THE

AMERICAN

QUARTERLY REGISTER.

CONDUCTED BY

B. B. EDWARDS AND W. COGSWELL.

VOL. XII.

PUBLISHED BY THE AMERICAN EDUCATION SOCIETY.

BOSTON:

PRINTED BY PERKINS & MARVIN.

1840.

ADVERTISEMENT.

THE twelfth volume and the thirteenth year of this work are closed. We shall now enter, with the blessing of that beneficent Providence that has hitherto guided us, upon the preparation of another volume. We hope to make it still more worthy than its predecessors of the patronage of a discerning public. New sources of information in the statistical department of our labors are constantly coming to light. Fresh interest in the subject is awakening in various quarters. Statistical Societies are springing up in almost all civilized nations. The past year, an American Statistical Association has been formed in Boston, under very favorable auspices. During the present year, a new census of the United States is to be taken. Its results on a great variety of topics will, doubtless, be much more complete and satisfactory than has been the case with either of the preceding decennial enumerations. The more important details of this exposition of our population and resources, we shall hope to insert in the next volume of the Register. Our European correspondents may be expected to furnish valuable facts and communications. We shall endeavor, also, to enrich the work with essays and other papers on the momentous subject of ministerial education, and other topics connected with the duties of clergymen and the salvation of a perishing world.

The aggregate number of pages, in the twelve volumes of the Register already published, is four thousand three hundred and sixty-four. A large proportion of the articles, which fill these pages, we may be permitted to say, are of permanent value. They are the results of original inquiry, and will not be found elsewhere. Many of the facts, which we have recorded, have been rescued from decaying MSS. and dilapidated records. Their full value may not be seen for many years. Most of the articles that we have inserted, are not repeated on our pages. It is our intention, in all cases, to exhibit at once the full details of the various topics on which information is communicated, so that there may be no necessity of again adverting to them. We shall hope to be able to accomplish this object more and more satisfactorily, in the progress of our labors, especially if an enlarging patronage to the work should be accorded us.

BOSTON, MAY, 1840.