the continuation of the writer's previous volume on the conversion of the pagan nations, which we noticed in the issue of the New Englander for July, 1865. The remainder of the volume is devoted to the subject which is designated in the title. The characteristics of this little work appear to be similar to those of the earlier work just mentioned. There is a great disadvantage, as respects method, in treating such themes according to the plan prescribed in the Boyle or Bampton Lectures. In place of a connected treatise, we have a series of sermons. The learning must be crowded into the notes; and yet the sermons are sermons only in name. We notice the same elegance of style in these lectures that belongs to all of his historical writings. D'AUBIGNE'S HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION IN THE TIME OF CALVIN. Vol. IV.-Dr. Merle, in the first part of this volume, resumes his account of the Reformation in England at the point where he left off in the fifth volume of his former well-known work, "The Reformation of the Sixteenth Century." The period, the history of which he now traces, is the one just after the fall and death of Wolsey, between the autumn of 1529 and the spring of 1534;the period during which the English Church resumed its independence of the papacy. Those who have read Mr. Froude's history of this period will not fail to notice the greater prominence that Dr. Merle gives to what he calls the "real Reformation" that was going on in the hearts of the English people. In fact, a marked feature of this work is the sharp distinction which is everywhere drawn between the political changes of the court and that religious movement which was in progress, which had nothing to do with the policy, the tyranny, the intrigues, and the divorce of Henry VIII. Dr. Merle sums all up in these words: "If in this matter there had been nothing more than the decision of a prince discontented with the court of Rome, a contrary decision of one of his successors might again place England under the dominion of the pontiffs; and these would be sure to spare no pains to recover the good graces of the English kings. But in despite of Henry VIII., a pure doctrine, similar to that of the apostolic times, was spreading over the different parts of the nation; a doctrine which was not only to wrest England from the Pope, but to establish in that * History of the Reformation in Europe in the time of Calvin. Vol. IV. By J. H. MERLE D'AUBIGNE, D. D. New York: Robert Carter & Brothers. 1866. 12mo. pp. 491. New Haven: F. T. Jarman. island a true Christianity-a vast evangelical propaganda which should plant the standard of God's word even at the ends of the earth." The last half of the volume is devoted to the progress of the Reformation in the city of Geneva, after its bishop-prince had fled, never to return. A fresh interest gathers around this part of the story, as we now daily watch, in our contemporary history, the declining fortunes of the temporal power of the last of the bishopprinces-the Pope in Rome. MISCELLANEOUS. STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS ON CONSTITUTIONAL AND PARTY QUESTIONS.*-We took up this book with considerable interest, expecting to find in it somewhat of the secret history of the politi cal career of Mr. Douglas, and especially of the rise and progress, decline and fall of his "great principle of Popular Sovereignty." The history of Mr. Douglas, especially during the last ten years of his life, could we get its complete revelation, must be one of the profoundest interest and value to the present and future generations of Americans. During that period, political recklessness, corruption, and crime seem to have culminated. Thirty years of rule had permanently established the slave power as the despot of the nation-the dispenser of all its power and patronage. Statesmen and politicians, and seemingly all classes among the people, were bowing before the tyrant, while imbecility and treachery, fraud, violence and corruption were bearing down everywhere, in public and in private affairs, all opposition to its haughty behests. In the midst of this whirlpool of foul waters, was Senator Douglas, now directing their movements, and now tossed upon their current, and he more than any man then living could have revealed the causes, and forces, and movements of the tide which swept on its course to secession and bloody rebellion. Much of all this we expected to find; but to our surprise there is scarcely anything of which the book tells less. It is the book of Douglas, with all of Douglas left out. Some two hundred pages of commonplace talk upon topics connected with the history and polity of the United States, such as might have been given * A brief Treatise upon Constitutional and Party Questions, and the History of Political Parties, as I received it orally from the late Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois. By. J. MADISON CUTTS, Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel, U. S. A. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 1866. by a father to his son of twelve years old, is about all that the volume contains. There is indeed a chapter on the KansasNebraska Bill, and one on Popular Sovereignty, but the former contains little more than would be found on that subject in any ordinary school history, and the other gives a mere explanation of the term without any discussion of the principle. On the whole, we find ourselves quite at a loss to account for the publication of the book at all; yet we confess to a feeling of relief that if it disappoints us in furnishing nothing new to the political history of the country, it yet adds nothing to the load which already weighs so heavily on Mr. Douglas's name. The best service his friends can do to his memory is not to write books, or build monuments, or deliver orations to draw attention to his character and public career, but to leave him to such obscurity as may be possible to one so closely identified with public affairs, and to pray that he may in time be totally forgotten. We should be false to our duty should we even silently acquiesce in the glorifications of Mr. Douglas which have of late so widely appeared in our public prints. This post-mortem adulation is discreditable to us as a people, and is little calculated to inspire ambitious American youths with a conviction that in a public leader consistency to principle is essential to success, and virtue indispensable to an honorable memory. To call him a statesman, and especially a great statesman, is a