shall forbear any further remarks at present, as we intend to take some future opportunity to recur to this volume with a view to the celebrated Convention, which met at Albany in 1754 to devise a plan of union for the colonies. There are points of history connected with that event, which have a claim to more notice than any writer has yet given them.

About two years ago, a volume was printed in New York, entitled, History of the State of New York, including its Aboriginal and Colonial Annals; by John V. N. Yates, and Joseph W. Moulton.' This purports to be the first part of the first volume, and Mr Moulton has recently issued the second part, the title of which we have copied at the beginning of this notice. His plan is comprehensive, it being his design to comprise, within four or five volumes, the History of the Colony and the State to the era of its Canal policy.' This second part, we suppose, completes the first volume, and it brings us down to the year 1633, about twentyfour years after the discovery of Hudson's river, through a region, which he calls the terra incognita' of New York history. It certainly is dark, and not the most delightsome to the traveller; but a cloudy morning often precedes a bright day, and it is reasonable to expect, that Mr Moulton's future labors may afford more entertainment, if not more instruction, to his readers. We would gladly stipulate one thing with him however, which is, that, when he publishes another volume, he will bethink himself of a table of contents, an index, or some contrivance for guiding us to such parts as we may have a particular fancy to consult, without our being compelled to look through all his chapters to gain our object, and then perhaps in vain. Mr Moulton quotes authorities, it may be, more frequently than is necessary; but it is much better to be in the extreme on this side than the other. He gives evidence incontestible of his industry, and of his deep research into all the parts of his subject. On the general character of his work, and the success of its execution, it would seem not proper to comment, till he has advanced further in his enterprise. He must guard against such minuteness and prolixity as will become tedious; nobody reads a dull history.

We ought not to omit to state here, that Dr Samuel Miller once contemplated writing a history of New York, and made considerable progress in collecting his materials. Other pursuits diverted his attention from this project, but the fruits of his inquiries, as far as they were pursued, he deposited in the library of the New York Historical Society, of which he was an early and active member.

4.-New Ideas on Population; with Remarks on the Theories of Malthus and Godwin. Second Edition. To which is prefixed a New Preface, containing a brief Examination of the Opinions of MM. Say and Sismondi on the same subject. BY ALEXANDER H. EVERETT. 8vo. pp. 125. Boston. Cummings, Hilliard, & Co.

In his

THE first edition of this work was largely reviewed in our Journal, its principles stated, and its main positions defended. [See Vol. XVII, for October, 1823]. To the general considerations and arguments there advanced, in explanation of the objects and merits of the work, nothing more needs to be added. Preface to this second edition, Mr Everett has examined at some length the opinions of Say and Sismondi, which run counter in some respects to his own views, and to what he believes important truths in political economy.

The eminent talents of Mr Malthus have given currency to a curious theory, or rather paradox, concerning population. This author supposes it to be a law, in the economy of human existence, that population tends to increase geometrically and food arithmetically, and that of course the former is always pressing on the latter." This mathematical proposition Mr Malthus has set himself to demonstrate in various ways, and he draws from it very important conclusions, as affecting the organization, progress, and condition of society. He holds, that there is a perpetual tendency to starvation in the world, on account of the unceasing operation of the law, which is striving to multiply mouths to devour food faster than the labor and ingenuity of man can gather it from the productions of the earth. In this mischievous law he sees the germs of the hosts of evils which afflict humanity. He would banish the evils by circumventing the law; he would save the world from poverty, privation, and the sufferings that grow out of them, by putting a check to this law of increase, in discouraging the goodly custom of marriage, which from time immemorial has been so much in vogue with all the world. judges rightly that the smaller the number of people born, the fewer there will be to suffer; and, to keep up a proper balance, he would make it the duty of governments to take care, that no more than the right number should be born. So much for the theory; next for the consequences. According to Mr Malthus's doctrine, it is quite a false exercise of humanity to build up institutions for the aid of the poor, or to dispense charity of any sort to relieve privation and sufferings, which spring from want, or inability to procure the means of a comfortable subsistence. Such misplaced philanthropy is in fact an injury to society, by keeping

He

up an excess of devouring population, which has somehow forced itself upon the world, when there was no possibility that its demands could be supplied. Genuine benevolence would cut off this excresence, or at least leave it to waste itself away. There are also political consequences, which we have not time to pursue. To common minds this theory would seem ludicrous enough, were it not supported by grave philosophers, and writers deep in the science of political economy. To confute this doctrine on the fair ground of argument, and to establish the contrary, is the object of Mr Everett's tract; that is, he undertakes to prove, that there is no such tendency in population, as Mr Malthus contends for; that the means of support will always be adequate to the numbers to be supported; that poverty and want depend on other causes than the pressure of population; they depend on local circumstances, on the ability and skill of individuals, fertility of soil, commercial advantages, virtues and vices, political and social institutions. Take these circumstances into consideration and there will be no difficulty in accounting for all the misery in the world; and these would still exist, even supposing population to be checked in any given ratio. Mr Everett's arguments are triumphant, and amount to a complete demonstration. As a specimen of a clear philosophical style, and elegant ratiocination, we know of no treatise on any of the branches of political economy, which can be read with more satisfaction than this. The new preface will furnish a good deal of interesting matter to those who have seen only the first edition.

