The Press. — London, England, 1857-10-03 00:00:00

u7O 2. Wo shall not allow all the nonsense anti extravagance in this volume to deter us from saying that it pOSSeSSeS very considerable merits. There is co►n►nand of versification displayed in many of the pieces, and some rough, strong thought is apparent at intervals. What the meaning of the title may be we cannot divine, nor the sense of such an address to the critics as the poem opens with. Is no human being able to form an opinion on poetry except Mr. Richardson? Unless he means to assert that his words are literally nonsense. We must ask the authors of Nos. 3 and 4, us we asked Mr. Jumps last week, what is the cud of translation? Either instruction or amusement it must be. But such versions as these before us aro incapable of providing either. We aro not underrating the abilities of either of these gentlemen ; but the idea of these kind of translations is fundatnen tally a mistaken one. If we aro to have a literal word for word version like Mr. Mackie's, let us resign all attempts at verse. It is simply a waste of time and trouble. For who would not just as soon read one of the old-fashioned " cribs " as the following ? Then Fauns you saw and beasts in mearired tread Disuott, then stout old oak trees bow the head. Parnassian crag in Phoebus joys not thus, Nut Orpheus Rhodope so heeds, nor 'summit. lie sung, how fused through void immenaity The germs had been of earth, a nd air, and sea, And eke of liquid fire; from these how cane MI else, and this young world grew up a frame. How soil to harden, and shut Nereus in, Began, and slowly forms of things to win; Anon, how lands see 'mazed the new sun glare, And rains distil from clouds uphorne in air : When first the woods begin to rise, and when Lone beasts are ranging heights untrod of men, Neat stones by Pyrrha cast. Saturnian time, Cancssian birds he notes, Prometheus' crime, Adds, seamen how lost Hylas at that spring clad called, till all the coast did " Hylas, Hylas!" ring. Again, with regard to Horace, to suppose that all metres are adapted to all languages equally seems to us a monstrous confusion of all the principles of euphony. The English, for instance, is a great deal too full of mono syllables and unemphatic terminations to suit the lyrical metres of Horace, in which every syllable tells. Let us take the seventeenth ode for example. Everybody with the slightest pretensions to scholarship knows that one great charm of the Alaric stanza consists in the proper modulation of the third line—e.g. :- 1. Defendit tesititem capellis. 2. Olentts nxiirea mariti. 3. Valles, et Ustieei cubantis. 4. Manabit ad plUoum beuigno. Now let us mark Mr. O'Brien's lines in the same manner, and see how they will read :- 1. The fiery burning heat of summer. 2. The spouses of k lusty husband. 3. Of wide out-spreading Mount Ustica. 4. From bounte'oas hoin i rich and plenteous. Now let us put it to Mr. O'Brien as a matter of common sense, whatever is the good of introducing the Horatian metres if our Eng lish system of pronunciation is to be thus murdered to support them ; or, on the other band, if their own peculiar harmony is to be sacrificed to the exigencies of English ! There is no abstract virtue in any particular number of syllables, as this class of transla tors seems to suppose. It is very odd that an age which sneers at Latin verse-writing as unprofitable should be so fertile of poets who give themselves all the trouble of the former occupation without producing any of its elegance. No. 5 is a modest and unpretending volume, the worst of which we can say is that the originals seem scarcely worth the trouble of reproduction. However, as a harmless and gentlemanlike amusement for a leisure hour, it is all very well. Six Months at Sebastopol. Being Selections from the Journal and Correspondence of the late Major George Ranken, R.E. By his Brother, W. Bayne Ranken. London : Westerton. MAJOR RANKER had the melancholy distinction of being the last British officer killed in the Crimea. He was engaged on 28th of February, xetion of the White Barracks, Several of the mines had I,BK in the destruc in the Karabeluaia. THE PRESS, OCTOBER 3,1857. been fired but did not explode. Major Ranken, with that zeal and activity for which he was pre-eminently distinguished, took upon himself to re fire the mines. Captain Gordon thus relates the catastrophe which fol. lowed : 1 was on the outside of the building close to him. With a light in his hand he called to the men to run away as fast as passible, for there was only a minute for them to escape. He stooped down and lighted the train. I sup posed that he had attached to the focus of the powder hoses a length of Bickford's fuse of about a yard, which is calculated to burn for about a minute, the time he allowed himself fur escape out of the building. But no sooner had he applied his light than (from what cause I know not) I saw the running fire and smoke of the ignited hoses. The crash and fall of the walls and roof followed almost immediately. Men crept wherever they could into the ruins to listen for Bounds of life, but, alas ! none were heard. A working party was immediately put on, and search was continued by reliefs of men during the whole night until about