Chalmers' immediate vicinity, which contains not much less than thirty thousand inhabitants?

It is to bring up the supply of general education and religious instruction to the demand which exists, or ought to exist for both in these overgrown parishes, that Dr Chalmers has for some years been chiefly devoting the energies of his masterly and inventive mind. The examination into which he has gone, concerning the means and capacities of magistracies and other corporations, having satisfied him, that from them no adequate cure from the existing evil can be hoped for or expected-he has boldly thrown himself upon the unbounded resources of individual philanthropy. As it is every man's interest, and as it must be every good man's most earnest desire, to extend the blessings of Christian instruction, he calls upon all to contribute to the erection of a structure-which, if all or many contribute, may easily be reared-but which must ever defy the utmost efforts of the single-handed munificence either of any corporation, or of any state. For example, he calculates, that not less than £100,000 are necessary in order to build and endow as many schools as are wanted in Glasgow and its immense suburbs alone. To procure this sum, or any thing like this sum, from the government of the country, or even from any public funds of the place itself, is evidently impossible." But," says he, applying his own favourite method of argument in such subjects, (and it is the only just one),

One society, that should propose to raise a hundred thousand pounds for a project so gigantic, may well be denounced as visionary; but not so the society that should propose to raise one or two thousand pounds for its own assumed proportion of it. There is many an individual, who has both philanthropy enough, and influence enough, within the circle of his own acquaintanceship, for moving forward a sufficiency of power towards such an achievement. All that he needs, is the guidance of his philanthropy at the first, to this enterprise. When once fairly embarked, there are many securities against his ever abandoning it till it is fully accomplished. For, from the very first moment, will he feel a charm in his undertaking, that he never felt in any of those wide and bewildering generalities of benevolence, which have hitherto engrossed him. To appropriate his little vicinity to lay it down in the length and the breadth of it-to measure it off as the ma

nageable field within which he can render an entire and lasting benefit to all its families to know and be known amongst them, the charm of acquaintanceship with these and thus have his liberality sweetened by who are the objects of it-instead of dropping, as heretofore of his abundance, into an ocean where it was instantly absorbed and became invisible, to pour a deep, and a sensible, and an abiding infusion into his own separate and selected portion of that impracticable mass which has hitherto withstood all the efforts of philanthropy-instead of grasping in vain at the whole territory, to make upon it his own little settlement, and thus to narrow, at least, the unbroken field, which he could not overtake-to beautify one humble spot, and there raise an enduring monument, by which an example is lifted up, and a voice is sent forth to all the spaces which are yet unentered on-this is benevolence, reaping a reward at the very outset of its labours, and such a reward, too, as will not only ensure the accomplishment of its own task, but, as must, from the ease, and the certainty, and the distinct and definite good which are attendant upon its doings, serve both to allure and to guarantee a whole host of imitations.

Dr Chalmers proceeds to press home his argument in many different shapes, and with all the accustomed energy of his eloquence. To his words we can add nothing; we therefore content ourselves with referring our readers to the publication itself, and with the following extract, which will shew better than any commendation of ours could do, of what materials that publication is composed.

Yet it were well, that the rich did step forward and signalise themselves in this

matter. Amid all the turbulence and discontent which prevail in society, do we believe, that there is no rancour so fiery or so inveterate in the heart of the labouring classes, but that a convincing demonstration of good will, on the part of those who are raised in circumstances above them, could not charm it most effectually away. It is a question of nicety, how should this demonstration be rendered? Not, we think, by any public or palpable offering to the cause of indigence, for this we have long conceived should be left, and left altogether to the sympathies of private intercourse; it being, we believe, a point of uniform experience, that the more visible the apparatus is for the relief of poverty, the more is it fitted to defeat its own object, and to scatter all the jealousies attendant upon an imaginary right among those who might else have been sweetened into gratitude by the visitations of a secret and spontaneous kindness. Not so, however, with an offering rendered to the cause of education, let it be as public or as palpable as it may. The urgency of

