurement—amen havebeen allured out by the hope: of - yrrore eligible situatiOnsthe prospect Of- richer harvests and fairer :climes. But r inthis case, on the contrary, they'll:lye been apparently driven out--the movement has evidently, been a process of evolution—has .taken place from a developing, a centrifugal tendeneYL soon met on the one side by :the eastern' ez-ean, the rising tide was forcibly impelled wcstwarcl. had there_ been an "origmal . stock in Europe.as Well as in Asia, the course of emigration and of eMiquest-would nkost certain& have lieen eastwardinStead - uf west ward ; .for. the •incitements by i' s which,' with this single exception, great . eragrift isms are I uniformly moved, very much preponderate in that -direction ; and Europe, clearly, 'is naturally adapted to - prod•ree, the more viv erous race of ,men, mentally, and phy Sapposethe early settlements of the ,Pbri . tans, theCavaliers', N the Ilagatennts; Sr., -on iitis - continent,' had been -upon- the Pacific coast instead of the L-Wantie,which way must 'the general course of-einiTlliol have been ? Suppose'New England had` been, settled Abe- . tore olii Englnd, hither would, the tide have'set ? and following up the reverse pro• cuss,- whither by necessary inference does it conduct us to the starting-point? Or, sup prise the Atlantic and Poe* Boasts had been settled at or abort the sanic period of aud'onder similar auspices, would there ever have been witnessed a. general flow of - emi• I.:rKti - on in either dir - ection across the whole breadth of the continent ? or, upon thin; -sup position_ between old England and-N.ew.Eng, land, or, as between any two countrie's,aeross the whole field of 'view ? Of Course ; there could not have been; from which again we i aistinctlyarriVe 'at the same necessary con \.elusion as before. And now while we observe, that, Europe . has - been "thins ,repeatedly overflowed from psi rendering it probable, nay, almost tier .. talieth,respect to her that her population isnally and 'wholly derived thence ] , can we. reasonably. conclude that Africa, more compactly situated with, reference to the - .same region, more accessible from it and ly int in a southerly direction with the clue of the Nile, to conduct' .around the great desert into the-central portion; of the continent— can we reasonably conclude that she did not also receiVe. her stock of inhabitants from the same souree ?—that thus situated she . had an - independent centre of genesis of her, own is the supposition. favored by the analogy of the Divine Methods.: -FrOm the long barharisnto of- Africa in relation-to the bulk of her pea pie of•uoure fewer vestiges,sciutable proofs : of their aboriginal derivation remain than we find :with respect to the • Eurt, Team. But even . .Afriirat is nut without her' witnesses, and' here agniu the 'a pribri conchision is slso the inductive. We have here the uniforfn .testi mony of ancient records: Supported by all triKlitiun and in relation to Egypt and -Eau opia—so far as investigation has proceeded —the-very- kindred and very significant rela tMuShip of their ancient ruins ,as 'compared wit the paleologic remains in-India and ,oth - - r Asiatic countries, and still- more isg,t,iificant ti-.o,.kinship of languages, in, this case 'as In the Case of'Dirupc- a_ material part of-the ccidl nee. As-betweew the Sanscrit andtikSe mitie languages, the Egyptie and. Ethiopic idioms,. the similarity of themes and ety, moti, and• the correspOndence of names , and apptillatiops of places and.tuen in the respect ive countries, are stich. as; 'according --to au t(oriti'e could not at be reasonably suck po=eiPto have been the, result of - accident, and - they. trice the - latter dialects direetly Lava; to the foriner as the.parent Freio all which it seems that the original course of African emigration must, have been nplhe valley tif the Nile; 'or in a general t.outherly direction as. far at least as- ancient .lith:opia; and ; when once men , were. arrived - r.t the- south.wtern - limit of that. country; tiny were"..alitnast in the heart of the - contin ent, and how Veryprobahle does it tiatii ap _pear that' the Africans eke went out original. lv from the-same countries-and the one same parent stock. with- the Toropeans.* f " • ---- \ . up o n . , " See_ generally n these . subjects. . ”Pbserra tions and inquiries relating to various. parts of ancient history .1 - 4., together with nu account of . Egypt in . its most early state., and of the . ; Bitepherti Rings &c.. ke." By Jacob Bryant. liDCLXVll—particularly at page. I 10-:-112. ,taoii' atirit-- by --: Maurice, relating to the history of the idtts, of the Trjohl and tatter subjects., . , . .... - .1):. 3 : \ s . - _ k . '.•.'it•1',7,.1.-....--F-1- - - .. .. ..,.'". ~. . _ . ----2 7.,-.; ''. . - I \-. l v f l*-7 .. - ~,';',,.,_ • , .. . i•.'•'; \ 0 '''L '• •-•,!.-• -.-: -.:. .. . . • • ~•••k, • ~...-„•, ..-. , ... t -', •-•'' ~.,:i•-•!:, - ..,- -.4.; , -x-r.,,. ..' , , • . ' ... ~ . . - ~:.. . •• • -.,._,. •• - _ ...t . ._ _ : , ,_ ‘..: . , ~ . . . . ..,,, -•, r . .....' 4 - ..... , . , . . i. .. ~ : ..- . •••• • •-• . : 1' 1 -'.::• , a,' .-.--;-:-..,:-;:-.-:',--._:-;:;-....-,:,-.,:,;:' . . . . t . . . ~ ..... . . . . • . • . _ .....,.........._.___:._ . .. „............._........7. ,.. . ... . N. 66 IFPIARD Q ' . . . , j .. _ - = - 3 Iz- is- no objection to this vi - e• of the case _ that the course of. eivilizlitiOn- see mste have 'hem in pai*fow - ri the Nile ; for• the lower valley was primitively fenny and unsettlea : - ble ; anticiillization, of necessity commenc ing above, Proceeded-of course, downward, as, in process of time ; the marshes 4rted or Were reclaimed.