The Press.
London, England, 1856-02-23 00:00:00

Fabal anb pilitarg ittriligentt.

Rear-Admiral of the White Hon. Sir R. S. Dundee,
K.C.B. (1853), has this week been appointed com-
mander-in chief of the Baltic fleet. The gallant
admiral on Wednesday hoisted his flag on bard
H.M.S. Duke of Wellington at Spithead.
Rear-Admiral of the White Sir M. Seymour, K.C.8.,
(1854), has been appointed commander-in-chief in
the East Indies.

Rear-Admiral of the Blue R. L. Baynes, CB.
(1855), will hoist his flag in the Retribution, 28,
paddle-wheel steam frigate (flag-ship), of 400 horse-
power, at Sheerness, tor service in the Baltic.
Captain Huu. F. T. Pelham, C.B. (1840), has been
appointed captain of the fleet in the Baltic.
Great activity prevails in all the dockyards to get
the Baltic fleet ready for sea by the middle of March.
The artificers and shipwrights work till nine p.m.
daily.
General Sir George Scovell will retire from the
governorship of the Military College at Sandhurst on
the 31st March. A complete change in the organi-
sation of the college is then contemplated.
Sir Benjamin Outram, K.C.B, Inspector of Hospi-
tals and Fleets, died at Brighton on Saturday last.'
Further reinforcements fur the Guards in the
Crimea will be despatched to the service companies
now in the East. This additional body will consist
of 800 drilled and efficient men—viz., 31X) Grena-
diers, 250 Coldstreams, and 250 Scots Fusiliers.
The Russian trophies in Woolwich Arsenal, lately
inspected by her Majesty, are now open to public
view, by order of the Horse Guards.
The following telegraph has been received at
the Admiralty during the week, relative to the loss of
the Polyphemus, from her Majesty'siConsul-General
at Hamburg :
-

I have great satisfaction in reporting that the quarter-
master, Samuel Fletcher, and fifteen seamen of the late
Polyphemus, who were in the two boats, have been saved by
a Danish vessel, and have just arrived from Hjerting.
They will go in charge of the chief engineer, Mr. Wood,
with the other men to London this evening.
The Admiralty has also received the following intel-
ligence from Commander Frederick P. Warren, of
her Majesty's late sloop Polyphemus, dated Thi.tted,
February 13, 1M56 :
I have not been able, up to the present date, to forward
to their lordships a comet list of such men as have I. st
their lives. Eight bodies have, however, been found. aid
interred. Those which have been identified are the remelt s
of Mr. Herbert. master ; Thomas Maunder, hvatawin's
mate; Samuel I'earce, bov, Ist class: John Reynolds, cal t.
aft. gd.; and Henry lion es, captain forecastle.

184

fittraturt.

The Rise of the Dutch Republic. A History.
By John Lothrop Motley. Three Vols.

