My observations and my reflections, then, lead to this conclusion--that, whatever exceptional cases there may be, the great tide of advancement rolls forward in ever-growing strength;--that the course of the Divine government is
From seeming evil still educing good, And BETTER thence again, and BETTER still, In infinite progression;--
that the human family, taken as a whole, is constantly improving;--that every generation is wiser and better than that which preceded it;--that the savage and least improvable races will continue to be supplanted or absorbed by those of a higher intelligence;--that the semi-civilized will only be perpetuated by contact with a greater civilization, which will raise them in the scale of humanity. A middle race, such as China contributes in the shape of emigrating millions, is wonderfully advancing the work of civilization. The process is everywhere visible in the remoter Eastern world. The mestizo descendants of Chinese fathers and Indian mothers form incomparably the most promising portion of the Philippine population. In Siam, Burmah, Cochin China, profitable employments are mainly absorbed by Chinese settlers. In Netherlands India they are almost invariably prosperous. To them Sumatra, Borneo, and the other islands, must look, and not to the indigenous peoples, for any considerable development of their resources. In our Straits Archipelago they have superseded the Klings in all the most beneficial fields of labour, as the Klings had previously superseded the less industrious Malays. The progress of the higher capabilities, and the depression of the lower, may be traced in the extinction of so many rude languages and the spread of those which represent civilization in its most advanced stages. It may be foretold, I think, without presumption, that in some future time the number of tongues spoken on the face of the globe will be reduced to a very small amount. In the course of a century many a local idiom utterly perishes, and is invariably replaced by one of more extensive range and greater utility. When it is remembered that the written language of China is understood by one-third of the human race; that probably more than one-tenth of mankind have an acquaintance with spoken English--the language which has far more widely planted roots, and more extensive ramifications, than any other; when the daily decay of the provincial dialects of France, Germany, Spain, and Italy is watched, good ground will be discovered for the anticipation that many of the existing instruments for oral communication will be extinguished, the number of dead languages will be much augmented, and of living proportionally decreased.