The Sun.
London, England, 1864-07-15 00:00:00

THE'' SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, JULY 15, 1864.

intelligence and energy than ordinary aborigines, trails. There was also something out of the corn-
and is susceptible of a high degree of culture. man order of farewells in the nature of the spot in
They possess, too, all the cunning and ingenuity which this leave-taking took place. "We shall
peculiar to savage tribes, and especially that know- recall," said Mr. KEAN, " with peculiar gratifies.-
1 edge of the ground they fight on which always tion the fact of having given utterance to the len-
gives such immense advantage in defensive warfare. guage of SHAKSPERE sixteen thousand miles from
The swamps and tangled forests afford them easy home in a populous city, built upon a spot which
passage, while our men are forced to cut their way thirty years ago was a lonely wilderness." Nothing
through the thickets or to struggle, as they beat could attest with greater force as to the spread of
can, over a pathless morass. The Maories kncsav culture and the march of mind than the fact of the
every nook and corner of the country, and the plays of SHAKSPERE being appreciated in that new
guerilla warfare which they have thus been enabled world where the Anglo-Saxon race has taken root.
to carry on has been both haseassing and disastrous It seems as if the prediction of MACAULAY had
to us. They are skilled in the use of firearms, already been realized when he said that the litera-
though they do not abandon the traditional toma. ture of England would be read with delight by the
hawk of savage warfare. General CAMERON wisely "no born millions who will cover with cities and
determined to meet them on their own grounds gardens the Caffrarian and Austialian deserts." It
when he organised the flying columns, is satisfactory in every point of view to contemplate
of which we have not lately heard, but this scene in Australia. It is pleasant to think that
when it comes to open fighting the Meories never though earth's extension intervenes between us and
have a chance against their assailants. The die- the inhabitants of that continent, the same tastes
tally lies in besieging their " pahs' or entrench• may pervade our lives, and the works of our
meats, which they are in the habit of evacuating at immortal bard msy there, as here, be recog•
the last moment, leaving our troops the barren vie- raised and appreciated. " Whether we shall
tory of the empty pahs. P. is not, however, safe to meet again I know not, therefore an everlast.
I trust general rules, and the sad affair which has cost ing farewell take," were most appropriate
us many valuable lives, arose from the mistake of words in which to conclude, and Mr KEAN showed
thinking that the natives had decamped when they his usual discernment and discrimination in select-
were only concealing themselves. It used to be a ing them. It is a very commendable practice for
common practice in Eastern warfare to make a feint our great actors to pay visits to our distant colonies,
of this sort, and many of the more notable reverses and thus form a connecting link, as it were, with
of medimval history are due to Northern or Western home and abroad. Mr and Mrs KEAN have always
ignorance of such tactics. According to the old le- been favourites in this country, and their nanny
gend the death of the celebrated DOUGLAS, BRUCE'S friends and numerous admirers will rejoice that
companion in arms, was due to his having indis- they have met with so cordial a welcome and so
creetly pursued the flying Moors, Scottish fashion, flattering a testimonial to their abilities in Aug.
unaware that their seeming flight was only to lure trade. If Mr KEAN intends in reality to retire now,
him to destruction. The New Zealand Maories and rest on his laurels, he could not have made a
have tried a similar trick, with unfortunately too more fitting conclusion ; and if he still proposes to
much success. From the most authentic accounts, continue for a time his histrionic labours this visit
it seems that General CAMERON'S forces besieged to a distant sphere, where the triumphs of the
an entrenchment at Tauranga, to which place the English tongue are witnessed, will be an episode in
natives had fled in discomfiture after their recent his career which will long live in his memory end
repulse at Orakau. Tauranga is the chief abode hold a conspicuous place in the chronicles of his
