sonalities and misanthropy go for little with our authoress; his literary merits are summed up in a comprehensive sentence. There are many beautiful pictures; infinite wit, but too local and temporary in its range, to be greatly prized beyond his own time; little originality; but much vigor both of thought and expression; with a deep, even a passionate love of the beautiful and grand." When these remarks on Byron were first published, they were accompanied in the magazine with an apologetic note from the editor, as if they had been strange heresies-and they will be read like truisms. We trust this suggestion will not be lost upon the critics who will doubtless be disposed to cavil at the hard opinions expressed in the chapter of the present volume on American Literature. If any one doubts now, a few years hence may correct his judgment. Miss Fuller looks upon books from a high standard, to which the public has not yet travelled, a height indeed to which few of an author's contemporary critics reach.

Southey, Coleridge, and Wordsworth, conclude the nine. They are written of worthily and with admiration. Of Southey, more and more warmly is written, than is commonly written, "Never has Christianity," (says Miss Fuller, of Roderic) "spoken in accents of more penetrating tenderness, since the promise was given to them that be weary and heavy-laden." There is enough in this paper alone, on the Modern British Poets, of which we have given an imperfect summary, to improve the taste and educate the heart of the new generation. It is a guide to profound wealth in the mine of English poetry. The purity of the style, the greatness of the thought, entitle it to be carefully studied; and as a further tribute to its originality we should remember, that it was first published some ten years since, in which time the popular judgment of the authors enumerated, has not a little cleared up.

Books like this of Miss Fuller's, a re

of eminent service to the country at this time, when its mind begins fairly to waken to the new task in literature which lies before it. Never has there been so fair a field to be reaped. Europe and the old world lie exhausted; America is fresh, new in the resources of her unpainted scenery, her institutions, her developments of individual life and character. But as yet, America is distrustful of her powers, lacks reverence for the true ideal of the country, has not yet been led to take unto the height the measure of herself." She looks wistfully to the shores of Europe, is more familiar with Alps than Alleghanies, more at home in London than New-York; sends her painters to Germany, her sculptors to Italy, and her actors to England. This will, however, end. A sensitive, intellectual, prosperous people, cannot be content long to live the life of Absentees on their own soil. They will throw off these old ties and associations, with the first movements of the new generation, on the stage of active life. Already the ideal begins to be dimly seen, and its realization to be craved for. The authors of the country begin to point the way. Emerson has sown seed in the soil, which will start up and expand to glorious fruitage. In the addresses of Mathews, there is a sagacious instinct of the true demands of Nationality, an unshrinking conviction, an inevitable truth, which will be acknowledged in the familiar watchwords of the time. Miss Fuller always brings words of faith and life on this theme. "Truth," says she, "is the nursing mother of genius. No man can be absolutely true to himself, eschewing cant, compromise, servile imitation and complaisance, without becoming original, for there is in every creature a fountain of life which, if not choked back by stones and other dead rubbish, will create a fresh atmosphere, and bring to life fresh beauty. And it is the same with the nation as with the individual." Worthily said, TRUTH, THE MOTHER OF GENIUS.

COMMERCIAL and financial affairs have not changed in their immediate aspect during the month. The anxieties in relation to the state of the war in Mexico have sufficed to prevent the return of much disposition to embark in commercial enterprise. Strong hopes have, however, been entertained, that a speedy settlement of the Mexican question would take place. It was well known that the chiefs who surrounded Santa Anna were in favor of a prolonged defensive war. 1st, Because they hoped for European aid; 2d, because they feared that a state of amity and commerce would lead to the gradual ascendency of the more vigorous Anglo-Saxon race, and that the nationality of Mexico would sooner be absorbed in time of peace than war; and 3d, because they hoped, by prolonging the war, that its great expense and attendant evils to American commerce and trade would make it so unpopular, as to compel the American government to make peace on almost any terms. Events have, however, somewhat changed their aspect. So far from deriving aid from Europe, Mexico receives hints of the necessity of coming to terms. The war in the United States is so far popular as to draw to the invading armies numbers sufficiently great to overrun the important points of Mexico, while the instability of its government is such as to bring about a revolution and restore Santa Anna to the head of affairs, at a moment when the victorious and advancing armies of the United States were preceded by the olive branch of peace. Simultaneously with this event, it is known that the chiefs who surround the restored dictator have changed their views, and from a war tone are sounding a peace note. The interests of England are clearly for a speedy peace between the United States and Mexico, because the war jeopardizes the success of the measures adopted by the last Congress, more particularly the tariff. If, through a panic, gotten up by the aid of the war, the new tariff should be disturbed, and the protective principle restored, a