* Thus much appears strong ly probable with respect to Africaand to the. hole eastern continent—if only ti-presump, 'lion, a :presumption' - certainly - much better supported than the-other to which it stands opposed. - With respect to this western continent, it may be observed that it 'is not improbable' that primitively—to rude and unskillful nify _igators-z-the difficulties of a - passage from the eastern to the western continent-were' not as great as they might be'at the present time— that at the first the bosom of the , Atlantic may haVe been partially bridged .by-a 'chain of islands at narrow intervals, which Were Stibsequently submerged by repeated.corMil sions of- Nature. it appears that 'such at Avast as the case with respect to one area' island oft the coast of Africa, to\wbich allu sionjs made by, ancient. writers ; and anti. quariatts are of opinion that they -discover 1 important evidence's inthe urban ruins and various structural remains of -the aboriginal inhabitants of this dontinent,:that they were of eastern origin.f And-here, we may re mark in closing this part of-the subject, is an important field Lif investigation : but jest en tered npon • we but just begin toltnow What niemetitos ;he early generationa have lefl-be hiti'd them : and when this field, has been more fully gone into we may not unlikely be able to trace with great clearness the par. ticulsr and remote courses. of the primeval encigrationa from the one locality " eastward" throughout the world; The 'argument ' from the pentiing connection of langnages was sufficient to convince the eminent scholars of the-last century-, even in its-still very impei -- feet state.. They thought they could-discov er evident traces of a•one primitiw univer , sal language; the' mothel Eve of languages of all thespeechA of the gabblin g eartht as the Other is of men:. -and -thence,. surely :ind 'confidently- inferred 6 - bin, the (nifty of (speech the.unity,of origin. And when com barative.philology and other forms of anti '-quarian research 'have had their • "perfect work"—when the tombs of the " dead'past," the " Runed Te4nples," the mouldering piles, , -the crypt's aria etatteonit., the superstructions land substructions, have been thoroughly ex i pfored, we inay perhaps be alibi to reduce ).the subject to historic .certainty—may per -baps not unreasonably hope to-construct per- - feetiv in the future, the great " gene-lb - wit:llJ tree''''ot the races, showing it springing from a single germ, and throwingout its ratilifica, 'tions northward t • Ind southward, eastward and westward—every way 7 lintil. it filled the whole earth. . . Thus. far our remarks -and. 'citations have been rather, preliminary than otherwise, sub ordinate, and incidental to the main subject of inquiry which we proposed to Ourselve.. Our primary object was—originally Our sole - purpose—an examination intikthe moral - :-s• fleets of the subject, inental,qnal it Les and , characteristics, so far as, they are critical of races - -their orighi and explanation caps+ ve ly ; hut from the subsidiary importance of some of these minor points, we have beers I led into a somewhat extended notice of them, though without any-design of lot malty discussing them, Or the general question of human unity. Our principal object was Rental qualities and , characteristics, and it i. with reference to this branch of the subject 'that we deny, the alleged- inferiority of the iii African - Tace,.4 any original psychological distinction of races : if the distinction is p.y choingleal and metaphysical, it must be indi cated by inetaphyskal criteria. But where ,in do they consist, and what are they ? That the Africans are endowed with all the -intel lectual faculties of perception, reffectian, re tention, &c.,,wi1l not be denid- They pos sess, certainly, in a preeminent degree, the strong.and pervading social Sympathies by 'which - great &immunities of men are bound toget lief and controlled, and which are among the great distinctive properties of our univer sal huinanity-,--catching, kindling, and firing whole nations to noble purposes.•under the impulse of- a single mind. They - have the saiee " deep moral consciousness," the, same Spiritual aspirations, `affections,. hopes, and - fears. Their heart. are soothed by-the same -peace and serenity, thrilled bY:th - e - same joys and exultations, experience the same sorrows, , agonies, and anguish. What element, then, of human character, do they lack ?, what-fie city or sensitivity of the noblest -specimens -your Platos and Ciceros,,,your Bacons and - Goethes, tockes and 'Newtons ? And how soon, upon a theatre where continually - " RiSing floods of knowledge .7 ,roll, And•pour arid - pour-upon the soul," - would the most ordinary of them,exeeed all ( ..eitat we so mutt' and so justly admire of these Men; and all differences be so nearly merged as to-pass unnoticed-§ - Can'the acutestinet aphysi:,--ian point out any distinction in these respects, any that is constitutional and ele mental ? We suppose it, will not be con-, 'fended. The difference. insisted upon, then, cannot be a difference in kind, but only in degree—,-only that the African -race are 'not • originally endowed with the same acuteness, _strength, and vigor of _mind, in every re- Ted: But here, tigain,•we interpose a broad and emphatiedenisl. The,charge, to this ex tent-even, is-an unsupported assumption—a pioposition without evidence, and entirely against the probabilities of the case. It is true, Europe :is the theatre upon which hith erto the human character has appeared to best advantage. , Fait it does not follow, therefitre l that the Europeans are. originally )a different raw of men from the Africans, or - originally superior to them. 00 the contra ry, we maintain that, had the physical condi tion of the two- races been exactly, reversed ..some thousands of yeari•ego, their 'past Ins. • tory and present stittai-=the - whole fact . of • The early course of emigration might have been , —4rom ancient Chaldea or any section eastwardly of that—more naturally would be through Arabia across the Red Sea and into the valley...of the Nile, first in Ethiopia (the course actually marked out by antique .ries from arehailwri p cal investigation/5) and thence up ward and downward along the river. • , . f See a work entitled ` j American t utiqUities," by Josiah Priest. . ' .t So Sir Wm. Jones and Bryant Maurice. The latter my.