ei6ht o'clock this morning, when his body was found. His death must have been instantaneous. Universal sorrow was felt throughout the camp, for Major Ranken's reputation stood high with all ranks. By his " cool courage and intrepid zeal " in the trenches, and especially in the assault on the Redan, ho had won for himself a high reputation, and his death was felt as a severe loss among officers and men. The present volume consists of selections front Major ltanken's diary and letters during his in esence in the Crimea; and under the melancholy circumstances of his death a peculiar interest attaches itself to these memoirs. Here is his description of a first night in the trenches : On my first night of actual duty I was associated as jnnior officer with Captain Cooke, R.E. We had to cow menee a new sap from the fifth parallel, on the salient of the Roden. A number of gabions, bread bags full of earth, baud barrows, anti spades, and shovels, were collected. Our working party was a strong one, and set about their labours sktlfidly and cautiously : two gabions were quietly pulled out of the parapet awl an opening made for men carrying gabions to pass. The direction of the sap was indicated by a white tape, and the gabions were placed in a row with as little noise as possible, along the line thus marked out. The utmost silence was necessary, as we were within a hundred anti fifty yards of the Redan, in range of every description of missile, and, besides, were close to the Russian sentries. The firing, which had been maintained with some spirit during the evening from our advance trenches on the Redan, suddenly almost ceased, and the suspicions of the enemy appeared to be aroused in conse quence. They threw out a fire-ball, which alighted within a few yards of our newlyplaced gabions, and blazed brightly up. We withdrew our working party as rapidly as possibly to prevent their being observed, and waited iu anxious suspense watching the burning missile. By what seemed almost a miracle the fire fell m every direction, apparently, but that of our trench, and the enemy clearly had not perceived us, as no fire was opened for several minutes, and then only a chance shower of grape, with the view of inaking sure all was right, directed across the space in front of the salient. This unhappily killed one of our working party, and I had an opportunity afforded me of witnessing the coolness and unconcern with which a casualty was regarded in the trenches. The poor tellow's body was borne past me as I stood near the entrance of the trench, and half•amhour afterwards, when at the same place, one of the bearers returned to report that the man was buried, adding that " he was surprised to find he made such a handsome corpse." All this was said with the enemy's shot and shell flying over us, and scattering death around. There was only one casualty in the working party, and eighty-seven gabions were placed and filled, and a small trench dug behind them. For the life of us we never could understand how " working parties " could do their work effectively in their full uniform. Major Ranken appears to have been struck with the folly of such a proceeding, and suggests an excellent remedy : I had charge of another working party of 100 men employed in improving the fifth parallel. The ground , was extremely rocky and unfavourable, and it was necessary, in order to obtain earth, to place a portion of the party employed outside the trench, unprotected by any cover what ever. The men worked in their red costa buttoned up to the throat, and with sixty rounds of ammunition suspended across their shoulders, as they had to resume their arms and act as part of the guard of the trenches on the slightest alarm being given of a sortie of the enemy. It was not to be supposed that men thus encumbered would be able to get through much work. The real fact of the case is, that the system pursued is wholly an erroneous one. It is not to be supposed that men will work well buttoned up to the throat, and weighed down with straps and pouches; neither eau it be thought that inexperienced workmen will achieve much under any circumstances. In addition to these disqualifying causes a man is physically unable to undergo much fatigue after a night passed in the trenches without sleep, and under the enemy's tire (as all morning working parties have to do). The proper mode of proceeding in my opinion would be, to establish two regular permanent working corps. of 1,000 or 1,2(X) men each, selected from the various regi ments in the army ; to give these men higher pay and a more suitable working dress, and to camp them as near to the siege works as possible. These corps would be Built. cient to furnish all the requisite working parties for each attack ; they would perform more work in an hour than or. dinary working parties would in five or six, and do it in more workmanlike manner. They should be marchtsl home to camp immediately their labours were over, anti have plenty of time for rest and sleep, being merely worked as ordinary navvies or labourers. It seems stir. prising that some system of this kind has not been adopted. This is virtually coming to the " contract and navvy " system, but there can bo no two opinions of the efficiency of a