of evil mitigated. The beautiful passages cf history, as well as romance, are made up of elements like these; and yet, where is there a record that displays so much of practical charity, so much of productive benevolence, so much of efficient, fruitful Christianity, as that of the Washingtonian Society, in the compass of a few brief years. The tale of the Good Samaritan has lived for almost twenty centuries, and has been an example to all subsequent ages. Yet the cause of which we speak has not merely bound up the wounds of the flesh of one man; it has restored peace to the spirit, it has healed the broken heart, the crushed bosom, the agonized soul of thousands.

We have not space to present in detail the economical advantages realized and proposed by the temperance cause. We all know, that, while ardent spirits are one of the chief sources of human evil, they are, at the same time, the most expensive of all luxuries. The simple truth is, that mankind waste more money upon this folly, this self-destroying practice of rumdrinking, than would be required to remedy all the poverty, sustain all the hospitals, keep up all the religious missions, and give education to every child throughout Christendom. Is it not evident that Christian statesmen ought not by any means to overlook this subject, viewed as a mere question of political economy? We observe throughout society a deep and anxious conviction that something is yet to be done to remedy the inequality of condition which we see in the world, and especially in foreign countries. There, society is divided into the pampered rich and the suffering poor. Whence come these things? Why is the world thus out of joint? These queries have disturbed

many thinking heads, and a remedy for the evil has been sought in projects for a new organization of society. Many such have been proposed. They will, doubtless, fail of their object, and all would be rendered useless and needless, if every working-man throughout the world would sign the pledge and abide by it. The evils alluded to find their chief source in the use of intox cating drinks. The cost of these drains the pockets of the working classes; the liquor muddles their brains, and makes them fit to be the dupes of despots; it weakens their bodies, breaks their ambition, bends the neck of independence, and makes the stern yoke of authority sit easy to the servile neck. The working classes are the masters of the world, if they choose to be so. Liquor is the chief obstacle to the assertion of their rights and the maintenance of their power; liquor is the despot that degrades and enslaves them. Till this is dethroned, they cannot reach their true position, for a few clear heads may master a million of muddled tipplers. As a mere question of wise human policy, we believe, therefore, that the temperance cause claims the attention and support of the statesman, the friend of man, the lover of human rights and human liberty. Instead of being deemed the mere chimera of a few heated fanatics, a thing to blaze and burn and go out, it should rather be regarded as tne beginning of a great revolution, which reaches to the foundation of society; the lever of Archimedes, which is to move the moral world. Without at least such a reform as this proposes, all others are vain, and, with it, others would come of course, or at least more speedily an 1 more effectually

PAST AND FRESENT STATE OF THE WORLD.*

THE history of man begins at a point almost six thousand years ago. The great events since that pe

riod those which have exercised a decisive influence

* For a view of the present state of society throughout the world, in respect to religion, dress, education, &c., see "Manners and Customs of the principal Nations of the Globe"; and for a view of the industrial pursuits of mankind, see "Enterprise, Industry, and Art of Man." The reader, who wishes to trace the history of mankind, is referred to the several volumes in the Cabinet Library, entitled "Lights and Shadows of Asiatc History," "European History," &c

Christ crucified,

Jerusalem destroyed,

Hygenus, first Bishop of Rome, made Pope,

Christianity adopted at Rome,

Rome divided into the Eastern and Western Empires,

Rome taken by Odoacer,

The Pope's temporal Power established,

A. D. 33

70

134

311

395

476

607

622

638

772

827

William, Duke of Normandy, becomes King of England, 1066

The first Crusade,

Chinese open several Ports after a War with the British, 1842 Such is the thread of chronology,* which runs through the tissue of the world's history. We have not space to dilate upon this topic, and can only give a rapid sketch of the progress of society during the present century.

* In this table, we have followed the commonly received chronology but there is reason to believe that it is defective, and that a considerably longer period than that assigned actually elapsed between the deluge and the confusion of tongues, and the settlement of the different portions of the old world. Some chronologists place the creation of man nearly two thousands years earlier than the time usually adopted, and it is quite probable that this is more nearly correct than our reck-oning.

Whoever has watched the progress of recent events throughout the world has remarked, that, amid change, fluctuation, vicissitude, there is still a general tendency to improvement. Though the surface of the world's affairs may seem to present an aspect like that of the ocean, broken into a chaos of waves, there is still visible, in the midst of it all, and bearing all forward in its current, the resistless march of improvement.

If we take a hasty retrospect of history, within the space of our own observation, — within the compass of the last five and forty years, we shall see abundant evidence of this. Let us fix our view, for a moment, upon Europe. The first object that arrests our attention is France. At the opening of the present century, we behold her rising from her long intoxication, and still reeling with the banquet of blood, but gradually acquiring stability under a consular government, Napoleon Bonaparte being at its head. We soon see this remarkable man becoming the pivot upon which the affairs of Europe turn. In 1802, he became consul for life; in 1804, emperor. In 1808, he deprived the Pope, who crowned him, of his territories; in 1809, he divorced his wife, and in 1810 allied himself to the haughty House of Hapsburg. Between the commencement of his career and its close, he created three kingdoms, -Bavaria, Saxony, and Wurtemburg. He made his brother Joseph, king of Spain; Louis, king of Holland; Jerome, king of Westphalia; his brother-in-law, Murat, king of Naples; his son-in-law, Eugene, viceroy of Italy. And what do these events imply? The conflict of armies; the overthrow of empires; the dethronement of kings; the termination of