IV. We come now to the fourth point, the doctrine of "Popular Sovereignty." Whenever the expression "the doctrine of popular Sovereignty" is used, this refers not to the de facto possession of power on the part of the multitude, but to the opinion that the civil power in the origin of Society emanated from the people, and not from God. Space will not permit us here to enter upon the examination of this important question. The Catholic church repudiates the doctrine of the Sovereignty of the people implicitly, by inculcating the divine origin of the civil power, and the consequent criminality of rebelling, except in certain cases of extreme tyranny, when the natural and divine laws are trampled under foot, and when the majority of Catholic theologians allow the right of physical resistance. Some divines of the fifteenth century, like Gerson, Peter D'Ailly, Almain, and others, who were the first to introduce into the christian world the doctrine of the sovereignty of the people, which they borrowed from the later schools of Greek philosophy, applied their principles to the church as well as state, and while they declared that the majority of the people could cashier its princes, conceded the same right to general councils over the sovereign Pontiff. The later Gallicans, like De Marca, Fleury, and the great Bossuet, while they borrowed, to a certain extent, the ecclesiastical principles of the above named theologians on the hierarchy, rejected their political opinions, and even went to the contrary extreme of maintaining, in all cases, the indefeasibility of the civil power.

The examples of the archbishop of Milan and the French clergy during the recent revolutions in Paris and in Milan, adduced by our critic in defence of the doctrine of popular sovereignty, are by no means to the point. In planting the cross on the barricades of Milan, the archbishop of that city may have been influenced by three different motives. Either he may have thought with very many of the Italian clergy, that the Austrian sway in Italy was illegitimate, and that the struggle was not so much one between ruler and subject, as between nation and nation; or that, if legitimate, the authority had been abused to such an extent as to justify open resistance; or, (what indeed is most probable) he may have deemed fit to interpose his sacred authority in the jar of civil strife, in order to procure due protection to religion, life, and property, and prevent, if possible, the accession of an irreligious party to power. His conduct, in any of these cases, is perfectly consistent with the rejection of the opinion of popular Sovereignty.

That in the miserable anarchy which afflicts unhappy France, the clergy should set the best face on matters, and bear with evils they cannot remedy, is only natural. But until our opponent can adduce some public declaration from the venerable bishops of that country, stating that power in the origin emanated from the people, and not from God; that in every state, whatever be its form of government, the authority of the supreme magistrate

VOL. XXV.-NO. XLIX.

16

depends on a primitive delegation of the people, and that as La Fayette once said, "Insurrection is the holiest of duties;" until, we say, he can adduce some such declaration, he will be unable to invoke the authority of the church of France against the doctrine we have advanced. The doctrine of divine right, as taught in the Catholic church, protects republics as well as monarchies against the dangers of anarchy. We cannot better conclude these observations than in the words of the illustrious Dominican, father Lacordaire, who, as is well known, does not belong to the Legitimist party. "L'Evangile avoit posé, a principe," says he, in one of his conferences, "que l'homme est trop grand pour obeir à l'homme que l'homme est trop miserable pour être venéré de l'homme par sa propre substance et sa propre vertu. Ce principe renversoit le systeme oriental. Mais en revanche, l'Evangile avoit dit qu'il faut obeir à Dieu dans l'homme, "servientes sicut Domino, et non hominibus." Ce principe renversoit le systeme occidental. Le prince n'etoit plus seulement le mandataire du peuple; il etoit le mandataire de Jesus Christ; on n'obeissait plus seulement à l'homme, mais à Jesus lui même présent et vivant dans celui qu'a voit élu la Société. Je dis celui qu'avoit élu la Société; car l'Evangile n'avoit pas ravi à la Société son droit naturel d'election: il n'avoit par même determiné si le gouvernement devoit être une monarchie, une aristocratie, ou une democratie. Il laissoit la question de forme et de choix au cours de l'experience et des événemens; il avoit dit aux nations: "Mettez à votre tête un consul, un president, un roi, qui vous voudrez; mais souvenez-vous qu'au moment ou vous aurez assis votre magistrature suprême, Dieu viendra dedans."-Conferences, p. 377, vol. ii. Paris, 1845.

NOTICES OF BOOKS.

I.-Mary, the Star of the Sea, a Story of Catholic Devotion. London: Burns.

A

FTER the multitude of religious tales which have been given to the world during the last fifteen or twenty years, we hardly expected that we could ever meet with another which we should not fancy we had read a hundred times before. "Loss and Gain," however, undeceived us: here, at last, was something essentially new. "Mary, the Star of the Sea," again, is something quite

unlike anything in the way of Catholic fiction, which has ever appeared in this country. It is unlike all its predecessors, not only in the general subject, but still more in the peculiar tone of thought and mode of treatment which runs through the volume, from the first chapter to the last. Its title tells its purport, which is to illustrate the exquisite loveliness of the Mother of God, under all the various types by which she is spoken of in the holy scripture, and to show the happiness, peace, and protection, enjoyed by every pious christian who cherishes a tender devotion to her, who is the first and most powerful of all creatures formed by the Almighty's hand.

