NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS.

THE Rev. W. Ellis, so well known as the Author of the "Polynesian Researches," has just published a volume of remarkable interest, "Three Visits to Madagascar during the Years 1853-1854-1856." What Dr. Livingstone has done for Central Africa, Mr. Ellis has accomplished for Madagascar. He has brought to light the interior of an unknown region, and laid open a new field of vast importance for European and Transatlantic enterprise. That Madagascar will very soon be accessible to our trade and commerce, it is impossible to doubt, after the recent instances of China and Japan. It is a noble testimony to the character of English Missionaries, that the greatest discoveries, or at least the most arduous exploratory journeys, should have been made, of late years, either by Missionaries, or by travellers whose grand motive was the promotion of Missions. Our readers are, no doubt aware, that a promising Mission once existed in Madagascar; but that it was extinguished, quenched in blood, by the tyrant sovereign of the island. Christianity is still forbidden under the penalty of death, and many native Christians have won the crown of martyrdom; yet, as a friendly visitor from England, Mr. Ellis was kindly received by the Queen, and all classes of the people; and nothing could exceed the hospitality and attention shown him on the coast during his journeys and at the capital. This is surely an augury for good; and his faith must be weak indeed who can hesitate to believe that this magnificent island will, ere long, be numbered among those which "wait for His law" to whom the sceptres of the earth belong. For information upon all the topics on which the geographer, the man of science, the enterprising merchant, or the still more enterprising Missionary and his pioneers, may seek for it, we are compelled to refer to the work itself.

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It may be expected that, for some time to come, the press will teem with works on our Indian Empire. For the most part, we must dismiss them with a brief notice, and yet, if they advocate ́ a Christian policy, with a hearty valediction. England and India: an Essay on the Duty of Englishmen towards the Hindoos: by (the Hon. and Rev.) Baptist W. Noel," stands first upon our list. The facts it contains are now but too well known. But it is well that the horrors of the Cawnpore massacre, and the tragic incidents of the mutiny, should stand recorded in the same pages which enforce the duty of evangelizing India; and that the long and dreary catalogue "of things to be removed or amended by the East India Government," should be immediately succeeded by a clear and solemn statement of the only remedy which can possibly avail:—

"By leading multitudes in India to become the true disciples of Christ, and by convincing all India of His divine mission, we shall confer upon the Hindoos a greater benefit than ever yet one people conferred upon another." (p. 449.)

A smaller treatise on the same subject, "The Night, the Daw and the Day; or, the Reformed Church bringing India to Christ; by the Rev. Richard Croly, M.A." is a well-considered digest of the spiritual condition of India from the earliest times, with the sad account of our unfaithfulness and want of zeal, down even to the present year; and some animating considerations which ought to inflame us with new ardour in the cause of Christ and the conversion of the Hindoos. These the writer closes with "the Argument from Prophecy;" following, in this, the path marked out by Faber and other expositors of note, and concluding that the period of the Papal and Mahometan impostures will terminate about the year (A.D. 1866.) Who would not add his "Amen" to the petition that " even so" the Lord Jesus may "come," if such indeed be the purposes of God!

"Creoles and Coolies; or, Five Years in the Mauritius: by the Rev. Patrick Beaton, M.A.,” is, apart from its more serious and benevolent aims, an interesting and instructive little book. There are amusing sketches of scenes and character, as well as revolting stories of cruelty, and yet too true, for the friend of the Creole and the Coolie. The former has long been emancipated; the latter now does his work, and occupies his place. We ask the reader's attention to the following statement from the pen of a Mauritius Clergyman :—

"Whatever effect the abolition of slavery may have produced in other British colonies, in Mauritius it cannot be regarded as otherwise than as a positive blessing, both to the slave and to the planter. It gave to the one liberty, and to the other wealth. It is a singular fact, that during the existence of slavery, with the slave-market already at their doors, and every facility for the importation of negroes, the planters of Mauritius were and continued to be poor; while, after the emancipation, through the introduction of free labourers from India, those of them who have not become the victims of luxury or usury, have attained a degree of material prosperity previously unknown. In a word, the more enlightened among them admit that free labour is cheaper and more economical than slave labour: and that the immense quantity of sugar now annually exported could never have been produced under the system of slavery. Every year witnesses fresh inroads upon the forests, and the formation of new plantations; the capital expended on which may always be recovered, by good management, in the course of a few years. The Abbé Raynal states, that this colony, while in the possession of the French, instead of paying its own expenses, cost France eight millions of livres annually; and recommends that this settlement, as well as Bourbon, should be abandoned. In 1855, the revenue of the colony was £348,452, and its expenditure £317,839; leaving a surplus of £30,613. The accumulation of surplus revenue in the treasury, from 1850 to 1855, amounted to £161,915." (p. 85.) The condition of the Coolie in the Mauritius and other colonies, is one of too great importance to be dismissed in a few sentences; and at present we cannot afford space for the full consideration of the subject. The prosperity of the Mauritius, and the increase in the produce of the colony, has been owing exclusively, says our Author, to the introduction of Coolie labourers from India. There are, at this moment, about one hundred and thirty thousand Coolies of both sexes in Mauritius;