of the Ngpulii, a powerful tribe on the eastern coast. career hereafter. It must be considered that this is
Its position, which General CAMERON was anxious an appropriate year for Mr KEAN to have been in
to take, was called the Gate Pab, and rested on the Australia, and that it is a further proof and a more
summit of a hill on a small peninsula. Great pre- extended exemplification of the universality of the
paratioas were made for the assault, some large genius of our great writer, that while the people of
Armstrongs—one of them an 110 pounder—being this country were endeavouring to do honour to the
got ashore. The description given of the place cer- birthday of that "dear son of memory and great
tail:lly does not accord with the commonly received heir of fame," the inhabitants of a distant spot also
cmcnrred in offering their tribute of applause aria
notions of savage warfare. It consisted, we are
told, of two pehs, 1,000 yards apart, connected by approval. He lives not for one age, but for all time ;
rifle-pits, and by an inner line of rail fence, masked and it is the chief merit of his unrivalled produc-
by branches of trees. Toe bombardment was main- tions that they are now as applicable to the events
of life and the characters of men as when they were
tained for nine hours, when a number of Maories
were seen retreating, and some of our troops were first penned. It is a great boon to our colonists
despatched in pursuit of them through the swamp. that they should hear the works of the great writer
Meanwhile it was resolved to storm the pah in front. interpreted by so great a master of his art as Mr
Notwithstanding a heavy fire the troops carried the CHARLES KEAN.
breach bravely, and entered the pah to find it
almost deserted, only two or three wounded men
being visible. Thrown off their guard, the English,
it is said, dispersed and feel to plunder, though this
is a somewhat singular story. No sooner were they
scattered, however, than from every side a mur-
derous fire from unseen guns poured upon them.
The men were panicstricken and fled, notwichstand-
ing the efforts of their officers, whose names in the
lists of killed and wounded too well attest their
resolute devotion to their duty. The 43r1 Regiment
lost it is said as many officers as in a pitched battle.
A reinforcement arrived to no purpose but to add
the name of its brave commander to the list of
victims, and, to make matters worse, the party
who pursued the flying Maories were also re-
pulsed in an assault on another part of the pah.
Among the naval officers killed was Lieut. HILL,
the survivor of the ill-fated ship Orpheus, who was
wrecked on the Mannikan bar some time ago.
Both services suffered severely, and the whole
affair is as disheartening to our men as it is en-
couraging to the enemy. It has, of course, excited
great sensation throughout the colonies, and is
likely, it is feared, to lead to the prolongation of
the war. It will not do, however, to be dis-
heartened by one repulse, however mortifying, and
there cannot be two opinions as to the relative
strength of the two forces when they meet fairly.
Very great care should be used in all dealings with
the Maories to avoid the deception which they
are so skilful in practising. The men should go
into a place like the Gate Pah with all their eyes
and ears open, suspicious and watchful, not careless
and at ease, thinking only of plunder. It could
not have been actual cowardice which made the
men retreat, since they had just triumphantly
carried the breach under a heavy fire. It was
the surprise and uncertainty of the ambush
which spread the panic ; hut the men
for such an office should be carefully se-
iected, since many will face an open enemy
or storm a height who will shrink from a hidden
foe. The experience gained in this painful business
will probably be turned to good account in future,
and it may suggest one or two improvements in our
mode of warfare. It is satisfactory to find that a
large body of natives have joined the British on the
eastern coast, and have proved most valuable allies,
so that it is not, as has been said, exclusively a war
of races. The second reading of the Guarantee of
Loan Bill last evening promises material assistance
to the colonists, which, it is to be hoped, they will
turn to good account. The majority was so decisive
that it is probable the Bill will pass without fur-
ther difficulty, and will, we trust, contribute to the
speedy pacification of the country.

