The Press. — London, England, 1854-09-02 00:00:00

t SEPTEMBER 2, 1854. secretary differed not at all from the eager schoolboy in the Eton cloisters, or the " little stormer " in Lord Lake's camp. His position at the Presidency bad brought him again into familiar correspondence with his old friend and teacher John Malcolm, who now wrote to him from Mhow : I recognise in all your letters the unaltered Charles Metcalfe with whom I used to pace the tent at Muttrs and build castles ; our expenditure on which was neither sub ject to the laws of estimate nor the rules of audit." Miles counted by the hundreds now lay between them ; but they could still build castles together. There was one magni ficent edifice which at this' time they were intent upon constructing—but it took fifteen years to convert the airy fiction into a substantial fact. With such dreams of a brilliant future Metcalfe was wont to solace himself amidst the discontents of a dreary pre sent. Before he had been a year in Calcutta he had grown weary of the place and of the office. There were many reasons for this ; but none which it is very easy to explain. His services were greatly appreciated by Lord Hastings. There were seldom any differences between them on points of vital importance. Both in principle and in practice they seemed to agree. The Governor-General was con tinually commending the executive aptitude of his secretary; and when he had altered any of Metcalfe's drafts always apologised or explained in such a manner as to give a com plimentary turn to such assertions of superiority. His un deviating kindness was, indeed, thankfully acknowledged. Metcalfe was not only political secretary, he was private secretary at the same time; and therefore, though he did not reside in Government-house, he was one of the "family." It does not appear that in this capacity any derogatory duties were entailed upon him—that in any sense he was con verted into a lacquey. Six years before. Lord Moira had arrived in India with very magnificent ideas of vice-regal state, and had drawn up a schedule of the various duties of the household, by which the private secretary was degraded into a sort of chamberlain, or maitre d'hotel. But he had arrived with a " private secretary" in his train, ap pointed under rather peculiar circumstances, who was perhaps not ill-suited to the kind of work that had been assigned to him ; an-I a " principal private secretary " was appointed as he Governor-General's confidential assistant in matters of a more public nature. But before Metcalfe's assumption of office the Governor-General's ideas of vice regal proprieties had toned down, and the household secre tary had returned to England. There was now but one private secretary, and his functions were mainly of a publio character. The duties as a member of the family were few ; and if he were occasionally requested to invite some dis tinguished stranger to take up his quarters in Government house, or if he were instructed to issue orders about court mourning, or if some delegated members of society solicited him to request the honour of the Governor-Gene ral's and Lady Hastings' attendance at a bachelors' ball, or other public entertainment, these were small matters of business which no man of sense would conceive himself to be humiliated by executing. Lord Hastings was an old courtier ; and Metcalfe had every reason to he satisfied with the personal courtesy and urbanity of his lordship. Butfor all this he was not contented with his position. The husk may have been pleasant to look upon ; but there was some thing rotten in the kernel. The first of these volumes finishes with the oordial expression of Lord Hastings' opinions on the talent of Metcalfe. And here we must close for the present, deferring to another day our notice of the second volume, in which the remaining and more important parts of Met calfe's career are recorded. The Present State of the Turkish Empire. By Marshal Marmont. Translated, with Notes, by Colonel Sir Frederic Smith, K.H., F.R.S London : Harrison. WE take up this book ont of due season, from the connection of some of its passages with the exciting events of the war. Let us first say that the title is a misnomer, as it is nearly twenty years since Marshal Marmont made his tour of observation. Its first edition was published so long since as 1839, and much of Sir F. Smith's portion is an analysis rather than a translation of the French marshal's text. I' o this new edition there is prefixed a long statement of the editor's own sentiments on the whole of the Eastern question. On exclusively military matters Marshal Marmont is a good authority, and we suppose that his assertion is correct of what soldiers cost Russia as compared with other European powers. After stating that Marshal Marmont puts down the Russian infantry at five hundred thousand men, Sir F. Smith proceeds Judging from the expenses incurred in maintaining the armies of the other great powers of Europe, it might natu rally be concluded that the finances of the Russian empire would be seriously crippled in having to hear the expense of an army of the magnitude above stated ; but the cost of a soldier in any other European country is so much greater than it is in Russia, that she has no real cause for appre• hension on this account. The following statement, which is founded on data aff riled by Marshal Marmont, will show the relative expense to their respective countries of the English, French, Prussian, Austrian, and Russian soldier, viz. :- 120 English soldiers cost as much as 539 Russian. 