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would behold unmoved all the hopes of posterity wasting away in chronic tabes. To such men England must not listen. Neither must she be advised by counsellors who would excite in her the strength of fever and delirium. There are men who, seeing the beautiful front of a magnificent edifice nearly finished, clamour loudly for the roof; while the wiser architects, knowing that the front alone cannot support the covering, continue in silence to construct the walls and partitions, and to place the beams and rafters, on which likewise it must rest. Yet the clamourers are vain enough to think that, without them, the roof never could have been invented.

Hitherto the years which France was condemned to drudge or to bustle before she could obtain the good things which England had secured, were one hundred and fifty; and, moreover, when those things were attained, they were not of half the value in the hands of the French, as in ours. But the ratio of time will now alter. The rapidity of communication, the opportunities for imparting impulses, the spirit already diffused must cause inferior nations to tread more quickly in the steps of those that take the lead. Whatever we discover in politics, in morals, in science, or in industry, we must expect to see imitated abroad, long before a hundred and fifty years have revolved. But, on the other hand, the distance which will separate English prosperity from that of France will increase; and what we lose in time, we shall more than gain in space. Though the French were thirty lustres before they attempted a wretched paraphrase of our Magna Charta, or a sanguinary burlesque of our revolution, they were not many years before they imported steam-engines or spinning-jennies. We speak not now of the spirit which rules the two countries. Here it is that the chief difference lies, and upon this we found our assertion that, though the French may stand nearer to us in time, in space they will be still farther removed than ever. Human powers, we know, have limits; and all limits, as we draw near to them beyond a certain degree, can be approached but by a retarded velocity. But we do not think that such a degree has yet been reached. Mankind is still in a state where the movements of civilization are accelerated; and they who have gone the farthest and the quickest will, for a long time, continue to advance the most rapidly. Such, most pre-eminently, has England been; and we do not think ourselves too sanguine when we say, that much as she has done, much as M. Dupin sometimes places her above other nations, as much will she still rise above them, even when taught by her. Neither do we think that, in this mighty career, the country which will come the nearest to us is France. We must not look to the old world for men who will

VOL. XXXIV. NO. LXVII.

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will gall our kibes by treading on our heels. Youthful nations will be quicker than Europe; and in our own vigorous children, in the United States of America, we already see the generations that, in reason and industry, are destined to stand beside Englishmen.

In past ages the only road to prosperity has been war; and nations seemed to think that without conquests they could not be great. Modern no less than ancient history gives proof of this; for every page of both is filled with battles and successes. The farther we look back, the more we find it true that violence led to splendour and renown. The early eastern empires have left great traces of magnificence; but far above the gardens of Babylon or the temples of Tadmor, rises the glory of conquerors. Of all that is recorded of Egyptian labour and Corinthian wealth, nothing equals in fame their contemporary warriors. The trade and merchants of Athens were not without profit to her; but to Marathon and Platea, to Salamis and Mycale she owes the admiration which present ages pay her; and Sparta flourished though condemned to idleness except in war and theft. The trade of Carthage fell before the sword of Rome, and not all the wares that heathen nations ever fabricated gave a twentieth part of the power which the soldiers of the republic won. When Christianity was established, milder motives swayed mankind, and industry became a source of power. Venice, Genoa, Pisa, the petty states of Italy stood, by their ingenuity, among the largest empires; and created resources by trade which war could not have given. The Hanseatic league, the Netherlands, grew strong by industry; and, by labour, the Dutch republic was enabled to contend with nations much her superiors. What is it now but the struggle of trade and manufactures against alternate violence and cunning, that has secured success in the rudest contest which civilization ever had to maintain against depravity of every kind? What was it but British industry pouring out the treasures of Indus on the banks of the Neva, of the Danube, and of the Tagus, and vivifying the palsied chiefs of Europe with her wealth, that has preserved the world from barbarism?

Great as have been the triumphs of England, it is not to them that she owes her present superiority. From her campaigns in the peninsula Spain and Portugal derived their safety; and the North a useful diversion of the French forces. At Waterloo all the nations were delivered, and the smallest among them was more benefited by that day than England was. It mattered not to her by whom the miseries and madness of the French revolution were subdued. All that she desired was to see them at an end; and in the very lap of victory she laid down the right to authority which

victory

victory had given. But from war she turned to industry; and there she found again her ascendancy. In the field barbarians may surpass the wise in numbers, and equal them in valour. But genius is not measured by any such arithmetic. The glory of a great minister in the last century was, that he made this country flourish still more by war than by peace. The glory of the present æra is, that things have returned to their natural course; and that peace is become, as it ever ought to be, a greater restorer of national force than war. The age which now discloses itself to our view promises to be the age of industry, to which no monarch shall affix his name—it shall be called the age of comfort to the poor,—if the phrase had not been so ill applied of late, we should saythe age of THE PEOPLE. By industry, alliances shall be dictated, and national friendships shall be formed. With one hand industry shall furl up the banners of war, and with the other scatter plenty through the world. Should future generations ask what causes so long delayed a practice so humane and wise, they will be told that FRANCE, with the blood of her revolution and the despotism of her glory, was the first of these. Should they then inquire who finally promoted so much good and made it prosper, the answer which history will proclaim is, ENGLAND.

