the winds. And a second Missouri Compromise would, if possible, be still more discrediting to the Republicans than the abrogation of the principle altogether. After the disgraceful failure of the first Compromise; after the proof thus given that at the first convenient opportunity all such compromises would be coolly set aside; after the experience the Republicans have gained that Slavery-extension is greatly to be dreaded in the South, but not in the North, and that if they are to limit the area of Slavery at all, they must especially guard the power to do so in the South,-it would be pure political suicide to make any concession on this head. Of course no active steps can be taken while the Republicans remain in a minority in both Houses of Congress. But inaction does not imply concession. The only danger the party has to fear is disunion. And it would on every account be far better to permit the secession of South Carolina, and of all who are inclined to join her,—to let them try the exceedingly dangerous experiment of setting up for themselves,-than to compromise all the future action of the party by cutting the ground of principle on which they stand from under them. Mr. Buchanan has said in his Message, that he shall not employ force to prevent secession. Mr. Lincoln need only follow out the same policy, and instruct his followers, while attempting no active measures, so long as they continue in a minority, to make no damaging concessions. Whenever that minority is turned into a majority, more ought to be done. And the abolition of Slavery in the Congressional district of Columbia, as it is the mildest and most unexceptionable, ought probably to be the first step. A heavy responsibility now rests upon the Republican party; and the eyes of all Europe are on them. The recent Presidential election may, we may well hope, be a turning-point in the history of the Union, if that party are courageous and firm in the discharge of their political duty. For the first time, since the dissolution of the old Federalist party of General Hamilton, has a political organisation in the United States been explicitly based on a weighty political principle. For the first time since the declaration of Independence, has it been based on one that is not only weighty, but noble, capable of arousing the deepest enthusiasm in the popular mind. Let the Republicans remember that they are the servants of that principle, not its patrons, and have neither power nor right to compromise it as they please. If they wish to wipe out the disgraceful stains which the administration of Polk, of Fillmore, of Pierce, and of Buchanan have left upon the history of the Union; if they wish to redeem their country from the discredit which the annexation of Texas, the Mexican war, the civil war in Kansas, the attempts on Cuba, Mexico, and Nicaragua, the official blindness of the Executive to the Slave-trade, the conspiracy to legalise Slavery in the Territories, and the gross corruption of recent governments, have attached to the Government of the United States,-let them remember that success, least of all speedy success, is not the touchstone of true service; that they will have done far more for the nation by keeping themselves perfectly free to use every constitutional power which the Union possesses for the insulation of Slavery, even though years should elapse before they can take a single effective step for that end, -than if, by patching up a shameful reconciliation with the Southern States, they win for Mr. Lincoln the questionable praise of being quite as safe a President as Mr. Buchanan, and the unquestionable shame of having sacrificed, for the sake of an unreal armistice, the only condition which can ever secure a genuine Union,-which can ever cause the States of America to be United at heart as well as in name,-which can ever cement them by any deeper tie than the coarse compromises of external interests and common fears. BOOKS OF THE QUARTER SUITABLE FOR READING SOCIETIES. The Conduct of Life. By Ralph Waldo Emerson. Author's Edition. Smith and Elder. [The nine essays which compose this work by no means deserve the sweeping censure they have received. They are chaotic, and their philosophy, or pseudo-philosophy, is unsocial, but the shrewd rugged Emersonian thought is not enfeebled.] The Genesis of the Earth and of Man; or, the History of Creation, and the Antiquity and Races of Mankind. Edited by Reginald Stuart Poole. Williams and Norgate. [The object of this volume is to establish that the discoveries of geological and paleontological science are not inconsistent with Scripture. The author believes that the first chapters of Genesis present a series of visions, in which successive epochs of creative power are exhibited to the eye of the seer. He also believes that the earth has been peopled from two separate stocks, and that there is distinct indication of this in the Bible. These conclusions are defended with much learning and some ingenuity.] The Limits of Exact Science, as applied to History: an Inaugural Lecture delivered before the University of Cambridge. By the Rev. Charles Kingsley. Macmillan. [One of Mr. Kingsley's ablest and finest essays. It is a protest against the attempt of the modern philosophies of history to teach us to look at "human beings rather as things than as persons," and at abstract laws "rather as persons than as things."] On the Origin and Succession of Life on the Earth. By John Phillips, M.A. With Illustrations. Macmillan. Romance of Natural History. By P. H. Gosse. Nisbet. History of the United Netherlands, from the Death of William the Silent to the Death of Olden Barneveld. By J. Lothrop Motley. 