guay. South America, nevertheless, remains to us the completest dream. Mr. Polk, we believe, is in the same case; -whose allembracing benevolence wishes to comprehend the entire land of America. Too-easily deluded Polk! South America is any thing but a dream to those who meddle with its rottenness, as you shall see upon reading the volume we notice.

Col. Anthony tells his story by mouth, to "Thomas R. Whitney, Esq., author of 'The Ambuscade,' 'Evening Hours,' and other works of poetry and prose," who puts Anthony's gossip into writing.

Anthony lands, when a boy, at the city of Buenos Ayres, having left New York, his native city, with the Yankee love of adventure. He does not remain long in this new home, before Supreme Director Purzedon (unknown to fame) gives him a bandero (flag-bearer) commission, with these admirable comments: "Go now, young man, and make your own way up the ladder of fortune." Quite a heroic species of introduction to bulllassos, and campaigns against General Artegas, against whom Anthony first carries himself, and who is in the habit of "sewing up his prisoners in raw hide, and leaving them to perish in the sun." Anthony conquers him entirely.

Anthony begins in the first chapter as bandero;-in the next page gets to be an ensign under General Ramarez, and commands a "flank." In the second chapter, Anthony surprises "old Flusk, Coquelet, and the good lady his wife," by conquering Purzedon, Supreme Director, in Buenos Ayres, now suspected of treasonable correspondence with the Italian Duke of Lucca," and in the next paragraph is off in full pursuit over the pampas, of Carreve, a Chili man, whose family had been supplanted by the O' Higgins, in its authority, which Carreve is trying to get back again.

In the Carreve battle, Anthony gets his left wrist knocked to pieces, and rides about, holding the reins in his teeth. Here is such a fight as now occurs nowhere except in the Argentine Republic, and our hero is beaten most incomparably, pursued by Carreve, for five leagues, and out of 2200 men, who marched in the morning against the Punta de St. Luis," but 1500 could be found at evening; and many of these with their skins full of bullets.

66

But this is only the first taste of the business. That evening, the balance (1500) of Anthony's Ramarez army, sat on the grass squeezing the dew from it, in place of matè, and frying "the flesh of such of our horses as had been disabled in the battle," for their nine-o'clock supper. Beds of course in the grass, with stars and sky for tent-canvass! At midnight, Carreve again claws them, and away goes the shiftless fraction of the Anthony-Ramarez army, and is reduced to great straits;-sucking like a swarm of

musquitoes at "small noisy pools, grown almost fetid in the sunlight," "and even this was a luxury." They get within two leagues of the Villa De Ranchos, with 700 men, and can now have a drop of matè, and a sleep. Not so, however, for in this same villa, is a certain unexpected Carreve leader, named Echagua, who has just revolted from Anthony, and who is before, while Carreve himself is coming up behind. Over seven hundred fight it over again behind some carts Paris-fashion, and finally, when Echagua begins to starve them to death, send a flag of truce by "the brave and beloved Capt. Boedo," whom Echagua ties instantly before their eyes and shoots. Finally, the carts get on fire; they must run or fight, hand to hand. Anthony gets "a blow upon my breast from the butt-end of a musket, which fractured my ribs, and felled me." Right after, he sees his General Ramarez marched out, shot, and his head severed from his body;— afterwards sent about for view, as a trophy.

Such is the fulfilment of some part of Supreme Director Purzedon's sentence: "Go now, young man, and make your own way up the ladder of fortune." For our part, looking at it from these very Unsouth-American climes, we should think the notion might have entered Anthony's head, (who in a page or two on gets freed from Echagua, by a new general, Bustes, who instantly offers Anthony a new commission, which he reluctantly declines, without wrist or ribs,) that this Purzedon ladder was not at all a Jacob's ladder.