ART. V.- Mission to the East Coast of Sumatra in 1823, under the Direction of the Government of Prince of Wales's Island. By John Anderson, Esq. &c. Edinburgh and London. 1826.

WE doubt very much, if there exist, on the face of the globe,

two more fair and fertile islands (always however excepting our own) than Java and Sumatra; and they have given birth to two very excellent books every way worthy of them—the one on Java, by Sir Stamford Raffles; the other, on Sumatra, by Mr. Marsden. The latter we consider as a perfect model for topographic and descriptive composition; but as we had little or no intercourse with the eastern, or rather north-eastern coast of Sumatra at the time that Mr. Marsden wrote his History and Description, his account of that part of the island could only be very general and imperfect. What our jealous rivals the Dutch knew of it, they kept to themselves, from a dread of being disturbed in their grasping and monopolizing system. During the war which placed all their settlements in our possession, the north-east coast of this island had not been considered as an object worthy of any particular attention; but on the restoration of the Dutch settlements, and of Malacca among the rest, the authorities of Pinang deemed it expedient to send an agent to visit

all

will gall our kibes by treading on our heels. Youthful nations will be quicker than Europe; and in our own vigorous children, in the United States of America, we already see the generations that, in reason and industry, are destined to stand beside Englishmen.

In past ages the only road to prosperity has been war; and nations seemed to think that without conquests they could not be great. Modern no less than ancient history gives proof of this; for every page of both is filled with battles and successes. The farther we look back, the more we find it true that violence led to splendour and renown. The early eastern empires have left great traces of magnificence; but far above the gardens of Babylon or the temples of Tadmor, rises the glory of conquerors. Of all that is recorded of Egyptian labour and Corinthian wealth, nothing equals in fame their contemporary warriors. The trade and merchants of Athens were not without profit to her; but to Marathon and Platea, to Salamis and Mycale she owes the admiration which present ages pay her; and Sparta flourished though condemned to idleness except in war and theft. The trade of Carthage fell before the sword of Rome, and not all the wares that heathen nations ever fabricated gave a twentieth part of the power which the soldiers of the republic won. When Christianity was established, milder motives swayed mankind, and industry became a source of power. Venice, Genoa, Pisa, the petty states of Italy stood, by their ingenuity, among the largest empires; and created resources by trade which war could not have given. The Hanseatic league, the Netherlands, grew strong by industry; and, by labour, the Dutch republic was enabled to contend with nations much her superiors. What is it now but the struggle of trade and manufactures against alternate violence and cunning, that has secured success in the rudest contest which civilization ever had to maintain against depravity of every kind? What was it but British industry pouring out the treasures of Indus on the banks of the Neva, of the Danube, and of the Tagus, and vivifying the palsied chiefs of Europe with her wealth, that has preserved the world from barbarism?

Great as have been the triumphs of England, it is not to them that she owes her present superiority. From her campaigns in the peninsula Spain and Portugal derived their safety; and the North a useful diversion of the French forces. At Waterloo all the nations were delivered, and the smallest among them was more benefited by that day than England was. It mattered not to her by whom the miseries and madness of the French revolution were subdued. All that she desired was to see them at an end; and in the very lap of victory she laid down the right to authority which

victory

victory had given. But from war she turned to industry; and there she found again her ascendancy. In the field barbarians may sur

the wise in numbers, and equal them in valour. But genius is not measured by any such arithmetic. The glory of a great minister in the last century was, that he made this country flourish still more by war than by peace. The glory of the present æra is, that things have returned to their natural course; and that peace is become, as it ever ought to be, a greater restorer of national force than war. The age which now discloses itself to our view promises to be the age of industry, to which no monarch shall affix his name-it shall be called the age of comfort to the poor,-if the phrase had not been so ill applied of late, we should say the age of THE PEOPLE. By industry, alliances shall be dictated, and national friendships shall be formed. With one hand industry shall furl up the banners of war, and with the other scatter plenty through the world. Should future generations ask what causes so long delayed a practice so humane and wise, they will be told that FRANCE, with the blood of her revolution and the despotism of her glory, was the first of these. Should they then inquire who finally promoted so much good and made it prosper, the answer which history will proclaim is, ENGLAND.

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ART. V.- Mission to the East Coast of Sumatra in 1823, under the Direction of the Government of Prince of Wales's Island. By John Anderson, Esq. &c. Edinburgh and London. 1826.

WE

E doubt very much, if there exist, on the face of the globe, two more fair and fertile islands (always however excepting our own) than Java and Sumatra; and they have given birth to two very excellent books every way worthy of them-the one on Java, by Sir Stamford Raffles; the other, on Sumatra, by Mr. Marsden. The latter we consider as a perfect model for topographic and descriptive composition; but as we had little or no intercourse with the eastern, or rather north-eastern coast of Sumatra at the time that Mr. Marsden wrote his History and Description, his account of that part of the island could only be very general and imperfect. What our jealous rivals the Dutch knew of it, they kept to themselves, from a dread of being disturbed in their grasping and monopolizing system. During the war which placed all their settlements in our possession, the north-east coast of this island had not been considered as an object worthy of any particular attention; but on the restoration of the Dutch settlements, and of Malacca among the rest, the authorities of Pinang deemed it expedient to send an agent to visit

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all

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