The Press.
London, England, 1853-08-13 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

sion, one following the other with great exactitude. and
regularity, though the Doke and the faster vessels had
frequently to blow otl steam in order to let the block-ships.
the I fugue, Blenheim, Ajax, and Edinburgh, keep in then
places.
The Queen, in the royal yacht, led the van. at the ills•
Lance of two cables' length from the squadnoi, on the port
side of the Duke, and on the starboard side of the .4ga•
•semunn, right in a line between the two columns ; and all
the steamem, to the number of forty or fifty, with upwards
..ra.) yachts and a flotilla of small boats. kept up on tithe'
side with her as well as they could.
Soon alter one o'clock the enemy was seen to the east
card, tolerably close at hand, however, as their existent.'
tad been ignored till the last moment, and Admiral Fan
hawe's flag could be made out from the peak of the Prise.
'lrgenl, which was leading the squadron on the port tact
vith a light wind and all sails set. The contrast betweei
he appearance of the men-of•war under canvas and thei
assailants was very remarkable, and verb little to the credi
the latter. Steam has made war more terrible, but ha
deprived it of much of its grandeur of aspect, and bids tin
o destroy all the chivalry that gunpowder lett to it ; and i
vas not without profound regret that we thought on the
leviutble day when the beautiful, clean, and gracefu
nan•ofwar must give the palm to her ugly puffy rival, an,
etire from the contest for ever, and heard the sighs of ill
Id " salts," as they deplored the days when the navy lo''
.essed sailors, and was not dependent on the suer.
oeehanies and urtillery-men.

At 1.41 signals were made to form lino of battle, wide!
vas done in the ships of the starboard division steamin
.n in lines at angles to their former course, till they a
ewe abreast of the Duke and of each other ; and the ship
a► the port side executing the same maiuruvre. so thi.
►e columns wheeled out, as it were, and deployed into
ingle line, which stretched across the water for upward
a mile—the Nag-ships in the centre, the block-ships o
heir tlanks,then the screws and the paddle-wheels Rankin
tiem again on the extreme right and left. At lAt
tittle of drums in the squadron followed the signal to ben

quarters. Ilammock-nettings were put in order, an
orls triced up for action—the enemy, still on the loth
.tek, under all sail, accompanied by the three steamen
lid making the best (dims they could to escape their fin
ridable assailants ; but at 2.5 it was evident that the
ould not succeed, and they accordingly put about ate
,'ent on the starboard tack, the line of the squadron
ow twrfectly formed. At 2.34 the leading ships
're enemy, the Prince Regent and Quern, furled 010
muses, heat to quarters, and prepared fur action, and thei
sonsorts soon followed the example. At '2-10 the sign!
as given to the squadron "to chase" the one my to win( •
:ard, and immediately afterwards Admiral lianahawe wee
:nd endeavoured to run to WI on the pint tuck. bum
ntling he could not gain his point, tired a gun at 3.•21
aid got his squadron together. Another gun frum tb
'ying admiral at. 3.'45, and the squadron closed up sti,
loser, and hauled their wind ; but the hostile fleet we
lose upon them, and with its extending flanks theaters.
o surround them. Admiral nuishawe came first int.
,ction with the weathermost ships on the starboard thud
,f the squadron, and at 3.30 the Prince Regent opened
nagniticent broadside that mode everything afloat shalt.
i•om its violence, which was the signal for one of the nos
remendous cannonades ever heard by man. For nearly I
uarter of an hour the ear was dinned with the thunder
-he floating batteries, which vomited forth flame and amok,
ncesaantly, till all that could be seen was the lurid thisl
if the guile through the smoke, which swept for mile
way, and hid the sun and sky to leeward completely froi
; but when it ceased the Attithian wait Wei
ike a log on the water, her funnel down on deed
ler sheets let fly so that the sails bellyed and flapped it
he air, the yards, some of them, let down MI the ears
ethers crossed akimbo so as to represent a vessel mantle'
,nd crippled in action; and the admiral executed the saw.
niece of innocent deception with the most complete sue
!esti. The whole fleet then made chase after media.
•upposed enemy, and stood round towards their motoring.
'n the morning in two lines—the Vivid, with the tsar
liplotnatique on board, and the Banshee, being ordered b
item as fast as they could for the amusement of the Queen
end the foreign Princes; and at last a general rave howeei,
twenty-six men-of-war. the royal vessels, dozens of steamers.
ind hundreds of yachts took place, till Itenla like light was
oasseil at 1.15 p.m., at which time the Duke, which bad
been leading the whole tpiadnin, was slightly beaten he
he Aggoneranqn. At 5.34 tiny were nearly all moored.
nal the l'russian vessels saluted again as the royal stimdanl
-massed. The boat attack billowed :

