"Is union possible, with a people thus alienated and hostile ?..... Is it possible immediately to abolish slavery consistently with justice and humanity, or at all? Is it possible to retain it, and at the same time satisfy Southern demands and Northern opinion? These and other problems the swift hours are bringing to test our firmness and wisdom. They are more difficult to dispose of than the war. They imply another question, graver than any, has the power to cope with such difficulties been provided in the Constitution? can they be dealt with by universal suffrage, nominating conventions, and quadrennial Presidents? These have guided us into our troubles; will they guide us out of them?” THE scheme of representative reform proposed in an able pamphlet by Mr. J. F. Fisher is substantially the same as that put forth in England by Mr. Thomas Hare in 1859, and so strenuously advocated in Mr. Mill's "Representative Government." This system, as has been recently explained in our pages, proposes that men of the same way of thinking shall unite their votes to elect a candidate without regard either to his place of residence or their own, thus securing a fair representation of every element of society, and bringing the choice of his candidate, as well as of his party, within the control of every elector. But Mr. Fisher's scheme has many peculiarities of detail, and he claims for it an independent origin as early as 1857. In reviewing the general considerations in its favor, he repeats or anticipates the arguments of his English coadjutors; but in tracing its effect upon the political problems which are peculiar to this country, he enters a field hitherto untrodden, and which he does not himself completely explore. The most conspicuous of these is that relating to the district system, the notorious evils of which must perish at the root when districts are no more. Party management must then be very much confined to its legitimate work of influencing the minds of voters, not of controlling their conduct. The hopeless problem of nomination will be splendidly solved, and the enginery of caucuses, conventions, and state committees will no longer be perverted to betray a helpless people. NOTE TO ARTICLE I. SINCE the article on Spinoza was in print (April 27), we have seen a translation of the "Tractatus Theologico-Politicus," printed in London in 1689, without the name of either author or translator. The closing words of the Preface are worth copying: แ Nothing more needs be said to any Reader, than to desire he will deliberately read the Book twice over before he condemns or commends it: when that is done, whether he like or dislike the Treatise itself or the Translator of it, shall be all one to him, who never valued himself upon other people's opinions, nor did ever think any part of his Reputation depended upon the judgment of Fools or Knaves." *The Degradation of our Representative System, and its Reform. By J. FRANCIS FISHER. Philadelphia: J. Sherman Son & Co. NEW PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED. The Gentle Sceptic; or, Essays and Conversations of a Country Justice on the Authenticity and Truthfulness of the Old Testament Records. Edited by the Rev. C. Walworth. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 12mo. pp. 368. (Treating questions of criticism in an amiable but not forcible manner, and compassionating Colenso in sentimental dialogue.) The New Testament, with brief Explanatory Notes, or Scholia. By Howard Crosby. New York: Charles Scribner. 12mo. pp. 543. The Last Times and the Great Consummation; an earnest Discussion of Momentous Themes. By Joseph C. Seiss. Philadelphia: Smith, English, & Co. 12mo. pp. 438. (Sincere in tone, and only moderately apocalyptic.) Jubilee Essays; a Plea for the Unselfish Life. Boston: Crosby & Nichols. 12mo. pp. 243. (Illustrative; contrasting worldly and religious expenditures in the interest especially of missions.) Bible Illustrations; a Storehouse of Similes, Allegories, and Anecdotes. (Selected.) Philadelphia: Smith, English, & Co. On Liberty. By John Stuart Mill. Boston: Ticknor & Fields. 