The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1856-10-02
NO. 500.

thing more, lhueoo, "ae Poooioie, s iS"
1t. 70 awaken an interest and direct the
,torobts to still further investigation. Yet the
,n,.,estions are important. The iberalizing in
inca of commerce and intercourse of nations,
,be nrogress of literature science, and the arts,
=. shown in the history of former periods of the
,orld through their influence and the pros
o.cts of continued advances, are themes fitted
u The character of so mixed a population as
california presented, and where gathers so many
-,,rssentatiyes of the numberless tribes of men.
The moral and religious aspect in which, too,
the anthor regards his subject, is what was prop
Or for a Christian minister, set there to stem
,bs tide of evil that flows in on every new set
dement, in the yet Uniformed mass that are to
!. moulded into the elements of strength and
i,rab;lity. His style bears the marks and pecu-
ar;,;es Of man of address in his Office at that
lime of popular lecturer, and we presume an
.,f.ct;ve preacber in the duties of his calling.
"a appears to have consulted Heeren's Re-
,.srcbes with industry, and to have made good
use of the facts and reasonings Of that able and
earned German writer.
IlsTru,. BY Frederka Bremen Translated by Mary
r.,y,t. Authorized American Edition, with the Au-
,5,,s dedicstion New York: G. p. Putnam & Co
-, For sale by ShiIingion & Co, Washington, ID &.
tale by Miss Bremen, translated by Mary
Uov;,t. hardly needs word to be uttered in
- favor. Her pictures of Swedish life, their
charming simplicity and life-like freshness, are
f., well known by our readers for US to doubt
that. long ere this, many a one of them has
,one through, at single sitting, or in one days
ride. rs we have done, this latest production
If her fertile pen. There is such an individu-
slity in her personages, and the consistency of
heir characters, that we seem as if seeing the
scenes and people actually passing before our
eyes. No one could mistake Mimmi Swan
berg Eva, Dufrs, Alma, or Hertha, either of
them, for the other. Aunt Nella, Mrs. Uggls,
Or Mrs. Won Tupplander, are not less distinct.
The good pastor, Old Falk, Won Tackjern,
Iusve Nordin, are men outlined and filled up
with their several characteristic pecularities,
and they stand forth as if real beings with
whom We are conversant. The fine strain of
high moral principle which breathes through
these pages, the social feeling, the calm and
quiet strength and beauty of description flow
ing ont from the authors mind, just as if there
was no effort or any preconceived intention to
work up a scene, invest the tale with increased
interest for US. Her aim, as she expresses it
in her dedication, is to depict the situation of
woman i" in my own land, with reference to
our laws and social customs" She is strong
advocate for woman's rights, but in modified
form from that which is set forth by some in
cur country; and Herths is doubtless made to
express in her language Miss Bremer's sense
Of wrong, and claims for redress on the part
Of her sex. There is great variety; the per-
sons introduced, with the intermingling of
their lates and fortunes, are numerous. Scenes
OF touching interest are wrought in, and we
envy not the feelings Of the man, not to say
woman, who may not find the tear sometimes
spring to the eye, in perusing some of these
exquisite sketches of home happiness or sor.
row shaded life. There is healthful infu,
ence in such a book, altogether diverse from
and beyond the wild rush of passionate excite.
ment which seem to be the aim of too many
Of our modern novelists. Character, too, is
drawn in grand and massy figures, that be-
speak permanence manly honor, unsullied
truth, that tender yet strong and supporting
affection which is fit to guide even such q
woman as Herths, are concentrated with mas.
terly skill in 1ngve Nordin. How sad, when,
after years Of waiting, like Jacobs service for
ms loved Rachel, and the boon of the united
hearts WAS found in their welded embrace, so
soon the hand Of Death was there to sever the
earthly tie, and Hertha was no longer with
lagye, her husband. Her dreams long before
and those which hung around her fading hours
her expressions of interest for others, in her
diary, are 50 brought out, as if from her very
heart, that We can hardly help thinking Miss
BTemer must have had in her thoughts the
tory she was well acquainted, and that the thin
vel of fiction is merely thrown over the vicis
STUDIES of some of Earth's children, in whose
oosoms thus beat the hopes and fears, the fond
desires and bitter heavings of grief, in this
world OF their probation.
i'F ON REFINE AND THR REVOLUTION. by Alexis d.
icquryIle. Of the Academic Franchise author OF DE
rJctacy America. Translated by John Benner
NV . ORR Harper Brothers, Publishers, Franklin
>.4sTr. i-J6. Franck Taylor, Washington.
The author remarks in his preface that TIL,
French made, in 1889, the greatest effort tina
has ever been made by any people, to seve
their history into two parts, so to speak, and t,
tear open gulf between their past and thei
future. In this design, they took the creates
care to leave every trace Of their past condition
behind them; they imposed all kinds of re
sralnts upon themselves, in order to be differ
ent from their ancestry; they omitted nothin,
that could disguise them" The author under
'AAes to show that his countrymen failed in th
eilr to disjoin their history, and to build anew
without reference to the manners, custums, an,
laws, Of their ancestors. This leading though
the key to the book. We think the autho
his established the point he sets out with, b
careful analysis of the laws and institution
Of the old regime, with those which are regard
el as peculiar to the past revolutionary period
rorns change, but the old ideas remain.
This book may be read with advantage b
al who wish to become intimate with Frenc
affairs, since it furnishes the starting point fo
me modern politics of that Empire. De Tocqut
vile Is thorough lover of Freedom, and has
Profound understanding of the obstacles in th
way Of It's establishment. He regards central
'Laiion as the great foe of freedom, and of OIL
Ger' and Prosperity position which is we
Illustrated in his account of the pays detdts, @
provinces, which had preserved the right of ad
mlnIsteriDg their local affairs. Languedoc wa