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

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,
411 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.