us. Doubtless we should have been but little benefited by the gift, judging by the miserable pretences for argument manifest throughout his paper. "The big but baseless assertions" we have made G. P. has specially noticed, and his notice is of a peculiar kind-he denies the "independence" of man (p. 116). We have said that man" is an independent but responsible being," and that, "in the exercise of his faculties, he is responsible to no other of his fellow-men,"**"whilst the exercise of his own natural powers accords to his fellow-men equal rights and equal freedom" (p. 36). This "big assertion," we affirm, is not baseless; and not only selfevident, but it is the recognized foundation principle of all political philosophy in all civilized communities. We speak of an independent power to think, to will, to do; of a responsibility to none but God for his acts, until those acts are found to interfere with the rights and liberties of others. To assert that man is not physiologically and socially dependent, none but an imbecile would think of himself or impute to others; such a dependence is not thought of until G. P. forcibly drags it into the subject, where it sits unnaturally, in a foreign garb, and feels uncomfortable, by reason of the unpleasant and ridiculous position in which it is placed by the unskilful G. P. On p. 39 we have used the words, "all men must labour to live," in a logical synthesis of our argument in that paper. This sentence gives G. P. great umbrage; and here he has fallen, as is his wont, into a great blunder. We are referring to the normal condition of men as labourers, in the technical language of science, and the words are so general as designedly to include all men, even prior to the existence of capital or wealth; hence, our remarks would show that labour is necessary to create wealth; and that wealth, when created, may be consumed by idleness, is the purport of G. P.'s reply to it on p. 117. Of what value such a reply may be, we leave the reader to judge. To follow the course of D. R. R.'s remarks, would be to retread the ground we have now passed in review, and the reader may justifiably inquire, Cui bono? In conclusion, we cannot do better than repeat the words of the Edinburgh Review, to show the magnitude of the evil with which, as political economists and philanthropists, we have to contend, and against which we have to guard the young men of Great Britain. The writer states, "That, according to the best authorities accessible in so obscure a case, the Trades' Unions in the kingdom are not fewer than 2,000, containing about 600,000 members, and commanding a fund of £300,000, destined chiefly for the support of strikes. Now, if we suppose each person to have three persons dependent upon him (which is a low estimate), it would appear that nearly two millions and a half of the working class of our population are governed in their most important affairs-their industry and its recompense, their social relations and personal fortunes-by laws and authorities not recognized by the rest of society, and not subject to public discussion or legal control. It must be considered, also, that the two millions and a half constitute only a portion of the multitude whose fortunes are determined by the Trades' Union organization. The Unions are antagonistic, not so much to the employer of labour as to the labourers outside the body. The opposition to the masters is always put forward as the object of such Unions, and their most conspicuous action is in that direction. But the main purpose is to control the labour market, to keep up a monopoly in each trade, and drive off into other employments all the workmen who will not enter the combination." This extract shows, in unison with public and private history, that Trades' Unions create imperium in imperio, and hence are destructive of all that the patriot treasures most-the integrity of the constitution, the welfare of his fatherland, and the happiness and prosperity of the hardy sons of toil he delights to call his fellow-countrymen. Having shown that Trades' Unions are politically, socially, and commercially injurious to working men, we have, by necessity, proved our thesis, that they are not beneficial. The verdict is now with the British Controversialists. L'OUVRIER. The Reviewer. Modern Europe; a School History. By JOHN LORD, A.M. London: Simpkin, Marshall, and Co. Price 58. WE have much pleasure in announcing the publication of the "ninth thousand" of this carefully-written work, the value of the present issue being greatly increased by the addition of three chapters, comprehending all the leading events which have occurred from the Congress of Vienna, in 1815, to the Peace of Villafranca, in 1859. Notwithstanding the extent of territory over which the author ranges, and the fact that his history embraces the leading events in the last three or four hundred years, he is anything but a mere uninteresting chronicler of lifeless names and dreary dates. Mr. Lord has evidently carefully studied the subject on which he writes; has accustomed himself to take comprehensive and enlightened views of things; and, believing that "history is philosophy teaching by example," he is ever ready to enforce those moral lessons which all great events inculcate. We feel much confidence in recommending this work to the notice of our readers. Good Words. Part I. Edinburgh: Alexander Strahan and Co. Price 6d. THIS is the first monthly part of a new religious magazine, edited by the Rev. Norman Macleod, D.D. It is got up in the style of the "Christian Treasury;" contains a large quantity of good letter press, and is filled with thoughtful, but rather sombre articles. We confess, however, that we are at a loss to discover in it any special claims for support; but we presume others have been more successful than ourselves, for it is reported that 30,000 copies of the first number have been sold. The Good Steward; a Manual for Sunday School Teachers. By THULIA SUSANNAH HENDERSON. London: Sunday School Union, 56, Old Bailey. Price, cloth, 2s. Margaret Penrose; or, Scenes in the Life of a Sunday School Teacher. London: Sunday School Union, 56, Old Bailey, Price, cloth, 2s. 6d. THESE two new works will be welcomed by many of our readers who are personally connected with the great Sunday school enterprise. "The