2 vols. Murray. Debates on the Grand Remonstrance, 1641: with an Introductory Essay on English Freedom under Plantagenet and Tudor Sovereigns. By John Forster. Murray. History of the Venetian Republic. By W. G. Hazlitt. Smith and Elder. The Origin and History of Language, based on Modern Researches. By F. W. Farrer, M.A. Murray. The Wit and Wisdom of the Rev. Sydney Smith: a Selection of the most memorable Passages in his Writings and Conversation. Longmans. [A good selection, making a most amusing book.] Memoir of George Wilson, M.D. By his Sister, Jessie Aitken. Macmillan. Books of the Quarter suitable for Reading-Societies. 273 The Progress of Nations; or, the Principles of National Development in their Relation to Statesmanship: a Study in Analytical History. Longmans. [An extremely interesting and thoughtful treatise, devoted to the same subject which occupied the speculations of Vico and Montesquieu, but written from a different point of view.] Memorials, Personal and Historical, of Admiral Lord Gambier; with Original Letters from Lords Chatham, Nelson, Castlereagh, Mulgrave, Mr. Fox, Mr. Canning, &c. Edited from Family Papers by Lady Chatterton. 2 vols. Hurst and Blackett. Lives of the Archbishops of Canterbury, from the Mission of Augustine to the Death of Howley. By the Rev. Dr. Hook. Vol. I. Bentley. Studies from Life. By the Author of "John Halifax, Gentleman." Hurst and Blackett. [A reprint of slight and miscellaneous papers, among which are some lively and pleasant reminiscences of the author's childhood.] My Life, and what shall I do with it? A Question for Young Gentlewomen. By an Old Maid. an Old Maid. Longmans. [A sensible and thoughtful volume; full, too, of observation.] Autobiography of the Rev. Dr. Alexander Carlyle; containing Memorials of the Men and Events of his Time. [Reviewed in Article X.] Blackwood. The Story of Burnt Njal. A Translation from the Icelandic of the Njal Saga. With an Introductory Essay and Map of Iceland. By J. W. Dasent. Hamilton and Adams. Paul the Pope and Paul the Friar. By Thomas Adolphus Trollope. Chapman and Hall. Autobiography of the Earl of Dundonald. Vol. II. Bentley. Shakespere his Birthplace and its Neighbourhood. By John R. Wise. Illustrated by W. J. Linton. Smith, Elder, and Co. 1861. [This is a very beautiful book. It throws all the light on Shakespere, his life, character, and writings,-his local allusions and forms of expression,-that could be collected by a mind thoroughly acquainted with Stratford and with Warwickshire, and capable of turning this knowledge to uses both deep and graceful. It is likely to take permanent rank as the classical guide to Stratford-upon-Avon, and to be in the hands of many generations of pilgrims to that shrine.] Political Ballads of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries. Annotated by H. Walker Wilkins. Longmans. Legends and Lyrics. By Adelaide Procter. 2 vols. Bell and Daldy. A Book about Doctors. By J. C. Jeaffreson. 2 vols., with engravings. Hurst and Blackett. The Horse and his Rider. By Sir Francis B. Head, Bart. Murray. A Journey in the Back Country. By Frederick Law Olmsted. Vol. III.: "The Slave States." Sampson Low. [Reviewed in Article XI.] Recollections of the Druses, and some Notes on their Religion. By the Earl of Carnarvon. Murray. T 274 Books of the Quarter suitable for Reading-Societies. Nineteen Years in Polynesia: Missionary Life, Travels, and Researches in the Islands of the Pacific. With Illustrations. By the Rev. George Turner. Snow. [An interesting volume, full of all the excellencies, and containing some of the defects, of the evangelical missionary spirit.] A Personal Narrative of Two Years' Imprisonment in Burmah, 1824 to 1826. By Henry Gouger. Murray. [Rather out of date, but full of very painful interest.] The Discovery of Carthage. By Dr. Davis. In 3 vols. Bentley. Travels in Canada, and through the States of New York and Pennsylvania. By J. G. Kohl. Translated by Mrs. Percy Sinnett. Manwaring. Narrative of the Canadian Red-River Exploring Expedition of 1857, and of the Assinniboine and Saskatchewan Exploring Expedition of 1858. Copiously Illustrated. By Henry Youle Hind. Longmans. Two Years in Switzerland and Italy. By Frederika Bremer. Translated by Mary Howitt. 2 vols. Hurst and Blackett. [Lively and interesting, though more sentimental than is quite accordant with English taste.] Turkish Life and Character. By Walter Thornbury. 2 vols. Smith and Elder. Hopes and Fears; or, Scenes from the Life of a Spinster. By the Author of the "Heir of Redclyffe." 2 vols. J. W. Parker and Son. [Reviewed in Article IX.] Over the Cliffs. By Charlotte Chanter, Author of "Ferny Combes." 2 vols. Smith and Elder. [Somewhat unequal and inartistic, but vigorous and original; just such a novel as might have been expected from the sister of Charles and Henry Kingsley.] The Wortlebank Diary, and some Old Stories from Kathie Brande's Portfolio. By Holme Lee. 3 vols. Smith and Elder. [A reprint of short tales of different degrees of merit, strung together upon a very poor thread manufactured for the occasion.] Valentine Duval; an Autobiography. Edited by the Author of "Mary Powell." Bentley. [A curious and pleasing biography of the last century.] Orally collected, with a Trans- Popular Tales of the West Highlands. lation by J. F. Campbell. 2 vols. Lavinia. By the Author of " Dr. Antonio." 3 vols. Smith and Elder. [The first two volumes are very clever, the third iess so.] The Shadow in the House. By John Saunders, Author of "Love's Martyrdom." Lockwood and Co. [ A painfully interesting novel, with considerable ability, but a want of force.] Legends from Fairy Land. By Holme Lee. Smith and Elder. [Pleasant tales for children, but a little too symbolic. "Deeper meanings" abound, which is objectionable.] |