1822:} 
Basle to Byzantium, from the Rhine to 
the Hellespont, supported by England, 
the power most interested in their wel- 
fare, and most able to assist them in 
the maintenance of their freedom.” 
This is a splendid dream, at which, 
however, we might be inclined to smile 
or to sigh, if we did not knew that a 
spirit-of freedom is working in every 
vein of Europe, whose effects are be- 
yond the power of caleulation, and 
whose energies will enable her to 
burst asunder the bonds with which in- 
fatuated and alarmed despots are 
attempting to bind her, ‘‘ asa thread of 
tow is broken, whenittoucheth the fire.” 
The very extended circulation which 
Mr. O‘Meara’s Voice from St. Helena 
has obtained, the highly respecta- 
ble ‘character of its author, and the 
admitied authenticity of its contents, 
have raised it above the want of 
extrinsic recommendation, even from 
the great authority which attends the 
decisions of this Review. Ten thou- 
sand copies have already issued from 
the press without satiating the public 
appetite. That a work,in which Mr, 
O'Meara has performed the same good 
offices for Napoleon which James Bos- 
well so amusingly rendered to Dr. 
Johnson, should have infinite power of 
fascination, cannot be wondered at. 
It is in this way alone that we arrive 
atan acquaintance with the character 
and feelings of Napoleon, which even 
his own compositions must have failed 
to convey. The clear result of this 
work is to impress the world with a 
much more favourable, and, we sin- 
cerely believe, a much more correct 
opinion of the fallen emperor, than in 
England, at least, was before enter- 
tained. Over the unworthy and dis- 
graceful course of petty persecutions 
by which his existence was finally em- 
bittered and shortened, we wish that 
a veil, for the honour of our country, 
might be for ever drawn; or that the 
mean, malignant, and cowardly con- 
duct ascribed to our agents in St. 
Helena may be repelled as untrue, or 
disavowed as unauthorized. A fallen 
enemy is a5 much an object of magna- 
nimous forbearance as a defenceless 
woman. ‘History will record in what 
proportion that noble quality was 
evinced in both these illustrious im- 
stances, ‘The conclusions of the re- 
viewer are in every respect favourable 
to Mr. O’Meara’s performance ; and, 
where he finds oecasion to question the 
exaciness of a statement, there is no 
The Edinburgh Review, No. 73. 
325 
impeachment cither of the veracity of 
Napoleon, or of the aecuracy and 
fidelity of his historian. 
We next find our Scottish Rhada- 
marthus sitting in judgment on the 
ghosts of half a dozen of the departed 
progeny of Sir Walter Scott, even to 
the fourth and fifth generation, the 
major part of which have received 
sentence long ago, and might have 
been left to their long repose. Here, 
however, stand again at the bar, the 
Monastery, the Abbot, Kenilworth, the 
Pirate, and Nigel, to receive the 
penaity of their long-neglected ble- 
miishes and errors, and to have those 
wounds, inflicted by less formidable 
critics, and which time had almost 
healed, torn open by stronger hands. 
The first four upon the list are ap- 
prized of their fate in a very summary 
and business-like way; and, if an ap- 
peal lay from the decisions, we do not 
think there would be any ground for 
reversing them. On Nigel, although 
the last, not least, a more elaborate 
attention has been bestowed ; the evi- 
dence on both sides is summed up with 
great fairness; and it is pronounced, 
we think, with justice, to be inferior 
only to the very best of its numerous 
predecessors. 
A portion of the first number of the 
Transactions of the Cambridge Phitoso- 
phical Society undergoes investigation 
in the ninth article ; and, as well as the 
general objcets of the association, and 
the talents already displayed by many 
of its members, is spoken of ib very 
hich terms. We next arrive at 
Howison’s Sketches of Upper Canada; 
on which, as presenting another publi- 
cation whose merits have been already 
very extensiveiy canvassed ana justly 
appreciated, we shall coniine ourselves 
to saying, thatits most valuable charac- 
ter is the copious and correct informa- 
tion which it imparts on topics con- 
nected with emigration, and thai the 
reviewer has treated it accordingly. 
With the great influx of emigrants 
into that colony, and its advancing 
prosperity and strength before his 
eyes, he cannot but anticipate itsinde- 
pendence at no very distant period. 
On this point, however, he toucues 
very tenderly, appearing to consider 
this event, however favourable it might 
be to the interests of the colony, as in- 
jurious to the mother country, We 
are of opinion, on the contrary, andthe 
precedent of the United States is de- 
cisive of the question, that such a con- 
summation 