A strong feeling is prevalent at this moment
,hat, with all our apparent sympathy for the

Southern Confederacy, we permit the Northern

army to be recruited from among our own people

on our own soil, with impunity. We open our

eyes and look with suspicion on British built iron
clads, which, says rumour, are for JEFF DAVIS'S

Government ; but our vision is dimmed, and our

hearing not over sensitive, when British born

subjects are inveigled, by species of false pre•
tence, to enter the ranks of ABE LINCOLN'S army.
Has England become lo3t to all sense of honour ?

Will she forget that from her honour has sprung

her greatness? She should not then permit the

breath of suspicion to tarnish the mirror which
reflects it. Besides, if she were guided by no
other policy than mere selfishness, she would
keep the bone and sinew of her country
at home. There are " breakers ahead," and with
all our desire for peace, we know not from day to
day how soon we mey have to prepare for war.

We are of those to whom " coming events cast
.heir shadows before," and no long time will elapse

probably before the British army will ba called upon
again to uphold the honour of their country. And
it is well here to consider how far the defects in the
organisation of our army might prejudice its in•
crease so far as recruiting would be concerned. We
think the position of the private soldier has less in
it now to induce enlistment than when England
was less wealthy and less great as a nation. The
two things to be looked to as a means of drawing
the working•classes into the army by voluntary
enlistment, are promotion and pension. The oppor-
tunities for promotion from the ranks we know to be
very limited, and as the British army is constituted
it would be very unwise, of course, to adopt the
French system. Men naturally, then, look to what
they would be likely to receive, either as present

pay or as pension, when, from woond3 or length o

service, they may be thrown back again upon the
world. NV ill it be sufficient to keep them from
begging their bread, should failing strength pre.
vent them from working ? We unhesitatingly say,
No. How can it when the pension for length of
of service is only eightpence per day ? England
has not acted wisely or well towards the
private soldier. The case of the poor old
man, HOFF, for whom an appeal was lately
made in the public papers, is a disgrace to Eng-
land, and not likely to be forgotten whenever a call
for the army is required. We are not alone in this

opinion ; we are borne out in our views by the
author of a pamphlet called " The Court-Martial,"
which, in the form of a satirical drama, deals very
ably with the subject, although we do not admire
►ts entire principles. JOEN BULL is a prisoner, and
brought to trial " for conduct unbecoming the cha.
teeter of a gentleman (be being the personification
of the mind and will of the British people and their
sole representative)." Among the witnesses is JOHN
liottsmaN, a pensioner, who is examined as to the

in theatrical careers, as well as other vocations
of life, we occasionally witness some events that
break the monotony of ordinary existence, and
serve to awaken interest and impart excitement to
the occasion. Such a scene was that which took
place upon Mr. CHARLES KEAN and Mrs KEAN'S
" farewell night" in Melbourne. It was a very
brilliant affair, and the warm reception they met
with must have proved very gratifying to them.
Perhaps never in the course of his prosperous career
has Mr. KEAN been better able to recognise how
much he is appreciated, and altogether the cir•
cumstances of his visit to Australia mast long live
in his recollection as a bright era in his life. The
brief address which he made at the conclusion of
the performances was exactly suitable to the occa-
sion,and must frum the peculiar circumstances of the
case have awakened emotions of a nature somewhat
different to:the sensations ordinarily experienced
at similar displays at home. As the graat,actor took
leave of his audience he and they must have felt
convinced that it was his last appearance on their
stag,
effect
ect the uncertainty of which so militates against
h
of our adieus and farewells at home. It
t e
is always agreeable to witness a kindly feeling
spring up between the actor and his audience ; it is
right that one who contributes so greatly to the
amusement and so often encourages the taste, and
improves the refinement of his hearers, should re-
ceive some acknowledgment for his services beyond
the mere mercantile part of the transaction. There
was an atcracting interest in the circumstances
surrounding the farewell of Mr. KEAN, and his
hearers must have derived gratification from his
assurance that when far away from that scone in
distant years, should life be spared, they who met
with that kind welcome that night would remem-
ber with pleasure and gratitude their visit to Ane'

long service pension. When asked—" Had you
served longer than twenty-one years, would you
have received a higher pension ?'' He replies,—
" Any man who liked to serve longer, and was able,
got a halfpenny a day for every year; but
few men were able. T xenty-one years'
soldiering is living three years for two.
Marchings, camps, bivouacs, and Indian climate
bring on rheumatic pains ; the joints get stiff ; the
pack gets heavier ; younger men pass you in the
double ; and there is a gradual failing (yet unseen
to others) in the physical powers, that really few
men are fit for active soldiering. Besides, has the
soldier, after twenty-one years' absence, no home
that his heart yearns for ?" Another pensioner,
THOMAS ATKINS, is asked," What are your service.
corps, and pension ?" "I served twenty-one years
in the Rifles, and have et. glatFence a day." JOHN
HAWS, a recruiting sergeant, is asked, " As a re-
cruiting sergeant, do you consider that the present
low rate of pension affects the recruiting ?" " Yes,
most injuriously. Formerly a comfortably-to-do
pensioner was the best of advertisements, whereas
now the young fellows point at the pensioners, and
gibingly say, ' And be turned off like him when we
are old.'" The writer of the pamphlet, whoever he
may be, is evidently a man who has hall opportu-
nities of knowing the feelings of the private soldier.
The arguments do not come from the pan of a
novice. Would it not be wall, then, for our Goverm-
ment to consider how far the present system of pay
and pensions will affect the future? Whether, with
g prospect of protection in old age, those men who

are being beguiled by Yankee boast to join the
Federal ranks would not remain at home and be
ready to shoulder a musket and wield a sword in
defence of 41 Old England," should their services be
required? The subjt,et is, at the very least, worth
agitating.

