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a more prosperous condition. The degree of D. D. was conferred on the Rev. John G. Lorimer of Glasgow, Scotland, and the Rev. Edward D. Smith of New York; and that of LL. D., on William P. Finley, President of the College of Charleston, South Carolina, and on the Hon. Judge Wayne, of Savannah, of the U. S. supreme court.

UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA.-Commencement celebrated in the Chinese Museum, Philadelphia. The degree of A. B. was conferred on nineteen graduates; of A. M. on thirty, and of M. D. on nine.

RUTGER'S COLLEGE, (Reformed Dutch,) New Brunswick, N. J., July 25.— Graduates thirteen. Degree of A. M. conferred on ten alumni. Honorary degree of D.D. on Rev, David Landsborough, of the free presbytery of Irvine, Scotland. Honorary degree of LL. D. on the Hon. Jas. Buchanan, Lancaster, Pa.

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN, Marshall, Mich., July 18.-Graduates, twentythree. No honorary degrees. Address before the Society of Inquiry by Rev. Prof. Thomas Stone, of the Baptist theological seminary at Kalamazoo; and before the literary societies, by Hon. Lewis Cass.

COLLEGE OF ST. JAMES, (P. Episcopal,) near Hagerstown, Md. July 26.Degree of A. B. conferred on four graduates, and of A. M. on two members of the class of 1846.

WILLIAMS COLLEGE.-At the annual commencement the class of graduates consisted of fifty-two. The degree of D. D. upon Rev. Parsons Cooke, of Lynn, Mass., and Rev. Asa D. Smith, of the city of New York.

COLUMBIA COLLEGE.-The annual commencement of this institution was celebrated on the 2d inst., in the Church of the Crucifixion, Dr. Moore, the president, in the chair. Gen. Winfield Scott, and quite a number of distinguished literary and professional gentlemen were among those present. The degree of LL. D. was conferred on the Rev. R. W. Harris. Fifteen gentlemen received the degree of A. M. Gen. Dix delivered the address before the Peithologian and Philolexian Societies.

GENEVA COLLEGE, (Episcopal,) Geneva, N. Y., August 1.-Hon. degree of D. D. conferred on Rev. William D. Wilson, and Rev. J. F. McLaren. Hon. degree of LL. D. on Henry R. Schoolcraft and Hiram Denio.

JEFFERSON COLLEGE, (Presbyterian,) Canonsburgh, Pa., August 1.-The degree of A. B. was conferred on fifty-four graduates. Hon. degree of D. D. on Rev. Joseph T. Cooper, of Philadelphia; Rev. George A. Lyon, Erie, Pa.; and Rev. J. T. Pressley, of Erskine College, S. C. Honorary degree of LL. D. on Hon. Thomas Bradford, Philadelphia, and Hon. Thaddeus Stevens, Lancaster, Pa.

DARTMOUTH COLLEGE, (Congregational,) Hanover, N. H., July 26.-Graduates thirty-nine. Degree of A. M. on ten of the alumni; and of M. D. on thirteen. Honorary degree of D. D. on Rev. Zedekiah Barstow, and Rev. Clement Long. Honorary degree of LL. D. on Edward Everett, LL. D., late president of Harvard University, Hon. Samuel S. Wilde, of Boston, and Hon. Amos Kendall, of New Hampshire. Honorary degree of A. M. on Hon. John Sullivan, attorney general of New Hampshire, and on Col. Bliss, son-in-law of the President of the United States.

UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT, (Congregational,) Burlington, Vt., Aug. 1.-Graduates seventeen. Honorary degree of LL. D. was conferred on Hon. Jacob

Collamer, postmaster general.

COLUMBIAN COLLEGE, (Baptist,) Washington city, July 18.-Degree of A. B., in course, conferred on fifteen graduates, and the degree of A. M. on six of the alumni. Honorary degree of D. D. was conferred on the Rev. J. B. Jeter.

WESTERN RESERVE COLLEGE, (Presbyterian and Congregationalist,) Hudson,

Ohio, July 12.-The degree of A. B. was conferred on thirteen individuals; and of A. M. on nine of the alumni. Honorary degree of LL. D. on Hon. Peter Hitchcock, of the supreme court of Ohio.

MADISON UNIVERSITY, (Baptist,) Hamilton, N.Y., August 15.-Degree of A. B. conferred on twenty-one graduates, and of A. M. on eleven. Hon. degree of D. D. on Rev. Silas Bailey, president of Granville college, (Bap.,) Ohio; and of LL. D. on Robert Lush, Esq., London, England.

KENYON COLLEGE, (Episcopal,) Gambier, O., August 8th.-Graduates, ten. Hon. degree of D. D. on Rev. Joseph Muenscher, Ohio; of LL. D. on George P. Williams, professor of mathematics in Michigan university, and on Edward C. Ross, professor of mathematics in the free academy of the city of New York

HAMILTON COLLEGE.-The commencement exercises were on Wednesday the 25th of July. The degree of A. B. was conferred on forty-seven young gentlemen of the graduating class, and the degree of A.M. on fifteen. The degree of D. D. was conferred upon Rev. M. L. P. Thompson, of Buffalo, N. Y.; Rev. M. N. McLaren, of Brooklyn, N. Y.; and Rev. Geo. Rees, of Fishguard, South Wales. The degree of LL. D. was conferred on Hon. Samuel Beardsley, of Utica, N. Y. Rev. Dr. Sprague, of Albany, delivered an address to the literary societies.

