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    1014 THE LEADER. [JSo. 493. Sept. 3, 185...

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    been opposed to six thousand Indians, an...

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    The Italian War, 1848-0, And The Last It...

    Court of Directors-and the Government . In 1844 he expressed his opinion on some of these in a small volume , entitled " A Great Country ' s Little Wars , " which forms " the best and most readable history of the Aff g han war . " In 1 . 846 , . having shares in the GreatWestern Railway , he published two pamphlets in favour of the broad gauge . But these occasional vents for his intellectual energywere not sufficient .. He was impatient of obscurity and inaction , notwithstanding his languid constitution , and became in 1846 the director of an atmospheric railwav , which was never constructed . But

    he was destined for better employment . In 1847 , a letter from Lord Grev conveyed to him the unexpected offer of the appointment of Chief Secretary to the Government of Malta . He arrived at Malta in 1848 , nor again visited Eng land until 1853 . Afterwards he wrote some poems , which were published in the spring of 1855 , on Inkermann , on the death of the Emperor Nicholas , and other passing events . One of these is quoted by his biographer as possessing a musical and tender melancholy . The beauty of the poem , indeed , compels us to quote it . THE BOAD TO THE TRENCHES . "Xeave me comrades—here I drop" No , Sir , take them on"All are wanted—nose should stop" Duty must be done . . ¦ " Those whose guard you take ¦ will find me " As they-pass below . " So the soldier spoke , and staggeringfull amid the snow . And ever on' the dreary heights Down caine the snow . ¦ " Men , it must be as he asks ; " Duty must be done : - " Far too few for half our tasks , " We can spare not one . " Wrap him in this : I need it less : " Fear not—they shall know , " ilark the place—yon stunted larch . " . Forward ! On they go . And silent—oh their silent march . Down sank the snow . . O ' er his features , as he lies , . . Calms the wrench of pain ; Close , failit eyes ; pass , cruel skies , Freezing mountain plain . ' "With far soft sounds the stillness teems ; Church-bells , —voices low . Passing into English dreams There amid the snow , And darkening , - thickening : o ' er the heights Down fell the snow . Looking-, looking for the mark , ' Down the others came , Struggling through the snowdrifts stark , Calling out his name : " Here , or there ? the drifts are deep : " Have we passed him ? " No ! Look , a little growing-heap , Snow above the snow , "Whore heavy on his heavy Bleep Down fell the snow . Strong hands raised him , voices strong Spoke within his ears : Ah , his dreams had softer tongue , Neither now he hears . One more gone fpr England ' s sake Where so many go , Lying down , without complaint , Dying in the snow . Starving , striving for her sake , Dying in the snow . < ' Simply done his Holdlor ' H part Through long months of woe . All endured with soldier heart , Battle , famine , snow : Noble , nameless , English heart , Know-cold , in snow .

    This of itself wore sufficient to give immortality Io Henry Lushfngton . The essays in the present volume are three :- — " Italian War , 1848-49 . — I . The Struggle ; II . Tho Defeat ; and , III . Giuseppe Giusti ; " the two first being reprinted from tho Edinburgh , and the last from the SrUisfi Quarterly Review , Giusti was accepted as the poet of the Italian movement tawhioh the preoeding essays related . " Never , " soys Gualtorio , a contemporary historian , " was a sharper assailant of tyranny and its slaves or interested sycophants . . . . . His versos will live as tho beet picture of tho manners of his times—of tho political passions , and , so to speak , tho inflammatory humours , of tho sooiety in which ho moved His death was not one of tho least misfortunes which aocompaniod or followed olosp upon tho memorable dofoat" of Italy . " His productions . consist of ivrical satires , first circulated in manuscript , then in part published under tho modest name of " Vorsos . " Tho

