suades us that death draws but a thin veil of separation between us and those whom we have loved from early life ; that they are still with us and around us, sympathizing with our happiness, and cheering our adversity; that we do not 'inhabit this cold world alone.'

It seems accordant also with the dictates of the philosophy of mind, to any one who observes how much of the attention of middle and advanced life is devoted to the rising generation. We live as much or more for our children, than for ourselves; and take as much pleasure in teaching them important truths, as we did in learning them ourselves. Now the spirits of the departed, supposing them still to know and observe the affairs of this world, must stand, as it were, in loco parentis to those of their friends who remain in it, and must be sensible of a high degree of gratification on observing the advances of their former associates in wisdom and virtue. Nor is it to be supposed, that misfortunes, which disturb the serenity of mortals, can be sources of trouble to spiritual observers. The sum of the good is so much beyond that of the evil of life, that to an observer who may be supposed to take a wide view, these misfortunes must be often as unimportant as those which affect the childish mind appear to us; 'the tear forgot as soon as shed.' To those however, whose pursuits and associates have been low and sensual, as little pleasure can be derived from the consideration of the employment of their former companions, as from the retrospect of their own; to throw light upon the path of evil, serves only to discover its foulness.

But, whatever may be the mode of our existence hereafter, it is clear that it implies consciousness of our identity, which as necessarily implies the same general character of mind. It is obvious, therefore, that whatever vague notions we may get up about reward and punishment, these can be no other than the consequents of our own good or evil dispositions, exalted indeed in degree and intensity, in proportion to the expansion of our views and the extension of our experience. Many years since we happened to visit an exhibition of curious automata. Among others was the figure of a conjurer, who returned answers to any of a series of questions, which might be addressed to him. Of these, curiosity led us to offer the following; 'Are there any women in heaven?' The reply was, There would be no heaven without them.' This quaint

evasion excited a smile at the time; but a use, if we may employ this antiquated phrase, may be drawn from so trivial an observation. It is this; that many who think they are meriting some undefined reward in a future state by their conduct in this, will do well to consider, whether they are cultivating those affections and dispositions, which produce true happiness here, since nothing is more susceptible of demonstration, than that there can be no heaven without them.

ART. X.-Mr. TUCKERMAN's Eighth Semi-Annual Report of his Service as a Minister at Large in Boston. Printed for the American Unitarian Association. Boston.

Gray & Bowen. 1831. 12mo. pp. 48.

DR. TUCKERMAN's reports to the American Unitarian Association have, most of them, been valuable and interesting documents. They have contained many important facts, strongly stated; and they have served the very useful purpose of calling attention to those facts on the part of many who would, otherwise, have been either ignorant or regardless of them. The subject treated in these reports is of such vast interest and extent, that it may well excite the attention of every reflecting mind; and it is not wonderful that it should have caused the most vivid enthusiasm in those who, like Dr. Tuckerman, have devoted themselves to the consideration of it. The causes of pauperism and crime are so mingled and combined with the vices and imperfections of men, and with the operation of God's providence, that it may be impossible to enumerate them with distinctness, as it certainly is to apply an adequate remedy. The words pauperism and crime however are so constantly placed by the side of each other by writers on those subjects, that the public is in great danger of becoming impressed with the idea that there is a necessary connexion between them, and that they are not only reciprocally cause and effect, but that they are almost exclusively so, and that by preventing one, the other may be also in a great measure removed. It would be at least as true, and, we are even inclined to believe, much nearer the truth, to say, that there is a stronger and more direct connexion between

vice and wealth, than between crime and poverty. If the laws of society were directed with as much severity against those violations of right that are injurious to ourselves, as against those which affect our neighbour, there can be little doubt that their operation would be as severely felt by the one class as the other. But it is not so easy to prove when a man is gluttonous and a wine-bibber,' as it is to show when he becomes a thief; and as it is thought expedient to leave the punishment of merely personal vices to their natural or providential consequences, the temptations and sins of one class are hidden in domestic privacy, while the trials and errors of the other are brought before the world in the records of the police, in the threats of the law, and the sentences of its courts. He would show himself to be very superficially acquainted with human nature, who should think that men's worst vices arise from poverty, or that those upon whom the laws inflict punishment are always the worst members of society. If we observe the bad passions and corrupt propensities indulged, the falsehood, malignity, revenge, and treachery, which are to be found in all classes, we shall have some reason to doubt whether the temptations of poverty are, after all, the severest to which we may be exposed. We shall be inclined to believe, that he who is obliged to labor for his daily bread is both happier and safer than he who is lounging in the unoccupied security of a comfortable competence.

