course must greatly depend on its regarding with becoming respect the instructions and warnings of the past. Hitherto, the speeches of our most distinguished senators-which constitute a vast storehouse of political science-have been inaccessible to the bulk of our people. The editions in which they have appeared are too costly for the means of our countrymen, and they have, therefore, been unstudied and unknown.

The Modern Orator' corrects this evil, by placing the most celebrated speeches of our chief orators within the reach of nearly all, and by supplying, in brief and appropriate notes, the information needful to elucidate their references, to disentangle the web by which skilful debaters sought to perplex and bewilder, and to throw over the whole a continuous light, enabling the bistorical reader to view events and personages in their due proportions as a consistent whole. The Part now before us completes the second volume, which is entirely occupied by the speeches of Mr. Fox. We need not say how highly we estimate his oratory, nor what are its qualities. It is enough to express our satisfaction at their appearing in so popular and cheap a form, and to recommend them earnestly to the study of our countrymen. We shall be glad to find that the publishers are encouraged by the sale of this and the preceding volume, to prosecute their undertaking. There is a large field yet before them.

Some Passages from Modern History. By the Author of Letters to my Unknown Friends.' London: Longman and Co.

THIS is an interesting little volume, well adapted to young readers. It consists of ten chapters, each devoted to the elucidation of some historical character or incident. The subjects are well chosen, and the style of the narrative exhibits extensive reading, and, on the whole, sound views. If open to any exception, it is on the ground of partaking too much of a martial character, and of being too favourable in the sketch given of some royal personages. We wrong the living by eulogizing the dead beyond their merits, and the injury is increased when the position and sufferings of the deceased are specially adapted to awaken sympathy. The view given of the character of Marie Antoinette is unhappily falsified by the records of history. Apart from these blemishes, the volume will prove both attractive and useful, and as such we recommend it to our youthful friends.

The Treasury of Natural History; or a Popular Dictionary of Animated Nature, illustrated with upwards of Eight Hundred Figures on Wood, engraved expressly for this Work. By Samuel Maunder. London: Longman and Co.

MR. MAUNDER's Treasuries have obtained a wide circulation. They met a want of the reading public, and have, therefore, been welcomed. Moreover, they were prepared with much care, and evi

dence both extensive research and sound judgment. The design of the present volume has long occupied Mr. Maunder's attention, and a vast range of reading was evidently required for its preparation. The articles are printed in an alphabetical order, so as greatly to facilitate reference, while a classified arrangement is prefixed, which will meet the views of those who wish to obtain a scientific knowledge of natural history. Mr. Maunder has rendered himself familiar with the works of our most eminent writers on natural science, and has condensed into his pages the more interesting and instructive portions of their multifarious volumes. The getting up' of his work is in happy keeping with its contents. The wood-engravings are numerous and well executed, and the type is clear though small. Altogether the volume is worthy of liberal patronage, as containing the results of careful observation and extensive reading, arranged with sound judgment, and conveyed in a style happily appropriate.

The National Cyclopædia of Useful Knowledge. 8vo. Vol. V. London: Charles Knight.

WE are glad to report the steady progress of this work, which is one of the best productions of the day. The present volume, constituting the fifth, extends from Roger Cotes to John Evelyn, and sustains, in every way, the reputation of its predecessors. The extensive circulation of such works is a good omen of the times, and will greatly contribute to the growth of a class of well informed and reflecting men. We congratulate the young, and all those whose means are restricted, on the provision thus made for their information, and warmly recommend their immediately possessing themselves of so admirable a companion. It will be their own fault, if they do not retain within their reach, one of the choicest storehouses of sound, multifarious, and well-arranged information.

Literary Intelligence.

Just Published.

The Bloudy Tenent of Persecution for cause of Conscience Discussed, and Mr. Cotton's Letter Examined and Answered. By Roger Williams. Edited for the Hanserd Knolly's Society, by Edward Bean Underhill.

The Way of Faith, or the Abridged Bible; containing Selections from all the Books of Holy Writ. By Dr. M. Bundinger, translated from the Fifth German Edition, by David Asher, specially sanctioned by the Rev. Dr. Adler, Chief Rabbi of the United Congregations of the British Empire. Intended for the use of Jewish Schools and Families.

Mamma's Absence; or, the Written Rules.

Scriptural Teaching; or, a Pastor's Offering to his People. By Rev. W. Blackley, B.A.

Chambers' Book for the People — History of the French Revolution. Part II.

Familiar Letters. By Rev. Robert Murray M'Cheyne. Containing an Account of his Travels as one of the Deputation sent out by the Church of

Scotland, on a Mission of Inquiry to the Jews, in 1839. Edited by his Father.

Epitome of Alison's History of Europe, from the Commencement of the French Revolution in 1789, to the Restoration of the Bourbons in 1815. For the use of Schools and Young Persons.

Mutual Recognition in Heaven. A Discourse delivered in York Road Chapel, Lambeth. By Rev. R. Alliott. Published by Request.

The Modern Orator. Charles James Fox. Part XVIII.

Sermons for Sabbath Evenings. By Ministers of the Free Church of Scotland. With Introductory Remarks. By Hugh Miller.

A Brief Historical Relation of the Life of Mr. John Livingstone, Minister of the Gospel; containing several Observations of the Divine Goodness manifested to him in the several occurrences thereof. Written by Himself, during his Banishment in Holland, for the Cause of Christ. With Historical Introduction and Notes. By Rev. Thomas Houston, Knockbacker. The National Cyclopædia of Useful Knowledge. Vol. V. CotesEvelyn.

