The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-10-03
Kinglake's New Volumes.

appearance on the field of WaterlooS Was it
the ffty-second regiment or the Guards that
completed the rout of the French on that day
Did the Duke of Wellington and Blucher meet
at La Belle Alliance or where else These
questions have not yet been satisfactorily an
swered. About campaign that is only lately
over, there has sprung up an amouns of dis
cussion that bids fair to be as difficult to settle
as the Waterloo disputes. We allude to the
Crimean war. In all probability the complete
history of that war, and also Of our own war
of the rebellion, will not be faithfully and cor
rectly rendered until the present generation
has passed away, and for the chief reason that
governmental archives must be opened to the
historian in order that the secret history may
be explored. This will afford an approach to
that completeness which history demands.
Another reason is that we are too
near the heat and smoke of those
recent conflicts, too much imbued
with prejudices, correct or not, to take that
cool and impartial estimate of events so recent,
which the future historian will be exempt
from. When the great historian, Hume,
was referred to the governmental dispatches,
then not accessible as now, he honestly de-
clared that his history must be rewritten.
Every day shows more and more the correct
ness of Hume's judgment. AT the fist
breaking out of our late war, We, in common
with nearly everybody, censured General
Patterson for not advancing from Winchester,
and it was not until General Patterson's vindi-
cation appeared at the close of the war that all
who read 1t were willing to admit that their
Judgment had been erroneous. This is only
one incident. How many more siftings will
reports and authorities have to undergo by
future writers2 - a. 81 q H
Kipglake's volumes on the Crimean war
have already, caused an immense amount
of discussion by Englishmen,' Frenohmen,
Russians, and others Itseems to be admitted
by the Russians that if the Allies had ad-
vanced by the north side of Sebastopol, and
attempted coup de main, they might possibly
have succeeded in taking IT at once. Why did
they not do sof Kinglake, whose devo-
ton to his hero, Lord Raglan, resembles some
novelists for their heroes, insists that Marshal
st. Arnaud would not take the risk. As we
cannot spare the space to give the different
readers would be better satisfied at the state
ment of the great Russian General, Todleben,
who expressly states that neither the exulta-
ton of the troops nor the resolve to fight to
the last extremity could have saved Sebssto-
pol, if the enemy had attacked Immediately
after his passage of the Tchernaya. So little
did the Russians apprehend an attack on the
a;l kl,at%b %ba fam aIa atnR fou
a mere naked tower without glacis, and the
whole force of the Russians consisted of but
10000, soldiers, sailors, and all, to oppose
go, 900 of the Allies. 1t was then that the
genius of Todleben began to show itself. He
determined, says Ringlake, that the works
should 60 on simultaneously along all the
weak parts OF the line, and each days toll
was to be SO adjusted that it would not only
effect due approach towards the perfecting,
after time, of the work which had to- be exc
cuted, but would also bring the pending i'm
provements to such state every night that
in the event of an attack the next morning
they would still subserve the defense, SO that
if the enemy should grant long respite, or if,
on the other hand, he should assault in three
days, or in two, or on the very morrow, the
works, whether grown to full strength or as
sailed whilst yet weak and frail, might in each
case do all the good which the limit of time
would allow.
On comparing the English and French ac-
counts it will be found that the French attri-
butte the fatal delay of not attacking sebasto-
pol at once to the English; the English retort
the blame upon the French.
To the famous cavalry charge at Balaklsva
Kipglake devotes no fewer than four hun
dred pages. If history generally was written
in this manner, how would the brief life of
man suffice for its reading An important
episode in the campaign it was, but there
have been many more such interesting cpl
sodes in the wars which have occurred since
the Sebastopol fight. We have not space now
to give extracts about this uns satisfactory, and
as the French officer called this cavalry affair,
magnificent, Int it s not war. We are in
clined to think that most persons will agree
with us in considering General Todleben as
the only real military genius evolved by that
war. We hope to return to this subject again.
-~-n----
THE VITAL STATISTICS OF RUssIA.-The Rus
sian census for 1855 has just been published,
and shows that the untry contains according
10 the most trustworthy estimates, about
S,O7s,O54 English square miles. or nearly three
times the extent OF the United States. or this
vast territory, much the larger portion, or
nearly six million square miles, lies in Asia,
where the empire is constantly extending its
nOnD0af1eS liqt nf ha