Chapter third discourses of "Rent, or the price of land.” "Land is an instrument," which, like any other, "commands a price according to its productiveness;" which productiveness is made up, first, of fertility, and second, of situation. The details of this general proposition cannot be more briefly stated than in the words of the author, to whom we, therefore, refer the reader, without quotation. In fact, our limits, if we have not already transgressed them, forbid us to indulge in further citations or prolonged comment.

If our review of the treatise be thought too long, it will be subject to a complaint, which cannot be brought against the work itself. On the contrary, if there be a great fault in Dr. Wayland's volume, it is its extreme conciseness and brevity. Political economy is a vast science; its principles are so comprehensive as to apply to every form of matter, every operation of mind, and every mode of industry; its applications are made to every community, to every relation in society, to every citizen. A short work on such a science cannot, therefore, fail to be, in some degree, a meagre and imperfect one. If it state all the principles, it must be deficient in illustration and explanation. On the other hand, if it enter much into illustration and explanation, it cannot set forth a complete system, even of elementary principles. It is to be hoped, that, in subsequent editions, the author will amplify his work, enlarge the statement of doctrines, multiply the number of illustrative facts, and double, at least, the quantity of matter contained therein; so that, with a much smaller type, and without the aid of leads, and other typographical contrivances, it may, on the same number of pages (472), give us a double amount of "product."

The fourth and last book treats of " Consumption," or "the destruction of value." It is said, that there are two kinds of consumption, viz., productive, where the value is consumed, but makes its appearance in another form of increased value, and unproductive, where the value consumed is wholly lost.

We have before said, that we consider this division faulty, inasmuch as what is called "productive consumption" is identical with "production." Thus, a plank of mahogany is made into a table; the plank is consumed and the table produced, by the same act, under the same laws of economy, and with similar phenomena. In this case, the act of production is a change of aggregate form. Again: A laborer consumes food,

and thereby produces strength. This is a change of elementary form.

We shall, therefore, say nothing further, in regard to profitable or productive consumption.

According to our notions, then, the proper definition of consumption is, the destruction of value without any valuable result, or the loss, waste, or annihilation of value, whether it be intentional or accidental. To bestow a place in political economy upon "Consumption," thus defined, it seems to us, would of itself be an almost unprofitable expenditure of labor, except that it might furnish an opportunity for eloquent declamation against prodigality, whether individual or social.

We

The gratification of desire merely, whether that desire be intellectual or animal, a taste or an appetite, is one object of consumption. In connection with a remark of this sort, the author speaks of "the pleasures of taste," such as painting, music, statuary, &c., as being "gratifications of sense.' protest against such a misnomer. "Taste" is a faculty of the mind; and although it is brought in contact with its objects, by means of the organs of sense, the result is intellectual pleasure, not sensual enjoyment. Taste is that faculty, which takes cognizance of the beautiful and sublime, whether in nature or art,-in the world of matter, or the world of mind. Let us remind the author of some of those glowing and glorious illustrations of the sublime, with which he introduces his sermon on "the Moral Dignity of the Missionary Enterprise:" the grandeur of ocean, as it strikes upon the mind of the "untaught sailor-boy," "listlessly hearkening to the idle ripple of the midnight wave," the gathering terrors, and solemn advance, and rolling thunders of the "autumnal tempest," beheld by the "untutored peasant." Let us remind him of these, and then ask, if the pleasure excited in their minds, by the majesty of nature, is sensual delight?

Take Byron's description of a thunder-storm amidst the Alps; when

"Far along,

From peak to peak, the rattling crags among,

Leaps the live thunder! Not from one lone cloud,

But every mountain now hath found a tongue;

And Jura answers, from her misty shroud,

Back to the joyous Alps, who call to her aloud!"

Who ever read that magnificent passage, that thrilling burst

of inspiration, unmoved, unagitated? But who ever dreamed, or who ever would dream, of calling the emotion thus roused a sensual delight?

Are all the delights of music sensual, from the blast of the war clarion to the soul-stirring anthem, which bears us aloft to heaven? By no means. Music is the daughter of the sky; and although

yet

"Warriors she fires with animating sounds,
And pours her balm into the lover's wounds,"

"Music the fiercest grief can charin,
And Fate's severest rage disarm;

Music can soften pain to ease,

And make despair and madness please;
Our joys below it can improve,

And antedate the bliss above.
This the divine Cecilia found,

And to her Maker's praise confined the sound.
When the full organ joins the tuneful choir,
The immortal powers incline their ear;
Borne on the swelling notes, our souls aspire,
While solemn airs improve the sacred fire,
And angels lean from heaven to hear!"