% `=The vestiges of the primeval, language in every dialect .of tbe ancient world ae clearly traced in the elaborate work of Count Gebellne." , § Talk to me, will you, about your right of proß erty in my brother, hi thews and sinews, merchan dising in hie immoeta spirit, and .then sneer at we beeline+) I r n amp MOM' asaamtrtri W.,atTARU amp wy2o-A029 flf7l nee, natural, moral, and material, accidents, would be found exactly with all it `reversed Europe is comprehended within the temp erate belt , f the earth's-surface, or,. at least May, be so , considered with respect to the subjects o thittediscussion,while Africa lies __mainly wi hinrthe torrid zone. It is a uni, versally a :spitted fact,-indeed in accordance with all e. isting eoTlitions, and the uniform experienc4 of hiStory earl but be admitted, that the'te{mpe&•ltte latitudes are much-better suited to the development of c4raeter than either the torrid or frigid.. The extreme di males; by their weight-and •s'everity; greatly oppress the animal orgsuism, which of course in the same proportion oppresses the activity and rigio of the mind. -inducing dullness itrd 'apathy and consequent imbecility. And:here. in consists the primary obstacle to ,human improvement nnd .progress. " Man in his original state of nature is a being of limited and feeble powers ' of locomotion-, confined theretbre to.a single spot of earth, within a narrow e#elet of -robservation, and limited . range oriobjectS, without mental stimulus he necessarily remains brutish; senseless, i n as inine-s.hi. inferior life, his intellectual exist ence\ is co tparatively a point; like the poet's simpleton ? "with searce,a &men thoughts, he thinks each o'er in its accustomed placefroM morn to noon, _from noon to night, from youth to ijoary age"—thinks the " visual line that girt him •round, •the world's unuist bound." IThe Om- question of improve ment is, lo w shall this tendency to stupidity be'count,acted ?• How shall 'curiosity be dl enkinedt and the mind kept alert ? Torpor, stagnancy is the grand enemy. But in this respect the Hyperboreans are less unfavora bly situated than, the-races who dwell under ' the torrid zone. The former, by the necessi ty of pr4iding.shelter and protection from , the rigor 4 of an inhospitable climate and the difficultyi n r extracting-sustenance from an tin grateful, ii, are compelled to some degree of activity and exertion: some rude arts arc necessarily eultivat - ed : and thus tasked and stimulatefl ; the faculties of the mind and body • are invigorated -and, developed into some sort of nharacter. With respect to the latter thel ease, is much .Inure unfortunate : the soil produCes spontaneously : whatever is necessary, for human sustenance; little cloth ing or shelter is tequired, • aud, thus unsup plied with any constant or regular Motives to actions the inhabitants naturally yield to the ene6.ating efTect,of their situation, and 'dov4l of course into -a low slate of tor. Tor, apathy ; and - barbarism : while, in the middle I titudes, from the tempered _nature. ,of the cI mate and soil, labor, liberally re --warded •ithout being ••tspersea.d, becomes regular industry with its 'bene fi cent ' , fruits yf healtl, wealth, and vigor, activity and en terprise J by - the beauties of 'Nature and the adornments of the handierafrarts is genius awaken4l and stimulieted, and literature with its pofet and benign influences originated : scienee, •ith its wonders, is ,cultivated, and 1 - 1 ,. the higher forms of art: phili , sophy, too, with het questions cf deep and curious inter est, s o l v Ol e or,. unsolvable, with all which neverth4less the-mind wrestles and finds its strength r , And thus is the motive power of society . vastly : increased. The inhabitants of the eemPerate latitudes. linlike those of the frigid, are not moved alone by mere animal necessit -; various liberal influelice natural ly sprin -eact of their situation : unlike those of the t irrid, they are not exempt in the mass fran the necessityof regular industry. find the. condition of the latter is by far the il frk - 'tsVi;rtitOrtunate of all.N Almost anything is pief Or i ente to an ev.renie state of apathy, for ist 'on is necessarily the basis of all excel! e.of character, of 'all .improvement and all.hope : it is to the moral world what the prit ciple of fermentation is to the natur al, with ut which there could be- no vegeta tion, an this.in its nature negative, nothing; of itsel of course it tends to nothing. Any ti ; situation of incitement and stimulus-..any state ofl struggleNand conflict putting in req uisition any faculties or elements other than the mere passions of murder and revenge, is prefers 31e;to it. . Even a state of war, in itself considered, may be so ; for it is a pos itive 'fat, and. may tend to some possible good, t i n the development of sonic exceffence or exc Ilences• of character.