fitted to exercise in those regions a provident and efficacious action for European civilization, of glory and great utility for herself. In the East, not elsewhere, do all the important questions which have too long kept Europe in a state of agitation await a solution. Italy may be happy should she in the longed-for day be able to contribute to the settling of those questions in the interests of civilisation and of the rights of peoples. It may be that later, owing to her position and to the favourable conditions in which she finds herself, she may be reserved an all-important task-that of peacemaker between France and Germany, at present divided by so deep an enmity; a task which might perhaps be of use not only to Italy, but to the whole of Europe. After all, Italy is bound to Germany by ancient community of destiny and to the French nation by ties of blood and homogeneity of principles. A line of policy which would lead to so great a reconciliation would be a policy worthy of the nation to which Cavour belonged. But for the present Italy must moderate her ardour, and content herself with a policy mostly of observant concentration.

Amongst all the different undertakings of Italy, especially after 1870, the most difficult is certainly that of taking amongst the other European nations a completely independent position, where she may defend herself, not so much against open enmities-but little probable-as against interested alliances and dangerous protectorates.

On this account' her alliances should not be such in the proper meaning of the word, but rather friendships, which would not fetter her movements nor confine her to a line of action too minutely pre-established. She requires alliances which would procure her the very fewest enemies, and, as much as possible, leave her apart from the particular disputes of the other Powers. She need not enter into a special league either with the Northern Powers against the Western, or with the Western Powers against the Northern. Italy must maintain as much as possible her liberty of action, reserving to herself the right of supporting at the proper moment what would be most conformable, firstly, to her principles, secondly, to her interests.

The first interest of Italy is peace. Not a day passes but

she repeats it: all are convinced of it. Consequently it is her right and duty to refuse to enter into any too close alliance which might draw her into a war.

The absence of any threat from abroad is one of the best foundations of internal policy. With a foreign policy of this kind Italy will be able to strengthen herself at home and take advantage of a leisure which might perhaps one day fail' her, to re-establish public security in the provinces requiring it, to increase production, restore the finances, raise her credit, improve the treasures with which Providence has so abundantly blessed her, and turn to the best account the elements of power and of prosperity which she possesses.

A great example has lately been given to Italy by one of her most illustrious citizens, Garibaldi. After Aspromonte, the Garibaldian party had become, both at home and abroad, a grave cause of embarrassment for Italy. The hero of Caprera was henceforth a banner around which crowded all the most turbulent passions. There was a moment when so great an abuse was being made of the name of Garibaldi as to induce Mazzini himself, a short time before his death, to separate his own cause from that which the name of Garibaldi, however honourable, was made to serve.

It is not that Garibaldi has done less for Italy than Mazzini. If the merit of the latter lies in the creative idea, that of the former lies in the genius for execution. He had, besides, the advantage of being less absolute and more practical than the other, believing in the possibility of the conciliation of monarchy with the unity and liberty of Italy.

The having entrusted Garibaldi with the organisation of the volunteers for the war of independence had been one of the most wonderful acts of Cavour's policy, one of the most useful ideas brought forward by the meeting of Plombières. Garibaldi was the representative of a new principle in the history of revolutions and of wars. He was, so to say, the fusion of two social principles co-operating for the formation of the country-the prince and the people, authority and liberty, the old world and the new, legitimacy and the revolution. Were it not for the prestige which surrounded that chieftain, not only would the expedition to Sicily, a year after, have been impossible, but it could not have been even

dreamed of; that wonderful expedition, by means of which, and with sacrifices relatively so light, the south of Italy was delivered and united to the other half.

How sad then it was to see the man who had rendered himself so well-deserving of his country, and who had spontaneously made a gift to the Italian monarchy of the provinces which he had liberated, become later a danger for the tranquillity and even for the unity of Italy!

One day, however, the true Garibaldi again reveals himself. He breaks every impure fetter, puts an end to the impotency to which he seemed to have condemned himself, and proves to his countrymen that he has understood the way in which the country is now best served. He accepts the mandate of representative in the Italian parliament, leaves Caprera, goes to Rome; and whilst there are those who fear and those who rejoice that his appearance may be the signal for discords. and turbulent agitations, he edifies Italy and the world by his prudence and good sense. His first thought is given to the amelioration of the economical condition of his country and to its material well-being. His first project, his first speech, concerns the great work of the deviation of the Tiber, and the consequent improvement of the Agro Romano, a work which will be productive of great riches, and which should be the first step towards the increment to be given to agriculture in so highly agricultural a country as Italy.

Garibaldi by his example shows to his countrymen that these, and none others, are the questions which mostly interest Italy at present. He well understands that concord is requisite for this; therefore, nobly forgetting every petty rancour, he associates in his work the men at the head of government, and shows himself affable and friendly. He goes to visit the King, and the Roman population has the satisfaction of seeing Victor Emmanuel by the side of Garibaldi on the balcony of the Quirinal, as the population of Naples had formerly seen them side by side in the Via di Toledo.

