[Channing, William Ellery]. Remarks on the Character of Napoleon Bonaparte, occasioned by the publication of Scott's Life of Napoleon. From the Christian Examiner, Vol. IV. No. V. Boston: Bowles and Dearborn, 72 Washington Street. Press of the Christian Examiner. Stephen Foster, Printer, 1827. [12578]
Tall pamphlet, no wrapper, starts with title page. 9 1/4 x 5 3/4 inches, 51 pp., a few contemporary pencil notations in the margins. "Withdrawn" library stamp behind the title page. Good.
A review critical of Sir Walter Scott's Life of Napoleon Bonaparte. Channing criticizes both the book itself, and Bonaparte in particular.
"The marks of negligence and haste, which are spread through the work, are serious blemishes, perhaps inexpiable defects." - p. [3].
"But still we should be strangely blind, if we were not to feel that the fall of Napoleon was a blessing to the world. Who can look, for example, at France, and not see there a degree of freedom which could never have grown up under the terrible frown of the usurper?" - p. 44.
Channing compares Bonaparte with Washington, and says that while Bonaparte was a greater thinker and more skilled at making war, Washington was the nobler man, one whom his country never distrusted, one without guile or deceit.
Attributed to William Ellery Channing at WorldCat.
William Ellery Channing, D.D. (1780-1842), born at Newport, Rhode Island, “an eminent Unitarian divine and philanthropist…To the American community in general Channing is chiefly known as a theologian, while on the other side of the Atlantic his fame is chiefly that of a literary man and a philanthropist.” – M’Clintock & Strong.