* An eminent, writer pow the Philosophy of History-. has said in relation to the wars of the §axon Deptarchy -that •2ome ,tuperior qualities of the En diAi character are doubtless in -smite measu e due to these early struggles. But •this'ne tive, apathetic condition, is •of 'ne ce-ssity. entirely fruitless and in proportion as the state of s4.iety approaches to it—as ii naturtkly does undoubtedly more nearly ih-- tropict i l climates than anywhere else , --fust in that pr oportion is it unfavorable to any form of iniiirovement. There are, besides, with respec to Europe, other still • more specific thaw eristics proper to he.mentioned here. " Whi i n Nature," says Dr. Taylor, `kWhen nature denied to Europe a soil rich in spon taneolis productions, she gave fields that in vited o tillage, and-rewarded the- labors of cultiv Li0n..... Europe is, throughout, except where local obstacles intervene, - susceptible of-nn iculture ; and it isNnot for the most part s iced to the chase or pasturage. ,Its intit) tants could not become notnade : Na ture erself forced them to adopt those regu lar ha its of industry which are the basis of all so ial improvement and alt social happi ness.- To this-cause, as one out of many, ®the mural superiority,. of Europeans =I statics be in'a great degree attribu ed." Su hum , velop mare purticularly,•what is the law of -progre,st, of moral and material der ent, and its conditions, or rather what been'{ • first advances front •the state of 'bar- has T bari —the first civil communities appeartu been agricultural associations on• the of rivers. There is something attract• td fascinating in the presence of a noble ever unspent yet ever rollaig itself aically away --.something that charms" mey, by width in such situations men iduced to fix fur theinielves permanent -There is, to men of unsettled and g habits, a.sense of freedom and unwn-, It in .following, even in imagination, the ais.eourse of s mighty ricer thousands have bank Mil river 6 majeii the I are scuts rovi strai EIDE * tis evidently less likely to in tropiesicountries, from he tratumlly eitremely inartificial state of so cietylthere, it being in consequence more a contest r:ti of b to force and of brutal passions, with little of ast tegetic . and nothing of a properly politic char apte to put the higher qualities of intellect in exer cise, and little too of a moral character as connected with a love of country, kindred, home, dm., or as gronng out of a _generous devotion to important principles of 'CM' Freedonla . dustice, Humanity, &c. • \ of miles away.otr through the wild'open bo .som of Nature, and by which' to them the unaccustomed monotony and tedium. of se dentary life are in some degree relieved• and compensated. _ But they are more powerful. ly influenced to abandon their pastoral and nomadic habits by the exuberant fertility of the riparian soil, and the teeming . bounty with which it repays the light labor of-culti within. Historians tell us. that Egypt • was the cradle of civilization, and naturally,there fore, for no other country compares in fertil ity-with the valley of the Nile. So, too, up on the banks of:the Euphrates andits leigh boring streams, in Babylonia and Assyria, thoroughly temperate and beautiful mesopo tamiao countries, civiiiiation had in early and partial development. But more:remark ably in Egypt; and Egypt was also a marl tune country. In-Grecce.and its isles was the next more notable development of civili zation, derived, undoubtedly, as to its mill meets, mire or less directlygfrom these Ori ental sourees; and_ Greece Co wet: preemi nently a maritime country. Then; in Italy, a eMintry of entirely similatioiition. And, finally, in Britain, of a wholly Maritime and insular situation.• Egypt, greece, Italy, end Britain, Ole general centres and representa 7 oyes of civilization in their Successive ages, and ail preeminently -maritime . countries.— ' And .how n t tix shall we generaliie upon thi.4 soccessive and uniform state of filets? . We speak nut here wilh,reference to the kerne .diately modern era, of whichNwe shall have something to say \ hereafter. But m hat is the induction ? Evidently just this: Thee mar itime situations directly tended to incite and primmte commereiid intercourse with remote countries of diverse climate and productions. The spirit of commercial enterprise necessa rily begets . agricultUral and manufacturing ,industry rat home, and - the mechanic arts.— These interests are' mutually promoted and stimulated among themselves, acting anr,kre acting upon each other, and luickenitipt every department of human activity, prective and sneeulative. And thus is the whore` frame work of Civilized life gradually evolved. • .The seas are the highways of the nations; and commerce, commerciai pursuits have been the world's grand antisedative, or, as Dr. Taylor has it, and Nvbitth amounts to much the saine import, " Commerce has been the great ciiilizer of the nations."' We have said.that the great obstacle to human improvement is torpor, stagnancythat-the circle ot- man's'" thoughts, and consequently the sphere of his activity, remains contracte d and uninteresting, inducing - Stupor and con sequent imbecility—and that the great ques tion is, how shall this tendency to. stupidity be counteracted Now, if your can once get mein-fo lift up his eyed and look - all abroad, you have gained an-atop:in:lot Tioiot with re spect to that man's prospects of improve tuelit. Would you educe and improve him, extend the range of,hii viaion, f multiply to his mind the objects of ittentinp., interest; and curiosity; and this these maritime situ-, 'aims directly tended to do. ,; The seas are the highways of the nations. • It is impossible fir us to comprehend the Design of the Universe—the Archetypal ; but we may reasonablx. conclude that three fourths of our globe were not as ..igned for the mere accommodation. of the fishes, to one-fourth for the ilabitation of - the human species—that a hundred and fifty roil nous square miles of -sea were not neces.ary for the, purpose of supplying the remaining fifty millions of land with water. The sea has undoubtedly important moral uses, was designed to have, and the rivers too, as nat ural channels of intercommunication between distant - cOuntries and various climates.