by any principle less potent than selfinterest, the resolution to abstain from West India produce would bring this potent and active principle into the fullest operation-would compel the planter to set his slaves at liberty. "Too much time has already been lost in petitions and remonstrances against British slavery. The cause of emancipation calls for something more decisive, more efficient, than words. It calls upon the real friends of the poor, degraded, and oppressed African, to bind themselves by a solemn engagement, an irrevocable vow, to participate no longer in the crime of keeping him in bondage. It calls upon them to "wash their hands in innocency;" to abjure for ever the miserable hypocrisy of pretending to commiserate the slave, whilst, by purchasing the productions of his labour, they bribe his master to keep him in slavery. The great apostle of the Gentiles declared, that he would "eat no flesh whilst the world stood, rather than make his brother to offend." Do you make a similar resolution respecting West Indian produce. Let your resolution be kept inviolably; let no plausible arguments which may be urged against it from without, no solicitations of appetite from within, move you from your purpose; and, in the course of a few months, slavery in the British dominions will be annihilated. 'Yes, (it may be said,) if all would unite in such a resolution: but what can the abstinence of a few individuals, or a few families, do towards the accomplishment of so vast an object? It can do wonders. Great effects often result from small beginnings. Your resolution will influence that of your friends and neighbours; each of them will in like manner influence their friends and neighbours: the example will spread from house to house, from city to city, till, among those who have any claim to humanity, there will be but one heart and one mind, one resolution, one uniform practice. the grandest objects of human observation consist of small agglomerated particles; that the globe itself is composed of atoms too minute for discernment; that extended ages consist of accumulated moments. Let him reflect, that greater victories have been achieved by the combined expression of individual opinion, than by fleets and armies; that greater moral revolutions have been accomplished by the combined exertion of individual resolution, than were ever effected by acts of parliament. "The hydra-headed monster of slavery will never be destroyed by other means than the united expression of individual opinion, and the united exertion of individual resolution. Let no man restrain the expression of the one or the exertion of the other, from the apprehension that his single efforts will be of no avail. The greatest and the best work must have a beginning-often it is a very small and obscure one. And though the example in question should not become universal, we may surely hope that it will become general; whilst, to animate us to commence, and to persevere in, this effort of mercy, we should bear in mind, that the abstinence of one tenth of the inhabitants of this country from West Indian sugar, would abolish West Indian slavery.* "It is too much to expect that the matter will be taken up (otherwise than to make a jest of it) by the thoughtless and the selfish. What proportion these bear to the considerate and the compassionate, remains to be ascertained. By these we may reasonably expect that it will be taken up with resolution and consistency. By Christian societies of every denomination-pre-eminently by that, which has hitherto stood foremost in the great cause of abolition;-by the *The author states, that in Leicester, (where his pamphlet was first published,) a large part of the population has discontinued the use of West India produce; that in Nottingham, the grocers have determined to sell no more West India sugar till slavery shall cease; while at Brighton, the inhabitants have resolved to "But if any man can doubt the efficiency of this plan, let him reflect that the most wonderful productions of human skill and industry, the most aston-support only those grocers who do not deal in ishing effects of human power, have been accomplished by combined exertions, which, when individually and separately considered, appear feeble and insignificant. Let him reflect, that that article; and that in the metropolis, and every part of the United Kingdom, thousands of families are following the noble example: "and it is hoped (he adds) that every one whose attention is turned to the subject, will adopt it instantly." great body of the Catholics too, who attach so much merit to abstinence and self-denial;-and by all the different Protestant professors (who are at all sincere in their profession) of the one religion of universal compassion, which requires us to love our neighbour as ourselves,'—this testimony against slavery may be expected to be borne with scrupulous and conscientious fidelity. one hundred and twenty millions, [the very same, argument which was used to deter government from the abolition of the slave trade.] And is compensation due in no other quarter? Let compensation be made, in the first instance, where it is most due,— to the slave, for his long years of uncompensated labour, degradation, and suffering; and if our attention is turned, but for a moment, to his two substantial and well-authenticated claims, (to compensation and freedom,) the demands of the slaveholder will become not a little questionable. A little temporary pecuniary loss would be the mighty amount of all the calamities which emancipation would entail on the planters; and with a great deal more