The Press. — London, England, 1855-02-10 00:00:00

up to the point which our owners (for such they counted themselves) might think it expedient for their own purpose. In a word, the lordly and dainty-fingered Whigs found us twieftil in doing their dirty work against the Tories, in con- junction with Dissenters, Radicals, and other lean and hungry expectants. Of the other contents we need only say that they are devoted to advance, in various ways, the interests of the Roman Catholic Church. The Art-Journal commences in its present num ber the publication of the plates of " the Royal Gallery." The impressions, though clearly pro duced, are of course much inferior to those in the Gallery itself, which, from being printed on India paper, with exceeding care, have the appearance and value of proofs. The contents of the journal on all matters connected with art are full and interesting. An exact description is given of the state of Crawford's great work at Rome, " The Progress of Civilisation in America." A notice of the works of E. M. Ward, with illustrations of his best pictures, is the most prominent paper. This artist is certainly improving. His " Royal Family of France in the Temple" is perhaps his best work ; but it is quite erroneous to give him the praise of all his figures being " naturally studied." lie has a tendency to exaggeration, which we hope and believe greater ex peninee and study will soften down. The article on " A:hert Durer" is also most attractive, and there are the usual variety of papers on art and art-manu facture. In the second number of the Statist, for this month, we are glad to see a more concise table of contents, and a more extended treatment given to the subjects, than was adopted in the first number of this new periodical. The tabular returns of the cholera statistics for 1854 will be found to offer sme remarkable contrasts to those of the year 1849. The effect of wide streets and general im provement in the dwellings of the poor is exhibited in a remarkable manner in the St. Giles's and other districts. In 1849 in this district 1 in 185 of the population died of cholera; in 1854 it was 1 in 403. Again, in Shoreditch in 1849 it was 1 in 128, while in 1854 it was 1 in 452; but in St. James's west, which includes the most infected neighbourhood of 1854, while the deaths of 1849 were only 1 in 620, in 1854 they rose to 1 in 73, the population being slightly in creased in the district. The present is a great improvement on the previous number, and the ma gazine will no doubt be‘.,ome an established perio dical. The third number of the Martins of Cro' Martin is exceedingly lively, and the story improves in in terest, and promises well for Mr. Lever's reputation. Athens and Attica. Notes of a Tour. By C. Words- worth. Third Edition. London : Murray. A CONVENIENT edition of Dr. Wordsworth's scholatic work, illustrating the topography and antiquities of Athens and Attica. The volume, though moderate in price, is elegantly printed, and enriched by nume rous woodcuts showing different views of Athens and its monuments restored. Political Sketches. By Dr. Carl Betslag. London Theobald. THE author is one of those political theorists who imagine that the world is only to be saved by the adoption of their peculiar principles. Tie causes of the failure of the Revolution of '4B in Germany are discussed, and ascribed to the " complication of the " question of liberty and unity, and the suspicion " between the 'bourgeois ' and the working man," besides that other great cause, the immediate neigh bourhood of Russia. "Every failure of a revolution " is a victory for Russia, is for her a step further in " the conquest of Europe," adds Dr. Retslag ; and to prevent this he proposes a revision of the map of Europe and the institution of that political chimera, 4 11 a free and united Germany," -concluding with a hint that if the best policy had been followed out six years ago, we should now have no occasion to mourn over the losses of our brave armies in the East. 1. Horses and Hounds r a Practical Treatise upon their Management. By Scrutator. London : Routledge. 2. Hints on Shooting and Fishing. By Christopher Idle. London: Longmans. THESE are two excellent practical books upon their several subjects. The firstcontains many capital hints upon the selection, purchase, and general manage ment and treatment of horses and hounds. A series 'of chapters upon hunting will also be found, in which the reminiscences and anecdotes of a lifetime in the field are amusingly related, much in the style of Nimrod's " Turf, Chase, and Road." 2. This volume is also written professedly for young sportsmen. The whole subject of sporting, from deer-stalking down to snipe-shooting, and the whole business of fishing, from the hand-line to the trawl, are treated and discussed with the skill which thirty years' experience alone can give. THE PRESS. Talpa; or, the Chronicles of a Clay Farm. Third Edition. By Chandos Wren Iloskyns, Esq. London : Reeve. A sF.ruEs of clever, practical essays upon farming, originally published in the Gardeners' Chronicle and Agricultural Gazette. Having