— When did light ever spring tip entirelyin land, in the midst of the Continents? When was any Corm of improvement ever known to commence. there? It is easy to see that, had the surface of our globe , been onii solid crust of earth, supplied with water and irri. gatitti from internal sources, or from numer ous small superficial reservoirs, the human race, in its various branches, long ere this, from sheer *stupor, must have rotted down into superstition and barbarism, utter,, hope leis, and universal. " God Geometrizes," says Plato, in reference to Natural ,Forms "and proportions, " God:Geometrizes," so al so naVess distin'itly He Moralizes in the Great . Book of Nature the " Elder Scrip, tures." Says Dr. Taylor, in treating of Gre cian civilization, "The lonians were a mer cantile and commercial people; Attics, great part of Eubcea, several of the-islands in the Archipelago, several colonies in Sicily and Southern Italy, and far the most flourishing cities on the coast of is Minor, were ten anted by that race. The spirit of commer cial and naval enterprise was a , powerful counterpoise to-the spirit of chivalry vrhieh gave strength to the ancient aristocracy ; and wealth acquired by trade overbalanced the influences derived frOm the posseiSion of landed estates. Well might the-aristocra cy of Sparta,' says Dr. Arnold, dread the introducti.in of foreign manners, and cont .plain_that intercourse with foreigners', would corrupt their citizkns and seduce them to for sake the institution of their fathers. Nits- , Mice and ignorcince'must fail, if:, the light be fairly let in upon them ; can only be en. joyed by those- who have never tasted good. The sea deserved to le hated by the old s•ar-,' istocraeies,ina . Ouch crs it has been the might-1 iest instrument in the civilization of man kind. In the depths of winter, when the skyf is covered with elouds",, and the land presentsi pne cold, idea., lifeless' surface of Snow, how refreshing is it to the spirits -to walk trtiot the shore, and to enjoy the eternal freshness' and liveliness of ocean l Even so, in the deepest winter of the human 'race, when the eitr l th was but one chilling expanie of inactiv- I ity, life was stirring in the waters. ,There began that spirit, whose gimial influence has now reached the land, has broken -the chains ofwinter, and covered the earth with head,. ty:ef. There was nothing nrifteconnt4le in Grec ana Roman civilization—nothing peculiar with respect to it, except in the climate and natural situation of the, countries. It origin ated according to the unifinln and' common'. ly remarked course of things, that , civiiiiation tirst springs 'up upon 'the river-banicti' fuid along the sea coasts.. Any race ofmen hap pening to, full. upon ate valley of the Nile, would naturally ,ItaviTTormed themselves in. to a chi! comMunity, from the operation of causes already allnded-ib. :Egypt having its. situation upon the ISPditerrailean, that civili zation would,in the ordinary course of events;- " •Natural History Society, Vol. I, page f 'Natural History Society, Vul,ll,:pages 95 96. be diffused around the 'shores or that mid land sea, whatever race of Men might happen to inhabit there, and, re:fleeted from side to side by the intercourse and interaction of so many ditTerent countries,- Peoplea ; and man ners acting and reacting upon each other in a favoring'elimafe, would naturally have a very _vigorous growth and perfect maturity ; and Greece and Italy being the- more mari time situations, it would of course fasten ear liest and most prominently upon them.— There Were,. besides,ecitain other very spec ial and local reasons why it should do so. " Greece, both from : its vicinity to Ole civil ized countries of Asia, etiA from the/ad vanta ges of its geographical - position, seemed • de signed by nature to .beconie the cradle of Eu ropean civilization. Sufficiently fertile to re ward toil, it was net so prolific as to support idleness. Varied in:its character,•it did not stimulate its inhabitants to'one branch of in- Austry alone; it invited the cultivation of all. One district was best'suited to produce"wine. another oil, and a third 'corn : Arcadia slip- 'plied pasturage for cattle; Thessaly was proud of its hers , s ; the coati, indented with numerous hays and harbors, affioded every facility to navigation and commerce : Greece was not exclusively agricultural, patoral, or commercial ; but it was all three together. -The very nature of the country not only in vited to industry, but immediately suggested the exchange, of eotn mod iti e ;."