MORAL STATE OF CIVILIZED NATIONS. 



149 



illustrate some of the prominent features in the 

 moral character of the savage and uncivilized 

 tribes of the human race. The examples I have 

 selected have not been taken from the records of 

 missionaries, or of professed religionists, who 

 might be suspected by some to give an exagge 

 rated description of the depravity of the Pagan 

 world but from the unvarnished statements of 

 respectable voyagers and travellers, who could 

 nave no motives for misrepresenting the facts 

 which they have recorded. These illustrations 

 might have been extended to a much greater 

 iength, had it been consistent with the limited 

 nature of the present work. Instead of occupying 

 only forty or fifty pages, they might have been ex 

 tended so as to have filled as many volumes ; for 

 every book of travels, as well as every historical 

 document, contains a record of the operations of 

 malignity, and of the diversified modes in which 

 human depravity is displayed. The dispositions 

 which I have illustrated, it will be readily ad 

 mitted, are all of a malignant character, directly 

 repugnant to that benevolent principle which 

 forms the basis of the moral laws of the universe. 

 And when we consider, that such malevolent dis 

 positions are displayed by a mass of human be 

 ings, amounting to more than three fourths of me 

 population of the globe, and that true happiness 

 cannot be experienced where malignant passions 

 reign uncontrolled, a benevolent mind cannot re 

 frain from indulging a thousand melancholy re 

 flections, when it casts its eye over the desola 

 tions of the moral world, and from forming an 

 anxious wish, that the period may soon arrive, 

 when the darkness which covers the nations shall 

 oe dispelled, and when benevolence and peace 

 shall reign triumphant over all the earth. 



I shall now endeavour to present a few facts 

 and sketches which may have a tendency to il 

 lustrate the present state, and the moral charac- 

 ,er and aspect of the civilized world. 



SECTION III. 



MORAL STATE OF CIVILIZED NATIONS. 



The present population of the globe may be 

 estimated at about 800 millions. Of these, if we 

 except the empires of China and Hindostan, we 

 cannot reckon above 180 millions as existing in 

 a state of enlightened civilization ; a number 

 which is less than the fourth part of the human 

 race. Were even this small portion of mankind 

 uniformly distinguished for intelligence, and for 

 the practice of benevolence, it would form a glo 

 rious picture for the philanthropist to contem 

 plate ; and would be a sure prelude of the near 

 approach of that happy period, when &quot; all the 

 ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the 

 Lord, when all the kindreds of the nations shall do 



homage unto him, and when there shall be nothing 

 to hurt nor destroy&quot; among all the families of 

 mankind. But alas ! when we investigate the 

 moral state even of this portion of human beings, 

 we find the principle of malignity distinctly visi 

 ble in its operations, and interwoven, in nume 

 rous and minute ramifications, through all the 

 ranks and gradations of society. Though its 

 shades are less dark and gloomy, they are no less 

 real than among the hordes of Africa and Tar- 

 tary, and the other abodes of savage life. To 

 illustrate this position is the object of the fol 

 lowing sketches ; in which I shall chiefly refer 

 to the state of society among the nations of Eu 

 rope, and the United States of America, and 

 particularly to the moral character and aspect of 

 the British empire. 



I shall, in the first place, consider the opera 

 tion of the malevolent principle as it appears in 

 the actions and dispositions of the young, and in 

 the modes of tuition by which they are trained. 



In many thousands of instances, it may be ob 

 served, that, even before a child has been wean 

 ed from its mother s breasts, malignant disposi 

 tions are not only fostered, but are regularly 

 taught both by precept and example. Does a 

 child happen to hit its head accidentally against 

 the corner of a table it is taught by its nurse, 

 and even by its mother, to avenge the injury on 

 the inanimate object which caused it, and to ex 

 hibit its prowess and its revenge Dy beating the 

 table with all its might. Does it cry, through 

 peevishness or pain it is immediately threatened 

 with being thrown into the ditch, tossed out ol 

 the window, or committed to the charge of some 

 frightful spectre. Is it expedient to repress its 

 murmurings, and to cajole it into obedience it 

 is then inspired with fallacious hopes, and allur 

 ed with deceitful promises of objects and of plea 

 sures which are never intended to be realized. 

 Does it require to have its physical powers exer 

 cised a wooden sword or a whip is put into its 

 hands ; and it is encouraged to display its ener 

 gies in inflicting strokes on a dog, a cat, or any 

 of its play-fellowc. or companions. I have seen 

 a little urchin of ti, ; s description, three or four 

 years of age, brandishing its wooden sword with 

 all the ardour of a warrior, and repeating it 

 strokes on every person around, while the foolish 

 parents were exulting in the prowess displayed 

 by their little darling, and encouraging it in all 

 its movements. By these and similar practices, 

 revenge, falsehood, superstition, and the elements 

 of war, are fostered in the youthful mind ; and is 

 it to be wondered at, that such malignant prin 

 ciples and passions should &quot;grow with their 

 growth, and strengthen with their strength,&quot; till 

 they burst forth in a!l those hideous forms which 

 they assume amidst the contests of communities 

 and of nations ? The false maxims by which 

 children are frequently trained under the domes 

 tic roof, and the foolish indulgence with which 



