The Press. — London, England, 1855-07-07 00:00:00

648 a growing indifference to corruption among the masses of the people." This is startling language, but truth compels me to say that it was a common theme of conversation and a common subject of complaint in intelligent circles during my last visit to the United States. Mr. Mackay refers to " the propensity for jobbing discovered by the federal au thorities," and adds, " indeed, in this respect I have heard several Americans declare that they believed their own Government to be the most corrupt on earth." This ap pears to me too strong a condemnation, but the disease prevails in the State legislatures and in the councils of the various cities just as much as at Washington. No one in New York seemed fur a moment to doubt the alleged jobbing and trickery resorted to in obtaining privileges from the civic rulers. Leading men of every shade in politics in formed me that offices and favours were there openly bought and sold; that aldermen and councilmen accepted these situations for the avowed purpose of getting quickly rich ; and that jobs every week were there perpetrated with im punity which in this country would bring to disgrace every person connected with them. I believe that as great cor ruption exists in the Government of that city as was ever brought to light in the days of the Stuarts : and, what is more, I have heard people defend it on the ground that in America all can at one time or other share in the plunder, whereas in Europe public robbery was the privilege of the few. This is not b 0 bad for the Government of " the enlightened republic." Mr. Layard would even find his bands full in America. For fur ther information upon the climate and country, towns, cities, and modes of travelling of the Americans, their thousands upon thousands of miles of railroad and electric telegraph, of rivers and canals, steamboats and traffic, their immense workshops and steam-mills, their gigantic hotels, their cotton and their commerce, their vine culture, their iron trade, their system of education, their en terprise and their labour—for all these, and many other points, we must refer the reader respectively to Mr. Robertson and Mr. Baxter, and epcially to the latter for his admirable views upon the slave trade, as well as for a graphic description of Cuba ; and for lighter and more amusing reading, but not the less in structive, to Mr. Beste and Mr. Weld. But upon the important points of the relative value of the produc•• tiveness of labour in England and America, we may quote Mr. Robertson's opinion. The great cost of producing cotton goods in America arises, in addi tion to the high price of labour, remarks Mr. Robert son, from the higher cost of machinery, its general inferiority, the comparatively imperfect adaptation of one department of manufactures to another, the scarcity and dearness of capital, and the expensive and inefficient management of joint-stock associations. I arrive at the conviction that labour is less productive in America than in England, and therefore that in propor tion to the labour employed in each country, the gross annual income of America is comparatively less than that of Lireat Britain. This conviction rests upon the fol lowing grounds. It has been shown that the cotton, woollen, and iron manufactures of the States are now pro fitable to those interested in them, solely by a protective duty levied upon the foreign imports of the same articles. The same remark maybe made about other manufacturing branches to which I have not drawn attention, because the rate of profit ou one branch of industry generally measures or determines the profit on other branches; for capital flows from one to the other, always seeking that which is most profitable, and forsaking that which is least. In the same class I include sugar, which is also grown with a profit to the cultivator, only because protected by a custom duty. Those branches of industry, therefore, maintained only by protection—only by the consumers paying for their productions more than their value—are a loss to the nation, and the labour employed in them contributes nothing to the general wealth of the country. The attention which they, as a nation, pay to their material interests is not conducive, Mr. Robertson thinks, to the study of the higher branches of science : The almost exclusive attention which is paid in America to the material interests of the country, the eager pursuit of wealth, and the excitement and agitation arising from politics, deprive the people of all leisure for thought. their perceptions are quickened, but their reflective faculties are neglected and weakened ; and, if I mistake not, the habits of one generation have a tendency to become constitu tional, or a part of the character of the next. With these acquired habits, then, with this gradual change of cha racter, and 'without a class with hereditary wealth enabling it to devote its leisure to self-culture and refinement, or to encourage those studies in others, the American people will have to rely to a large extent on the older nations of the world for instruction in many of the higher depart ments of Knowledge. They will teach us many practical truths, and, it may be, solve many of the problems of every-day life, but in most of the higher branches