reason might the industrious artisan or manufacturer cry out against all mechanical improvements which diminish labour, or those commercial regulations which, by increasing competition, lessen for a time the profits of his trade. "Think but for a moment at what a trifling sacrifice the redemption of eight hundred thousand of our fellowcreatures from the lowest condition of degradation and misery, may be accomplished. Abstinence from one single article of luxury would annihilate West Indian slavery!! But abstinence it cannot be called: we need only substitute East India for West India sugar, and the British atmosphere would be purified at once from the poisonous infection of slavery. The antidote of this deadly bane, for which we have been so many years in laborious but unsuccessful search, is most simple and obvious,-too simple and obvious, it should seem, to have been regarded. Like Naaman of old, who expected to be cured of his leprosy by some grand and astonishing evolution, and disdained to wash in the obscure waters of Israel, we look for the abolition of British slavery, not to the simple and obvious means of its ac-exist, its abettors and supporters, pascomplishment, which lie within our own power, but through the slow and solemn process of parliamentary discussion; through the pomp and circumstance' of legislative enactment; most absurdly remonstrating and petitioning against that system of enormous wickedness, which we voluntarily tax ourselves to the annual amount of two millions sterling, to support!! "That abstinence from West Indian sugar alone would sign the death warrant of colonial slavery, is morally certain. The gratuity of two millions annually, is acknowledged by the planters to be insufficient to bolster up their tottering system, and they scruple not to declare to parliament, that they must be ruined, if the protecting duties against East India competition be not augmented. "But in the event of the emancipation of their slaves, the West India gentlemen demand compensation, to the amount, according to some, of sixty-four, and, according to others, of "Were the immediate freedom of the slave demanded, because it is his unalienable right, which he holds by a Divine charter, which no human claims can disannul; because slavery is in direct opposition to the spirit of the British Constitution, to the spirit and letter of the Christian religion; because, as long as it is suffered to sive as well as active, (now that their eyes are open to its enormities,) must lie under the Divine malediction, and, sooner or later, experience the certain and awful visitations of retributive justice,-the fearful accomplishment of that solemn declaration, 'With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.' The more simple and direct our reference to the will of our Divine Lawgiver, and that of his vicegerent, conscience, the more determined will be our resolution, the more decisive our conduct. How shall I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?' will be the most influential of all considerations. And the solemn inquiry, pressed home to the conscience, how an enlightened and Christian government, -how an enlightened and Christian community, can, in any way, encourage such a complicated system of iniquity as that of slavery, ‘the greatest practical blunder, as well as the greatest calamity, that has ever dis graced and afflicted human nature,' without sharing its guilt, and, if there be a righteous Governor of the universe, its punishment also ?—will produce a more energetic and consistent conduct, and lead to the desired result." The able and philanthropic writer, in noticing the tremendous punishments inflicted upon the insurgents in Demerara and Jamaica, observes, that whilst some had been hung, others had been doomed to receive one thousand lashes, and to be worked in chains during the residue of their lives!! He says, that one of these unfortunate beings, now hanging in chains at Demerara, was sold, and separated from his wife, and family of ten children, after a marriage of eighteen years, and thereby made a rebel; and that another had had his wife, the object of his warmest affection, torn from his bosom, and forced to become the mistress of an overseer. And then affectingly asks, “Will the inhabitants of this benevolent, this Christian country, now want a stimulant to rouse their best exertions, to nerve their resolutions against all participa- | tion with these human bloodhounds? Will the British public now want a spirit-stirring incentive to prohibit, henceforth and for ever, the merchandise of slavery? Let the produce of slave labour, henceforth and for ever, be regarded as the accursed thing, and refused admission into our houses; or let us renounce our Christian profession, and disgrace it no longer by a selfish, cold-hearted indifference, which, under such circumstances, would be disgraceful to savages. "One concluding word to such as may be convinced of the duty, but still incredulous as to the efficiency of this species of abstinence. Should your example not be followed; should it be utterly unavailing towards the attainment of its object; still it will have its own abundant reward, and be attended with the consciousness of sincerity and consistency,-of possessing clean hands,'-of having no fellowship with the workers of iniquity still it will be attended with the approbation of conscience, and of the great Searcher of hearts, who regarded with a favourable eye the mite cast by the poor widow into the treasury, and declared that a cup of cold water only, administered in christian charity, 'shall in no wise lose