"At half-past six o'clock the admiral made signal for the
boats of the squadron to attack an enemy to leeward.
The hostile force was represented by the Magicienne and
the l'atiarc steamers, which took up a position within
mile of the Southsea beach. They lay ' broadside on 'to
the mhore, and us soon as the boats were hoisted over the
side they prepared their batteries to give them a want. re.
•eption.
The utmost activity prevailed among the vessels of the
attacking squadrons, which were anchored at the moorings
they had lelt in the morning, it. a line from Spithead all
along the co.ast of the Isle of Wight. The rapidity with
which the huge launches were cleared away, raised over the
side. and lowered into the water, must have surprised those
who had not before witnessed the admirable perfection to
which the boat service of our navy has been brought. It.
a few minutes each vessel had its launch floating by its
side, a carronade (a short, serviceable gun, of heavy metal)
on its slide in the bow, and then poured into her its stream
of seamen, ruiariues, and marine artillery. With twenty.

351

four oars, doublehatiked, the marines seated aft, the °Meer
eutumund standing bult•up in the sternsheets with the
,eke lines in his hand, and the jack floating fnan the tall
Jag-stair in the stern, each boat was II Lt uutifid Object in
itself, and formed all engine of war by no wail,: despicable,
;laving all the fippliances of attack, defence, and retreat
eoncentrated iu a very small compao.s. A few minutes
man'. and the words • Give way sent from the mules of
die squadron a flotilla of enormous tune( anal power.
" As soon us the leading boat had (*area the vessels of
die tipectitt4lll. *OM the IMM :4 of the l'idiurr showed
.hat the tight had commenced. In an instant more the
diac of issits vomited forth a flood of tire and smoke. The
,•arronaden of the launches, served with great quickness,
.ouneled a rolling bass of thunder to the smart sharp rattle
.t* the musketry. And now one could understand the for-
nielable character via boat attack, li.r, as the flotilla threw
War the broadsides of the inen.ofs,kr and I.ot into
hey divided and steered away, so that one division made
or the bows and the other fur the stems of the ships at
ay, tints escaping to a gnat extent the tire of the strongest
union of their batteries, and assailing them in their
..eakest points. The heavier metal of the bigates was
.road at frequent intervals through the din of the carro-
ades and tireloeks, and at length the rapid nittlingvolleys
the marines on board, delivering their limas the latmehen
.raw up alongside to board, were distinetly audible. titill
more luuucht•s kept coming than the fleet, and opened fire
* they formed their divisions, the marines all loading and
ring us it' for life, and the sailors pulling with the regu-
Arity of machinery. till a loud ringing elieer--such a
nyous btaiNt of exultation Ihat one might imagine+ the
albeit fellows had won anew Trafalgar--proclaimed their
aetory over the enemy, and the tiring was over."

Iler Nlitjesty was graciously pleased to express her
•iitire satisfaction of the day's pnaTislings, and promoted
41e senior lieutenant 1 the senior mate of the fleet.
.ieutenant lasoil is the lueky "

Tim cAmi, Al' CIIOIIII.VM.

Saturday was signalised by parting visit from the
;ueen, who, however, came in a private character,
.ithout the usual noisy salutes and concluding
armies of the troops, and went to a marquee
meted on the hill near a redoubt which it was the
rineipal object of the day's manteurrings to blow
p and capture. The works connected a ith the re-

uubt were completed by fatigue parties furnished by
itch brigade•, the livards Muting fifty, and each of
lie other brigades selen y the men each. The mine
. as charged with (0101bs. of powder, and the sap was
Aim(led to have been tired through a coil of win►
onnected with a voltaic buttery about a hundred
evils distant from the redoubt. The movements of