great blow would be inflicted on the international commerce. A restoration of peace in the present aspect of affairs would be attended with a season of such unexampled prosperity, as to give permanence and a great triumph to the principles carried out by the last Congress, and a modification of the still high duties would result from the accumulation of a surplus that the new tariff would not fail to produce in time of peace. The commercial policy now adopted by the English government makes it of the greatest consequence that they should use their influence with Mexico to accept the offers of the United States government. The protectionists and desperate politicians, both in the United States and England, hope through the aid of the war, to restore the exclusively protective feature of the old tariffs. This desire evinced itself in the closing scene of the last Senate, when the peace bill was defeated by one of the most disgraceful of parliamentary tricks on the part of a Massachusetts' Senator.

The face of affairs throughout the commercial world is such as to afford reasonable ground for anticipating a long season of prosperity. The short harvests of Europe and England are, indeed, unfavorable, in so far as that the industry of the agricultural laborers there is rewarded with less than its usual product. It is nevertheless true, that, taken as a great whole, the product of food in England, the United States and Western Europe, is equal to the demand. In years of generally abundant harvests the supply is in excess of the wants-and a great portion of the products of the United States is not only lost by being unavailable, but the manufactured productions of European industry suffer under a similar influence. When a deficit, whether caused by excessive demand or diminished product occurs in England and Europe, that circumstance, as it were, calls into being a great source of wealth in the United States by making its agricultural industry available, and reacts beneficially upon European labor by

requiring its proceeds in payment. Such a deficit now manifestly exists, caused as well by an enhanced demand for food as insufficient crops. The great increase in the manufacturing and commercial industry of Western Europe has doubtless enhanced the demand for food: and the diminution which most of the tariffs of Europe have undergone, greatly facilitates dependence upon the farm produce of the United States. The fears in relation to the English harvest were, at the

latest dates, ripened into convictions of failure, more particularly in relation to the coarser grains, including potatoes, and the purchases were becoming animated at advancing prices. Notwithstanding the state of affairs in England, so high were prices on the continent, that considerable shipments of bonded grain were being made to the Mediterranean and the north of Europe. The prices in England had ranged weekly as follows:

April

PRICES IN ENGLAND.

U.S. Wheat Duty U. S. Flour. Duty. Corn. per 70 lbs. per qr. in bond. bbl. 480 lbs. s. d. 8. 8. S. B. d. 11,..10.3...18....25a26...10.10...35a38 19,..10.3...17....25a26...10.24...37a39 May 30, .. 9.9...16...23a24..... 9.7 ...36a40 June 19,.. 9.8...17....21a23...10.27...32a36 July 4, ... 8.6... 5....26a28... 3.0 ...29a32 August 19, 9.3... 8....27a29... 4.94...32a36 Sept. 4,.. 80...10. ..-a28 .. 6.0 ..36a37

The average price of grain in England, and at all the continental ports, was, it appears, 13.36 cents in the middle of August, or 40 cents higher than in New-York at the same time. The duty on American flour was, August 19, 5s.. or $1.20 per barrel less than June 19, and the price of the flour in bond was 6s., or $1.40 per barrel higher. The price of bonded flour in Liverpool, compared with that at New-York at the same time, was as follows:

.30 7 .39 6..
3......30 10......39 9......36 9

ing is a statement of the comparative prices of wheat, the duty on wheat and on United States flour, with the prices of flour in Liverpool and of wheat in the leading markets of Europe.

The margin was a large one at the date of August 19, and the arrival of the packet of that date stimulated an active demand, and prices rose to $5.00 per barrel. The prospect is now of a large foreign market for American breadstuffs, and one that will yield remunerating prices, notwithstanding the immense production. The supply of breadstuffs in the United States last year was very large, so much so that prices sank to points lower than ever before known, until the English demand in the fall stimulated a great rise. That in its turn has caused a prodigious increase in the supply which,