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the county court of Van Buren Co. at the August term, 1839." It may seem novel at this day that such a court would assume the power thus to repeal acts of the Legislature at will. The same court made this remarkable order, of record June 18, 1858 : — "On motion and on petition it is ordered that a review of a road be made running from Harrisonville the nearest and best rout to Harmony Mission in Bates County. It is further ordered that John Par sons, David Hugt and James Porter be appointed reviewers of said road And that they review the same according to law and make their report If practible at the August Turm of said court and if not practible on account of Hot weather and flys then to make their report at the Nov turm without fail."
LITERARY NOTICES. A delightful number is the May issue of Cur rent Literature, collecting, as it does, the best poetry and prose from all current sources in language. Among the most important features Vhere all are good, are : a selected reading entitled, " The Babe in the Road," by S. Baring-Gould : a thrilling chap ter, " In the Paneled Parlor," by Frances Hodgson Burnett, from her new book, " A Lady of Quality "; a strong battle picture by J. Blondelle-Burton, en titled, " Sea Fight at La Hogue"; Political Amer icanisms," by William S. Walsh, giving the origin of many well known political phrases; a selection of "Burning Words from Brilliant Writers," by Josiah H. Gilbert; and " The Library Table," six pages of capital condensed book reviews.
It is said that Mexican millers have to pay thirtytwo separate taxes before they can get wheat from the field to the consumer in the form of flour. This is of a piece with the whole system of taxes in Mex ico, which is set forth by David A. Wells in an ar ticle, on " Taxation in Literature and History," in Appleton's Popular Science Monthly for May. Some very curious and oppressive taxes prevailing in France before the Revolution are described in the same paper.
The tale of " The Last Duels in America " is told in detail in Lippincott's Magazine for May by one of the principals in both, William Cecil Elam, now an editor in Norfolk. He tells it without rancor or bravado, and incidentally throws light on a state of society and public opinion now — in that respect at least — happily of the past.
A peculiar signification attends the article " Men Who Might Have Been Presidents," by Joseph M. Rogers in the May North American Review. The author, who is a close student in American history, presents some most surprising facts in connection with past Presidential elections, and looks upon the forthcoming contest for the Presidency as destined to be one of unusual interest and uncertainty.
The Lincoln paper in the May McClure's con tains some very interesting unpublished letters and anecdotes, showing Lincoln's rare tact and sagacity as a political manager even as a young man. It also describes Lincoln's life in Washington as a member of Congress in 1847- 1849, and reproduces from the newspapers in which it was reported at the time an important but now unknown speech of Lincoln's made in New England in 1848. A number of rare pictures appear with the paper.
The attitude of Mr. Gladstone toward America during the Civil War is strikingly shown in his cor respondence with the late Cyrus W. Field, extracts from which are published in the May number of Harper's Magazine, including a letter from Mr. Gladstone, written November 27, 1862, in which he expresses his conviction that the Union cause will fail, and that to prolong such a war•was " not folly only, but guilt to boot."
Three striking contributions to the May Atlan tic are the opening number of a series of letters from Dante Gabriel Rossetti to William Allingham, ably edited by George Birkbeck Hill, with a delightful au tobiographical sketch of Allingham; Kendric Charles Babcock's discussion of The Scandinavian Contin gent, being the third paper in the series on race characteristics in American life, and an anonymous paper on Mr. Olney's fitness for the Presidency.
Timely interest attaches to the Alaska Boundary Question, which the United States Government will soon have to face, and which is the subject of an ar ticle appearing in The Century for May, setting forth in detail the present condition of the contro versy, if controversy it may yet be called. The writer, Miss E. R. Scidmore, states that the change of the boundary line in accordance with the Canadian claims would put into British territory not only Mt. St. Elias, but the Great Muir and Davidson glaciers, the canneries at the head of Lynn Canal, and other valuable possessions.
