The Press.
London, England, 1857-01-03 00:00:00

election lintelligenct.

GuEENwicm—Lieutenant General Sir William
Codrington commenced his canvas; on Monday.
MERTHYR.-Mr. John Frost, the Chartist, has
announced his intention of becoming a candidate
for the representation of Merthyr at the next
election.
-•-

LANARK.—The nomination of a candidate to repre-
sent Lanarkshire, in the room of the late Mr. Lock-
hart, is fixed for Monday, the sth of January.
NEWPORT (ISLE OF WIGHT).—It is reported that
upon the reassembling of Parliament, on the 3rd of
February next, a new writ will be issued for the
election of a member for the borough of Newport,
isle of Wight, to serve in the place of Mr. William
Biggs, who is prepared to resign his seat in the
House of Commons as early as the netessnry matters
can be arranged for that purpose. Charles Seeley,
Esq., who sat for Lincoln in the year 1847, has been
mentioned as Mr. Biggs's successor.
BUTESHIRE.—TIIO representation of this county
has been declared vacant by the elevation of Mr.
James Stuart Wortley to the office of Solicitor-
General, and a writ will be issued for the election of
a member immediately on the assembling of Parlia-
ment. Mr. Wortley has in consequence addressed
the constituency, soliciting a renewal of that trust to
which he has now been four times elected, and with
which he has been honoured for fourteen years.
The hon. gentleman says:—
The step which I have now taken implies no change of
sentiment or action. When Lord Palmerston, in a
moment of national trial, formed his Government on no
exclusive basis of party, and mustered all the resources of
the country in support of the war by prompt and ener-
getic action, 1 gave him my independent support. The
peace that followed met with the general approval of Par-
liament, and since its consummation no great question of
national policy has arisen on which I have differed from
the present Prime Minister. In joining Lord Palmerston's
Administration I hope for opportunities of being service-
able to my country. I hope to bear my share in fur-
ther and extensive improvements in the law, in the pro-
motion of liberal but religious education, in the adjust-
ment and fair distribution as well of the honours as of
the burdens of our great and necessary establishments, and
in the assertion of the honour of our country in the pre-
sence of all the nations of the world. I adhere to all that
I have said of my determination to resist the encroach-
ments of the power of Rome, whether open or insidious, as
injurious to religion and subversive of the truest and most
precious freedom.
SOUTHAMPTON. Considerable excitement was
caused in Southampton on Wednesday in cr.nse
quence of Mr. T. Falvey, stamp distributor of that
town, having been suspended from his office by the
Board of Inland Revenue for interfering in the
Southampton election, by speaking at public meet-
ings in favour of Mr. Richard Andrews, one of the
candidates for the representation of the borough.
Mr. Falvey had acted under the advice of eminent
counsel, who declared that he had a perfect right to
do so previous to the issue of the writ to fill up the
vacancy in the representation caused by the eleva-
tion to the Chief Justiceship of Sir Alexander Cock-
burn.

THE NORTHERN BT:RGHS.—It is rumoured in Wick
that Mr. J. G. Sinclair, of Ulbster, intends to contest
these burghs. There is some possibility of Mr. R.
Hartley Kennedy, who had to retire from the contest
at the last election in Inverness, again coming
forward.

JANUARY 3, 1857.

Sitcraturt.

THE publishing world has been unusually
busy for some weeks past. It is true that not
many very remarkable works have issued from
the press; of the volumes which crowd our
table, few are of distinguished merit. But the
mass and variety of new publications attest
the prodigious intellectual activity which pre-
vails, and show how rapidly the number, not
only of those who read, but of those who write,
is extending. As we cannot hope to give de-
tailed notices of the books which reach us at
this season, our readers may not be displeased
to receive a summary of them, that they
may judge for themselves of the amazing
activity evinced in all departments of lite-
rature at this commencement of the year
1857, and make a selection according to their
several tastes. We adopt this plan the more
willingly, as it will enable us to clear our table
of its rapidly-increasing burden, and to re-
serve some few volumes for more detailed
notice.

An important contribution to the HISTORY
of Europe, for some years subsequent to our
Revolution of 1688, has been made by the pub-
lication of a volume of State Papers and Cor-
respondence, carefully and intelligently edited
by Mr. J. M. Kemble (1). The central figure
in this " Correspondence " is Sophia, Electress
of Hanover, the twelfth and youngest child of
Elizabeth Stuart and the Elector Palatine, and
the mother of that Prince, George Louis, des-
tined to found the most splendid and fortunate
dynasty in the world's annals. The Electress
was herself in correspondence with most of
the illustrious and eminent personages of her
time. Her favourite, Leibnitz, was as well
versed in politics as in philosophy, and it is
from the mass of his correspondence that
most of the letters and papers here printed
are selected. Biographical notices are pre-
fixed by the editor to the letters of the most
celebrated correspondents ; and these me
moirs, written with knowledge and in a popular
style, will, we fancy, be generally esteemed the
most readable, if not the most valuable, part
of the volume. Thus the memoirs of the
Electress Sophia; of Elizabeth Charlotte,
Duchess of Orleans ; of Count Schttlenburg ;
of Lieutenant-General Patkul; and of Gene-
ral Cavalier, are full of interest, and embrace
to a considerable extent a view of the politics
and society of Europe at the time in which
they lived. The reader is thus initiated, so to
speak, into the social atmosphere of the age to
which the letters refer. They extend from
1686 to 1707, the correspondence in the earlier
years being scanty, but in the later ones tole-
rably copious. It is necessary to warn the
reader that the" Correspondence" itself cannot
be read hurriedly—it must be studied before
its significance can be appreciated ; and we are
inclined to think that much of it must be
valueless even to historical students, though,
knowing how often a bare hint in contempo-
rary papers will raise the veil of obscurity
from important transactions, we offer an
opinion on this point with diffidence. We
hope Mr. Kemble may be induced to publish
a continuation of his work. We think there is
a wide field still open for the illustration of
particular periods by the publication of con-
temporary authorities. Whatever is done in
this way must at least be attended with the
good result of bringing the reading public
nearer to original sources of history, and must
tend to the correction of those prejudices
from which few historians are free, and which
are commonly most rooted in those writers
who in their own day at least are most popular.
For Mr. Kemble's "Memoirs" alone the volume
well deserves attention.
Another volume of similar character we owe
to the research of nn industrious lady, Mary
Anne Everett Green (2). It contains a num-

(1) State Papers anti Correspondence, illuetratire of the Swint
and Political State of Europe from the Revolution to the .4,.re:%ion
of the Howse of Honorer. Edited, with Historical Introduction,
Biographical Memoirs, and Notes, by J. M. KPmble, M.A.
London: J. W. Parker and son.
(2) Letters of Queen ifenrietla Maria, including her Private
Correspondence with Charles I. Collected from the Public
Archives and Private Libraries of France and England. Edited
by Mary Anne Everett Green. London: Bentley.