    State of things , Mr . Luslrington remarked , "in which society is , and tho loading article is not , has often boon regarded as the very state in which tho epigram of conversation is most in domand , and consequently most fully supplied . Tho commercial principle is verified oven in tho airy manufacture ot witticisms , hnd a similar principle may in

    some degree apply to the yet subtler essence of poetry . A poet , indeed , is born , and it is fortunately as impossible as it would be . undesirable , to prescribe rules for the birth of this or that kind of poet or poetry . The spirit does not always come when it is called for . You cannot create it by calling ; but if it is there , it is the more likely to have come because called for . " Giusti resembles , n some respects , Beranger in France , and Heine in Germany ; but there is no plagiarism or copy in his pieces . " The real master , the constant study , we will not say the model of the Tuscan poet , was . ; . the bitterest of political satirists , the greatest , perhaps , save One , of European poets—the Florentine , Dante . " . . ... " He felt towards the evil which

    he saw as Dante felt , and as all men ought to feel , but as too many of the countrymen of Dante have yet to learn to feel ; that is , as towards a tiling which ought to be attacked and destroyed ; arid that instinct of truth , that preference for reality over convention which is one of . the-. indications of a masculine genius , led him , when he wished to write on modern politics , to do so directly and without disguise . He did riot attempt to remove his subject to a distance ^ either of place or time ;

    lie did not attempt to idealise it . Thus , he has not produced an Arnaldo di Brescia ; but he has produced , in the " Coronation , " in " Giugillino , " in the " Terra dei Morti , " verses , which will outlast and outweigh a score of Amaldos . " The " Stivale , or Soot , " a humorous poem , is one of his great works . It sketches the fortunes of Italy , showing how the poor Boot passed from leg to leg , and is a favourite with the Italians . " Girelhyor the tVeathercock" is another , which is dedicated "to the blessed soul of Signor Talleyrand- "

    It was not tintil 1847 , that Giusti appended his name to his poems , when he published a small volume ; one of these entitled "C . ongresso dei Birri " is celebrated , and was effective in its day . The poet died within three years afterwards , in March , 1850 . We have reason to be thankful to Mr . Venables for his reprint of this criticism on " the Last Italian Poet . " The volume is altogether in season , and should be read for the explanation of the events now passing in Italy .

    1014 The Leader. [Jso. 493. Sept. 3, 185...

    1014 THE LEADER . [ JSo . 493 . Sept . 3 , 185 9

    Been Opposed To Six Thousand Indians, An...

    been opposed to six thousand Indians , and prevailed , without the loss of a single-man . " For several days successively prisoners continued to be taken , one-of whom was a Sepai of the 1 Oth Regiment of Native Infantry . Following the routine at that period of the war , he was blown aAvay from a gun in the presence of the assembled troops explanations having been given to the Gorkhas that this was not the English method of treating prisoners taken in war , but was only inflicted in this special the crime committed

    case when was stained with peculiar heniousness . As was usual with these men under similar circumstances , he walked up to the gun apparently with perfect indifference , was la shed to it with his back to the muzzle , and mot his end with , remarkable apathy . He acknowledged having been engaged on the 26 th , and lie must have been zealous in the cause he had espoused , for ho had gone out to the battle unarmed , waiting to take the place of some fallen comrade , whose arms he could appropriate . "

    ' We next have to do with the crossing of the Gogra , and the Battle of Phoolpore . Touching the last , the chaplain relates , that it was the onl y action in which he had seen the Gorkha s make a " kookrie charge . " " The kookrie is a crooked-bladcd knife , Tarring from twelve to fifteen inches long , find from being sharp at the point , it spreads out towards the centre of the blade , perhaps to two or two and a-half inches broad . It is a considerable weight , and with it they who are expert in its use can deal a deadly blow . It is protected by a scabbard , and worn at the side , in the kamarband , or girdle . They place iinplicit confidence in its use ,, and can , it is said , sever the head from the body of an ox with a single blow . And

    from being the national arms of Isepaul , their greatest chiefs wear them , mounted either ' with gold or silver , and sometimes splendidly adorned with jewels . Wheri preparing for the charge , the line forms in open order ,, either two or four deep , and with a fierce yell , brandishing their formidable weapons high in mid-air , they rush wildly on . After the first sliarp volley was over , and the enemy had retired to a little distance , bur lino advanced , and the Ramdhul regiment was persuaded to try the effect , of a charge through some thick crops and a tope where it was possible a few of the enemy niight have loitered behind ; but on dashing on , brandishing their kookries , and uttering piercing yells , they approached the wood , fired their muskets , and entered , but found the enemy had gone . "

