ALISON'S HISTORY OF EUROPE.

THE Seventh Volume of this diffuse but readable publication corn- prises four leading divisions. The first embraces the Indian Go- vernment of the Marquis of WELLESLEY, preceded by a narrative of the growth of the British power in the East. The second con- tains the Austrian war of 1809, including the battles of Eckmuhl, Aspern, and Wagram ; the Tyrolese war, and the second capture of Vienna. The third involves the mismanaged and disastrous Wakheren expedition. The fourth treats of the earlier campaigns of WELLINGTON in the Peninsula, closing with the battle of Fuentes D'Onoro.

After our former notices of the work, it would be needless to say more on a common occasion than that the latter volumes are getting more verbose and less interesting ; though we might still recommend them as a very good compilation, in which the author has skilfully availed himself of what has been written by the modern French historians on the Continental events, and thrown together in a rapid, rhetorical manner, the materials he has collected from the Annual Register, the Debates, &c. for domestic occurrences. But the praise of a popular compiler will not satisfy Mr. ALISON. Like THUCYDIDES, he is for bequeath- ing an estate to posterity, though in a somewhat different sense from the Grecian ; and has, through Mr. Sergeant TALFOURD, requested the House of Commons to extend the Copyright Bill, for asmuch as twenty-eight years and his own lifetime will not be suffi- cient to repay him for his History of Europe. We must therefore apply a different kind of test to a work whose author chants the ezegi monumentum rere perennius, and calls upon the Legislature to change the law in conformity with his estimate of his own merits. And judged of by this criterion, we suspect that twenty-eight years will be more than sufficient to exhaust any thing like a pro- fitable copyright demand, whilst the work is obnoxious to be at any time superseded in the market, as soon as any one shall undertake the not very difficult task of treating the same period in less space. There are only two modes by which an historian can ex- pect to achieve immortality, supposing him to possess the literary power requisite to present his matter in an enduring form. He must have an original knowledge of the events he narrates and • the persons he portrays ; or he must have thoroughly mas- tered the authorities of the period he writes upon, not merely by reading them for abridgment or quotation, but by frequent perusal and meditation, till his mind is possessed with the spirit of the whole, and he is enabled to produce an homogenous work. Of the first class of writers, after C/ESAR and XENOPHON, Sm.- LUST in his Catiline Conspiracy, and CLARENDON in his History of the Rebellion, may be adduced as striking examples : not that they were in a condition to depose to every thing they tell, but that they were contemporary with the events, were familiar with the leading actors, bore a part in the transactions, saw much, heard much, and were imbued with that feeling and knowledge which only a con- temporary can possess. Of the second class, GIIIDON no doubt is the most eminent instance ; and others may be adduced who combine something of both. But Mr. ALISON, whether we re- gard his substance or his form, has no claim to either. IIe does not pretend to tell any thing new ; and, whether from haste or from some innate defect of mind, he has not so much fused There are only two modes by which an historian can ex- pect to achieve immortality, supposing him to possess the literary power requisite to present his matter in an enduring form. He must have an original knowledge of the events he narrates and • the persons he portrays ; or he must have thoroughly mas- tered the authorities of the period he writes upon, not merely by reading them for abridgment or quotation, but by frequent perusal and meditation, till his mind is possessed with the spirit of the whole, and he is enabled to produce an homogenous work. Of the first class of writers, after C/ESAR and XENOPHON, Sm.- LUST in his Catiline Conspiracy, and CLARENDON in his History of the Rebellion, may be adduced as striking examples : not that they were in a condition to depose to every thing they tell, but that they were contemporary with the events, were familiar with the leading actors, bore a part in the transactions, saw much, heard much, and were imbued with that feeling and knowledge which only a con- temporary can possess. Of the second class, GIIIDON no doubt is the most eminent instance ; and others may be adduced who combine something of both. But Mr. ALISON, whether we re- gard his substance or his form, has no claim to either. IIe does not pretend to tell any thing new ; and, whether from haste or from some innate defect of mind, he has not so much fused

the materials of his authorities, as taken parts out piecemeal, and made a patchwork. Traceable to the same cause, though appearing in a different form, is the author's indisposition to treat matters on a scale proportioned to their real importance ; every thing which he touches being made of equal greatness, and