London: John Chapman.
MR. MOTLEY is an American, and, like his
countryman Prescott, prefers to appeal, in the
first instance, to the English rather than to
the American public. Why is this ? Is it
through distrust of American taste or libe-
rality? A country so large and so prosperous
as America ought surely to hold out some
encouragement to native authors. By refus-
ing to recoguise international copyright, it is
doing all it can to deprive itself of a national
literature. Its cheap books just come to Lord
Bacon's old story of the cheap brooms. It is
cheaper to steal than to buy.
We never heard of Mr. Motley before. We
fancy he is new to literature, yet his " His-
tory " is a work of which any country might
be proud. It has faults and defects, the
former more noticeable than the latter ; but,
allowing for all these, he has produced a really
noble narrative. He is entitled absolutely to
the merit he claims for himself' in his preface;
ho is " industrious and earnest," but we rate
his qualifications more highly. He has elo-
quence, discrimination, and that most valuable
of all faculties for historic composition, the
talent of sifting, dissolving, and combining
authorities, so as to produce a narrative in
which the elements they furnish are em-
bodied—but embodied in such a way as to
yield another and far more sterling result
that their separate materials could supply.
Chemists know that the most valuable pro-
ducts of nature are those which are composed
of substances useless or noxious in their
simple state. Poisonous gases become vital
air when judiciously combined. It is the
same in history. By the synthetic process
falsehood results in truth ; and the best his-
torian is he who understands the art of coo
bing what is in itself valueless, and of blend-
ing all the rainbow hues of prejudice and
partisanship into the light which illumines
without discolouring the past.
In this constructive art we assign a high
and distinguished place to Mr. Motley. He
has diligently examined all sources of informa-
tion connected with his subject; he has com-
bined them in the proportions which they
deserve ; and he has given us by far the most
copious, animated, and on the whole authentic,
narrative extant of the " Rise of the Dutch
Republic." His book is better than its title.
It is an expanded biography of the memorable
career of William the Silent, the great Prince
of Orange—a man who, considering the in-
credible difficulties he had to encounter, and
the mighty events in which he bore a part,
stands without a parallel in the world's his-
tory, or is only to be paralleled by Luther—
the one the great champion of political, as the
other was of religious freedom.
In his " Historical Introduction," Mr. Mot-
ley traces the history of the Netherlands from
the earliest recoris to the abdication of
Charles V. This introduction is not the best
part of the work. Many writers who can
detail admirably find themselves unable to
mass. The history itself commences with the
accession of Philip 11. ; traces the regency of
Margaret of Parma; the disorders which
occurred during her rule ; the viceroyalty of
Alva : the terrible tyranny of the Council of
Blood ; the armed resistance of Orange ; the
first dawn of freedom in the Dutch provinces;
the fierce strife •kith the Spaniards, and the
sanguinary successes of the latter; the gradual
progress of William in spite of the greatest
defeats end misfortunes, until the fatal aim of
an assassin cut short his magnanimous career,
though not until a great part of his work had
been done.

The author does not shun those episodes
which flow from the natural course of his sub-
ject, nor does he unduly court them. He tra-
verses in part the same ground that has been
recently gone over by Mr. Prescott in his
"Life of Philip II." We have compared those
portions of the histories which relate to the
same events; and, while the palm must un-
doubtedly be given te Mr. Prescott for correct-

THE PRESS.

Iness and regularity, the superiority must be
assigned to Mr. Motley for vigour and anima-
tion. When he errs it is on the side of enthu-
siasm. Substantially he is fair, but he is
warm, and he is too apt to needlessly assert
his principles, and to inveigh against tyranny
and its excesses. From the period of the
death of Egmont and Horn he has the field to
himself, and his narrative increases in vivacity
and interest as William the Silent takes a
more prominent place in his page. The latter
portion of his history is indeed the best
written, the most free from the repetitions and
superfluities which disfigure portions of his
book, and the most eloquent, distinct, and pie
turesque in expression.
It is not easy to give any just conception of
a work extending to neatly two thousand
pages by a few extracts, more especially when,
as in this case, the merit of the work consists,
not in the finish of particular passages, but in
the unbroken continuity and vigorous march
of the narrative. Nevertheless, we must allow
Mr. Motley to speak for himself. He de-
scribes with admirable effect the leading inci-
dents of the great struggle in the Netherlands.
Every reader must recognise the nervous
eloquence of the following paragraph, nar-
rating the commencement of what is known as
" the Spanish Fury at Antwerp" :
At about an hour before noon nearly every living man in
the citadel was mustered for the attack, hardly men enough
being left behind to guard the gates. Five thousand
veteran soldiers, besides six hundred cavalry, armed to the
death, sallied forth from Alva's citadel. In the counter-
scarp they fell upon their knees to invoke, according to
custom, the blessing of God upon the devil's work
which they were about to commit. The Eletto bore a
standard, ono side of which was emblazoned with the cnici-
tied Saviour, and the other with the Virgin Mary. The