18mo. pp. 223. (A beautiful reprint of a most valuable book.) The Geological Evidences of the Antiquity of Man, with Remarks on Theories of the Origin and Species by Variation. By Sir Charles Lyell. Philadelphia: G. W. Childs. 8vo. pp. 518. (Received too late for notice in the present number.) The Works of Thomas Hood. Edited by Epes Sargent. New York: G. P. Putnam. 6 vols. Small 8vo. (In paper, type, and illustrations, these volumes are all that could be wished; skilfully and faithfully edited. This "Aldine edition" of the kindly English humorist may be commended for its completeness as well as for its beauty.) A Text-Book of Penmanship, for Teachers and Pupils. By H. W. Ellsworth. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 12mo. pp. 232. (A very complete class-book of the art, with excellent hints and illustrations.) Tenth Annual Report of the Secretary of the Massachusetts Board of Agriculture, with Reports, and Appendix. Boston: Wright & Potter. 8vo. pp. 260. (Including a valuable treatise on useful insects, and interesting notes of a European journey.) The New American Cyclopædia; a Popular Dictionary of General Knowledge. Edited by George Ripley and Charles A. Dana. Vol. XVI. V - Z, with Supplement. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 8vo. pp. 850. (The suc cessful completion of a work which does the highest honor to the publishers. The present volume is especially valuable from its Supplement, containing, in addition to others, some two hundred brief articles of special interest in the recent history of our country.) Annual of Scientific Discovery; a Year-Book of Facts in Science and Art, for 1863. Edited by David A. Wells. Boston: Gould & Lincoln. 12mo. pp. 343. (Will be noticed.) INDEX ΤΟ THE CHRISTIAN EXAMINER, NEW SERIES, VOL. XII. JANUARY TO MAY, 1863. Abolitionists and public opinion, 18. Austen, Jane, her Novels, 400 - 421. censorship, 363 Protestants in, 364 Hungary, 378-close of session, 382. Buckle, H. T., his treatment of history, 61 Bunsen, Bibelwerk, 445. Canonization in Roman Church, 247, 260 Charlemagne, Legends of, (Bulfinch,) 310. Clay, Rev. John, Prison Chaplain, 232, 237 Cochin, Results of Emancipation, 142 Colani, Sermons, 301. Colenso, Bishop, on Pentateuch, 133 Concordat in Austria, 367. - of -on Congress, the Thirty-Seventh, 430-438. Courage in Belief, 383-400. - Democracy on Trial, 262-294- American - Doyle, Dr. J. W., 157-184 character, Eddy, Walter's Tour in the East, $10. 142. English feeling, later phases of, 295-300. Frothingham, O. B., Parables of Jesus, 154. Gervinus, History of Nineteenth Century, 138. Gladstone, W. E., on Homer, 339. Guard, Story of, (Mrs. Fremont,) 155. Hare, on representation, 29. Hind, on the Red River of the North, 308. Hungary, relations to Austria, 379. 211. Ireland, Catholic and Protestant, 173- Italy and Austria, 369. Japanese Martyrs, Canonization of, 246 - 262. Jesuit Order, 99. Junkin, Political Fallacies, 456. Language, Function of, 67- choice of, 363 Masdeism, 50. -- Mill, J. S., Later Writings, 1-43-on Lib- Mohammed, Sprenger's Life of, 304. --- Pamphlets on the War, 455. of peace, 130. - Piety, New Books of, 422 429. Prison Discipline in England, 232–246. Procter, Adelaide, Poems, 311. Putnam, Rev. G., Thanksgiving Sermon, Rebellion Record, 454. Renan, Origin of Language, 448. 391. Cambridge: Printed by Welch, Bigelow, & Co. 245 WASHINGTON STREET, BOSTON, General Publishers and Booksellers. PUBLISHERS OF THE WORKS OF CHANNING, DEWEY, ELIOT, HILL, NORTON, PEABODY, and other leading LIBERAL CHRISTIAN minds. Publishers, also, of the American Edition of the celebrated "ESSAYS AND REVIEWS," TRACTS FOR PRIESTS AND PEOPLE, and a number of CHOICE BOOKS FOR CHILDREN, concerning which the North American Review says: "We consider emphatically, that the imprimatur of WALKER, WISE, & Co. upon a book for young readers is a guaranty of its purity of taste, its high moral character, and its substantial usefulness." Among our Latest Publications are: ALTAR AT HOME. Second Series. With about one hundred and fifty Original Prayers, by some thirty of our most eminent Clergymen. With appropriate Selections. 16mo. 75 cents. PRAYERS. 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