The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1883-07-22
SOME NEW BOOKA
what Freaeh~es are Toia Abo.t she Battle
Of Gettysburs,

| 80 '"'"mo vi mo american edition,
which includes the NTH and sixth volumes Of
the French edition OF The H.,orv Of n. I;rii
War IN America. ostensibly written nv
the Count OF Paris. There will be TINA
enough for discussing the value OF th,s
book when IL IL completed and va shall
| merely observe, In passing. that we deem
It to possess little moro Significance
| for the student than the Life OF Julius Caesar"
which rurported to be written BY Napoleon III
In each case the authors purpose was not 40
much to compose history a. to convince In
credulous persons OF his own intellectual &C.
ouiremsnts and abilities. In each case. moro
over. there 10 reason to believe that tho claim
| Of authorship H. In q large measure. fraudu.
lent. much the larger and moro dif1cult part Of
tho work embodied In the published perform
ancs having boon done BY unnamed
hands. Il 10 well known that even
| the Orleaniet party declines to credit the Count
Of Pars with more than mediocre capacity.
| and. Hhen We think OF IT, 1t seems q piece Of
| fragrant impsrtinence that foreigner should
| presume to undertake task from which the
best informed and most accomplished
OF American Generals and military crit
ics have thus far shrunk. We are par
ticularly surprised By tho writer's assur-
anco whom We remember that his 0ppor'
tunitics OF observation were limited to .
short period In the second year Of tho war.
during which he occupied . subordinate posi-
ton on the stan Of the General commanding
the Army Of the Potomac. 1t IL. In brief. an act
| Of extraordinary presumption. this attempt Of
| French prince to recount at lcngth our civil
| war. whom the utmost reach Of seli.confldenco
| In which he would have been justified by
| his experience would have been tho pub
iication OF his juvenile impressions Of sin
| gle episode. Nothing 10 more foolish than TO
| describe the prolix narrative put together nom.
innlly by the Count OF Paris as tho final and
| authoritative history Of our great contest
| When that history In composed tho work will
DO done BY an American. and meanwhile tho
only question OF importance suggested BY the
bulky volumes attributed to the Orleans prince
relates to the correctness OF tho judgment pro-
nounced on American Generals. whose several
degrees Of mort we desire TO have accurately
graduated abroad a. we'll a. at homo.
Lot us look. for instance. at the present
volume. which. among other interesting topics.
purports to give 4 faithful account Of the
battle OF Gettvsburg. Now every properly
informed person knows that this battle give
rise to = somewhat bitter controversy touching
tho amount OF credit which really belongs TO
| the Commander-in-Chief. Gen. Meade. The
| question Ia. Shall We believe the categorical
averments made BY Gen. slocum. Gen. Butter
| uolu, 0OH kIoUbOutUu. Wuu WI. AOuUltuhys
and in some degree confirmed by Gen. Birncy
and Cant. tnow dsneraDJ J. NJ. Robertson. that
Gen. Meade. In tho afternoon. or evening. OF
| July Z. 1868. favored retreat from Gettysburg;
| or shall We reject their positive testimony on
| the ground that 1t IL inconsistent with the
| curiously vague and ambiguous evidence given
| BY the incrlminated commander. and for the
further reason that other Generals. who
should havs been cosnixant Of the truth.
are unable or unwilling to reoolleot any
thing derosatory to Gen. Meade? This
10 . controversy which. as yet. 10 fnr from
being settled. oven In the minds OF those stu
| dents who began an examination Of the evi-
| denoo with the strongest rrcpossessions in
favor OF Gen. Meade. We do not purpose at
this time to express an opinion on the sub-
ject. but merely to point out what notion OF
Gen. Meade's action At the crisis referred to
will be obtained By that large number Of oulti-
waited Europeans who read French. but who do
not read Enslish. and who. for tho prssent at
all events. will probably depend for their
| knowledge OF our war on tho book presented
In the name Of the Count Of Paris.
Tho Count OF Paris. or whoevar Il thoauth1l8
Of the chapter about Gettysburg. docs not secl
to be aware Of the charge made By Gen. PlensA
onton that Gen. Meade. on tho I'd OF July.
about 8 O'Clock In the afternoon. gave him the
ordor to get together what cavalry and artillery
he could and take IN position in the roar to
cover the retreat OF the army from Gettysburg.
He has heard. however. Of Gen. Butterheld's
avermcnt that before 1 p. NJ. on the
day mentioned Gen. Meade gave him instruc.
tons tGen. Butterneld was then chief Of
stafY) to mako out an order to withdraw the
| army. The Count OF Paris Ia also aware that
| Gen. Meade. when before the Committee on
the Conduct OF tho War. denied having given
/ n.,tk AnlI L.
denial is deemed conclusive by the author OF
this history who deals thus summarily with
all that portion Of the Meade controversy which
relates to tho incidents preceding the council
| OF war hold on the evening OF July g. 1t is.
| indeed. acknowledged that early in the after
| noon OF the day just mentioned Meade
| directs his staff to examine the con.
dition OF each corps and the roads by
which they can fall back; tho chief of
stan. Gen. Butterneld. is preparing at the Same
time q general order indicating tho direction
which each Of those eorps will have to take. Fl
nally. wishing to DO informed by his lieuten-
ants regarding tho condition OF his troops and
tho character Of the ground which each Of them
will have to defend. aswell as the various meas
ures to be adopted according to what the ene-
my may do. Moade. who 10 still treating them
a. confldants. summons Thorn 10 meet
In council at his headquarters. near Zeg-
lsr's Grove" Now. we do not believe that the
summons to a council Of war was given. rs
| 10 hero implied. early in tho afternoon: We do
! not understand 1t to have been delivered much
before the cose Of the days fighting. and 1t is
| certain that the corps commanders could not
have all assembled until p. NJ. for the fight
| ing on Con. Towards front continued until
that hour. The Count Of Paris seems to think
| that there were two councils Of war. and that
| the first assembled in the afternoon. for no goes
on imme dlntely to say: 1T has been since at
tempted to find in these measures proof
that Meade was preparing to abandon the
position Of Gettysburg. and it has also
| been pretended that on that very day he
would have executed this project. which was
already settled In his mind, II he had not been
prevented by the attack Of which We shall speak
presently. Meade. on tho other hand. has as
serted that tho order drawn up BY Butterncd.
and shown TO several officers had been written
without his knowledge But. II the reverse had
been tho fact. We could only see In these prcpa-
rations tho proof Of an extremely wise fore