RUSSIASADLER. 



789 



wealth, and they may yet be augmented to an al- 

 most incalculable extent. 



The principal defect of this region is the almost 

 total absence of forests, and the great difficulty of 

 rearing trees. Thus for want of wood the inhabi- 

 tants are obliged to burn reeds, buyan* straw, and 

 kizyak \ ; but the employment of the two last men- 

 tioned articles is contrary to the rules of good 

 husbandry, although it can hardly be said that the 

 time is arrived for the introduction of an improved 

 system into these provinces. 



8. The Region of the Olive Tree, the Silk 



Worm, and the Sugar-cane This region includes 



the provinces beyond the Caucasus (Zakaukasky), 

 but the climate, owing to the mountainous nature 

 of the country, is exceedingly various, as may be 

 seen by the diversity in the productions of the 

 soil. The plants peculiar to hot climates grow in 

 the valleys, while the hills are covered with corn 

 and pasturage for cattle. The soil is also of vari- 

 ous kinds, and towards the east there are extensive 

 steppes. The local climates of this region may be 

 divided in the following manner; first, The sum- 

 mits of the mountains always covered with snow ; 

 then the beginning of vegetation, where nothing 



but pasturage for cattle is found ; then follow the 

 corn-fields ; below them the vine flourishes, and we 

 meet with the mulberry and other fruit trees; 

 while still lower, in the vallies, particularly in the 

 Persian provinces, grow cotton, rice, and other 

 southern productions, which require artificial irri- 

 gation, an operation familiar to the inhabitants of 

 Asia. The olive thrives chiefly in the western 

 part, and only in those spots peculiarly suitable to 

 its culture. The sugar-cane, that important 

 colonial production, has been planted, and is spread- 

 ing in some of the low and rich lands about Kura. 

 This succession of climates, according to altitude, 

 presents a curious resemblance to the climates as 

 they follow each other according to latitude. 

 The forest region is the only one that is wanting 

 in the Zakaukazian mountains. The country 

 beyond the Caucasus produces spontaneously sev- 

 eral objects of great value, as a peculiar kind of 

 cochineal, assafoetida, &c., which may become the 

 sources of great ultimate advantage. The most 

 important, however, of the productions of this 

 region, is doubtless silk, which may be said to be 

 indigenous to the country. 



SADLER, MICHAEL THOMAS, F.R.S. a parlia- 

 mentary orator, who distinguished himself by his 

 philanthropic exertions in the cause of the poor 

 and the labouring classes, was born at Snelstone, 

 a village in the south of Derbyshire, in January, 

 1780. He was descended on the father's side from 

 the celebrated Sir Ralph Sadler, one of queen 

 Elizabeth's ministers, and an important instrument 

 in bringing about the reformation. His mother's 

 family were French refugees at the revocation of 

 the edict of Nantes. He was educated principally 

 at home, and exhibited extraordinary powers of 

 mind in very early youth, having mastered the 

 higher branches of mathematics and astronomy by 

 the time he was eleven years of age. His father 

 intended him for one of the learned professions; 

 but, when about eighteen years old, he was in- 

 duced to join his brother in business at Leeds, 

 where he continued engaged in mercantile pursuits, 

 but not to the exclusion of more congenial literary 

 labours, until he was called into public life by the 

 ministerial proposal of the Catholic relief bill. 

 On a vacancy occurring for the borough of New- 

 aik-upon-Trent, in March 1829, a deputation of 

 the electors waited upon Mr Sadler, at Leeds, and 

 invited him to become a candidate. He immedi- 

 ately complied, and triumphantly conducted an ar- 

 duous contest, though opposed by Mr Serjeant 

 Wilde, one of the most able and energetic members 

 of the bar. Mr Sadler immediately distinguished 

 himself by a very long and eloquent speech against 

 the Roman Catholic claims, delivered in the House 

 of Commons on the 17th of the same month; and 



* The high grass of the steppee. t Dried coiv-duiig. 



during the continuance of the discussion he was a 

 prominent champion of the Protestant cause. At 

 the general election of 1830 he was again chosen 

 for Newark, and in 1831 for Aldborough, in York- 

 shire. At the election of 1832, his late borough 

 being disfranchised, he was a candidate for the new 

 borough of Leeds ; but, though highly esteemed 

 by a large number of his townsmen, his reputation 

 as an anti-reformer preponderated against his less 

 equivocal merits, and he was unsuccessful. During 

 his parliamentary career, be was chiefly occupied in 

 supporting whatever he thought would advance 

 the happiness of the mass of society; and his poli- 

 tical views for ameliorating the condition of the 

 lower orders were indeed most extensive, and the 

 measures which he himself introduced into the 

 legislature for this benevolent object most compre- 

 hensive and important. He brought a bill into par- 

 liament to provide agricultural parishes with the 

 funds for allotting small portions of ground to their 

 deserving poor, which, although it did not become 

 a legislative enactment, was extensively circulated, 

 and has been acted upon in several parishes with 

 the happiest results ; in one large parish not only 

 to the greatly increased comfort of the poor, but 

 to the almost complete extinction of the poor- 

 rates. 



For Ireland he always expressed the deepest in- 

 terest and sympathy, and twice introduced, en- 

 forced by the most impassioned and touching 

 eloquence, the important measure of a poor law 

 for that country into parliament; on the last oc- 

 casion losing his proposition by a nominal major- 

 ity only. Of this humane measure he was in 

 public and private the powerful and unwearied 



