M. Tullii Ciceronis de Re Publica Librorum Reliqiuae, e Palimpsesto ab Angelo Maio nuper erutae, ad Editionem Romanam diligentissime expressae. Editio prima Americana. 1 vol. 12mo. Boston. Elements of the Chaldee Language, intended as a Supplement to the Hebrew Grammars, and as a General Introduction to the Aramean Dialects. By Rev. William Harris, L. L. D. An Easy Method of acquiring the Reading of Hebrew with the Vowel Points, according to the Ancient Practice. By an Experienced Teacher. Reliques of Ancient English Poetry, consisting of old Heroic Ballads, Songs, and other Pieces of our Earlier Poets; together with some Few of later Date. First American, from the fifth London Edition. 3 vols. IN PRESS. Reflections on the Politics and Character of Ancient Greece. Translated from the German of Arnold H. L. Heeren. By George Bancroft. This volume, which is almost ready for publication, contains all that Mr Heeren has written on the subject of Greece. It treats of its geography, the character of its inhabitants, its courts of justice, army and navy, statesmen and orators, its epic poets, its drama, and the influence of its literature and the fine arts on the political institutions of the country. WORKS PROPOSED. Some Account of the Life, Writings, and Speeches, of the late William Pinkney. By Henry Wheaton. and The work here proposed, if well executed, cannot fail to be interesting to the public. As a jurist and profound politician, no man in this country, few in any country, have sustained a higher rank than Mr Pinkney. It is gratifying,that the duty of collecting and arranging his papers, and of describing the peculiar characteristics of his mind, the force of his genius, and the power of his eloquence, has devolved on one so well qualified to do justice to the undertaking. A long personal acquaintance, free access to the papers in possession of the family, and knowledge of Mr Pinkney's practice for several years in the Supreme Court of the United States, have put into Mr Wheaton's hands all the materials, which could be desired. United States Literary Gazette. in A periodical work with this title has been announced as about to appear Boston, published by Cummings, Hilliard, & Co. Its object is nearly the same as that of the London Literary Gazette, namely, to communicate to the public a full and methodical record of passing literature. It will embrace short reviews of works as they appear, original articles of a miscellaneous character, literary and scientific intelligence, notices of new publications, and such other topics as may have a general interest. NORTH AMERICAN REVIEW. No. XLIII. NEW SERIES, NO. XVIII. APRIL, 1824. ART. XII.—Remarks during a Journey through North America in the Years 1819, 1820, and 1821, in a Series of Letters; with an Appendix containing an Account of several of the Indian Tribes, and the principal Missionary Stations. Also a Letter to M. Jean Baptiste Say, on the comparative Expense of Free and Slave Labor. BY ADAM HODGSON, Esq. of Liverpool. Collected, arranged, and published, BY SAMUEL WHITING. New York, 1823. pp. 335. THE author of this volume came to the United States apparently with a good intention, and a disposition to be pleased, qualities of rare occurrence in the transatlantic gentlemen, who have visited us from time to time in the character of travellers. The merit of good intention, and of a prevailing partiality for truth, undoubtedly belongs to Mr Hodgson, which cannot rightly be said, we apprehend, of more than one or two of his predecessors. We do not mean, that all his representations are accurate; on the contrary, he is often falling into errors, and committing blunders, for which we should be puzzled to find a ready apology. Our charity would incline us, however, to ascribe these rather to a limited observation, and imperfect knowledge of our history, institutions, laws, and customs, than to any natural propensity for New Series, No. 18. 29 seeing things in a false light, or any inherent love of misrepresentation. It is true, most wise men would think it necessary to be well assured of the accuracy of their own information, before they should proffer their services to enlighten others, and in this particular we must beg to be excused from defending Mr Hodgson, although we may still claim the privilege of respecting his motives. His He tells us, that he travelled upwards of seven thousand miles in the United States; that is, he went from Maine to New Orleans, and from New Orleans back again to Maine. He also made an excursion to Canada and the Lakes. remarks are desultory, sometimes woven into the web of a narrative, and at others wrought up into discussions of deeper interest. On the government of the United States, and the peculiarities and manners of the people, he dilates with much freedom and confidence. The state of religion and morals among us, the condition of the slaves and the Indians, agriculture, domestic economy, missionary establishments, emigration, the cultivation and sales of cotton, tobacco, rice, and Indian corn, the comparative value of labor, stage wagons, inns, turpentine, tar pits, and numerous other subjects, edifying no doubt to the author's friends at home, are brought under his notice, and receive the benefit of his reflections. The first pages of his work are devoted to a series of remarks, and some of them judicious, on emigration to the United States and to Canada. He enters into practical calculations, describes