The Press. — London, England, 1853-11-12 00:00:00

NOVEMBER 12, 1853. IC ittraturt. The Journals and Correspondence of General Sir Harry Calvert, Bart., Adjutant-General of the Purees under the late Duke of York. Edited by his Son, Sir Harry Verney. Bart. THE history of bygone campaigns, of which the interest, if not the memory. has b ee n effaced by events of more recent date, is rarely read with much profit or pleasure. except by students of the military art. Nor are such scenes often very graphically described by the actors; partly from want of leisure, partly be cause no officer (unless attached to the staff at head-quartersl knows what is doing in any part of the army except that where he himself serves : partly also from the writer's fami liarity with the ordinary features of war lead ing him to omit much that to non-professional readers is necessary for the comprehension of his subject. There are, of course, exceptions ; but such is the general rule. Setting forth, accordingly, with but mode rate expectations. we have been agreeably disappomted in this book. The style is every where happy, marked, indeed, by no striking beauty of phrase, but clear, unaffected, and gentlemanly. In the matter there are of course many details which have ceased to be interesting, and many more which never could have interested any one but a soldier; yet enough remains to reward a perusal, if not to repay a purchase. Sir H. Calvert, when only fifteen, joined his regiment in America (1778),* and served under Lord Cornwallis in Carolina. Being in the force which surrendered at York Town, he re mained a prisoner from October 17s1 to February 'B4. In '9B he resumed active service, and the a present volume contains the records of his campaigns during this and the following year; partly in the form of journals, partly in that of letters addressed to friends in England. The state of affairs when England entered on the revolutionary war may be described in few words. So early as .luly the allied army, under Brunswick, nearly 140,000 strong, commenced its march upon France. No force of nearly equal strength lay between them and Purls. Dumouvioa, with 27),(100 troops, had, indeed, the advantage Of position and of a better-organised commis sariat ; but neither these advantages, nor the military skill of that remarkable commander, would have sufficed to turn the scale, but for the talents which he displayed in negotiation. Now sowing dissension between Austria and Prussia—now hinting at the part of Monk, to be played by himself—now urging, with truth, that to invade France would only render the cause of royalty more hopeless than before — he gained what he wanted—time—until the increase of his force, by the junction of Keller man and Bournonville, and the disease which simultaneously broke out in the hostile camp, enabled him in turn to assume the offensive. One great stimulus had been given to the republican energies of France in the publica tion of the Coblentz manifesto, couched in language offensive to the independence o f brave people, and breathing throughout a re actionary awl vindictive spirit. The execution of Louis XVI. following in January '93 emu• nutted the nation irrevocably to the revolu tionary cause. War being declared immedi ately thereafter against liolland and England, mid the armies of France raised to half a million of men, the invasion of the former country was decided on, and almost instantly carried into cited. Breda and Uertrugilenberg surrendered with little resistance. The way to Rotterdam seemed open. Two strong places had fallen at the first blow ; aid from within might be expected. All in that critical time depended on the aid of England ; and in utmost need the Duke of York, with his three battalions of Guards, landed at Dort. Ere long the fortune of the campaign changed. The siege of Nlaestlicht raised—the expulsion of the French from Liege—the defeat of Dumouriez at Nerwinden—and, finally, his desertion And escape to Brussels—gave the allies promise of a success which was never • Mi-priutetll7et in rage 9 of thtintrodoction, THE PRESS. There was a moment when the conquest of Paris seemed hardly doubtful. In Sir Harry \'ctHey's word:— 'I he allies hail now been successful in many of the r,bjeets which they had ileelamil that they would Neet , nl pli.h. Thev had driven the French out of Austrian Flanilev4 and Brabant and their armies, having captured two important frontier fortresses, stood on Fretieli ground, ready to advance on the capital. No republican f o r c e, capable of resistance, interposed between them and Paris, which they might reach in fifteen mangles. Rut the