120 French 840 „ 190 Prussian If 240 11 120 Austrian 212 " 3.9 THE PRESS. The French marshal had good opportunities of arriving at his conclusions. Amongst other high personages to whom he was introduced was the cousin of our present Secretary at War. The marshal describes him as a patriot of the Russian school of nationality : Marshal Marmont arrived at Odessa, where he had the gratification of meeting Count Woronzow, the Governor General of Southern Russia. The marshal expresses that high esteem which he himself feels, and which indeed is universally entertained, for this distinguished nobleman, who is no less remarkable for his great intelligence than for his engaging and highly-polished manners; and it is justly observed that the eount is warmly attached to his country, and makes the most generous and noble use of his princely fortune. Count Woronzow has a general superintendence over the governors of the provinces ; but although they report their proceedings to him, as well as to the Minister of the In terior at St. Petersburg, it is entirely from the latter that the orders for their guidance emanate. There is often considerable ability in Marshal Marmont's observations, but in nautical matters he is flippantly dogmatic, and as often wrong as right. At the period of his visit the army cantoned in the Crimea consisted of 16,000 men. What is its strength now ? According to a paper in Fraser of this month (September), there marched from Moscow to the Crimea at the commencement of the present year the 17th division of infantry, with two regiments of cavalry, and a complement of artillery. Including all the reserves, there would appear to be in the Crimea at present an army of 40,000 regular troops. The sea-soldiers and others may be 20,000 more. To this date there has not been time for reinforcements to reach the Crimea from Prince Gortachakoff's main army. From the Pruth to Sebastopol is six weeks or two months' march, but the delay in the depar ture of the allied expedition, more especially after its destination became known. must prove favourable to the Russians, by enabling them to concentrate their forces, and make better pre parations for the attack. If any considerable portion of Gortschakotf 's main army (roughly estimated at 150,000 etteetives) enuld reach the Crimea before Sebastopol is taken, the allies would have to face a superior force. Sir Frederic Smith gives some extracts to show how mistaken the late Marquis (Charles William) of Londonderry was in his work on Russia respecting the policy of the Czar. But Sir Frederic has not made sufficient allow ance for the influence which Lord Aberdeen had in foreign affairs over the mind of that gallant nobleman. Our present Prime Minis ter would be aghast at the propositions hero made by Sir F. Smith. Alluding to the Czar, he says : The means of again disturbing the peace of Europe, for merely selfish objects, must be taken from him ; and the sword, which he has compelled us to draw, must not be sheathed until we have entitled ourselves to sufficient material guarantees from a Government from whom no other guarantee can with reliance be accepted. We must have no half measures ; and the most fatal course for the Governments of the allies to adopt, and the most deplorable in its results for their countries, would be, for the sake of present peace, to patch up this quarrel, which has been brought on by the despotic will of one man. On the great question of wooden versus stone walls the practical opinion of Sir F. Smith, who stands high in the Corps of En gineers, may be cited : But while we recommend energetic operations ashore we would give the opposite advice afloat. Let us in the Baltic blockade the ports of the enemy, and. if it be wished, bombard his towns; but do not let us attack his formidable coast defences, unless a certainty of success presents itself, and some great object is to be effected. In some few instances we may silence shore batteries by the tire of our fleet, but if those of Cronstadt be as solidly constructed as we have reason to believe they have been, and have been armed, as is supposed, with heavy shell•guma, and lastly, if they he well manned, then any success *Ube dearly purchased by our fleets, unless our ships can get within three hundred yards of the forts. We must not calculate upon the success of wooden walls against stone walls by our good fortune at Algiers and