treated at a corresponding length. These are positive faults : his want of' philosophy, and the superficial character of his mind, induce a deficiency of a graver kind—his conclusions can never be relied on. Let any one who would apprehend our meaning turn to the close of his fifty-second chapter in the present volume. The object of Mr. ALISON is to point out the causes of the astonishing growth of the British power in India ; but, after filling nine or ten pages with a sort of rhetorical sermon, he only indicates one point, and that imperfectly. The first great cause was the disorganized condition of the country ; which, in its state of anarchy, was a prey to every adventurer with an armed force at his back, and seemed likely ere long to have undergone a total dissolution of its social state. The abilities of the Company's servants were the means by which advantage was taken of this state of things ; but the "democratic element" had nothing peculiarly to do with it. The Company chose their officers from the wide field of the middle classes ; and if interest influenced the first appointments, they re- warded desert wherever found. The only operation of" demo- cracy" and " aristocracy" was this—the Company's servants, chosen from the people, possessed the democratic energy ; arrived

in India, they became part of a government which possessed the aristocratic elements of secrecy, vigour, and perseverance. So far as literary composition is concerned, the work abounds in striking passages ; and is generally readable, except where the author's tendency induces him to dwell upon secondary matters

or to launch out into long expressions of opinion, which he fancies' are philosophical disquisitions. 'fried, however, by the high standard he has set up, Mr. ALISON fails in this respect also: he belongs to the modern bombastic or shounnads school. Of this style CHATEADBRIAND was the founder ; BULWER is the English bead ; DISRAELI and FORSTER as well as AusoN are disciples. The object sought for by these writers is effect : the means used are exaggeration and suppression, with a free abuse of the figure

called personation. The results are sometimes powerful passages but more frequently inflation or fustian ; not seldom a rho. domontade where the ridiculous and the disgusting in taste are balanced ; never deep passion, or truth of any kind. In de-

scriptions of theatrical, glittering, or claptrap originals, (with each of which the career of NAPOLEON abounds,) this style, if not the best, is very far front bad ; but it is ill-suited for the more cold and sober character of WELLINGTON—utterly out of place in the narrative of civil affairs, or the philosophical examination of

political and social questions. Nor in his latter volumes has Mr. ALisoN shown much skill in its use : in any hands there

is always the risk that panegyric being exhausted upon the man, fine words are wanting for the master ; but our author lacks variety or memory. At Wagram, MACDONALD with his

column was ordered to advance upon the Austrian centre ; which he did with unflinching gallantry and resolution, in despite of a fear. flu resistance from considerable superiority. To narrate the ex-

ploit simply, and award its proportioned praise, would. not be suffi- cient, for the school; so we are told of MitenoNaLn, "that the

destinies of Europe are in his hands, and he is worthy of the mis- sion." The fact as regards Europe—perhaps as regarded Wagram —was not true ; but passing this, it is enough for destiny once to de- pend upon one subordinate : a few months afterwards, however, a certain Duke of Am1Uons:114117E, a Spanish General of ability, but of whom many readers probably have never heard, retreated by forced marches upon Cadiz to strengthen its garrison against the

attack by VICTOR ; upon which we are again assured that " the fate of Europe hung upon his steps." These arc only matters of phraseology : here is one of figure. It comes from the first notice of the Duke of WELLINGTON, and is a happy instance of how to write finely upon any person who had contemporaries in his youth.

" The young soldier was regularly educated for the profession of his choice, and received his first commission in the year 1787, being then in the eighteenth year of his age. Napoleon had entered the Artillery two years before, at the age of sixteen, and. was then musing ou the heroes of Plutarch ; Sir Walter Scott, at the age of seventeen, was then relieving the tedium of legal education by wandering over the mountains of Iris native land, and dreaming of Ariosto and Arnadis in the grassy vale of St. Leonardo, near Edinburgh ; Viscount Chateaubriand was inhaling the spirit of devotion and chivalry, and wandering, in anticipation, as a pilgrim to time Holy Land, amidst the sontude of La 'Ven- dee ; Goethe, profound and imaginative, was reflecting on the destiny of man on earth, like a cloud which ' turns up its silver lining to time moon ;' Schiller was embodying in immortal verse the shadows of history and the creations of &my; and the ardent spirit of Nelson NITS Chafing on inaction and counting the weary hours of a pacific West Indian station. Little did any of them think of' each other, [most probably they thought nothing, seeing that they knew nothing of each other, or anticipate the heart-stirring scenes which were so soon about to arise, in the course of which their names were to shine Iiirtim like stars in the firmament, and their genius acquire immortal renown. There were giants in the earth in those days."

