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work, as translated from the French, is published in Boston.
It is beautifully printed and illustrated, its style is captivating, and altogether it is highly interesting and must needs be generally read.
Already it has been distributed to thousands of subscribers in our own country, and it is reasonable to suppose that it will find its way into public and private libraries, and be regarded as history by readers in all civilized countries.
I give you below some extracts from the third volume, to show the pressing necessity for the dissemination of the facts touching the late civil war, that the South may have justice and a fair hearing the world over.
The Historical Society aims to meet this necessity, and will do it if we are true to ourselves, to the illustrious dead, the brave survivors of the armies, to our wives and our children.
The author, writing of the interference of the Federal government in Mexican affairs just after the close of our civil war, says:
The South, thanks to the leisure which slavery gave her, was far more given to politics than the North; and although very inferior in numbers, the Southern people had hitherto held public office and the reins of government, far more frequently than those of the North. The North at last reacted against this preponderance; the slavery question let loose the dogs of war. Popular feeling in the North, on this point, agreed with popular interest. Aside from political jealousy and manufacturing greed, religious and philosophical principles were brought powerfully to bear, and the men devoted to the abolition of slavery formed a party whose sincerity was incontestible, and whose energy was undaunted. The whole world was shaken by the tragic story of John Brown, that martyr of liberty, hung by slave owners for preaching the enfranchisement of the blacks. * * * The North would fain have avoided civil war; the South hurried it on, and took the offensive. Two Southern States, Virginia, the home of Washington, and Maryland, refused to be led astray, and saved the seat of the Federal City of Washington by remaining loyal to the union. The South nevertheless had the advantage at first. Nearly all the officers of the small Federal army belonged to her, and she was far better prepared for the war than was the North. The Northerners were not people to be discouraged by a few defeats. They squandered men and money in Cyclopean efforts unceasingly renewed. They improvised an army; they improvised with the free help of individuals, an admirable organization for the succor of the wounded and sick of their army. This indomitable nation extemporised war as it extemporised everything. * * *Early in 1864 the South seemed
