The International Monthly Magazine Volume V to No II

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The _Natural History of the Human Species_, by Lieutenant-Colonel CHARLES
HAMILTON SMITH, is the title of a duodecimo volume from the press of Gould
& Lincoln of Boston. An American editor (Dr. Kneeland) has added an
introductory survey of recent literature on the subject. The whole
performance is feeble. The author and his editor endeavor to make out
something like the infidel theory of Professor AGASSIZ, which, a year or
two ago, attracted sufficient attention to induce an investigation and an
intelligent judgment, in several quarters, as to the real claims of that
person to the distinctions in science which his advertising managers claim
for him. We have not space now for any critical investigation of the work,
and therefore merely warn that portion of our readers who feel any
interest in ethnological studies, of its utter worthlessness.

An Englishman, Mr. FRANCIS BONYNGE, recently from the East Indies, has
come to this country at the instance of our minister in London, for the
purpose of bringing before us the subject of introducing some twenty of
the most valuable agricultural staples of the East, among which are the
tea, coffee, and indigo plants, into the United States. He gives his
reasons for believing that tea and indigo would become articles of export
from this country to an amount greater than the whole of our present
exports. He says that tea, for which we now pay from sixty-five to one
hundred cents per lb. may be produced for from two to five cents, free
from the noxious adulterations of the tea we import. He has published a
small volume under the title of _The Future Wealth of America_, in which
his opinions are fully explained and illustrated.

The first volume of a work on _Christian Iconography_, by M. DIDRON, of
Paris, opens to the curious reader a new source of intellectual enjoyment,
both in the department of ancient religious art, and in the archaeology of
the early paintings of the Catholic Church. The rich, profuse, and quaint
plates of the original work are used in a translation ably made by E.J.
Millington, published in London by Bohn, and in New-York by Bangs.

SIR FRANCIS BOND HEAD, so well known in this country as one of the former
governors of Canada, and as an author of remarkable versatility and
cleverness, has published an agreeable but superficial book on Paris--the
Paris of January, 1852--under the quaint title of _A Bundle of French
Sticks_; and Mr. Putnam has reprinted it in his new library.

A remarkable book published in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1847, by J. D.
NOURSE, under the title of _Remarks on the Past, and its Legacies to
American Society_, has just been reprinted in London, with an introduction
by D. T. COULTON.

The following works, all of which have promising titles, will soon be
published by J. S. REDFIELD: _Men of the Times in 1852_, comprising
biographical sketches of all the celebrated men of the present day;
_Characters in the Gospels_, by Rev. E. H. Chapin; _Tales and Traditions
of Hungary_, by Theresa Pulzky; _The Comedy of Love_, and the _History of
the Eighteenth Century_, by Arsene Houssaye; Aytoun's _Lays of the
Scottish Cavaliers_; _The Cavaliers of England_, and _The Knights of the
Olden Time, or the Chivalry of England, France and Spain_, by Henry W.
Herbert; _Lectures and Miscellanies_, by Henry James; and _Isa: a
Pilgrimage_, by Caroline Chesebro.

_The Westminster Review_ says of ALICE CAREY, whose _Clovernook_ we
noticed favorably in the last _International_, that "no American woman can
be compared to her for genius;" the Paris _Debats_ refers to her as a poet
of the rank of Mrs. ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING in England; the literary
critic of _The Tribune_ (the learned and accomplished RIPLEY whose
judgment in such a matter is beyond appeal) prefers her _Clovernook_ to
Miss MITFORD'S _Our Village_, or Professor WILSON'S _Lights and Shadows of
Scottish Life_.

MR. DANIEL S. CURTISS has availed himself well of large opportunities for
personal observation, in his volume just published under the title of
_Western Portraiture, and Emigrant's Guide_, a description of Wisconsin,
Illinois, and Iowa, with remarks on Minnesota and other territories. It is
the most judicious and valuable book of the kind we have seen.

HERR FREUND, the Philologist, is in London, engaged in constructing a
German-English and English-German dictionary upon his new system; and
Professor SMITH, the learned editor of the Dictionary of Greek and Roman
Antiquities, announces a dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, the
articles to be written by the principal contributors to his previous
works.

