s position
is well and briefly stated in the preface as that of a Legitimist, a
fast friend and ally of Count de Montalembert in his effort to raise up
a Catholic Liberal party for the development of republican sentiments
and institutions, and the ardent coadjutor of Pere Lacordaire,
Monseigneur d'Orleans, Viscount de Melun, and a host of other moderate
reformers in behalf of freedom. He has some little reputation as a
writer on public and political topics; is highly connected, and, what is
perhaps more to the purpose than aught else, is a very practical man,
and son-in-law to Benoist d'Azy, who, possessed of an immense fortune,
an extensive landowner and proprietor of iron forges, has done perhaps
more than any other man to advance the material interests of his country
by railway building, mining, and agricultural improvements. We say that
this is more to the purpose, since it is of importance that the men who
_actively_ employ capital should understand the falsehood of slavery as
a productive force in any system of labor, anywhere, at the present day.
And it is highly significant when we find such men so far enlightened in
France at this time, where, although, as we learn, very advanced views
in political economy are set forth, we have still apprehended that a
deeply based attachment to slavery, common to all the Latin races,
prevails. That the Radicals should oppose slavery is but natural, but
such views among the highly cultivated aristocracy are indeed
encouraging.

We cannot agree with M. Villemain, who, in his report from the Academy,
decreeing a prize of three thousand francs to M. Cochin for this work,
speaks of it as inspired with 'eloquent zeal' and 'ardor.' It is very
far from what it might have been as a _literary_ production; and to one
not interested in the facts and subject, is even--with the exception of
its excellent Introduction--dry. The author is decidedly an economist,
but he is _not_ 'an apostle,' as his eulogist claims, unless it be in
the sense in which any great collector and publisher of truths may be
termed such. But on its true basis the work is indeed a great one, fully
deserving the publisher's advertisement words, 'opportune and
important.' The volume before us is a complete history, in a minor
degree, of Slavery, and to a very full degree of Emancipation in the
English and French colonies, with some account of the same in those
belonging to Holland, Denmark, and Sweden. Having made for m