cause the death of the king and subsequent changes in the government have not, as we conceive, in any wise impaired the force of our arguments in support of the moral and intellectual character of negroes.

The anonymous and indirect reports, which are now current with regard to the situation of affairs in Hayti, accord so little with what we know to have been the fact a year or two since, that we think they ought to be received with caution, if not with suspicion. The dissolution of the monarchy, in consequence of the sickness, confinement, and death of the king, is no proof of the cruelty of his reign; because, as we have seen, his authority grew entirely out of his personal character and was maintained solely by his personal exertions; and when his mind and body were weakened by disease it is not wonderful that his enemies in the south improved such a favourable opportunity for tampering with his troops and seducing them from their allegiance.

Without making any pretensions to political sagacity, we are fully persuaded that the royalists will never peaceably continue under the rule of their new masters. The total dif ference in their past modes of life, of education, and of gov ernment, is a powerful obstacle to the consolidation of the blacks and mulattoes under a republican chief; but a more insurmountable impediment is the hatred which the two casts have generally entertained for each other since the very beginning of their struggle for independence.

We believe the blacks will have little reason to exult in their defection from the king, if they do not already lament it. The government of Pétion and of Boyer, as well as that of Henry, was always in its essence arbitrary. Pétion, who was partly educated in France, affected to imitate the revolutionary government of that country; but the president of the revolted colony, like the first consul of the metropolis, was possessed of absolute power. And it is a matter of little moment to the subject whether the government, he lives under, is monarchical, that is, consisting of a single individual at the head of the state and armies, or aristocratical, that is, consisting of a single individual aided and controled by a council of his chief officers: the government is, in both cases, a pure military despotism.

How far the laws and institutions of king Henry will be suffered to remain at Hayti, it does not yet appear; but if

the republican government should be permanently established throughout the island, we fear it will be the means of checking the internal improvement of the country for the manners of the republicans have always been more lax than those of the royalists; they have been more insubordinate; they have had less experience of the salutary effect of sage and efficient laws; and above all they have appeared less anxious to diffuse the blessing of education by the liberal en dowment of schools, colleges, and other seminaries of instruction. Whatever may be the fate of the island, it must continue to be an object of increasing interest to the citizens of the United States.

Webster.

ART. VII.-Geological Essays; or an Inquiry into some of the Geological Phenomena to be found in various parts of America, and elsewhere. By Horace H. Hayden, Esquire. Baltimore, J. Robinson, 8vo. pp. 412. 1820.

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In the department of natural history, and particularly in the interesting branches of geology and mineralogy, the researches of Americans, if we do not deceive ourselves, have been as profound, and their progress as honourable to the skill and diligence with which these researches have been made, as those of the students of any other country. The numerous and splendid private cabinets, which are to be found in almost every state in the union, displaying not less taste than labour in the selection and arrangement, and the inti mate acquaintance of their respective owners with the characters of the various specimens, will sufficiently attest the truth of our assertion. But, until within a few years past, each individual seemed content with the mere possession of this knowledge, without the desire of imparting it to others, or the ambition to be known to the world, as its possessor. The successful labours of Professors Cleaveland and Silliman, of Dr. Bruce, and a few others, have eminently tended, not only to diffuse a spirit of inquiry through our country, and to awaken a fondness for scientific research, but above all to remove that timidity, which has been the chief obstacle to the publication of works of science on the part of our countrymen. The adoption of Professor Cleaveland's elementary treatise, by most of the mineralogical schools of

Germany, where the votaries of natural science have been always numerous and ardent, has been not more honourable to the author, than it will prove, we trust, advantageous to his countrymen. It is at once the noblest reward that he could have received, and the strongest incitement which could have been offered to them. They need no longer withhold from the public the results of their researches, under the fear that they can disclose nothing new. The study of nature can never be exhausted: the various aspects, under which it presents itself, in various countries, and at various times, must always offer to the accurate observer, at every new examination, some fact, some phenomenon, not before known; and this must always give to the naturalists of this new world a claim to the respect of those of the old. We are anxious to enforce this truth upon our countrymen, and we repeat, that they have a right to claim a higher rank among the philosophers of the earth, than they have been, hitherto, content to hold.

