The Portland daily press., 1875-05-08
Magazine Notices.

The Westminster Reuie,o for April 1875, has
been received from the Leonard Scott Publish
ing CO., No. Al Barclay street. N. Y. Con-
tents as follows: The African Slave Trade
Pliny's Letters; The Natural Philosophy of
History; Our Position in India; Recent Politi-
ical Memoirs; Savage Life: the Western Tribes
of North America; Merchant Shipping Legisls-
ton; Contemporary Literature.
'The African Slave Trade" England has
taken NJ GA herself the right to. stop the slave
trade whenever she can do so without infring-
ing the rights of other nations" and this arti-
Gle is written with the object of rousing her to
greater exertion in behalf of the natives of Gen.
trail Africa, who are such fearful sufferers from
that traffic.
"Pliny's Letters" is another volume Of the
translations of the Ancient Classics, which the
Messrs. Blackwood are publishing for the BEN
eff of the unlearned. They were written at o
time when the Greek language was becoming
very fashionable in Rome, when elegance of
style was the aim Of writer's. and pedantry
reigned supreme. Some of the customs of the
city, and of country life at the period, are de-
scribed; also, there is an account of the Opn-
ions concerning the Christians of those early
days, and the state of religious opinion.
The Natural Philosophy of History. at
is the object of this essay to explain what is
meant by the natural philosophy of history.
and to ,show, by suff ciently suggestive emu
meration of instances how close is the analogy
treated of by Mr.. Spencer in his essay on Social
Organism, and elsewhere, between the physi-
cal and political world; to try to explain his
torical phenomena by the processes assumed
to prevail in the development of the ersanic
world in other words to show thaS sne laws
which have boon Traced in the evolution oil Or
gaulc species may be traced no less in the eyo-
Iution OF political societies"
Our Position in India seems to be unsatisfac-
tory. The questions discussed are the re-or
ganization of the native army, the treatment
of the native feudatory states, the systems Of
taxation, of railway and irrigation, education,
and the claims of the natives Of India to full
share in the administration of their country.
Recent Political Memoirs, A long notice,
with many quotations, OF the mueh-reviewed
Greville Memoirs, particularly the political
portions, which are compared with the Recol-
lections and Suggestions ol Lord Russell, and
the Life and Times of Lord Brougham.
Savage Life is review of Bancrofts Native
Races of the Pacific States of North America
which consists of series of pictures OF savage
life among all the tribes living on the Western
seaboard, between the Arctic Ocean and the
Caribbean Sea. 1t describes the food, fashions,
manners, and customs of all these people, some
of which are very amusing.
Merchants Shipping Legislation advocates
Government inspection and compulsory regis
tratioE.
A large space is devoted to the notices OF
Contemporary Literature, in which are COM
prised all the best recent works on Theology,
Philosophy, Politics, Sociology, Voyages, ETC.,
etc.
The numbers of The Liuing Age for May 1st
and Sth contain William Hszlitt from the
Cornhill Magazine; The Abode of Snow. Parts
LII and w, Blackwood; Secret Papers of the
French Empire, Frazer's Magazine; The fu-
neral of Son of Heaven, Pail Mall Gazette;
Garibaldl and the Tiber, Spectator; Milton.
from MacMllan's Magazine; The Cost OF
Living, Cornhill Magazine; Dead Dutch Cities,
Spectator; Vicissitudes of Ritual, Saturday
Review; A Spanish Passion Play, Spectator;
Arctic Vegetation, Nature; The Russian Rev
olution of 1862, Academy; With instalments
of Alice Lorraine, by r. G. Blackmore, author
of the Maid of Skier. and Three Feathers, by
Wm Black, author of A Princess of Thule,
and the usual choice poetry and miscellany.