30 MAY 1863, Page 23

The North American Review, April, 1863, The National Quarterly Review,

March, 1863.—There is not much ability or interest in either of these representatives of American periodical literature. They both preserve a. profound silence as to the position and prospects of the war, preferring to gratify their readers with a number of rather thin disquisitions on general subjects, most of which are devoid alike of the charm and the danger of novelty. Perhaps the most noticeable point in connection with them is that each contains a short notice of Russell's "Diary North and South," which, while taking a comparatively low view of the ability of the writer, deprecates the storm of indignation with which the work has been received in the Northern States.