Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1864-09-22

New Books.
POEMS OF rHE war By George b. Boxer. Boston:
1ieknor Fields. 1884.
This little volume is an arrest Of thespir-
tied and popular ballads which Mr.. Boxer
has been putting forth in the journals dur
ing the last two or three years. They are
lyrics of field and food. Of course they
sre flashed off in the excitement and insPi-
ration of the hour, and have no more depth
or elaborateness than we find in the com
mon day. Boxer is no hermit like Tenny-
son or Wordsworth; devoted like them to
idealizing Nature and the mythic agei there
are no distractions IN these poems, no con-
temptation, but the air and cannon-smoke,
the huzzas of the street, and battle-cries,
blow through them, and they are alive with
the spirit of the hour.
Indeed their chief value lies in this, that
they are the musical, resounding echoes of
the times. A sense of injustice is felt when
a writer, in an age so bent on action as is this,
betrays on his page no deep, vital sympathy
with his generation. What is the poet for
but to cali grace, rythm, and melody t0his
aid, and SO give better expression to the
deepse sing the heroic deeds, and show
more truly the tendency, of his age.
These two-score poems are kilograms set
to martial music,-the newspaper in a
higher form. Among the pieces, the poem
"on Board the Cumberland" is perhaps
the best, as it has certainly enjoyed more
popularity than any ballad In the volume
or, indeed, any other which this war has
called forth. A prominent place was
given it in nearly all the papers, perhaps
not merely for its intrinsic merit, but be-
cause it came ringing through our homes
while yet the event was fresh in the public
prints
There are two or three poems, one the
sonnet addressed to Grant, another q
"Dirge for Soldier" which differ from
the rest. They remind US of Wordsworth
sonnets. A deep, serious, and eontempla-
tive air pervades them. Still it is the
hearty spontaneousness ofthe ballads which
give them their popularity. and chiefesr
charm.
Cobb & Co., and Ingham & Bragg have
this volume for sale.
WRONG OF SLAVERY, RIGHT OF EMANCIPATION anS
the Future Of the African Race in the Unite
States. By Robert Dale Owen. Philadelphia
J. B. Lippincott Co. 1864
No thorough analysis of this book can b,
given here, for although it is a small vol
ume, it is marrowful one, and space anC
time fail us to present such notice of it a
we would like. The work is methodica
and must, therefore, delight those who Low,
to have all things, intellectual as well a
material, done in decency and in order.
Part 1. is historical, giving a solid accoun
/ Of Slavery viewed both as an abstract insti
tuition and as a fact or element in American
history. We consider the publication Q
this Part opportune, now when men
minds war, and the. fight wakes hot botl
for the destruction and for the founding
of slavery as the cornerstone of society
Too much light on the ethics of this sub
ject cannot be thrown into the popula
mind.
Part II. is logical, and devoted to an ex
L ndubIlNO ulBGubblOu VI lpdklOAs IL
Constitutionality in the Tnsurrectionar,
Slave States and in the Loyal Slave States
We shall not even sketch the cours
of the argument nor give its sa
lient points, for want of room
but leave ell curious students of Constitu
tional and international Law to read an,
digest the work at their leisure, assuring
them that the result will justify the study
Part III. is PrObIemGtieaI. The auto
upsets the notions of De Tocqueville on th
future of the negro, which were prediction
that emancipation would be revolution, b,
showing conclusively that the negro, a
freedman, can and does maintain and re
spect himself, &C., &c.
He combats the low-grade theory of tb
benefcence of isolation of races, and point
out the reciprocal social influence of tn
races, each on the other. The freedmai
needs but temporary aid and superyisioi
from US. Owen closes by stating power
fully the sum of our duties towards ths
race, which is at present humble, bu
which, by the eternal law of Nature, mus
rise, by means of slavery, to place an,
power. The book asserts optimism, an
we close it with the reflection and convic
ton, which are always with US when "
lay down book of Agassiz or Lyell, tha
as low, crude, hideous forms of animals an
plants, must have gone before and been de
stroyed that we might be, so bsrbarou
laws and cruel social systems, like that c
slavery, are necessary stepping stones, an
herald new and fairer order.