image of Him who said, " Love your enemies," and the
gentle face of the Madonna, were to smile from heaven
upon deeds which might cause a shudder in the depths of
hell. Their brief orisons concluded, they swept forward
to the city. Three thousand Spaniards, tinder their
Eletto, were to enter by the street of St. Michael; the
Germans, and the remainder of the Spanish foot com
mended by Romero, through that of St. George. Cham
pagny saw them coining, and spoke a last word of encou-
ragement to the Walloons. The next moment the
compact mass struck the barrier, as the thunderbolt
descends from the cloud. There was scarcely a struggle.
The Walloons, not waiting to look their enemy in the
face, abandonel the posts which they had themselves
claimed. The Spaniards crashed through the bulwark as
though it had been a wall of glass. The Eletto was first
to mount the rampart ; the next instant he was shot dead,
while his followers, undismayed, sprang over his body and
poured into the streets. The fatal gaps, due to timidity
and carelessness, let in the destructive tide Champagny,
seeing tnat the enemies had all crossed the barrier, leaped
over a garden wail, passed through a house into a narrow
lane, and thence to the nearest station of the German
troops. Hastily collecting a small force, he led them in
person to the rescue. The Germans fought well, died
well, but they could not reanimate the courage of the
Walloons, and all were now in full retreat, pursued by the
ferocious Spaniards. In vain Champagny stormed among
them ; in vain lie strove to rally their broken ranks. With
his own hand he seized a banner from a retreating ensign,
and called upon the nearest soldiers to make a stand
against the foe. It was to bid the flying clouds pause
before the tempest. Torn, broken, aimless, the scattered
troops whirled through the streets before the pursuing
wrath. Champagny, not yet despairing, gallopped hither
and thither, calling the burghers everywhere to rise in
defence of their homes : nor did he call in vain. They
came forth from every place of rendezvous, from every
alley, from every house. They fought as men tight to
defend their hearths and altars ; but what could individual
discipline avail against the compact, discipliaed, re-istless
mass of their foes? The order of defence was broken
there was no systein, no concert, no rallying point, no
authority. So soon as it was known that the Spaniards
had crossed the rampart, that its six thousand defenders
were in full retreat, it was inevitable that a panic should
seize the city. Their entrance once effected, the Spanish
force had separated, according to previous arrangement,
into two divisions—one half charging up the long street
of St. Michael, the other forcing its way through the street
of St. Joria. " Santiago, Santiago ! Espana, Espana! is
sangre, s carne, a Negri, b sacco !" St. James, Spain,
blood. flesh, fire, sack ! such were the hideous cries which
rang through every quarter of the city, as the savage horde
advanced.
The descriptive power of the author never
tires. When stirring scenes are to he nar-
rated, his pen is ever warm, fertile, and fluent.
He judiciously preserves those little incidents
which contribute to the reality and force of
great events, while he discards the isolated
trivialities which have no real significance.
The tyranny of Philip was so detestable that
we can readily forgive the abhorrence with
which it is spoken of. On the barbarous
sack and slaughter of Naarden the author
remarks
It is not without reluctance, but still with a stern deter-
mination, that the historian should faithfully record these

SATURDAY,

transactions. To extenuate would bn base—to exaggerate
impossible. It is good that the world should not forget
how much wrong has been endured by a single harmless
nation at the hands of despotism, and in the sacred name
of Csod. There have been tongues and pens enough to
narrate the exce..ses of the people, bursting from time to
time out of slavery into madness. It is good, too, that
those crimes should be remembered, and freshly pondered.
But it is equally wholesome to study the opposite picture.
Tyranny, ever young and ever old, constantly reprodu3ing
herself with the same stony features, with the same im-
posing mask which she has worn through all the ages, can
never be too minutely examined, especially when she
paints her own portrait, and when the secret history of her
guilt is furnished by the confessions of her lovers. The
perusal of her traits will not make us love popular liberty
the less.

Never was any country so cruelly persecuted
as the Netherlands under Spanish rule. The
wonder is, that the people were submissive so
long, and that they did not earlier rally under
William's banner, and drive their ferocious
oppressors from their soil.

