17.-Liberty and Law; a Lecture delivered before the Young Men's Association in Geneva, New York, November 8, 1837. By BENJAMIN HALE, D. D., President of Geneva College. Geneva: 1838. 3vo. pp. 24.

THIS is a noble theme, and nobly treated; firm in his principles, our author is equally fearless in the expression of them. Such a discourse cannot but do good. The times need it; and in the hands of men of talent and station, the argument must at length tell upon the public mind. It is one which reason demonstrates, and experience verifies. LIBERTY CAN NEVER BE DIVORCED FROM LAW. It is a marriage so sanctioned by God, that man cannot separate them. Under the guardian roof of law alone it is that liberty can dwell-there alone is she the mother of peace, and order, and all the gentle train of social and domestic virtues. Wandering from that home, she becomes the harlot, and the harlot-mother of force and rapine, and all the progeny of crime and blood. Such is the eternal law written in heaven, and stamped upon the things of earth. This argument is ably put by Dr. Hale. His position is, that "liberty exists by its own limitations ;" and, consequently, that states can continue free only by "submission to law." It was the answer of one of the wisest of the wise men of Greece, that that was the freest form of government where the law ruled and not will; and it is wonderful how little advance the philosophy of twenty-five hundred years has made upon the completeness of his answer. That herein lies our danger, all admit; but it is not every one that is willing to open his eyes to the fact, that our freedom has been already tarnished, and that mob law is still trampling liberty under foot. But laws, to be law, must be wise and good. How shall this be secured? This question, as a necessary adjunct, is also ably argued, and the inability demonstrated of mere intellectual culture to fit men for the task of wise governments. "Knowledge alone. will not do it ;". we must not only fill the mind, but form the we must make education moral as well as intellectual." We argue well (we would add in conclusion) of the prospects of Geneva college, from the fact of its having such a head as Dr. Hale, and are satisfied that it will repay to the state a thousand fold the patronage it receives, if it do but send forth its alumni, imbued with the noble and right principles of "liberty and law," so ably advocated in this address of its president.

character

18.-Hood's Own, or Laughter from Year to Year, No. I. G. Dearborn & Co. New York.

THIS is poor trashy stuff as to style, with principles as false as they are frivolous. His precept and practice is to drive away death by making a joke of it-"to take care of the body, poor body, and give it as long a day as you can ;" and this he calls "the gay hearted philosophy!" Wretched folly! It is of such laughter Solomon speaks, when he says "it is mad." The " gay heart" is a plant of another soil; it comes from the sweet root of christian peace, and can flourish only in the atmosphere of "a conscience void of offence" towards God and towards men. Let us then have no more of such bedlamites dancing in their chains!

19.-Report upon the Finances and Internal Improvements of the State of New York, 1838, by the Committee of Ways and Means.

THIS is an able and lucid document, demonstrating in figures what every intelligent citizen of the state has long since had in his head, namely, that the actual resources of our treasury are even now equal to the highest demands which can be made upon it. The basis of this reasoning is a clear and conclusive one; it is this:Improvements made by the state are the property of the state; and, therefore, their net proceeds are to be reinvested for the benefit of those to whom they belong; that is, the great Erie canal has been made with state funds, or by state loans, therefore its reasonable tolls, after paying off the debt, is a productive capital, to be re-invested for the same object and the benefit of the same parties, and that again is for the cause of internal improvement and for the citizens at large. The tolls of the Erie canal are therefore, in all equity, already a pledged income, and to divert them to any other end, or to make them a present to those who use the canal, either now or hereafter, is robbery and injustice, so long as any internal improvement remains incompleted. This, then, is the fund from which But having the means, we have heretofore wanted the wisdom. Our legislature has not hitherto appreciated the fundamental principle, (one now beginning to be universally recognized,) that internal improvements are matters of state, not of local policy, and therefore cannot be rightly carried on but by a state board, and upon a general plan, and by state funds. This it the true and only sound principle, and until New York adopts it, and enters vigorously upon it, her movements in the development of her immense resources will be, as they have

our resources are to come.

heretofore been, partial, hasty, and incongruous. Or if, again, such expenditure go beyond her actual means, then is she to borrow upon the strength of them, since every dollar judiciously laid out in opening new avenues to her hidden wealth, counts as fourfold in her treasury. This is a truth beginning to be felt both here and abroad; and European capitalists are at this moment returning home, with the settled conviction that no investment of their capital can be so safe as American state stock created for this end. The very investment of the loan becomes the security of the lender; all else that is wanted is honesty in the borrower; then, the very expenditure of the money becomes the sufficient guarantee of the debt. Such is their feeling; and we, in acting upon it, by making from them a sufficient loan for this purpose, should not only be advancing our own interests, but have the farther satisfaction of becoming instruments for advancing the peace and good order of Europe, since every dollar withdrawn thence for occupation here, makes war a less easy burden to them. The peaceful occupations of the new world, we venture to predict, are going to be the "safety valve" to the old; and American loans are about to become the channels by which the waters of strife are to be drawn off from the plains of Europe, and the sinews of war enfeebled. Thus is it in the affairs of this world, that self-interest is bound up with duty, making up the one great volume (which he who runs may read) of God's dispensations for the happiness and improvement of man.

