are believed to be still active volcanoes. In the lower ranges of these vast elevations, Captain Fremont collected volcanic products, as scoriaceous basalt, trachyte, and true obsidian ; and he discovered near Fort Hall an extinct crater, but no traces of still active volcanoes emitting lava and ashes.

Along the southern border of the Alleghanies, also, there are traces of active igneous movement, the strata being perforated by intrusive volcanic rocks; but none have been known since the discovery by Americus and Cabot, and no traditionary records of their existence have been left us by the Indians.

At the same time, the geological formation of these mountains gives undoubted proof of the most overwhelming revolution effected by subterraneous volcanic action, though at a very early period in the history of the now habitable globe.

Some shocks of earthquake, so common and frequent along · the southern and western border of the Gulf of Mexico, in central South America, and in Europe, have occurred in the States, but none have been of a destructive character; indeed they have been considered only sympathetic with those of the Southern Continent.

In concluding this chapter, the author is persuaded that he speaks the sentiments of his readers when he says that we cannot but stand amazed at the magnitude and magnificence of the field which this world we inhabit presents to the investigations of human intellect, and at the sources of human happiness which such researches open up. At the same time, let us reflect, as creatures gifted with reason and intelligence, on the multiplied attestations which all creation affords of an infinitely benignant Almighty Cause.

Every place is pregnant with materials for human delight; both animate and inanimate existence, proclaim omniscience; -all creatures point to a Governor, somewhere presiding, whose order is their rule and power,—their support and life,-and they all call on man, the vicegerent of earth, to take up their song of thanksgiving, and lead the universal choir :—

Praise ye the Lord. Praise ye the Lord from the heavens: praise him in the heights.

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"Praise ye him, all his angels: praise ye him, all his hosts. Praise ye him, sun and moon: praise him, all ye stars of light.

Praise him, ye heavens of heavens, and ye waters that be above the heavens.

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'Let them praise the name of the Lord: for he commanded, and they were created.

'He hath also stablished them for ever and ever: he hath made a decree which shall not pass.

"Praise the Lord from the earth, ye dragons, and all deeps: "Fire, and hail; snow, and vapours; stormy wind fulfilling

his word:

"Mountains, and all hills; fruitful trees, and all cedars: Beasts, and all cattle; creeping things, and flying fowl: Kings of the earth, and all people; princes, and all judges of the earth :

"Both young men, and maidens; old men, and children: "Let them praise the name of the Lord: for his name alone is excellent; his glory is above the earth and heaven.”*

CHAPTER XVI.

MORAL CHARACTER OF AMERICAN PROGRESS.-Benevolent and philanthropic societies. Origin and progress of the temperance movement. Efforts to counteract the consumption of tobacco. Estimate of the quantity consumed. Of its cost and poisonous qualities. Sabbath observance society. Society for abolition of war and promotion of universal peace and brotherhood. Sanitory arrangements. Prison discipline society. Reformatory schools, &c. Prisons. Orphan asylums. Institutions for the blind. Emigrants' Asylum; or, Stranger's home. Sailors' home. Modern reformatory institutions for drunkards, &c. The bible and tract societies. Home and foreign missions. Principles and plans of these institutions. Extraordinary efficiency of their operation.

The progress of this great country has not been exclusively of a material character; nor can its aggregate prosperity be accurately estimated from revenue and population returns, statistics of shipping, of agriculture, of manufactures, or of natural resources.

Benevolent and philanthropic societies have increased,-literature and education, and the means of religious teaching have advanced step by step with the progress made in commerce and in national wealth. Most of those institutions, indeed, by which the civilization of the Old Country is distinguished, exist also in the New, and some of them are even in a more prosperous and healthy condition. It must, however, be conceded, that less attention is paid in the States than in England to science and philosophy, as also to the more costly and delicate labours of art.

Among the benevolent institutions in the United States, the Temperance Society occupies a distinguished place.

The temperance movement, indeed, originated with our transatlantic brethren. They were the first to concentrate public opinion upon the subject, by organizing a society to counteract the influence of intemperance, having, as early as the year 1813, convened a meeting and formed a board, called "The Association of Massachusetts Proper," specifying as its object “the checking of the progress of intemperance.