This sort of composition is not very likely to outlast the term of the existing law of Copyright ; and the following passage says as little for the author as a philosophical historian. When the Pope threatened to excommunicate N.teoi.eox, he exclaimed, " Does he suppose the arms will fill front the hands of toy soldiers ?"—mean- ing, that the modern effects of an excommunication would not re- semble those of' the middle ages, when kings were deserted by their subjects and even their household servants. Ilear Mr. AusoN, however, upon what he calls "a marvellous coincidence." (The Italics are his own.) " What does the Pope mean," said Napoleon to Eugene, in July 1807, "hy the threat of excommunicatimor ate ? Does he think the world has gone hack a thousamul years ? Lbws he suppose the arms will .Pdl front the hands of my soldiers? Within two years after these remarkable words were written, the Pope did excommunicate him, in return lin. time confiscation of his whole dominions; and in less than four years Inure, the arms did fall front the hands of his sohliers. " The weapons of the ‘:ohliers," says Segni., in de,erihing the Russian re- treat, "appeared of an im,opportable weight to their stiffened HMIS. During. their frequent kitls. thee ri I/ ti.nnt theirs hands; and destitute of the power of raising them from the ground, t hey were left in the snow. They did net throw them away; finatac nit tet/ tore them pan their grasp. The fingers of many were frozen on the in ii km.4,1%111(11 they yet carried, and their hands deprived of time circulaticm neeessary to sustain the weight."—SuaAn, ii. 182. " The soldiers cou hi no longer hold theie weapons; they fill from the hands even (tithe lwavest «net must robust. Time muskets dropped front the frozen arms of those who bore them."—SALG ens. .3kmoires pour Giiarale flistoire

de France sous Napolemz. Vol. xx., e. 5. * * *

" There is something in these marvellous coincidences beyond time operations of chance, and which even a Protestant historian feels himself bound to niark for the observation of future ages. The world had not gone back a thousand years, but that Being existed, with whom a thousand years are as one day, and one day as a thousand years."

After these examples of rhetorical excrescences, the reader will be in a condition to credit us when we say, that if a critical reviser were to go over the book carefully, he might reduce it nearly one- half, and would more than double its value, by striking out all that is surplusage, or absurdly disquisitional, and by condensing the narrative of secondary circumstances. The remainder would not . • form a philosophical history, but at would give a readable narrative, fall of telling passages, where the nature of the events admitted of display.

The following picture of the landscape of Eckmuhl is of this kind, and is probably drawn from observation ; Mr. ALISON, as he informed the Legislature, having travelled to inspect, like HERO- DOTUS, the countries whose history he was to compose. Tun BATTLE-FIELD OF ECIRMUHL.

As they arrived on the top of the hills of Lintach, which separate the valley of the leer from that of the Labor, the French, who came up from Eandshut, beheld the field of battle stretched out like a map before them. From the marshy meadows which bordered the shores of the Label., rose a succession of hills, one above another, in the form of an amphitheatre, with their slopes culti- vated and diversified by hamlets, and beautiful forests clothing the higher ground. The villages of Echmuhl and Laichling, separated by a large copse- wood, appeared in view, with the great road to Rotisbon winding up the accli- vities behind them. The meadows were green with the first colours of spring ; the osiers and willows, which fringed the streams that intersected them, were just bursting into leaf; and the trees which bordered the roadside already cast an agreeable shade upon the dusty and beaten highway which lay beneath their boughs. The French soldiers involuntarily paused as they arrived at the summit, to gaze on this varied and interesting scene ; but soon other emotions than those of admiration of nature swelled the breasts of the warlike multitude who thronged to the spot. In the intervals of these woods, artillery was to be seen; amidst those villages standards were visible ; and long white lines, with the glancing of helmets and bayonets on the higher ground, showed columns of Rosenberg and Hohenzollern already in battle array, in very ad- vantageous positions, on the opposite side of the valley. Joyfully the French troops descended into the low ground ; while the Emperor galloped to the front, and, hastily surveying the splendid but intricate scene, immediately formed his plan of attack.

A COMBAT OF CUIRASSIERS.