lie troops and the st lining of the redoubt were
lanned with the view of illustrating that portion of
he siege of Ciudad Roilrige in which Lord Seaton
then Lieutenant• Colonel Colborne) so greatly dia.
inguished himself. The preliminary attacks having
een duly performed, a pause occurred, and every-
.tttly was carefully ordered off for a circle of half a
tale diameter from the spot of the expected explo-
ion. None, however, took place ; and, after a mor•
dying interval of suspense, it was discovered that
he galvanic wire would not work, and the mine,
tiler all, had to be exploded by a common porthre.
raven then the explosion seeintsl but trilling, and
vas disparagingly compared by the spectat. rs to the
.yrotechnical exhibitions at Cremorne or Vauxhall.
,uch as it was, however, it was assumed to aceom •
limit the desired end. The assaulting troops rushed
seer the debris, the enemy retired, and the Chobham
:hided Rodrigo was gloriously captured.
Monday witnessed a sham battle much better con
ested, and prolonged, with a multitude of advances
eel retreats, for nearly five hours. During this
pace of time, while victory hung doubtful over the
Itelligerent armies, both parties were alternately
'riven to and fro, until at last the field of battle
vas removed some two miles or so distant from the
•antonment4. At this point the enemy ntade u stand,
uefore which their tulversaries recoiled, and falling
iinek in good order reached their original position,
when the engagement terminated without leaving
any very signal advantage either on line side or the
other.

On Wednesday the Duchess of Kent, accompanied
by the Duchess of Cambridge and the Princess
Mary, was present at a grand field-day, the troops
being again under the eenimand of the Duke of
Cambridge. A novelty in the proceedings of the day
consisted in the " enemy" being supplied with two
pieces of artillery, which worked with the small force
during the 'lay, and gave additional effect to the pro-
ceedings. The camp forces were formed with their
right resting on the open space opposite Dighton-
lodge, the present residenee of Lord Seaton ; the
enemy occupied some heights in the immediate vi-
cinity, having the camp in his rear. The whole of
the forces were actively employed in driving the
enemy from this position, and, having compelled him
to seek shelter in the redoubt partially blown up on
the previous Saturday, at length drove him from it.
by advances of the infantry.
It is confidently stated that the camp will break up
after the last field-day, which will take place en
Thursday next. The two following days, the 19th
and •ttth, will be occupied by the removal of the
troops.

352

Xittraturt.

Life sod Times of Aimee. do Staid. By Maria
Norris. London : D. Bogue.
Tins work is the performance of a very young
lady, and, as she informs us in her preface, of a
" very ignorant and inexperienced one," who
has, nevertheless, " thought out" the opinions
she expresses, but who deprecates the idea
that she may not live to alter thew. " Should
" I here .fter," she says, " be convinced of their
" ineurreetness—and Heaven forbid I should
" live to count that an impossibility—i trust
" they may be huuestly changed, and that iu
"avowiug the alteration I may bl.eh, not fur
"the rennin, but the mistake."—(Preface./
We have nu doubt she will. She is clever and
observant, but many of her opinions arc crude
51Iu inuoubietent, adopted, we suspect, without
reflection, and we must add, enounced without
diffidence.
The " times " of Mine. de Steel have been so
repeatedly illustrated, that little remains to be
brought to light. They were disastrous times
—we love not to dwell on them—they were
times of crime and sorrow, of shame and of
tribulation, such as was never been before, and
such, we devoutly hope, as we shall not see
again. French principles had sapped the
virtue and' undermined the religion of the
world, and French armies were the scourge of
nations. Since the disruption of the Boman
empire, the like had net been seen. Attil.,
anu his barbarians were less terrible to the
civilised world than Bonaparte and his disci
"dined legions.
Of the "life" of Mine. de Stael little remains
to be told. Her character has been drown by
herself, and by several of hoe ountemporaries
she was personally known to many still living,
and we are not aware that the preseut volume
adds anything to our stuck of information ;
nevertheless we have always had so much ad
miration for the genius of this remarkable wo-
man, and, in spite of numerous detects, so much
of esteem fur her character, that we are quite
willing to follow our authoress in retracing the
principal eveuts of her life.
The reader need scarcely be reminded
that she was the daughter of the cele-
brated Necker, the backer and finance mi-
nister to Louis XVI. at the commence-
ment of the French Revolution. whose advice
was so fatal to France, and to the un-
happy Prince whom he perhaps sincerely :,t-
-tempted to serve. Mine. Necker, the mother
of our heroine, was, like her husband, a native
of Switserland, the daughter of a clergyman,
named Curchod, at whose death she had been
left in a state almost of destitution. She was
not without talents and accomplishments, but
she was even less fitted to preside in the salon
of a minister than was her husband to direct
the bureau. She couhl not forget the parsi
monious habits of her youthful days, and the
narrowness of her education exposed her to
the ridicule of the brilliant and luxurious
society who socked to her hotel.
Mine. de Steel, the ouly child of her parents,
was horn in MO, and received her education,
which was the worst possible, in her mother's
drawing-roven.where her precocious talents soon
began to attract more attention than one of her
parents, at least, at all approved. The plaything
and idol of her father, she became the object
of her mothers jealousy, if not of her positive
dislike ; and it was mainly this feeling of
jealousy, we suspect, that induced Mme.
Necker to promote her marriage with M.
de Stud, a weak and extravagant man,
far too old for the bride, and possessing
no advantages but the favour of the Queen,
and the position of Swedish Minister. It
has been whispered that the prospect of the
&word at Court reconciled the young plebeian
to a marriage so unpromising. Be her consola-
tions what they might, the result was most
unhappy. Her husband had never engaged
her allectionm, and had no title to her esteem.
Her passions were too vehement, and her
principles too weak, to resist the contagion of
bad example ; and we fear that the admirers of
her geu tus would do wisely in abstaining from
much inquiry into her private life
During her father's short lived popularity
she remained by his side to share his triumph.

