guise, or with less flourishing of trumpets. Yet we can assure our readers that such a work could not have been wrought for the cause of piety, without years of the most patient toil and abstruse research, without an intimate converse, not only with the Hebrew, but all its cognate dialects, a diligent study of Asiatic geography and archæology, the consultation of a vast range of authorities both ancient and modern, a close investigation of the genius and purpose of each of the several authors, and a careful comparison of text with text, and author with author, to clear up doubtful etymologies and constructions. Nor is this all. These critical labors would have been clothed by a merely Oriental scholar in a crude, inelegant and unattractive form. In this case, however, the English style evinces singular purity, dignity, and beauty, and indicates the most careful elaboration, by a mind no less conversant with the treasures and capabilities of its native language, than familiar with the mysteries of ancient philology. 5. Political Hermeneutics, or an Essay on Political Interpretation and Construction, and also on Precedents. By FRANCIS LIEBER, Professor of History in South Carolina College. Boston. Charles C. Little & James Brown. 1837. 8vo. THIS little treatise, we understand, forms a portion of a forthcoming work by Dr. Lieber on Political Ethics. It was originally published in the pages of the "American Jurist," and has since made its appearance in the present shape. We salute it as the avant-courier of that important work to which Dr. Lieber has devoted so much time, and which, if we may rely upon the favorable report of those who have been permitted to peruse some of its pages, is calculated to reflect honor upon the country, and to advance greatly the science of politics. The editors of the "American Jurist," in the short preface with which they have introduced the Essay on Hermeneutics, take the opportunity of presenting a bird's-eye view of the large work, of which this forms a part. It appears that Political Ethics, in the view of the author, comprehends the subject of morality, and of the rights and duties of citizens, with regard to the various institutions, which enter into the great element, the State; in brief, it comprehends that vast body of political relations, which cannot be determined by strict law, and which have never before been classified and considered as a whole. Questions, like the following, are proposed and attempted to be determined; what is a party; can a free nation exist without parties; has a free country ever existed without parties; if not, what should be the objects of a party; how far shall the citizen act with a party; when must he leave it; when does a party become a faction? Or, should a citizen always vote; when shall he not; how shall he vote when subjects are pending which he cannot understand? It became necessary for the author, in order to proceed with perfect clearness in the body of the work, to settle the true meaning of " the State," and all that is connected with this absorbing subject, as sovereignty, government, public power, people, majority, minority, and the much vexed topic of the origin of the State. This portion of his inquiries is represented as highly interesting, and as reflecting new light on a dark subject. Upon the whole work, our contemporaries of the "American Jurist" have remarked, that it is at once original in design, and profound in execution, with apt political reflections and a fertility of illustration from every source of learning. The present Essay will have a particular value for the lawyer, but will also be interesting to the general reader. It constitutes the most comprehensive collection of the rules and principles which govern interpretation and construction, with which we are acquainted. These rules and principles are skilfully arranged, and illustrated by a great variety of examples from history, law, and the affairs of life. The examples and illustrations are printed in a small type, and form a sort of subordinate text. This is a common way of printing manuals in Germany; the change of type being thought to afford facilities for study, as it brings out, by a sort of relief, the principal text. 6. ness. An Oration pronounced before the Society of Phi Beta MR. BUSHNELL's discourse is full of noble thought, happily expressed. His subject is, the principles of national greatIn discussing them, he takes occasion to point out the defects in the prevailing systems of political economy, and to show that the accumulation of wealth ought not to be the principal object in national legislation. He attempts to sketch the outlines of a science more adequate to the whole subject, than the science of political economy, and to point out what further To the sources of greatness ought to be embraced within it. questions, What does it belong to the civil State to pursue? Wherein consists the true wealth or well-being of a State? he replies, "In the total value of the persons of the people." The principal part of the oration is taken up with the illustration of this answer. It contains many thoughts of singular beauty, and drawn from the pure depths of philosophical speculation. Many of the doctrines, which are true in the abstract, are not, however, susceptible of a ready application to practice. Mr. Bushnell ranks the influence of positive enactments in raising the moral character of communities too high, and speaks in terms of too strong approbation, of the minute regulations of the Spartan republic, and of the moral and theological legislation of our puritanical ancestors. One of the great lessons of modern experience is, that meddlesome legislation is vexatious and pernicious. The interference of Roman censors, or puritan clergymen, in the private conduct of individuals, probably had little influence, except in making hypocrites. At any rate, the descendants of the Pilgrims made all convenient haste to shake off an authority which they found irksome and useless. As to Sparta, what monument remains of her austere greatness? The truth seems to be, that laws express the already existing sentiments of the people; and they will continue so long as they represent these sentiments, and no longer. They have some influence in their time, no doubt, upon the popular convictions, and make changes of opinion more slow and difficult. But still, they must essentially harmonize with the age, or they must