* • -The same remarks, to a considerable ex• tem,- will apply with respect to Italy. -. The Roman Empire, moreover,. greatly served to confirm and. develope the, incipient European civilization, and to perfect and perpetuate its influence. And this again Was the creature and the offspring of the natural situatioe of the country.' Upon no other spot" orthe earth could, that fabric in 'that. ag e of the world have been reacd. At th present 'day, by the facilities fur intercommunication, all things tend to union and confederation. A few - hundred years since, it was far other:- wise.. But the Empire was mainly a telt - of country lyipg around the Mediterranean and the waters immediately .communicating, there -N, with. The seat of the Empire was upon, ' Fast promontUry projecting into the Middle of-that sea. From the niouths of the Taber to the extreme peints of city of 'AI exandria in the EUst, and the Pillars. of Her- I epics in the West---veSsels "were frequently carried\by prosperous winds in seven to ten days. And by the facilities thin; allbrded in concentrating. armaments and munitions of war, for the purposes of conquest, to suppress insurrection, and repel invasion- . --by the com munity of interest and sentiment which a penple Thus situated must naturally feel, was the Empire Constructed, cemented, and per petuated, in an age long prior to the era of steam navigation, railroads, and telegraphs, And think you now is it any wonder; ennsid erimi" the InNantages of the Romans-4-an in land sea of spaelons - dirnensions, a sort of Mill ticul gymnasium in Which to train, exercise, and develope their skill and them `ing possessions to invite them outward, and tempt them toward the open sea—a settled, permatient, and magnificent system of gov ernment, fitted to undertake and encoura , re great enterprises—comiidering all these ad vantages, and reflecting that they ,yet never ventured. beyond the immediate European waters, should i t be any wonder to us—does it argue any inferiority, that Africa, oppress ed by the weight of a torrid ellinate.- and un incited; should have remained torp:d and un enterprising—that she should have growii ex tremely so ? Would it nut rather be matter of wonder if she were otherwise? With all their advantages, the southern cape of Africa was never doubled by Europeans near the close of the fifteenth century of the Chris tian era, and it was then considered an event. of such inag,nitude that all Europe was astir with it. One of her most distinguished ets. made it the subject,of a very celebrated heroic poem—an event which, together with the discovery of the New . World, is very proper to 'be mentioned in this4annection, at least in passing,: They communicated a vast itnpulse to the •Eurnpean mind, of every grade and descripium, in the multiplicity of new objects revealed, of vulgar and scientific , interest and curiosity; and the universal stim ulation of the spirit of activity•and adventnie. Let it not,be aid that they Were planned and executed alone by European genius and enterprise. The New World would never have been discovered without the Mariner's .Compass, and for this we are - . iminedialely -nd from a comparatively quite \ recent date indebted-to the Asiatics, as we are also fin. three other of the greatest inventions of mod erroimes—printing, gunpowder, and the art of paper-making, and undoubtedly many of the rudiments of our entire system of If now it should be asked, why did not the Egyptian and Assyrian civilizations spread themselves along the southern border of Asia, as well as Europe, or why did not a native civilization spring. up i!and flourish there, as well; in those mariinie countries, 'along their coasts and on the banks of their mighty rk , rsl—if the question is.propound ed with a view to found upon it an inference of the superiority of the Europeans over the Asiatics, we might answer it, and level the inference, by the fact already eukbodied, that Europe has been again and again subjugated by th q .Asiatics.; ,from, which fact it also fur ther appears that if there was an original Eu ropean stock, it must have been inferiur,since, with the more favorableloca.tion, it has !felts % ertheleM, repodedly yielded to the eastern stock. We might answer the Interrogatory by replying this fact; but we *Ash to an: swer it. on broader grounds, and Kish do so— in. part only for the present-14 observing that civilization is. a .plant , .of sliiw groit.th, and the causes whiclklikvir, its germinating may.operare to prevent l'its futvre growth and final development. -A luxurliotiaclimate and an exuberant soil. may ind,ucii barbarians to abandon their roving habits, and will soft en their minds to the love of order. and law and the arts of peace ; but, these ends accom-, plished, the same causes will infallibly tend to that stagnation which is so fatal 'to all im. provement, unless preiteritTl. by the opera tion of other supervenient' causes. That .the climate of Southern : Asia is_very math more depressing' than that Of. Europe, is a clearly observable and, we suppose, undisputed fact;' and. that 'tla soil is proportionally more spon taneous. anPexulierant is likewise an obsery: able fact, and is also proved. by, the;immeitse mass of toiliid life e.xisting - there, with cm parittively little labor, or exertion• of any kind. There is, besides, in those regions, no • Nature.' History Society, VOL 11, page 86. EIIM greatinland -sea—a material distinction_—we - shall not easily ove restimate the importance of the part which the great European Medi terranean has played in the civilization- of that -continent. But the exposition of the , chief considerafion here will more properly occur-in another connection—the subject pre-: scuts no difficulty. The,lioman civilization arose ; :flourished, and--notoVithstabding the advanta4es' of the ' situation - culminated, patised..afolid, and at length began to decline. So early ns the reign of the Antonines a decay was:distinctly visible, whiCh, proceeding with steadily accel. crated force, at leterth twilight doin all the long glories of the Reptiblic and the Empire to-lhe dust. A torpor find degeneracy in vaded that vast body unite so powAirlitl.soln stinet with health and sareneth. until the spirit and vigor were consumed out. „nr Suppose now that. flitrina,gii.: prows. „f tor.' ,por and di•etty—by s on ic Tit a n asm- 2 th e Empire had been ute.eated from its atieteut finmilatiou, waft ad into tkii• torrid . zovi,. • :yid' moored there, where Africa sits,..theS-,. a gos t. , enkeloped it, ilarkne , -S, —is it probable• I hat