11.-State Trials of the United States; being the Administrations of Washington and Adams, with references historical and professional, and preliminary notes on the Politics of the Times. By FRANCIS WHARTON, author of "a treatise on American Criminal Law," etc. 8vo. pp. 721. Philadelphia: Carey & Hart.

This work is a valuable record of important State trials, from the year 1793 to the year 1800, with all the documentary evidence which is requisite to elucidate them, arranged in their proper order. The right understanding of those trials is of great utility, for they involve facts and principles which have an important bearing upon the criminal jurisprudence of the present day. The compiler has industriously examined numerous documents throwing light upon the subject, and has embodied the reports of those cases in an intelligible form, which furnishes to the lawyer, as well as to the reader, an authentic work of general reference. He remarks, that by putting together, "the information which is scattered through newspapers, almost extinct, or in letters, many of which are not yet published, much labor may be spared to the student, and much aid given to the general reader." The volume is moreover accompanied by preliminary notes of the politics of the times during the administrations of Washington and Adams, in which much new and interesting historical information is exhibited. We commend it to the attention of the legal profession, as well as to the public generally.

12.-Narrative of the United States Expedition to the River Jordon and the Dead Sea. By W. F. LYNCH, U. S. N., Commander of the Expedition. With maps and numerous illustrations. 8vo. pp. 508. Philadelphia: Lea & Blanchard.

The expedition, of which the present work constitutes the narrative, was prosecuted under the auspices of the navy department. It sailed on the 26th of November, 1847, and was successful in executing a thorough exploration of a region but little known, and invested with sacred associations. The record of the expedition is made by the individual who had the most favorable opportunity of observing the facts connected with its progress, and in this fact we have an ample voucher of its general accuracy. He has described the route through which he passed, comprehending some of the most prominent cities and imposing ancient monuments of the East, in a clear and eloquent style. The volume is, moreover, illustrated with maps, and also with numerous engravings, which were taken upon the spot, and may be deemed, accordingly, faithful delineations of the persons and places they depict. The entire volume, indeed, is highly creditable to the genius and research of the author, and we doubt not that it will be favorably received by those who are interested in the region which it de

scribes.

13.-An Historical Geography of the Bible. By the Rev. LYMAN COLMAN. Illustrated by Maps, from the latest and most authentic sources, of various countries mentioned in the Bible. 12mo., pp, 489. Philadelphia: E. H. Butler & Co.

The design of the compiler of the present work is to interest the reader in the study of Scripture, by directing his attention to the historical incidents therein recorded, in connection with a geographical description of the locations mentioned in the progress of the history. History and geography are inseparable, and should ever be connected, as in the present work. To one who has no knowledge of biblical history and geog raphy, the Bible is but an antiquated record of dim and distant events, about which he knows nothing and cares less. As a companion to the Bible, and as an aid to the study of its history, we believe that this work will be found extremely useful. 14.-A Treatise on the Diseases of Sexual System; adapted to Popular and Profes sional Reading, and the Exposition of Quackery. By EDWARD H. Dixon, M. D. New York: Dewitt & Davenport.

The first of these works has passed through seven large editions, and the second eight; an evidence of their popularity, or of the interest taken in the subjects discussed. The author of them was a pupil of Dr. Mott, and has been a practitioner of some eighteen years standing. The press, without an exception, so far as we know, has commended both works for the utility of the information they contain, for the great delicacy and care with which they are written, and for the apparent desire of the author to communicate truth with the utmost force and earnestness. Our impression is, that the commendation Bestowed is in the main well merited, and that they afford much information which is well calculated to enlighten the minds, and alleviate the sufferings of woman in all the ordinary relations and conditions of her being.

15.-Man Primeval; or, the Constitution and Primitive Condition of the Human Being. A contribution to Theological Science. By JOHN HARRIS, Ď. D., President of Cheshunt College, author of "The Great Teacher," "The Great Commission," "Mammon," "The Pre-Adamite Earth," etc. 12mo. pp. 480. Boston: Gould, Kendall, & Lincoln.

