the essence, not merely of many pages, but of many volumes. From half a dozen to half a score such tables, hung round a room, would put at once before the eye all the real information which, with much time and toil, would be obtained from a costly geographical library. The sheet is divided longitudinally into thirteen columns, over which, by a judicious alternation of colouring, the eye ranges without any sensation of weariness or indistinctness. They contain 1, the quarter of the globe; 2, the name of the river; 3, the country and province in which it rises; 4, the town, mountain, or other remarkable object at or near its rise; 5, the latitude and longitude of its source; 6, the countries and provinces which it runs through or divides, together with the bearings of its course from one position to another; 7, the cities or towns on or near it; 8, the chief tributary streams in the order in which they fall into the principal stream, whether on the right or left bank, and the length of their course to the junction; 9, this column is headed "navigable," and states much more than it promises, in many instances giving the breadth of the stream, and the different distances to which it may be ascended by different classes of vessels, from the flat-bottomed boat to the man of war, with other collateral information; 10, the length of the river, for which the authority is given, and as there is much discordance on this point, the conflicting statements are inserted; 11, the sea into which it falls, with its local form of gulf, bay, channel, &c.; 12, the towns, &c., at or near its mouth or mouths; and, 13, the latitude and longitude of this termination of its course. The history of the river is thus traced in all its windings, and its accessions, and its connexions with the abodes of commerce and the boundaries of dominion, from the commencement of its course in the tiny spring, to its close in the "deep unfathomable sea," which if it be, indeed," a grave meet for immortal souls," is worthy to receive into its bosom the streams whose unfailing renovation makes them as enduring as the everlasting hills.

By way of specimen we will trace the first river across the chart, through the several divisions which have just been enumerated: for example, the Danube, in Europe:

-Donau

“DANUBE, ancient Ister-Swabia, in Grand Duchy of BadenEchingen 48, 5 N. 8, 10 E.-E, NE, Swabia; NÉ, N, SE, Bavaria and Austria; S, from the town of Vaitz, Low. Hungary; SE b E, Up. Hungary, and E b S, from Servia; SSE, E b N, E b S, N, E, Wallachia and Bessarabia from Bulgaria-Ulm, Ingolstadt, RATISBON, PASSAU, LINTZ, VIENNA, PRESBURG, Vaitz, BUDA, Peterwardein, Belgrade, Widden, Nikopoli, Silistria, Braylov, Galatz, Ismail, Kilia-Iller, Lech 120 miles, Iser 180, Inn 240, Morava 150, Waag 165, Drave 360, with Murr 225, Theisse 495, with Maros 330, Save 330, Morava, in Servia, 210, Alouta, 300, Sereth 300, Pruth 390 -To Ulm for boats; in some parts for large ships, but not by the mouths -1833 miles, Smith; 1800, Edin. Guz.; 1710, Malte-Brun.- -Black Sea by six mouths--Kilia, &c., &c.—-44, 35 to 45, 25 N. 29, 20 to 29, 45 E." In this manner has Mr. Smallfield given a summary of what is most important to be known of the principal rivers in the world. His plan includes about 70, (with nearly 600 tributaries,) of which several are formed by the union of two or more large rivers, as the Mississippi and Missouri in North America, and the Rio de la Plata, Paraguay, and Parana, in South America. With the exception of the Thames, and it would have been inexcusable not to have made that exception, no stream is introduced whose length does not exceed 300 miles. It is to be hoped that he will serve up. the small fry afterwards. Their lesser dimensions will be no objection, provided they have claims on our attention, for there is before us sufficient evidence of his

trustworthiness in matters requiring minute accuracy, and that is a very important quality for such a task.

We cannot help fancying that Mr. Smallfield loves his subject very much; he seems to have plunged into it very heartily, and to be still thoroughly immersed in it: and we love it too; and therefore it is that we wish him sufficient encouragement to complete and even extend his design. We have never felt the difficulty of the honest boatswain, who wondered what could possibly be the use of so much dry land in the world; neither have we any doubt about the use and the beauty of the rivers by which it is variegated. An acquaintance with them well deserves to be erected into a distinct science. We hail Potamology with a cordial greeting; and welcome it to our studies, parlours, schools, reading rooms, lecture rooms, mechanics' institutes and universities. There is no end to the interest which rivers excite. They may be considered physically, geographically, historically, politically, commercially, mathematically, poetically, pictorially, morally, and even religiously, by which we mean devoutly as well as ceremonially. In the world's anatomy they are its veins, as the primitive mountains, those mighty structures of granite, are its bones. They minister to the fertility of the earth, the purity of the air, and the health of mankind. They mark out nature's kingdoms and provinces, and are the physical dividers and subdividers of continents. They welcome the bold discoverer into the heart of the country, to whose coast the sea has borne his adventurous bark. The richest freights have floated on their bosoms, and the bloodiest battles have been fought upon their banks. They move the wheels of cotton mills by their mechanical power, and madden the souls of poets and painters by their picturesque splendour. They make scenery, and are scenery, and land yields no landscape without water. They are the best vehicle for the transit of the goods of the merchant, and for the illustration of the maxims of the moralist. The figure is so familiar, that we scarcely detect a metaphor when the stream of life and the course of time flow on into the ocean of eternity. Superstition has consecrated and adored their waters, and religion made them its emblem of moral purification, and there is the river of life even among the bowers of Paradise.