Good Steward" is an essay written in competition for a prize of twenty-five pounds, offered by the Committee of the Sunday School Union, and it contains much information, and many suggestions that will be practically useful to the amateur teacher. "Margaret Penrose" is a more sketchy, and therefore a more attractive volume than the preceding one. In very lively language it depicts scenes in the life of a Sunday school teacher, which are not of an improbable nature, and to which, therefore, the author has given an instructive tendency. Lessons from Jesus. By W. P. BALFERN, Author of "Glimpses of Jesus." London: J. F. Shaw. The readers of "Glimpses of Jesus," which has in a short time reached a third edition, will, we have no doubt, gladly avail themselves of the opportunity of procuring another work from the same pen. General theological literature scarcely comes within the critical range of the British Controversialist, but the little work at the head of this notice is so catholic in its tone, that we feel great pleasure in commending it to the attention of our readers. The author's views, though always boldly, are never dogmatically or offensively expressed. His object is to gain for the whole gospel a more affectionate and extensive reception. While his argument and style will procure for his book the favour of the thoughtful and inquiring eader, its pathos and affectionate address will make it even more welcome with a large class, to whom the gospel is no matter of nquiry, but of simple, earnest faith. We hope the success of Mr. Balfern's last work may not only equal but far exceed that his first. The Art of Writing; with a Course of Lessons on Penmanship. By J. A. Cooper. Third Edition. London: Houlston and Wright. As this little work originated in an article prepared for our pages, we cannot but express our pleasure at the success which has attended it. Poetic Critique. Sea Dreams: an Idyll. By ALFRED TENNYSON. Snowdrift. By CECIL DEVON. London. 1860. The Poetry of Spring. By GOODWYN BARMBY. London. 1860. The Artist's Dream. By GEORGE GIBBONS. Birmingham. 1860. The Intermittent Fountain. By GEORGE SINCLAIR. London. 1859. A Handful of Letters. By WILLIAM ORMOND. Various Poems. "Ye who write, make choice of a subject suited to your abilities, and resolve in your thoughts a considerable time what your strength declines, and what it is able to support. Neither elegance of style, nor a perspicuous disposition, shall desert the man by whom the subject-matter is chosen judiciously. To have good sense is the first principle and fountain of writing well. A mediocrity in poets neither God nor men, nor even booksellers, have endured."- HORACE. MR. TENNYSON's last Idyll is by sOCIETY pronounced tame. Society, gossip, surface-opinion, or what you will, says "So! ho! Alfred Tennyson writing about a clerk, and a clerk's wife, and a clerk's baby! Why, what will poetry come to if he does this? if he lifts the goddess from the winged Pegasus, and sits her,-oh, poor degraded one! on-a donkey! A city clerk takes his wife and child to the sea. The city air has paled their faces, and the city wiles have embittered their lives. He broods continually over the loss of his hard-earned savings, lured from him by a smooth-tongued hypocrite. She continually whispers sweet words in his ear, the burthen of them all-"Forgive." They both dream. He, of the mines in which his money is risked, of life and labour, and fleets of glass wrecked on reefs of visionary gold. She, of a low musical note, swelling up ever through the roar and thunder of breakers, of men and women ever setting up their own gods, and ever reviling the gods of others; and the music ever swelled, and statues, saints and kings ever were falling, and the wailings ever kept tune with that one sweet note; and the wave of time rolled up and swept away men of flesh and blood, and men of stone, to the waste deeps together. Her thoughts ran on the mystery of life, his on the misery. And they talk together; and the gentle wife tells her husband that she has heard that day that his enemy is dead-of heart disease. Saith he : "Dead?-he? of heart disease? What heart bad he A devil in man, there is an angel too; And if he did that wrong you charge him with, And so they talk, and, talking too loudly, rouse the child. And so singing to it with her sweet voice, they become calmed and of one mind in forgiveness of evil, and they sleep. How simple is all this, and how truthful, and how appreciable by you and me! And because so, how great a sinner is Tenny. son for talking of our every-day life, and not using his fine powers to depict real heroes. Cloud-compelling Jove and whitearmed Juno would have made splendid subjects, instead of a clerk and his wife. A blood-letting warrior, always in armour, and always killing somebody, and always escaping scathless, would have been infinitely finer than the villain hypocrite of every day life. And a child, able to crush serpents, play with lions, and beard warriors from its birth, would be much more welcome to our classic fireside than that commonest of all common things-a common baby. And so, the impossible, the unlikely, and the ridiculous are always to be our classical literature, according to high critics and antiquarian image-seekers. Yet for all this, England is building up even now classic literature of her own, quite as noble as the Greek, and much more natural; and Alfred Tennyson is no mean worker in this temple of her fame. "TITHONUS" shows the writer's power. It is as purely a classic of the old as is the "Sea Dreams" of the new school. Tithonus, "A white-hair'd shadow, roaming like a dream The ever silent spaces of the East, Far-folded mists, and gleaming halls of morn," laments in the ear of Aurora, who loved him and obtained immortality but not eternal youth for him from the gods, his decrepitude and misery, and asks her to take back her gift and let him die: "Let me go: take back thy gift; Why should a man desire in any way Where all should pause, as is most meet for all?" That age loses sympathy with youth is told in this beautiful fable. Aurora comes, morn after morn, her bosom beating with a heart renewed, and Tithonus ever stands gazing with cold eye on the bright goddess, and he cries: "Yet hold me not for ever in thine East: How can my nature longer mix with thine? |