sought. The planet upon which we live is full of subjects upon which men are still profoundly ignorant, and the investigation of which will well employ, for ages to come, the limited number who are able, from their organization and circumstances, to pursue such studies. Those, however, who are best fitted by organization and circumstances for the more recondite pursuits of science, philosophy, religion, and law, need a preliminary instruction in a variety of branches of knowledge, for which colleges and universities are the appropriate institutions. The young man must be carefully trained, as far as training can carry him, if he is to be expected to advance beyond his predecessors in the career of knowledge. Discoveries in the external world are not made by accident, so much as by the application of mind to the circumstances around us; and mind, in order to be productive, must be cultivated. Nor can its own laws be investigated by those who are not versed in all that has yet been ascertained with regard to the intellectual and immortal part of human nature. If, then, either mind or matter is to be intelligently studied, we must have something more than the common school, which simply gives the first means of progress, and of appreciating, perhaps, the greater advancement of the higher order of minds. The grammar-school is indispensable, but so much more are the college, the university, the professional and the scientific school. We rejoice to perceive, in the foregoing catalogue, some evidence that this truth is beginning to be acknowledged in our community; and that a larger proportion than heretofore of the wealth distributed both by the public and by private persons, has been devoted to our highest educational institution. The very considerable sums given by the Legislature and by individuals to Harvard College, the greater part of which are for well-considered and most important objects, are valuable evidence of the general progress of ideas upon the subject of education. But they must be still further extended, before the wants of the age, and of all ages, are seen and supplied; and when this is done, there must be one thing more accomplished, and that is a change in the comparative estimation by the public of scientific and political reputation. When it is seen, as one would think it

must be seen, sooner or later, that political advancement, in this country, does not imply, as it has done in other times and nations, great power over the relations of society, and much less over individual members of society, the exclusive ambition for political distinction, which is a sort of contagious mania among us, must subside; and other objects, such as science, theology, and law, must share, at least to a greater extent than heretofore, the devotion of aspiring minds. Power, we know, will always be the object of ambition; but, we trust, not necessarily nor exclusively political power. In this country, already, the possession of political power means a very different thing from what it means on the Continent of Europe, or even in England. The material rewards are much less dazzling, and much less really important; and it would be by no means surprising, if such a revolution of ideas should take place, that men should consider political office an encumbrance and a burden, to be avoided by almost any sacrifice. Municipal offices are so regarded, at this hour, in some cities of Germany, and men who are elected, or whose turn has come to undertake the toils of office, are subjected to heavy and almost ruinous fines, if they refuse the proffered honor and labor.

But, without contemplating so remote and so vast a change of ideas and feelings, we can imagine the claims of knowledge to be more widely admitted than they are at present. This is nothing more nor less than believing in the progress of civilization; and that depends upon many other things besides political institutions. Nobody can be more free, or less happy, in social relations, than a North American Indian. In the absence of external control, which constitutes what is commonly understood by freedom, self-control becomes more and more important; and self-control is one of the last and best results of the highest religious, moral, and intellectual cultivation. Upon the extension of personal self-control, as a principle to guide our public and private conduct, depends the success not only of individuals, but of nations, in the career of humanity; and whoever desires to see the institutions and the liberty of the country preserved must desire the progress of education in every department, until all the powers of the

human mind shall be so appropriately and adequately cultivated, as to make them subservient to a virtuous will. It is to intellectual culture in all departments of mind, therefore, that we desire to call the attention of the philanthropic among us, most particularly in the present state of our institutions. and our charities. It would seem that all other departments to which liberality may be called to extend its benefactions are now more or less faithfully provided for. Elementary education, physical suffering, poverty, old age, and mental infirmity, are all furnished with the means of supply or relief. Vast sums are annually sent abroad for the religious instruction of those who are not yet in a condition to be benefited by it; while the proper and sufficient collegiate education of our own young men, for our own wants, is not adequately provided for. It is on all accounts desirable that our colleges should be better furnished with pecuniary resources in almost every department of learning. Scarcely a professor can be found who is properly supplied with the means of comfort, nor an institution of the class referred to, with the libraries and collections necessary for adequate instruction in this day of progress. It is at once gratifying and humbling to witness the eagerness with which young men crowd to institutions, which, however imperfect, are yet the best that can be found in the country; how fully appreciated and how eagerly used are the means of progress which are supplied; and ample guaranty is thus given that increased advantages would be neither neglected nor misused. We shall deem no labor lost which shall tend in any degree to arouse the community of our age and nation to a sense of the importance of affording to all who seek it the means of the most thorough and accurate instruction in every branch of human knowledge. By this process we shall not only raise the standard and increase the product of intellectual studies and pursuits, but we shall secure for all future time the great charities, and the religious and literary institutions, which are the protection, the ornament, and the glory of nations.