ridiculous abuse of language, and an insult to the few great names in our history to whom such a designation may properly apply. His career up to the election of Mr. Lincoln was that of a coarse, unscrupulous demagogue, whose "statesmanship" resulted in the utter discomfiture of himself and all his schemes, and drew speedily down upon his country calamities, among the greatest that a single man ever entailed upon a nation. When secession finally occurred, and he was left deserted upon the north side of the line, when all his ambitious hopes had been dashed to the earth, at last, for the brief remainder of his life, he turned-let us hope and charitably admit with patriotic feeling -to resist his betrayers, and to defend his country against the rebellion for which he was so largely responsible. Let the last acts of his life be remembered with all due kindness and honor, but let them not blind us to the truth and justice of history with regard to his previous career. We protest, in the name of common sense, against such assumptions as the following, in reference to the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, which we find in General Dix's oration in Chicago: "Whatever difference of opinion may exist, or may heretofore have existed, with regard to these measures, no one of this day will call in question the patriotic motive by which Mr. Douglas was actuated-his deep anxiety to preserve the harmony of the Union, his sincerity, and the great intellectual power with which he maintained every position he took." SHERBROOKE.*—This a story for those who are so fond of stories-young girls; and is written by a Christian author, for the purpose of stirring within them higher aspirations than are usually found in the careless, frolicking years of girlhood. The "perennial nobleness of work" is demonstrated within these pages; and few can read them without feeling the heart thrill with a fresh impulse toward virtue and an honest living. The young heroine lives a life not at all beyond the reach of any New England maiden of fair abilities. Her destiny is shaped by no thrilling adventure. The daily monotony is interrupted by no such occurrences as stop the breath and make the hair stand on end. She lives a simple, working, growing life; a life full enough of incident to absorb the attention from the first page to the last; and intermingled with characters that provoke the readers sometimes to indignation, sometimes to laughter, and sometimes to tears. No one will be likely to forget Aunt Lynia. And no stepmother can fail to find in the patient, hopeful, earnest spirit of Mrs. Kendall both a model and a virtue. The authoress of Sherbrooke has long been an accepted writer -having contributed some of the most sparkling stories and some of the most graceful verses that have adorned our periodical literature for years. Her first book, " Madge," had an unusual popularity; and Sherbrooke will make her name still more extensively and favorably known. We hope her career of usefulness and success has just begun. PROFESSOR WHITE'S PHI BETA KAPPA ADDRESS. -This thoughtful, learned, and timely discussion is mainly taken up with Sherbrooke. By H. B. G., author of Madge. New York: Appleton & Co. The most Bitter Foe of Nations, and the Way to its Permanent Overthrow. An Address delivered before the Phi Beta Kappa Society, at Yale College, July 25, 1866. By ANDREW D. WHITE. New Haven: Thomas H. Pease, 1866. pp. 36. historical proofs and illustrations of the proposition that the most vigorous and most noxious enemy of a nation's welfare is an aristocracy which is based upon habits or traditions of oppression. The orator draws his arguments from modern European history, and fortifies them by full references to the best authorities. In particular, he surveys the history of Spain, Italy, Poland, France, and England, with briefer notices of Germany and Russia; and he finds in the past career of each of these nations full support for his thesis. The lesson for America is all the more impressive for not being expressly inculcated. It is latent through all the Address. The following passage occurs near the conclusion: Herein is written the greatness or littleness of nations-herein is written the failure or success of their great struggles. In all history, those be the great nations which have boldly grappled with political dragons, and not only put them down but kept them down. The work of saving a nation from an oligarchy then is two fold. It is not finished until both parts are completed. Nations forget this at their peril. Nearly every great modern revolution wherein has been gain to liberty has had to be fought over a second time. So it was with the English Revolution of 1642. So it was with the French Revolutions of 1789 and 1830. What has been gained by bravery has been lost by treachery. Nations have forgotten that vigorous fighting to gain liberty must be followed by sound planning to secure it. What is this sound planning? Is it superiority in duplicity? Not at all; it is the only planning which insists on frank dealing. Is it based on cupidity? Not at all; it is based on Right. Is it centered in Revenge? Not at all; its centre is Mercy and its circumference is Justice. It may say to the discomfited oppressor, you shall have Mercy; but it must say to the enfranchised, you shall have Justice. Acknowledging this, Suger and the great mediæval statesmen succeeded; ignoring this, Louis XI., Richelieu, and a host of great modern statesmen failed. To keep the haughty and turbulent caste of oppressors in their proper relations, the central authority in every nation has been obliged to form a close alliance with the down-trodden caste of workers. If these have been ignorant, it has had to instruct them; if they have been wretched, it has had to raise them; and the simple way-nay, the only way to instruct and raise them has been to give them rights, civil and political, which will force them to raise and instruct themselves. But it may be said that some subject classes are too low thus to be lifted-that there are some races too weak to be thus wrought into a barrier against aristocracy. I deny it. For history denies it. The race is not yet discovered in which the average man is not better and safer with rights than without them. Think you that your ancestors were so much better than other subject classes? Look in any town directory. The names show an overwhelmning majority of us descendants of European serfs and peasantry I defy you to find any body of men more degraded and stupid than our ancestors. 50 |