The author of this work is now well known throughout England and America as a learned and able theologian, and by his numerous contributions to the religious literature of the day. The subjects discussed in this volume involve considerations of the first importance to the human race; and however much any one who may be induced to peruse the work may be compelled to differ in regard to the reasoning and the results of that reasoning, few, we are quite sure, will be inclined to dispute either the ability or the candor of the author. We are rejoiced at every effort made in the Church (now not uncommon among the brightest intellects who minister at its altars) to show that Nature and Providence are not two hostile claimants, and that whatever importance is ceded to the one, is not so much homage taken from the other; that a religion that will not stand the test of philosophy and science, is not the religion of Divine Wisdom, but a false and impracticable superstition. The work of Mr. Harris is logical and highly suggestive, and may be considered as one of the ablest contributions to religion and morality in a scientific aspect that has been made during the present century. The author maintains that “the God-made man, and the God-inspired word, are two parts of one whole-two compartments of one temple;" and that “he who reserves all his difficulties and questionings for the inner, shows that he has passed through the outer court blindfolded."

16.-Life and Times of Silas Wright, Late Governor of the State of New York. By JABEZ D. HAMMOND. 8vo., pp. 749. Syracuse: Hall & Dickson.

The present volume contains a full, and we doubt not accurate biography of an individual who has long sustained the position of an able and logical debater of what is denominated the Democratic Party. A prominent leader of this party, who has filled some of its most responsible offices, both under the State and national government, his career has been in a great measure identified with the recent political history of the State of New York. He possessed intellectual endowments of a more than ordinary character, and his public deportment before the country was uniformly modest, temperate and courteous. The author has industriously collected a large amount of matter throwing valuable light upon the local politics of the State. We have no doubt that the work will be read with interest by the party to which the late governor was particularly attached, and meet also with a wide general circulation. 17.-History of Maryland. From its First Settlement in 1634, to the year 1848. By JAMES MCSHERRY. 8vo., pp. 405. Baltimore: John Murphy.

It is the design of this work to exhibit a comprehensive and condensed history of the State of Maryland, from its earliest colinization to the present time; and the author has ably executed his plan. The former works illustrating the history of this State by Borman, and the more recent unfinished history of Mr. McMahon, now a leading member of the bar of Baltimore, although of high value, and more minute in particular details, are less wide in their scope, and less popular in style. In its compilation, the most authentic records upon the subject have been examined, and it is, moreover, appropriately embellished with engravings which contribute much to its value.

18.-The History of England, from the Accession of James II. By THOMAS BABINGTON MACAULAY. 2 vols. 8vo. London: Brown, Green & Longman's. Philadelphia: Reprinted by E. H. Butler & Co.

Some three or four editions of this work have been produced in this country, by as many publishers. Those who prefer the orthogrophy of the original English edition, will of course purchase this, as Mr. Butler informs us that the utmost care has been taken to give an accurate reprint of the London edition, printed under the supervision of Mr. Macaulay himself. Those who prefer the orthography of Webster, adopted by the Brothers Harper, will of course purchase their edition of the same work. For our own part, we would not turn up a copper for a choice, although, for the sake of system, we have recently directed our printer to follow Webster in the orthography of the Merchants' Magazine; still, in writing, we use the orthography that comes uppermost, or that habit has rendered familiar.

19.-Outlines of a New Theory of Disease, applied to Hydropathy, showing that water is the only remedy; with observations on the errors committed in the Practice of Hydropathy; Notes on the Cure of Cholera by water; intended for popular use. By the late H. FRANCE, late Director of the Hydropathic Institution at Alexandria, Bavaria. Translated from the German by Robert Bakie, M. D., late of Madras Medical Establishment. 12mo. pp. 271. New York: John Wiley.

This work contains physiological and patheological proofs that medical treatment must always inflict injury. It contains also the outlines of a new system of pathology, deduced from the results of the new method of cure, and from acknowledged physiological principles. The author attempts to show that the pathology and the therapeutics of physicians are in contradiction to that pathology which they themselves recognize and teach, and that H. Francke's contains nothing that is not a logical conclusion from human physiological principles. To quote from the preface of Dr. Meeker's translation of the same work, under another title, published a year or two since, by Fowler & Wells, it "portrays a true picture of the nature of diseases, detailing, in particular, and drawing a strict line of antithetical distinction between the medical and hydriatic method of treatment and cure."

20.-Leaves from Margaret Smith's Journal in the Province of Massachusetts Bay, 1678-9. 18mo., pp. 224. Boston: Ticknor, Reed & Fields.

