and of the mass; of the most minute distances, and of the boundless regions of ever extended space. It examines the laws which influence the inponderables; the operations of light, heat, electricity, and magnetism; but no where does it speak of that which is not under the influence of some outward force, and which, but for that outward force, would be motionless and dead. It is sad that this age of scientific inquiry should give comparatively so little attention to the study of metaphysics, and it is truly refreshing to be able to recommend to our readers two works of such scientific value as those of Messrs. HAZARD and SPENCER. Perhaps it is not strange that the study of the mind should have been so much neglected, because it is, perhaps, of all intellectual pursuits the most difficult. A man can go to work and try experiments which are to substantiate or overthrow some preconceived scientific theory. He can settle himself down, with dictionary and grammar, and draw forth, little by little, ideas clothed in the garb of a foreign language. In these cases the action of the mind is outward. The thought goes forth from the individual as subject, and ends in the matter of inquiry as object. In the study of the mind, however, there is a great difference. The student has to think about that which thinks. The action of the mind is now reflexive. The thought goes forth from the individual as subject, (in the same manner as before,) but it returns upon itself, and ends in the same individual as object. Here is where the great dif ficulty lies; it is easy for the thought to go forth-thinking is the normal condition of the human mind; but the thought seeks some outward object to end in, and when that object is refused to it, and it is compelled to turn from its course and act back upon itself, it does so only by an unnatural effort. But while we regard metaphysics as the most difficult of intellectual pursuits, we also regard it as the most remunerative. In the study of matter we examine that which cannot move, except as it is acted upon by outward influences, that which neither thinks, feels, nor wills. In the study of mind we examine that mysterious, all-pervading agent, whose dictates base matters must obey, and to whose will base matters must succumb. We examine that divine element which has made man the lord of the lower world, and clothed him in a garb of even heavenly beauty. The work of Mr. HAZARD is devoted to the subject of the freedom of the will, and, after examining this interesting topic in detail, he devotes the latter half of his book to a Review of Edwards on the Will. The work of Mr. SPENCER is the first of a series, which, when complete, is to unfold one philosophic plan. This volume is designed to determine the true sphere of all rational investigation, as well as those universal and necessary principles established within that sphere. It is to be followed by works on the "Principles of Life;" on " Psychology, or the Science of the Mind;" on the Science of Human Relations," and, in a fifth and last work, Mr. SPENCER intends to deduce from these the "Principles of Morality," and so to form the theory of right living. Thus we see what an extended subject Mr. SPENCER has taken hold of, and in what a masterly manner he is treating it, so as to make the unity of the whole apparent. We trust that enough interest will be taken in these subjects to encourage those who have given their time and attention to them, to go on and give us the result of their labors in this most interesting field of human inquiry. History of the Romans under the Empire. By CHARLES MERIVALE, B.D. Vol. IV. D. Appleton & Co. Ir is with pleasure that we present to our readers the fourth volume of Mr. MERIVALE'S valuable history. The previous volumes, which from time to time demanded our notice, have carried us step by step through the great civil wars, and have shown us the emperial edifice gradually reared upon the ruins of the falling republic. We have now reached that point when the empire is permanently established. “Old things have passed away; all things have become new," By the death of BRUTUS and CASSIUS the murder of the great JULIUS was avenged, and then "all public grounds of civil contention ceased; with the overthrow of SEXTUS the Pompeian faction was extinguished; and, finally, on the deprivation of LEPIDUS and the death of ANTONIUS, even the victorious party acknowledged no divided interests, and Octavius maintained his place without a rival at its head." The shout of the soldiers at the battle of Actium was the funeral knell of the republic, and the cry of the new born empire; and the Eternal City, so long harassed by anarchy and civil war, was glad, by placing the power in the hands of the youthful hero, to close the