We hinted at a method of teaching Geography with which Mr. Smallfield's tabular plan harmonizes. We mean the reverse of the common system, which begins at the wrong end, teaching artificial and political distinctions first, and natural ones afterwards; or rather, perhaps, not at all, save as they are incidentally and therefore very imperfectly acquired. Pure Geography (as the French writers call it) should always be taught first, and made the basis of all the other kinds of knowledge which are usually connccted with the term Geography, including the productions of the soil, location of minerals, distribution of animals, demarcation of kingdoms, &c., &c. Having studied the surface of the Globe as nature has shaped, indented, divided, and diversified it, by mountains, rivers, and seas, the mind would come prepared for the other, the less obvious and permanent distributions of its surface, according to which it is mapped out by science, history, and politics. They would be easily superinduced upon the original chart; would be, as it were, only so many different modes of dividing or colouring it; and would be made the more intelligible by their reference to it. A set of Tabular Descriptions, which we hope Mr. Smallfield will go on to produce, would much facilitate this rational mode of teaching Geography; while they would also be exceedingly valuable, and in some measure supply a serious deficiency to those who have been instructed, or are instructing, in the ordinary

way.

ON THE APPLICATION OF UNITARIAN PRINCIPLES TO THE REFORMATION OF CRIMINALS.

WITH the consideration of many of the important moral subjects which excite the benevolent exertion of the wise and good in the present day, Unitarian principles seem to be closely connected. Those opinions which inculcate the belief of the limited duration and reformatory nature of future punishment, must necessarily exert a beneficial influence on the question of prison discipline and penal law; and those persons must surely be the best fitted for the humane management of these momentous and awful subjects who have a firm conviction of the merciful character and dispensations of their Creator, and believe that it is his intention finally to save and to bless every creature which he has thought fit to call into being. They must be enlightened to know that no mind is created in vain, or is incapable of a high degree of improvement, or is destined for other than useful and good purposes by its Maker, before they can be furnished with a spiritual armour to come into a hopeful contact with misery and vice. When they believe this, when they feel a strong moral trust that a soul, with all its noble capacities and powers, its intellect and its passions, is not made to be cast away, however degraded and obscured by the evil direction of its gifts, when they are solemnly impressed with the truth that God is too good to inflict everlasting or infinite sufferings for any only mortal and finite sins, then, and not till then, they have those views of his kind and holy and merciful nature, which render them worthy to be entrusted with the regeneration of their fellow-creatures, or likely to attempt it in the spirit in which alone it can be successful. They will be benevolent in every thing, because they believe their Maker to be benevolent, and they will follow the example of their Saviour in all their treatment of others, because he is the most perfect example of that benevolence. On this ground they will try all human laws and customs by the test of a pure and rational Christianity, and approve or reject them accordingly. They will, in consequence, oppose the punishment of death for offences, because the whole spirit of the Christian Scriptures is opposed to it. The same tribunal will shew them the folly and impolicy as well as wickedness of all severe or cruel methods of attempting the improvement of criminals; it will teach them that the mind is not to be changed by corporeal inflictions, and that there are rights possessed by every living being which a religious person will respect under all circumstances. They will try to gain the gratitude and good will of the miserable, by endeavouring to reach any virtuous or kindly feeling which remains unextinguished, because they understand that it is by good motive and not by mechanical effect, that they can secure any certain improvement. They will be incapable of feeling indignation against offenders, and will be filled with the purest compassion, because religion teaches them that the natural consequences of sin are in themselves severe suffering, and that only the Being who reads the human heart is fully able to measure the degree of guilt in any transgression; whilst they cannot be disheartened in their virtuous efforts, because they look forward in every failure to that great and glorious result of all evil and misery which will eventually make the existence of every human being an evidence of the mercy and kindness of God. Nor is the benevolence of its religious belief the only advantage which the Unitarian creed possesses over others with respect to criminals. Its clearness and simplicity make it peculiarly suited for the improvement of the ignorant and the darkened mind; for it is not by mysterious doctrines or speculative

opinions that the sinner, whose evil habits are strong, can be touched or reclaimed; if opinion at all has any power of reaching such a mind, it must be by instilling the simple principles of the jurisdiction and authority of his Maker, his constant inspection and presence, and such truths as are calculated to make a deep and immediate impression. But is not some preparation necessary to bring the obdurate offender under the influence of benign and salutary impressions? Could we not facilitate this by placing him in circumstances favourable to virtue, to order, and to comfort? Mrs. Fry, in this respect, has shewn her knowledge of the human heart in her attempts at Newgate, and what an Unitarian Christian would have been led to by his religious views, her own good sense dictated to her; it is by the practice, in however small a degree, of kindness and goodness, in witnessing virtuous examples around them, that an idea can be conveyed to the mind of a guilty character of the wisdom and benevolence of the Deity. Their ideas of his attributes are dark and weak, and whatever is remote or theoretical is too refined to influence them. But when they come into immediate contact with a portion of their fellow-creatures whose minds and motives, though greatly superior to their own, they are in some degree capable of understanding, they have a moral standard before them by which to judge of themselves; and if by those persons they are uniformly treated with justice and kindness, they are also to be improved by their grateful feelings; for how few are so hardened as to be totally insensible to benefits humanely conferred!