We will not ask, if the emotions thus described, as animating breasts terrestrial and minds celestial, are sensual excitements. Nor need we press forward other illustrations of our opinion; for we deem the point too clear, to call for more than a moment's consideration.

The most important subjects, considered under the head of "Consumption," are connected with government; such as taxes, direct and indirect, and the expenditures of government, for its own support, and for education, worship, internal improvement, pauperism and war.

Some of these topics are manifestly comprised within our definition of consumption,-such, for example, as pauperism and war, whenever the object gained thereby is less valuable than its cost. But the collection of taxes is no more "consumption," than is the collection of a note, or any other act of labor. Taxes are the wages of government; and inasmuch as they do not seem to come properly within the scope of “Distribution,” we suppose, that the consideration of them is more appropriate to Politics than Economics.

The public expenditures, for the support of government (in

the shape of pay and salary), are matters of public "distribution." Every dollar, thus paid, is (or ought to be) fully earned. The labor, for which the expense is incurred, is productive labor; the product is of incalculable value.

The expenditures, or rather investments, of public money, in education, in public works of utility, and in just and successful war, are applications of capital to industry, for the production of value; if judiciously made, they come within the sphere of "Production;" if otherwise, they are accidental consumption.

These various subjects are lucidly discussed by Dr. Wayland. But we shall not attempt any statement of his views, partly for reasons that may be gathered from the preceding analysis of this fourth book, and partly because we are aware, that our readers (if any have "persevered unto the end") are anxious to bid us farewell.

We fear, that, after all, we may not have succeeded in conveying a definite conception, either of the work reviewed, or of the science which constitutes its subject, or of the high esti mate we have formed of the author's success and merit. In our attempt at something like an analysis of the book, we may have confused, when we meant to enlighten. Our references to the few and unimportant blemishes of the treatise, may be falsely construed into the expression of a censorious and faultfinding disposition, which takes pleasure, like the dog in the fable, in baying at the brightness it cannot reach.

If such be the result of our labors, we shall feel most grievously disappointed. Our design has been, to lay the meed of praise at the foot of unquestioned merit,-to excite our readers' attention at once to a valuable work and to a useful and dignified science; and, to the best of our humble ability, to suggest such hints to the author, as seemed likely to prove valuable to him, in the further pursuit of his appropriate professional studies, and in his future preparation for the press.

Of the style of the work, we would say, that it is, in general, simple, clear, and yet exceedingly concise. Now and then, there is a sparkling of quiet humor, or a spice of sarcasm, and occasionally a considerable degree of spirit, as in the passage before quoted, in regard to the interference of government with a paper currency. But, on the whole, it possesses that rare merit, of being so fitly adapted to the expression of the author's ideas, as not to attract attention to itself. The au

thor's meaning is so clothed with language, that, like a gentleman, whose dress is in perfect taste, the garb does not attract our notice. If any proof were wanting of his perfect conception of the ideas intended to be conveyed, this peculiar lucidness of style would amount to demonstration.

We venture to hope, that the same hand, which has thus beautifully organized the Elements of Morals and Economy, will one day lay before the public a corresponding treatise on Intellectual Philosophy. We are confident (haud inexperti loquimur), that the materials of such a work are already so far collected and matured, that no discouraging amount of toil will be needful to its entire completion.

ARTICLE VI.

MINISTERIAL EDUCATION.

EFFORTS to educate pious young men, of indigent circumstances, who give promise of usefulness in the Christian ministry, have long been employed in this and other countries, with signal benefit to the church of Christ. The use of this means for the universal dissemination of Christianity has now become common in this country, among all evangelical denominations. Those who are farthest advanced in this labor are, the Congregationalists, Presbyterians, Baptists, and Episcopalians. The Methodists and Freewill Baptists have also made a beginning. Should we include all the efforts made for the procurement of a pious and an efficient ministry, we should, doubtless, embrace a species of labor unsurpassed, either in point of interest, or in a promise of usefulness, by any other which now engrosses the attention of our churches. The object sought by these efforts is of indispensable importance. Such a ministry as we have designated is needed by every church in the land. Such a ministry is also of indispensable importance to the success of our Bible societies, missionary societies, &c. It is to these institutions what the raw material is to the manufacturer. Cut off a supply of ministers, and all benevolent operations must, in a great measure, cease. How shall they hear without a preacher?