686 
ever thefe are in competition, there can 
affuredly be no doubt about the prefe- 
yence. With regard to the traffic in the 
human fpecies, I truft ic will appear, 
that policy and profit are light in the 
balance, when weighed againft huma- 
nity and re¢titude; and that they will, 
eventually, ona more enlarged view, be 
found to be perfeétly compatible.’’. 
it may afford fatisfaction, Mr. Editor, 
to many of your readers, to be informed, 
that there is reafon to believe M. Nec- 
KER would have employed his moft ftre- 
muous exertions in the abolition of the 
flave-trade, if the diftraétions of France 
had not driven him from the helm of 
government. The REv. DR. FRos- 
SARD, author of an admirable work, 
entitled, La Caufe des Efclaves Négres et 
des Hadbitans de la Guinée portée au Tribu- 
nal de la Fuftice, dela Religion, de la Po- 
bique, publifned at Lyons in 1789, thus 
expreffes himfelf in a letter to the writer 
of this article: “ My work has receiv- 
“ed very flattering tokens of appro- 
** pation from M. and Madame Necker. 
“* They have both thanked me in the 
‘* moft honourable manner: and the 
s¢ letter of this excellent minifter gives 
** me affurance, that he will enter on the 
** bufinefs of the abolition of the flave- 
*¢ trade as foon as the eftablifhment of 
“4 affairs in France will permit.” 
M. Turcor, who was comptroller 
of the finances of France in the years 
2774, 1773, and 1776, and who is uni- 
verfally allowed to have been a man of 
pre-eminent talents, and of 'the moft com- 
prehenfive views, ptopofed it, as one ob- 
ject of his adminiftration, tofupprefs the 
traffic in the human fpecies. The Mar- 
QUIS DE Conporcert records the fol- 
Towing faét concerning this enlightened 
minifter: ‘¢ A merchant defired to give 
“‘ the name of Turgot to a veffel, in- 
*¢ tended for the negro-trade. With the 
*¢ indignation of avirtuous mind, that 
*¢ could not be familiarized to a crime 
** from the habit of feeing it committed, 
** M. Turgot rejected the offer; and he 
*¢ was not afraid, by this refulal, of de- 
“¢ claring publicly his opinion, at the 
. * rifk of exciting againft him all thofe 
€¢ who confidered the promotion of their 
<¢ fortune as conneéted with the continu- 
* ance of this infamous traffic.” 
OF. 2. A ConsTANT READER. 

To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine, 
SIR, 
Pale account given in your laft, of 
“. Mrs. Rowe’s going to Kirk, to fo- 
Uicit a pardom for a young man, under 
Kirk and Mrs. Rowe. . «Chronology of Gensfiss 
/ 
- month of the lamb, 
fOce 
the condemnation of Jefferies, cannot have 
been founded in truth. Mrs. Rowe 
was born in September, 1674, the con- 
demnation fpoken or was in September, 
1685. - As this lady was only then about 
eleven years of age, we cannot fuppofe 
that fhe was fent toa man of Kirk’s fan- 
guinary temper, to folicit the life of a 
perfon under fentence of death. 
Your's, 
Froome, Seft. 14. 
A. Cs. 

For the Monthly Magazine. - 
CHRONOLOGICAL REMARK ON 
GENESIS. 
PROM Diodorus Siculus (lib. i.) Plue 
tarch (Life of Numa) and Pliny (lib. 
vii. c. 48) it feems, that the Agyptians 
originally dated by lunar years, by years 
of one month each. They afterwards 
dated like the Chaldeans, by the year of 
365 days (Newtow’s Works, vol. v. p.21) 
and from the zra of Nabonaflar*, which 
began 747. A.C. That they received this 
folar year fo foon as the Chaldeans, is 
unproved; but their country being, in 
fome degree, a dependent province upon 
Babylon, they probably derived it from 
the fame ediét at the fame time. 
Eichorn (Einleitungins-alte teftament, 
vol. ii. p. 264) has obferved, that the book 
of Genefis, in irs prefent form, muft have 
been put together from feveral decu- 
ments; and although he may not, per- 
naps, have completely and accurately 
difcriminated them (Geddes’s Preface to 
the Holy Bible, p. 5) he has at leaft af- 
forded clues, which may affift in the fe- 
paration. The admiffion of this is ef- 

* Jemfhid (according to the fhort Hiftory of 
Perfia prefixed by Sir William Jones to his Life. 
of Nader Shah, p. 42) introduced the ule of the 
folar year among the Perfians, and ordered the 
fir day of it, called Nuryz, to be folemnized 
by a fplendid feitival. Probably, the folar year 
of Jemfhid was no other than the year of 365 
days, the ufe. of which Nabonaffar communi- 
cated to the Chaldeans and AZgyptians. When 
Jemthid inftituted this year, it began in the 
while the fun is in Aries. 
The firft year of the zera of Nabonafiar began on 
the 1sth of February, while the fun is in 
Pifces. Now the Nuruz of this year recedes 
one day in four years, or very nearly fo: it will 
therefore have fallen upon the vernal equinox 
137 years before the zra of Nabonaffar. This is 
a highly probable period for its inftitution. The 
aftronomer, who afcertained the length of the 
year, would naturally fix upon the equimox for 
its commencement. We may venture, then, to 
corre the chronology of Sir William Jones, 
and to plaee Jemihid 894 years before Chrift. 
{ential 