and, till the year 1854, little or nothing was done to make known to them the way of salvation. Our readers will bear in mind Dr. Ryan, the Evangelical Bishop of Mauritius, the friend, and before his consecration the curate, of the wise and devoted Bishop of Sydney, then Incumbent of Edge Hill. As soon as he arrived in the colony, he began to manifest the warmest interest in the spiritual condition of these poor Indians; and many of them have since been gathered into the fold of Christ. But upon this, and other points connected with their spiritual and temporal well-being, we must refer to the work itself, which, we repeat, will well repay the perusal.

For the last few years it has become the fashion for ladies to write books for ladies. "The Afternoon of Unmarried Life; by the Author of Morning Clouds,'" is of this class, and is certainly a work of considerable pretensions on the score of talent, earnestness, and, we think we may add, of piety. Upon this last point we must hesitate to speak, in days like these, with too much decision, when a sentimental religion so often clothes itself in the garb of Evangelical truth. But the writer means well; and shows, a little too freely perhaps, that she is a keen observer of the weaknesses of womanhood. We have always questioned the wisdom of this class of writings; and the volume before us has not quite removed our doubts. We believe that ladies are not very well qualified to lecture one another. Is it the consciousness of the want of power which makes them so sharp and urgent? Their reproofs are caustic-so at least they seem to us-and they overlay their good advice with so many details, that its point is lost. In the multitude of words true feminine wisdom is drowned and suffocated; for it speaks with a look, and argues most powerfully when it argues with a smile or a sigh. The little volume before us, of which we should be sorry to speak unkindly, has-what woman's book has not?-passages of great beauty, descriptions full of pathos, and some winning appeals to the heart. But it is overlaid with learning, and the hard touch of satire often soils its fair pages. Why is this? How does it come to pass that a gentlewoman, whose accomplishments are never obtruded in conversation-rather studiously concealed- -no sooner takes up her pen, than, forthwith, quotations in all the polite languages of modern Europe, and from all its fashionable poets, gush from it-flooding her own little rill of thought with their noisy torrent? What the writer of a book may have read is of no consequence to us until it has passed through the crucible of his own mind. The use of learning is to enrich, and of poetry to flavour, his own style; not to be paraded in its native dress, in extracts and quotations which only weary, or at least distract, the reader. Then, why are ladies so fond of being satirical in print? We believe it is, again, the consciousness of weakness. The little porcupine throws up his quills, not that he is really pugnacious, but that he is afraid of you. Our Author, in her Preface, tells us that "she thinks the English public so kind and long-suffering, that in the wildest delirium of a writer's fear, her imagination only pictures it as an animal with a long tail and no horns at all; with a jerking kick when urged onwards, and tardy, obstinate movement when prevailed upon to go." (p. xi.) Now such a defiance of public opinion may be made by any lady with perfect safety, only that it recoils upon herself. It may raise a smile, or rather a giggle, in some

of her readers; but we can hardly think that unmarried ladies of thirty-five will be so far charmed as to instal the Author as their Mentor, or still less their spiritual guide. They may find less sympathy, in some of the minute details of their circumstances, from their Clergyman, but their instinct tells them they will meet with more respect.

In fact, the world was meant to be a great mixed school. Both men and women, in every rank, are far better and happier for each other's society; and each finds in the other its kindest censors if not its best advisers.

