REVIEW.

CXXXV. Elements of Geography Ancient and Modern.

With an Atlas.

By J. E. WORCESTER. Boston: Timothy Swan. 1819. pp. 324.

In our country all literary employments are thrown into the shade, by the inextinguishable passion for wealth. If any one has a large fortune, or the means of acquiring one, it is of small account in the general estimate of his character, whether any thing else can be named in his favor. Of our growing population, the proportion of merchants and traders, exceeds that found in any other nation; the thirst for rapid gains has explored every corner of the commercial world, and left few articles untouched from which the keen eye of speculation could hope to see a gainful exchange.

Among the articles of such a multifarious traffic, books might be expected to hold a place. Although they are not entirely forgotten, still, that portion of trade which consists in books alone, has here some remarkable features, not seen, we believe, in any other country. If some of the dealers in this article may find a profit in vend ing new editions of European works, they receive but a faint encouragement by the demand for native productions. If any thing be written so as to find a market in our nation, it must be either a school book, a newspaper, or something which approaches as nearly to a newspaper as possible. Not that our citizens are really too poor to purchase almost any article they please; so far from this, it is perfectly well known, that all classes of people in the United States,consume a larger quantity, not only of the necessaries, but even of the luxuries of life, than the same classes respectively in any other country on the globe. Instead, therefore, of remaining ignorant through poverty, those composing the middle class, and even the poor, so called, are beyond comparison more able to purchase books, than the mass of any other nation. But notwithstanding the unexampled facilities for learning, we are not a reading people.

In connexion with this subject, there is one consideration which deserves attention. Though we have a wonderful scarcity of thorough scholars, and the great majority of our population read very little, still, in the eastern states, schools are supported by the authority of law. Of consequence, almost every body learns to read in childhood. So long as early impressions on the mind are lasting, and so long as the opinions and the conduct mutually influence each other, it remains a question of the highest interest, what shall children be taught at school? Where all are taught to read, the man who at his option places before them the stock of knowledge, which shall be obtained by a population of many millions, wields an engine of inconceivable power. The responsibility resting on the man, whose labors have a considerable share in shaping the minds of a numerous population, should never escape his recollection. Although bis book, as in the present instance, be not designed to convey moral instruction, stiil, as atheists have shown themselves able to infuse the poison of infidelity into every department of their works, the friends of Christianity should make it appear, that their regard for its authority, and their

adherence to the best interests of man, as an immortal being, are not thrust out of sight, while they call his attention to literature, or the physical sciences. So far as we have observed, there is no reason to charge the writer of the present volume with neglect in this particular. He has lately appeared before the publie in two large works of a similar kind, which were reviewed in our pages.* These publications have been well received; at least, so far as the avaricious disposition of the American people would allow them a circulation.

The plan of this little volume is generally well adapted to its object. In its execution, perspicuity is united with brevity. The descriptions are very short; but the learner is made acquainted with those peculiarities of a place, most necessary to be known. Were we required to name the single particular, in which Mr. W.'s book excels most others of the kind, we would specify this close condensation of materials, by which the most essential points of information are brought within a narrow compass.

In beginning the description of a state or kingdom, the writer first gives a topographical table, showing, at one view, the name of each province, or county; its population, the number of towns such county contains, its chief towns, and the number of their inhabitants. These tables are of considerable use, in as much as they present at a glance, those specific articles of information, for which books of reference are consulted; and which, next to local position, are most necessary to be committed to memory. Other tables show the length of rivers, the distance through which they are navigable, the elevation of the highest mountains, the comparison of agricultural productions in the several states of the union; the advance of spring in different places; the temperature of various situations, as indicated by the mean heat of several years.

In every part of the book the learner is expected to have his maps before him. Instead, therefore, of inserting in a long paragraph, the boundaries of a country, such description is entirely omitted in the volume; the scholar is thus compelled to examine his map, which, if correct, is a much better source of instruction than any verbal account. We have known persons who had, as they termed it, "studied Geography" a long time, without being much the wiser for their reading; from the immense number of pages which had often passed under their eyes, they appeared to have collected very few ideas: and among those articles of which they knew any thing, the most important points had escaped them.