One of the most animated chapters in the
work is that devoted to the history of Don
John of Austria. The characters of the hero of
Lepanto and of William are effectively con-
trasted :

There stood the young conqueror of Lepanto, his brain
full of schemes, his heart full of hopes, on the threshold of
the Netherlands, at the entrance to what he believed the
most brilliant chapter of his lire—schemes, hopes, and
visions doomed speedily to fade before the cold reality with
which be was to be confronted. Throwing off his disguise
after reaching Luxemburg, the youthful paladin stood con-
fessed. His appearance was as romantic as his origin and
his exploits. Every contemporary chronicler, French,
Spanish, Italian, Flemish, Homan, have dwelt upon his
personal beauty, and the singular fascination of his manner.
Symmetrical features, blue eyes of great vivacity, and a
profusion of bright curling hair, were combined with a
person nut much above middle height, but perfectly well
proportioned. Owing to a natural peculiarity of his head
the hair fell backward from the temples, and he had ac-
quired the habit of pushing it from his brows. The custom
became a fashion among the hosts of courtiers, who were
but too happy to glass themselves in so brilliant a mirror.
As Charles V. on his journey to Italy to assume the iron
crown had caused his hair to be clipped close, as a remedy
for the headaches with which at that momentous epoch he
was tormented, bringing thereby close-shaven polls into
extreme fashion, so a mass of hair pushed backward from
the temples, in the style to which the name of John of
Austria was appropriated, became the prevailing mode
wherever the favorite son of tne Emperor appeared.
Such was the last crusader whom the annals of chivalry
were to know—the man who had humbled the crescent as
it had not been humbled since the days of the Tancreds,
the Baldwins, the Plantagenets—yet, after all, what was
this brilliant adventurer when weighed against the tranquil
Christian champion whom he was to meet face to face ?
The contrast was striking between the real and the ro-
mantic hero. Don John had pursued and achieved glory
through victories with which the world was ringing—Wil-
liam was slowly compassing a country's emancipation
through a series of defeats. He moulded a commonwealth
and united hearts with as much contempt for danger as
Don John had exhibited in scenes of slave driving and
carnage. Amid fields of blood, and through webs of tor-
tuous intrigue, the brave ;.nil subtle son of the Emperor
pursued only his own objects. Tawdry schemes of per-
sonal ambitit n, conquests for his own benefit, impossible
crowns for bis own wearing, were the motives which im-
pelled him, and the prizes which he sought. His existence
was feverish, fitful, and passionate. " Tranquil amid the
raging billows," according to his favorite device, the father
of his country waved aside the diadem which for him bad
neither charms nor meaning. Their characters were as
contrasted as their persona. The curled darling of chivalry
seemed a youth at thirty-one. Spare of figure, plain in
apparel, benignant, but haggard of countenance, with
temples bared by anxiety as much as by his helmet, earnest,
almost devout in manner, in his own words, " Calvtis et
Calvinists," William of Orange was an old man at forty-
three.

It is only by perusal of the work that a fair
estimate can be formed of the author's learn-
ing, energy, and eloquence. We regret that
his matter was not subject to more diligent
revision befiwe being committed to the press.
the style would be improved 1 y pruning.
Great historians are sparing of their words,
and rarely allow a superfluous epithet to
escape them. But there is so much life in
Nlr. Motley's narrative, and such fascination
in his subject and in his earnest though
somewhat rude flow of language, that we give
a cordial welcome to his labours, and hail him
as a writer of striking original power. Viewing
the extent of his subject, and the breadth and
vigour of its treatment, we are inclined to
think that he has produced the greatest his•
torical work which has yet issued from the
United States. Our acknowledgment of his
success is made with the more candour, as we
could not peruse his volumes without sincere
admiration of the intellectual vigour and un-
questionable talent for historical narration
which they evince in an eminent degree.

FEBRUARY 23, 1856.

L'Expedition de Crimie jusqu'oi la Prise Sebas-
topol. By the Baron de Bazancourt. Vol. I.
Paris: Amyot.

(Second Notice.)
Os the 14th of September the English and
French disembarked at about the same time
in the Crimea. According to an official re-
turn, the respective forces were exactly the
same, even to a unit-27,600 men ; but this is
probably an error : the Turks were 8,000
strong. It having been ascertained that the
Russians were on the Alma, the Marshal
determined on leaving Old Fort on the 17th,
for "the success of the enterprise depended
on the rapidity of movements, in order to
" prevent too large a concentration of forces
"on a given point." But on that day—

The English were not in 4 position to march; an im-
mense quantity of impedimenta caused infinite delay in
their operations.