The Ethnological Journal, No. IV. Sept. 1, 1848.

The Scottish New Generation; or, the Re-action. By Hugh Scott, Esq. 'Presbytery Examined.' An Essay, Critical and Historical, on the Ecclesiastical History of Scotland since the Reformation. By the Duke of Argyle.

Principles of Textual Criticism, with their Application to the Old and New Testament, illustrated with Plates and fac-similes of Biblical Documents. By J. Scott Porter.

Lectures delivered before the Young Men's Christian Association at Centenary Hall and Freemason's Hall, 1847-8.

The Irish Pastor and the Famine. Memoir and Remains of Rev. Samuel Brown, of Tralee, Ireland. By his Brother, the Rev. Isaac Brown.

Discourses, Doctrinal and Practical. By the late Rev. Robert Brodie, A.M., Glasgow.

The White Slave: a Life of John Newton, Written for Young Children. By G. E. Sargent.

Nos. 1 and 2 of Bunhill Memorials,

Studies of First Principles. By James Baldwin Brown, A.B. No 3. First Principles of Politics.

Monopoly the Cause of all Evil. By Arthur Condorcet O'Connor, General of Division. 3 vols.

Descriptive Atlas of Astronomy. Part V.

Incidents of Travel in Egypt, Arabia Petræa, and the Holy Land. By J. L. Stephens, Esq.

The Difficulties of Education; a Lecture delivered in the Croft Chapel, Hastings, July 16, 1848. By Rev. W. Davis. 2nd Edition.

The People's Dictionary. Part XXXVII.

An Introduction to the New Testament, containing an Examination of the most Important Questions relating to the Authority, Interpretation, and Integrity of the Canonical Books, with reference to the latest Inquiries. By Samuel Davidson, L.L.D. Vol. I. The Four Gospels.

The Presbyter, the Prelate, and the People; or, Presbytery, Prelacy, and Independency, as Practically Developed in England. By a Clergyman in the Presbyterian Church in England.

For Whom is Christian Baptism Designed? A New Dissertation on an Old Controversy, with an especial Reference to the Reasoning contained in Dr. Halley's Seventh Lecture on the Sacraments, to which is added, a Brief Inquiry into the Mode of Administering the Ordinance. By Thos. Morrell.

THE

ECLECTIC REVIEW

FOR NOVEMBER, 1848.

ART. I.—Il Risorgimento de Torino. September, and October, 1848.

AMONG the popular risings which the present generation has witnessed, that of the Italians may, perhaps, be regarded as the most remarkable. Attempts had, no doubt, from time to time been previously made by them, as well to shake off their domestic oppressors, in themselves contemptible, and ruling altogether by borrowed force, as to undermine the power of the Austrians and drive them beyond the Alps. But however favourable we might be to freedom and national independence, we could never disguise from ourselves the inadequacy of the means to accomplish the proposed end. The risings in the kingdom of Naples and Piedmont, the partial insurrections in the Papal States, the ably contrived conspiracy of Lombardy, were symptomatic of anything but a healthy tone of political feeling in the great mass of the people. All that we could infer from them was this, that among the educated and enlightened classes there existed an impatience of bad government, which, if strenuously persisted in, might be gradually communicated to the mass of the people, and thus produce that state of universal discontent which at once justifies revolutions and ensures their

success.

But there were found throughout Italy, and more especially in the Papal States, two powerful elements adverse to the growth

of freedom; the secret influence of Austria and the superstition of the masses. Far be from us the wish to put a harsh or unwarranted construction on any form of Christianity; but, with every inclination to interpret leniently the opinions of those who differ from us, we find ourselves irresistibly driven to the conclusion, that Catholicism, especially in Italy, is essentially opposed to the full developement of liberty. Against these two sinister influences the Italian patriots had everywhere to struggle.

If, moreover, they turned their eyes towards neighbouring states, in the hope of discovering signs of sympathy and encouragement, they were immediately disheartened by observing, that statesmen and politicians generally desire nothing so much as the preservation of the status quo which saves them the labour of organising new forms of civil polity, and of studying the moral relations necessarily arising out of them. It is, consequently, easy to understand what has been denominated the torpor of Italy, which, whatever may now be imagined to the contrary, had, and could have, no hope of regeneration, but from the general overthrow of despotism throughout Europe. And, indeed, if the truth must be spoken, we think the freedom of each particular state will always very much depend on the capacity, or incapacity, of its despotic neighbours to interfere with its internal arrangements. It may be politic in the adversaries of freedom to affect supreme scorn for revolutionary governments, and the most unbounded confidence in the return of things to their old condition. They are very far from being sincere. They tremble while they mock and insult, and if they pray at all, pray for nothing so earnestly as that the experiment of democracy may prove a failure. Liberty is infectious, so that the most firmly rooted despotism will be unable to maintain itself if surrounded by free states.

French writers, with a pardonable partiality, imagine that the revolutionary impulse has been communicated to the rest of Europe by Paris. But France has been but the conductor of the electric shock, which really originated in the British parliament. Our debates on Negro Emancipation, on the Reform Bill, on Free Trade, carried on with unbounded liberty, and replete with principles and opinions which, anywhere but in England, would be considered in the highest degree dangerous, communicated a restless impulse to the whole of Christendom, and imperceptibly prepared mankind for the subversions of thrones and dynasties we have just witnessed.

Italy experienced her full share of the popular excitement thus created, and France herself was precipitated into insurrec