THE CHRISTMAS BOOKS of the present season in England have not been very
remarkable. Mr. DICKENS, in an extra number of his Household Words,
printed _What Christmas is to Everybody_; and we have from WILKIE COLLINS,
_A New Christmas Story_; by the author of "The Ogilvies," _Alice Learmont,
a Fairy Tale of Love_; by the author of "The Maiden Aunt," a pleasant
little book entitled _The Use of Sunshine_.

Under the title of _Excerpta de P. Ovidii Nastonis_, Blanchard & Lea of
Philadelphia have published a series of selections from a poet whose
works, for obvious reasons, are not read entire in the schools. The
extracts present some of the most beautiful parts of this graceful and
versatile poet.

THE FINE ARTS

The American Art Unions have not been successful in the last year, unless
an exception may be made in regard to that of New England, at Boston. The
American, at New-York, deferred indefinitely its annual distribution of
pictures, on account of the small number of its subscriptions; and the
Pennsylvanian, at Philadelphia, by a recent fire in that city has lost its
admirably-engraved plates of Huntington's pictures from the _Pilgrim's
Progress_, the last of which was just completed and placed in the hands of
the printer. It will make no distribution.

A Sicilian artist, residing at Naples, has amused himself, and probably
pleased his sovereign, by composing a life-sized group, representing
Religion supporting King Ferdinand, and guarded by an angel, who places
his foot on an evil spirit. On the other side of this group is a child
bearing the scales of justice. "How much," writes a correspondent of the
_Athenaeum_, "the artist is to get for this plaster blasphemy, I know not;
but a more impudent caricature (at the present moment) it would be
difficult to imagine." Another artist has, however, beaten the Sicilian
sculptor quite out. A small bronze group represents Religion triumphing
over Impiety and Anarchy. Impiety is represented by a female figure, under
whose arm are two books inscribed Voltaire and Luther! Anarchy has taken
off her mask, and let fall two scrolls, on which are written _Communismo_
and _Constituto_.

PROFESSOR ZAHN, who has been engaged during a period of more than twenty
years in examining the ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum, has exhibited at
Berlin a collection of casts unique in their kind. These are 8,000 in
number; and comprise all the remarkable sculptures of the above places,
besides those found at Stabiae, and those of the vast collection of the
Museo Borbonico and other museums of the Two Sicilies. The casts from the
Museo Borbonico are the first ever made,--the King of Naples having
accorded the privilege of taking these copies to M. Zahn alone, in royal
recompense for the Professor's great work on Pompeii and Herculaneum.

A book which all students of art should possess, is DR. KUGLER'S
_Geschichte der Kunst_ (History of Art), with the Illustrations
(_Bilderatlos_) which accompany it, and which are now being published at
Stuttgart. The ancient and modern schools of Art--Painting, Sculpture, and
Architecture--are here represented in outlines of their most celebrated and
characteristic works. Eleven numbers of these Illustrations have appeared,
and the whole work will be completed in the course of the coming year.

In our musical world there have been several noticable facts in the last
month. The opera company, perhaps from the utter incapacity of its
director, has been divided, and the best portion of it has been singing at
Niblo's Theatre. Jenny Lind's farewell series of concerts was prevented by
intelligence of the death of the great singer's mother, in Sweden.
Catherine Hayes has been successful in several concerts at Tripler Hall,
and Mrs. Bostwick, whom the best critics of the city regard as superior to
any singer who has appeared among us, except Jenny Lind, has given a
second series of her subscription concerts, which were extremely well
attended.

A correspondent of the _Athenaeum_, writing from Egypt, urges that a few
young artists should be sent out with orders to copy all the hieroglyphics
on the most important temples, as well as the numerous tablets and
fragments which are daily brought to light. "A work pursued with such
materials--all theories and arbitrary classification being excluded--would
ever remain as a lasting monument, and would reflect great credit on the
Government which should order its execution." Less than one-half of the
money required for the removal of the Obelisk would amply cover all
expenses.

A correspondent of _Kuhne's Europa_ writes from Dresden that a number of
humorous drawings, sketched by the pencil of Schiller, and accompanied by
descriptions in his own hand, have been found in the possession of a
Swabian family, with whom the great poet became acquainted during his
residence at Loschwitz.

In Berlin, M. von Prinz, a pupil of Kiss, the sculptor, is erecting a
group which he calls _The Lion-killer_ in imitation of the _Amazon_. Kiss
himself is engaged on a set of groups from a fox-hunt, Rauch has almost
completed a bust of Humboldt, and statues of General Gneisenau and of
_Hope_.

