The North British Review, May, 1863. (Edinburgh: Clark.)—This is, on
the whole, a rather dull number of the North British. The most able article which it contains is probably the first, entitled " The Disin- tegration of Empires," which consists of a thoughtful but not very well-written examination of the present condition of China, Russia, and America, the object of which is to show that all these powers are, each owing to a special cause, undergoing an inevitable process of disintegra- tion. But the paper which will excite the most general interest is, un- doubtedly, that on Mr. Kinglako's book, the author of which undertakes to defend the historian from the charges of inaccuracy and unfairness which have recently been brought against him from so many different quarters. The attempt is spirited and ingenious, but can scarcely be regarded as entirely successful. In more than one instance the reviewer appears rather to shirk the main question at issue, and concentrates his attention on some minor point, the establishment of which is of com- paratively small importance, if, indeed, it has been disputed at all. For instance, when speaking of the episode of the coup d'etat, he passes very lightly over the question of the propriety of its introduction into a history of the Russian war, but takes considerable pains to show that it is not, upon the whole, an exaggerated narrative of what actually occurred. Of the remaining papers in the number, that on "N. Saisset and Spinoza" is, perhaps, the most interesting.
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