The consequences might have been disastrous in the level and open plains which ensued \Olen the retiring columns approached the Danube, had not the

Archduke placed twelve squadrons of the Emperor's cuirassiers and a large

body of hussars in front of Eglofsheim, which was garrisoned by six battalions of grenadiers, and supported by several _powerful batteries. As the pursuing

columns approached this imposing mass of cavalry, they paused till the French horse came up in sufficient strength to hazard an engagement ; a variety of charges of hussars then took place on both sides, with various success; but at length the magnificent Austrian cuirassiers bore down with apparently irre- sistible force upon their pursuers. The French light horse could not with- stand the shock, and were quickly dispersed; but their cuirassiers came up, and then two rival bodies, equally heavily armed, equally brave, equally disciplined, engaged in mortal combat. So vehement was the onset, so nearly matched the strength of the combatants, so tremendous the conflict, that both parties, as if by mutual consent, suspended their tire to await its issue : the roar of the mus- ketry subsided, even the heavy booming of the artillery ceased, and from the by mutual consent, suspended their tire to await its issue : the roar of the mus- ketry subsided, even the heavy booming of the artillery ceased, and from the

nle was heard only, as from the battles of the knights of old, the loud clang of the swords ringing on the helmets and cuirasses of the dauntless antagonists. The sun set while the contest was still undecided; the moon rose on the deadly strife ; and amidst her silvery rays fire was struck on all sides by the steel upon the armour, and dazzling sparks flew around the combatants, as if a thousand anvils were at once ringing under the blows of the forgers. Nothing could overcome the heroic courage of the Imperialists, hut their equipment was not equal to that of their opponents ; and in close tight, the Austrian horsemen, whose front only was covered, were not au adequate match for the cuirassiers of Napoleon, whose armour went entirely round their body. After a desperate struggle, their numbers were so reduced that they were unable any longer to make head against the enemy ; and, leaving two-thirds of their number on the field, they were driven in disorder along the ehaussee towards Ratisbon.

MASSENA AT ASPERN.

If, however, the assault was impetuous, the defence was not less heroic ; and never had the experienced skill and invincible tenacity of Marshal Massena

been so conspicuously displayed. Stationed in t he cemetery of Aspen:, under the boughs of the great trees which overshadow the church, be calmly awaited the result, directing the movements of his troops, and giving his orders to support the points whie.h most required it, with the cool noes and precision of veteran courage, while the crash of the boughs above his head, and the in- cessant clatter of gmpe-shot on the steeple, told bow near the enemy's bat- teries had approached. Both parties were aware that the fate of the day mainly depended on the possession of this important pohit, and incredible efforts were made on either side to attain it. For several hours the murderous conflict continued ; fresh troops were brought up on both parts to supply the place of those who had fallen, or were exhausted in the strife : the Austrian infantry, the Hungarian grenadiers, the Volunteers of Vienna, rivalled each other in courage and pers,verance in the assault ; while the different divisions of Massenes corps nobly in succession sustained the deli_alce. Every street, every house, every garden of the village, became the theatre of mortal combat. The shouts of transient success, the cries of despair, were heard alternately from both parties : an incessant shower of bontbs and cannon-halls froin the concentric batteries of the Imperialists spread death on all sales, alike among friend and Me; while great part of the village took lire, and the flames of the burning houses afforded, as night approaclwd, a ghastly light wherewith to con- tinue the ivork of destruction, and illuminated tl:c whole field of lactic. A desperate conflict at the same time continued in the marshy plain between Aspern and the river, where the wet ditches leading to the Danube athwart their front, and the t hickets of alder bushes, gave tile b rencli the advantages of a natural fortification. For long the superior numbers of the Austrians impeded each other, as the pipsition of the French centre proven t tt them from attacking the village on mole sides than one ; but at length. at eleven at night, their line having gained ground in that quarter, a ccunbilied attack was made by Ililler in front, and Vacquant, commanding part of Ilellegarde's corps, which had just repulsed a formidable charge of cavalry in dank ; and in spite of the most heroic efforts on the part of Massena, Molitor, anh his officers, the village was carried amidst deafening shouts, which were distinctly heard above the roar of the artillery along the whole line. The French Marshal made a gallant effort to regain his ground ; and succeeded with Le Grand's division, which had succeeded Molitor's in their tremendous strife, in wresting some of the houses from the enemy ; but the churchyard and the greater part of this bloodstained village remained through the night in the hands of the Im- perialists.

In taking leave of Mr. ALISON, we may observe that he does not seem to have revised the style of a work destined for future ages; or to entertain the same notions on the subject of international as on national copyright. He draws upon the modern French his- torians without stint or scruple ; a circumstance which renders it difficult, unless by a long and tedious examination of particular passages in various volumes, to apportion his exact share of merit. His flight, however, is more strained and less elevated where it is evident that he must have relied upon his native strength.