of mankind, when man was scarcely distinguished, but by name, from his fellow-tenants of the earth; -when his language was little more than inarticulate cries, the summit of his science to construct the cabin that should be a little shelter from the storm, and to procure a bare subsistence, the summit of his bliss? Was it when these wretched individuals formed savage hordes, their abode unfixed, their occupation war or hunting, their religion the worship of stars or clouds, no law but force, and no restraint on their passions but the physical impossibility of their gratification'? Was it in the next stage of society, when these hordes were amalgamated under a barbarous despotism, in which boundless power was wielded by individual caprice for purposes of wanton cruelty, and men became like beasts, unreasoning as the most senseless, oppressed as the most enduring, or bloody as the most savage? Was it when civilization was confined to a few small states in Greece, and even there threefourths were slaves, holding life at the capricious will of their masters, those proud masters themselves the slaves of ignorance, and the dupes of priestcraft-fluctuating between external war and internal commotion, anarchy and tyranny? Was it even in the best days of Rome, of Rome polluted by the abomination of domestic slavery, and waging eternal war with the world, offering only the alternative of subjection or extermination;

rude in arts, with no philosophy, and a religion whose gods and ceremonies make one blush or shudder? Was it in subsequent times of confusion, persecution, and distraction; or in yet later ages, when kings tyrannized over people, and priests over kings; when every petty chieftain had a property of men; when perversions of justice, and corruptions of Christianity, passed unreproved and unnoticed? To what point will ye turn back the wheels of time and bid them stop as at a season of higher improvement than the present? Or what branch of knowledge can be selected, connected with the happiness of mankind, which has experienced a retrograde motion? Did the ancients ever rival, or approximate to the moderns in the useful arts? Did they cultivate the ground with greater skill, or frame more commodious dwellings, or temper the ore with nicer art, or did their looms produce robes more gorgeous, or clothing more commodious than ours? Or are their mariners and coasting-boats to be compared with the vessels and skill of those by whom the boundless ocean has been traversed, and new worlds discovered? From the arts turn to the sciences. Contrast their egregious errors, and cloudy theories, with the accumulated facts, and solid principles, and stupendous discoveries, of later ages. Are political institutions selected? In these perhaps they most excelled-but with all the boasted freedom of the

noblest of them, they still consulted the protection of the few, the oppression of the many. Slaves, the bulk of the inhabitants, were beneath the laws. Their best governments ought to be compared with the best modern governments: not with Spain (") or Turkey, but with England and America; but with regard to the mass of the people, there is probably no government in Europe under which their condition is not far better than under the most celebrated governments of antiquity. In religious knowledge and moral theory they are infinitely distanced. A list of vices exploded now, but fearlessly practised then, might be framed, which would strike with horror. All sound philosophy of man, his nature, duties, and capabilities, is of modern growth. The world is wiser-and with wisdom, virtue and happiness have a close alliance. Our improvements in the arts are felt every day, by every labourer in his cot. The better administration of justice diffuses peace and security over nations. A wider intercourse promotes useful knowledge and benevolent plans. Our benevolent institutions are of modern origin and rapid progression. Information is diffused to an unexampled extent. Domestic slavery has a very limited existence, and foreign slavery has received a death-blow. The grossness of ancient superstition has retired to the abodes of savages, nor even there maintains its ground. The domestic

affections are called forth, and a refined enjoyment scattered over countries, of which they had not even that remote conception which we form of the higher felicity of futurity. (")

I know it is objected that this deduction is too confined, and applies only to a small part of the globe; that the ruins of Athens are no monuments of the progress of man, nor the deserted towers of Babylon temples of his perfectibility. But has the proportion of uncivilized nations ever been less than it is now, or the prospect of their emerging from barbarism ever greater? Surely not. Nor let us be told that empire has fluctuated, as if that had much influence on the question. The conquerors have oft become the vanquished. But they were slaves when their lords led them forth to slaughter; and probably not more virtuous or happy than when in their turn they were subdued by others. That there are continual fluctuations; that Egypt has retrograded, and China seems stationary; that the sail of commerce veers from coast to coast, and the sceptre of dominion changes hands; is all very consistent with a gradual advance in the whole species: these are but the bubblings and tossings of the surface of the ocean, while a strong under-current bears resistlessly along in its allotted course. The degradation of one nation may be subservient to the elevation of the world. Rome was

humbled in being conquered by barbarians. But look at what those barbarians have become, there is more than ample compensation. Beneath that mass of barbarism the fire of intellect lay buried, but not extinguished: it was but a pile of fuel for its gathering strength: at the revival of letters, in the Reformation, that fire again towered up in brilliance; tyranny shall perish in its blaze, and nations revel in the splendour of its illumina¬ tion. (*)

It is obvious, upon the whole, that a mighty and happy change has taken place: it has been not sudden, but progressive and accelerated. Why should not the future correspond with the past? Why should not the sun of improvement rise to-morrow as it rose to-day? Whatever be the obstacles that obstruct the progress of man, they have already operated in different countries and ages; the world has advanced in spite of them; and why should we argue from their past feebleness to their future omnipotence? New ones, more powerful, must arise, or the auspicious progress which they could not prevent, must continue. Or have we now reached an impassable boundary? Are we now, for the first time, become stationary? Now when every day teems with some scientific discovery, or useful invention-with displays of genius for the enlightened, and facilities of instruction for the ignorant; or with new efforts of benevolence in behalf of the poor, the prisoner,