About 50 pages of this volume are devoted to Ancient Geography. Considering its interest in the mind of a classical student, this is a smaller space than we could have wished to see filled with the subject; but it must be recollected, that the circumscribed limits, within which the author confined himself, allowed no great room for minuteness in this division of his work. At the close of this part of the book, are very useful tables, exhibiting in columns, 1. the ancient names of cities, towns, rivers, islands, mountains, &c. with their pronunciation,-2. the country or province in which they were situated, and s. the mod

*Sce Pan. vol. xiv, p. 14. and vol. xv. p. 69.

ern name. Such assistance is the more acceptable to the young learner in the science, as the change of names so often met is sufficiently perplexing. It is also convenient to any readers, who have not at command both the ancient and the modern name, or any delineation of the face of a country.

The questions intended as exercises for the pupil while consulting his maps, are in form similar to those in other books of the kind. They may be well enough, but we do not consider them a necessary appendage. If an instructor understands his business, he would be able to propose all the queries of this nature, without referring to the book of his pupil. The directions for solving the problems on the celestial and terrestrial globes, for constructing maps, &c. are easy, and concise, as they should be.

To give any further opinion of this book, after what we have said, iş unnecessary. The author has our best wishes for the extensive circulation of this and his former works, with the hope that in all future editions, he will continue, as hitherto, to deserve encouragement of his countrymen, and the approbation of all who are, like him, engaged in promoting the knowledge, and increasing the literary reputation of our rising empire.

THE MISSOURI QUESTION.

Editorial,

We invite the attention of our readers to a few remarks on the greatest question, which will probably come before the assembled council of our nation during the present century. The declaration of war, tremendous as that evil is to immense multitudes, and disastrous as its consequences are to the community at large, is yet a very limited and temporary calamity, if compared with any measure which tends to perpetuate slavery, ignorance, and vice, among a large class of our fellow creatures, and countless myriads of their descendants. That the permission of slavery in the new state of Missouri is such a measure, we do not assert, at the commencement of our observations. That this is believed to be its character by many judicious, dispassionate, candid men, who have no personal, private, or political interest in the question, is undeniable; and this is sufficient to warrant the discussion. Besides, the subject involves questions of national morality; questions, on which our character as a just, magnanimous, humane, and Christian people, will much depend. On such questions it is the right and the duty of every man to express his thoughts boldly though temperately, and with none but kind feelings towards those, who soberly and conscientiously differ from him.

Let us here say, to those of our southern brethren, who may cast their eyes on these pages, that we would by no means countenance the habit of bringing local prejudices to bear upon discussions like the present. Much less would we tolerate reproachful language, as used against the southern states, on account of the mere existence of slavery there. On the contrary, the whole business ought to be conducted with an enlarged reference to the permanent good of the

whole union, and with particular reference to the permanent security of the southern people, and the gradual improvement of the condition of the black population. So far as local considerations should have any weight, they should constrain the assembled representatives of the people, and every writer and speaker on the subject, to consult with peculiar tenderness and solicitude, the great interests of those parts of our country, where slavery now exists. This may be done with little apprehension; for, unless we are entirely deceived, the great interest of the whole union will be best promoted, in reference to this subject, by the very measures, which will exert a permanently salutary influence on the southern states.

It may be well to premise here, that slavery is universally admitted to be, as judge Washington has well expressed it, an inherent vice in any community, where it exists. We should not wish to use stronger language concerning it, than has been used by Mr. Jefferson, himself a native and inhabitant of a slave-holding state, and the possessor of numerous slaves. Few abler arguments have been made, and few more eloquent appeals been delivered, in behalf of the blacks of our southern country, than were heard in the Legislature of South Carolina, about a year since, from one of the Charleston members. There are, in the slave-holding states, gentlemen of great worth and respectability, whose hearts are deeply engaged in the design of mitigating the evils of slavery, and in preparing the way for its gradual abolition. May the blessing of the Almighty rest upon them, give them wisdom, zeal, and perseverance, and crown their labors with success.