temple of JANUS, as a sign of the return of peace. The extended domain to which the young OCTAVIS aspired, while it was ready to welcome with joy a tranquility under any form of government, still remembered the traditional tyranny of TARQUIN the Proud, and haughtily rejected the hated title of king. It is curious that a people, of such deep penetration and subtle reasoning ability as the Romans, should have been so jealous of a mere title, while they submitted, almost without a murmur, to the reality. "That the name of the republic should be suffered to remain, while the yoke of royal rule was really fixed upon them, was beyond their power to conceive." Accordingly, while OCTAVIUS assumed the title of Imperator, a name with which the Roman people were familiar, and to which he, as commander of the legions, had a just and lawful claim, we nowhere find him mentioned as Rex. It is true he did search the Latin language for a fitting name, by which he might be known, and fixed, at last, upon that of AUGUSTUs; but this, so far from being an index of tyranny, was an epithet applied solely to the gods. The assumption of it by the youthful hero was a masterstroke of policy. It pointed out to the people his own divinity. It reminded them that in his veins flowed the blood of the now deified JULIUS, the descendant of the pious ENEAS, the heaven-born child of a goddess. Could such a being disgrace the Roman name, or enslave the Roman people? The idea was absurd. Did not the gods, who guided the Trojan fleet, and saved it from the "ever-mindful wrath of angry Juno," still watch over the Roman people, and rule them in the person of the young AUGUSTUS? And was not their hero himself divine; and could the gods do wrong? The principal events, which marked the reign of AUGUSTUS, were the pacification of the provinces and the wars with the German tribes. The history of these is related by Mr. MERIVALE in his usual graphic language and interesting style. The latter chapters are devoted to a general survey of the Empire: the vast extent of country, the different classes, languages and religions, which acknowledged the government of one man. The great cities of antiquity, and the important place they occupied in the ancient common wealth, are discussed in this volume at some length. The author endeavors also to ascertain the population of the Eternal City, in the days of its splendors, from its area, the number of its houses, and the number of the recipients of grain. Lord MACAULAY, in his History of England, pauses in the record of events, to give us some insight into the daily life, the habits and customs of the English people. So does Mr. MERIVALE, before entering upon the reign of TIBERIUS, pause in his historic narrative, to lay before us the every day life of the old inhabitants of Rome. It has always seemed as if a misty atmosphere enveloped the bye-gone ages of antiquity, and the very old heroes we read about, are apt to be regarded somewhat in the character of myths. It is difficult to think of them as men and women, eating, drinking and sleeping in the same common place way that we do,and when we enter their houses and hold conversation with these old people, to whom Mr. MERIVALE introduces us, we clear away, in a most interesting and instructive manner, those cloudy mists, which partially hid the centuries of long ago, and the whole picture stands out in bold relief from the canvass of the past. In walking about through the streets of Rome, we stumble over several characters with whom our school boy days have made us familiar. The AUGUSTAN age was eminently the palmy day of Roman literature. Then flourished LIVY, VIRGIL, HORACE and OVID, and many others whose names may be less familiar, and in reading of them, and of the times in which they flourished, we are strongly reminded of the days, when with dictionary and grammar, we sadly murdered the beauties of the Aenied, and stumbled through the poetry of the Odes the Satires and Epistles. Appleton's Railway and Steam Navigation Guide. Price 25 cents. Published semi-monthly. D. APPLETON & Co., 443 and 445 Broadway. ONE after another new features have been added to this semi-monthly publication, making "Appleton's Railway Guide" more and more valuable. The object of the publisher has been to thoroughly adapt it to the wants of the traveller, and it is really surprising to see how well they have succeeded in crowding so much information into so small a compass. Certainly great ingenuity and excellent judgement has been displayed in the arrangement. The general railway map, accompanying each number, is a very useful addition, especially at the present time, when all are so interested in each successive movement and change of our armies. One can see at a glance every railway leading