The Press.
London, England, 1854-03-11 00:00:00

MARCH 11, 1854.

materials of this kind which exist, that we could of
our own knowledge point out various omissions and
defects. We abstain from doing so because the
publisher himself refers to the forthcoming educa-
tional census as a means of rendering his Register
more complete. It would be invidious to remark
deficiencies of which he is thus apparently himself
conscious, and which his industry may supply as
opportunity offers.

1. A Dozen Ballads for the Times about White
Slavery. London : Bosworth.
2. Poems. By David Bates. Philadelphia: Lind-
say and Blakiston.
3. Morbida, or Passion Past, and other Poems.
London: Saunders and Otley.
1. We lately noticed some ballads by Mr. Tupper
about Church abuses, ,and thought well of them ;
these, " about White Slavery," are scarcely so good,
yet they are written in a kindly, benevolent spirit
which would covermore defects than we have noticed
in them. Mr. Tupper is of opinion that all " the
" productive" classes in England are overworked,
and this collection of twelve ballads is intended to
mitigate the evil, by appealing to the feelings of the
employers. Tried by the rules of political economy,
the tendency of the author's views would be pro-
nounced Communistic, yet, if the Government of
France was once " a despotism tempered by epigrams,"
we do not see why our commercial system of " un-
" restricted competition" should not be tempered by
Mr. Tupper's ballads.
2. A volume of 210 pages, containing numerous
short poems. Some of them are pretty, but for their
originality we cannot answer, as we recognised in one
an old English acquaintance in an American garb.
Some lines on the American flag are suggestive. It is
A terror alike to the tyrant and slave.
And we are cheerfully told—
Be assured then that never a freeman lag,
When called to protect the American flag.
Longfellow would do honour to any nation, and Ame-
rica has other genuine poets, but amongst these we
fancy Mr. Bates will never be numbered.
3. Messrs. Saunders and Otley must occasionally
be astonished at the works their new mode of pub-
lishing produces—this is another of them. The au-
thor shall himself describe his book, and the cause
of its defects. We extract from the preface :
" The second, third, fourth, and fifth poems were written
in about a dozen nights ; and some of the others, of can-
siderable length, at a single sitting each. Several are un-
finished, almost all unpolished, and some much mutilated
also."

Five Letters on Electoral Reform. By a Working
Man. London : Effingham Wilson.
_

Ir these letters are really the production of a work-
ing man, in the common sense of the word—that is,
of one who lives by the labour of his hands—they
are remarkable productions of their kind. Demo-
cratic (as was naturally to be expected) in senti-
ment, they are temperate in style, and sufficiently
clear in exposition. The writer complains more of
the unequal territorial distribution than of the
individual restriction of the suffrage. He proposes
to cut up the United Kingdom into 160 electoral dis •
tricts, having four members a piece; which gives a
population of about 160,000 for each district, or
40,000 for each member, but says nothing of the
electoral qualification which he would require. Fail-
ing to carry this sweeping reform, orrather admitting
its impossibility, he next suggests the total dis-
franchisement, by way of a first step, of every town
having less than 20,000 inhabitants—the seats thus
vacated to be given to rural districts and large towns
jointly. But, this plan also seeming unsatisfactory
or impracticable, he then throws out a third sugges-
tion, that, as the higher and middle classes are
represented in the Lords and Commons respectively,
a third house should be created for the working
class exclusively—how composed and returned we
are not told. This plan (though our author seems
not aware of the fact) actually prevails in the
Scandinavian monarchies.
We have said enough of this pamphlet to show
that its writer has neither well-defined ideas nor
much power of distinguishing between the practically
possible and the theoretically desirable. But he
deserves credit as a painstaking, able, and not un-
candid inquirer. His talent is shown more in point-
ing out the imperfections of the first Reform Bill
than in framing one to replace it.

The Mediterranean. A Memoir, Physical, Historical,
and Nautical. By Real... Admiral William Henry
Smyth, K.S.F., D.C.L., dc. London : J. W.
Parker and Son.
THIS memoir, which is, in fact, an elaborate work of
more than 500 pages, is appropriately addressed to
Sir Francis Beaufort, late Hydrographer to the Ad
miralty. The gallant author has not written in haste,
but has long meditated his subject, and, haying on-