All this is done, not only with a very surprising amount of knowledge of the divine scriptures, and a remarkable facility in discerning and explaining their typical meaning, but with a high sense of all that is most poetic, romantic, and touching, both in the christian's daily life, and in the passing world, in which he dwells for a season. We question indeed whether there exists any other book, except professed theological treatises, which contains so rich a mine of information with respect to the innumerable types and figures, especially in the case of the holy women of the old dispensation, which refer to the person and office of Mary in the work of the redemption of man. All this portion of the book, also, is written with so much zest and life, and with such an evident delight in the subject on the part of the author, that it will probably tempt many a superficial reader to study, who would pass over anything put in a more scholastic or didactic form.

The story itself, which forms the groundwork of the whole, has not much in the way of incident; though we have found it by no means lacking in interest. The characters, however, are drawn with very considerable delicacy of touch and refinement of idea; and throughout there is an elevation of sentiment and an imaginative colouring to every phase of the tale, singularly unlike the commonplace prosiness which besets the average class of professedly religious fictions. Some readers, indeed, may find fault with the book for being too ideal in its views, and in the people who figure in its pages, and will say it is too unlike the sad al life even in the brightest spots in the Catholic worl really Its personages talk not only the lan higher than their own, wh in the preface ;)-but.

they talk as people speak in poetry; not vaguely, unmeaningly, and pompously; but with that peculiar cast of phrase, and that ideal mode of thought which the nature of poetry demands; but which we rarely, if ever, meet with in the realities of prosaic existence. All this, at the same time, by no means destroys our interest in their affairs; we only think that they are what men and women might be, rather than what they commonly are. The book is so genuine, ardent, and sincere, that we feel in every page that the author has written with the profoundest conviction of the strict possibility of everything that is said, done, suffered, and thought, by its various charac

ters.

We shall be curious, at the same time, to see how the book takes with the generality of readers. Being something quite dissimilar from the old run of story books, we can hardly tell what sort of a reception it will meet with. We shall be surprised, however, if it is not welcomed with cordial satisfaction by a large class of persons.

II. Topham's Patented Railway Time-Table. Richardson and Son, London, Dublin, and Derby.

WHо that has travelled by railway, and wished to learn the precise time at which he might arrive at a particular town, or at his final place of destination, has not found himself bewildered and confused by the conglomeration of little figures, lines, and letters which the old railway timetables presented to him? Who has not discovered, no matter how closely and earnestly he sought to spell his way out of the apparent confusion, that he has, after all, fallen into an irretrievable error-mistaking the time marked for the train passing a town when leaving London, for the time at which the up train would reach it when on its way to London, and vice-versa? And if this were the case with one railway table, how infinitely more hopeless the task when there was question of a long journey, on two or three different lines, each distinct in itself, but still connected with and branching off from others? The great merit of Topham's Patented Railway Time- Table is, that all these difficulties are removed, these embarrassments are avoided, this confusion, perplexity, and uncertainty is at an end, and every point, the most minute, as well as the most important, is so simplified, that a

child can comprehend the entire plan. All the hours marked for trains travelling from London are printed in black ink-all the hours marked for trains travelling to London are printed in red ink: to ascertain the first, the eye runs down the page; to ascertain the second, the eye runs up the page. Such is the principle on which Topham's Patented Time - Tables are constructed. The very facility with which it can be explained is a proof of its usefulness, its certainty, and its applicability to all the occasions on which it can be required. The pamphlet does not, however, confine its pages to an accurate and complete account of all the railway tables in the United Kingdom. It is not only a Railway, but also a Steam Navigation Guide for England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland. It gives the arrival and departure of mails, coaches, and conveyances, &c. In fact, there will be found in it every species of information required by those who travel for business, or for pleasure; whilst at the same time, by the rejection of advertisements, the work is of such moderate compass and convenient size, that it can be carried without the slightest inconvenience in the pocket or the reticule. It is a traveller's book, and nothing else-telling the traveller all he can want or desire to know, and not intruding upon him with a single line which is not of direct and immediate use to the traveller. The price of this excellent publication is only sixpence; and we cannot refrain from adding, that it is impossible to open a single page, with its clear type, its bold figures, and its happy combination of red and black inks, without being struck by the beauty, the distinctness, and general elegance of the typography.

III. The Surgical, Mechanical, and Medical treatment of the Teeth, including Dental Mechanics, with one hundred engravings, by JAMES ROBERTSON, Surgeon Dentist to the Royal Free Hospital, &c. London, Webster, Piccadilly, and Blakiston, Philadelphia. Second edition.

THIS is a practical work by an accomplished and practical man upon a most important subject, on which, however, so much of general ignorance prevails, that it has long since been seized upon by empirics and quacks, as affording them a ready means for subsistence. We have long felt the want of such a book as this-of a treatise upon the