150 
Revolution, its Rise, Progress, and Results. 
In 8. Vols. 8vo. By W. B. STEVENSON, 
formerly Private Secretary to the President 
and ‘Captain- General of Quito, Colonel and 
Governor of Esmeraldas, Se. &c,  ‘* The 
interest,’’ says the author in his preface 
very truly, 
«¢ The interest which the late successful revolution 
in Spanish America has awakened in Europe renders 
any genuine account of the new world so highly 
acceptable to the British nation, that it has become 
an almost imperative duty in those who may possess 
original matter to communicate it to the public; for 
it may be said, without the least exaggeration, that 
although the countries thus emancipated were dis- 
covered in the sixteenth century, they have re- 
mained almost unknown till the beginning of the 
nineteenth. 
There can be little doubt, therefore, that 
the gleanings of a twenty years’ residence, 
under circumstances so favourable for ob- 
servation as Col. Stevenson seems to have 
enjoyed, will be read with some avidity. 
Though the author does not pretend to 
philosophize, there is much matter in his 
volumes for the philosophic reader; he 
gives a plain statement of facts as they 
occurred, and his unadorned descriptions 
are interesting. The first two volumes are 
devoted to a description of the principal 
towns, manners, customs and religions, 
&ec. &e. of South America, particularly 
of Lima, Valdivia, Chile, Quito and Guaya- 
quil. And though, from remoteness from 
the world of civilization, and the confined 
ideas and superstitions of the Spaniards and 
natives, there must necessarily be much 
that is counter to the prejudice of a free- 
born Briton, whose religion and constitu- 
tion are so diametrically opposite to all 
thraldom of the mind, yet Mr. Stevenson 
shows that a 20 years’ residence in that 
part of the world has not corrupted a manly 
and candid disposition. All that relates 
to Lima (and there is much) is extremely 
amusing, interesting and instructive, and 
shews how the world and humanity differ ! 
The author gives a description of the tri- 
bunal of the Inquisition; and although he 
does not dress it up in all the horrors of a 
Godwin romance, yet the simple statement 
of natural oceurrences, excites sufficient de- 
testation of that abominable institution. 
In describing the three inquisitors, he gives 
the - following ludicrous quotation from 
Jovellanos, that ‘‘ the inquisition was com- 
posed of un santo cristo, dos candileros, y 
tres magderos—one crucifix, two candle- 
sticks, and three blockheads!” The au- 
thor himself had, on one occasion, to extri- 
cate himself by an equal mixture of 
firmness and discretion, from the grasp of 
the holy blasphemers who presided over 
this infamous establishment—which, how- 
ever, he would probably not have been able 
to effect, if it had not. been at a time when 
their power was beginning to totter, and 
the abolition of the office by the Cortes was 
alreaily impending. There is rather an 
Monthly Review of Literature, 
(Sept. I, 
amusing anecdote quoted, of the manner 
in which a certain viceroy had answered’a 
summons from these holy fathers. — - 
« It is said, that when Castle-Forte was Viceroy in 
Lima, he was summoned: by the Inquisition, and at- 
tended accordingly. Taking with him ‘to the door 
‘his body-guard, a company cf infantry, and two 
pieces of artillery, he entered, and laying his’ watch 
on the table, told the inquisitors, that if their busi- 
“ness were not despatched in one hour, the house 
would be battered down about their ears, for such 
were the orders he had left with the commanding 
officer at the gate. .This was quite sufficient; the 
inquisitors rose, and accompanied him to the door, 
too happy when they beheld the backs of his excel- 
lency and his escort.” 
The third vol. of this useful, and in many 
respects valuable work, contains an account 
of the commencement and progress of tlie 
reyolution, and the proceedings of the con- 
stituted authorities of the transatlantic 
Spanish dominions. For further extracts 
see Supp. to Vol. 59, of the M.M. p. 611, &c. 
A Succinet View and Analysis of Authen- 
tic Information, extant in original Works, on 
the Practicability of joining the Atlantic and 
Pacific Oceans, by a Ship-Canal across 
the Isthmus of America. By R. B. Prr- 
MAN, 8vo.—Mr. P. examines with great 
apparent perspicuity, and with diligent re- 
search, into the existing sources of informa- 
tion, the topographical appliances and diffi- 
culties of five proposed stations for this 
stupendous undertaking—to wit, the Isth- 
muses of Darien, Panama, Tehuantepec 
and Nicaragua, and the routes of Choco; 
andsuccessively rejects, as presenting greater 
difficulties, or offering less advantages, all 
but the Isthmuses of Darien and Nicaragua ; 
and after balancing the localities of these, 
evidently gives preference to the former. 
Yet even this, which our author considers as 
presenting the fewest difficulties,—among 
many other impediments (as the unhealthi- 
ness ofthe climate, the distance from which 
free labourers must be brought, Indians or 
negroes, &c,,)—includes the necessity of 
cutting a desague, right down through the 
traversing ridge of the Andes, of such height, - 
in this their supposed lowest part, as to 
occupy the duration of nine hours m the 
ascent. 
“Under these difficult circumstances,” 
however, “it seems (to Mr. P.) but a due 
observance of impartiality to say, that a 
ship-canal, adequate to universal commerce, 
might be made across the Isthmus of Da- 
rien.”” From the accomplishment of this gi- 
gantic undertaking, he anticipates results as 
gigantic. ‘‘ The saving of near 12,000 miles 
of direct distance in the circumnayigation of 
South America.”—‘ The rapid coloniza- 
tion of the temperate and fertile regions of 
the western shores of North America,’’— 
““ The power of making the voyage, out or 
home, to China, in about 80 or 90 days.” — 
“The rapid advancement of the British 
Colonies at New South Wales'and Van 
Diemen’s Land.’’—‘“‘ A great extension of 
the 