Now, in this practical and most important change in the habits and feelings of sinners, Unitarianism is an unerring guide; because an Unitarian feels convinced that the great object of the gift of life is virtuous exertion, and the formation of a pure and correct character; for in his view religion is not the understanding of abstruse or confused dogmas, of differing and sometimes contradictory theories, but the perfection of his moral being, the regeneration of his soul, the conflict with sense and temptation, the mastery of his passions, the general improvement, refinement, and sanctification, of his whole character. He knows that the way-faring man, though a fool, cannot err therein; that in making the malicious kind, the cruel tender, the abandoned orderly, he is spreading, in the manner most acceptable to his Lord, the interests of true Christianity; that he is preparing the soil for higher and holier knowledge, and gradually inducing a taste for order and virtue which must precede any capability of true devotional feeling. An Unitarian believes that wherever Christian motives exist and produce Christian virtues, the person who possesses them is a Christian, though he may be mistaken in his speculative belief on many difficult and comparatively unimportant points-points which he considers it of trivial consequence whether they are ever presented to the consideration of any but philosophical or highly cultivated minds.

Now, the Orthodox and Calvinistic creeds are precisely of this abstruse and difficult kind; fitted only to confuse even intelligent and reasoning minds, and often leading them out of their depth into those questions which it has pleased a wise Providence to leave in darkness, and to cover with an impenetrable veil from human curiosity. God has, indeed, revealed himself fully to us in the character of our heavenly Father, in his glorious moral attributes, in the perfection of purity, wisdom, and goodness; these he has mercifully unfolded to the contemplation of the lowest of his rational creatures, but his nature, the mode of his existence, his plans, the wonders of the unseen world, the origin of evil, and many other points, are not revealed truths, nor can any effort of mortal intellect ever attain to them. Supposing for a mo

ment that the Trinity were true, it would still be an unrevealed truth, and, as such, it would be one that has no immediate bearing on moral usefulness or on the actions of human beings. Every thing that our Creator requires of his creatures, as the condition of their happiness or salvation, is explicitly and fully declared. We have line upon line, and precept upon precept. Now the great value of the Unitarian religion is, that it regards this moral code which is given for the daily government of our lives as the most important part of revelation to us, because it is that in which we are called to co-operate with the designs of Providence. The nature of our Saviour, or the nature of the Deity, and such metaphysical questions, we are by no means forbidden to form our conclusions upon, but we are not commanded to learn and comprehend these things: but to love mercy, to do justice, and to walk humbly with our God, are injunctions laid upon all, and which all are called upon to obey. Now, are not these moral obligations peculiarly suited to the poor, the ignorant, or the sinful, who cannot have the restrictions of more abstract and refined considerations to withhold them from wrong? The wicked are generally ignorant. With a child, when we wish to form a religious character, we take his ignorance and childishness into consideration; we begin by endeavouring to form good and useful habits, habits of kindness, of self-denial, of attention to the comfort of others; but we should not expect to succeed if we began by attempting to give him abstract ideas of religion and devotion. No, we are obliged to connect these with his previous associations, to lead him from his love and gratitude to us to the love of the great Giver of all, and even to make many allowances for the confusion and strangeness of his first conceptions of a Supreme Being, and gently and carefully to explain sacred things as he is able to receive them. We open the next world to him in its connexion with this; we unfold to him the probable consequences of a certain course of conduct; we lead him tenderly in the way he should go until he is able to conduct himself, and just such should be our treatment of criminals: they have shewn themselves incapable of self-government; it is then our duty while they are under our care to make the circumstances around them such as shall favour their recovery from sin, and as much as possible deter them from it, without depriving them of individual free-will. If we do the last, in our anxiety to prevent the possibility of crime, we make them into automatons, we render them incapable of acting upon motive, and, in so doing, we destroy their accountableness. Now, this ought to be particularly guarded against, because in destroying practical free-will, we destroy the capability of all improvement; the very thing by which alone any permanent good can be secured; for it is the rectification of the will and the intentions which alone is to be depended on. On this account tread-mills, compulsory labour, and all forced exertion, are to be deprecated, because they are eventually unavailing. The unhappy sufferer must believe that punishment alone is the object in view, without any regard to the interest of society or to his future welfare; but, on the contrary, where these two points are manifestly taken into consideration, equity appears, and the purposes of benevolence are answered. The criminal is instructed, and in time acquiesces in his sentence. But are not all compulsory methods contrary to the example of Christ, and to the spirit of Christianity? Did not he ground all his instructions to sinners on the supposition of an intellectual freedom, a choice between good and evil, a power to obey or disobey? He appeals to their reason, he wishes them to act upon conviction; in every word of his discourses he treats them as rational and accountable beings. By persons of a severe creed this is lost sight of; the criminal is too often regarded as an object deserving only