the economy and progress of Mr Birkbeck's establishment, and places in a strong light the privations and distresses, which await the first settlers of a new country; from all which he arrives at the conclusion, that no good Englishman, who values his peace and comfort, will have reason to bless the day, when he deserted the home of his fathers to seek for a resting place in the wilds of the new world. Even his servant James, who at first was slightly touched with the emigration fever, and began to 'wonder how he and his wife would look on this side of the Atlantic,' was restored to sanity, after passing a few days and nights in the log huts of the western woods, and from these short lessons of experience was disposed to think, that he was better at home than in America.' This man was doubtless moved by the unerring spirit of philosophy and prudence. Mr Hodgson gives us no flattering account of the plan adopted by the British government, to induce emigrants to settle in Upper Canada. Public lands on the borders of the old settlements are parcelled into townships, and the townships are divided into lots of one hundred acres each. These lands are assigned for distribution among persons, who will go out and take them up on the following terms. Land offices are stationed in suitable places, to one of which the emigrant must apply, after he has selected the township in which he purposes to settle, and he receives a ticket specifying the hundred acres, which have fallen to his share. He has no other choice, except of the township; the particular part, which he is to occupy, is decided by lot. When he has cleared five acres, made a certain portion of road, and promised, by a formal agreement, that he will not dispose of the land under three years, he is favored with a title. The distributions are made at stated periods, and it often happens, that the impatient emigrant finds his allotted acres to be a waste of rocks, waters, or swamps. No remedy is left, but to wait till the time of another distribution comes round, and perhaps another, before he becomes possessed of such lands as can be cultivated. In the mean time, he is living with his family at expense, without resources or friends. In addition to these terms, the fees of office requisite for gaining possession of land amount to more than half the sum, for which they could be purchased; so that this pretended gift of the government is in reality a burden on the unfortunate sufferers, who are seduced away from their homes by imaginary prospects of relief and comfort in a wilderness. We can easily credit Mr Hodgson when he says, that there is not one emigrant in five hundred, who does not feel bitterly disappointed on his arrival at Quebec;' and we question not, that his servant James decided wisely, if this was the kind of emigration, which he contemplated for himself and wife. Our author has such a rambling way of narrating his adventures, and so successfully sets at defiance the rules of unity and method in arranging his materials, that we shall attempt neither to unravel the thread of his wanderings, nor to bring them into a chronological sequence. At the commencement of his eleventh letter we find him in Washington, listening to the debates on the Missouri question, and making ready for a tour to the south. From Washington to Charleston he submitted to the discipline of being transported in the mail stage coach, a vehicle with which he seems not to have been in the best humor, and we presume for a good reason, although he bore his calamities with a spirit as philosophical and resigned as could be expected. We do not learn, that he was beset with more difficulties, or untoward accidents, than are common to travellers. His attention was occasionally arrested by scenes of novelty, and he confesses himself particularly charmed with the musical notes of what he calls the Virginia nightingales,' or what are known to Americans by the more unpoetical name of frogs. So much was he enchanted with the nocturnal concerts of these early harbingers of spring, that for a time he thought himself listening to the songs of birds. 'I opened my window the first night,' says he, supposing these choristers were birds, and it was a night or two before I was undeceived.' With the poet he might say, 6 Ten thousand warblers cheer the day, and one He had serious apprehensions about his baggage, and, as a precautionary measure, fastened one end of a long chain around his trunks on the outside of the coach, and secured it with a padlock, while the other end was conducted to the inside, and made fast in the hand of his servant; if he had a nibble, his attention was arrested; and a bite showed that it was high time to stop.' How often these bites occurred, or whether our travellers were in reality attacked, and seized, and shot at, by banditti, is not recorded; we are only informed, that two chains were broken in the service, and that the baggage was found in good condition at the end of the journey. The driver of the coach was usually a black man, and it was noticed as an odd circumstance, that he should always be accompanied by a small white boy, who regularly went to sleep at night fall, and awoke no more till morning. The mystery was made plain, however, by the knowledge, that the laws of the United States require all mail contractors to send the mail under the charge of a white man, and that, in the eyes of the said contractors, these sleeping boys are wake |