On the l tith the French were impatient to set
out; but—

There was a new delay on the part of the English, and
the Marshal wrote to Lord Raglan to say that, whatever
might be the consequences, he would leave the next morn-
ng at seven o'clock.

On the 19th the order to march was given,
and at one o'clock the French army arrived on
the heights which dominate the valley of
the Alma. The English army ought to have
arrived at the same time ; hut the first part
of it did not come up until the French had
established their camp, and the second part
until a late hour in the night. In the course
of the day Prince Menschikotr, who with
the Russian army was established on the
heights opposite the valley, sent some
squadrons of cavalry and some artillery to
disquiet the English; but the latter " received
them vigorously." A plan of attacking the
Russians was drawn up by Marshal St. Arnaud
and his generals, and it was decided that the
French, echo were to attack on the right,
should commence operations the next morning
at half-past five, and the English were to take
the left at six and the centres at sever► :
In the evening the Marshal sent Colonel I'rochu to the
English camp to communicate to the general-in•chief the
plan of battle, and to inform him.of the time at which the
troops were to march. Lord Raglan fully accepted, in all
its details, the plan which was presented, as also the time
filed, and it was agreed that Prince Napoleon and General
Canrobert should come to an understanding with the
English generals, in, order to operate with them simul-
taneously.

At half-past five the next morning the French
second division quitted its bivouac and ad-
vanced towards the heights of the Alma, and
at half-past six it was already being massed
in the plain. But—
No movement was to be seen in the English army.
General Canrobert, astonished at this inactivity, so con-
trary to the instructions communicated on the previous
etetung, hurried to the Prince Napoleon ; and they both
hastened towards the division of Sir De Lacy Evans. They
found the English general in his tent, and when they ex-
pressed to him their astonishment at a delay which might
gravely compromise the success of the day, he answered,
' I have received no orders ! "

There was evidently some 'misunderstanding. Before
seeking the explanation of the enigma, the first thing to be
done was to stop the march of the French division which
sax commanded by General Bosquet, and which, by effect-
ing its movement alone, might be crushed.
General Canroberl hastened, without losing a moment,
to the Marshal. The latter was already on horseback, and
had left his bivouac, which was in the rear of the lines. As
soon as he was informed of what was passing he sent in all
haste an officer of the staff, Commandent Benson, to
General Bosquet, to wait for the English troops who were
behind time. In the meantime Colonel Trochu galloped
off as fast as his horse could go to the English head
quarters. It was then seven o'clock. But, great as was
the haste of the colonel—he having nearly two leagues to
go, over hilly ground, and which besides was occupied by
bivouacs—he was half an hour in arriving. The English
were still encamped, snd in no respect prepared for the
march agreed on. He. however, on reaching Lord Raglan's
head quarters, found his lordship on horseback.
"My lord," he said, " the Marshal thought, after what
you did me the hcnour to say last evening, that your troops,
forming the left wing of the line of battle, were to advance
at six o'clock in the morning."
In am giving orders," said Lord Raglan "we are
gettig ready, and shall soon leave. Part of my troops
thly arrived at the bivouac at a late hour at night."
"For heaven's sake, my lord," said the colonel, "make
haste ! Every minute's delay takes from us a chance of
success!"
"Go and tell the Marshal," said Lord Raglan, " that
this moment orders are being given through all the
line."
hut, though this conversation took place at
'even o'clock, it was not, it seems, until

THE PRESS.

half-past ten that Colonel Trochu was able to announce
that the English were ready to march.
The consequence was, that—

All these unexpected delays, and the indecision which
necessarily resulted in the movements, did not permit the
plan of battle to be executed as primarily conceived. The
Russian army, instead of being surprised by a rapid ma •
noiuvre, as it ought to have been, had time to take up
strong positions on the heights, and to strengthen its
centre and right.

