such individuals, and for the gradual improvement of their condition, preparatory to their final admission to the rights and privileges of British subjects, as to your honourable House shall seem meet.

And your Petitioners, &c.

On the Study of Zoography.

ONE might reasonably expect to find Nature the first object of human attention: as she strikes our attention most, her general complexion and works are certainly entitled to a prior regard. The moment we open our eyes on life, all existence teems around us with phenomena which instigate reflection, and interest the heart. Whatever we see, or hear, or taste, or touch, or smell, is equally big with novelty and mystery. And in what science are not these the two master springs which set the mechanism of thought in motion? But man has only his birth from nature; his habits are wholly adventitious. She gives him powers more than adequate to his wants, but leaves him entirely for the direction of them in the arms of Art. And who knows not, that the influence of the nurse makes a much greater figure in his history than that of the mother? for in the whole sphere of his present temporary being, he acts no part, assumes no character, and discovers but few dispositions, which are not mostly artificial.

Thus all our sentiments and powers of thinking are early pre-occupied by other objects, of inferior consequence indeed to mental improvement, but more intimately connected with the conveniences of social life. And hence it is, that, notwithstanding our numerous obligations to animated nature, we still know so little about her. The truth is, whenever our appetites are supplied, our minds incline to rest. But in ruder ages and nations, while the means of luxury and indolence are not yet accumulated, every man is the literal and manual forager for his own family. In such a situation, the united exertions both of body and mind are indispensable: this extends at once the sphere of his activity, knowledge, and pleasure: he is then under a necessity of being well informed what game are best adapted for food and clothing, where they generally frequent, and how most expeditiously caught.

The various arts with which a polished state of society is connected, render this science less essential to life, but do

not destroy its utility. The different dispositions of inferior animals, for example, afford the most important lesson of instruction to every thinking mind. There is hardly a creature in the whole circle of subordinate existence, from whom some hint of consequence may not be drawn. They are held forth by Providence, as objects on which to exercise our speculative powers, and by which to improve our moral ones. Many of them rival man in most of those virtues that render his nature so vastly superior to theirs. The generous magnanimity of the lion; the calm majestic dignity of the elephant; the elegance, vivacity, and gentleness, of the horse; the patience and perseverance of the camel; the cleanliness and temperance of the ass; the docility and attachment of the dog; the harmless ingenuity of some birds, and the fidelity of others; have but few parallels in the rational creation.

Nothing exhibits the wise and wonderful economy of nature, in all her various departments, to such advantage, as an intimate acquaintance with this great subject. Her inhabitants are as numerous in their tribes as they are various in description: the general and universal principle of animation pervades her inmost recesses, as well as her utmost boundaries; her granaries are, notwithstanding, adequate to the uniform and repeated demands of her children, and, with such amazing precaution are they severally formed, that the discriminating appetites of every individual continue as distinct as their species. Millions are known to feed on millions; and varieties of plants are as carefully avoided by some classes, as eagerly sought after by others; and it deserves particular attention, that were not many vegetables thus poisonous to as many animals, such as eat no other food might, on that account, be stinted in their means of subsistence.

The more we know of Zoography, the more sensibly must we be struck with the kindness of Providence, in preventing our wants and consulting our convenience. Animals are not only sharers with us in the common bounties of nature, but much of our present comfort depends on their assistance, at the same time that most of our wants are supplied at their expense; in truth, they are all either directly or indirectly subservient to our use. It is in nature, as in civil society, every order of beings is destined to promote, however insensibly, the welfare of another; and, from the tendency of particular parts to one general end, the welfare of the whole is established. Who can tell of VOL. VII.—No. 14.

T.

of the manumission of slaves, some of them on an extensive scale, and with acknowledged advantage to their former owners, is certain; nor is it improbable that measures might be adopted, which might render such result general, within a much shorter time than that before mentioned. To contribute, as far as its efforts can be rendered available, towards the immediate mitigation of the evils attendant on slavery, and to obtain its entire abolition, as soon as it can be accomplished by all reasonable, proper, and effectual means, is the express object of this Society; and its resolution is formed, not to desist till such object be accomplished.

Resolved, That this Society will be happy to co-operate with the Societies now formed in London, Paris, and the United States of America, or that may be formed elsewhere, for promoting the objects which this Society has in view; and to correspond with them on all subjects connected therewith.

WILLIAM ROSCOE, President.
ISAAC HODGSON, Secretary.

