ground for the belief that it ever did occur, simply because no such special adaptation was demanded. Equally irrational is the opinion of Good, in his "Book of Nature," that, like the "otter-breed" of sheep in New England," from some primary accident resulted the peculiar shape of the head and face in most nations as well as in most families." Still more irrational are the conclusions of Lawrence: "First, That the differences of physical organization and of moral and intellectual qualities, which characterize the several races of our species, are analogous in kind and degree to those which distinguish the breeds of the domestic animals; and must therefore be accounted for on the same principles. Secondly, That they are first produced, in both instances, as native or congenital varieties; and then transmitted to the offspring in hereditary succession." The conclusion of Prichard that there is an intimate relation between the physical features of man and his moral and intellectual character, is indisputably founded in nature; but, wedded to the old opinion that the mind is a unit, he obstinately maintains, with Blumenbach, that there is nothing in the cerebral organization of the most barbarous Negro tribes, which indicates an inferiority of moral or intellectual endowments; and, although he tells us that the most civilized Negro tribes have "nearly European countenances and a corresponding configuration of the head," yet he cannot see that the intellectual superiority of an individual or a nation depends upon the development of the anterior portion of the brain.

As regards the long-continued discussion relative to Negro slavery, we thus perceive that both parties have contrived to be in the wrong. Constituting a single species, the European and the Negro, however unwelcome to the former, must necessarily trace back their origin to the same Adam. Although the Negro is not originally inferior, yet the abolitionists have erred in denying that he is naturally so at the present day, when compared with the Caucasian race. We must, therefore, admit the quaint but humane expression of the preacher, who styled the Negro, "God's image, like ourselves, though carved in ebony." Whilst this, however, is an error on

the side of humanity, the advocates of the anti-christian practice of traffic in human flesh, have committed the moral mistake of perverting into a justification that which should constitute a claim upon those to whom nature has granted higher gifts. Instead of depressing more deeply into the abyss of barbarism those naturally low in the intellectual scale, the superior endowments of a more fortunate race should be exercised in extending the blessings of civilisation. "From him to whom much is given, much will be required."

We shall conclude this article, which we have vainly endeavored to compress within more narrow limits, with some observations relative to the ancient inhabitants of our own continent. It is remarked by Morton, that "the concurrent testimony of all travellers goes to prove that the native Americans are possessed of certain physical traits that serve to identify them in localities the most remote from each other; nor do they, as a general rule, assimilate less in their moral character and usages," (p. 62.) The ancient Peruvians and Mexicans, however, appear to have constituted an exception to this general resemblance; so much so, indeed, that they have been considered by some as a race of mortals sui generis. The arid region of Atacama, which was the favorite sepulchre of the Peruvian nations for successive ages, divides the kingdom of Peru from that of Chili, and is nearly one hundred leagues in length. In the midst of it," says Herrera, "is the River of Salt, the water whereof is so brackish that it presently grows thick in the hand or any vessel, and the banks are covered with salt." As the climate, owing to the mixed sand and salt of the desert, tends rather to the desiccation than to the putrefaction of the dead, the lifeless bodies of whole generations of the ancient Peruvians, like those of the Theban catacombs, may at this day be examined.

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From an examination of about one hundred of these crania, Morton arrives at the opinion," that Peru appears to have been at different times peopled by two nations of differently formed crania, one of which is perhaps extinct, or at least exists only as blended by adventitious circumstances, in various remote and scattered tribes of the present Indian race." p. 97.

