missionary and bible societies through the different parts of the heathen world. The new activity of this spirit, in an age which is not, in other respects, very remarkable for religious fervour, is quite a singular event, and one which will contribute very considerably to the general progress of civilization. It is true, that the bible is not a book which can be read with profit by unlettered savages; and the missionaries, who go out to explain it to them, are not much better acquainted than their pupils, with its true character and spirit. Still their efforts, though marked with every species of error and delusion, are far from being useless. These burlesque apostles are the pioneers of civilization. They push forward, where wiser men have no motive to advance, and where their wisdom would be of little service, if they had; for nature, like a skilful general, knows how to turn to account the spade and pick-axe, as well as the sword and pen. These adventurers spread, where they go, some rude accounts of the countries from which they come; and when they return, they bring back, in like manner, some imperfect notions of the places they have visited. A communication is thus opened, of which commerce and industry avail themselves for interested purposes. Emigration gradually follows; and by mutual intercourse the social condition of

different countries, however dissimilar, is brought up in time to the point of uniformity. These missionaries are now labouring with exemplary zeal in various quarters of the globe. In British India they are extremely active; and of late they are penetrating into the farther peninsula. They are sowing the seeds of civilization in all the South Sea islands; and if the first crop should be poisonous, instead of nutritive to the inhabitants, the final result will be a great improvement of their social condition. But though the probable effects of this system, in contributing to the extension of civilization, are not to be denied or overlooked, the main spring of this prodigious movement is still, as I have observed, the spirit of enterprize and industry, which first prompts the European adventurer to discover and explore remote countries; and then sets in motion the machinery of the European workshops to supply his wants, and opens the coffers of Europe to receive his wealth in return.

Europe, therefore, is the central point of this great universal system of colonization. of colonization. Europe is the heart, through which the wealth employed in it is continually passing and repassing, as it proceeds from one extremity to another. And it does not pass and repass without leaving any advantageous traces of its progress; but it is received in one form, and

elaborated into a new one, before it is transmitted; so that industry is stimulated, and wealth and population increased, by the circulation. The wealth and population, thus augmented, tend in their turn to overflow into other countries, which are less thickly settled, and where the means of subsistence are more abundant. From the peculiar circumstances, under which the colonizing system has grown up, it has happened that this overflow of population spread itself in the first place over very distant parts of the globe, although the regions in the immediate vicinity were also much less thickly peopled and highly civilized, than Europe. But as the superiority of Europe over the neighbouring countries and the activity of the principle of emigration are constantly increasing, a portion of this overflow must, in the nature of things, very shortly take a nearer direction. This result will be hastened by the fall of the Turkish empire, which must apparently happen very soon, if it is not, as now appears probable, effected by the present concussion. When this barbarous political structure shall have crumbled into. atoms, the fine regions spreading from the Euphrates to the Atlantic, which have now for ages been withering under its deadly shadow, will be very soon overrun by the busy sons of Europe; and will return to the high state of prosperity and popu

lation, at which they stood from the earliest historical period up to the invasions of the northern barbarians and the Saracens. The light of civilization will then shine again over the west of Asia and north of Africa; and as the European settlements advance from this quarter into the interior of the latter continent, they will in time communicate with those, which are also forming on its southern and western coasts; and the mysterious paths, which lead to its centre, will be laid open to commerce and philosophy. It were better, perhaps, to wait with patience for the arrival of this period, than to despatch any more accomplished travellers on a service, which, in the present state of Africa, is no better than a forlorn hope.

The Persian empire must fall at no distant period, like Turkey; and that delightful country, which misgovernment has rendered uninhabitable, will become again, as it was in former times, the garden of the world. When Persia and Turkey shall be occupied by the Europeans, their settlements will then communicate over land with the British empire in India, and an extensive and lucrative commerce will establish itself in this direction by land and sea, and produce the most beneficial effect upon the industry and welfare of Europe. Meanwhile, as the population of the vast regions of Asiatic Russia

shall begin to thicken, and in time to overflow its limits in search of better climates, it will, in like manner, spread over Tartary, and communicate on the north with British India, and on the west with China. When the tide of European emigration shall begin to pour in full flood upon this antiquated structure, it may well be doubted, whether it will be able to stand the shock; and it may perhaps be found, that in this quarter also, the first approach of improvement will bring with it the horrors, that naturally belong to the last epoch of barbarism. Let us hope, however, that the Celestial Empire may not be destined to share the fate of Peru and Mexico; and that if the Chinese do not prove themselves more courageous and politic than the unfortunate Americans, the Europeans, that first approach them, may be more humane than the bloody myrmidons of Cortes and Pizarro. The events, here contemplated, will be far from requiring for their accomplishment so long a lapse of time, as may perhaps at first view appear necessary. Consider what has been done within the last fifty years;-North America emancipated and erected into independent states; South America and Mexico brought to the eve of the same consummation; the whole south of Asia subjected to European dominion; besides innumerable settlements in Africa, in New Holland, and the islands.