Text: C. F. Briggs (?), Literary, Broadway Journal (New York), March 22, 1845, vol. 1, no. 12, p. ??

[page 183, column 1, continued:]

THE AMERICAN REVIEW \o 3 March, 1S4.5.

THIS political journal contains but one political article, a very candid and well written sketch of the twenty-eighth congress, by Horace Greeley; it will probably be quite as acceptable to the majority of its readers as though it contained more. But a very small part of our individual happiness is affected by Our national politica. The majority of the people, in spite Of mass meetings and daily papers, care hardly more about the characters of their rulers than do the subjects of the sultan. The last election of our President is sufficient proof of this. [column 2:] Those who knew Mr. Polk best gave him the fewest votes; at the most distant points from his own home he mustered the greatest number of adherents. Our politics then, being purely personal, rather than considerations of principle, can never be made the pervading feature ofa monthly or quarterly, or even a weekly magazine. The Democratic Review contains just enough of partisan writing to swear by; it is read solely for its literary articles. The same may be said of the American Review, which calls itself a whig journal. The number before us contains 103 pages, ten of which are devoted to politics, the remainder to subjects of general interest. Among the papers is a review of the History of the Empire, by Thiers, from Dr. Lardner; an agreeable essay on single speech poets by Wm.A. Jones; and a very able article on our light-house system, from H. I. Laymond, which we regard as the most important one in the magazine. The subject is very justly handled, and the improprieties of our system forcibly exposed. There are several agreeable papers besides these, and altogether the magazine takes rank among the very first of the kind that the country has produced.