LITERATURE,

The Bar Sinister. A Tale. By Charles Allston
Collins. 2 vols. Smith, Elder, and Co.
A delightful humorist, and one, moreover, whose
verymanner has about it an exhilarating animation—
Mr. Charles Allston Collins, whenever he comes to
us book in hand, is invariably welcome for his own
sake : and not alone for the sake of those others, the
mere thought of whom, nevertheless, with ourselves
at least, enhances the attraction of his own name, sur-
rounding it, so to speak, upon each of his title-pages
with a very halo of pleasant associations. Associa-
tions with some among o'sr most treasured memo,
ries, both in the wor1.;1 of art and in the world of
literature ! And, 'what makes them dearer to us yet
—memories of what is essentially English Art and
intensely and expressly English Literature. It is
not, however, simply—it is not, however, by this
time even mainly—because of these varied and
charming associations connected with his very name,
that Mr. Charles Collins is always sure now-a-days
of a cordial welcome, when he proffers a new work to
our consideration, It is as that arch-wag of keer:eat
observation, " The Eye Witness"—it is 'es that
eccentric gentleman who once upon a time made a
certain memorable "Cruse Upon Wileeta,n that he
can now always claim our regara and command our
attention whenever he lists! And not simply, as it
might have been at the outset—as the younger son of
a great national painter, as the younger brother of
a stinguished novelist, or last, and far from least,
as the son-in-law of incomparably the greatest
Humourist in the whole range of our Eng-
lish Literature. For himself alone, for his own
sake that is, apart feom all these delightful associa-
tions he could not fail to be welcome, as he
ie welcome—.and that, moreover, himself as Artist,
as Novelisst, as Humourist. Here in this very book
now tr.ibmitted by him to our consideration, indeed,
15 temple testimony of his possessing, in his own
night, certain rare good gifts in each of those capa-
cities. " The Bar Sinister" is a tale, happily,
without any sinister termination. In spite of the
evil omen hinted by its title, it ends completel7,
to the reader's satisfaction. Speaking dre.„mati.
rally—the Time, in it, is about half 'a year in
duration—the Scene is French for .:fie most part
—while the Characters, at least; the chief among
them, are English. The hrero and heroine of the
tale may be said, at au9 ;ate, to stand forth so view,
in the picture here presented to us, may be said
to stand forth ceenspicuously to our view upon a
French back-ground ! The hero a major in the
English army, the heroine a young lady, who in
her 'hole manner, no less than in her whole
appearance, is entirely and essentially English !
the latter, it is, who has frightfully revealed
here, upon her otherwise stainless escutcheon
—The Bar Sinister ! Madeleine is her name, the
name of this Mademoiselle d'Elmar, who is first in-
oduced to us (as the rude'r of the tale), as indeed
she is first of all then introduced to Major Trelane
(as the hero of it)—one reiny, sombre day, upon one
of the broad gravel walks of that stately, old, de-
serted garden surrounding the ancient Palace of
Versailles. The plot of the story is admirably well
contrived. The interest of it concentrates (all through
it) upon the loves and lives and fortunes of Henry
Trelane and Madeleine d'Elmar. How those loves
and live& and fortunes of the two are affected
favourably or unfavourably,'oy the other characters
of the story, be it the ta'A-teller's own especial pro.
vince and privilege t;,, relate—not ours. Sufficient for
our purpose will, -oe, if mention is here duly made of
the principal. among these other motley personages.
Happiest and best amongst them all, as delineations
of eee,entric specimens of humanity, are, indubitably
to our thinking, Mr. Charles Collins's limning of
good old Dr. Lac:oaf, the Versailles Physician, and
of his whimsical factotum Monsieur Morlot—their
relationship to one another, as master and man,
being somewhat akin to that noticeable between
two otherwise very different characters, indeed,
queer old Jackeymo and the immortal Riccabocca!
Madame d'Elmar, an invalid widow, the
aunt of Madeleine, and their faithful attendant,
as bonne or ladies'-maid, Victorine—make up the
little household in which the heroine is, of course,
the eautral figure. Opposed to their interests,
and to the interests also of Major Trelane, are—
Madame d'Elmar's brother, Captain d'Elmar that
is, and his fortune-hunting associate, Lieutenant
Tronchet. The haunting, shadowy, spectral
Escaped Convict is here again, in this new story—
as inevitably as in Victor Hugo's " Les Miseiables"
or in Charles Dickens's " Great Expectations."
Here, however, in this minor tale by the younger
novelist, the for cat from the bagne is more, as we
may say, merely hinted at, than actually seen.
He it is, however, who is at the heart of the
plot! He it is who gives rise to the
title of the tale—as the brander upon Made-
line's escutcheon of The Bar Sinister ! With-
out attempting to supply anyone with the
questionable advantage of a mere broken bit of the
clue guiding the reader through all the intricate
windings of the labyrinth of the plot, we here
prefer rather,by a few illustrative extracts, to afforu
our reader, with a view to his becoming thereby
afterwards the reader of" The Bar Sinister," speci-
mens of Mr. Cnarles Collins's " quality" as the
writer of this tale, bat more particularly with speci-
mens of his quality in his capacity as a humorist.
Here, then, as our very first quotation to this end,
'eke the following delioious morsel of fun, descrip-
've of—

