Assembly of New York recommended a Convention to revise and amend the Articles of Confederation, and to give the needed increase of authority-or, that we may give his statement the most favorable aspect, we will say, in 1786, the time of the Convention at Annapolis,-the State of New York had so far progressed in her career of "rising greatness" as to be an object of envy to all the other States; and Mr. Dawson furthermore supposes that during all this time the State of New York had showed and was continuing to show such superior fidelity to the Federal Compact as to put all the other twelve States to the blush! Now, as a matter of fact, it was not till after the latest of the above two dates, that New York had entered upon any such career of rapid growth as could justify such feelings of envy on the part of the other States. And though there may have been, and under the existing arrangements it was very natural that there should be, some clashing of interests between New York and the adjoining States, there was not even in these cases any such jealousy of her "rising power" as is claimed. It is to be remembered that at the time of the adoption of the present Constitution, New York was one of the smaller States, and her inferior political power was one of the reasons why she advocated with such warmth the doctrine of States' Rights. And, again, with regard to the claim of a fidelity manifested to the Federal Compact, superior to that manifested by many of the other States, we emphatically deny it; though we have no desire to detract from the fair fame of New York, and are happy to admit that very generous principles often prevailed among her people. It is notorious, that it was owing to the embarrassing action of the Assembly of New York, in peremptorily refusing to grant an impost, on terms compatible with the acceptance of Congress, that all hopes of an independent federal revenue were finally dashed, and that Congress was induced to give its sanction and approbation to the meeting of the proposed Convention which drafted the present Constitution.

We confess that after reading Mr. Dawson's historical introduction, we feel some apprehension about his forthcoming volume. However, all this does not affect the value of the text of the Federalist. We are thankful that we have this presented to us in so satisfactory a form, and of the merits of the Notes we will judge when they are given to the public.

We ought not to omit to state that in the Introduction there is

also a very interesting and carefully prepared account of all the previous editions; and unless we are mistaken, in no one of these does the orthography of the words "Federalist" and "federal" conform to the new spelling which Mr. Dawson is seeking to introduce.

SPEECH OF JUDGE UPHAM ON THE TIMES.*-We have before us, in pamphlet form, a very able speech of Hon. N. G. Upham, in which he discusses the bearings of Rebellion, Slavery, and Peace on each other. The speech was made at Concord, New Hampshire, in March, and deserves to be widely circulated through the country. Judge Upham vigorously defends the President's emancipation and amnesty proclamations, and the constitutionality of the measures respecting slavery which have been taken in defense of the Union. He argues at length the proposition that there can be no reasonable assurance of a permanent peace while slavery exists. He takes up the questions of the comparative value of slave and compensated labor, and the condition of the liberated. African, and presents most abundant evidence that those States which still retain the system of slavery will be every way the gainers if they will voluntarily and immediately bring it to an end The speech deserves a much more extended analysis than our limits will allow us to give.

MISCELLANEOUS.

THE QUEEN'S ENGLISH.--This book has many things in it which are good. It also has many things which are bad or unnecessary. The substance of the book is some lectures delivered at Canterbury, and subsequently republished in "Good Words." Many things, however, drew out criticism and answers, to which the author replied. All this is incorporated into the book, and consequently it is very immethodical. Often an answer is given on one page to a criticism on a passage which occurs much later

* An Address on the Subject of Rebellion, Slavery, and Peace; delivered at Concord, N. H., March 2d, 1864. By N. G. UPHAM. Concord: E. C. Eastman. 1864. 8vo. pp. 40.

The Queen's English: Stray notes on speaking and spelling. By HENRY ALFORD, D. D., Dean of Canterbury. London: Strahan & Co. 1864, 12mo. pp. 257.

in the volume. This referring forward, if one can say so, is not very pleasant. There are numerous errors in speech and writing touched on, which we are told are common among cultivated persons in England.. If this is so, the language must be much more hardly used there than it is here. In fact, with the exception of a few discussions on controverted points, the volume is merely a statement of rules which are acknowledged by all who pretend to the slightest accuracy in their use of language.

But accuracy of speech is not usual in America, Mr. Alford tells us. Speaking of the Americans he says:

"Look at those phrases which so amuse in their speech and books; at their reckless exaggeration, and contempt for congruity; and then compare the char acter and history of the nation-its blunted sense of moral obligation and duty to man; its open disregard of conventional right, when aggrandizement is to be obtained; and, I may now say, its reckless and fruitless maintenance of the most cruel and unprincipled war in the history of the world. Such examples as this .. may serve to show that language is no trifle."

We do not call attention so much to the truth as to the logic of this passage.