already passed through two editions, the volume may be fairly considered as established in public favour. The concluding chap ter, upon the subdivision of land and the gradual decay of the yeoman class, is powerfully written. Town Dwellings. An Essay on the Erection of Fireproof Houses in Flats. By Arthur Asbpitel and John Whipcord. London : Weale. A TREATISE upon the present state of the dwellings of the poor of all classes, more particularly in Lon don. In reviewing the many efforts thich have been made to remedy the evil, the authors suggest the formation of a company, with capital, to com mence the building of lodging-houses suitable to different classes, according to the rent which they can afford to pay. When one reads that three fourths of the houses in London are lodging-houses, and that the results of the only two societies for im proving the dwellings of the labouring classes have been highly remunerative, the plan here proposed seems feasible and well worth trial upon an adequate scale. Numerous plates and elevations, in which the style of architecture proposed for the buildings is handsome and lofty, accompany the treatise, which is concise and forcible. 1. Discoveries in Chinese. By S. P. Andrews. London: Triibner. 2. Mer-cu-rius ; or, the Word Maker. By Henry Le Mesurier. London : Longmans. 1. THIS curious and interesting book is intended a 3 an analysis of the elementary characters of the Chi nese language, which the author insists is more sym bolic than phonetic, not only with regard to the ele mentary, but quite as much to the compound cha racters of the language. The assertion appears ob vious when we examine the peculiar fitness of the different combinations of symbols of which the com pound characters consist, and of which a few ex amples are here offered to us, as well as 141 of the elementary characters. On the whole, this work appears to be a step in the right direction, for the most rapid method of acquiring a language tho roughly is after all the best, and Mr Andrews cer tainly shows the student that he need no longer adopt the old method of getting by heart some thou sands of arbitrary characters, but that by at once mastering, at the utmost, about one thousand elemen tary characters, he will never meet with anything more than new combinations, not forms or shapes absolutely new to him : in fact, what Champollion did for the Egyptian hieroglyphics Mr. Andrews has attempted, and, we think, partly succeeded in accom plishing for the Chinese, and we trust that he will continue in his labours. 2. This is such a perilously learned work, that to do it justice, or to explain it in any way in a few words, is impossible. We content ourselves, therefore, with acknowledging the receipt of it, and with wishing those who may happen to read it, well over their undertaking. Our Antipodes. By Lieutenant-Colonel Mundy. 1 vol. Third Edition. London : Bentley. MANY books have been written upon Australia, but the best of them all is this one by Colonel Mundy. There is so much cheerfulness in the book in the first place, and such capital sketches of country and character in the second, that we are not all surprised at seeing a third edition come out even at. a time when every one is thinking of Sebastopol, and every Austra lian trader is carrying troops to the Crimea. The present single volume, into which the former three are compressed, is handsomely bound and well printed, with the original illustrations, and some judicious correction in the letterpress. Colonel Mundy is the most amusing, truthful, and instructive writer upon Australia we know of, and his book may be advantageously consulted by all who, puzzled by contradictory statements, would know what the country and the people really are. ate I,rmg. WAR•OFFICE. JA:r. 80-F KB. 9. BREVET. In consequence of the deaths of the following general officers, the undermentioned promotion to take place, in accordance with the provisions of her Majesty's Warrant of the Bth October, 1854, viz., General Sir Gordon Drum mond, General Viscount Lorton, General Sir James Kempt —Lieut. General Henry D'Oyly to be General. The undermentioned promotion to take place consequent on the death of the following general officers, viz., Lieut.- General J. F. Ewart, Lieut.-General Lord F. Fitzclarence, Lieut.-General It. Egerton—Major-General Mildmay Fane to be Lieut.-General. The undermentioned promotions to take place conse quent on the death of the following general officers, viz. SATURDAY, Lieut.• General Archibald Machlachlan, Major General Adams, Major• General Sir James Dennis—Colonel John Bloomfield Gough, C.B. to be Major-General ; Lieut. - Colonel Hon. Charles G. Seott to be Colonel in the Army ; Major Hector Harvest to be Lieut.