New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1857-01-16

| sons outside Of its own denomination. Its phio-
sophicsl specuations are its characteristic excel
| Ience, and these. though seldom original, oetray
careful thought a. well as study. 1t is q singular
thing that We should discover the highest marks
Of learning in the organ OF sect which ie"
years since was rather sverse to the education even
of lis clergy; but so it is, and Professor MeCnh-
tock. TO whom, we believe, The Quarterly Is indeo'
ed for its conduct until recently, deserves Inc
thanks Of his Church and Of the world Tor MS
energy and talent. But BronnsoHs Quarterly Is
after all the most forcible Of religious Perodicas
and has the most character if not the most AFFINITY
From the beginning of it, when it was extremely
Unitarian and radical, up to the present tme, wnen
II ia extremely Catholic and conservative, 1t has had
something to say, and has said that something In
u,v 10 make il understood. The editor Of it,
! whether in the Church or out OF the Churcn, Is
such good hater and good hker that there is no
mistakipg where he is. His cOnceit and his logic
are alike perennial. He sees what be does see with
the utmost dstnctness and he causes Others to see
it By means Of transparency and vgor ofsye which
the most accomplished Frenchman might envy.
| There is no telling whether he will see the same
IulUR V-LoIIUNs uoI hO Wy W f~ASNS -
that he does; but with frankness and bravery that
are admirable be will confess to an entire revolution
of perception and sentiment, and set to work con-
yincing the world that be is right. He will defend
the most absurd position heartily IS the wsest,
and he will constrain you to listen to that defense
| For Yen or fifteen years now he has conducted bis
Quarterly almost alone, and has always commanded
degree of attention. During the later part of that
time be has been somewhat fettered BY his eccles-
| sstic ties, and his mind, unable to take its full
sweep has sought to compensate itself by subtlety
Of action, but be is still trenchant pOlemic.
The best of our msgazines-and We think tho
periodical the most honorable to our literature
which the country has yet produced, is Pwndn's
Monthly. We have said that our Quarterlies were
inferior to the foreign Qusrterles, but Putnams is
not inferior to the foreign Monthlies. 1t is supe
rOr to most of them, and equal to the best which
is BackwOod's In fact, we relish 1t more than we
| do that world. famous work. 1t has as much inde
pendence greater variety, as fine writing and an
infinitely more noble and generous spirit. Black
wood never forgets its TOrysm, even in its literary
criticism, while Putnam is always Democratic aud
American, which ought to render it more &C ,ept-
able to u.s. In one respect BlackwOOd has the ad-
vantage, and that is in its novelties and stories,
which are almost uniformly excellent. Those of
Putnam are occasionally tame. But in its scientific
papers, its book reviews, its sketches of travel
and society, and its political disquisitOns, it takes
the highest rank. There is one proof OF its merit,
in these respects, which cannot be gainsayed, and
that is the number Of popular and sterling books
which have been already collected from its pages.
The LIST disqualification frNm it, We believe, amounts
to round dozen, though it has been but few years
in existence Apart from its literary merits, however,
Putnam il entitled TO the sncerest respect of every
man Of convictions, On account of the ntrePidity
with which il has taken and maintained it's freedom
IL has never occupied partisan position, and never
identified Itself with any sect party, but it has in
sisted on its right to discuss all questions which
concern the interests of society or good of man
Kind, without regard to prevailing prejudices This
has sometimes aroused the opposition of politicians
ard theologians, and alienated, perhaps, the sym
pathes of that narrow class which thinks that
there s no truth but its own little truth but, on
the whole it has served TO raise it in public esteem.
We shall never have a vital and enduring liter
AZURE until that literature is not only wholly
emancipated from the dread of public opinion,
but is profoundly earnest aud sympathetic. The
art and literature which spring up where the ma
,ional mind is enthralled are a miserable milner-
work and dlettantesm which disgrace rather than
exalt an age But where the national mind is sin
cere and free, great epOchs arise.
Harpers Magazine is not worthy of its enormous
circulation as literary production, though it may
be as a picture-book Yet it is by no means con-
tenptible in the former character. The cOntrbu-
tons often possess great merit, the bOOk-nOtices
eyince taste and judgment, the editorial depart
ments are industriOusly supplied, and the other
original articles are entertaining; and yet Hlrper
is not an authority nor even an influence in the
literary world. Nobody ever asks his neighbOr
whether he has this that thing in Harpcr, the
pictorial interest of it has 50 submerged the iera-
~ 1t is for the novels of Dickens and Thackersy,
which it repubishes and for its illustrations that
people take it. We have ourselves bought it a
dozen times, TO hand 10 the children without read
ing word of it; and yet, whenever We have read
il, We have found it abundanty interesting. Some
Of the same articles, which in Harper fall almost
still-born from the press would in Putnam create
sensation. Nor is it difficult to discover the
Of this. Harper has practice of apprOpriating
good part Of its contents from foreign journals,
from Household Hords, or Chambers's Miscellany,
or Hogs Instructor, without rendering the least
credit eIcep. where the name Of the writer, as 10
the case OF Dickens and Thackeray, is likely to give
them vogue You are uncertain in reading it,
.harasora ,,ha,bar vou ara reading an extract Or