SLAVERY IN SOUTH CAROLINA, AND THE EX-SLAVES; or, The Port Royal Mission. By Mrs. A. M. FRENCH. New York: Winchell M. French, No. 5 Beekman street, 1862. No one can write a book, however unpretentious, on the subject of slavery, and fill it with plain _facts_, without making a startling volume. Take the subject up on the grounds of the barest humanity, even as one would the welfare of animals; laying aside all 'Abolition' or anti-abolition views whatever, and we find a tremendous abyss of abuses, inexcusable even according to the principles of the most rabid pro-slavery disciple. Prominent among the facts which such a work as the present presents, is the proof that the black, whatever his degree of intelligence may be, is abundantly capable, under enlightened discipline, of becoming infinitely more profitable to himself and to the world than he has ever yet been. From the tales of distress, from the bewildering, sorrowful negro piety, from the jargon and rags and tears of poor childish contrabands, as simply and sadly set forth by Mrs. FRENCH, making every allowance, and penetrating to the depth of the dark problem, we still realize one tremendous truth--that Slavery, as a principle of government, is a lie, and that from a politico-economical point of view it has been a failure. It is a _waste of power_, and like every waste of human power results in suffering. The fifty-three chapters of the work before us present the results of the Port Royal Mission, the truths gleaned from the contrabands of their past life, great additions to our Northern knowledge of the practical treatment of slaves, many observations on these facts, and an array of Instances to prove the capacity of the negro. It will be spoken of as an Abolition work, and such it is; but we--who look beyond and above Abolition, and hold the higher doctrines of EMANCIPATION originally set forth in these columns--to the broad interests of humanity, and of the benefit which is to accrue in the first place to the white race from free labor--still commend it as full of material of the most valuable description to the great cause of progress. The work is fairly printed, but, we regret to add, is disfigured by a mass of wretched woodcuts of the worst possible design, which look as if they had been gleaned from old Abolition tracts, and which we trust will be omitted from the next edition. SALOME, THE DAUGHTER OF HERODIAS. A Dramatic Poem. New York; Putnam, 532 Broadway.