to every important position, which may be assumed by either force. The travelling public will therefore, at the present time, find in this feature new reason for prizing this ever useful book. Seventy-five other maps, of different railroads, are also given, with the names of all the principal stations on the roads. Biography of Successful Philadelphia Merchants. By STEPHEN N. WINSLOW. Philadelphia. Published by JAMES K. SWAN, 33 South Sixth Street; 1864. We are glad to see that Mr, WINSLOW has now given us, in book form, the extemely interesting series of sketches of successful Philadelphia merchants, which he first published in the Commercial List of that city. Our idea of the value, to the rising generation, of biographies of this kind, is too well known to our readers to need asgerting here. But, besides this, they are invaluable as a record of the acts of the men themselves; for the lives of those, in our midst, eminent in commercial and financial circles, make up, in great part, our country's history. How much, for instance, of Philadelphia's prosperity and greatness is due to the efforts of those sketched in this book? The work itself is well gotten up, and embelished with two or three engravings, the first of which is a fine likeness of JOHN GRIGG, the founder of the celebrated house of J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO., and one of Philadelphia's most successful self made men. THE MERCHANTS' MAGAZINE AND COMMERCIAL REVIEW. CONTENTS OF No. II., VOL. LI. IL CONQUEST OF MEXICO BY FRANCE. NUMBER II. BY T. M. J.. III. SANDWICH ISLANDS. No. II.-THE KANAKAS. BY H. B. A....... PAGE 97 106 .. 112 IV. COMMERCIAL LAW No. 14. THE CARRIAGE OF GOODS AND PASSENGERS... 119 A Private Carrier.... 119 Public Money in National Banks not Profitable. The Obligation of the Common Carrier to Receive and Carry Goods or Passengers. 123 V. COMMERCIAL CHRONICLE AND REVIEW.... 129 135 136 144 Loans and Deposits of Old Banks.... Bank Returns of Three Cities..... Finances of England............... Shipment of Gold to and from Production of the Victoria Gold Fields.. Bank of France Returns, etc....... THE FOUR HUNDRED MILLION DOLLAR LOAN BILL...... RAILWAY, CANAL, AND TELEGRAPH STATISTICS. The Railways of Portugal... Canals of New York State..... 152 154 .... 155 THE INTERNATIONAL STATISTICAL CONGRESS AND THE UNITED STATES..... 157 COMMERCIAL REGULATIONS... Circular to Collector of Customs Relative to Consular Returns of Fees. New Mexican Tariff........ The Chamber of Commerce of San Francisco.. Act Amending the Warehouse Act.... THE BOOK TRADE.... 168 168 109 170 172 172 THE collapse of the inflated paper issues of Mr. CHASE has only added to the experience of the past a new illustration of the weakness and wickedness of such a system. The Treasury has been run ashore and abandoned by its director amid the breakers of public opinion. But now a solitary voice, through the Times, hailing from "the beach," rises in shrill and discordant tones above the sounding waves of public indignation, in denunciation of this Magazine, for non-approval of the disasterousend of this unskilful pilotage. A similar defence, years since, was made in favor of the Barnegat Pirates, who, by false lights, decoyed the noble merchant ships ashore on that beach for plunder; and our assailant, not inappropriately, dates his tirade "the beaches" where the Federal Treasury is foundering, the prey of the exulting parasites that have lured it to destruction. This critic takes great umbrage that we should have presumed to doubt the indefeasible right of persons, who have read a few law books, and who base a claim thereon to be lawyers, to govern the country, to the exclusion of all other classes. It is the first time certainly that we have ever seen the pretension so audaciously put forward. We know that the country swarms with people who have a smattering of law, but who are destitute of any useful species of learning, and whose abilities encompass only the chicanery and knavery of the lower walks of the profession, enabling them to prey upon society and keep out of the grasp of the law themselves. We know, also, that this pestilent class is the curse of all elective countries; their ill employed and ill paid time enabling them to beset primary meetings, and worm themselves into most of the nominations: and hence they are elected to most of the offices; not because they are selected by the people, but in despite of them. We know that this country and its glorious institutions was brought into being by such men as WASHINGTON and FRANKLIN, the one a printer and the other a surveyor; and we know that the glorious heritage of our government has been well-nigh destroyed, step by step, as it has fallen more and more completely into the hands of |