A NEW ELECTIVE IN HISTORY.

EACH year our newspapers and magazines are interesting themselves more and more with the affairs of other countries, so that it is now no uncommon thing to find half the editorial space in a morning journal, or a long article in a leading review, devoted to the last kaleidoscopic change in a European cabinet, or indeed among European nations. Unless the reader, anxious to keep himself posted on current events, is quite well acquainted with the different forms of government in use in different countries, he soon becomes hopelessly entangled among Gallicans, Legitimists, and Republicans; a vote of want of confidence leaves him as unsettled as it does the cabinet against whom it is directed, and even the Sublime Porte has no dignity in his eyes.

Now, many of us earnestly desire to know of the world's progress, and in order to do so take one or more courses in history. These courses tell us how the world once moved, but changes are so frequent and so rapid that while we may have a good knowledge of the events of a hundred years ago, that knowledge helps us but little in understanding the occurrences of to-day. What seems to be needed, then, as a supplement to the history courses now offered is a course in present constitutional history, - a course which shall teach the different forms of government now in use among the chief nations of the world. A more attractive course than that would be which should deal with the present mode of government in England, France, Germany, and Russia could not be given in history, and it would be difficult to find a more useful one. Such a course would enable one not only to read to the best advantage the contemporary literature of our own country, but also would give one a firmer hold on, and a stronger interest in, the literature of other countries. Besides, it is a knowledge we must gain before we can hope for the reputation of being liberally educated, and there will be no future time when we can expect such aids in the acquirement of this knowledge as might be ours at present.