As regards spelling, the author coincides with Webster's rule about doubling the final consonant in the past tenses of verbs. He however dislikes any omission of the u in words ending in our which he stigmatizes as an American practice, with the exception of neighbor or neighbour, where he thinks the u arose from analogy, which word is, he says, derived from the German nachbar. This shows that, like most other English writers on language, he has very faint ideas of what derivation is.

Mr. Alford defines well an idiom in saying that it is a departure from the strict rules of grammatical construction and critical analogy common to languages in general, and has some sensible remarks on various idiomatical phrases.

do

He also makes some valuable suggestions on the difference in the use of adjectives and adverbs to qualify verbs. But it will take stronger arguments than are brought up here to convince us that "it is me," is an idiom, and therefore a correct phrase, or to that "than" ever governs the objective. The book may prove good to some persons who are in the habit of treating their mother tongue with great disregard, but most people will find that there is a great deal of vapid talk and very little reasoning or proof. Nothing is thoroughly treated, and the arbitrary manner in which decisions are made that one phrase is correct because it follows the

rule, and another wrong for the same reason, is not calculated to satisfy. The author is one of those writers who would confine the English language in close bounds and frown on any attempt to extend it by the introduction of new words or new uses of old ones. He does not see that language is living and that from some reason never fully investigated, words once current are sometimes dropped and others taken to supply their place. This takes place continually, and yet the force of inertia is such that the language. is always English, and, were the whole vocabulary foreign, would be English still.

MATZNER'S ENGLISH GRAMMAR.*--This is without doubt the best grammar of our language which has yet been published. It is even better, for it is much fuller, than that of Fiedler and Sachs, and it is far ahead of anything we have in our language. The whole subject of English Grammar is thoroughly discussed. The Syntax well repays the closest study. The philosophy of the sentence and of its arrangement is well treated, and the discussion of the several parts of speech and their relations is very thorough. The prepositions alone have over one hundred and fifty pages devoted to them. We notice that the author adopts the usual grammatical nomenclature of the cases, speaking of the Genitive and Accusative instead of the Possessive and Objective, which are the terms in vogue among English writers. He separates too the Dative from the Accusative. This is a better arrangement, it seems to us, than that usually adopted. We can thus perceive more clearly the analogy of the regimen as compared with other languages, and are able to trace more easily the use of the construction. The Dative and Accusative are really always distinct, though in form they are one, and an acknowledgment of this distinction helps us in the higher analysis of the sentence. The book is written in the same way that we write grammars of the dead languages, showing the actual uses of words and phrases, and not as we have been accustomed to write English Grammars, showing a hypothetical and wrong one, or what is called false syntax. Its object is not so much to teach one to use the language correctly, as to understand it when used correctly. We have been very much struck with the amount of reading shown in the citations and

Englische Grammatik von EDUARD MATZNER. Berli. 2 vols. 8vo. 1864. Weidmannsche Buchhandlung.

examples. They extend from the earliest Anglo-Saxon writers to the latest novels of Dickens and Trollope, and they are all carefully referred to by the line or page. We hope that the concluding volume containing the index will soon appear, as that is very much needed.

BOOK OF PRAISE.*-The plan of the editor, in preparing this beautiful volume, has been to make a selection of hymns which will afford appropriate expressions for those feelings of confiding faith and grateful devotion which are natural to the Christian's heart. He expresses a doubt whether "a sense of repetition and monotony" may not be created by bringing together so large a number of hymns on one subject; but no one who will examine the book itself will share his fears. In fact, there is a growing taste, everywhere manifest, for just such special selections of Hymns as are most suitable to the varying states of feeling to which our minds are subject. It is an interesting fact that the editor of this volume is an English gentleman, of high legal attainments and reputation. We hope the book will become widely known.

PROF. DANA'S TEXT-BOOK OF GEOLOGY.t-We are glad that Professor Dana has been induced to prepare an abridgment of his admirable Manual of Geology, for the use of Schools and Acade. mies. If he had not done this himself, something of the kind would undoubtedly have been attempted by a less competent per. son. In this new volume the arrangement of the larger work has been retained, and the work is amply illustrated with three hundred and seventy-five wood cuts.

L. SCOTT & Co's REPUBLICATIONS OF THE BRITISH REVIEWS.— The price of the five British Reviews which are reprinted by L. Scott & Co. of New York, is not raised for the current year. According to the new law, the rates of postage are less than be

*The Book of Praise, from the best English Hymn-writers. Selected and arranged by ROUNDELL PALMER. Cambridge: Sever & Francis. 1864. 18mo. pp. 480. Price $1.50. New Haven: H. C. Peck.

A Text-Book of Geology. Designed for Schools and Academies. By JAMES D. DANA, LL. D. Illustrated by three hundred and seventy-five wood cuts, Philadelphia: Theodore Bliss & Co. 1864. 12mo. pp. 354. Price $1.75.

New Haven: Judd & White.