A colossal statue of the Emperor Napoleon, thirty feet high, is to be
placed on the top of the Triumphal Arch, at the end of the Champs Elysees,
in Paris.

KAULBACH has undertaken to draw a set of sketches for an illustrated
edition of Shakspeare, which will shortly be published by Nicolai, At
Berlin.

MR. GREENOUGH, is now in New-York, awaiting the arrival of his splendid
group for the Capitol, from Italy. He will soon be engaged on his statue
of his friend the late Mr. Cooper, to be erected in this city.

HISTORICAL REVIEW OF THE MONTH

The extraordinary abilities of Kossuth as orator, hid attractive personal
qualities, and grandeur of his propositions, continue to occupy the
generous regard of the people of the United States, but the impression
which obtained at one time that the national government would in any
manner or degree enter into his plans for confining a future contest for
the liberty of Hungary exclusively to the two parties most immediately
interested, appears to have been very generally given up. This country
will continue to encourage and aid oppressed peoples by showing how wisely
and efficiently its servants can attend to her own affairs. At the same
time it is not to be doubted that citizens in their private capacity may
and will do much for the illustrious exile who pleads among us for the
means of opposing the oppressors of his nation. Kossuth has been
entertained at public banquets since he left New-York by the authorities
of Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, Annapolis, and Harrisburg; he has
been received by the President of the United States, the two houses of
Congress, and the legislatures of Maryland and Pennsylvania; and on the
7th of January he dined with the representatives, senators, and other
persons connected with the government, at Washington, and Daniel Webster,
Lewis Cass, William H. Seward, and Stephen A. Douglass, made speeches on
the occasion expressive of their personal respect and sympathy, and their
anxiety as individuals to see Hungary independent. Mr. Cass indeed went so
far as entirely to endorse the doctrine of Kossuth respecting intervention
to insure non-intervention. Kossuth is now in the state of Ohio, and he
probably will remain in this country long enough--since the French
revolution has at least deferred any great and united movement of the
European democracy--to visit all the principal cities of the valley of the
Mississippi.

But little important business has yet been accomplished in Congress,
though numerous bills have been introduced, as is usual in the early weeks
of the session. On the morning of the 24th of December, a portion of the
capitol, occupied by the national library, was destroyed by fire, with
nearly sixty thousand printed volumes, and many MSS., maps, medals,
portraits, sculptures, and other works of art.

The legislature of several of the states are now in session. Those of
Ohio, Michigan, Mississippi, Wisconsin and California, met on the 5th of
January; those of New-York, Pennsylvania and Delaware, on the 7th; those
of Maryland and Massachusetts, on the 7th; that of Indiana, on the 8th;
those of Virginia and Illinois, on the 12th; that of New Jersey, on the
13th; that of Maine, on the 14th, and that of Louisiana, on the 19th. No
great national questions have been prominently before the state
legislatures, except that of our foreign relations, with special reference
to Hungary, upon which the assemblies in the several states appear to be
less conservative than Congress. The most important subject of local
administration, is that of the suppression of the sales of intoxicating
liquors. The law of Maine, enacted last year, will probably be sustained
in that state; in Massachusetts a petition with more than one hundred
thousand signatures, has been offered in the legislature for such a law,
and similar efforts are being made in New-York and other States.

In Mexico there is a continuance of the imbecility of the government and
the agitations of factions. Rumors, constantly varying, in regard to the
conduct and prospects of Caravajal, leave us in doubt whether any thing of
real importance will grow out of his attempts at revolution in the
northern provinces. The administration appears to have acted with
decision, but probably with impotence so far as the final result is
concerned, in regard to the Tehuantepee railroad contract.

South America presents the usual series of disturbances, with some facts
which indicate a prospect of repose; but all such prospects in the Spanish
states of this continent are apt to be deceptive. The birthday of Bolivar
was celebrated at Caracas on the 28th of October with great public
festivities. Treaties between Brazil and Uruguay were formed for alliance,
military aid, commerce and navigation, and the mutual surrender of
criminals, on the 12th of October. We learn from Buenos Ayres that,
through November, Rosas was making great preparations to meet Urquiza. He
had established a corps of observation in the direction of Entre Rios to
look out for an invasion. A considerable emigration was taking place from
Buenos Ayres to Montevideo, mostly of previous residents of the latter
city.