of human learning—in science, art, literature, philosophy, and ge neral mental culture, they will look to Europe, for genera tions to come, for their purest models and for their best instructors. That America is a fine country, and in some re spectA a convenient country, w•e have good proof in Mr. Beste's complaints upon reaching England : We soonlanded • and were in dear—dear England again. I had paid four do llars, or sixteen shillings, for the carriage of my luggage, a distance of two miles, from the hotel to the steamer at New York : at Liverpool, I paid thirty shil ling; for the carriage of the same luggage about half a mile s o the railway-station. Next morning, we took our places, THE PRESS. and went by railroad train to London. All our children complained bitterly of the confinement of the carriages: they complained that there were only two windows amongst six passengers, instead of a window to every two; and that, of those six, three were obliged to sit facing the engine, or with their backs to it, instead of being on moveable seats which they could turn either way at their pleasure. They complained of the shortness of the stoppages contrived for non•refreshment. I myself could only marvel whether the spirit of mischief and insubordination in the people was really such as to require the scores of porters and guards in uniform who, everywhere, hemmed iu the crowd and interfered with their freedom of action. The result was a vast deal of hurry, scurry, confusion, and discomfort, such as we never knew on an American railroad. Between Albany and Buffalo, I had travelled in comfort, at the same speed as that at which we now advanced, and at a cost of twenty shillings each, two hundred and fifty miles, carriage of luggage included. On this London and Liverpool line I paid double that amount, and, also, five guineas for a truck and conveyance of our baggage. It is astonishing how soon we forget the inconve niences, and only retain the pleasurable impressions of travel. Mr. Beste should have remained at Terre Haute. Another book on America, " The Land of the Slave and the Free," by an experienced traveller, the Hon. A. Murray, is on our table, but demands a separate and more elaborate notice. PERIODICAL LITERATURE. Colburn's New Monthly still continues its series of excellent papers upon the continental armies, with an article upon that of Prussia, a detailed ac count of the state of which is at this moment in. teresting. Out of a population of sixteen millions, Prussia raises an active army of 195,477 men, with 792 guns, and a Landwehr force of two levies ; the first drawn from men between twenty-biz and thirty two, amounting to 116,032 men, and the second of men between thirty-two and fifty, of 82,900, with a cavalry force respectively of 20,416 men, and 12,480, exclusive of reserves, which swell the whole avail able force to something like 500,000. This is an enormous army for so small a population; but in Prussia every man is a soldier, and so strong is the esvrit de corps kept up, that not to have been a soldier is rather a slur upon the character. The expense of such a force, if well paid, would be beyond the limited inccme of so small a kingdom, and it is evident that the maintenance of such an immense army, de rived from a numerically small amount of population, must be managed with the utmost degree of economy, if the Government wishes to refrain from laying an un supportable amount of taxation on the nation. This economy, however, is displayed in numerous very clever and satisfactory devices : for instance, through the Land wehr system, Prussia is only called upon to pay one-half of her standing army ; each year the arrival of the recruits is found never exactly to coincide with the departure of those on furlough; the volunteers enrolled for one year receive no pay ; the Prussian army in garrison has no pay for the 31st of the month ; and, lastly, retiring officers, instead of receiving pensions, obtain employment in the civil service. But the principal reward on which the Prussian Govern pint relies is the almost unlimited distribution of orders— a system rendered necessary by promotion depending entirely on seniority ; and distinguished services are re warded by other methods than attaining a step. Of lighter subjects there is abundant material, tales, sketches, and anecdotes of places and persons, and reviews of modern books, among which, those of " The Private Life of an Eastern King" (lately reviewed in this Journal), and Sydney Smith's letters, are the most entertaining. Macphail's Edinburgh Ecclesiastical Journal for this month is an extremely good number. A variety of topics, religious and political, are carefully re viewed, Professor Tulloch's Burnett Treatise on " Theism " being the principal subject noticed. The Churchman's Magazine has some well-written sketches and tales, besides the usual amount of Church information, and reviews and notices of the current literature. The current numbers of the Martins of Cro' Martin and of Harry Coverdale's Courtship, are neither of them remarkable for much interest, though in the latter a serious domestic contretemps is upon the point of happening. Switzerland in 1854-5. By the Rev. W. G. Heath man (late British Chaplain at Interlaken). Lon don : Hope and Co. AN agreeable book of