tin hal ever Keen broken and that degeneraey arrested ? It was impossible. Niir, had Empire been separated by an passable' Dili' from tines other parts of Europe and Asia with which it was counseled, would the shadow Which was descending 'and deepening over it have ever been ItUd r tind dispelled. No, Europe` was saved'hgaialiy the 'Operation of causes purely geographic and climatic. In describing, the general characteristics of European civilization, and eresrastifig it with others, Monsieur Guizot says; " Take ever so rapid a glance at this, and it strikes you at once as diversified, confused, and, stormy: All, the principles of sociAt organization are Toand existing together within jt ; powers temporal, powers 'spiritual, the theocratic,, monarchic,,nrit4ocratic; and Jenmeratie ele ments, aU classeti of society, all the social sit uations, are jumbled together, and visible within it ; as well, as itifluite gradations of liberty, of wealth, and of influence. Thaw, various powers, too, are found here in a state , of continual struggle among theiri,:elves,with out any one having suffieient force to master the others, and take sole possession of socie• ty Modern Europe contains exam •ples of all these -systems, of all the. ,attempts at social organization ; pure and mixed mon archies, theocracies, republics more or less aristocratic, till live in common, side by side, at one and the same time ; yet,"notwithstand ing their diversity, they all . bear a certain re semblance to each other, a kind of family likeness which it is ImpoSsibleto mistake, and which shows them to- be essentially Eu ropean. In the moral character; in the .notions and sentiments of Europe, we find the same. variety, the same straggle, Theocratical opinions, monarchical opinions, ari-taicratic opinions, democratic opinions,-cross and jos tle, ;trug;„„de, become interwoven, limit, and modify each other.. Opal" the boldest trea tises of the middle age: in none of them is an Opinion carried to its - final Consegnenees.— The advocates of absolote powerAmeh, al most unconsciously, from the results to which their doctrine would carry them. We see that the ideas and influences around them frighten them from pushing it, to its utter most point. 15emocraev felt the same• con trol. That impurturba - ble•boldness, siastrik ing in ancient civilizations, nowhere found a place in idle European system. In semi, ments we discover. the Jeanke contrasts, the same variety an indomitable taste for pendence dwelling by the side of the greatest aptness fur submission ; 'a singular fidelity between man and mar, and a't the same time an imperious-desire in each to do Ins own will, to shake (dad rstinint, to live alone, without troubling hiniself with the rest of the Mincht were as rinich diversified as sociel y. . . "TheNsanio characteristics are observable in literature Sze.. It will be seedily inferred that here is dis closed one of the great secrets' , ,of the superi ority of European civilization. We observe ikre - the tendency to stagnancy and decay strikingly, strongly, and .lontinnnusly coun teracted in a manner of which there is• no other example in history. Tne ;,fate -of faCG; is striking; peculiar; and r,-Markrible, in d e degrec of it and the.extent. 7 . -the breadt \ i and chtitininty. We•find the excitation' in prise, wide-spread, and continuous—existing - over a large part of Europe and throughout a p 4 e. Hod of fourteen or fifteen centuries. And how is it, and whence is it? . Is it because „Europeans are originally and eonstituitonally more active, excitable, and contentious than other races? Not-at all : the filets are not originally and primarily-ethnic in their char: aster : they are entirely geographic. There are certain relationships between things natural and things' moral which ere indispensable elements in the solution of the problems of history. We shall haye :ooa sion to obsen e furler, in the progress of this investigation, that the-Author of Nature mor aliKes to us in more ways than one. . CONCLUDED NEXT WEER. - III!!:=1 Bow Two WRONGS MAKE A Iltdirr.L—A gentlemao.at Itratot,.;'a the other day was il lustrating his'_ argument by ° the mtisitn— " Tyra wrongs on't make a - right," "Stue time4 they do," Interposed a seedy' lo9king. I)ystander, with a deoWn cast " nasal. twang; " they did with me °nee "Br was that?" asked the, other---its not according to 'Gun ter.'." ." Can't help that ; there was a fel low. passed- onto the on& a one dollar hill, and it was n counterfeit.' Wasn't that Wrong?" "Certainly it was wrong,- if he AMem it•tO be h counterfee " Wal, expect he - did ; •I did, anyway, when l passed it onto another chap. Neow, Wasn't this wrong Wrong! of course, very wrong." "Wad, it made me rigid!." was the triumphant rejoinder.— "So two wrongs does make a right, some -times!" The "nigusnent" tended by this' preciousillustration, • • • 06OL AS A Jupne."—.4 couple of," limbs of the law," who, were conducting a. suit 'be fore a Justice ißitpcitester, got incensed_. at each•other; and finally , ciane to bloW - s. The Court sat looking" coolly on till the fracas was over. Then the'cornbitant* apologized foi disturbing his honor, but the Justice, wip. ihg his spee's; coolly - declared - he "hadn't . been disturbed in the least,". and the trial went on. „ • lar All •blood is alike ancient. . • ra LISHER-VOL. 4.-NO. 18. EducationaL - • Editor. coßsz, Learning by ,etudu must 1 2wat ne'er entairei r from air ,to • [Teachers and - friends of .neation are respeetfed• ly invited to contribute to &i department.] • A - "CAPkTALSC,ROLAti" IN SICYZ,-. , • One tle incident4e ranst Mention . as illustrating' education by t74e. Walking to. church ono Sunday, in Skye, We werelfelloired.bY a' slip of a• lad some ten or Ileven years 'of ttge, who, on,putting some questions to him, r/d vol.. untee to name all the capitals in Eurom .whi be did with marvelous .deXterity.s--; I'r nn Europe he crossed to•Sonth Ameriea, , afid rat tkl out the names of th.