The Press. — London, England, 1858-01-09 00:00:00

If Charles had been a king of another cha racter, then " Boscobel Tracts " would be fami liar to many households ; the incidents con tained in their pages would be frequently dra matised, and " Boscobel" would be a frequent point of pleasant summer pilgrimage. But the character of Charles lessens the historical interest with which we read these papers. They were first published in this collected form so long since as 1830, and we have now the second edition of them. As a " passage " of history, the escape of Charles after the battle of Worcester is extremely curious. We have here a " diary," made up from various materials open to the editor; the appropriate extracts from Clarendon are introduced, the King's dictated notes to Pepys are also set forth, besides pedigrees of the various persons connected with the hiding and disguises of the King. The editing of these tracts is not very well managed. The narrative of the chief incidents in the thirteenth book of Lord Clarendon is inaccurate in several particulars, and the editor contents himself with putting a mark to these parts and placing a letter " D" against them in the margin. More exact references should have been given, and the discrepancies clearly pointed out. We cannot see that tew matter has been added since the first edition. Even the description of Boscobel-house, and the famous Royal oak, is left to stand just as it was printed nearly thirty years ago ; and we are often disappointed by finding the word " now" in the text explained with "A. D. 1830" in the notes. The editor is also deficient in historical criticism of a larger kind. It is not impos sible but that the active part taken by so many Roman Catholics, both gentry and humble folk, in concealing Charles and speeding his escape, might have biassed him towards the Church of Rome. The King was not the only Englishman of his generation who had a secret liking for the Church of Rome ; and Popery looked better then, when a number of extra vagant sects made many people long for some communion which promised more fixity of faith. Richard Penderel—" Trusty Dick"— was a Roman Catholic ; so was Father Hodle ston. Major Carliss, also, was a Roman Catholic, and it was with him that Charles was in the tree ; and so were Whitgreave, Sherwood, and several others mentioned in the narrative. It was odd enough, also, that the butler at Mr. Norton's house, who played a part in the business, should have been called " Pope." Those parts of the narrative dictated by the King to Pepys are the best in the volume. What could be more striking in the romance of "real life" than the following bit ? Pope the butler took great care of me that night, I not eating, as I should have done, with the servants, upon account of my not being well. The next morning I arose pretty early, having a very good stomach, and went to the buttery hatch to get my breakfast, where I found Pope and two or three other men in the room, and we all fell to eating bread and batter, to which he gave us very good ale and sack. And as I was siting there, there was one that looked like a country fellow sat just by me, who. talking, gave so particular an account of the battle of Worcester to the rest of the com pany, that I concluded he must be one of Cromwell's soldiers. But I asking him, how he came to give s-) good an account of that battle ? He told me he was in the king's regiment, by which I thought he meant one Colonel King's regiment. But. questioning him further, I perceived he had been in my regiment of guards, in Major Broughton's company, that was my major in the battle. I asked him what a kind of man I was ? To which he answered by describing exactly both my clothes and my home ; and then looking upon me, he told me that the king was at least three fingers taller than I. Upon which I male what haste I could out of the buttery, for fear he should indeed know me, as being more afraid when I knew he was one of our own soldiers, than when I took him for one of the enemy's. The following is nearly as romantic—the King being disguised as a gentleman's ser vant•:— So Frank Windham and Mrs. Coningsby and I went In the morning, on horseback, away to Burport ; and just as we came into the town, 1 could see the streets full of red coats, Cromwell's soldiers, being a regiment of Colonel Haynes's, viz. fifteen hundred men going to embark to take Jersey, at which Frank Windham was very much startled, and asked me what I would do. I told him that we must go impudently into the best inn in the town, and take a chamber there, as the only thing to be done ; because we should otherwise miss my Lord Wilmot, in case we went anywhere else, and that would be very incon venient both to him and me. So we rode directly into the best inn of the place, and found the yard very fall of THE PRESS, JANUARY 9, 1858. soldiers. I alighted, and taking the horses, thought it the best way to go blundering in among them, and lead them through the middle of the soldiers