5.-The Cause of Education in Tennessee; an Address delivered to the Young Gentlemen admitted to the Degree of Bachelor of Arts, in Cumberland College, at the Anniversary Commencement, October 4th 1826. By PHILIP LINDSLEY, D. D. President of the College. 8vo. pp. 36. Nashville, Ten

nessee.

WE have before had occasion to examine some of President Lindsley's views of education, and to express our high commendation of them. The same practical good sense and close investigation, the same zeal for improving the systems of teaching, appear in this Address, as in his former publication; and we are glad to observe, that all reasonable success attends his exertions in the present important sphere of his action.

The direct object of the Address, to which our attention is now drawn, was to give suitable counsel to the young gentlemen

of Cumberland College in Nashville, who had just completed their academic course; and the President took this opportunity to make a few remarks generally on the subject of education, and particularly on the means of instruction in Tennessee. His aim is chiefly to suggest the best modes of improvement, both in regard to common schools and higher institutions. In reference to the former of these he uses the following language.

'How important then to human happiness is it, that the first school-the infant school-the parental school-should be a good one. Here is the great nursery of human weal or woe. Now, I care not whether children ever go to a public school or not, if parents will keep a better school at home, and do their duty to their offspring. I care not whether our youth go to college or not, if parents can and will teach them more effectually by their own firesides. But, unfortunately, the great mass of parents have shown themselves but sorry instructers and faithless guides to those who ought to be dearer to them than their own lives. They are themselves, in general, too ignorant, to say no more, to do much. Hence, in our day, INFANT SCHOOLS have been established in many places, to supply this radical defect. And report speaks well of them wherever they have been tried. How far it may be practicable or beneficial to introduce them into our country, except in large towns or manufactories, I shall not stop to inquire.

6

In order to furnish the community at large with the next best aid to parental instruction, and as a substitute for it, after the first period of infancy, COMMON SCHOOLS prefer the strongest claims to our regard. We hear a great deal, at the present day, about common schools; and one would imagine that they had already become the favorites of the people. If so, then the cause of liberty and virtue has gained much in our land, and we need not despair of the republic. Upon this ground we can all meet and harmoniously cooperate. In this grand enterprise, all the advocates of colleges in our country will go hand in hand with the humblest of the people, not merely in declaiming about the necessity and importance of common schools, but in organizing and putting into practical operation the best system that can be devised. I have no fears that any of the alumni of Cumberland College will ever prove recreant or backward in this good work.

'Common Schools, then, are needed in Tennessee. How shall they be established? Let the people decide. What character and form shall they assume? Let every county be divided into such a number of school districts or departments as will conveniently accommodate all the inhabitants. Erect comfortable and commodious school houses. Attach to each school house a lot of

ten acres of land, for the purpose of healthful exercise, gardening, farming, and the mechanical arts. For the body requires training as well as the mind. Besides, as multitudes must live by manual labor, they ought betimes to acquire habits of industry, economy, temperance, hardihood, muscular strength, skill, and dexterity. Employ teachers qualified to govern and instruct children in the best possible manner. Pay them according to their merit. Pay any sum necessary to command the services of the best and most accomplished teachers. Parsimony in this particular is not only impolitic; it is mean, it is absurd, it is ruinous. Better have no teachers, than to have incompetent, immoral, lazy, passionate, or indiscreet ones; however cheaply they may be procured. Their influence will not be merely negative; it will be positive and most powerful. I have often looked with horror upon the kind of common schools and teachers to which thousands of children, during several of their best years, are cruelly and wantonly subjected in the older States. But it is or was the fashion, in many places, to hire a blockhead or vagabond, because he would teach a child for a dollar and twentyfive cents per quarter! Now, if there be anything on earth for which a parent ought to feel disposed to pay liberally, it is for the faithful instruction of his children. Compared with this, every other interest vanishes like chaff before the wind-it is less than nothing. And yet, unless the world has suddenly grown much wiser, there is no service so grudgingly and pitifully rewarded. The consequence is what might have been expected. Every man of cleverness and ambition will turn his back with scorn upon the country school. He will become a lawyer, a physician, a merchant, a mechanic, a farmer, or a farmer's overseer, in preference. Until school keeping be made an honorable and a lucrative profession, suitable teachers will never be forthcoming in this free country.'

pp. 9, 10.

These observations, on the character and qualifications of teachers, have peculiar weight In nothing are we so deficient in our New England schools, as in good teachers. Nine times out of ten, we venture to say, the cheapest man has the preference. By this most ill judged parsimony the standard of school keeping is kept down; men of talents and high qualifications seek for better employment. Thus the schools fall into the hands of a class of persons, who are more fit to be pupils than teachers. The man, whose recommendation is, that he will teach cheaper than any body else, is the very last man that should be employed. He, who values his own services at little, will do little, and that badly. The effect of this is a thousand times worse in teaching, than in any other employment. A clumsy mechanic may make a