travel, written with perfect local knowledge, acute feeling for the beauties of nature as they are to be viewed among the moun tains and valleys of Switzerland, and fair descriptive power. Mr. Heathman is not only an excellent guide, but an authority upon the manners and customs of the inhabitants of the different Swiss cantons and upon the peculiarities of their climate and scenery. He traversed the country upon foot, and hence his experience may be relied on. The book is specially dedicated to tourists, who may learn from it where to go, what to observe, and how to make the most both of their time and money. SATURDAY, Dictionary of Geography, forming a Complete General Gazetteer of the World. By Alex. Keith Johnston. Second Edition, thoroughly Revised. London : Longmans. A WORK of this magnitude can only be described by a statement of its contents. It forms a volume of 1,362 closely-printed pages, and gives the names of upwards of fifty thousand places. The space accorded to each article is proportioned to its impor tance. The characteristics of those places which may be termed representative —as, first, divisions of the earth, then seas, countries, districts, capital cities, and so forth—are given in detail; while the filets as to minor places, as villages and parishes, ale limited to a statement of their position, population, and distinctive attributes. The whole " Gazetteer" has been compiled from the best existing maps in the world, and the position of places has been determined by measurement, corrected by the most authentic notices that can be found of them. The arrangement of the work is alphabetical, Ind in the orthography of Eastern names (a perplexing subject) the spelling of the Royal Geographical Society has been adopted. This is, perbaps, the best plan that could be adopted, though none can be entirely satisfactory while so much diversity exists as at present. Thus, Cabool, as it is spelt here, is sometimes written Kabul, sometimes Caubul, and in every variety of intermediate way. Places are properly described under the names by which they are commonly known in this country; but the correct orthography and accentuation are also given. Ex. gr., under entry of Munchen, we are referred to Munich ; and when proper names are differently spelt in different countries, the chief variations are noticed, as under head of Venice we find (Italian, Venezia; German, Venedig). The progress of geographical discovery is so continuous that for purposes of reference the latest gazetteer, if pro duced by a competent editor, is likely to be the best; and in this instance we believe we may safely say that so great a number of entries, with such authen tic details, were never before brought together in a single volume. A Smaller Latin-English Dictionary, abridged from the Larger Dictionary. By William Smith, L.L.D. Loudon: John Murray. As a school dictionary, this abridgement of Dr. Smith's great work must rank as the best extant. It has two peculiar claims to favour. In the first place, every word is given which the youthful scholar is likely to meet with in the course of his classic reading ; and in the second place, the various mean ings and uses of words are given in detail, so that the student may select that signification most appropriate to the sense of the passage in which a particular word occurs. One authority, at least, is given for every word in the book, and in the case of imp3rtant terms many authors are quoted to illustrate different signi fications. The typography and general plan are those of the larger work; and, in addition, there is a tolerably copious list of proper names. For elemen tary scholastic purposes, the dictionary is all that could be desired. School Atlas of Astronomy. Ay Alex. Keith John. ston. Edited by J. R. Hind. London . Blackwood and Sons. THIS volume is intended as a companion to those elementary atlases of physical, classical, and general geography by Mr. Keith Johnston, which have deservedly won high repute for scholastic purposes. The plates have been drawn, and the whole work arranged, under the immediate superintendence of Mr. Hind, the eminent astronomer, and hence the correctness of the details are insured. The work consists of eighteen plates, all beauti fully executed, and forming, with their corre sponding descriptive letter-press, a complete course of astronomical instruction. A better or more instructive guide to this wonder-moving science could not be desired. It has the advantage of the latest discoveries, and sets before the eye the lead ing facts of astronomy in a most striking and in telligible form. PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED. BOOKS. Fables Nouvelks. Le Chevalier de Chatelain. Whittaker and Co. Bennett's War Songs. W. C. Bennett. Effingham Wilson. The Crimea, its Ancient and Modern History. The Rev T. Milner, M.A., F.R.S. Longmans. Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to El•Medinah and Meccah. R. F. Burton. Do. The Life and System of Pmdalarsi. Karl Von Ranmer. Do. Exposition of the Parables. The Rev. J. G. Lonsdale. M.A. J. IV. Parker and Sone. The War and Us Issues in its Religious Aspect. The Bev. J. Cumming, D.I). Hall and Virtue. Compendium of Chronology. I'. H. Jagnennet. Longmans. 4 Selection from the Lesser Poems of Wilikuakfirry Lealhon• ongmans. I