separate work ing corps for trench and earth work. It has often occurred to us that it would be a grand thing to organise a " marching corps "—that is to say, a corps composed of the best walkers in the army. Such a corps would be au in valuable adjunct in a campaign. They would be to an army what Nelsons frigates were to his fleet. How often uro the best designs frus trated and the finest opportunities lost in a campaign foe the want of 10,000 mon who can march forty miles a day for more days than one ? The organisation of such a walking corps, or of working corps, would only bo the creation of another " special corps," like the engineers, artillery, cavalry, &c. At the assault on the ltedan, Major ItAnkeit headed the ladder party; his testimony there• fore is entitled to consideration. His descrip tion of the assault brings the scene vividly before us. It is lung, but it will bear real. ing I awaited the signal to advance ; silently calling upon God to aid and assist me in doing my duty, and, if it were His will, to preserve my life. Suddenly there was a shout that the French were attacking the Malakoff. I looked over the parapet, and saw them rushing no the salient. They were apparently unresisted. The French flag in a minute was seen waving on the ramparts. All this hap. pened so instantaneously, that it took us all by surprise. We had anticipated a hard struggle, and we were ordered not to advance till a decided success hail been achieved ; hut, as it were, in a second the dreaded Malakoff had fallen into the hands of the French. Our men could be no longer restraiued ' • before there was titue to get the ladders to the front, end before the sappers could advance to out away the abatis, they rushed in a straggling line over the parapets, and dashed onwards to the salient. I hurried up my suppers as fast as I could, shouting to them till I was nearly hoarse, and ran forward with them and the ladder party, w ith a drawn sword in my hand (my vie tb• bard and belt I left behind). In the hurry and confusion many ladilers were left behind. There was, however, little excuse for this, as the men had had their places distinctly assigned to them, and should not have left the trench without their ladders. It was of course impossible to perceive that anything of the kind haul occurred, and still more impossible to have rectified it had it been known. The only word was—" Forward ;" the only course to pursue—tn advance as rapidly as possible. Nearly WO yards of rough broken ground and au abatis hail to he crossed under the enemy's fire. The men advanced with the greatest spirit. I could see bodies dead and wounded lying along and strewing the ground on each side of me, as I pressed forward, shouting continually to the men to advance, and not to pause for an instant. When I c rme to the abatis, I found five men nearly exhausted carrying a ladder and trying to get it over the opposing branches; the remaining three men composing the party of eight had probably been killed or wounded in the advance. I lent them my aid and urged theta on. The edge of the ditch Was soon reached, and I was relieved to find the ditch not nearly so formidable as it had been represented, and as had good reason, from the solidity and extent of the Itusaian defences, to suppose it was Likely to prove. I was prepared for a broad deep ditch, flanked by ceponieres, and for military pits, chevauxele frise, palisades, and all kinds of obstacles. The dreaded ditch of the Itedan, how• ever, proved nothing but a simple trench, perhaps fourteen or fifteen feet deep at the connterscarp, and twenty or rather more at the escarp. I kept my ladders rather to the right of the salient angle, having been warned that the flanking fire would probably be severe up the proper left face. Haltaalozen or so were lowered and reversed in a minute, and the men poured up them with eager haste. I set to work with every sapper I could get hold of, or to whom amid the din I could make myself audible, to tear down the rubble-stone work with which the salient of the escarp was revetted, and form a ramp practicable for ascent without hidden.. The long continuance of dry weather which preceded the assault must be regarded as a very favourable circum- stance. The gahions staked to the ground with wooden spikes ( with which the counterscarp was rivetted ) were torn down, and used in forming with rocks, stones, and debris, a small parapet across the ditch of the proper left face, and a similar counter•caponicre thrown up also on the other side. I had to work, however, with my own hands; it was difficult to get any one to do anything; the men, as they straggled up to the assault in support of the advance, seemed stunned and paralysed—there was little of that dash and enthusiasm which might have been looked for from British scMiers in an assault; in fact it required all the efforts and example of their officers to get the men on, and these were rendered almost ineffective from the manner in which the various regiments soon got confused anti jumbled together. The men, after firing from behind the traverses, near the salient, for half•an•hour at the enemy —also firing behind his parados and traverses—began to wares. I rushed up the salient with the view of cheering