-Colonel in the Army ; Captain Richard Clement Moody to be Major in the Army. The undermentioned officers on the Retired Full•pay List of the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers, in conse quence of the promotion of the officers who stood next below them on the effective establishment at the time of their retirement, to receive a step of brevet promotion, in accordance with the 21st clause of the Royal Warrant for the Ordnance Department, of the 3rd November, 1854 i viz.:— ROYAL ARTILLERY RETIRED LIST. To be Major-Generals—Colonels Joseph Darby, Richard Thomas King. _ . _ To be Colonel in the Army— LieuteColonel George Hooton Hyde. ROYAL EtrormeEße RETIRED LIST. To be Major•lieuerals--Colouele Charles Dixon, Slier. burne Williams. The undermentioned officer, having completed three years' service as a regimental lieutenant-colonel of artillery, to be promoted to the rank of Colonel in the Army, viz.: Lieutenant• Colonel Thomas Peters Flude. The undermentioned officers, having been permitted to retire upon the Full-pay List of the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers, under the provisions of the Royal War• rant for the Ordnance Department of the Brd November, 1854, to be promoted to a step of honorary rank, in at.- corlance with the regulations established by the said War rant, viz.:— RETIRED FULL-PAY ROYAL ARTILLERY. To be Major-Generale--1 olonela Irwin Whitty, Charles Dalton, Richard Burne Rawnaley. To he Lieutenant Colonel—Brevet Major Alexander Graham Wilkinson. RETITLED FULL-PAY ROYAL ENOINIEICIAL To be Mejor•tienerals--Colinele Philip Barry, Frederick William Whinyates. To be Colonel—Lieutenant•Colonel Thomas Homier Rimington. To be Brigadier• General in the Army—Colonel Henry Frederick Lockyer. _ . _ To be Colonel in the Army—Lieu Morris Savage. To be Majors in the Army—Captains John 'Umber, George Hilliard, John Maule, John Du Bourcheu. To be Lieutenant-Colonels in the Army—Brevet•Majors -John Ussher, Thomas Frederick Richardson. John The underiuentioned officers in the Royal Artillery to be promoted to the rank of Major in the Army for dietin• guished services in the field, viz. :—Captains George Ro bert Barker, Charles Trigance Franklin, Charles John Strange, H. Lowther Cherrnside. Brevet Lieutenant• Colonel Wm. M. S. M'Murdo, Direc tor-General of the Land 'transport Corps, to have the local rank of Colonel in the Army in Turkey. Brevet Major James Dundas Gregorio Tulloch, half pay 84th Foot, Military Superintendent of Pensioners in North America, to have the rank of Lieutenant• Colonel in the Army. Brevet Major Henry Atwell Lake, of the Madras Artil lery,being employed on particular service in Turkey, to have the local rank of Lieutenant• Colonel in that country while so employed. Captain William Hardy, of the 46th Foot, to have the rank of Major in the Army, for distinguished service in the field. The undermentioned promotions to take place, cons° quent on the deaths of the following officer's, viz., Generals Sir A. Barnard, Hon. A. P. Upton, J. M. Hauterton—Lieu tenant-General Hon. Henry Murry, C. 8., to be General; Major-General Sir James Maxwell Wallace to be Lieute nant-General; Senior Supernumerary Major-General James Bucknall Bucknall Eatcourt to be Major-General; Lieute nant• Colonel Hun. Alexander Gordon to be Colonel ; Major Thomas Charles Timins to be Lieutenant-Colonel; Captain Matthew Cassan to be Major. etc gabs. ADMIRALTY, JAN. 29. In consideration of the services performed by the officers of the navy, in co-operation with the army, in the trenches before Sebastopol, the following promotions have taken place To be Captains—Commanders William Farquahareon Burnett, Henry Shank H Wye:, Lord John Hay. To be Commanders—Lieutenants W. Henry Bridge, John James K, . _ . _ Jr' K William _ Wilmahurst, William M, To be Liei Cambier, V To be hart Bremner, Elliott To be Pa Clerk John The Board named officer nations and To be IA Moriarty, 1 William M Theodore ' Legh. To be Wallace. And, in went from t. directed that To beComi _ Arthur William To be Lieutenant Brine (the , nation, and Captains—) don to the f' ,01.111.1.1111L1UGria1C1.C1.111411.6 TV . • Ornj •••• -- :ennedy, John Norris Norman, Charles Keats Jackson, Luke Partridge, Richard William Courtenav, Arthur met, Edward George Hore, George Agar Ellis Ridgc, Montagu Dowell, Henry William Hire. Lieutenants—Mates Henry Lowe Holder, William Alfred William D. Selby, Philip Brock. Surgeons—Assistant-Surgeons Dr. John Trail' Urqu- muer, John Ward, Dr. John Cotton, James Wilkinson Paymasters—Mr. James Richard Greenaway Browne, hu Hill. oard have also directed the promotion of the nnder- Ricers, contingent on their passing the necessary etioub and being duly qualified : Lieutenants—Acting Mates Archibald St. Clair, William Francis Grant Suttie, John Henry Upton Spalding, Melancthon Sanctuary, Henry Wentworth Mist, Henry e klannien, William Leyland Wilson, William Fitrjanics Surgeons—Assistant-Surgeons Dr. George Mason, John n consequence of the meritorious services of the detach. the Beet in the defence of Eupatoria. the Board have that the following promotions shall take place : ›initnandera—LicutenantsJohn Pane Charles lianailn , n, Viillam Acland Hood. Lieutenants—Mates Charles Cecil Mitchell, Lindsay he latter, provided he shall pass the necessary exanit- ind on being duly qualified). APPOINTMENTS AND PROMOTIONS. •PPOINTMENTR. ns—L. G. Heath to be agent for transports; G. H. Got. ic Duke of Wellington; W. J. Williams to the Slumps-