Then come twenty seven pages of descrip-
tion of the battle of the Alma ; and of them
twenty-four are occupied by details of what
the French did, and duce by those of what the
English did. We translate the three pages
devoted to the English :

The Marshal observed the retreating movement of the
Russian army, when General de Martimprey, chief of the
staff, hastened up from the left with the news that the Eng-
lish, stopped in their march by a formidable artillery,
decimated by a murderous fire, and menaced by enormous
masses, found serious difficulties in carrying the positions
assigned to them. The Marshal immediately gave orders
to the Prince Napoleon to execute a change of front to the
left, which should place his division at the crest of the
ravine, at the reverse of which the English were combating
with energetic solidity. The movement was executed.
The order to support firmly on the left was also sent to
Generals Canrobert and Bosquet.
" Let us go to the English," cried the Marshal, galloping
off in the direction indicated by General de Martimprey,
and giving orders to the artillery in reserve to follow him,
so as to take the Russian battalions in flank. Major de la
Boussiniere left with Toussaint's batteries, with all the
speed possible, and, approaching the heights, stopped reso-
lutely at about four hundred yards from the skirmishers.
He immediately commenced his fire under a shower of
balls and projectiles of all kinds ; for the enemy divined
the injury which this artillery, placed at so short a distance,
and throwing grape-shot into their large masses, would do
them.

General de Martimprey spoke truly : the English were
fighting with heroic courage against the formidable de-
fences accumulated in this position. Embarrassed by the
obstacles of the ground, which prevented them from
executing their movement on the left, they presented them-
selves boldly in face of the enemy, marching in line of
battle with admirable ensemble. Balls, grape-shot, bullets,
and shells make gaps in their ranks, but those gaps were
immediately closed up, and the human wall did not fall
back a step ; it advanced slowly under this murderous fire,
and left behind it long traces of blood. Brown's division
did prodigies of valour : it was furiously assailed by
eighteen guns of large calibre, and saw one of its regi-
ments ( the 23rd) almost entirely destroyed. Major North-
cote carried a redoubt; but, crushed himself, he was forced
to fall back, when the Duke of Cambridge, who had just
passed the river with all his division, hastened to support
his movement.

Pressed at the same time by the division of the Duke,
by that of Sir lie Lacy Evans, and by that of Brown,
which supported the reserve, the Russians, overwhelmed
on their left, employed their last efforts on the heights
which faded the burning village ; and three columns,
which supported their 1 ne of battle to the right, assailed
at the same time the English divisions. The latter re-
ceived this formidable shock with solidity, but were not
able to advance a step. It was at that moment that
Toussaint's battery, directed by Major de la Bonssiniere,
took in flank these menacing masses. and caused disorder
amongst them by its grapeshot and shells.
The English redoubled at the same moment their
efforts, their impetuosity, and their solidity. Whilst the
brigade of Foot Guards, under the orders of Major-
General Bentinek, drove back the enemy to the rear of
the heights, the Highland Brigade, commanded by Major-
General Sir C. Campbell, advanced in admirable order,
which was not for a single moment disturbed by the re-
doubled fire of the Russian musketry and artilb-ry. One
would have said, on seeing it so calm and precise in its
movements, that it was filing off in a field of manoeuvres.
It marched on the right flank of the Russian redoubt,
whilst the Guards ascended by the other. Arrived within
a hundred steps, the Highlanders overwhelmed the enemy
by a point-blank discharge, and then attacked them with
the bayonet. Heaps of dead bodies covered the ground.
The light division of Sir George Brown, after having
heroically surmounted all the obstacles, also appeared com-
plete on the top of the heights, threatening to envelop the
enemy. _ •

The- Marshal sent one of his aides de ramp to stop the
movement of the divisions, the assistance which they were
destined to give having become unnecessary.
The battle was won.
We have then this comment :
The genius of the two peoples, the individual character
of the two nations, were manifested in a very striking
manner on this occasion. Whilst our soldiers and artillery,
led away by indescribable impetuosity, passed all obstacles,
and climbed with desperate efforts up the steepest heights,
our allies, in admirable line of battle, marched at their
customary pace, supporting the fire of the formidable posi-
tions they were to carry, without slackening or accelerating
their• march, and attacking difficulties in front instead of
endeavouring to turn them. Heroic error, which in-
scribed glorious names in annals, but inscribed them in
the book of the dead !