He does, however, accompany Bustes on an expedition against his old friend Carreve, on the sick list; and having encamped at a farm house, is again surprised, and retreats with some companions to a corál, or cattle-yard, with nothing but a low fence around it, the heads of Carreve's horses actually over the fence, and the horsemen pouring their fire into them, till at last he had to give in; "thirteen of our number lay dead in the corál, literally piled up in a heap in the centre." Anthony is again a prisoner, but with not the least notion of kicking over the Purzedon ladder yet. Carreve's people turned him, and his "friend Crosby," off in a state of nudity, they being obliged to find "a remnant of scorched calico, of which we made a covering for our bodies."

So it goes. Our people is the most singular people under the heavens. They are ready to run anywhere, and to run through every thing. This Anthony, gyrating about those pampas, now exhibiting a magic-lantern, to keep himself from starving, with "my friend Crosby," at another moment in a retreat like a whirlwind, with whole hordes of South American Tartars after his emaciated skeleton; next thing, slumping into a dirty dungeon; to-morrow strapping it across the dizzy Heaven-kissing Cordilleras; what nameless frenzy, what insatiable spirit drove this Anthony, no doubt an actual man of flesh and blood, into these

sackeos, and stampedes, — what was it? Is man a coffee-mill, his crank turned by an invisible demon, the powder of which he shall never boil?

We cannot follow up Anthony's ways further, with the particulars. Let us, however, get a daguerreotype look of him, when he has risen to the pitch of Captain.

By this time our Anthony had got sour. He had a terrible way of drawing his "garro (cap) over my brow," and of wrapping himself "in my own miserable thoughts." It is a little tragic, at that outpost, six leagues from Humaguaca, where General Urdemini had stuck Anthony, -to have that elegant Spanish gentleman riding by, and coming in to have his passport signed:-"Now, señor," says Anthony, "if you will tell me what you thought of me as you rode past, I will sign your passport."

"He hesitated.

"Speak out, señor; I think I know your thoughts. Speak truly.' To tell the truth, then,' he replied, 'I thought you were a

666

beggar."

They furnish captains there with nothing but "jerked beef" and "maiz molido," (cracked corn.)

That Argentine Republic is of all republics the most confused. Its cities are in one continual apprehension of being taken, and no man can change his opinions half often enough, to keep on the right side. To-day, Cordova may be governed by General Bustes, or Buenos Ayres by Governor Dorango, and to-morrow Paz and Lavalia may be at the top of this revolutionary beer. And next day comes Quiroga and Rosas.

If any regular account or Day-Book has been opened for these whirligig performances, we have never seen it. Our hero Anthony does his best, and in his way (by no means a teleologist,) does erect Paz, or depose him, as he best can, ever and anon himself being flapped over by Fortune's paw, and is no sooner fairly crept out of one prison, than he is at once pitched, like a lock of hay, into another.

His marriage to the lovely Dona Juana, by whom he gets house and land, and after the proper time, a boy, keeps him in a sort of subordinate fermentation. Nevertheless, he feels the inactivity of his merchant life, for it seems he turns out trader, in the end.

But of all parts of this Argentine-republic book, that about Rosas is so appalling, that were it not related with an air of apparent truth, we should deem it a mere Blue Beard fiction. A certain Don José Rivera Idarte, (who indeed undertook a fatal task), published at Montevideo, in 1843, a table with the names of the people this man Rosas had killed, and how he killed them.

5,884

It seems, according to Anthony, that in 1829 "Rosas had recently become conspicuous." We can present no further details of this man, except one, which for its barbarity perhaps all history cannot equal. "It was in the market-place that Rosas hung the bodies of many of his victims; sometimes decorating them, in mockery, with ribbons of the Unitarian color (blue), and even attaching to the corses labels, on which were inscribed the revolting words, "Beef with the hide." And this man is Supreme Dictator there, to-day! with his Massorca murder- Club, who wear a cross of honor, or a riband with this pious motto —

LIFE TO THE FEDERALS, DEATH TO THE UNITARIANS.