into the stable ; which did, and they were very angry with me for my rudeness. As soon as I came into the stable I took the bridle of the horses, and called the hostler to me to help me, and to give the horses some oats. And as the hostler was helping me to feed the horses, " Sure, sir," says the hostler, " I know your face ? " which was no very pleasant question to me. But I thought the best way was to ask him where he had lived—whether he had always lived there or no? He told me that he was but newly come thither ; that he was born in Exeter, and had been hostler in an inn there, hard by one Mr. Potter's, a merchant, in whose house I had lain in the time of the vier : so I thought it best to give the fellow no further occasion of thinking where he had seen me, for fear he should guess right at last; therefore I told him, " Friend, certainly you have seen me then at Mr. Potter's, for I served him a good while, above a year." " Oh ! " says he, " then I re member you a boy there ; " and with that was put off from thinking any more nu it, but desired that we might drink a pot of beer together, which I excused by saying that I must go wait on my master, and get his dinner ready for him. And several other pictures of a similar kind are to be found in these pages. But the inte rest in this second edition has been rather forestalled by the publication of a portion of the tracts in one of Mr. Bohn's volumes a few years since along with the valuable notes of Sir Walter Scott. Concerning the " Royal Oak," we extract the following : The demesne, with its adjacent woods, stands on the sheltered side of a wild, sandy common, a mile to the south of the small inn of fvetsey Bank, on the road from Lichfield to Shrewsbury. The house itself presents the appearance of an old•fashinned forest lodge, as in days of yore. A few hundred yards to the south-west of it, in a field commanding a fine distant view of the Wrekin and Cley Hills, stands the present representative of the Royal Oak, itself a tree of some antiquity. It was planted many years ago on the original spot, from an acorn of the parent tree, which soon fell a sacrifice to the destructive zeal of the loyal during Charles's brief popularity. The wall erected by Sir Basil Fitzherbert, with which it was sur rounded until the year 1814, has been replaced in better taste, by the present owner, with a high iron railing. The brass plate with Sir Basil's inscription, formerly fixed on the tree, as well as the two halves of the stone table in the king's arbour (one of them forming the threshold), are still shown at the house. From hence, a walk of about two miles to the south will include Spring Coppice and the ruin of the Cistercian monastery at White Ladies, which was standing at a recent date. The fact of the real tree having been destroyed ditninishea vastly the interest in the present " Royal Oak." Letters from Head-Quarters ; or, the Realities of the War in the Crimea. By an Officer on the Staff. London: Murray. A THIRD and condensed edition of those valuable letters from head-quarters, letters so full of interesting detail and important fact, will meet with a welcome reception from the public. In this edition the Staff Officer has pruned down all superfluous detail, and has given us one of the most complete and com pact, as well as authentic and comprehensive, histories of the war in the Crimea. As this work on its previous appearance was reviewed at length in these columns, we shall only upon this occasion call attention to the one or two important corrections and additions made in the present edition. And first for that often discussed question, the services of Sir De Lacy Evans at Inker mann. It will be readily recalled by our readers that the Staff Officer, in the original edition of his work, stated the ser vices of Sir De Lacy Evans at the battle of Inkermann were not of that value or extent represented in the despatch of General Pennefather. Sir De Lacy Evans flatly con tradicted the statement of the Staff Officer in a letter to the Times, and appealed to the report of General Pennefather, dated 6th Nov., 1854, which described Sir De Lacy Evans as "arising from his sick-bed on hearing the " cannonade, and riding to the field," where his " advice and directions " were " most " valuable and cheering" during the action. The Staff Officer upon this very properly withdrew the remark in question, " pending " further inquiry." The result of this inquiry we have in the following note to the descrip tion of the battle of Inkermann Lord Raglan, in his despatch of the battle of Inkermann, states that "he " (Sir De Lacy Evans) " did not fail to give him" (General Pennetuher) " his best advice and assistance." This appears to have been an error on tho part of his lordship. On the 31st of December, ISM, there appeared in the Times newspaper a letter from Lieutenant-General Sir be Lacy Evans, impugning, in unmeasured epithets, th e veracity of the author of "Letters from Head Quarters," for having stated, in the first edition