Altogether, it is a delightful book. It comes to us in a neat scholarly dress, creditable to the publishers, and as worthy of a wide circulation among the lovers of art as it is certain to have a distinguished entrée into all literary circles.
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES CAVALRY FROM THE FORMATION OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TO THE FIRST OF JUNE THE 1ST 1863. To which is added a list of all the Cavalry Regiments, with Names of their Commanders, which have been in the United States service since the breaking out of the Rebellion. By Albert G. Brackett, Major First U. S. Cavalry, Colonel Ninth Illinois Volunteer Cavalry, etc., etc. 12mo., pp. 337. New York: Harper & Brothers. 1865.
Col. Brackett has presented the history of the U. S. cavalry, brought down to 1863, in a modest and soldierlike manner. It is the first attempt at a systematic literary record of an arm of the service, and we hope it will be followed by others, in order to perpetuate traditions most interesting to the people and honorable to the brave men who have trodden the wilds of the forest and prairie, subdued the savage, and performed gallant deeds from the Rio Grande to the Columbia, and from the James to the Colorado of the West.
Few persons living in towns and cities can appreciate the intelligence, courage, and cheerful self-sacrifice which have been the characteristics of American soldiers, who have borne such an important but unobtrusive part in the conquest of the natural obstacles to the settlement of the continent, and been the pioneers on the great lines of emigration and improvement. The material subjugation of the wilderness has been no less heroic than their military triumphs. In all these great events the cavalry has acted a most conspicuous part.
This book will be welcomed at all the military posts, and become an authority at every mess-table and camp-fire. Its personal reminiscences are, perhaps, its most pleasing and attractive feature. They recall vividly men and scenes identified with our early life, now passed away for ever. Col. Brackett has done a graceful thing in including Dr. Joseph B. Brown, U.S. A., in his dedication; a purer man and better officer does not live than Dr. Brown.
The work concludes at a period when the volunteer cavalry was beginning to be useful and efficient. The history will not be complete till their splendid services under Wilson at the battle of Nashville are recorded. No one who saw them moving in long gleaming lines on the extreme right on the morning of the 15th of December, 1864, or heard the ceaseless converging roll of the repeating carbines of the dismounted two thousand reverberating amidst the wood-crowned hills, will ever forget the picture or the sound.
THOUGHTS ON THE FUTURE CIVIL POLICY OH AMERICA. By John William Draper, M.D., LL.D. Crown 8vo., pp. 317. Harper & Brothers. Third Edition.
This is the title of a beautifully printed and bound volume, by Prof. Draper, who is well known for his scientific attainments and elegant scholarship.
It might be called a treatise on the psychology and physiology of national life, especially applied to the American republic in its present and possible character and destiny. It is written from a point of view directly opposed to Catholic theology and philosophy, and asserts the dominion of the natural in opposition to the supernatural. It rejects the supernatural and substitutes irresponsible force for intelligent, benignant Providence. It recognizes only the plane of natural reason, and denies by implication the transition from the natural to the supernatural in the incarnation.