ART. X.-1. Thoughts on Government and Legislation. By LORD WROTTESLEY, F. R. S. London: John Murray. 1860. 2. Literary Remains, consisting of Lectures and Tracts on Political Economy, of the late REV. RICHARD JONES, formerly Professor of Political Economy at the East India College, Haileybury, and Member of the Tithe and Charity Commissions. Edited, with a Prefatory Note, by the REV. WILLIAM WHEWELL, D. D., Master of Trinity College, Cambridge. London: John Murray. 1859.

3. Four Introductory Lectures on Political Economy, delivered before the University of Oxford. By NASSAU W. SENIOR, A. M. London: Longman, Brown, & Co. 1852.

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4. Tracts and other Publications on Metallic and Paper Currency. By the RIGHT HONORABLE LORD OVERSTONE. don: Longman, Brown, & Co. 1858.

WE gladly welcome the treatise of Lord Wrottesley upon Government and Legislation; for although it professes to be only elementary in its character, it presents many valuable thoughts upon the philosophy of an art which demands far more attention than it is apt to receive, even from those whose business it is to practise it, few of whom, it is to be feared, have any adequate sense of the profound political and economical science requisite to an intelligent discharge of the duties of a legislator. In a chapter upon the studies and qualifications of legislators, the author says that there are no educational institutions in England whose professed object is to prepare the future statesman for the performance of legislative and administrative functions; that there are no books which can in strictness be said to have been written with a special view to this end; and that thus the noblest of all branches of knowledge must be picked up at hazard by all who aspire to conversance with it. In his Preface, he expresses the hope that the publication of his work may prove useful, not only in the higher class of schools and in the Universities, but, perhaps, even to those who are looking forward to a seat in either House of Parliament. We feel certain that this unpretending treatise will be of assistance not only to

those who are preparing themselves for the discharge of legislative duties, but to legislators themselves. If any believe that there is little or nothing to learn about the general principles of legislation, or that questions demanding for their solution an accurate knowledge of the leading principles of social and economical science can be discussed with profit in the careless manner in which they are often handled, both in society and in the senate, the perusal of this book may undeceive them. When we seriously reflect on the nature of the functions which a legislator is called upon to perform, it would seem at first sight, that the knowledge necessary to their highest discharge must be almost universal.

"On what subject," asks the writer, "may not the statesman be called upon to speak and legislate? The disheartening descriptions given by Cicero of the amount of previous study necessary to form an accomplished orator, will apply with equal, if not greater force, to the senator of modern times. What subjects should this knowledge comprise ? Whence and how is it to be sought for and acquired? To these and other similar questions an answer may be expected, but a complete reply to them is perhaps impossible in the present state of our knowledge."

The author proceeds to point out the principal subjects of study which should go to the preparation of men for legislative duties, giving estimates of the merits of different writers upon these subjects, and practical hints as to the actual conduct of legislation.

Lord Wrottesley maintains that a thorough knowledge of political science is indispensable, not only to legislators, but to artisans and operatives, and all the vital members of society. The prevalent ignorance of the first principles of this science is one of the chief drawbacks to the advantages derivable from free institutions. Of course, the more liberal the institutions of a country are, the more important it is that a knowledge of their principles should be extended; for legislation must then conform to public opinion. In England and the United States the influence of the political institutions handed down from our Anglo-Saxon progenitors has led the people more and more to consider and discuss questions of legal and political science, and gradually to pre