In physical appearance, these people do not appear to have differed from cognate nations, except in the conformation of the head, which is greatly elongated, with a very retreating forehead. Morton is decidedly of opinion that these skulls afford no evidence of mechanical compression, as they do not present the lateral expansion found among the tribes who have this artificial formation. Reasoning from the analogy of all other nations, it would be natural to infer that a people with heads so badly formed, if not distorted by art, would occupy the lowest point in the scale of intelligence. Such was not, however, the case with these people or the ancient Mexicans. Morton shows conclusively, "that civilisation existed in Peru anterior to the advent of the Incas, and that those anciently civilized people constituted the identical nation whose extraordinary skulls are the subject of the present inquiry." Mr. Pentland, an intelligent English traveller, who has recently visited the upper provinces of Peru, says that he, as quoted by Morton, "discovered in numerable tombs, hundreds of which he entered and examined. These monuments are of a grand species of design and architecture, resembling Cyclopean remains, and not unworthy of the arts of ancient Greece or Rome. They, therefore, betokened a high degree of civilisation; but the most extraordinary fact belonging to them is their invariably containing the mortal remains of a race of men, of all ages, from the earliest infancy to maturity and old age, the formation of whose crania seems to prove that they are an extinct race of natives who inhabited Upper Peru above one thousand years ago, and differing from any mortals now inhabiting our globe." So greatly is the cranium distorted that "twothirds of the weight of the cerebral mass," says Pentland, "must have been deposited in this wonderfully elongated posterior chamber." He adds the opinion that these extraordinary forms cannot be attributed to pressure, or any external force similar to that still employed by many American tribes;" and adduces, in confirmation of this view, the opinions of Gall, Cuvier, and other naturalists and anatomists.

The constructive talent of this people is also conspicuous in their roads, one f which is thus described by Hum

boldt, in his journey across the plains of Assuary:-"We were surprised to find in this place, and at heights which greatly surpass the top of the Peak of Teneriffe, the magnificent remains of a road constructed by the Incas of Peru. This causeway, lined with freestone, may be compared to the finest Roman roads I have seen in Italy, France, or Spain. It is perfectly straight, and keeps the same direction for six or eight thousand metres."

Another writer, (Long, Polynesian Nation, p..78,) remarks that "at a time when a public highway was either a relic of Roman greatness, or a sort of nonentity in England, there were roads fifteen hundred miles in length in the empire of Peru. The feudal system was as firmly established in these transatlantic kingdoms as in France. The Peruvians were ignorant of the art of forming an arch, but they had constructed suspension bridges over frightful ravines: they had no implements of iron, but their forefathers could move blocks of stone as huge as the Sphinxes and Memnons of Egypt."

In the ancient Mexican skulls, we behold a sugar-loaf formation, even more extraordinary, perhaps, than the Peruvian. Of the skulls examined by Morton, he says-" No one of them is altered by art, and they present a striking resemblance, both in size and configuration, to the heads of the ancient Peruvians."

As regards the degree of civilisation of these Mexicans, when first known to the Spaniards, it has been justly remarked, that it was superior to that of the Spaniards themselves on their first intercourse with the Phenicians, or that of the Gauls when first known to the Greeks, or that of the Germans and Britons in their earliest communication with the Romans. They seemed to have a mental constitution adapted to scientific investigation. Their knowledge of arithmetic and astronomy was both extensive and accurate. În architecture and sculpture they had made great advances. The remains of aqueducts and canals for irrigation yet exist. They knew how to extract metals from ores-how to form images of gold and silver, hollow withinhow to cut the hardest precious stones with the greatest nicety-how to dye cotton and wool, and to manufacture them into figured stuffs.

As the monuments of the Egyptians

THE publication of these long-desired "Madison Papers" affords one of the few instances in literary history, in which the public expectation, though raised to a high pitch, has been fully satisfied. The nature of the subject with which the work is occupied sufficiently establishes its intrinsic importance. An authentic record of the proceedings of the assembly that formed the constitution of the United States, by one of the leading members of that illustrious body, must of course be a document second in interest to none in the whole circle of political literature. By a fortunate concurrence of circumstances, this precious document is presented to us in a form so nearly perfect that it would, perhaps, be difficult to point out any particular of the least consequence in which it could be improved. Mr. Madison, in fact, united in his person a number of different, and in some cases almost discordant qualities, which were yet all necessary to the reporter of these great debates, in which the fortunes of countless millions, perhaps the failure or success of the great cause of good government itself through all future time,-were so deeply involved. His position as a prominent-we might, perhaps, say, without injustice to others, the most prominent member of the Convention, made it necessary for him to attend to every part of the proceedings, while the superiority of his talents qualified him to appreciate with correctness the force and bearing of every argument, and to present its strong points in a condensed and summary shape. In addition to these essential qualifications he had the habits of constant attendance and indefatigable industry, not always the companions of first-rate intellectual power, which were requi