its reward."" ANALYSIS OF GEOLOGY. (Continued from col. 912.) HAVING traced the minute through its simple and compound forms, the time | has arrived for us to enter upon the second division proposed, viz. the massive in Geology. The great Dr. Johnson defines geology to be," the knowledge of the state and nature of the earth;" and some particulars as to the nature of the earth having already occupied these papers, the state of the earth now demands our attention, as a matter of course; and this naturally leads us to the massive. The earth is the only planet which man, during his incarnation, or his first stage of existence, can examine. The whole assemblage of planets, primary as well as secondary, are far too remote for the exercise of our senses upon their substances. The whole solar system, therefore, is, as to man, reduced to a geological point, viz. the earth on which he resides. Even the moon itself, although a secondary planet to our earth, and immediately contiguous thereto, being upwards of twenty millions of miles nearer than any other planet, is, as to the geological powers of man, a mere blank. Man may, indeed, infer from optical research, on comparing the appearances upon the surface of that sphere with those upon the earth, when examined at such distances from it as he can attain to, that the moon is similarly constructed; but this is mere theory; the premises being most uncertain, from the immense difference in the comparative distances, on the one hand; and on the other, from the deceptive appearances of the same substances under different circumstances. Man must, therefore, content himself with knowing the substances and their disposition in one planet during the first stage of his existence, viz. the earth; although he beholds the universe in perpetual serenity revolving around its central sun, and beholds that sun, in glory undescribable, shed its genial rays to enlighten and invigorate the whole. this mortal shall have put on immortality," then, spiritual and wise, (I speak with humble deference,) he may soar the heights of the universe; yea, the sublime of creation now visible to us, and even scan the myriad myriad orbs which far and wide, beyond "When will, therefore, be in a state to acquire that knowledge of creation, which he could not acquire during his incarnation; and so long as the material part of creation continues, he may, by increasing in wisdom, therein glorify the Creator. "The knowledge of the state of the our utmost ken, inhabit space; there placed by the Infinite, each in its hour and for its time; and which, from a chaos constitute a paradise worthy of that sublime Word, which spake, and these were; which sustains, and these are, monuments of His power and wisdom through the ages of time. But if man in his present state can-earth," can only be gradually acquired. not geologically examine the whole If we examine a mouse at a given planetary system, nor even the nearest distance, the whole animal, because sphere, viz. the moon, ample provision of its minute size, being present to is made by the Creator for the exer- the eye nearly at the same moment, cise of every energy he possesses here, is viewed instantly in all its parts, in the rich and wide-spread varieties and the result is, an immediate deciwhich the earth contains. Deducting sion as to the symmetry of the whole; infancy and dotage from the years of but an elephant, viewed at the same the most active and acute of men, and distance, becomes divided into parts; giving him his utmost latitude of and it is only by passing the eye over threescore years and ten, completely these parts in detail, and joining them occupied in health and energy, that in the mind, that a judgment can be term, long as it may seem, would not formed of the whole. Such, but in a suffice wherein to exhaust the teeming greatly enlarged degree, is the earth: fulness, as to quality, disposition, and the vastness of the whole reduces man use of the substances placed by crea- to the absolute necessity of studying tive power throughout the crust of the the earth in its parts. But, has the sphere on which the Infinite has placed earth parts or members, or any orgaman. GOD has therefore suited the nization, which may be compared, organs of man to his sphere of action, even in a distant way, with the skeleand liberally afforded him ample scope ton and muscular formation of an anifor the exercise of these organs dur- mal? This question has been asked ing this his first stage of existence; again and again; because, on observand as man was born for eternity, and ing the earth's surface, we view an will in his future existence possess immense fancy-piece, consisting of superior powers, it seems fair to infer, hill, dale, rock, ravine, mountain, in a geological point of view, as well and plain, and perceive these run into as in every other department of creaand intersect each other in every postion, that ample provision is made, in sible form and direction; and the eye the myriads of spheres to which he as well as the mind of man seems to will then have access, for the exercise be lost in the immensity of this exof these enlarged powers to the ut- tended variety. most, during his second lesson, viz. from the period of his decease until the general resurrection and final judgment; for so long, we are given to understand, the orbs will continue to exist. Thus may he grow in wisdom, as well as in love, and from the fulness of his soul exalt praise to Jehovah; whom to know is life eternal. I have been led into these reflections, from observing the immense stores of wisdom, as to the material creation