The Press. — London, England, 1854-05-20 00:00:00

Mi° IP' -. a MAY 20, 1854. Narrative of Incidents in the Early Military Life of the late Major Samuel Thorpe, K.H. With an Introduction and Appendix by Friends. London: Seeleys. IN such leisure hours as my Uncle Toby once enjoyed, good and gallant Major Thorpe sat down to pen some recollections of his military Career. As the narrative is uncompleted, the "fell sergeant" Death most likely arrested the veteran's hand. He tells us how, " wearied withWestrninster, and its caps, black gowns, and fagging, with curacies, livings, and bishoprics is perspective," he succeeded in persuading his friends to change his destination for the army. Hardly used he was enough, poor fel low. A lieutenant at sixteen, he returned from Corunna a skeleton. He fared little better in the Walcheren expedition: " two " thirds of his regiment perished by the pesti " leutial miasina of this swampy island ;" three times he was severely wounded, and on one occasion was left for dead on the field of Albuera. I3ut, fighting or fainting—sick or well—fasting or full—he still delighted in his uniform. At the siege of 13adajoz, while em ployed in the trenches, tired nature gave way, and for a moment he thought he was at West minster with a tough piece of Latin to manage. 'Woke up by the explosion of a shell at his side, his exclamation, as the blazing fragments flew around him, was, " Thank God I'm not "at Westminster, at all events !" Afterwards he served in Canada, then in Ireland, and closed his gallant, honoured life as secretary to a religious association. How happily does the noble epitaph for Levett apply to this class of men : His virtues walked their narrow round, And made no pause, and left no void; And sure th' Eternal Vaster found His single talent well employed. This narrative was found among his papers at his death. The disastrous retreat to Co runna is vividly pictured in it : We appeared almost devoted to destruction, yet onward we marched. At every league dropped hundreds of our comrades ; many falling dead from fatigue and exhaustion, others sinking into the mud and mire, where they perished from cold or suffocation : a general feeling also of delirium, more or less violent, seized on all, occasioned, I believe, by want of repose ; some imagined they had arrived at home, and ran to salute their friends, and fell headlong over the terraced sides of the road; others had different but equally unreal visions. I myself several times thought when passing over bleak heaths that I saw a noble inn with a roaring coal fire, and a substantial breakfast; and had it not been for a comrade with whom I bad made a treaty of mutual assistance, I should several times have diverged from the road as thousands did, never to return A fine trait is recorded of Sir David Baird. " God pity the man that's tied to my Davy !" said his mother, when she heard that he was one of those poor prisoners in India who were tied back to back to fetter them in their suf ferings. But, if he had a queer temper, he had surely a noble soldier's heart : Amidst the confusion, a waggon full of sick and wounded had vainly endeavoured to ascend the slippery road ; the fatigued mules had fallen and died in the attempt; the enemy were close at hand, and the poor fellows had given up all hopes, when a part of the general's [Baird's] baggage came up, consisting of a travelling carriage filled with valuable property, and drawn by four stout horses. The general himself passed at the same moment, and seeing the situation of affairs immediately ordered the horses to be taken from the carriage (which rolled backward down the hill and was abandoned), and to be put to the hospital waggon, which by this means surmounted the hill and pro ceeded forward. A victor) could not have given a general more honour than this noble, generous, and humane conduct. Never did the " Ten Thousand " hail the first sight of the sea with more rapture than did the wearied British legions when from the summit of the hills which separated them from Corunna they caught sight of the ocean : Not one mile, nay, one yard, from the commencement to end of this march, but shared the dreadful effects of our retreat. Dead and dying men, horses, mules, broken guns, arms abandoned, baggage, ammunition, and even money. About half way we crossed a hill or mountain, from the summit of which we could perceive the distant ocean—that element, truly the home of Britons. I t seemed like a dear friend, and we now thought that all difficulties and dangers had ended with the view of the deep blue sea. From that moment we considered we had distanced the enemy, as the different brigades and regiments gained a sight of the distant element in the midst of whose bosom was placed their beloved country. The cheers that arose announced their heartfelt pleasure. Every one knows how Moore expired in the moment of victory. The account of his defith THE PRESS. given here from personal observation will freshen the laurel of his chaplet:— Many officers of rank had fallen, killed or wounded amongst the latter of whom was Sir David Baird—the second in command, whose arms had been shattered by a musket-ball. Sir John Moore, throughout the battle, had been cheering and leading the troops on, and was ever to be seen at the