CURRENT LITERATURE.
The Constitutional and Political History of the United States. By Dr. H. von Hoist. Translated from the German, by J. Lalor and A. B. Mason. (Triibner and Co.)—The author of this considerable work lived in the United States from 1867 to 1872, and consequently ought to have some knowledge of their political system. But it seems he was often told that he was a foreigner, and could not understand it. This we can well believe. American politics have always seemed to us peculiarly perplexing, and though no doubt they will reward study, they must be studied more as a duty than a pleasure. Dr. H. von Hoist does not value very highly De Tocqueville's "Democracy in America," which he con- siders a mere doctrinaire work, written with scarcely any real acquaints- ance with the subject. As we read his own book, we have continually- thrust upon our notice the dismal failures of America to realise the grand ideal with which the people started. As the author says in Itis, preface, they were neither "demigods nor devils, but, men, struggling;
ender many shortcomings, with great energy, their way onward, not with startling leaps, but advancing step by step, just as all the great nations of the earth have had to do." This truth is written very visibly on American history, and the notion that a people -can all at once develop° into a highly civilised and well-governed nation is finally stamped as a delusion. State sovereignty and slavery are, of course, the great subjects of the volume before us, and perhaps its most interesting and instructive portions are those in which the Ceenetaie condition of the Southern States is shown to have been radi- oally vicious, and fraught with the most alarming perils. There was a quite hopeless division of classes in those States, and the elements of a sound and healthy civilisation were altogether wanting. Slaveholding had• engendered a feeling quite irreconcilable with anything at all resembling national and patriotic sentiment. The author observes that _for agricultural industry to exist under favourable conditions, there must be a predominance of small and middle-sized farms. Slavery :tended to make this impossible, and it was the great planter, with his luxurious tastes and lordly notions, who gave the tone to the whole community. We think that Dr. von Hoist's work would have had a better chance of being read and studied in the crisis of the late American war. The discussions about State rights have lost their interest for us, and as to slavery and its effects, we have heard pretty nearly enough about them. For those who wish to improve their knowledge of the United States and of its past history we, can sincerely recommend this work, which is thorough and lucid. It brings us down to the year 1832.
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