WATERVILLE COLLEGE, (Baptist,) Waterville, Me., Aug. 8.-More than twenty graduates. The literary fraternity was addressed by the Rev. Dr. Caruthers, of Portland, Me., and the Enosophian Society by the Rev. Theodore Parker, of Boston. G. Saxe, Esq., of Vermont, also delivered a poern. Honorary degree of D. D. conferred on Rev. S. Peck, of Boston, and Prof. E. B. Smith, of the New Hampton seminary, N. H.

BROWN UNIVERSITY. On Wednesday last this college celebrated its eightieth anniversary commencement. On Tuesday morning the Phi Beta Kappa society held its annual meeting. The oration before the Philomenian and United Brothers society was delivered by the Rev. E. H. Chapin, of New York.

TRINITY COLLEGE, (Episcopal,) Hartford, Conn., August 2.-Honorary degree of A. M. conferred on Rev. W. S. Bartlett, Chelsea, Mass., Rev. Ralph Hoyt, New York, and H. S. Sandford, Esq., of the American legation, Prussia. Hon. degree of LL.D. on Hon. Isaac F. Redfield, judge of the supreme court of Vermont.

WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY, (Methodist,) Middletown, Conn,, August 1.-Graduates thirty-one. Honorary degree of D. D. on Rev. Simeon North, LL.D., president of Hamilton college.

DICKINSON COLLEGE, (Methodist,) Carlisle, Pa., July 12.-Oration before the Belles Lettres Society, by Job R. Tyson, Esq., of Philadelphia. The degree of A. B. was conferred on twenty-one individuals, one of whom belonged to the class of 1848.

GRANVILLE COLLEGE, (Baptist,) Granville, O., July 18.-Honorary degree of D. D. on Rev. R. W. Cushman, Washington city, LL. D. on Thomas Corwin. WABASH COLLEGE, (Presbyterian,) Crawfordsville, Ind., July 19.-Graduates eight. Honorary degree of D. D. on Rev. John Blackburn, pastor of Maberly Chapel, Pentonville, London.

MARIETTA COLLEGE, (Presbyterian and Congregational,) Marietta, Ohio, July 26.-Graduates fourteen. Degree of A.M. was conferred on seven of the alumni. CENTENARY COLLEGE, (Methodist,) Jackson, La., July 20.-Graduates three.

EXTENT OF THE BRITISH COLONIES.

(From a Lecture by Rev. Edward Bickersteth.)

"The colonial empire which God has given to this country is unparalleled in the history of all nations. The four chief empires that have prevailed over the earth, in connexion with the church of God-Chaldean, Persian, Grecian, and Roman-had an exceedingly contracted dominion in comparison with that which Britain now possesses.

"The Spanish, Portuguese, French, Dutch, Danish, and other nations have established colonies; but no other nation has now an extent of colonial empire to be compared with that of Great Britain.

"The British colonies, in the remarkable providence of God, have been acquired since the Reformation, during the period from the reign of Elizabeth to the present day.

"In Europe, besides the British and Channel Isles, we have Heligoland, Gibraltar, Malta, and the Ionian Islands. In Africa, we have Sierra Leone, Cape Coast, the Ascension, St. Helena, the Cape of Good Hope, the Mauritius, the Sechelles, and Aden; in Asia, the vast continent of Hindoostan, with mighty annexed possessions. We have also Penang, Malacca, and Singapore, and Borneo. In Australia and New Zealand, new empires are rising up under the sway of the British crown. In North and South America, in the western hemisphere, we have a widely separated dominion, extending from our remote possession of the Falkland Isles, by British Guayana and the West India islands, to our wide-spread territories in North America. No other kingdom has such a dominion influencing every part of the world. It embraces a population of above 130,000,000 subjects, while probably 50,000,000 more are under our influence.

"The population of our colonies, apart from Hindoostan, is as follows, by returns to Parliament in 1842 :

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Thus, taking the population of the earth at 1,000,000,000, nearly one-seventh of its population are our fellow-subjects, besides the vast numbers more or less under our influence.

"The Roman colonies under that fourth empire were the germs of the civilization of northern and western Europe. May the British colonies be the germs, not only of the civilization, but of the Christianizing of all heathen countries." (From another source we have obtained the amount of expenditure incurred in the maintenance of these vast possessions

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On the average of the last fifteen years, the direct cost of the colonies to Great Britain, under the four heads of civil, naval, military, and extraordinary expenditure, had amounted to at least £4,000,000 a year, exclusive of the sum paid for emancipating slaves. Last year the military force in the colonies consisted, in all, of 45,000 men of all ranks. These troops were scattered about in various stations over 37 colonies. The storehouses of these stations contained stores of the estimated value of £2,500,000, a sufficient amount of stores, if they did not

perish of themselves, for about 20 years' consumption during peace. In most of these stations considerable sums have been annually expended in fortifications and other ordnance works, and the total sum expended upon them in the course of the nineteen years from 1829 to 1847 had amounted to £3,500,000. For instance, during that period, the government had expended in North American ordnance works in all about £1,300,000.