In Great Britain the most important recent event is the retirement of Lord
Palmerston from the cabinet, in which he held the place of Secretary of
State for Foreign Affairs. This occurred on the 22d of December. The
causes of Lord Palmerston's retirement are a subject of much
unsatisfactory speculation, and the fact is generally regretted by the
friends of political liberty in Europe. His successor is Lord Granville, a
nobleman of manly and liberal character, heretofore connected with the
government. It is apprehended that the popular feeling may induce the
recall of Lord Palmerston to be the head of a new Ministry. Great Britain
has now no envoy resident in the United States, but it is not improbable
that Sir Henry Bulwer will return to this country for the final settlement
of affairs connected with Central America. It is understood officially
that the attack of a British man-of-war on the United States steamer
Prometheus, at Greytown, was entirely unauthorized.

The Admiralty have determined not to send another expedition in search of
Sir John Franklin, by way of Behring's Straits. The Plover is to be
communicated with each year by a man-of-war--the Amphitrite is the next.
The proposed overland expedition of Lieut. Pym has been abandoned.

The English war at the Cape of Good Hope continues with little change,
though a few important successes by the English are reported. The war
appears to be condemned by a large and respectable portion of the journals
and the people at home. In its character and details it continues to
resemble our own contest with the Indians in Florida.

The month of December, 1851, witnessed, in FRANCE, the successful
accomplishment of a _coup d'etat_ not less daring than any that marked the
earlier annals of that country. It is asserted that the personal security
of the President was menaced with imminent danger, when, on the evening of
the 1st of December, he came to the resolution to strike the first blow.
The measures he immediately took were, to issue an appeal to the people
denouncing the conduct of the Assembly, and declaring it dissolved; a
proclamation to the army, telling them that "to-day, at this solemn
moment, I wish the voice of the army to be heard;" and a decree "in the
name of the French people," of which the articles were--"1. The National
Assembly is dissolved; 2. Universal Suffrage is re-established--the law of
the 31st May is abrogated; 3. The French people is convoked in its
elective colleges from the 14th of December to the 21st of December
following; 4. The state of siege is decreed through the first military
division; 5. The Council of State is dissolved; 6. The Minister of the
Interior is charged with the execution of the present decree." The appeal
to the people contained these further propositions; "Persuaded that the
instability of power, that the preponderance of a single Assembly, are the
permanent causes of trouble and discord. I submit to your suffrages the
fundamental basis of a constitution which the Assemblies will develop
hereafter--1. A responsible chief named for ten years; 2. The Ministers
dependent on the executive alone; 3. A Council of State formed of the most
distinguished men, preparing the law, and maintaining the discussion
before the legislative corps; 4. A legislative corps, discussing and
voting the laws, named by universal suffrage, without the _scrutin de
liste_ which falsifies the election; 6. A second Assembly formed of all
the illustrious persons of the nation--a preponderating power, guardian of
the fundamental pact and of public liberty." At an early hour, on the 2d,
these manifestoes were found covering the walls of Paris, and at the same
time the principal thoroughfares were filled with troops of the line.