con sequences of converting the war of defenet. and repulsion into one of aggression and conquest, predicted by Major Calvert. in his letter dated Bruges, April 17, hail ensued. The whole French nation were united to widistaall to the uttermost the attack on their native land—to save their country from dismemberment : the dread of this national ruin banished the fear of other mils less out , than this. The dread of destruction united France as one man—the prospect of decisive victory led the allies to quarrel prematurely about the division of the spoil. England was not less blameworthy than the rest ; but history gained another proof of the impossibility of a cordial and lasting union between powerful, and therefore rival, states. Conde and Valenciennes indeed fell, after protracted sieges ; but the English forces turned aside to attack Dunkirk, and failed of their intent ; partial and doubtful combats ensued ; and they/revocable opportu nity passed away—not to they/revocable How acutely British officers felt the inglorious position in which the events of '9l tended to place them may be gathered from the following written immediately after the retreat of2Tournay The conduct of the British infantry does them the greatest honour. Their retreat eisailsl volt lie etreete4l wit' tat heavy lolls of Incas and artillery. I most hincerely hope that the heavy disaster which laas fallen muleserredly on its will he 11 Warning in trill for while the name loose, anavotativeted, 11111 l iihtary system is 1/I•Evevered in, while such rasslane , s and soda childish 461)- 1411'ml are the striking characteristics of their nothing lint loss and disgrace east attend the 111111% of his I tuperial Majesty. •• a • • . . " • ' :oil IlleSm yoa, Hey dear Sir Hew. My indignation he excited to a pilule I can hardly describe by the reflection of What wt have suffered by the obstinaey, ignominy, allid pride of thow who take the dirtwtiou tin. war, • • • • The public Gazette will give boa a very te 111 . 1 . 01111 t of the transact' ssss 14 of illy 1 ilb 1111 1 1 of the latter were Ha unpleasant as )att can 4. .4.4 H ad ' flaunt ra)self in a ail wit itat which it lass been Inv g 444441 before—namely, ill never army. had, last year, so orras 'ty of seeilig the I Pitt. il xnll 11111101V1i1111 111116144 ill tile 1.111111. lOW the i41.11,414i14.11 IM very different whist the blow falls on oursehes. We have the eSSIPS. I IIIIi ( iii Of knot% ing that 110 fault can Is' impacd to is, a n d that our loss was 114`1 . 115 . '4l by the obstinate folly of others. No mobbed fox was ever uu.rr pia to it to make his escape than Ne were, living at t' 's nearly sir• rounded ; and I sin sun,' yell will is' 'Uglily Io 111 . 111* 11111 i I Inn perfectly well, and have :oily li,st iu the sertuuble a horse ol • little Vaille, Amid in .only of the satiw year Nlajor l'alvert writes even more emphatically : As l have no pleasure in being the recorder of low own disgraces and losses, I shall tell you in a very lea words that the storm that has been long gathering over this fated country has at length burst. All is terror and dismay amongst the wretched inhabitants, and d.•'.olatiots will quickly follow. In three short days we have lost, without thing a shut, Marchienneli, I ►tehics, Tournity, Ghent—in slob, everything except N'alisicientirs, Qlllllll4l, and Comte, 101.1VIVell Itruasels and the Freneh fitaitier. Nye retired in obedience to the Prince Of 'obi itirg's 'osiers, and he oar the enemy's force in his front was such KM to leave him no alternative. So di for the acquisition procured by the expenditure of so u n u•ll laliour. blood, and treasure last year. The one lesson whivh is taught in every line of this work—lt lesson of permanent value — is the futility stud folly of relying on continental aid against it einetinental enemy : We English I says our author) ail• Ida s excepted from these views of and I am taaiv i ft er,l th a t w l• shall (la !Niter to stand hira aril singly in this grist nitalit. than to ,•lieloaric iu another eampaii k m allusv want of shility. csviiiim. and I •sty, have stigmatised the van 1791 a ith a degree of infamy mid loaded it a ith emhuuitia s which still long In kit in Enrols% Agnin In short, 1 retaly hclieve that ‘thatt.v.-E ...Wire of publie spirit 111111 pnLlie virtue rentsitot on tlo• cloth i 4 exclusively r.al.potrtitoll in timid Britain. 1,..t lot trust to malting hot, 4;ml atol otirseltus ; for I repvitt it assail) and again, fhrrr i 4 disc left Sin which we ea rely with aettely. A few personal anecdotes and details of a lighter diameter agreeably relieve the grave and often gloomy tone which perv i oileh thim correspoudeucc. 