The Press. — London, England, 1855-12-22 00:00:00

1220 correspondent of a London journal he had to write home in great haste, not only his first impressions of what he saw (usually n;rost truthful and striking in their effect), but such details as he was able hurriedly to collect, and such speculations as circum stances at the moment seemed to warrant. Rather than reprint what was necessarily imperfect, the author bas consulted all safe authorities on the cam paign, and has checked his own personal information by them. In this way he has been able to construct a complete narrative of the siege, and to give the reader assurance of its fidelity. His narrative is much more modest than that of Mr. Russell; he does not revel to the same extent in description; but, whenever facts have to be treated, or when distinct pictures have to be presented to the eye, he exhibits great judgment, with close attention to reality. In Colonel Hamley's book we had an account of the campaign by a skilful and keen-sighted soldier; here we Lave a civilian's view of it; and it is remarkable how nearly they agree in substance while widely different in style and particulars. To make his narrative more complete, Mr. Woods has included an account of the siege of Silistria, and has been favored with permission by an uncle of Major Butler to publish the diary which that most gallant officer kept of the events of the siege. This chronicle, written in a soldier-like style, will be read with deep interest, as it gives a far better notion of the spirit of this famous siege than can be gathered from any source that has fallen under our view. Mr. Woods has also been allowed access to the correspon dence and papers of the late Captain Christie. Wo can but lightly glance at a few points in this valuable narrative. To commence with Varna, it is shown how impossible it was for the British army to move towards Silistria. For transport 13,000 horses would have been required—there were but 1,200. The means of transport would but have sufficed for one English division. From the first it would seem that little good was to be expected from the Bashi- Bazouks. In July, 1854, Mr. Woods noted the ruffianly character of these scoundrels A more ragged, wild, ungovernable-looking set it would be impossible to imagine. As I gazed upon their mostly keen, cruel features, and dark, swarthy countenances, upon every lineament of which was stamped defiant villany, I could not help feeling a deep pang of regret that England should ever draw her sword in any cause which assembled toge ther and enlisted the services of such a band of reckless miscreants. They seemed the scum and offecourings of all nations in those parts of the world, and were just the hordes which only a war like the present could bring toge ther, like vultures to their prey. The conduct of this villainous horde has fully justi fied Mr. Woods' anticipations. They have taken advantages of the success of the allies at Kertch and elsewhere to commit the most horrible atrocities. In war they are but cowardly assassins—in peace mere bandits. The landing of the allies in the Crimea, and their proceedings until they reached Balaklava, are vividly chronicled in these pages. The defeat of the Russians at Alma was complete. The troops were seized with panic. "The enemy fled from the " field, and this was the only battle we fought in " which they did so. Had our cavalry been at " hand nothing could have saved the great bulk of the Russian army from being taken prisoners, with all " their guns "—a statement which suggests strong doubts of the prudence of the allies marching with out their cavalry. The effect of the Minie ball on the enemy was fearful. "It struck and tore all " before it; the balls had come out through the top " of the skull, rending the bone as if done by a " hatchet." The contrast between the treatment of the French and English wounded was painful. After the battle, " before dark not a single wounded " Frenchman remained upon the field" ; but, "not " more than 200 or 300 of the English were moved " from the spots where they fell during the night " which followed the battle. The rest had not a soul " to soothe their agony, or mitigate their sufferings "by so much as a dank of cold water. 'I his was " not the case on the night of the 20th only, but " during the day of the and night of the 21st." Humanity shrinks from the cruel scene the pen of Mr. Woods describes. The warlike stores accumu lated at Sebastopol have been urged to show that Russia must have long meditated some great aggres sive movement ; but Mr. Woods states that, " con " sidering the enormous extent and importance of " Sebastopol, it was very ill provided with powder " when the allies sat down before the place. Even " with all the stores landed by the ships the total " amount actually in the place was under 1,000 tons, " not more than enough for ten days' sharp firing." Several circumstances are adduced to support this statement, and it is certain that the siege must have been a short affair, but for the vigorous exertions made to throw warlike stores into the town as well as to erect defences and obtain reinforcements of men. Mr. Woods brings down his narrative to the fall of Sebastopol, and makes the loss of the British army, from the commencement of the campaign in 1854 to the close of the siege, to be 