-e4irtital.4 with the a etir:,ey of a ealenbitiog machine; From S.tuto America h^ -•tat'tcd oil to Asia, and finai 'Li g ht-il l at d 0 Japito, w e re lather 5k,:14 , ,.;a1 ao, to the iirdue•of.sadh iudeed,-as til the reality of an d , t!! !hi v:rig .been\l'oliv.yt-1 to th e 11,11 p; Ity the ' firrthiaal!:€l))ll,frt of words t tat had been site!) into his mouth. Wr thereftre asked him, "-Can von tetl the name of the island yottlive l in!" flotnot w ,g hi- lore. he had not learned that he lived in the of Sy lte. \ TO make quite sure of the fact we requested the captain of the steamer to repeat ;lie question in Gaelic, but there was no Sy ke fortbeitming. fje knew the name of the pariA, and of- all the capitals in the world, but not of the island he :lived in. _There being a schoolmaster pres ent nevidentally, we Ibinight the neieaskin gold to be lost„ to show the worthies-ales:4 or word stuffing, and vent uredAnother qUestion : “ . .Now, my lac!, you have told us the names nearly all the capitals in the . World-; is a capital, man or beast ?" It's .a beast," said the boy. quite decisively. So much for words without understanding. In the next school inspection, that boy will, probably' pugs for.a 'prodigy, and will figure in statisti cal reports is an example of what good edu cation can do.—Glaxpow Commonwealth, ENGLISH SYNONYM6.—Words which, are strictly synonymous ,' i. e., which convey pre cisely the_seine idea, and may- be substituted fine each other in every possible connection, la a almost, if not entirely unknown . . But the t In synonyms is applied,,in comnion usage, words which represent a' git:en idea under difl'erent limitations or ntonications, or ideas which are almost identical. Collections of words that express 'neatly the sartie idea are useful, especially to young writers, to enable them to select such words as best express their ideas. But it they . use words as exact ly synonymous when they are hot so, they will be apt to make serious if not 'rtdiculo4 blunders. When the student is in dotiht 're specting the distinction between the significa lions of words called synonym +s, he should consult a large . Dictionary, or some such W ork :as Crubf.e'..s. Synonyms. .. ' , I=1:: • MAGNA . CIIARTA.—Magna Marta, or-Mag- Act Carta, signifies:, literally; the. Great Char ter. This name given.to a• formal. written Charter, granted by King Jolin, and efinfirM ed by Ktng Henry 111, of England, which solemnly Octignized and secured certaitfenu !iterated riAtc, pri-vilegeg,‘ and liberties, as belonging to, the people of England. 4 which .have . ever since eonstituted a fundamental pqrt of the Constitution or government of Eng:anda Among other important rights it secured the righ+ of a trial by jury .in civil and criminal cases,,iind the right of the sub ject tit the free enjoyment of his life, his aull his property, unless (infected by the judgment of his peers, (a jury,) cir by the Law of the land. Several of its priviisions Constitute a part of the Bill of Eishts. set forth in our Stateand•Natiunal Constitutions. RULING PASSION TKONOIS\ DEATIL—We. scarcely_ knoW of a more touching-in.stanee of ." the ruling passiOn7stron?; in death,7, than is . afforded in the last words of a SchOolmaster who had gone in and . out before successive little Bricks in the same place, for upwards of ,thirty years. When-the filth of deativ was gathering • overhis eye- 1 , which were soon to . open in-the pri , sence of Him who took little children in his arms and blessed them, 'he said; —" it is getting (lark-6e, bi ys may go out —sehours, distal:TA): READittl.—ThOzle who read may be dived. ed into fouirclasses:—lit. Sponges, Who ab sorb they read, and - return it in nearirthe same state, only a very little dirtied. 2d, Sand Glasses—who retain nothing,. and are • content to get through a book for the sake of . gating through the time. .2d. Strainbags—• who retain merely the . dregs of what they • read. 4th. Moguliiirnonds—equally rare and valuable—who profit. by what they read; and enable others to profit by Oho.- M' A Thousand Acts of Thongfit, and' will, and creed, shape the features and expres sion of the human face—habits of love, and purity, and truth-r;habits of falsehood, mal ice, and 'uncleanliness—silently mould and fashion it, till at length it wears the likeness of God, or the image and superscription c•f the Evil 01)4. - . QuEs'llone:7—When are Dog Days, and why ie called ? What is the Harvest, Won, and why so called 'T Ought we not to have a pronoun in the , singular number, suited to the masculine and feminine genders 'at the same time 1 W ho will- - answer this'? . i For the necominodaticin of" taquirer," • .who . appears to have a very defeetivedietion,9r ary, we publish•Webster'd .definition• of the word paradox, as follows " Paradox, a [met or proposition contrary to received opinion;,, or 'seemingly alisurkyet true in fliet" _ PROBLEM.—Required tho length, of the sides of -dreettutgular field that gotitains four acres, and is :enelosed by onti hundred .attd four rods of fence. D. `II• iIW• Analyze the following senteneeshow: ing*the.relatione of the part 4 of the principal clause, and' pat ing the words in italics': " t him who has .never in his life done wrong, be allowed the privilege Of renlaining inexorable." . jt.los . been jtistly i said.hy sir J. Her ache!, that, number, - - . wirtyht, • find Viranitt, are iina f updiiontt_ of 311 eAactsoienq,; • .. MI Mali E
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