A little further on we are told that—
If the English cavalry, commanded by Lord Lucan, had
not stuck fast in the bogs of the Alma, it might have
been of great assistance at the end of the day, and have
greatly increased th enumber of prisoners e•e took.

185

The 21st, the day after the battle, was set
apart for the burial of the dead and providing
for the wounded. The Marshal, however, pro-
posed to mulch early in the In 4 /ming of the
22nd to the Katcha, in the hope of overtaking
the enemy and of beating them a second
time:—

But the next day our allies were not ready, and forced
us to stop on the field of battle. The English, intrepid
and indefatigable in fighting, do not seem to understand
the immense importance of a day's or an hour's delay in a
warlike operation: they either cannot or will not hurry
themselves. " I have lost fewer men than they," wrote
the Marshal," because I am more active ; my soldiers run
where theirs march !" He also wrote to his brother on
the 22nd, " The English are not et ready, and I am kept
here by them as at lialtchik and Old Fort. It is fair, how-
ever, to say that they have more wounded than I have, and
that they are farther from the sea! " And he wrote in his
diary, " How slow we are in our movements ! This is not
the proper way to make war! "

It having been determined in a conference
to attack Sebastopol by the south side, orders
were given for the armies to march in the
morning of the 23rd. The English, from their
position, were to march the first, and the
French were to start at sit o'clock. But—
there is always, it will be seen, a " but " when
the English have to do anything—
We had to wait until the English, who carried with them
immense loads of baggage, and arabas loaded beyond all
reasonable limits, and dragged by oxen, bad tiled off.
It was, consequently, twelve before we could effect our
movement,

We then have an account of the famous
flank march on Sebastopol—of the alarming
progress of the illness of Marshal St Arnaud—
of his resignation of his command to General
Canrobert—and of his death. Whilst he was
on his death-bed Lord Raglan went to see
him, but ho was in a lethargy. Two hours
after his lordship returned, accompanied by
Admiral Lyons :

They entered the chamber softly. On hearing strarge
steps, the Marshal opened his eyes, and, saluting thfra
with a smile, held out his hand to them, and thanked them
for their kind visit. His energy was such that thout.,h
about to breathe his last be kept off death, and, addressing
Lord Raglan, said, "I am better, my lord ; the sea air ai.a
the care of my wife will soon restore me, and I shall always
be with you in thought !"
The English general and Admiral Lyons withdrew, and
the officer who accompanied them to the door saw tears
roll down their cheeks.

The author afterwards gives a detailed ac-
count of the preparations made for taking
Sebastopol, which lasted to the 18th October.
He then describes at length the attack made
by land and sea on the formidable fortress, on
the 17th of the same month, and records that
it failed, or, to use his own gentle language,
that " it did not respond to the hopes which
" had been formed of it." And so his volume
concludes.

The copious extracts we have made will
enable our readers to judge for themselves of
this book, which comes to them clothed with
the high authority of the French Government.
As good Englishmen, they will, no doubt, feel,
as we have felt, not a little mortification and
some shame at many of its statements respect-
ing the English army and fleet. But though,
from the official reports of our own journals
and the letters of newspaper correspondents,
we know unfortunately that most of these
statements are true in the main, it is but fair
to withhold condemnation on the parties re•
sponsible for the acts to which they refer un-
til we shall have received their explanations,
or shall have had access to their confidential
despatches and private correspondence.
What we should particularly like to see ex-
plained at once is the allegation respecting
the misunderstanding about the time the
battle of the Alma was to commence. How
could a misunderstanding possibly arise on
such an important matter? How could General
Evans be at half-past six quietly seated in his
tent without orders for a great battle which had
been fixed to commence at half-past five ?
How could the English troops be in repose at
half-past seven, when they ought to have been
on the march at six? And we should further
like to know how it happened that, when they
were roused up at half past seven, they were
not " ready to march " until half-past ten?
We regret that we cannot honestly compli-
ment Baron Bazancourt on the manner in
which be has executed the great task confided
to him by the French Government. He is
evidently but a " 'prentice hand " in the art of