14,340 officers and men actually dead. The number invalided amounted to 15,813, "Of the twenty-six generals who left INIMIIms., THE PRESS. "England to accompany the expedition only four "survived to witness its glorious close." As a narra tive of the campaign Mr. Woods' book is clear and full. It is written with perfect independence, and shows iu an equal degree descriptive skill and sound judgment. Very different is the "Journal"• of a lady, composed of fragmtnts and sketches marked with the sensibi lity and emotion of a female mind. Mrs. Duberly set sail with her husband, an officer in the Bth Hus sars, on the 24th April, 1854. She sailed with the regiment to Scutari, and thence to Varna. Despite of Lord Raglan's prohibition, she smuggled herself on board one of the transports for the Crimea, went repeatedly on shore, but, instead of joining the army, went in the Star of the South to Balaklava, and re mained on board until her husband could prepare a hut for her reception. She was continually on shore, however, and may be said to have gone through all the dangers of the campaign, as she was rarely absent when fighting was going on. On the 20th of March last her hut was ready—she joined her Harry, and resumed "camp life." There we part company with her at the end of September, three weeks after she had witnessed the great, final, and successful assault. The style of the "Journal" in dicates in general a highly cultivated, sensitive, and truly feminine mind, but the circumstances in which she was placed led her often to express her sel,' in a startling manner. For example, at the Varna camp :—" June sth. Was awoke by the re " veillee at half-past two ; rose, packed our bed and "tent, got a stale egg and a mouthful of brandy, and " was in my saddle by half•past five." Again :—" A "welcome sight presented itself in the shape of Capt. " Fraser and some bottles of beer, one of which I "drank like a thirsty horse." In another place : " Our chicken was so tough that we "could not get them down, even with the aid "of our daily onions." She was near at hand during the charge of the light brigade, and pictures it with a few touches :—" I only know that I saw " Captain Nolan galloping ; that presently the light "brigade, leaving their position, advanced by them " selves, although in the face of the whole Russian "force, and under a fire that seemed pouring from all " sides, as though every bush was a musket, every s*one " in the hillside a gun. Faster and faster they rode. How "we watched them! They are out of sight, but pre sently come a few horsemen, straggling, galloping "back. What can those skirmishers be doing? See, " they form up together again. Good God! it is the " light brigade." She notices the thin red line which hurled back the surging mass of Russian cavalry. Mr. Woods, we may say here, gives a close account of the whole action of that day, but the description of Mr. Russell will for ever live as unrivalled for distinct effect. It is by similar touches that Mrs. Duberly indicates the battle of Inkermann, the great storm of the 14th and 15th November—she was in the Star of the South during the whole tempest—and the most prominent incidents of the siege. Of the straits to which the poor horses were reduced, we can judge by such entries as the following :—" Nov. 10th. On "Friday the cavalry horses had one handful of barley "as their day's food. Yesterday they had the same." The result may be guessed :—" The grey horse, Job, " died this evening of sheer starvation ; his tail had "been gnawed to a stump by his hungry neighbours." As she looked down on the blazing town of Sebas topol, the spirit of a soldier's wife rose high in her breast : I could not think at such a moment of the destruction and desolation of war, I could only remember that the long. coveted prize was ours at last, and I fe t no more com punction for town or for Russian than the hound whose lips are red with blood does for the fox which he has chased through a hard run. It was a lawful prize, purchased, God knows! dearly enough, and I felt glad that we had got it. Scattered through the volume are some highly poetical passages, as at 264, and some most pathetic descriptions, as at 134. We catch glimpses too of what looks much like misrule. A sergeant and nine men had been out on patrol three days :—" Lord " Cardigan forbids them to take their cloaks to wrap " round them at night, as he considers it effeminate.' "Luckily it is summer, though the dews fall like rain." In conveying to the lady Lord Raglan's order that she was not to accompany the expedition to the Crimea, Lord Cardigan said:—" Should you think pro " per to disregard the prohibition, I will not offer any " opposition to your doing so." The "Journal," it may be supposed, is not a little singular. It presents some circumstances of the campaign under a new aspect, and is altogether very attractive reading. Mr. Porter's Damascus + is by far the most valuable work on Syria that has appeared in modern day. The author is attached to the Church Mission in Damascus, and these volumes are the fruit of five years' residence in the city, and of many ,journeys to the most celebrated places in Syria. "My profes " sional duties," he says, "not only obliged me to • Journal kept duping the Russian War. Hy Mrs. Heuy Puberty. London; Longsuans. Five Years in Dainneene. By