Over the door of all the chief buildings in Buenos Ayres is inscribed "Death to the savage Unitarians." So says our Colonel. Our head runs dizzy with murder at this part of the book.

We trust our philanthropic Polk has received a copy of this Argentine book, or if not, that some benevolent person will provide our not too luminous friend with the proper copy. Polk, in his magnificent soul, would fold all North and South America under his broad wing-feathers. We advise him to pause. Those itching fingers are now desirous of picking their plums out of Yucatan. After we have taken all Mexico, with its copper-colored mestizos, next we are to do the business of Yucatan: patch up the monstrous Yucatanese rips between white and black, and copper-colored and no-color; set these once more on their feet, and then who knows but we shall next undertake for that admirable country, the Argentine republic. Afterwards we can turn our attention to Brazil, or tunnelt he Cordilleras. It's all too plain, that some Supreme Director Purzedon (Walker, Buchanan, Woodbury, or other) has been whispering in President Polk's ears those excellent Argentine republic words, "Go now, young man, and make your own way up the ladder of fortune."

5.- Legal Bibliography, or a Thesaurus of American, English, Irish, and Scotch Law-Books. By J. G. MARVIN. Philadelphia: T. &. J. W. Johnson. 1847. 8vo. pp. 800.

THIS is a catalogue of law-books, alphabetically arranged, giving sufficient bibliographical descriptions of the best editions of all,

and short accounts and critiques of the more important works of the class designated by the title-page. The critiques are, in general, extracted from books of standard authority, judiciously selected, and, above all, concise; giving as much as is wanted, but no more, and often consisting mostly of mere references without quotations, affording the student the means of readily ascertaining the standing of the book sought, without overflowing him with "opinions of the press." The author, Mr. Marvin, was for some time Librarian at the Cambridge Law School, and seems to have made good use of the advantages afforded him by that excellent library. Of course nothing but long use can fully test the value of a work like this, the main virtue of which is exactness; but after many trials, by looking up the rarest and most out-ofthe-way books that occurred to us, we have not been able to find Mr. Marvin anywhere at fault. Besides the alphabetical list, there is at the end of the volume an index of subjects, and at the beginning a table of abbreviations, the most complete we know of, extending over forty-six pages, and forming not the least valuable part of the work — which, as a whole, we recommend to our readers as an important book of references not only for lawyers, but for general readers whose studies extend into the regions of politics or English history. Mr. Marvin's expressed plan, indeed, includes only "practical" books; but happily he has not confined himself very strictly to his plan, but admitted many works bearing upon the general questions of Government and Politics. In the event of a second edition, we should recommend a still greater relaxation in this direction though, considering the already considerable extent of the list, and the almost indefinable expansiveness of the field so soon as the strict limit is passed, we do not wonder at his caution. Every law-book that cannot be cited in court is an experiment, in a pecuniary point of view, and we hope that in this instance it will not be an unsuccessful one to Mr. Marvin.

LIST OF NEW PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.

Sixteenth Annual Report of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society, Jan. 26, 1848. With an Appendix. Boston: Andrews & Prentiss. 1848. 8vo. pp. 94.

Three Lectures in Defence of Neurology. By Joseph R. Buchanan, M. D. Cincinnati. 1848. 8vo. pp. 48.

The Church as it is: or the Forlorn Hope of Slavery. By Parker Pillsbury. 2d ed. Boston: B. Marsh. 1847. 12mo. pp. 90.

The Bible, its History and Inspiration. By Parker Pillsbury. Boston: B. Marsh. 1848. 12mo. pp. 36.

Speech of Mr. Giddings, of Ohio, on the Appropriation Bill, Feb. 28, 1848. Washington: J. & G. S. Gideon. 1848. 8vo. pp. 15.

The General Features of the Moral Government of God. By A. B. Jacocks, M. A. Boston: Crosby & Nichols. 1848. 8vo. pp. 90.