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


induces US to give to its discussion whatever promi
nence belongs to our leading columns. In so doing
We shall avoid generalties by considering each pub
hcation distinctly, by itself. At the same time as
the youthful Franklin recommended his father 70
say grace over the entire barrel of pork, instead OF
drbblinp il out at breakfast time so we shall now
give our blessing to the reviews and magazines In
lump and without special reference to the issues OF
the present month.
First On the lis. n the venerable North american
Reritr which, like the venerable men of Webster
BuI ker Hill ecquence, "hss come down to US
from former generation, and is properly entitled
10 this epithet-almOst the only One we observe,
that il ever applied to it by the newspapers. Being
venerable it is also, always respectable; ard when
we have said that much, we have said pretty nearly
all that we can say. The North Americdn processes
to represent, and ought TO represent, the thought
and scholarship of New England, the most cult
waited part Of our country, according to its own
opinion, and by general concession; and to GER
tain extent, il succeeds in that aim. But 1t is
rather scholastic than enterprislng New England
which it embodes. A certain reticent, timid and
polished influence, which is found in aud about
Boston, and not the daring and vigorous life Of
the great body of the people, is the source OF
its Inspiration 1t talks smoothly and pleas
anty enough Of books, especially those of a
standard and accepted value; it expounds with
some intelligence the current facts Of science; and
it discusses, now and then in perfectly harmless
Cd IF Or
but no one ever thinks Of looking into it for original
thought, startling theory, or smiling lndepen-
dence Of criticism. 1t furnishes an agreeable
amount Of reading to those circles who do not care
to GO beyond the most superficial aspects OF h'era-
ture and society, but it haze no marked character, no
positive or strenuous cOnyictiOns-t is the organ of
nothing, aud controls nothing. During the las.few
years it must be confessed, since it has been in the
hspds OF its new editor, there has been manifest
improvement il is management; it is more various,
more vivacious, and slightly more decidedi yet 1t
cannot even now be compared with the leading
Quarterlies Of the Old Wofld-with The Edinburgh,
The London, TIE Fsstminster, or The North British
Single papers in il may be found, from time to tune,
equal if not superior II single papers in those pro-
ductions; but, IA whole, il falls behind them.
The literary criticism is less thorough, and the Po-
litcal disquisitOns less bold and animated. 1t is
rarely that you get in il one of those elaborate and
skillful articles which have made the English Re-
views, and which, while they are solid, exhausting
the learning of the topic, are yet written aa nreah
du steele, and are not dull. The writers for il i'm
press us as if they were writing under some con-
straint or with reference to peculiar and limited
tone of sentiment. Just as Mr.. Everett In his
eulogy on Washington, leaves out all reference to
WasLiDgtons conduct in regard to Slavery, they Of
ten avoid the very pth of their subjects. One feels,
in the midst of their bland and pretty rhetoric,
tempted to take u EN- by the collar and shake them
into some more energetic demonstrations. They
are in no sense national writer's. There is nothing
peculiarly American in their sentiment or style;
what they say any scholar OF Paris or TlmbuctOo
might say; and you could not learn the special Gen.
fury in which they write, from anything in their
spirit or manner, and without incidental illusions
to dates Addison and Goldsmith are quite as much
our contemporaries as these provincial gentlemen.
The grand and eDDobliDg themes inspired by our
democratic origin, or presented By the e1lgencies
of our singular political Development, do not kinde
ard stir them as with the sound of trumpet. They
discover little or nothing about them in the books,
and have, therefore, little or nothing to say.
The Christian Examiner, being the organ of an
emancpsted religious party, is more free than The
North Areriodn but, Like that, ia rather charac
terized BY the elegance Of its culture than by the
ygor of its thought. As the principal writers for
it are clergmen who reside in their cosy studies,
and rarely 90 into the streets except when they go
to preach or TO eat quiet dinner with some of the
parish, there is a nice smell of new books about il,
and most profound courtesy and air Of comforsa-
bic living, but few trenchant phrases, which move
society to its depths, or make the heart ache for
week. Every page is dainty and grave and une1-
ceptopabe, and after dinner, We fear in spite Of
its intelligence and grace, slightly somniferous. Il
is not work whose managers are terribly in
earnest" They cannot be accused OF shrinking
from the questions Of the day, but they treat them
too er TREY from the standpoint of the pulpit. In
respect to dIectness and force, indeed, the Uni
tartan periodical is often surpassed BY the period
Gals of the other sects-the New-Englald and
Presb, teIiAn Reviews, for instance-whicb, with
less pretensions to literary attainment, are often
more downright and outright in their expression.
Whether it be that ts writers restrained BY their
theology, or whether they cannot escape the fatal
and benumbiDg entertainments Of a certain Eastern
good society cannO. say; but it is clear that they
ial in rscness and heariiness and in genuine out
spoken enthusiasm. The cod Intellectually, which
sad TO be the defect Of their sermons is certainly
the defect Of their essays. Dr. Claiming appears to
ave inocu.Ated the most Of ihem with his ch.ste
AID stately manner, without having impressed into