The President had taken precautions that the National Guard should not be
called out. The Generals Changarnier, Cavaignac, Bedeau, Lamoriciere,
Leflo, Colonel Charras, MM. Baze, Thiers. Brun, the Commissary of Police
of the Assembly, and others of the leading heads of parties, were arrested
before they had risen for the day. Many members of the Assembly gathered
at the house of M. Daru, one of their Vice-Presidents and, having him at
their head, proceeded to their ordinary place of meeting, but found access
effectually barred by the Chasseurs de Vincennes, a corpse recently
returned from Algeria. These men forcibly withstood the entrance of the
members, some of whom were slightly wounded. Returning with M. Daru, they
were invited by General Lauriston to the Marie of the 10th arrondissement,
where they formed a sitting, presided over by two of their
Vice-Presidents, M. Vitel and M. Benuist d'Azy (M. Daru having meanwhile
been arrested), and proceeded to frame a decree to the following effect:
"Louis Napoleon Bonaparte is deprived of his functions as President of the
Republic, and the citizens are commanded to refuse him obedience; the
executive power passes in full right to the National Assembly; the judges
of the High Court of Justice are required to meet immediately, on pain of
dismissal, to proceed to judgment against the President and his
accomplices. It is enjoined on all functionaries and depositaries of
authority that they obey the requisition made in the name of the Assembly,
under penalty of forfeiture and the punishment prescribed for high
treason." While this decree was being signed, another was unanimously
passed, naming General Oudinot commander of the forces, and M. Tamisier
chief of the staff. These decrees had scarcely been signed by all present,
when a company of soldiers entered, and required them to disperse. The
Assembly refused to do so, when, after some parley, two commissaries de
police were brought, the presidents were arrested, and the whole body of
members present, 230 in number, were marched across the city to the
barracks of the Quai d'Orsay. The next day they were distributed to the
prisons of Mount Valerien, Mazas, and Vincennes; and the generals
Cavaignac, Lamoriciere, Bedeau, and Changarnier, were sent to Ham. During
the day the population viewed the soldiers in the streets merely as a
spectacle, and no violent excitement occurred. At ten o'clock on Wednesday
morning some members of the Mountain appeared in the Rue d'Antoine, and
raised the cry _Aux armes!_ The party they collected immediately began to
erect a barricade at the corner of the Rue St. Marguerite. Troops were
quickly at the spot, when the barricade was carried, and the
representative Baudin was killed. Some other barricades were raised in the
afternoon, but as quickly destroyed. General Magnan, the
Commander-in-chief of the army of Paris, seeing the day was passed in
insignificant skirmishes, now determined to withdraw his small posts, to
allow the discontented to gather to a head. On the morning of the 4th it
was reported that the insurrection had its focus in the Quartiers St.
Antoine, St. Denis, and St. Martin, and that several barricades were in
progress. The General deferred his attack until two o'clock, when the
various brigades of troops acted in concert. The barricades were attacked
in the first instance by artillery, and then carried at the point of the
bayonet. There were none which offered very serious resistance, and the
whole contest was over about five o'clock. In the evening, however, fresh
barricades were raised in the Rues Montmartre and Montorgueil, and others
in the Rues Pagevin and des Fosses Montmartre, which were successfully
attacked in the night by the officers in command of those quarters. On the
5th the last remains of street-fighting were effectually quelled. The loss
to the military in these operations was twenty-five men killed, of whom
one was Lieut-Col. Loubeau, of the line, and 184 wounded, of whom
seventeen were officers. The number of insurgents killed is unknown, but
they are estimated it from two to three thousand, including,
unfortunately, many indifferent persons, who were accidentally passing
along the boulevards when the soldiery suddenly opened their sweeping
fire. The insurgents taken with arms in their hands were carried to the
Champ de Mars, and there shot by judgment of court martial. Most of the
political prisoners arrested were discharged after a few days, some of the
more formidable only being longer detained.

By a decree of the President dated the 2d December, the French people were
convoked in their respective districts for the 14th of the month to accept
or reject the following _plebiscite_: "The French people wills the
maintenance of the authority of Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, and delegates to
him the powers necessary to frame a Constitution on the bases proposed in
his proclamation of the 2d December." On that day the voting consequently
commenced by universal suffrage; and the President has been re-elected for
ten years by a majority greatly exceeding that of his contest with
Cavaignac. In Paris, of 394,049 registered voters 197,091 have voted in
the affirmative; 95,511, in the negative; and 96,819 abstained from
voting. The majority for Louis Napoleon being 191,500. In the provinces he
has had a majority of eight to one. The inauguration of the usurper took
place in the church of Notre Dame on the 3d of January, and the new order
of things has been recognized by all the courts of Europe.

On the 25th of November a French squadron appeared before Salee, to claim
satisfaction for an act of piracy committed by the inhabitants of that
town. The Caid asked for six days to take the orders of the Emperor of
Morocco; and the Caid of Rabat sent a similar evasive reply. The next day
the French bombarded the place for seven hours, the fire being returned by
both forts of Rabat and Salee. The Admiral, however, confined his
chastisement to the latter, which he thoroughly performed, and fired the
town in several places. The French fleet arrived at Tangier on the morning
of the 29th, when the Consul-General for Morocco and several officers of
the squadron landed, and had an interview with the Bashaw of the province,
which ended in a satisfactory arrangement, to the great relief of the
people of Tangier, who were in consternation at the prospect of sharing
the fate of their neighbors.

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