gem of Christian biography, unique and interesting in both form and matter. MISCELLANEOUS. MR. AMBROSE'S LETTERS ON THE REBELLION.*-This small but most timely and able volume, comprises ten letters contributed to the National Intelligencer during the Rebellion, over the Nom de plume of Paul Ambrose. To these are added a short letter by way of conclusion, entitled Peace. The first letter was written January, 1863. They contain by far the ablest exhibition of the causes and the early movements which led to the war which we have seen. This exhibition is altogether the more valuable because it is condensed and temperate. There is no heat of manner and no violence of denunciation. The author simply records opinions, expectations, plans, and events, which were known to himself, or for the truth of which he has decisive evidence. The treatment of the subject is admirably simple. Indeed, it is a matter of wonder that the author should have been able to confine himself to so few facts and considerations where so many were pressing upon his attention, and were clamoring for utterance. It is more marvelous, still, that he should have been able to suppress all violence of feeling, when the occasions for the indulgence and expressions of it were so frequent. As an argument against the movement of the South, whether the ground of justification was the rightfulness of "secession," the justifiableness of "revolution," or the necessity of "rebellion," it is unanswerable. The value and usefulness of these letters have not ceased with the conclusion of the war. We could wish that hundreds and thousands of copies might be circulated at the South. They could not fail to be useful now that the history of the war is reviewed in the light of sober reflection. Might not the "Southern Aid Society" do efficient service by sending it freely through the field of their labors ? MR. BUCHANAN'S ADMINISTRATION ON THE EVE OF THE REBELLION.t-In entire contrast with Mr. Ambrose's letters is the de * Mr. Ambrose's Letters on the Rebellion. By JOHN P. KENNEDY. New York: Hurd & Houghton. 1865. 24mo. pp. 246. New Haven: T. H Pease. $1.50. the Eve of the Rebellion. New York: Mr. Buchanan's Administration on Price $2.50 fense of "Mr. Buchanan's administration," by Mr. Buchanan himself. That Mr. Buchanan is the author would be evident if it were not avowed. Indeed, no other human being is capable of writing such a production. Smooth, specious, apparently logical, deprecatory of harsh judgment from man, and solemnly appealing to Heaven, the accused proceeds to demonstrate that he could have done nothing more to avert the crisis than he in fact performed. The crisis was inevitable, for had not Helper prophesied it in that dreadful book called "The Impending Crisis;" and had not Seward declared that an "irrepressible conflict" had begun; and did not John Brown invade Virginia with five white men and seventeen negroes; and is it not in the nature of fanaticism never to go backward? Moreover, did not the heresy of secession originate in New England; and was not Calhoun provoked to adopt the doctrine by the tariff so unrighteously imposed upon the South by the Anti-Democratic Party? When Mr. Lincoln was elected, was not Mr. Buchanan rendered impotent to save and defend the country by the failure of Congress to provide him with either men or money ? Was not the South encouraged to secede by the editor of the New York Tribune, and by General Scott himself? Would not Mr. Buchanan have gladly relieved Major Anderson, had there been troops in sufficient force at his command? In short, did he not do his utmost to avert the crisis and to save the nation? This is no joke, nor series of jokes, but serious argument, as we read this volume! Grant the premises which the writer lays down, and the conclusion is inevitable. Admit the facts which he recites, and admit that there are no other facts, which might have been, but were not adduced, and the case is made out. The most material of these facts that are omitted is the fundamental and all comprehensive one, that Mr. Buchanan allowed the leaders of his party to assure the South of the practical sympathy of their adherents at the North, whatever they might do or dare. After the acts of secession were passed, and Fort Sumter was a beleaguered fortress, and negotiations were attempted between the real government of the country and the insurgents, the South was encouraged by the confident expectation that it had only to persevere, and help would come in the way of compromise. We do not assert that Mr. Buchanan was the medium through which such assurances were conveyed, but we do assert that to the right understanding of "the history of Mr. Buchanan's administration on the Eve of the Rebellion." the fact that there was on the part of the South a confident reliance upon the sympathy and assistance of the friends of Mr. Buchanan at the North is quite as material as were the vagaries of Mr. Greeley and of General Scott. Mr. Buchanan gives his tacit confirmation of the truth of these expectations by the bitter complaints which he makes that the requisite compromises were not proffered through the impracticability of the leaders of the Republican party. He omits to mention that the Democratic party itself failed to fulfill the pledge of its leaders when the crisis arrived, and the bombardment of Fort Sumter fired the Northern as well as the Southern heart. It is hard to resist the refrain that is ever recurring in this appeal to our charity, "Pity the sorrows of a poor old man ;" but we have no room for pity to the man whose connivance with evil precipitated the rebellion, and whose very argument for our charity so disingenuously suppresses the truth. PERRY'S ELEMENTS OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.