Neither is it true that vice naturally leads to poverty. Some vices have doubtless that tendency; but there are others which are very often found to thrive in worldly prosperity. We have all seen the miser hoarding his wealth with the most hard-hearted penuriousness; the fraudulent bankrupt selfishly using the property of those whom he may have ruined; and others who accumulate possessions by their skill in deceiving the ignorant and unwary. Poverty and riches are not of so much consequence in the divine estimate, it has been truly said, as to be always, or most commonly attendant upon vice and virtue respectively; and we are quite sure that of the excellent persons we have known, at least as many have been in the humble sphere of poverty, as have been raised above the fear of want. The temptations to crime. then are not necessarily increased by poverty; and the difficulties to be encountered in our attempts to prevent it can

not be fairly met, till we have given up the idea of any peculiar or necessary connexion between pauperism and crime. Poverty is as often the consequence of inefficiency or thriftlessness of character, as of vice; but crime, as we conceive, is always produced by ill-controlled passions or desires. Very different means, therefore, must be resorted to, to prevent the evils of poverty and criminality. For the one purpose a new stimulus derived from an increase of knowledge, or from accidental circumstances, may often be sufficient; for the other, the whole force of moral influence from precept and example, from fear of punishment and hope of reward, will not be more than enough. The prevention of crime then and the prevention of pauperism are to be treated as two distinct subjects. We ought carefully to avoid the unhappy inaccuracy of ideas that often confounds the causes and cures of both.

As the peace and security of society are the essential objects of all government, a large apparatus has, in all civilized countries, been prepared for their preservation; and by nothing is the progress of society more decidedly marked, than by the means used in the common course of the police. Wherever it has been tried, the effect of universal instruction has been found far superior to that of force, and it is to that we must now look as the principal source of the security we may hope to enjoy in our own community. We have been accustomed to believe that the means of religious and intellectual instruction among us are uncommonly large; and we are pleased to find, from the statements contained in Dr. Tuckerman's reports, that we have not been mistaken. The means of, at least, a common-school education, the attainment of those rudiments of knowledge which enable the individual to advance farther according to his opportunities and inclinations, are within the reach of every one; and the number of those who, either through ignorance of these advantages, or through wilful perverseness, neglect them, is remarkably small. Dr. Tuckerman says that, including truants, the number of children, between five and fourteen years of age, who go to no school, is little short of four hundred.' Now considering that, in all probability, the greater part of this number are occasional truants, and that there are more than 12,000 children regularly enjoying the advantages of elementary education in the city, we cannot but congratulate ourselves upon the extent

to which this important agent of our police is exerting its power. No city in the world has done more; and while we respect the zeal, in this noble cause, which thinks nothing done while aught remains to do, we may be allowed to feel and to express an honest pride in the honorable distinction our native city has attained. In this particular we really are unable to perceive that the city, in its municipal capacity, has fallen short of its duty. What can be done more or better than to offer to all parents the means of instructing their children? Can they be compelled to avail themselves of the offer? Can they be obliged to forego the exercise of that discretionary authority for which God has made them responsible to him? We are strongly inclined to the opinion that no other kind of authority could be advantageously substituted for it; and we regretted the suggestion, made by Dr. Tuckerman, that an officer should be appointed by the city, with power to send all truant and idle children to some school, and to see that they were regular in their attendance. We fear that the existence of any such authority would cause a spirit of resistance, on all accounts to be lamented; and if it should not produce that effect, it might create a feeling of security that their children would be taken care of, which would remove one of the most powerful holds that society can have upon the parents. The desire to secure some advantages for their children is one of the strongest and most divine influences in the hearts of the virtuous poor; and it is one of the last which gives way in the breast of the most profligate. Many an abandoned wretch has been absolutely reclaimed by the horror he has felt at the idea of his child becoming such a one as himself. And these are feelings which ought not to be interfered with. Every thing should be done to extend the means of universal education, and every inducement should be offered to the parent to avail himself of the means within his reach; but no authority should be allowed to take the place of his; and no care, however kind, should relieve him from his just responsibility.

What then is to be done, it may be asked, with those unfortunate beings, whose education and circumstances are training them up in a way which cannot be mistaken, who are in the broad road to vice and misery here, if not to destruction hereafter? They must be left, under the care of God's providence, to the benevolent exertions of individuals; to the