LATEST INTELLIGENCE.

LREITTER'S TELEGRAMS.]

DENMARK.

MONSIEUR MORLOT AS AN EQUESTRIAN.
That good gentleman by no means found himself at '
home on the back of a horse. It has been already men-
tioned that the animal selected for Monsieur Morlot's use
had been chosen on account of its quietness, but it soon
appeared that this prepossessing quality was to some ex-
tent counteracted, as good qualities too often are, by a de-
fect of some importance to an unskilful rider; Mouton
(which in consideration of his lamb-like qualities was this
animal's name) was what is called a rough-goer. He was
also a very broad animal; and these two characteristics
combined proved somewhat disoemposing to his rider.
Now when a rough-goer and a bad horseman get toge-
ther two results almost invariably follow—the eques-
trian's hat gets shaken down over his ears, and his
unmentionables get worked up over his knees. Mon•
sieur Morlot was no exception to this rule, and when
Trelane looked back after getting clear of the town to see
how his faithful follower was getting on, he was seized
with such a fit of laughter that he was obliged to pull his
own horse up abruptly, lest ho should absolutely roll off his
back. Monsieur Morlot had no idea of relieving himself
and his beast by rising in his stirrups, but was riding after
the legitimate cavalty fashion, only with an infinitely
looser seat, so that at every step taken by the dcoile Mouton
his body was subjected to a shock that threatened to shake
the very teeth out of his head. The effect of this violent
bumping upon the unfortunate man's costume was precisely
what might have been expected. His face was nearly in-
visible, for not only was his hat brought down so completely
over his eyes that it was a matter of grave question whether
it was possible for him to see, but the collar of his coat and
neckcloth had got worked up in so extraordinary a manner
that they almost rubbed against the brim of his hat. It
must be mentioned besides, that the cuffs of Monsieur
Morlot's coat had suddenly become so long that his hands
were entirely concealed in the sleeves; while his trousers
on the other hand had wriggled themselves up to so remark-
able an extent that his legs, which were so emaciated
that there hardly seemed room for the bones, and which
were encased in blue worsted stockings, were visible from
the knee down to the blucher boots, which jingled loosely
in a pair of stirrups which might have been arranged
expressly for the use of Edward Longsbanka of royal
memory.
Afterwards, we are told how —so soon as he could in
any way recover his gravity sufficiently to do so—
Trelane proceeded to give his companion a few hints
on horsemanship, and, above all, to initiate him in
the noble art of rising in his stirrups. Monsieur Mor•
lot took to this new invention, as he called it, with
surprising alacrity; indeed, he experienced such relief
from it, and found that it so materially alleviated the
_ _

sufferings which he had previously endured, that the only
difficulty now was' to keep him down, so that what with
the rough movements of Mouton and Monsieur Morlot's
terror of coming in contact with the saddle, he would some-
times, for a considerable time, be found standing up in his
stirrups altogether, and riding, at a very slow trot, in
the attitude in which our jockeys generally appear as
they pass the grand stand at Epsom.
Here, again, somewhat after the fashion of Lcigh
Rant, is the evidence of our Eye.witnesa's eye to
the ridiculous" in scanning the contrast presented
to view by—
THE LONDON 'BUS AND THE PARIS OMNIEVS.
Let the reader, we will suppose for the first time, get
into a London omnibus, and suffer his eye to travel down
the range of faces on each side of this exhila-
rating carriage. What an anxious set I what an
overwhelming sense of responsibility is upon them I
what apprehensions about their futtue or regrets