*-This is a neatly prepared text-book in Political Economy, which seems, also, well adapted to be used as a manual for the general reader. The method seems to us to be very good, and the handling of the proverbially abstract and difficult conceptions with which this science concerned, to be uncommonly successful. The author aims to give a clear understanding of the subject-matter, by starting from ground which is familiar to every reader and ascending by easy steps to that which is more recondite and obscure. His style is familiar, sometimes colloquial to excess, but usually sufficiently elevated. It is not diffuse nor rhetorical-falling into no weakness of this kind. but is compact, direct, and manly. The illustrations are ample, and are drawn from sources that are intelligible and interesting. He does not fear to apply the resuls of his theories to matters with which we are most intimately concerned. He discusses commercial crises and explains the causes of the crises of 1887, '47, and '57,-of course upon his own theory. He discusses * Elements of Political Economy. By ARTHUR LATHAM PERRY, Professor of History and Political Economy in Williams College. New York: Charles Scribner & Co. 1866. 12mo. pp. 449. New Haven: Judd & White. Price $3.50. Free Trade, and the principles of Protection, and reviews the Hamilton Tariff of 1789, the Calhoun Tariff of 1816, the Clay Tariff of 1824, the Tariff of Abominations of 1828, the Compromise Tariff of 1833, the Whig Tariff of 1842, the Walker Tariff of 1846, the Tariff of 1857, and the Morrill Tariff of 1861. In all the portions of the book which we have read, he shows himself to be a clear, strong, bold, and generally sound thinker. It cannot be expected that within a science which is proverbially attenuated in its generalizations, allowing for manifold logomachies, as well as necessarily including a very wide range of variable elements as data for all its conclusions, all the doctrines of any single writer should meet with universal acceptance. We think, however, that Prof. Perry will not fail to earn the respect of those who differ from him. PLAIN TALK ON FAMILIAR SUBJECTS.*-Dr. Holland is an inde fatigable lay preacher. Whatever is his theme, he aims to be useful, and in this he is greatly to be praised. He also studies to be intelligible, and in this he succeeds better than many clerical preachers. He also seeks to know the condition of his audience. He aims first of all to be en rapport with them, to understand their prejudices, their want of culture, their false culture, and their pretended culture. He is thoroughly a man of the American people, and maintains a kind of dogged determination to remain such. He utters much commonplace, yet always with a certain measure of liveliness, some platitudes, yet uniformly with something reedeeming in them. But he has the ear of large masses of men, and he aims to use his power over them for their good. In this volume he gives the public a series of his Popular Lectures, which having served their end in being often pronounced and heard, are now published to be read. The themes are Self-Help, Fashion, Work and Play, Working and Shirking, High Life and Low Life, The National Heart, Cost and Compensation, Art and Life, The Popular Lecture. * Plain Talk on Familiar Subjects. A series of Popular Lectures. By J. G. HOLLAND. New York: C. Scribner & Co. 1866. 12mo. pp. 355. New Haven: Judd & White. Price $1.75. METHOD OF PHILOLOGICAL STUDY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE.* -We omitted in our last to notice this essay towards a plan or method for the grammatical and philological study of the English language. It is very cleverly done, and ought to be greeted most cordially by all who have at heart this very important but sadly neglected branch of study. It consists of a series of selections from Bunyan, Milton, Shakespeare, Spencer, and Chaucer, with a very copious list of questions at the foot of each page,—the answers to which are to be sought for in the books of referer.ce whose titles are given Prominent among these are the larger and abridged English grammars by Professor Fowler. We are sorry that we have no better grammars for philological uses than these, but we must be content with such as we have. These exercises are progressive, being in the first place, grammatical, as are the extracts from Bunyan, and at last, phonetic, orthographic, historical, and critical of the text as in the extracts from Chaucer. This is a very good beginning. The proper use to be made of it is to introduce it into schools and colleges. This will prepare the way for a more complete text-book, with more varied references. A SUMMER IN SKYE. †-Since the days of Dr. Johnson and Boswell, there has not been much to turn the attention of the literary world to the island of Skye! But the mists have been lifted a little, and Skye has been visited once more! Mr. Alexander Smith, once rather questionably known as "the poet,"-has written this very attractive book to tell us that the Cuchullins are still as wild and beautiful as ever, and that there is at least one corner of the British Islands yet left where there is a people living in true Gaelic simplicity. But the traveler who would verify his description, and see the country of the Isle-men in the light of Ossian must hasten his steps, for, as Mr. Smith says of the famous poems of Walter Scott, next year this volume will be "grated down into a guide book," and Loch Snizort and Duntulme will * Method of Philological Study of the English Language. By FRANCIS A. MARCH, Professor of the English Language, &c., in Fayette College, Easton, Pa. New York: Harper & Brothers. 1865. 18mo. pp. 118. A Summer in Skye. By ALEXANDER SMITH. Boston: Ticknor & Fields. 16mo. pp. 423. New Haven: T. H. Pease. Price $1.75. |