EDUCATION IN IRELAND.-An appendix to the fifteenth report of the Irish commissioners of national education has just been published, showing the state of the schools in connexion with the board for the year 1848. It appears from this document that there has been a steady annual increase in the number of scholars from the institution of the schools in 1833 till now: the numbers in the first year being 107,042 in 789 schools; in 1847, 402,632 scholars in 3825 schools; while last year there were 507,469 scholars in 4109. This shows an increase in 1848 over 1847 of 104,837 scholars and 312 schools; but in point of fact the new schools taken into connexion with the board amount to 426; the difference being caused by the fact that 114 old schools were struck off the rolls in the course of the year. Of these 426 new schools, 146 are situated in Ulster, 114 in Munster, 104 in Leinster, and 62 in Connaught. Of the 114 schools struck off the roll, it appears that in comparatively few cases was the removal caused by the violation of the commissioners' rules. In most of them the schools appear to have been permanently closed, and in several the reason assigned is the inefficiency of the teacher. There are 50 agricultural schools in connexion with the board, of which eight model agricultural schools are in operation, and 21 in course of building, while 21 ordinary agricultural schools are in operation.

POPULATION OF LONDON.-The number of deaths registered in London during a week in September last was 3,183; that is equal to 454 every day, 19 every hour, and one person every three minutes. This may appear very alarming to some readers, but they must bear in mind that the vast extent and population of the metropolis, London and its surrounding districts, contains nearly 3,000,000 persons. If this immense number of persons were placed in a line, at a distance of 14 yards apart, they would reach to the extent of 25,000 miles, or more than the circumference of the globe; so that if persons died at the above rate, viz., one every three minutes, and allowing 1000 births every week, it would then be 26 years before all the people in London were extinct.

SHOE BUSINESS IN LYNN.-The shoe business is the life of Lynn. Only women's, misses' and children's shoes are made here. Engaged in this business there are of manufacturers, or men who "carry on" the business, 78; of cutters, or men who "cut out" the shoes, 175; of men and boys employed in making shoes, 2158; of men and boys so employed, but living out of town, 900; of women and girls employed in binding shoes, 4925; of the same so employed and living out of town, 1600; making of employees an aggregate of 10,058. The number of men and boys employed in making shoes is more than seventy per cent. larger now than it was in 1842. The increase of the number of women and girls employed in binding shoes has, we presume, been correspondingly great. But it should be stated that the shoe business in 1842 was unusually depressed; that much less of it was done during the last than will probably be done during the present year. The number of pairs of shoes made during the last year was 3,190,000; the number purchased from other towns was 350,000; making in all 3,540,000 pairs. The cost of the materials of these $1,435,545; that of making them $957,030; making the cost of the 3,540,000 pairs of shoes to have been $2,392,575. The cost of making shoes now is about one-sixth less than it was a dozen years ago.-Lynn Pioneer.

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(ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS.)

LEGAL REFORM IN THE STATE OF NEW YORK.

(BY A MEMBER OF THE NEW YORK BAR.)

THE late movements in the state of New York to effect a reform in the practice and pleadings, and a codification of the law, have excited general attention and interest, and produced a desire for information on the subject in other states. The object of these remarks is, to gratify that desire as far as may be practicable, by a general

account of the matter.

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The state of New York was the first among the states of this Union, to attempt the reduction into a systematic form of the various statutes which had passed her legislature, to simplify their language, to supply omissions, and conform them to the expositions of the courts, or to correct those expositions, when they departed from the intent of the statutes. In 1825, the legislature committed this work to John Duer, Benjamin F. Butler, and Henry Wheaton. The latter being appointed Chargé des affaires to Denmark, in the spring of 1827, resigned his place, and John C. Spencer was appointed. This Board continued in the commission until the work was completed. But in consequence of the engagements of Mr. Duer, the third and fourth parts were prepared by the other members, aided by his occasional advice. These facts are stated in the preface to the first edition. Two special sessions of the legislature were held in 1827 and 1828, to consider the reports and bills presented by the legislature, and the whole was completed by the 1st of January, 1829. The work consisted of four parts, arranged substantially according to Blackstone's divisions, which, indeed, were formed like those in the Institutes of Justinian. Each of these parts were divided into chapters, titles, articles, and sections, so that all the statutory law on a given subject was collected in its appropriate place. Technical phraseology was rejected, except in the names of process, provisos were discarded, sections were broken up so as to express a single idea; and a plain, simple, yet flowing language was employed, calculated to render clear and explicit the enactments upon the most abstruse subject.

The completion of this great work was hailed with the highest satisfaction by the liberal and enlightened in this country and in England. It is said that Lord Brougham and other lawyers of the first VOL. III. SEPT., 1849.

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