The results of their first investigations, as ordered by this board, were appalling. The extent, tendencies, and fatal conse

quences of the evil, were found to exceed the most fearful
apprehensions of those whose solicitude on the subject had been
supposed extravagant. Four hundred thousand of the com-
munity were ascertained to be confirmed drunkards, four-fifths
of the crimes existing were attributed to it, two thirds of the
pauperism, and one-third of the mental derangement.

It was also estimated, about the same time, that the annual
cost of intemperance in France was 260,000,000 dollars, in
Great Britain 195,000,000 dollars, in Sweden 65,000,000 dol-
lars, and in the United States 40,000,000 dollars,—and all this
in addition to the cost of prisons, police, asylums, and work-
houses, which are rendered necessary by intoxicating drinks.

''

The following is a calculation made in relation to America alone, about the same time, or soon after the society was formed, by a gentleman deeply interested in the cause of temperance:'It appears that, independently of items which cannot be estimated, our country pays or loses at the rate of one hundred and twenty millions of dollars per annum by intemperance.* This sum is five times as large as the revenue of the United States' Government;-it would pay off our national debt in six months;—it would build twelve such canals as the Grand Erie and Hudson Canal every year;-it would support a navy four times as large as that of Great Britain;-it is sixty times as much as the aggregate income of all the principal religious and charitable societies in Europe and America;-it would supply every family on the earth with a bible, in eight months;-it would support a missionary or teacher among every two thousand souls on our globe! How prosperous might this country be,what blessings might it confer upon the world, if it were only relieved from the curse of intemperance!"

By the circulation of temperance tracts,-by the addresses of travelling agents supported by the society for the purpose,-by the formation and zealous action of auxiliary associations, and by the acquisition of individual assistance for the performance of a variety of duties tending to promote the great object, public attention was attracted towards the society, and the example was quickly followed by Great Britain and Ireland.

The zeal manifested in this cause was crowned with an extent

This appalling fact was substantiated by Judge Cranch, of Washington, and by Senator Butler, of Albany, in 1853, who affirmed that intemperance then cost the United States more than one hundred millions of dollars per annum.

and efficiency of success that excited astonishment and admiration. A fund of twenty thousand dollars was procured in one district towards the support of some gentlemen of distinguished ability and piety, who volunteered their services to disseminate throughout the country such principles and information as would best promote the benevolent design in view.

In a very short time after their establishment, these societies so much increased in number and efficiency, in some parts of the Union, that in one district alone fifteen hundred vendors of ardent spirits gave up the trade; and they now number half-a-million of members.

A few years since it was said by the editor of an American paper, "Five thousand drunkards have been reformed ;—a very large number in the army and navy, as well as the labouring man, refuse longer to use ardent spirits. A million of free men and christian men have decreed the traffic in ardent spirits a moral wrong; two thousand distilleries have been discontinued, and all Christendom is turning from it as from a pestilence."

It is gratifying further to observe in connection with the objects of this society, that efforts are now being made for the establishment of curative hospitals for drunkards. On this subject the eminent Dr. Benjamin Rush observes, "To the account of physical remedies I shall add the establishment of a hospital in every city and town of the United States for the exclusive reception of hard drinkers; they are as much the objects of public humanity as mad people."*

The Americans exceed the British in the number of their temperance ships. In short, it may be said that in no instance has private philanthropy and patriotism ever been more displayed than in that of the temperance movement in the United States.

Impressed also with the astounding fact that the total produce of tobacco grown on the face of the globe has been calculated+ to amount annually to the enormous quantity of two millions of tons, which is as much as all the wheat consumed in England; that the greatest producers of this are Spain and America, and that the labour for its cultivation and manufac

* It is estimated that during the year 1854, the sum expended in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, in cigars and tobacco, exceeded £8,000,000 sterling. This enormous sum exceeds the gross amount levied for the poor rates of the entire nation.

+ By Mr. Crawford.

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