Divine Agency necessary to the Motion of the Planets.

here its effects are always harmless, and often salutary, as these have little to do with reason or moral convictions, and may be safely conceded to the received opinions of society. But when religion, moral feeling, and the sacred ties of social duty, are concerned, ridicule is out of place; it may be the pander of vice, but it never can be made the handmaid of virtue.

DIVINE AGENCY CONSTANTLY NECESSARY ample, in which a quantity, from being

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Divine Agency necessary to the Motion of the Planets.

superior to the double sine: because, if it did, it would inevitably cause the planets to fly off from the sun to the greatest possible distance, without any possibility of their ever returning towards it. For, the tangent, once become superior to the double sine, continues for ever to increase its superiority. If then, the centrifugal force become superior to the centripetal force, in the same manner it must continue for ever increasing its superiority over the centripetal force, as the tangent does over the double sine: and the constant increase of the centrifugal force must be attended with the constant increase of distance. So that Mr. Birt's scheme would (if true) speedily put a complete period to the elliptical motion of the planets, and cause them to run lawless through the sky. But it is certain that the planets continue to revolve in elliptical orbits therefore it is certain that they are not directed by any centrifugal and centripetal forces which are influenced by, or subject to, the order of the tangent rising above the double sine: for, if they were under any such influence, or subject to any such order, their elliptical motions could not possibly continue. As they are not under any influence, nor subject to any order of the kind, Mr. Birt's argument, that the centrifugal force will rise superior to the centripetal, because the tangent rises superior to the double sine, is perfectly inconclusive, and consequently proves nothing.

Respecting my third proposition, which Mr. Birt considers as false, it may be observed, that its truth is owned and attested by a strenuous advocate of the very system which I oppose. It has already been shown that the proposition in question runs thus:

The centrifugal force, and the sun's attraction, can never become perfectly equal, without causing the planet to move in a perfect circle.

Now P. Kelly, LL.D. in speaking of centrifugal and centripetal forces, says expressly,-If these forces were equal, the orbits of the heavenly bodies would be circular.* This is granting the very thing I contend for, and positively affirming all that my third proposition contains; namely, that an equality of these forces must necessarily produce a circular motion, and not an elliptical one.

But to treat more particularly of these forces, James Ferguson, F. R. S. who is an advocate for the Newtonian system,

Nautical Astronomy, p. 96.

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430

endeavours to explain the mode of the
planets' motions round the sun, by exhi
biting some movements on the whirling
table; for which purpose he connects, by
a wire, a ball weighing six ounces, with
another ball weighing one ounce and
having fixed a fork in the centre of the
table, he places the wire thereon, in such
a manner that the balls may exactly balance
each other, which will be when the centre
of gravity between them in the wire rests
upon the fork. And this centre of gravity
is as much nearer to the centre of the large
ball, than to the centre of the small one,
as the large one is heavier than the small
one, allowing for the weight of the wire
on each side of the fork. The machine is
then put in motion by turning the winch;
and the balls go round their common
centre of gravity, keeping their balance,
because neither will allow the other to fly
off with it. After illustrating his opera
tions, by referring to a proper figure, he
says,
"This shews that the sun and pla
nets must all move round the common
centre of gravity of the whole system, in
order to preserve that just balance which
takes place among them. For, the planets
being as inactive and dead as the above
balls, they could no more have put them-
selves into motion than these balls can;
nor have kept in their orbits, without being
balanced at first with the greatest degree
of exactness upon their common centre of
gravity, by the Almighty hand that made
them, and put them in motion."

It may be here remarked, that if there were only one planet revolving round the sun, or if there were many planets thus in motion without ever changing their positions in respect of one another, what is here advanced would seem sufficient to account for circular motion, (though not for elliptical.) But if the positions of the planets be once altered, the whole theory must be totally deranged. In the above experiments, while the balls continue precisely of the same weight, or in the same proportion to one another, they will maintain a just balance, and continue a regular motion as long as the winch is turned: but if the weight of the one be in the least degree diminished, and the weight of the other increased in the smallest measure, a new centre of gravity must be found, which must be proportionably nearer the ball where the increase has taken place: this will be effected by moving the wire, and placing the ball with the augmented weight nearer to the fork than it was be

Select Lectures, p. 38, 39.