663 The Atoning Work qt . Christ. Hewed in rela tion to some Current Theories. In Eight Sermons preached before the University of Oxford in the year 1sh:1, at the Lecture fintuded by the late Rev. John 'tampon, MA.. Canon of Salisbury. By William Thomson, M.A., Fellow and Tutor of Queen's College. !Amai% : Longman and Co. IN the science of theology,—and theology is a science, at once the most important in its claims, and the most comprehensive in its subject-Inattry.—the end proposed is not so nitwit the inauguration of new discoveries, not the opening up experimentally of fresh foun tains of divine truth, as the denting away on the part of man of those obstructions which impede the flow of the living waters of sod's relation ; the vindicating for His message its supremacy over rival or opponent systems, through every opportunity which age after age presents for urging home its evidences upon the hearts and consciences of mankind. Thus the Divine Idea or body of truth, though in itself' absolutely one and single, admits of being exhibited in widely-varied yet truthful aspects accenting to the need of its recipients ; and is illrehted thereby with fresh beauty unit increasing cogency. as these different shades of conviction Mend into one harmonious tone of proof. They are like so many elementary hues, into which the pure light of truth is re filleted by the prism of th o ught. The m es s age of God delivered once for all to man 41004 n o t change, but all around it does ; and tho human forms into which its Mils are east. when called upon for the purposes of argument or evi dance, need continual adaptation oe unman t• ; not only Olt account of novel varieties of langur.ge or dialect, but from the changed re lations which words and ideas assume in the vicissitudes of time and thought: whim the Altered necessities of its sulject, the human heart, impose as it were so many new entitli t' sOn the gnind problem which religion seeks to solve, the Spiritual Recovery of 111110. Ilellee 1110 reappearallre 4)11 the field of con trovert:y of subjects held long ago exhausted and set at rest ; and hence, too, the value of works which bring to bear upon points of vital doctrine all the resources of the latest philosophy and the widest retuning' : which set them in the light of the best and truest dis coveries of Bud's kindred dealings ; drawing from the same armoury which has equipped the sophist or the sceptic for his attack, more powerful because more tretliflll We 5411011,4 Of These views as to the progressive futtetions of theological science attach in our eyes additional interest to the series of (11111. fleeted treatises in proof of Christian doetrine to which the vI II liiiio berol * (l us 1101111 M the latest contribution. We are enabled to see in them an index, as it were, to the ',veva lent tone of thought and reasoning in their respective day, its represented by writers se lected no doubt on the whole with iin eye to their special fitness for the task. The doctrine treated of in the present lectures hail already formed the subject of a course in the year litri, by the Rev. Daniel Veysie, 11.1). ; but Mr. I'l ))))) Nolo justly urges that, bionic,. to meet in.w Amnon of &milt mitt moll olicf, it in ureesnotry Eosin time. to time to 0p..11 111) 14.111111 sollojert st whir, loom . ode..all , perhaps, 1.••••11 treated with n knitting, picti., told ithilit, Illid n. 4118441 5ite1.,..1 .. l i n in.the.; Nil o, pg itiliett 11.1.111ilry of usual 164441115 t i. in, (•1 • go rat 104,1114 . !iil eking, , WWI 11Ptt.11111thillg 1.1 . 115411 . 104 ill the 11111414 . 1 . 1111 sills, lugs 4•11119011 %IMP the 141 est its wt rine of tioo .% to stioltietit formed the soiloiret tor II Vs rimy . osimilott to I Moo, it sill coop u ntil. Om owoologs of tho fs ostiosto.r to 1..inni.1.4. li n . & K iri Hi* m o u r its presi•tat aprectis, is, 1(1111114. sit sittlivialtimi iileirit prevent town of thin any Instil two.optitsit it 114.1111i1y, moil sit the nocitipin, hlierva 4111 or mot, lt/ 111t1 11141111 M: MN* thrill It S With this imalternble. with. Widely different in spirit and seope flout the well-known work of Arehloishilp Magee, as well as the less familiar but solid work alluded to above, the volume before us exhibits a tl glitfill imil original mind, !winging to the treatment of its subject ivitsonisig powers or no emilimm order, matured both by previous habits of logical study end it range of reading wide and juilicionpily selected. Down to our day the principles UM Hell us the terminology of scholasticism have continued to be ro closely and intimately interwoven with out. 1