If Macpherson's endeavor to build up a reputation upon an esteemed standard work does not exactly inspire confidence, yet it must be admitted that the material he offers is not without value, and that his pruning has been of use; but other expected improvements of method and of style are by no means apparent. Altogether it remains a question whether the result warranted so bulky an issue.
The number of books on trade and industries increased rapidly in various forms, including not only works on special branches, but cyclopedias, as McCulloch's, and the Dictionnaire du Commercant; periodical reviews, as Annuaire de Commerce Maritime; and general statistical reviews, as Dieterici, Statistics of the Zollverein. One of the most thorough books of the latter class, comprising the varied phases of industries and resources of every country is, John Macgregor's Commercial Statistics. London, 1844-50, 5 vols, 4to. As secretary to the English board of trade, of extensive travel, and intimate with the leading men and institutions of more than one country, he had every facility for obtaining the necessary material and aid for his work, and he has certainly shown his ability to make good use thereof. A sketch of physical geography precedes the review ot resources and industries for each country, and a series of commercial treatises is appended. The importance of the New World, and the want perceptible in even its most complete histories of a statistical report on the growth of the various states, induced Macgregor to publish a special, ponderous set on The Progress of America. London, 1847, 2 vols, 4to. In order to present a thorough and satisfactory work he added historic and geographic material to the industrial reviews which form the main object. The United States, as the most important section, occupies the whole of volume II, forming one third of the whole text, while the ten books of volume I are pretty evenly distributed. The first book gives a review of the discovery, conquest, and settlement of America in general; IV-VI cover Mexico and Central America; and the remainder. South America, the Antilles, and the British possessions, including a review of English trade generally with the new world. Macgregor published several other works on this subject, chiefly relating to America.
In contrast to the practical English treatises on commerce we now turn to a work which in devoting itself to the development of trade with distant regions, ventured upon the innovation of allying philosophy and speculative thought to so material a subject. But it was the era of revolution, and before the author lay the flattering hope of becoming another Thucydides, the leader in a new literary-field. Its fulfilment lies before us in the Histoire Philosophique et Politique des Établissemens et du Commerce des Européens dans les deux Indes; par Guillaume Thomas Raynal; first issued at Genève, 1780, in 5 vols, 4to, and 10 vols, 8vo. The revised edition, Paris, 1820-1, was increased to 12 vols, 8vo, from the author's manuscripts, and from the review by Penchet on the progress of the colonies since Raynal's time. It opens with the Portuguese discovery of the sea route to the East Indies, and proceeds with the operations of other nations and the growth of trade in this region, including Africa and China. In livre VI is related the discovery of America, the conquest of Mexico, and the trade resources of New Spain, and in the following parts the progress of conquest and commerce in other