431

Abolition of Human Sacrifices in India.

432

fore. If this be not done, the balance will round which the whole solar system is soon be lost, and a regular motion will no supposed to revolve, this studious and longer continue; because one ball over- | laborious teacher, with all his experiments, balancing the other, must inevitably carry it is compelled to own that the Almighty off from the table. hand of God must be still employed in guiding the sun in its course, and causing it to approach nearer to the centre of gravity, or to recede farther from it, as the planets change their positions: and that, should the guiding hand of Deity be once withdrawn, the whole system would inevitably be destroyed.

Suppose, then, that in the beginning, the Creator of all things, had balanced the heavenly bodies in such a manner as the above balls are balanced;-suppose that the sun, and the planets adjacent, were to the planets opposite as six to one, that proportion would not long continue: for, in consequence of the planets' motions, those adjacent to the sun would sometimes be diminished and sometimes increased, which must be attended with the augmentation and diminution, in a reciprocal manner, of those on the opposite side. By this change the first balance would be lost, and they must be balanced again by placing the sun nearer to the common centre of gravity when the increase was in the adjacent planets; and placing the sun farther from that centre, when the increase was in the planets opposite thereto. This regulation of the sun and planets must necessarily require the constant interference of some intelligent agent, in possession of power sufficient for the performance of this important work.

All this appeared so evident to Ferguson himself, that he was constrained to allow it in the most express terms: for he says, "But after all this nice adjustment, it appears evident that the Deity cannot withdraw his regulating hand from his works, and leave them to be solely governed by the laws which he has impressed upon them at first. For if he should once leave them so, their order would in time come to an end; because the planets must necessarily disturb one another's motions by their mutual attractions, when several of them are in the same quarter of the heavens, as is often the case; and then, as they attract the sun more toward that quarter than when they are in a manner dispersed equally around him, if he was not at that time made to describe a portion of a larger circle round the common centre of gravity, the balance would then be immediately destroyed; and as it could never restore itself again, the whole system would begin to fall together, and would in time unite in a mass at the sun.*

Thus, after attempting to explain the centrifugal and centripetal forces, and to account for the motions of the planets upon these principles;--after having treated of the common centre of gravity,

* Select Lectures, p. 40.

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Now I would ask, If it be allowed that the sun is constantly and necessarily guided by the immediate hand of Almighty God; why may we not allow that the planets also are subject to the same guidance?

What reason can be assigned, for confessing the absolute necessity of an immediate divine agency in the one case, and denying it in the other?

To conclude: If the aspects of the planets continued always precisely the same as they were at the creation, and if they revolved round the sun in circular orbits, as the balls go round on the whirling table; the centrifugal and centripetal forces might be well admitted as the principal cause in directing their motion: but, as it is known that their aspects constantly change, and that they revolve in elliptical orbits, I must ascribe their regular movements to the immediate and constant guidance of that Almighty hand which formed them, and put them first into

ADDRESS OF THE SOCIETY ESTABLISHED
IN COVENTRY, NOV. 25, 1828, for the
ABOLITION OF HUMAN SACRIFICES IN
INDIA.

THE existence of human sacrifices in the
nineteenth century of the Christian era,
and in a part of the British dominions, is a
fact equally interesting to the politician, the
philosopher, and the philanthropist. The
nature and extent of these sacrifices in
British India, present 'a tale whose lightest
word might harrow up the soul.'

These sacrifices are perpetrated by the Suttee (the burning or burying alive of Hindoo widows)-Infanticide-Cruelties to the Sick on the banks of the river Ganges—and

433

Abolition of Human Sacrifices in India.