fall. A forced system of legislation, a scheme of legal supervision, such as Mr. Bushnell seems to recommend, would be resisted anywhere; but if attempted to be enforced over our gigantic country, where is the long and strong arm to carry it into execution? General Jackson could do almost any thing; but if he had undertaken the task of a moral reformer on so stupendous a scale, he would have been resisted by monsters more unmanageable than that which has appropriated the name. In fact, personal freedom is the first condition which men regard, in our age. Whatever interferes with that, however good it may be in design, and however noble-minded its purposes, people will unite in repelling. The moral and intellectual characters of a nation are its most priceless treasures; but how can the action of a parliament, or a congress, touch them, or affect them, except by indirect and secondary influences? While, therefore, every right-thinking American must sympathize cordially in the noble and patriotic sentiments of Mr. Bushnell's oration, it must also be conceded that they are tinged with a somewhat visionary hue, which reminds us of the great political romances of antiquity, - of the dreams of Plato and Cicero. 7. ― Reports and other Documents relating to the State Lunatic Hospital, at Worcester, Mass. Printed by Order of the Senate. Boston. 1837. pp. 200. THE noble institution, of which these documents give the history and results for the first four years of its existence, is the first of a series of public charities, designed for the relief of that hitherto neglected class in this country, the pauper and other lunatics of the poorer classes, under legislative provision. Following the generous example of the State of Massachusetts in founding this institution, many other communities have commenced the good work of providing for their insane, and at the present time no less than seven or eight hospitals are in actual progress towards completion; and from the impulse which the subject has received in most of the States of the confederacy, it is almost certain that in a few years asylums will be opened in every direction. In the New England States, and New York, there is statistical evidence sufficient to show that there is one person actually insane to every six or seven hundred inhabitants; and to the larger proportion of these, the only hope of restoration, and the greatest measure of comfort and safety to themselves and to society, can only be afforded through the aids of asylums designed for the purpose. While so much interest is everywhere felt in this subject, this little volume, principally composed of the Annual Reports to the government, which were out of print, affords the means of forming an accurate judgment in relation to most of those points, on which legislators contemplating the foundation of similar institutions would seek information. And it may be regarded as a fortunate circumstance for the cause of the deranged elsewhere, that this first experiment of a State taking charge of the insane of the pauper, and other comparatively little wealthy classes, has from its commencement been conducted with so much judgment and evinced results so successful; · that its popularity at home should have afforded so encouraging an example abroad. Other public institutions for the insane, many years previous to the foundation of the State Lunatic Hospital, have been carried on with a degree of success probably not surpassed by any in the world; but these have been designed for those classes of society which could return an equivalent for their support, the pauper resting on the public, and the poorer citizen having hitherto remained unprovided for. From the general recapitulation of the first four years' experience of this hospital, ending in November, 1836, it appears that 510 patients have received its advantages, 198 of whom have been restored, and 28 have died. With respect to the success of one insane hospital as contrasted with another, any comparison, bearing even an approximation to the truth, is scarcely practicable. We have not a doubt but that the greatest practicable amount of good has been here accomplished; and how the results compare with other institutions, it is hardly worth while to inquire, as such results are materially influenced by many contingencies. The system of receiving, or declining patients according to the character and degree of their insanity, the prospect of their recovery, their age, and general health, all affect the conclusions of any comparative statistics, to an extent beyond what is generally understood. In glancing at the hospitals of Great Britain, for example, some, as Bethlem and St. Luke's, reject all cases of long standing, all in feeble health, all epileptics, and in fact all except those in whom a fair prospect of recovery exists. Other hospitals, as that at Hanwell, under the distinguished superintendence of Sir W. Ellis, receive the rejected of these institutions, (for none are usually allowed to remain in them over a year), and cases of such a hopeless description, that the report of 1836 gives only 33 discharges out of over 700 cases, and it is not specified even if these were recovered. It is evident that no just comparison could be made of these classes of institutions, as far as cures are considered. At the Massachusetts State Lunatic Hospital, the terms of the law prescribe the subjects for its aids, limiting them to those "so furiously mad" as to be dangerous to go at large. While this gives to its care most of the cases (within those circles of society, which take advantage of its benefits,) where disease is in its high and active state of excitement, (in which, when recent, the hope of cure is greatest,) it also places under its custody all those cases of this description, whether homicidal or otherwise, which, from, their long standing, are beyond the hope of recovery. As a balance to this latter unwelcome class, at least so far as recovery is concerned, under the terms of the law, limiting admissions to those dangerous to go at large, the wards of the hospital ought to be saved from those inanimate and often little more than vegetative forms of the imbecile and utterly demented, whose presence year after year reduces the proportionate number of recoveries in most other institutions. There are still several other circumstances, some of which are inseparable from the nature of the subject, which add to the |