of GOD, which are unexplored, even by the learned, yea, the wisest and most acute of men, during this first stage of their existence; and also by the fairness of the inference, that, as man will after death possess the acumen of celestial intelligences, "be like the angels in heaven," he But there are men who descend beneath the surface of the earth, ́as well as men who descend beneath the surface of other things; and these, penetrating its internal structure, discern the hand of the Infinite in the grand and beautiful organization of this vast sphere, as distinctly as the naturalist discovers these in the organization of an animal. Geology is, however, in its infancy, while comparative anatomy is become adult; allowances must, therefore, be claimed for those, who on venturous wing soar the mountain's height, descend the vast abyss, and turn their eyes with energy to scan, in order to proclaim to their fellows, the symmetry of the parts of this mighty whole. As geology is in its infancy, its vast extent has not yet been so fully ex plored as entirely to exclude theory | theory, therefore, even in the most learned works on this subject, fills up certain parts of this great whole; but in proportion as actual surveys extend the limits of our knowledge, so in proportion does theory vanish; and, ere another age has passed, geology will, I trust, from actual surveys, become as clear as geography or astronomy to those who are initiated into its truths. Until this period arrives, be it sooner or later, we can only state as fact what we really know; submitting the remainder, in order to fill up the parts, as a theory for the correction of our successors. Thus much is certain: the earth, beneath and upon its surface, so far from being a confused mass, has a regular stratification in planes inclined from its surface to a considerable depth, stratum super stratum, nearly parallel with and incumbent upon each other. The upper sides and the ends, or escarpments of these planes, rise up in succession to the surface, and there form the soil of that portion of the earth over which they extend. By this arrangement, great varieties of soils present themselves to the agricultural labours of man, in the debris of this succession of rocks and strata; indeed, calcareous, siliceous, argillaceous, metalliferous, and compound soils, graduating each into the other, are thus brought to the earth's surface; and these and other substances to a depth beneath it accessible to man, in a given space, which, but for this disposition of the matter of the sphere, might have been sought for far and wide with toil undescribable. Thus has the Creator wisely and beneficently provided for the varied wants of the creatures which He has caused to be, and furnished them with conveniences and luxuries in succession within their reach; yea, even invited them by the rich variety of His bounty to grateful enjoyments. It is difficult, to those unaccustomed to examine the stratification of the sphere, to comprehend this arrangement of its substances; but, until this is comprehended, it is impossible to become well informed in geology: permit me, therefore, to propose a mode whereby almost any individual may illustrate this subject for himself. Take any number of thin volumes, nearly equal in size, a dozen if you 95.-VOL. VIII. please; lay the first flat upon and close to the end of a table, and upon this place a weight, in order to prevent its moving; rear upon its edge, with the covers extended, so as to meet the position of the other books, a thick volume at a distance; then lay in an inclined position five volumes in succession, each overlaying the other, with their backs elevated, the first leaning against the thick volume, and their fronts or leaves depressed, the last jutting against the level volume; then dispose of the other six volumes exactly in a similar way on the opposite side of the thick volume; and contemplating these books in this po sition, you will form an idea of that arrangement of the strata of the earth by which a mountain may be formed, and behold every grade, from the vertical to the level strata on each side. The flat book will represent the horizontal strata, the five next in succession the inclined strata, and the thick volume in the centre the vertical strata. The covers of these volumes will convey the idea of the faces of the strata, and their backs will represent the ends or escarpments of each. Thus the party will perceive how, step by step, the ascent is, from the plane of the horizontal strata along the planes and escarpments in succession of the inclined strata, up to the head of the vertical strata, or the top of the mountain; and supposing each of these volumes to represent a stratum of the earth, the first being argillaceous, the second calcareous, the third siliceous, the fourth a compound, the fifth metalliferous, the sixth micaceous, and the seventh or vertical stratum granitic, he will also perceive how these several substances rise in succession up to the earth's surface, and offer themselves gratuitously to the use of man in the richness of variety and abundance. Every mountain, it is true, is not thus formed, for some mountains are ascended by a succession of inclined planes on one side, and terminate in vast precipices of escarpments on the opposite side; but these are stratified, and it is only a different disposition of the strata which causes this difference in their form. If, instead of placing the thick volume upright in the centre, the twelve books were laid in one series, viz. the first flat upon the table, the second with its under 3 T |