THE PRESS.

After his flight from the storm he had helped •
to raise, she still continued to reside in Paris,
a witness of those daily scenes of horror which
disgraced that disastrous period. M. de Stael
was still the accredited agent of the King of
Sweden ; but we fo it it was not to conjugal
duty that we are to attribute her prolonged stay
in the blood-stained capital. The Committee of
Public Safety seized its victims from every class
of the community ; it did not spare those friends
of Mme. de Stael who had promoted the revo-
lution with so much zeal at its commencement.
At length, however, those friends whose society
was dearer to her than her own safety succeeded
in quitting the country, some of them by her
aid and by the exercise of her courage and
self-command. On electing subsequently her
own escape, which she did nut accomplish
without considerable danger, it was to England,
and not to Geneva (the residence of her father),
that she repaired ; and Miss Norris professes
her inability to discover the motive of this
preference. Those who are familiar with the
history of those times will find little difficulty
in explaining it. The presence at Juniper-hill
of M. de Narbonne and the Prince d. Talley-
rand may solve the puzzle which the fair
biographer finds so embarrassing.
In the year 1793 Mme. de Stael visited
Co pet (her father's country seat near Geneva);
and in 1795, the Swedish Government having
acknowledged the French republic, she re-
turned to Paris to rejoin her husband, who
had presented his credentials to the Directory
as minister. It has been surmised that at
this period she formed the ambitious project
of captivating the hero of the day, the young
General Bonaparte, and that the coldness
with which he met her advances was the
reason of the aversion with which she never
ceased to regard him. We do not believe it,
however : we think she loved freedom too
sincerely to love its greatest enemy ; and the
persecution which the successful usurper in-
tlicted upon her, and the calumnies with which
he pursued her at St. Helena, prove rather
the importance he attached to her support,
and the meanness of his revenge when he
tailed in receiving it.
The death of M. de Sta.& in 1802 was
speedily followed by her own banishment from
France. She had incurred the disgrace of
Bonaparte, now First Consul ; and, all her
efforts to soften her sentence having proved
ineffectual, sher repaired to Germany to pass
the period of her exile ; and it was here 'that
•he became acquainted with the celebrate, I M.
Schlegel, whom she persuaded to undertake
the education of her sons.

In 1804 she lost her father, to whom %re be-
lieve her attachment to have been strong and
sincere, though it rarely led her to seek his so-
ciety when any other could be procured, or to
endure the dulness of a residence in Switz er-
bind. After this event she returned to Fran ce,
though not to the capital. She would hr the
done wisely had she remained in Switzerland,
at least she would not have exposed herself ' to
the indignity of a second banishment fr om
France. She returned to Germany, and pas .sed
the winter of 1807 at Vienna, where, however,
the civility of the nobility and the bon-
homie of the people failed to reconcile her to a
society where French was incorrectly spc
and the art of conversation imperfectly w ider
stood. It was now that she completed hi r ce-
lebrated work on Germany, and, her sere cence
of banishment only precluding her fr om a
residence within forty leagues of the capitE tl, she
established herself at an old castle in the
bourhood of Blois, for the purpose of sir perin-
tending its publication. She justly ex, )ected
to advance her literary reputation, and, aaviug
carefully expunged all those passages which
could give umbrage to the suseeptibilit: • of the
usurper, she was not prepared for the s torm of
persecution that awaited her. All her efforts,
however, were unsuccessful: she incur red the
censure of the literary police, the wl tole im-
pression of her work was seized, and she re-
ceived a peremptory order to quit the French
territory within the space of three dai
.