of this work, that at the battle of lnkermann Sir De Lacy Evans did not gi ve to General Pennefather any " advice or assistance." (in reading the letter, the author considered it due to Sir lt., Lacy Evans, as well as to himself, to write without delay to Sir John Pennefather, to ascertain whether, as regarded the statement in question, he had been correct or incorrect. The author had the honour to receive subsequently from Sir John Pennefather the following note " Malta, 15th February, 1857. " My DEMOVAJOR,-T have had the pleasure to receive your letter of the sth inst., and I no time in replying to it. " You are correct in your recollection of a conversation at Head•ivarters soon after my return to the Crimea from sick leave, about the end of February, 18.'55. Sir De Lacy Evans never did give me any directions or advice at tho battle of Inkermann. " When Sir De Lacy Evans came to the field, his presence gave the troops heart, they knew he was ill, and I looked at his arrival with admiration, under which feeling it was that next day, when writing my report to Lord Rag. lan, as called for, I mentioned Sir De Lacy's name as I did, exactly influenced as Harding stated to you.—Bolievo me to be, my dear Major, most faithfully yours, (Signed) J. L. PENNEFATHER. " Major the Hon. Somerset Calthorpe." It must by observed that the conversation alluded to in the foregoing letter took ulace in the presence of the author and other officers of the Head-quarter Staff, and upon it was bayed the assertion contradicted by Sir Do Lacy Evans. . _ It is also necessary to remark that Colonel Harding (late aide•de camp to Sir John Pennefather) expressed to the author his conviction that the eulogy passed by the Lieutenant• General on Sir De Lacy Evans in his report on the battle of Inkermann to Lord Raglan was intended only as a chivalrous and generous compliment to his chief; and in this opinion Sir John Pennefather appears also to coin cide. It must be gratifying to Sir John Pennefather to feel that his own brilliant services are such that he can afford to give to another the praise which is due to himself. The author has only to add that he has received permission from Lieutenant• General Sir John Pennefather to publish the foregoing letter. This is decisive, and from it may ho drawn two conclusions. First, that the veracity of the Staff Officer in a most important detail is thoroughly re-established ; and, second, that the services of Sir De Lacy Evans, brilliant as they have been in a long career, were of little moment at the battle of Inkermann, and that the monopoly he has hitherto enjoyed ill the transactions of that eventful day must give room to the just claims of that veteran and distinguished officer, General Sir John Pennefather. We may add, that the only advice Sir De Lacy Evans did give on this great day was that wherein he (Sir De Lacy Evans) recommended Lord Raglan to abandon the siege and take to his ships. And this was the man who was to expose in Parliament Lord Raglan's mismanagement of the army ! Another important and delicate point the Staff Officer touches upon is the conduct of Admiral Dundas. We apprehend that, after the statements made in the present edition of " Letters from Head quarters," the matter will scarcely be permitted to rest. Having re marked upon the unnecessary delay in the landing of the army at Eupatoria, attribu table, we are assured, to " Admiral Dundas's " want of co-operation," the author remarks:— Lord Raglan left the Caradoc early in the morning, and joined Sir Edmund Lyons on board 'oil; flag-ship, the Agamemnon, to witness the landing of the army. The annoyance of both these chiefs was great at the tardiness of Admiral Dundee, as it, to a great degree, frustrated the plans they had decided upon, and delayed the care,ully detailed arrangements they had drawn out for the speedy disembarkation of the troops. " Tardiness" is an awkward term to apply to the conduct of an officer in times of war. And this is not the only occasion upon which the Staff Officer enforces the application. At the first bombardment of Sebastopol, he writes that on board the fleet it was arranged the ships should go into action as soon after ten a.m. as possible. What follows is highly in• teresting Accordingly, soon after six o'clock on the morning of the 17th, the French fleet commenced their preparations, but to their astonishment no signs of movement were apparent among the English. Admiral Hamelin, seeing this inactivity continue, proceeded on board the flag-slap Britannia, accompanied by his Chef d'Etat Major (Cap tain of the Fleet), Rear-Admiral Monet-Villaninez, to ascertain the cause from Admiral Dundee. He found the English admiral in a state of indecision respecting the forthcoming attack, as he intimated that "he could not risk his fleet, which was made of wood, against the batteries, which were made of stone." such was the ex planation given to Admiral Hamelin by the English naval commander•in-chief, for the non-fulfilment of the arrsage•