Acre. These are instances of which we shall probably find no parallel in the present war, for at Algiers we were allowed almost to run our shins' sides against the enemy's works ; and at Acre, whatever damage was done by the fire of the fleet was to a wall in an exceedingly bad state of repair. In encounters where our ships-of-war are brought into action against well-constructed forts and batteries, unless we succeed after silencing these works in making some capture of much value to us, or in destroying some docks, aroma', or work of great importance to the enemy, we must esti mate our gain by looking at the relative cost of the repairs to our ships on the one side and of the repairs to the coast defences on the other. In short, irrespective of the oomideration of the loss of life, it becomes a commercial 833 question ; and we shall be much surprised if we do not find that the object that may be gained has been purchased et too heavy a cost. The easy capture of Bomarsund has led the public to conclude that too much weight may have been accorded to considerations like these ; but in the case of Bomarsund we must recollect that the ships were not engaged with the forts at all. It is conceded that no fortifications can resist the broadside of a line of-battle ship. The whole fire may be concentrated on a apace of six feet square; and against such a weight of metal nothing can stand. But the difficulty would be to get the ships into position with out sustaining much previous damage. On one point we have yet had no derisive expe rience, and that is as to the capacity of our ships, by their guns of longer range, to destroy the works of the enemy while keeping at safe distance. The bombardment of Odessa tends to the conclusion that this may be effected ; and one wonders why—at least as an experiment—the trial was not made when our ships were off lielsingfors and Croustadt. The volume is accompanied by an excellent map ; but, as the events which have occurred since Marshal Marmont wrote have superseded the worth of its speculations, it must now be referred to for its historical and geographical details rather than as any authority on the momentous event now pending. Alpine Lyrics. London : Longmans. THERE is more than average promise in this little volume of strong thoughts and rough verses. It is a pity that its writer did not take more pains to polish his lines, which are frequently rugged and unmusical. Lyrical poetry should approach more to the harmo nious utterances of the vocalist than any other kind of verse, and we think that this youth ful writer has more talent for meditative poetry than the passionate. He selects his points of view with more judgment than he shows in their artistic treatment, and he has not paid sufficient attention to the particular kinds of metre suitable for each of his themes. His merits and faults are very visible in the " First Sight of the Alps from the Jura," a noble subject for a lyric : It was in Summer's silent eve We journeyed through the cliffs of Jura— The thick black pines with bristled leaf Had streaked the soul with shades of sorrow: Dumb reverie in deeper night Was nursing her own words of wonder — When from a sudden pointed height Glanced out a plain of sunny splendour! And, in horizon, far away, Long white light clouds were softly sleeping, That seemed to bar the southern day, As with a mound of silver heaping. They stir not in that highest sir— Still as the deepest. rock-girt fountain — Halt ! halt! yea! yea! they are, they are, The snowy Alps, lands of the mountain! The opening passage here is well conceived, but the ear is disappointed in finding the word "are" rhyming to " air ;" and it is a rule of verse that when monosyllables are reiterated to express joy they should be deep toned, and fit for strung accentuation. In the next piece, " The First Walk," near Zurich, we are constantly offended with the roughness of the execution, though we have proofs that the writer's mind was at work. The legends and traditions of the Alps furnish him with several subjects for ballads, which often are true to the local colour, but they are deficient in resonance and rapidity of movement. " Florelle " is one of the best pieces in the volume, and contains some capital sketches of "Alpine scenery." Amongst them we select the following for its truth of painting : Began the wary war again— At first, •)'er wide and placid plain, With rock and wreck besprinkled o'er— Then on a broken billowed floor — The waving waves were wet with rifle-- The rounded troughs were blue and bright The gurgling waters of the mills Went down to deep unfathomed night. They bounded, both, from wave to wave Upon the crumbling crusted rave— Now lost within the channelled deep, Now climbing up some slipping steep, Or on the billows' crested ridge, Or by the ribboned ice cliff edgi.— A moment seen, then gone again,— The hunter's aim was brief and vain— And, now, had closed the rocky shores The sluggish snow stream in its oases, '' • IN 1