The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-12-10
A MERIcA's GREATEST GENIUS.
BY DIR. t. b. KINGsBURY.

Another Southern author-poet and
essayist-of genius is also being better
known in this section as in the North.
L refer to Sidney Lanier, the most
original author of Georgia. His
poetry is not we'll known as yet. but
it richly deserves to be. The South
should know it's own best writer's, and
particularly its own truest and most
inspired poets. A recent life of him
from the pen of Professor Edward
Minis is praised as a fitting, sympa-
thetic appreciation of the writer of
gifts who had such a struggle in this
life with poverty and disease, and who
died in North Carolina.
--
Have you ever read full account of
the very famous battle of Fontenoy?
1t was one of the greatest battles in
all modern warfare. 1t was fought
between the Allies and the French
on 18th May, 1745. and on French
soil The great General Maurice SAKE
"a genius of splendid gifts-cOm-
manded the French---and the Allies.
(British, Dutch and AustrianS), were
commanded by the young Duke Of
Cumberland. an English soldier. The
army of Sake was several thousand
stronger than the Allies, the latter
numbering but $4,000. Sake was pros
trate from dropsy. and had to be car
ried on a stretcher into the battle. He
was beyond doubt the greatest soldier
in Europe then. The position he Sc
lected was very strong. and it was
greatly strengthened by his prepara-
ton His position seemed impregna-
BILE. and his army was superior in its
makeup. This famous battle mas
been set forth with wonderful clear
ness. and no battle is better under
stood by those who have studied hlSto-
ry Saxes generalship was consum-
mate. The Allies fought with great
courage and Vigor. But the position
and numbers of the French were too
strong for the Allies in spite of the
magnificent daring and desperate cour-
age If any part of the Allies out
stripped in dash and energy and
bravery the others, it was the British,
for on no battlefield were they ever
greater or more daring. The fght
| ragged with terrific destruction 1t
would take a column to give even a
glimpse of the daring and the losses
and the manner of assaults. ] give
one passage from a British account of
an advance of a part of the British
column:
"As the troops. with a great shout,
/ began to move down the incline, the
enemy's batteries opened fire with in
Simultaneous effect. From Eu to Fon-
tenoy was but eight hundred PAGES,
and so with heavy cannon playing on
their flank at distance of only two
hundred PAGES from its centre, they
reached the bottom of the raVine. IL
was Crawford afterwards declared.
the most glorious sight he had ever
Witnessed. At every step the fire in
creased i'm fury. The round shot
ploughed up the ranks, Telling whole
fields at a time whilst storm Of
caewed balls, splintered sword blades.
hints. Jagged glass. and broken iron,
burst i'm their faces and overhead,
striking men down in every direction,
and inhicting the most hideous
wounds Still the irresistible battalions
| held on, laundering back the roar OF
the cannon in a hurricane of cheers.
and answering to voices of their o.
fcers calling on them to close UP the
gaps with the SteadineSS Of q parade
The whole battle was panoramic
view of splendid charges, the most gal
F.! liant displays of resolute courage, and
| the destruction of thousands of men.
such was the hardy courage and per-
tinacity of the British, that the
great SAKE himself when he saw at
| one stage of the battle all his plans
! falling. his Cavalineir losing twenty
seven officers at another moment:
'Fitzjamess Dragons were seen
! galloping to the rear, the next the
! Gardes du Corps were stopped by q
| discharge which emptied four hundred
! and sixty of their saddles. The Gen
armerie coming straight into action,
af..f a forced march from Dou"' we're
| put out again in a few minutes. II
was i'm vain that the battalions dc
Normandie. des VaisseuX, and de Ia
Couronne attempted to stem the tie;
! thew lost their colonies and half their
| rank and file. No less than thirty-nine
general officers had fallen in heading
these repeated rushes. How was IL
| possible paSsionately demanded SAKE,
| pausing where whole lines of the
marines lay fallen in the very order
| of their attack, that such troops
should be anything but victorious
| But they were defeated at last by
numbers. and the strong position OF
| the French An eloquent and graphic
| English writer, Mr.. Frederick Dixon.
saws of the British valor at Fontenoy:
"The battle-ground of the British
army is the world. 1t extends from
| the Heights of Abraham to the New
Zealand Bush and from the pagodas
| of Pekin to the desert about tho
| Pyramids Yet in all that vast country
| it is doubtful if there lies entombed
| a greater company of heroes than the
men who are sleeping on the Flanders
| hillside by the orchards of Fontenoy."
The great SAKE. victorious upon q
bloody field of battle, long after wrote
| in highest admiration of the English.
after recalling their splendid deeds:
81 question whether there are many