Turning to literature of another kind, though we have no theological works of importance to review, we must notice with approbation two Volumes of "Family Prayers;" the first, the joint work of "the Rev. Ashton Oxenden and the Rev. C. II. Ramsden; the other, "A Selection; Edited by the Rev. C. Hodgson," the beloved and admirable Secretary of the Church Missionary Society for the North of England, who has lately been called to his great reward. There is no question, perhaps, more perplexing to a parish Minister than what form of prayer to recommend? For some time, at least, the difficulty is removed; either of these volumes may be safely mentioned as likely to guide and animate the devotions of a Christian household.

RETROSPECT OF THE YEAR 1858.

THE year which has now closed has been eventful. It began with the close connexion of Prussia with England, through the marriage of the eldest daughter of our Queen. Such connexions, as history shows, are seldom to be relied on, if political interests thwart them. At the same time, the history of England, in its intermarriage with Holland, and in modern days the domestic connexion of Prussia with Russia, show that marriages may influence political events. This union had, however, a peculiar character; it was marked by the mutual affection of the parties, by great promise in both, and by the sympathy of the English people, who felt for the Princess about to leave them, as if she had been their own daughter. The year thus auspiciously commenced brought satisfactory intelligence from India. The death of Havelock, worn out by victory, threw a cloud over it; but our arms under Sir Colin Campbell were making progress, though with some reverses, and the continued tranquillity of the Punjaub was a tribute to the masterly administration of Sir John Lawrence. The general feelings of the country demanded that the English Crown should exert its sway directly over its Indian Empire; and it was understood that the Government would be prepared to meet Parliament with an India Bill. Abroad, our relations seemed to be satisfactory. The disputes respecting the settlement of the Principalities were closed; Russia was no longer openly our enemy; and though the apparent cordiality re-established between her and France afforded a subject for reflection, there was nothing either at home or abroad, which seemed likely to disturb the Administration.

It

A circumstance, however, not at first important, soon introduced a change. The office of Privy Seal is one of subordinate influence. is titular, though it has its use in enabling the Government to procure the services of a man of talent, unoccupied with his own Department, and therefore ready for the work of debate, committees, or commissions. The office had been offered, by Lord Palmerston to Lord Shaftesbury; wisely declined by him, it was conferred on the Earl of Harrowby, a nobleman who had brought to the Government the weight of high character, great assiduity, and candour. When his health failed, and compelled him to relinquish it, it was conferred, to the surprise of all, on the Marquis of Clanricarde. By what influence this was brought about has been variously explained; there was no difference as to the effect on the position of Government. Entreaties, remonstrances, and regrets were showered on Lord Palmerston; the voice of the Press was clamorous. The friends of the Administration were annoyed. Its opponents could not conceal their delight. It is a proof how much the public voice influences our affairs, and how strongly public opinion is moved by a moral sentiment, that a Government which at the close of 1857 felt itself strong, found every joint loosened, and became weak, in the commencement of 1858. So much was this felt, that the leading opponent of Government declared to his friends that Lord Palmerston's power was gone, and that his fall was a question only of circumstances and weeks. In truth, had affairs run their usual course, a motion by an English Member nominally directed at the office of the Privy Seal, would have opened the whole question of the particular appointment, and would probably have closed the existence of the Government within a month of the meeting of Parliament. But before that motion came on, Lord Palmerston had ceased to be minister. From another quarter the blow came.

While England was listening anxiously for news from India, or engaged in festive preparations for the marriage of the Princess Royal, an atrocious attempt on the life of the French Emperor fell like a thunderbolt on France. There was, indeed, nothing surprising in such attempts. They had been directed against almost every ruler of France for half a century. The present Emperor had been repeatedly assailed, and up to this time he had met the attempts with fortitude. Whether the skill of the plot, and the fact of its having nearly succeeded, moved him; or whether the height of his power and the popularity, which the attack occasioned, disturbed his judgment; certain it is, that his conduct on this occasion was unlike his usual policy. Common sense, composure and shrewd observation, had served him for the wisdom which other men draw from principle; but on this occasion there was no trace of his usual sagacity. He forthwith set up in Paris a system of espionage which exhibited the worst features of his uncle's reign. He enacted laws which made discussion, and even conversation, dangerous; and which enabled Government to deport to the marshes of Cayenne every man whom the fear or dislike of an official led it to suspect. France was divided into five Military Compartments, watched by five chiefs; the strictest regulations were made, as to the admission of foreigners by passport; and not content with this, the French Minister of Foreign Affairs instructed, in his despatch of the 20th of January, Count Persigny, the French representative in England, to demand that steps should be taken by England to deprive assassins of

Vol. 58.-No. 253.

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