23 FEBRUARY 1867, Page 21

A Manual of Naval Prize Law. By Godfrey Lushington. (Batter-

worths.)—Mr. Lushington in a modest preface puts his volume forward as being designed for the use of naval officers in war time. More than this, he says, it does not attempt ; but it seems to us to achieve this in a most satisfactory manner. The conciseness and lucid arrangement of its sentences eminently commend it to the deck of a ship of war where tho captain is hearing the report of the visiting officer, and deciding in a moment whether be will detain or sot free the captive. How much may depend on his decision appears from the case of the Trent. Captain Wilkes would not have decided that Messrs. Slidell and Mason were tho embodiment of despatches, if Mr. Godfrey Lushington had been at his elbow. And yet this decision of Captain Wilkes cost Eng- land two millions of money, and very nearly led to consequences com- pared with which that loss would have been trifling.