Certainly the new page of Italian history which Garibaldi is preparing will be neither less noble for him nor less glorious and useful for Italy, than that of Garibaldi the hero of Marsala and of Calatafimi.

196

CONTEMPORARY LITERATURE.

HISTORY, BIOGRAPHY, AND TRAVELS.

The Southern States of North America: a Record of Journeys in Louisiana, Texas, the Indian Territory, &c. By EDWARD KING. Profusely Illustrated from Original Sketches, by J. WELLS CHAMPNEY. Blackie and Sons.

Accepting this large and profusely illustrated volume for what it is, it is deserving of very high commendation. It is the record of a journey by the author and the artist, extending over more than twenty-five thousand miles, undertaken at the instance of the publishers of Scribner's Monthly 'Magazine,' for the purpose of presenting to the readers of that journal a full account of the present condition of the Southern States, just emancipated from slavery. Every important city and town was visited, and information from all available sources was gathered. Of necessity, a book so compiled must be both imperfect and inaccurate; and we were at first disposed to look upon it as partaking of the character of a series of 'Daily Telegraph' articles, an impression deepened by the somewhat rhetorical style of the first few pages. But when the author has settled down to his work this disappears, and he evinces a judgment equal to his industry, the result of which is a volume in which as much of the past history of the different States is given as suffices to enable an intelligent understanding of their present condition. Facts and figures concerning manufactures, trade, politics, races, religion, and the general state of the country, are carefully compiled and picturesquely presented; so that we feel put in possession of as thorough a knowledge of the country as the observation of another can convey. The account of New Orleans, for example, with which the book opens, is singularly complete and instructive. Its present characteristics are connected with its history. Its occupation successively by France, Spain, and the United States; its growth, architecture, markets, quays, cotton trade, shipping, manners and customs; with its residents of various nationalities, are all sketched with great vividness and completeness. Mr. King belongs to the class of Commissioners of which Dr. W. H. Russell is facile princeps, and combines great painstaking, close observation, and picturesque description in a very unusual degree. His chapters make no pretension to the dignity or the philosophy of history: they are panoramic sketches in the first instance, and careful statistical reports in the second, the whole being interspersed with historical information, travelling experience, and illustrative anecdote. The writer gives evidence of having consulted the highest authorities, and produces the impression of having thoroughly mastered each topic. He writes moreover with solicitous impartiality and kindliness, but also curiously produces the impression of an intelligent foreigner giving us the result of his observation; so that he gives us a repertory of information, that if not

If

strictly history, will admirably do duty for it for some years to come. the book were not got up in a style so sumptuous, so as to be too big for a portmanteau, we should earnestly say that no traveller in the Southern States should be without it. It is one of the best handbooks that we have seen, and something more. We cannot comment on particulars. The account of the terrible condition of devastation and poverty in which the civil war has left Louisiana and New Orleans, however, will be read with deep interest; but surely the statistical tables of the produce of cotton since the war, and the wonderful solicitude and provision for education, are a sufficient set-off against the writer's somewhat gloomy vaticinations respecting the commercial prospects of New Orleans. The chapters on negro life, revivals, negro religious services, negro songs and singers, are full of interest. The work is really a valuable one. The illustrations, which are so profusely scattered over its pages, are also of great merit.

White Conquest. By WILLIAM HEPWORTH DIXON. TWO Vols. Chatto and Windus.

Mr. Dixon will write in exclamations. He scorns the thought of taking his readers into his confidence and of patiently and familiarly teaching them. He summons them into a theatre, prepares stage and scenery, and poses before them. He opens his mouth in this fashion: RUINS! 'A pile of stone, standing in a country of mud-tracks, adobe ranches, and 'timber sheds? Yes, broken down, projecting rafter, crumbling wall, and 'empty chancel, open to the wind and rain, poetic wrecks of what in days 'gone by have been a cloister and a church.' The meaning being indicated by the notes of exclamation and interrogation. The former we can understand, but are at a loss to conceive to whom the latter is addressed. Thus he introduces his two thick volumes. As soon as any proper name occurred, we had recourse to the best maps in our possession to discover whereabouts on the Pacific coast we had suddenly been transported, but our search was fruitless. We began to suspect that we were somewhere on the Californian coast, and, from the name Pinal Grande, we should have thought in the neighbourhood of the Pinal Mountains, but they are too far inland. If Mr. Dixon could have condescended to anything so prosaic as direct information, he might have told us where Monte Carmelo is, and so relieved us from an inquisitiveness that hindered our surrender of ourselves to his performance. And in this style we are jerked on from chapter to chapter. The lights on his landscape are lightning flashes; we advance by glissades, and sail over cataracts. It is long since any book has given us such an ache.

Mr. Dixon does not narrate; he constructs dramatic scenes, not unfrequently melodramatic, beginning with the 'Here we are again' of the tumbling clown, and ending in pyrotechnics. He always seems struggling after scenic effects, and seeking after some violent association of antipodes, either of place or of thought; and mentally asking, 'Isn't that clever?' Of course exactness of statement and of thought is impossible. One has