'My dear Blackwood, I have just read the opening article of Maga, and I cannot go to sleep, or make an attempt thereat, till I write to tell you how deeply the article has impressed me, - I feel the picture will be with me day & night for a good while to come. The country owes you thanks: but we won't take warning, & may go down any day like Carthage & Venice. I presume the article is by Hamley. Compared with the momentousness of the theme & the noble spirit in which it is treated, I can hardly bring myself to speak of its exceeding excellence as a literary work, - but in truth, I don't think even De Foe could have beat it.'