Les Etats Um's dAmerique en 1863. Par John Bigelow. (Paris
: Hachette.)—Mr. Bigelow, who holds the responsible position of United States' Consul at Paris, has been induced to put together this volume by the consideration that there is no work, written in the French language, from which it is possible to obtain complete information respecting the great country to which he belongs. This volume consists of a brief historical sketch of the United States, from the period of their first settlement to the commencement of the present year, together with a quantity of information respecting their natural history and resources, and commercial and social condition. The book professes to be nothing more than the merest compilation, and is designed to answer the purposes of reference rather than those of general reading. The experiment of writing in a foreign language is a somewhat hazardous one ; but Mr. Bigelow, though his French is not always quite irreproachable, has, on the whole, acquitted himself in a fairly creditable manner.
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