ENTERED according to Act of Congress, in the year 1854, by G. P. PUTNAM & CO., In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern District of New-York. W. H. TINSON, PRINTER AND STEREOTYPER, 24 Beckman Street. CLOSE OF THE FOURTH VOLUME. 10 Park Place, December 1, 1854. WITH the present Number, ends the Fourth Volume, and the second year of Putnam's Monthly. In commencing the undertaking, the Publishers were fully aware that in a time of immense intellectual activity, and in a country of great and various literary rivalry, where, in the absence of an international copyright, the choicest works of the best foreign genius are to be had for the taking, the task was not easy, of founding and sustaining a Magazine, at once universal in its sympathies, and national in its tone. The continued and increasing favor with which the Monthly has been received, is the best possible proof that the task has been in some degree fulfilled. It was certainly impossible, with any just regard to the necessary differences of thought in a country like ours, to avoid all censure in the conduct of the Magazine, because it was not possible, with an equal regard for the liberty of the author, and the good sense of the reader, to trim every article to a certain level. Yet, both in the choice of topics, and in their treatment, the Publishers are confident that no thoughtful man has found anything unjustly partisan, since both sides of all the important social, moral, and political questions which have been discussed in these pages have had an equal chance, and an impartial consideration. The New Volume of the Magazine commences under the best possible auspices. Its position is now assured. Two years have demonstrated the extent of its circle of friends, and that circle is constantly widening. The Magazine has not only the sympathy, but the actual |