competition for such an object, is at all times to be hailed rather than resisted; and on this career of benevolence, therefore, may the affluent go indefinitely onward, till the want be fully and permanently provided for. We know no exhibition that would serve more to tranquillise our country, than one which might convince the poorer classes, that there is a real desire, on the part of their superiors in wealth, to do for them any thing, and every thing, which they believe to be for their good. It is the expression of an interest in them, which does so much to soothe and to pacify the discontents of men; and all that is wanted, is, that the expression shall be of such a sort, as not to injure, but to benefit those for whom it is intended. To regulate the direction of our philanthropy, with this view, all that needs to be ascertained is, an object, by the furtherance of which, the families of the poor are benefited most substantially; and, at the same time, for the expenses of which, one is not in danger of contributing too splendidly. We know no object which serves better to satisfy these conditions, than a district school, which, by the very confinement of its operation within certain selected limits, will come specifically home with something of the impression of a kindness done individually to each of the householders. It were possible, in this way, for one person, at the head of an associated band, to propitiate towards himself, and, through him, towards that order in society with which he stands connected, several thousands of a yet neglected population. He could walk abroad over some suburb waste, and chalk out for himself the limits of his adventure; and, amid the gaze and inquiry of the natives, could cause the public edifice gradually to arise in exhibition before them; and though they might be led to view it at first as a caprice, they would not be long of feeling that it was at least a caprice of kindness towards them some well-meaning Quixotism, perhaps, which, whether judicious or not, was pregnant at least with the demonstration of good will, and would call forth from them, by a law of our sentient nature, which they could not help, an honest emotion of good will back again; and, instead of the envy and derision which so often assail our rich when charioted in splendour along the more remote and outlandish streets of the city, would it be found, that the equipage of this generous though somewhat eccentric visitor, had always a comely and complaisant homage rendered to it. By such a movement as this, might an individual through. out a district, and a few individuals throughout the city at large, reclaim the whole of our present generation to a kindliness for the upper classes that is now unfelt; and this too, not by the ministration of those beggarly elements, which serve to degrade and to impoverish the more, but by the ministration of such a moral influence a

mong the young, as would serve to exalt humble life, and prepare for a better economy than our present the habits of the rising generation.

"We know not, indeed, what could serve more effectually to amalgamate the two great classes of society together, than their concurrence in an object which so nearly concerns the families of all. We know not how a wealthy individual could work a more effectual good, or earn a purer and more lasting gratitude, from the people of his own selected district, than by his splendid donative in the cause of education. Whatever exceptions may be alleged against the other schemes of benevolence, this, at least, is a charity whose touch does not vilify its objects; nor will it, like the aliment of ordinary pauperism, serve to mar the habit and character of our population. Here, then, is a walk on which philanthropy may give the rein to her most aspiring wishes for the good of the world; and while a single district of the land is without the scope of an efficient system for the school, ing of its families, is there room for every lover of his species to put forth a liberality that can neither injure nor degrade them.

"Every enlightened friend of the poor ought to rejoice in such an opportunity, amid the coarse invectives which assail him, when led by his honest convictions to resist the parade and the publicity of so many attempts as are made in our day in behalf of indigence. It may sometimes happen, that selfishness, in making her escape from the applications of an injudicious charity, will be glad to shelter herself under some of those maxims of a sounder economy, which are evidently gaining in credit and currency amongst us. And hence the ready imputation of selfishness upon all, who decline from the support of associations which they hold to be questionable. And thus is it somewhat amusing to observe, how the yearly subscriber of one guinea to some favourite scheme of philanthropy, thereby purchases to himself the right of stig matizing every cold-blooded speculator who refuses his concurrence; while the latter is altogether helpless, and most awkwardly so, under a charge so very disgraceful. In avowing, as he does, the principle, that all the public relief which is ministered to poverty, swells and aggravates the amount of it in the land, and that it is only by efforts of unseen kindness, that any thing effectual can be done for its mitigation-he cannot lay bare the arithmetic of private benevolence, and more especially of his own-he cannot drag it forth to that ground of visibility, on which he believes that the whole of its charm and efficacy would be dissipated-he cannot confront the untold liberalities which pass in secret convey. ance to the abodes of indigence, with the doings and the docqueted reports of committeeship-he cannot anticipate the disclosures of that eventful day, when he who

own shewing, ought only to have amounted to about £200,000, without once alluding to the extension of the original design, or the change of times since the estimates of the work were made, almost twenty years ago.

However sanguine the immediate abettors of this great national undertaking may have been in the outset of this business, they were not singular in this respect; and if any one will take the trouble of going back to the debates of the House of Commons, and inquire into the feelings of the country at the time when the question of the Caledonian Canal was first agitated, he will find, that on all hands it proceeded from the noblest motives which can actuate the human mind. With what degree of propriety in political economy, we shall not venture to inquire; but at that period, every means were exerted to discourage emigration, by providing for the surplus population of the kingdom at large, and of the Highlands of Scotland in particular, where the more beneficial system of converting these districts into large stock farms, had unavoidably numerous families destitute. Emigration, as then conducted by designing persons, was not only ruinous to the emigrant, but the permission of it, under existing circumstances, would have been a stain upon the British name. With a view to put a stop to this traffic in human misery, and to ameliorate the condition of the native Highlander, the Legislature, with that degree of humanity which so eminently distinguishes the measures of the British Parliament, sought employment for the effective labour of the poorer classes, not of a temporary nature, but such as was calculated to be productive of benefit to the present and future circumstances of the agriculturist, the manufacturer, and mariner, as the only safe and effectual means of relief; and after much consideration and advice, from all quarters of the United Kingdom, the Caledonian Canal was ultimately adopted as the measure best suited to these

purposes.

Our correspondent declares himself to be a very incompetent judge in matters of political economy; and though he has neither interest, directly nor indirectly, with that great national work, nor with those who are connected with its operation, yet it has fallen to his lot to see more of it than perhaps any other individual

who stands so perfectly unconnected with it, as neither to inhabit the country where it lies, nor almost to be known to those professionally interested in the work; but from the opportunities which he has had of observing its beneficial effects upon a widely extended district of country, he is induced to state what is known to him on this interesting subject, being the result of his experience for the last twenty years.