It has been very justly observed by Cuvier, that the ancient history of the globe is one of the most curious subjects that can engage the attention of enlightened men. But it may be doubted, whether, were it even possible to rend the veil which conceals from our view the mechanism of the universe,' the human race would gain any thing by the discovery, more than the mere gratification of curiosity. We may admire the genius and the boldness of those who attempt to scan the mysterious operations of Supreme Intelligence, and to explain any phenomenon of nature, by the rules of human philosophy; but we shall at last be compelled to acknowledge, that the most ingenious theory of creation is but a theory, and liable to be contradicted by facts as powerful as any which are urged in its support. Nor is it necessary to our happiness, to know how the earth we inhabit was formed: whether created as we see it, or changed by subsequent revolutions, or whether these revolutions were produced by intestine fires, or external floods. It is enough for us, to endeavour to become acquainted with the materials that compose it, their relative positions, and the laws by which they are respectively governed. From the prosecution of this study, we not only derive amusement and delight, but acquire a knowledge that may be rendered subservient to the purposes of life. It is an error to suppose, that a knowledge of the

antediluvian earth, is necessary to our understanding the relations of its present constituent parts. The first, reason as we may, is founded on, and supported throughout by conjecture. The last we acquire by actual experiment and repeated observation. We become acquainted, in fact, with the various properties of minerals, and their relative positions in the earth, before we attempt to speculate upon the priority or posteriority of their formation; and thus we gain all the practical advantages to be expected from geological science, without concerning ourselves about the fancied connexion between it and the cosmogony of visionary theorists.

The author of the work before us, seems to have been fully aware of these truths; and with the exception of a slight hint at the inadmissibility of either of the two great theories, he leaves the original structure of the globe to bolder inquirers. In tracing up in their due order,' says our author, all the different formations, and contemplating the varied features that are presented to view, we cannot hesitate long in saying, that great and important changes have been wrought, in and upon its surface, long since the completion of this globe; consequently they are unconnected, and can have no relation with its original formation.' To account for some of these changes, is the limited object of Mr. Hayden's present inquiry. Those which have chiefly occupied his attention, are, 1st, the great alluvial district which skirts the Atlan tic ocean from the eastern extremity of Maine, to the southern shore of the bay of Mexico; 2d, the formation of Deltas, and 3d, the degradation, or diminution in the height and bulk of mountains, by the disintegration or decomposition of rocks.

With regard to the first, no naturalist can travel over the North American continent, and fail to observe this striking. and peculiar feature in its geology. It has consequently been the subject of much discussion, and of many contradictory opinions; but nothing more than confined and partial accounts of some of its most extraordinary appearances, have ever before been attempted. The most generally received opinion with respect to this alluvial district is, that it has been formed by the retrocession of the sea; many geologists, however, have maintained, that it has been gradually produced by alluvious depositions at the mouths of the great rivers which empty themselves into the sea. Mr. Hayden con

tends, that neither of these causes is adequate to the production of such an effect, or to account for various appearances, which an examination of the district presents. Rejecting both opinions, therefore, and confining himself to a close investigation of facts, he supposes that the strongest évidence is afforded, of a general current having prevailed over the whole of this continent,' and 'that it flowed from the north-east to the south-west. To the operations of this current is ascribed the formation of the alluvial district. We shall endeavour, in the first place, to lay before our readers some of the principal arguments of our author in support of these two propositions, and, in the next place, show his view of the probable causes of the current.

1. Deposites of fossil wood, and animal remains, are found at and below low water, throughout the whole of this region, which it is evident was once occupied by the sea, because it is formed upon a sea bottom, or mud, containing marine shells; and because the remains of sharks and whales are found mixed with those of land animals, not in a petrified state, as in secondary formations, but as in alluvious 'eposites.

2. Immense quantities of rolled pebbles of primitive formation are found in the same region, in situations where no other primitive formations exist. Their being found south of the primitive district is a proof, that the current must have flowed from the north.

S. The alluvial region increases in breadth, in the same proportion as the country, over which it is supposed to have flowed, increases in breadth.

4. The high northern regions are, for the most part, destitute of soil, presenting little else but naked, barren rocks. That these rocks were once covered by soil and vegetation, is inferred from the remains of plants and animals, peculiar to the region, being found among the deposites to the south.

5 Rocks of enormous size are found deposited in this alluvial region, at a considerable distance south of the primitive formations. Rocks of the same kind are found en place in abundance, to the north; whereas none of the kind are found south, nearer than beyond the sea.

6. And lastly. The bottom of the ocean, in general, at the depth of seventy fathoms, is found to consist of little more than pure mud: the alluvial region, and the sea-shore are of New Series, No. 5.

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