The design of the writer of this journal is to present a picture of the spirit and ge nius of the people of Massachusetts Colony some fifty years after its first settlementto introduce, as it were, the reader of the nineteenth century familiarly to the hearths and homes of New England in the seventeenth century. The characters, we presume, are real, and Mr. Whittier, so far as we are capable of judging, has succeeded to a charm in imitating the quaint and simple phraseology, while exhibiting the prevailing prejudices and errors, of the period to which it relates.

21.-Sharp's London Magazine. London: Arthur Hall & Co. New York: George Virtue.

The April number of this excellent miscellany opens with a beautiful line engraving of the statue of Arnold Van Winkelreid, at Stautz, and another illustration of Robin Hood, representing his death and burial. Among the original contributions, we are furnished with an interesting paper on the Discovery of the Mississippi, and Banvard's Panorama, which is attracting so large a share of the public notice in London. It is, altogether, one of the best issues of a uniformly useful and interesting miscellany, and we are gratified in being able to state that it is rapidly growing in favor with a large class of readers in this country.

22.—The History of Marie Antoinette of France. By JOHN S. C. ABBOTT. 16mо., pp. 322. New York: Harper & Brothers.

The biography of the Queen of France is here presented in a condensed and simple style, and it conveys a valuable lesson. The author, without attempting to sketch the more general relations of the history of the times in which she flourished, has confined himself to a brief narrative of the more prominent incidents which marked her life. In this we behold the career of a prominent actor in one of the most terrific dramas which has ever blackened the annals of the past-a drama which originated from well-known causes, but which finally developed brutal passions, rauk injustice, and ultimate ruin to those who were its principal agents and movers. The volume is embellished with several well-executed engravings.

23.-The American Farm Book: a compend of American Agriculture; being a practical treatise on Soils, Manures, Drainings, Irrigation, Grasses, Grain, Koots, Fruits, Cotton, Tobacco, Sugar Cane, Rice, and every Staple Product of the United States, with the best methods of Planting, Cultivating, and Preparing for Market. Illustrated by more than 100 Engravings. By R. L. ALLEN, author of Domestic Animals, and Editor of the "American Agriculturalist." 12mo. pp. 325. New York: C. M. Saxton, 121 Fulton-street.

On all the subjects enumerated in the title as quoted, Mr. Allen has contrived to furnish a vast amount of valuable and practical information, in a clear, condensed, and comprehensive form. The present volume, we understand, is intended as one of the first in the series of lessons for the American farmer; and of course it contains but little more than a summary of the principles and practice by which he should be guided, in the honorable career he has selected. The author is not only a scientific farmer, but his knowledge is based upon a large experience in practical agriculture.

THE EDITOR TO HIS FRIENDS AND PATRONS.

OFFICE OF THE MERCHANTS MAGAZINE,

We feel that we are taking a sort of liberty (a liberty, however, for which we shall offer no apology) in sending to our readers, with the present number of the "Merchants' Magazine and Commercial Review," the first of the TWENTY-FIRST volume, and of its second decade, a portrait of the Editor. Some authors deem themselves priviliged or licensed to prefix their counterfeit presentment to their first book, when their name is as little familiar as their features, and their features derive no additional interest from their name. Our ten years' labors, our twenty volumes, viginti LIBRORUM lucubrationes, might perhaps entitle us to an equal right had we any itch for the digito monstrarier, and felt disposed to claim it. But, shall we confess it? (and it is, perhaps, for one of those dry statisticians, whom popular opinion is apt to set down as beings devoid of feeling, and dealing in no figures but the numerals, something of a confession) the feeling that influences us on the occasion is somewhat of the sentimental kind.