site to enable him to discharge simultaneously the almost incompatible offices of actor and historian, to be, like Cæsar, but on a far more glorious field, the commentator of his own campaigns. He was never absent from his place for more than a few minutes at a time during the whole course of the proceedings. The return of every morning found him seated at the desk in front of the President's chair, which he had selected as the best position for hearing everything that should be said. There, with the delegates from the thirteen States arranged around him, and the good genius of his country, personified in the manly form of Washington, presiding in graceful majesty behind, he pursued his steady course of labor through the day, interrupted only by his own frequent participation in the debates, for the purpose of offering the most important motions and making the most judicious remarks. Other qualities of mind and heart were still wanted, and these too Mr. Madison possessed;-the perfect discretion which enabled him to select the materials proper for his use from a vast mass, of which a small part only could be preserved ;—the kind and candid nature which prompted him, on all occasions, to render the fullest justice to every adverse or rival pretension; and the fine taste in style which instinctively taught him to clothe his work in language as pure and pellucid as the light of day, dignified, correct, and elegant, without the slightest effort at effect, in short, precisely what it should be. The brilliant political career which he subsequently ran under the constitution that he had done so much to form gives a new sanction of authority to his report. Finally, the almost fastidious reserve with which he kept

it unpublished in his own possession till the close of his protracted life, while it for a time somewhat tantalized the public curiosity, contributed, nevertheless, by affording ample opportunity for repeated revision, to give it, in point of form, the last degree of finish and perfection.

Thus prepared, elaborated, and perfected, it has at length come before the country. We receive it with welcome, as a precious treasure for ourselves and our offspring through all future time, κτημα ες αει, It comes to us in the midst of our distracting controversies on topics of transient and often very trifling interest, like a voice from the sepulchre of our departed fathers, fraught-if we could but listen to itwith lessons of the deepest import; or rather it evokes and brings before us, from the night of the past, the vision of our ancestors, as they thought and spoke and acted in the fulness of their strength, and the rich maturity of their mental powers. We hear their words of truth and wisdom. We witness the calmness, the grave decorum, the mutual condescension and gentle courtesy, with which they conducted their momentous discussions. Difficult as it is, in all cases, to gather wisdom from the example and experience of others, we cannot believe that such a spectacle can fail of producing a most salutary effect. What reward-were he still living to receive it would be too great for the service which the distinguished reporter has rendered to the country and the world by this publication. In this, as in most other cases of disinterested labor for the public good, the act itself carried with it its own best recompense, in its results to the actor and the country. It was his good fortune -the greatest that can happen to any man-to witness, through a long course of years, the fruits of his early efforts realized in the prosperity and happiness of his fellow-citizens; while this report, which, valuable as it is, was yet in itself one of the least important and substantive of these efforts, -will remain an imperishable monument to his memory, perpetuating his renown through all time, as the immediate Father and Founder of the Constitution of the United States.

It is unnecessary, for the present purpose, to recapitulate in detail the history of the preparation and publication

of this interesting work. It is given with sufficient fulness in the prefatory notice of the Editor, and in the introduction to the debates, by Mr. Madison himself. But we should do injustice to the occasion, if we were to omit to notice, with proper commendation, the diligence and discretion with which the accomplished editor, Mr. Gilpin, lately attorney-general of the United States, has executed the task committed to him by Congress. Resisting with resolute consistency the temptation to incorporate his own labors with those of his illustrious author, in the form of annotation, or commentary, he has strictly limited himself to the unpretending but indispensable duty of facilitating the use of the work by copious references to contemporary documents and collections. The publishers have also contributed their share to the general result by the beauty and al most faultless accuracy of the impression, so that the work has finally found its way to the light in an outward form not less agreeable to the eye of taste, than the substance is gratifying to the discerning mind and patriotic heart.

A publication like this is entitled to something more than the merely transient observation which is given to the countless literary novelties of the day. We propose in our humble sphere, to bestow upon it a more extended and careful notice than our monthly limits generally permit, and in order to accomplish our purpose shall be compelled to distribute our remarks into two or three articles. On the present occasion we shall make a few suggestions in regard to the characters of the members of the Convention who took the most prominent part in the debates on the constitution. In our future papers on the same subject we shall add a rapid sketch of the proceedings, and some concluding remarks on the character of the great result, the Constitution of the United States.

It has been already observed, that although the formation of the constitution followed so nearly after the close of the revolutionary war, the persons who took the most active part on that occasion were not precisely those who had fought, in civil life, the battles of Independence. They belonged, in general, to a younger generation, the worthy rivals and imitators of their gen