It was s..)on after this period • that she
became acquainted with M. Rocca. a n officer
in the French army. and a youth of great
promise, but now rendered fretful an. d peevish
by ill-health. Their marriage soon followed:

SATITRDAY,

-
whether to satisfy his scruples or her own we
kno,s, not, but it was kept secret ; she was
averse, she said, to sacrifice a name of Euro•
pean celebrity ; she might be still more averse
to encounter the ridicule of so imprudent an
alliance. Though living inoffensively on her
bored itary property at Coppet, she was still
expoc,ed to the persecutions of her powerful
and 'implacable enemy. In the year Dill M.
Sell) egel was banished from Coppet, ostensibly
for having written a pamphlet in which the
sup eriority of the Phadra of Euripides was
rna intained over that of Racine, but in reality
to punish him for his obstinate attachment to
M) ne. de Stael. M. Mathieu de Montmorenci
an d the beautiful Mme. Recamier were
banished from France for having passed a
cc .uple of nights at Coppet ; and her residence
in her native country was farther embittered
y the petty persecutions of the local autho-
ri ties, who hoped by this means to pay their
o curt at the Tuileries. " Mine. de Stahl," said
t he Prefect of Geneva, " has made herself an
" agreeable existence at home, for friends and
" even foreigners visit her at Coppet; the
" Emperor will not suffer things to go on so."—
p. 817.
She now felt so seriously alarmed at
the fate that might possibly await her that
she resolved on flight. She has left a spirited
sketch, in an unfinished work entitled " Dix
annees d'exile," of the dangers and difficulties
she encountered in reaching Russia, to which
she first directed her steps, and where a
flattering reception awaited her from the
Emperor and his Court. From Russia she
proceeded to England, and there she remained
till the downfal of her tyrant permitted her
to return to Paris. This time her reception in
England was very different from that which
she had met on her former visit. She
had then made herself obnoxious by her
adoption of revolutionary principles ; the
tendency of the works she had published
was neither moral nor religious ; and, in spite
of Miss Norris's efforts to veil the truth, a
very general opinion prevailed that her con-
duct had been far from irreproachable. Her
recent persecution by the common enemy
secured her general popularity, the amended
tone of her works had ensured their complete
success, and full justice was done to her con-
versational powers.
She returned to the Continent at the peace
of 1814, and was everywhere received with a
flattering welcome. She did not live long
to enjoy her triumph. After a short resi-
(knee at Coppet she returned in 1817 to
Paris, where she was seized with that
illness which soon proved fatal. She ex-
pired in the East year of her age, universally
regretted by her friends and by the public, to
whose amusen tent she hau so largely contri-
buted. She was buried by her own desire
in the mausoleum which contained the re-
mains of her lather; and her will provided
that the sanctuary should never be profaned
by the admission of any meaner dust. She
bequeathed it to the care of the commune of Cop-
pet, having provided funds for its repair and
maintenance.
Her second husband, M. Rocca, and the
issue of their marriage, did not long survive
her. Her eldest son died without issue. Her
second son, who had more vivacity than his
elder brother, was killed in a duel during his
mother's lifetime. This event, we collect, did
not cause his relations any lasting regret.
His conduct had frequently given them unea-
siness, and his mother had called him "le
Lovelace de Cabaret." Her daughter was alone
destined to give her descendants she was
nobly and happily married to the clever and
accomplished Due de Broglie.
Brief and imperfect as this sketch may be,
it has far transgressed the utmost limits to
which we had intended to confine it, and we
have left ourselves small space for the con-
sidemtion of those works to which this re-
markable woman owes her celebrity.
Miss Norris does not attempt any critical
examination of her works : she gives no cata-
logue of them, nor does she ever mention any
except some of the most important. It is to
this last class only that we shall confine the few
remarks for which we can find space. As a
writer, Mme. de 'Stael has never been ap-