the Rev. J. L. Potter, A.M Two Vele. London: Murray. SATURDAY, " study the language and customs of the people of the "land, but to traverse their country, and visit their " towns and villages." He is well accomplished in all that relates to the ancient history and geography of Palestine, and pleasantly blends in his work antiqua. rian research and biblical illustration with exact detail of the present state of the country. By per sonal observation he has been able to furnish more precise particulars of the geography of Syria than are contained in any other book, and has constructed, mainly from his own surveys, a map of the land, which marks the principal lines of travel, clears up many doubtful points, and shows the extent of his own wanderings. The book commences with a description of the present state of Damascus, next gives a rapid sketch of its history, and then relates the Ode journeys of the author—as, to Palmyra, to Mount Hermon and the sources of the Pharpar and Jordan, to the plain of Bastian, to the Lebanon, and to otber localities especially interesting from their present state and ancient fame. Damascus well deserves the care bestowed upon it by the author. "It has been a city from the time when Abraham "left his home between the rivers' to journey west " ward to the 'Land of Promise.' It is thus a con "necting link between the patriarchal age and "modern days, and its beauty and richness have been " proverbial for full four thousand years." It has suffered less than other ancient cities from the vicissitudes of time. It has known but one great destruction, that ordered by the remorseless Thnour ; and even then, it is probable, many of its buildings escaped the flames, and certainly it did not long remain desolate. The plough has never passed over its site, nor has it ever been deserted. It has, how ever, suffered cruelly from the barbarism of the Ottoman rule. When captured by Ibrahim Pacha, it was for the first time thrown cpen to the repr•sen• tatives of European powers ; and from that date improvement has been gradually proceeding. Mr. Porter represents the Turkish Government as abominably bad. " Syria," he says, " wasruled, and "is still ruled, not by power but by intrigue. A "carefully - compiled and well - written history of " Turkish rule in Syria would tend greatly to en " lighten the eyes of European statesmen and citi " zens ; and it would also tend to unfold such a con; "tinned seiies of tyranny, extortion, and crime, as is "almost unparalleled in the history of the world." We cannot pretend to give any idea of the travels of the author. His narrative of them must be read to be appreciated. His journey to Palmyra is full of interest ; and his account of the valley of Damascus, and of the fountain of the Berea., is captivating from its precision snd beauty. He is led to severely criticise the statements of M. de Sauley. " The "more," he writes, "I read of M. de Sanity's work, "the more am I inclined to think that its author is "a clever literary wag, a kind of geographical Miguel " Cervantes, in tact, whose sole object is to turn into "ridicule the vast erudition and profound research " that some have thought proper to expend in attempts "to defend and maintain silly theories, absurd tradi• "thins, and insignificant minutiae, connected with the "topography of this land." The narrative of Mr. Lynch also meets with correction. The book is in every respect a genuine one. Mr. Porter is scrupu lous in all his statements, and be represents Syria, and more especially the country about Damascus, under so attractive a guise, that we anticipate it will in future allure numerous tourists from Europe. The drawings and plans contained in the work are from the author's own pencil. His volumes are delightful, and will be read with the more pleasure from the testimony they hear to the accuracy of what Mr. Porter terms " Bible truths," but which we should rather term Bible facts. The reader of Mr. Kennard's volume• may find some amusement in contrasting his account of a Nile voyage with that contained in the good humoured, and, if ever the word can be applied to a book, amiable narrative of Mr. Lowth, noticed in our last issue. Mr. Lowth found his dahabeeli a luxurious floating home. Mr. Kennard on the first night started from his bed, awoke by very uncomfortable sensations :—" Imagine my feelings on counting at " least a dozen cockroaches, varying in length from " an inch to an inch and a half, all in close vicinity " to where my head ought to be on the pillow, fleas " without number, and a good sprinkling of 'realm " gany fiats." Mr. Lowth's dragoman was as dutiful and as full of resource as a slisve of the lamp ; the dragoman of Mr. Kennard and his friend was a disobedient scoundrel, who actually ran away from them on their voyage up the Nile, and left them to manage as they best could with the crew. Might not the difference be in the treatment as well as in the men ? Early in the narrative Mr. Kennard writes, "Already our dragoman began to entertain a wholesome dislike to my friend's boots." Fur ther on we read of "a long list of his countless acts " of stupidity ;" then that they thought " excessively " small things of him ;" that be got " cantankerous ;" * Eastern Eaperieueet, Collected Owing a Wister's Tour fu Egypt and the Holy Land. by A. 8. Xessiird. Loudon Ungmaas.