20.-Hints on a Cheap Mode of Purchasing the Liberty of a Slave Population. New York: 1838. G. A. Neuman, 99 Nassau

street.

HERE comes a German mind-for such, from many marks, we conclude the author to be to the solution of a great and (hitherto considered) insoluble American problem. It is a dark question in more senses than one, but we think he has thrown some new light upon it. It is a striking instance of the new point of view in which a familiar subject may be put by the analytic process, and we recommend its attentive perusal, seriously and practically, to all committees of our abolition and colonization societies, and indeed are by no means sure but that its perusal might with advantage be substituted by the chairmen, at their respective public meetings, for the various eloquent speeches made by gentlemen on such interesting

occasions.

The principle adopted by our author, is that of " uterine emancipation," founded on the received principle of the old Roman law, partus sequitur VENTREM. Setting out from this point, he de

monstrates that the whole purchase needful for the total emancipation of the blacks in the next generation, does not exceed one eighth of the actual number, and that eighth by no means the most valuable one; and that even the emancipation of one young female slave will, by the tenth generation, at the lowest calculation, have been the purchase of freedom to two thousand and forty-five human beings descended from her. But for details we must refer to the pamphlet itself, which is written with candor and moderation, much good sense, and an equal amount of unpretending good feeling.

21.-Introductory Address to the Students in Medicine of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of the University of the State of New York. Delivered November 7, 1837. By EDWARD DELAFIELD, M. D., Professor, &c. New York: Published by the

Students. 1837. 8vo. pp. 44.

We are sorry our notice of this excellent address was crowded out of our last number for want of room. Though somewhat late, we prefer not to omit it in the present number.

Dr. Delafield selected "Medical Education" for the subject of this address, as introductory to the regular course of lectures at the medical college of this city, at the opening of the course of 1837--8; and he has labored most zealously, and we hope and think not without effect, to instil into the minds of his pupils the necessity of making themselves thoroughly acquainted with the profession, the duties and responsibilities of which they voluntarily assume. We like the spirit of this discourse, and the manner in which the subject is treated. We like the elevated ground it takes, and the thorough course of study it presents for the medical student. It is the character given to the medical profession by such men as Professor Delafield, that must commend it to the confidence of the public, and eventually eradicate empiricism. We hope and expect to see New York the head-quarters of medical science in this country; there are peculiar advantages here for a great school of medicine; and it is not unreasonable to expect that we shall yet count our hundreds of students, who will annually resort hither for their education.

22.-A Clinical Lecture on the Primary Treatment of Injuries; delivered at the New York Hospital, November 22, 1837. By ALEXANDER H. STEVENS, M. D., Surgeon of the New York Hospital, and Emeritus Professor of Clinical Surgery.

THIS is also an admirable performance, which we are sorry to have omitted mention of in our last number. We are very glad to perceive, from the dedication to the governors of the hospital, that this is "intended as the first of a series" of lectures on clinical surgery.

In giving this lecture to the public, Dr. Stevens has conferred a great favor, not only on his brethren of the medical profession, but on the general reader. The subject is one which has not received sufficient attention in any systematic work on surgery; and the consequence is, that even medical men, in cases of severe accidental injury, when bystanders and friends are terrified, often find themselves without fixed principles, on which alone are based an appropriate treatment. Besides, every person may, and should, understand what is necessary to be done immediately after the infliction of a serious injury. Lives are too often sacrificed by a species of culpable ignorance. It is not too much to say, that in this single lecture of Dr. Stevens, there is more sound, original, practical information, which all classes of readers can understand, than in many professional works of five times the size. It is altogether a publication of the highest merit.

23.- Address delivered on the 22d of February, 1838, before the Philolexian and Peithologian Societies of Columbia College. By the Reverend EDWARD Y. HIGBEE. New York: Published by order of the Society. 1838. pp. 24.

THE object of Mr. Higbee's address is to show "the dependence of our social system, for all that can render it the object of our care and love, upon the diffusion of sound learning and religion." This obvious and important truth can never be too strongly and extensively felt; and therefore can never be too frequently urged: for though one of the most familiar common places of remark and acknowledg* ment, yet, like many others of the most important truths which concern man's welfare here and for ever-its very familiarity sometimes begets a habit of unreflecting acknowledgment, perfectly consistent with a practical disregard of the duties implied in it.

We are glad, therefore, whenever occasion is taken to make this truth felt. Mr. Higbee's enforcement of it is earnest and eloquent,

NO. V.-VOL. III.

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