Pilgrimages to various holy places. By the practice of the Suttee, hundreds of disconsolate widows (some of them mere children) are hurried to the funeral pile, and burnt with the remains of their husbands, a few hours after their decease. Infanticide chiefly prevails in Guzerat, under the Bombay Presidency, and dooms numbers of infants to death at the very dawn of life. The cruelties to the sick are exercised on the banks of the Ganges, which is considered a goddess, and numberless victims of superstition are annually sacrificed. At the temple of Juggernaut in Orissa, Gya, and Allahabad, a tax is levied on the pilgrims, and multitudes are allured to these shrines of idolatry, (made more celebrated by British connexion with them,) many of whom never survive the miseries of pilgrimage. How are "their sorrows multiplied, that hasten after another god !"

The extent of these evils is very appalling. The number of Suttees in the Bengal Presidency, from 1815 to 1826, was as follows:

Total, in twelve years, 7,156 widows burned or buried alive! In the Madras and Bombay Presidencies, the official statements for nearly the same period, 635; grand total, 6,632.-(See Suttees' Cry to Britain, second edition, p. 13.)

Two Hon. East India Proprietors, urging the abolition of this murderous custom, declare "Probably no day passes, on which some victims are not sacrificed to this horrid practice in India, and more especially in the Bengal Provinces." (Parliamentary Papers on Hindoo Immolations, vol. v. p. 32.)

No correct idea can be formed of the number of murders occasioned by Suttees, Infanticide, Cruelties to the Sick, &c. The late Rev. W. Ward, in his valuable work, "View of the History, Literature, and Mythology of the Hindoos," conjectures "the number of victims annually sacrificed on the altars of the Indian gods" as follows:

"Widows burnt alive in all Hindostan 5,000
Pilgrims perishing on the roads and at holy
places

Persons drowning themselves in the Ganges,
or buried or burnt alive

Children immolated, including those of the
Rajpoots

Sick persons, whose death is hastened on
the banks of the Ganges

(Vol. ii. p. 323.)

4,000

500

500

500

10,500 By official documents laid before Parliament from 1821 to 1828, it appears, that 125.-VOL. XI.

434

the average number of Suttees is about 700 annually, but this does not include those that take place in the tributary, allied, and independent States, which are not subject to British regulations. When Row Lacka, grandfather of the present chief of Cutch, died, fifteen concubines burned on his funeral pile. A recent account from the Hill Country states, that twenty-eight females were burnt with the remains of a Rajah. Probably half or one-third the number of Suttees in this estimate may be nearer the truth, but after the greatest possible reduction, the numerous and various kinds of murders in British India, cry, as though an angel spoke,'—-O Britain, spread thy shield over those who "are drawn unto death, and ready to be slain." Say, "Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed."

That the British Government in India is able to abolish these murderous practices in its own dominions, appears from the testimony of many of its functionaries, given in the six volumes of parliamentary papers on Hindoo Immolations.-An intelligent magistrate in Calcutta observes, respecting the Suttee:"They will believe that we abhor the usage, when we prohibit it in toto by an absolute and peremptory law. They have no idea that we might not do so with the most perfect safety. They conceive our power and our will to be commensurate." (Parl. papers as above, vol. ii. p. 67.)

Infanticide at Saugur was prohibited by the Marquis Wellesley, in 1802; the Brahmun has been made amenable to the inviolable rights of justice; various beneficial alterations have been made in the judicial proceedings of the Govt, &c.; and why should Britain wait for the slow process of education and civilization to remove these evils, when one mild effort of her conquering hand might free the earth from these detested blots?

The importance of the expression of public opinion to accomplish the abolition of Suttees, (and consequently of other sanguinary practices in Hindostan,) is thus stated by a respectable East India Proprietor, in a letter to the secretary, dated Oct. 11, 1828:-" With regard to the Suttee question, I believe that I expressed to you, some time back, my despair of any material alteration in that horrid practice for many years to come, unless the religious part of the public shall come forward in a manner so decided as to induce attention from his Majesty's government and from the house of commons. They seem ignorant, notwithstanding the papers printed by parliament, and other publications, that

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The Architecture of the Dark Ages.