We add the following Petition, the production, if we are not misinformed, of the same classical writer :—

To the Honourable the Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in Parliament assembled: The humble Petition of the undersigned Gentlemen, Clergy, Bankers, Merchants, and other Inhabitants of the Town of Liverpool,-sheweth:

THAT your Petitioners, being thoroughly convinced of the injustice, inhumanity, and inexpediency of Slavery, have anxiously hoped and expected, that in consequence of the entire prohibition of the Slave Trade by this country, in the year one thousand eight hundred and seven, the British and Colonial Legislatures would have adopted such measures as would have essentially improved the condition of the individuals already held in slavery in the British Colonies and dependencies; and, by means of education, religious and moral instruction, domestic regulations, and equitable laws, would gradually have prepared them for the enjoyment of those personal and civil rights, of which they have been so unjustly deprived:

That it appears to your Petitioners, from the most authentic information that can be obtained on the subject, both at home and abroad, that the objects on whose behalf

your Petitioners now solicit the aid of your honourable House, are endowed with those faculties and abilities which entitle them to the privileges, and enable them to participate in the relations, of human beings; that they act upon the same motives, and are guided by the same views of their own interest and happiness, as other men, and consequently are susceptible of moral improvement, and may, by humane and judicious measures, be gradually raised to the situation of free labourers, with safety to the community, and advantage to the persons by whom they are employed:

That from the length of time that has elapsed since the abolition of the trade in slaves, and the consequent nonimportation of additional numbers into the British Colonies, your Petitioners have great reason to believe that the persons now held in slavery there, are in a situation from which they may be raised to the enjoyment of their natural and civil rights at a much earlier period than they could have been, had there been continued importations of Africans, recently torn from their native land and connexions, and totally unacquainted with the language and usages of the country to which they are brought:

That your Petitioners understand it to be an established maxim of the British constitution, that no person residing within the limits of the British dominions can, of right, be subjected to personal slavery, or held by another in the condition of a slave:

That your Petitioners cannot, therefore, but observe, with the deepest sorrow and regret, that nearly a million of individuals are held in the most direct and absolute slavery by British subjects, within the Colonies that form an integral part of the British dominions:

That your Petitioners are earnestly desirous that this inconsistency between the spirit and the practice of the British constitution, which is a reproach to the country, and prevents its exerting itself with effect in inducing other nations to relinquish the system of slavery, and the traffic in slaves, should be removed, as speedily as it can be accomplished, by reasonable, prudent, and effectual

means:

Your Petitioners, therefore, humbly entreat that your honourable House will institute an inquiry into the present state and condition of the individuals now held in slavery in the Colonies of Great Britain, and will, without delay, adopt such humane and efficient measures, for the relief of

what consequence we are to those immediately beneath us? we are certain that the earth would be extremely uncomfortable and solitary, did we possess it alone: even the most loathsome reptiles, as well as the most noxious among superior animals, may yet rid us of evils, which perhaps admit of no other remedy; bodies, for instance, that might defile the hemisphere with stench and putrefaction, are preyed on by some others, which seem intended solely for the destruction of that vermin, which, but for them, would render all the efforts of human industry abortive; and those prolific tribes of birds, beasts, and fishes, whose astonishing fecundity threatens an invasion of earth, air, and sea, furnish abundant provision for thousands.

Nor are we destitute of means for asserting our superiority, and availing ourselves of the plenty which heaven spreads before us: reason gives us many advantages, and a thousand passions prompt us to extend them; in truth, our success in taking and taming all sorts of animals, does equal credit to human ingenuity, and the influence of culture on the most perverse natures. The depths of the sea, and the height of the clouds, prevent not our catching their respective inhabitants: the strongest, as well as the weakest, sometimes fall into our toils; we run not so fast as the swiftest, but are cunning and cruel enough to train and let loose one against another; and, whatever should be our share in the success, we generally monopolize it. The monsters of the desart and the deep keep us singly at an awful and insurmountable distance; but the powerful combinations we form, put us in possession of arts and arms sufficient to inveigle the wildest, soften the fellest, and subdue the most formidable of the brute creation.

The strange animosities, attachments, alliances, habits, and propensities, which govern and agitate such vast multitudes of different hostile and congenial natures, must be necessarily interesting to the human heart. Here insult and depredation are every where reciprocal, and carried on through the various ranks of beings, in all appearance, by the same mechanical laws which fix the system of the universe, and regulate the elements of things; and a spectacle, in which sensibility undergoes so many different modifications, is not to be contemplated with indifference. It seems as if intended as a mirror, in which we may recognize most of our own feelings, operating under the unbridled impulse of the blindest instinct, and learn to respect the utility and importance of those powers, by