post of greatest danger ; and by his cool ness and skill rallied and inspired confidence in those parts of the line that wavered. About four o'clock p.m. the enemy made a most desperate attack on the centre, directing the fire of all their artillery upon that point. Sir John, seeing the dreadful effect produced by the precision of their fire, ordered the 50th Regiment to support the front line : their commanding officers had fallen, and, to inspire them with more confidence, the general placed himself at their head, and led them on. At this fatal momei.t a cannon-shot struck him on the left shoulder : the shock threw him from his horse; and, when some of the soldiers and his staff endeavoured to assist him to rise, the dreadful nature of the wound was discovered. The shot had not only shattered his arm to pieces, but had so torn and lacerated the breast and side, that it convinced every sorrowful beholder that the mortal career of our chief was nearly closed, and that the bright sun of his valour and skill was about setting in an ocean of glory. He who had guided us through unheard-of perils and diffi culties, with a constancy of mind unequalled, who in his vigilance for the safety of the troops had passed nights and days without repose in visiting all parts of the army, having now brought us to the sea, that threshold of a Briton's home, was about to take an everlasting farewell of his sorrowing comrades. But God saw our affliction ; and, as if in consolation for our loss, sent Victory with her laurel-wreath to place it upon the brow of the expiring hero No thought of self occupied this devoted soldier : his last sigh was breathed in uttering the name of that country to which he never was to return,—of that mother who'had to deplore the loss of the most affectionate son that had ever blessed a mother's life. He died soon after, being removed in a litter made of blankets, and supported by some High landers and other soldiers, and was buried by torchlight the same night in the bastion of the citadel of Corunna. The book is very slight, but we have read the brief recollections of the good old major with more satisfaction thin many a bulkier narrative has afforded us. Murray'. Handbook for Turkey. London : Murray. ALTHOUGH this is called the " third edition" it is in truth a new work, so greatly has the matter been increased, while the volume has been diminished in. size. This has been accom plished by dividing the original " Handbook for the gaat" into two volumes; one, which was noticed in the PRESS at the time it ap peared, comprising Greece, with the islands of the lEgean ; the other, which is now before us, describing " the northern provinces of " European Turkey, Constantinople, with the " Bosphorus and Hellespont, Asia Minor, Armenia, Mesopotamia." &c. The remain ing provinces of Turkey wilt forth the subject of a forthcoming handbook for Syria and the Holy Land. All Mr. Murray's " red " books are valuable additions to the library. Not only are they excellent authorities, but authorities on a greater variety of topics than can'be found in any other works of equal size. Their condensed combination of history, anecdote, criticism, geography, topography, and statistics, have secured for them a reputa tion which extends " far beyond the banks of " Tweed and the Norman isles." The present volume, in merit, equals its precursors ; but the circumstance that the countries it describes are now " war's playground " invests it with extraordinary interest. Many may like to know what is the past and present of Galli poli : Gallipoli, the Callipolis of ancient geography, is at the mouth of the Propontis, in a strait about b miles in breadth; it is 25 miles from the Dardanelles. 40 from the Isle of Marmora ( famous for its quarries of fine marble), SO miles S. of Adrianople, and 108 S.W. of Constantinople. It is situated on a penins ula, and has 2 harbours, N. and S., and frequently receives the imperial fleets; it is, in feet, one of the chief stations of the Cspitan Pacha. In 1810 its population amounted to 15100, but in 1815, in consequence of Immigrations from other parts of Turkey, it bad increased to little short of 80,000. The town was once fortified, but is now without walls, its only defence being " a sorry square castle, with an old tower, doubt less that of Bajazet." The town consists of miserable houses and dirty streets. The bazars, however, are erten sive and well furnished. Few monuments of antiquity are in good preservation, but fragments of sculpture and archi tecture are seen in every part of the town. Gallipoli, which is the see of a Greek bishop, was the first European town that fell into the hands of the Ottomans, being taken by them nearly a century before the fall of Constantinople, A.D. 1357. The Emperor John Paltcologus, to comfort him self for the loss of it, said, " he had only lost a jar of wine and a sty for hogs," alluding to the magazines and cellars built by Justinian, which highly deserve to be visited. Bajazet I.,knowing the importance of the post for passing city. from Bronsa to Adrianople, caused Gallipoli to be re• paired in 1391, strengthening it with a huge tower, and made a good port for his galleys. On the S. side of the city are some tumuli, said to be the sepulchres of the ancient Thracian kings; and