The motive which leads friend to send to friend the likeness of features which the intercourse of years and old associations have rendered interesting, is as natural as it is proper. The intercourse which, during the last ten years, has existed between the Editor of the Merchants' Magazine and his numerous readers, the silent intercouse of mind with mind, springing out of a common interest, on his part as Editor-on theirs, as readers on the same important topics, is not of precisely the same kind as that of friend with friend. We shall not, therefore, presume to speak for the many readers or friends (if they will allow us to call them so) in New York and throughout the United States, Cisatlantic and Transatlantic, and we may say in the four quarters of the "Great Globe itself," for whom we have labored during the last ten years. What may be their feelings towards the humble individual who has, in this work, put forth his best energies to supply a want long felt, and to furnish to a most enlightened class of readers, at once, an organ for their views, and a Magazine of information for their use, it is not for him to guess. But for himself he can say, that, as he has advanced with his work, every year gaining larger views and a clearer conception of the extent, the length, and the breadth of the great field of Mercantile Science, which it has been his business and his pleasure to explore; as his information and sources of informa tion have increased and multiplied; as, in short, his knowledge of his subject, and with it his love of his subject, have grown and strengthened, a kindly nearness of feeling has at the same time grown up in his own mind towards the large and increasing circle of readers for whom he has labored, and many of whom have accompanied him with their approval and support from the beginning of the work. The difficulties which attended that beginning, the labors that had to be performed, and the obstacles to be surmounted before the work could be established upon a broad and safe basis, are known best to him who is least willing to speak of them-the Editor himself. But this much we may say, that the idea of the "Merchants' Magazine" was no sudden thought, was not suggested by mere accident. It was a long time the subject of much thought and deliberation before any active steps were taken towards carrying it out. In casting the eye around in the difficult search after some useful, but unoccupied, corner in the wide field of literature, it seemed to the Editor as if every point was already occupied, every branch represented, except one, and that the very important subject of Commerce and the Mercantile Interest. On the one hand the professions, the Divine, the Lawyer, and the Physician, the Farmer also, and the Mechanic, had ench, one or more organs and exponents in the periodical press. Even the Railroad Interest, new as it then was, had found a voice through the press; while Commerce, more or less connected with all other pursuits, was unrepresented. While the business concerns of Commerce filled the huge columns of the daily press with advertise

ments, and with shipping intelligence, and with matter relating to the every-day details of Merchandise, on the one hand, there was not a single Magazine, of high or low pretensions, either in America or, to the best of our knowledge, in Europe, to represent and to advocate the claims of Commerce. Those who have seen how much has been done within the last ten years, who have profitted by the learned labors of McCulloch and Macgregor, of Taylor, Tucker, Cary, Kettell, and Seaman, and have noted how rapidly the class of periodicals devoted more or less directly to mercantile subjects has increased, have but an inadequate idea how little had been previously done. There were one or two Dictionaries of Commerce, and a few works intended for practical purposes. But a Literature of Commerce did not exist even in name. The idea, and the thing itself, were yet to be developed. In 1839, the Merchants' Magazine and Commercial Review was established, without, we confess, so clear a conception, as after experience has furnished, of the full import of the term COMMERCE, in its broadest, largest, and truest sense or signification. Every branch of industry, almost every pursuit may be said to come within its range. The interests of Agriculture and Manufactures, which produce, are identified with the interests of Commerce, which distributes. The great topics of Banking and Finance, of Railroad and Canal Communication, of Mining, and of Navigation by Steam and Sail, are all involved in the one great topic of Commerce. A large part of the Legislation of States and Nations is devoted to the regulation of commercial operations. Courts of Law and Equity are daily deciding points in Mercantile Jurisprudence, growing out of the constantly varying circumstances of commercial enterprise. How liberalizing and expanding are the pursuits of Commerce, thus understood, in their effect upon the mind is obvious, and is often remarked. The wants and the necessities of all nations, of all races of men, form elements in the calculations of the true Merchant. He studies the condition and finds out the wants of all to relieve them. It is his interest, it becomes also his pleasure to do so. He learns to look upon all nations as knit together by the ties of mutual dependence, to regard all men as kindred. The mercantile student learns the same lesson. To teach that lesson HAS BEEN, and SHALL BE, one of the great purposes of the Merchants' Magazine. The Editor regards it as not the least of the happy results of the labors and studies to which his taste and his duty have led him in conducting this Magazine, that they have strengthened and confirmed the disposition to look upon all men as Brethren, and to regard with favor all measures which tend to unite them together in the Unity of Peace, and to promote the reform of ancient abuses, however venerable. If the labors of the Editor in this broad field have availed anything, if in particular he has done aught to direct literary effort into the hitherto neglected department of Commerce, to promote the study of it as a Science, and to establish something worthy of the name of the LITERATURE OF COMMERCE, he will deem it a matter for rejoicing, but not boasting. Our thanks for the past we need not repeat. Our promise for the future is best guaranteed by past performance, and on commencing the TWENTY-FIRST volume, and second decennium, the Editor feels that, in the true Cosmopolitan spirit towards all mankind, without mental reservation of any caste or creed, but with, perhaps, a little hightened emotion towards the readers and patrons of the Merchants' Magazine, he can subscribe himself, With great regard, your friend,

FREEMAN HUNT.