Prior to the period of the commencement of the Caledonian Canal, the inhabitants of the Highlands and Western Isles of Scotland, were in a state which may be described as maintaining a degree of apathy even beyond what has been too often ascribed to them. Having no incitement to labour, they were unaccustomed and unacquainted with it, and they consequently spent their days in the most supine indolence; without any stimulant to the habits of industry; if they looked to the past, it conveyed little that could satisfy a rational and intelligent mind; and there was no motive in the future to arouse them from a state of sloth. But let any one now traverse these mountainous and insulated districts to the northward of that chain of lakes forming the track of this Canal, and let him patiently investigate the present state of the inhabitants, and from observation and experience compare them with the past, and he will be astonished at the change which has been produced even within the last ten or twelve years upon the intelligence and manners of the inhabitants, and at the way in which they can now apply their minds and their hands to work. If he is to form a just estimate of this change, he must not look for the comparison in the present state of any part of the United Kingdom with which we are acquainted. The former state of the northern parts of Scotland is absolutely banished from Britain, and a spirit of emulation is now infused throughout the whole. To compare with the past, we must therefore now seek for it in the wilds of the Russian empire.

We are aware that we may be told by those who, from motives of disappointment and chagrin, took an early part against the Caledonian Canal, that the improvement of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland is not at all to be placed to the account of that work, nor to the useful operations of

the commissioners for roads and bridges; they say, forsooth, that it is to be traced to the general effects of education, and to the progress of civilization. We readily admit, that those have had their share in effecting the great change alluded to, but no one will be hardy enough to affirm, that the expenditure of a very large proportion of £800,000 in daylabour, has not effected the most powerful changes on this country, and on the customs and manners of its people. The writer of this article has had opportunities of remarking the increase of capital among the poorer classes of those districts and the direct tendency which this has had of increasing the resources of the country. By the savings from their earnings at the Caledonian Canal, which they have ultimately applied to the purchase of boats and fishing-tackle, and of numerous small trading vessels, and to the establishment of handicraftsmen in various rural branches of business. The discontented and the ignorant, however, do not even hesitate, in support of their objections to this work, to state, that it has been chiefly executed by Englishmen, and Welshmen, and Irishmen ; and that the money has not only been carried forth of Scotland, but even from Europe to America. In the first place, we happen to be of opinion, that any source of employment or increase of capital, to the inhabitants of one part of the united kingdom, must, in its ultimate operation, benefit the whole -it must also be considered, in candour, how such a work of art could be undertaken or performed by any set of untutored individuals; and, in the second place, we make for answer to such a position, that, in our humble opinion, it was none of the least of the benefits of this work that it collected artizans of every description from England and Ireland, who taught the people of the Highlands of Scotland how to handle the spade, the mattock, and all the implements of the artificer, thereby producing much more permanent and lasting effects upon the manners of the people of these districts than all the theories of the most enlightened age.

Even if we admit, that with part of this money hundreds of the natives have been enabled to emigrate to our American settlements with comfort and advantage to themselves, though this may not be wha was originally sought

after or intended, yet we even venture to claim this also as one of the advantages attending the execution of this work, in which we are borne out by the present practice of the country; for, in point of fact, large sums are now actually paid from the treasury to encourage emigration to certain of our colonial establishments. Now, how much better is it for the individuals and for the country, that these people should acquire the means of following their inclinations with the savings of their own industry.

With regard to the utility of the Caledonian Canal, in a nautical and commercial point of view, it is certainly too late, and comes with a bad grace from those legislatively concerned in this undertaking, to complain publicly of their own doings. There may indeed be no immediate use for a canal of a large capacity in this situation, but those acquainted with the history of the Canal, long since executed, between the friths of Forth and Clyde, technically termed the "Great Canal," may recollect that its dimensions were at first considered to be by much too large, and that it also was treated as a work ruinous to the adventurers; and that the large sums advanced for its completion by the government were to be lost for ever. But let us attend to the fact and experience of this example: The Forth and Clyde Canal is found to be by much too small in practice; but, nevertheless, as it is, the money advanced by government has long since been repaid. It was, therefore, in our humble opinion, the soundest policy for the legislature, in the original formation of this great national work, to do it, in the first instance, upon a scale that would admit of the largest class of merchant vessels, and even of the smaller of his Majesty's ships of war; or, in other words, to avoid the fatal error of the proprietors of the Forth and Clyde Canal. Even if none of these last should ever enter the Caledonian Canal, trading vessels of all classes will pass along it with the more ease and facility. There are few, if any, of the ditch or small canals in Britain of a capacity sufficiently eligible for the size of the boats assigned for them. The horses are consequently seen dragging with the utmost difficulty, while the boats are continually touching and rubbing along the banks and bottom of these Canals. In the Caledonian Canal, on the contrary, much facility will be