    Our sailors made an adroit use of the elephant . Having to clear away a village , they employed a dozen elephants in knocking down the walls , vrlao performed the work with remarkable expedition . The walls of the houses were two or two and n-half feet thick , and built of strong , tenacious , and compact mud . At the bidding of the mahout , the elephant pushed it with his ponderous forehead , throwing the weight of his body into the net . Sometimes , if this failed , he opened his wide mouth , and bit the top of the wall , nml pulled clown loosened and detached pieces with his trunk , and then , with the wall thus mutilated and weakened ,

    he tried the pressure of his skull again , levelling a village with mai'vellous rapidity . Near the village where this feat was perforjuod , they hml a hrisk encounter with the enemy , who assaulted them in large numbers , but was nevertheless totally deieated . Again and again after this wore the rebels beaten —at Hurreah , at Debreah , at Pooimireuhuunge , and at Amorha . We could have wished that those affairs had been described with a more brilliant pen ; but it must suffice to state tliut all were highly creditable to the Naval Briymle of me Pearl . His Excellency , tho Viceroy and C « overnor-gencral , thus acknowledges ( heir services rendered to tho state : —

    THE CRUISE OF THE PEARL B . 0 UXD THE WORLD . Witli an Account of the Operations of the Naval Brigade in India , By the Kev . E . A . Williams . M . A ., Chaplain Royal Navy .. — Richard Bentley . The services of " the Pearl ' s Naval Brigade in India" are recorded in this volume . These are , in the author ' s words , " of an unprecedented character . " They present " the only example in English history of officers arid seamen of the royal navy leaving their ships , and taking their guns seven or eight hundred miles into the interior of a great continent , to servo as soldiers , marching and countermarching for fifteen months through extensive'districts , and taking an active part in upwards of twenty actions . " Mr . Williams was attached as chaplain to the Brigade during the two campaigns of 1857 and 1858 . The story that ho writes is simple and unadorned .

    The Pearl was the first o £ tho new class of 21-gun corvettes which had beon commissioned , and in 1855 left Woolwich for Portsmouth , where it waa intended she shoulr ^ join tho fleet , which was assembling for the third expedition to the Baltic . She went out to sea for a trial trip , then returned to iSpithead , when , not being wanted for her original purpose , they left on tho 30 th May , 1856 , and on tho 9 th June arrived at Madeira . In four days they were en voyage for Eio do Janeiro , and in about a month ' s time anchored in its magnificent harbour . In less than another they had entered tho Straits of Magellan , and in a few days more emerged into tho Pacific Oooan . She ultimately

    continued at tho /¦ Pacific station , until April , 1857 . Here wo must discontinue minute cletail , and ' at a stride , find tho Poarl j after having visitod the Sandwich Islands and China , at Calcutta , on tho 12 th August . It was feared that Mussulman fanaticism would boil over . , A cloud hung over India . Delhi had not fallen ; Luoknow was in tho hands of tho rebels ; and shortly after a Cliuoklidar waved his standard over tho rich and fertile province of Goruokporc . Wo pass on to tho aotion at Sohunporo , which our chaplain describes so technically , that we must content ourselves with stating that the rebels Hod , and wore followed up in hot pursuit . Two hundred British soamen had

    " Disembarked on tho 12 th of Soptcmbor , lM 'j , they have for fifteen months formed n nmin l ' , tho small force to whioh the socurlty ol ' tlio wide district of Goruokporo , and of tho fcountry adjoining " » has boon entrusted , and which has hold during jnnt time important advanced posts , oxposod to constant attack from tho strongholds of tho robyls . " The duty has boon arduous ami harassing , but it has boon cheerfully and thoroughly poribrmod , nnii tho discipline of tho Pairl ' s Brigade lms boon admirable . Tho Gazettes of tho oth and a . 'ml ol ftliirc" . 27 th April , 11 th May , 22 nd Juno , Glh and lath JuJi 13 th August , 12 th and l » th October , Hard ami ii ( it » November , 1858 , and 11 th January , IBM . i "" ° shown that when tho doruokporo Flehl J «* orco lms been engaged , tho Brigado has simiully dlstingulslieu itself . "

    This testimony was more than deserved , am Mr . Williams merits thanks for tho humble recoru hero givon . A more cntortaining bonk might unvo

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 3, 1859, page 18, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_03091859/page/18/