N. of the town are some undefined ruins, supposed to be the remains of the linden The following is a description of the cheer ful route by which Prince liortschakoff ialeact. ing the pilgrim army of the most pious Pao' to Jerusalem : The district of the Dobrudscha is, at most seasons, a wilderness, partly owing to its having been deprived of its Tatar inhabitants, after 1829, by the Russians, but chiefly owing to its subsoil, which, excepting to the N. extremity, where rise the hills of klatschiu (? granite), consists of porous limestone, which retains no water and funiishes no springs on the surface. Population is scanty ; the villages are wide scattered, and drinking-water is obtained only through a few deep wells. Corn is scarcely cultivated at all ; hay and fodder are very scarce ; the scanty herbage dries up early in the summer; said the flocks of sheep and herds of buffaloes repair to the borders of the I hinube for pasture. This desert extends, S. of the Wall of Trajan, nearly as far as liasarjik and Varna. It is not tenable by troops, unless they carry food, forage, and water with them. . . The work is brought down to the latest period, and contains references to Omer Pacha's operations. It has several maps. To young officers attached to the army of the East, and commanding detachments, foraging par ties, etc., this work would be invaluable, as they may acquire 'considerable knowledge of localities l)y inspecting it. The next steamer to the Dardanelles should take out a supply. Leaves from my Journal during the Summer of 1851. By Lord Robert Grosvenor. London: Murray. This little book was originally printed for private circulation, and, inquiries having been roads for it when it was out of print, the noble author has pub lished the present edition, "in hopes" of "being " thereby able to realise something for the budding " fund of a church in a district much requiring one." The work describes a tour from London vih ham burg to Carlsbad, and thence through Frankfort and Belgium back again, and is more amusing than the generality of books printed for private circulation, or to furnish a contribution for pious purposes. Lord Robert views all things with a disposition to be pleased, and describes them naturally. On the day of the eclipse of the sun he was travelling from Zwickau, in Saxony, to Carlsbad, in Bohemia : " From Wildenthal the ascent to the summit of the pass is very gentle, and thence you descend the whole way to Carlsbad. The Austrian custom•house made no examina tion of my goods; the porters took a trunk down and put it up, and asked for a trinkgelii for their trouble. The tongue of my Saxon driver began now to untie itself, and be became quite eloquent in jeering his Austrian Roman Catholic neighbours. He declared that the Government and the priests bad ordered all the people to abstain from their usual avocations, and to pray that the world might not be destroyed on account of the eclipse; he also called my attention to what he said was a fact, that, since we had entered Bohemia, we had met neither carriages nor carts. When I ventured to observe that we had, not long before, met a diligence and a malle poste, he seemed confused for a moment, but at length satisfied himself with the assur ance that they might have been permitted to set out very early in the morning, and would be out of the kingdom before the eclipse took place. That a fraud was attempted on the peasants, in a parish very near Carlsbad, by certain priests, I know from most unimpeachable testimony; but I am not aware that the Government had any share in the proceeding. They said it was revealed to them that the Almighty had determined to destroy the world, and that, although the Blessed Virgin had interceded, her mediation had not then been accepted, because the people bad countenanced liberal opinions, and had not been obedient to the Emperor,—that, on the 28th, a great sign would appear on the sun,—and that, unless they abstained from work and came to church, and promised to do better, the light of the sun would certainly be extinguished." We think we have occasionally read an indignant letter in the Times from some outraged railway tra veller contrasting the excellent management of the German lines with our own. Here is a fact for those con espondents. There was only one first class car riage, and in it three gentlemen were puffing forth volumes of rolling smoke, when Lord Roberts " stomach having still some unpleasant marine recollec tions, this incense incensed me not a little, and I asked the superintendent, in a stern voice, whether smoking was permitted in first-class carriages. He replied, at once, that it was not. And when I pointed to these shameless offenders against law and order, he, in the most depre cating tone, begged my patience till we crossed the Elbe, when he promised I should have a compartment to myself. He excused himself from interfering with the new comers because, I thought be was going to say, they were princes of the blood royal. Oh, dear, no I—the chairman and vice-chairman of the railway company, who had signed the regulations against smoking in first-class carriages. " Towards its close the work falls off: instead of amusing descriptions we have dull dissertations on the regeneration of Ireland and the future of the .1