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pleased with a barren conquest so far from their native dominion, they wisely abandoned it to the rightful owners, the natives of the country, and compelled their monarch to return. The legions of Aurungzebe conquered the lower and central valleys of the Indus, but met with such an obstinate resistance in the passes of the Affghan territory, that they were compelled to retreat. English armies have conquered Scinde, and their next acquisition may probably be the central valley, the Seik territory; but the expense of these conquests, made in violation of all ordinary rules of justice, is so much greater than any possible benefit that can be derived from their possession, that it will compel their final abandonment: the Indus will then once more be gratified with his native monarchs.

The central valley of Africa, bordering on the Niger, bounded by the mountains of Kong and the desert of Zahara, is inhabited by a race of unambitious Negroes. They are content with the luxuries of palm-wine, and rice, and maize, and dance every evening to the gay sound of instrumental music. No conqueror has ever united these tribes under one dominion. The difficulty of geographical discoveries in Africa has arisen

from this cause; for the chiefs are very rapacious, and the traveller incurs the risk of losing his life and property from forty thieves, each invested with sovereign power and separate dominion.

When a peninsula affords room for a powerful nation, it should be under one government. We have however given one or two instances, in the preceding part of this essay, which prove them not exempt from those general laws which influence territories of a different shape. Thus the mountain range between Norway and Sweden has prevented the union of that peninsula; and the extreme length of Italy has operated in a similar way. The people residing near the coast of a peninsula have frequently more communication with a foreign country than with the opposite shore of their own country, yet their happiness is promoted when they are under one government. They have then no domestic enemy to dread, and their energies, in case of war, can be directed against their exterior foes.

The United States of America afford a sufficient number of instances to exemplify this part of the science of boundaries. .

New Jersey, united under one government, is divided from Pennsylvania and New York by rivers.

The next peninsula to the south is divided between Maryland, Delaware, and Virginia. The natives live under three distinct systems of law. Some may suppose this not of much consequence; but the natives near the southern cape, which is unhealthy during the autumnal season, resort at that period of the year to the north. The variance of law therefore becomes a practical disadvantage to them. Delaware should therefore be enlarged, and should comprehend the whole peninsula. But how Maryland is to be compensated for the loss of her territory, we cannot possibly imagine.

The empire of a peninsula should not exceed its natural limit. To govern one large peninsula well is as much labour as any people should be expected to perform. The third territorial division of this shape in the United States, is Florida. Its boundary to the west is too extensive, and should not have passed the river Apalachicola. Alabama would then have an extent of sea-coast proportional to her interior provinces, and Florida, being rendered more compact, would have a better chance of good government. Michigan presents a favorable specimen of territorial division; instead of an artificial line between her dominion and the continent, a small river might have been preferable.

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CHAPTER X.

ON THE CAUSE OF NATURAL BOUNDARIES-OBJECTIONS

TO THEORY CONSIDERED.

IN Upper Lusatia, in Germany, is a tribe of people, called Wends, descended from the good Saxons who resisted with such true valour the armies of Charlemagne. They dress in the skins of sheep, and dwell in tents. They are perfectly happy, for they lead a pastoral life, and cordially pity those unfortunate people who are compelled to reside in towns. Towns! where Mother Earth is carefully hidden from view by a heavy pavement of brick or of stone; where the atmosphere is polluted by a thousand vitious exhalations, and where sleep, silence and solitude are unknown.

In the midst of Christian Europe they retain a solemn Pagan rite, and a grove of majestic oak trees, near the centre of their territory, is their object of religious adoration. They were formerly under the government of the Elector of Saxony, who allowed them to pursue their own course without interference, having perceived the folly

of any attempt to control them. In the exchange of territory which took place in Europe during the year 1815, they were transferred, along with some other Saxon subjects, to the jurisdiction of Prussia. The monarch of that country, when informed of the circumstance, issued an immediate order that they should pay a tax and contribution, and attend Christian worship. officer was appointed to execute the decree.

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It was soon discovered that, unless they were caught and chained to the benches, it was impossible to procure their attendance in the cathedral of Luchaw. Two companies of infantry were then detached to cut down the sacred grove; but the tribe threatened destruction to all who engaged in the attempt. The commissioner of Prussia, wishing to avoid bloodshed in a newly acquired territory, desisted from this part of the enterprise.

The project of converting them forcibly to Christianity having failed, it was thought highly desirable they should pay tribute, and a large sum was demanded. The chiefs of the tribe replied, that money was totally unknown among them; that flocks of sheep and herds of cattle were the only things they possessed, and they could not, with any convenience to themselves,