An

During the last session of Congress, a bill was introduced for admitting the territory of Missouri into the union as a state. amendment was added, in the House of Representatives, prohibiting the extension of slavery within the limits, which the contemplated state had assigned to it. The Senate rejected this amendment, and, the House adhering to it, the bill was lost. In the course of the summer, emigrants from the southern states into the Missouri territory have felt a deep interest in the decision of the question, and have exerted all the influence in their power. The voice of these emigrants, and of a majority of the inhabitants of the territory, is now decidedly and strongly in favor of the admission of slavery; though the delegate from that territory stated, about a year since, that it was then extremely doubtful on which side the majority was. A very general interest has been felt on the subject, in every part of the country; and meetings have been held, in most of our principal towns, to offer memorials to Congress respecting it. Several legislative bodies have also expressed their opinion upon it, and transmitted their resolutions to the representatives and senators from their respective states. While we are writing the subject is under consideration in both houses of Congress, and even now a decision may have taken place, which will probably affect the condition of the countless millions, who will inhabit this great continent, centuries after the present generation shall have passed away.

The principal objection to the contemplated restriction rests upon its alleged unconstitutionality; though there are persons, who urge against it reasons of expediency, justice and humanity.

It is not our design to enter at large into the constitutional argument. The speeches of Mr. King, which have been very extensively circulated, and the memorial of inhabitants of Boston and the vicin ity, written by the Hon. Daniel Webster, contain most luminous exhibitions of facts and reasoning, and prove, in a manner which appears to us entirely unanswerable, that the proposed restriction is constitutional. Though others should not view these documents in exactly the same light with ourselves, all will admit, we should think, that they are composed with candor as well as ability; and that they are free from any reflections, which tend to inflame party animosity, or keep up local distinctions. He, who reads these documents, will find, unless we mistake, the following positions clearly established: viz. That Congress has the power of making laws for all the territories of the United States, in as full a manner as any state legislature for the territory under its jurisdiction;-that slavery, in any territory of the United States, is as proper a subject of legislation for Congress, as slavery, in any state, for the legislature of that state;that, while Congress may admit new states into the union, it may as freely refuse to admit them, unless their admission promises to be a public benefit;-that, on this subject, Congress is bound by the same discretion as on other subjects of legislation, that is, by a regard to the good of the whole union;-that, when a new state is admitted into the union, such conditions may be imposed, as shall seem just, and reasonable, and suited to the circumstances of the territory to be admitted; in the same manner as conditions are imposed by a state, when it consents to a division of its territory;-that, in fact, conditions have been imposed in every instance of a new state admitted to the union, or of a state consenting to a division of its territory;-that the constitution implicitly gives Congress the power of prohibiting the importation of slaves subsequently to the year 1808, and into territories and new states, previously to that period; that if Congress may prohibit new states from importing slaves, it may make it a condition of admitting new states into the union, that they never shall permit such importation;—that in the year 1787, the old Congress passed an ordinance, with the unanimous consent of Delaware, Virginia, the Carolinas and Georgia, five slave holding states, and a like consent of all the other states represented in that Congress, by which slavery was to be forever excluded from the territory northwest of the river Ohio, which territory has since been formed into the states of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, on the basis of that ordinance;-that Vermont was admitted into the union in 1791, without any condition respecting slavery, for the obvious reason that slavery had been many years before excluded by the state constitution; that in the cessions made by North Carolina and Georgia of the territory, out of which the states of Tennessee, Mississippi, and Alabama have been formed, it was expressly stipulated that Congress should not prohibit slavery in this territory, thus admitting, that without such stipulation, Congress would have possessed the same power which had been exercised by the old Congress of 1787;-that the admission of Kentucky into the union was merely consequent upon the division of an old state, and therefore slavery could no more be excluded from one part than from the VOL. XVI.

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