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    ^^ ]JSE X4<BlA.DB^. [No. S29 * Saturday,...

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    BE BAZANCOURrS WAR CHRONICLES. The Crime...

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    SALAB FOR THE SOCIAL. Salad for tho. Soc...

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  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

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    : An Unknown Kingdom. ' First Footsteps ...

    -jUheta « d ia Europe ** manufactures adapted to the Afriow market , 'E ! ££ !^& : w £ ^ - J oarne y was « pro gress , an Enghsh officer , S 5 ^ j £ re » e * w * b engaged near the coasta ? quir . i ^ into the naUre iSSTo ^ SS * iad the ^ ativan routes , . <** £ * *» maritime mouo-S ^ sfcetehing all places of interest , and making a yanetr of ateteorES ^ TS ^ ther Observations . Another , laeutenaat bpeke , was di-SSSto land a * Bunder , cm tha Somai coast , penetrate beyond iWraaritim * tine of hill * , trace the course and watershed of the Wady Nomdi and collect specimens of the reddish earth which is supposed to denote the presence of gold . He was unable to reach the celebrated Wady , but hiMournal of three months' adventure , appended to Lieutenant Burton ' narrative ,- is of considerable interest and value . As a contribution , therefore , to Afirtcan geography , and as a fresh and graphic picture of life and manners in the little known interior of East Airica , Lieutenant Burton ' s account of his journeys and of his visit to the capital o £ the ancient Hadiyah Empire mast take its place in the Library of Historical Travel .

    ^^ ]Jse X4<Bla.Db^. [No. S29 * Saturday,...

    ^^ ] JSE X 4 < BlA . DB ^ . [ No . * Saturday , fifiv ' ¦ ' ¦¦— — ' ¦¦ —

    Be Bazancourrs War Chronicles. The Crime...

    BE BAZANCOURrS WAR CHRONICLES . The Crimea * Eapeditio * toth * Capture of Sebastc & ol : Chronicles of the War in the JEast , Jromi £ s- Commencement to the Signing of the Treaty of Peace . By the Baron de Bazancouxt , chaiged with , a Mission to the Crimea by his Excellency the Minister of' PubStc Instruction . Translated from the French , by Robert Hbw » Goold , MLA .. 2 vols . Sampson Low , Soa and Co . Etkbt stage of the prbwress of this work has been unfortunate . Not that the courtly writer himself conceives or could conceive that the whole thing , including tie cbqlcB of the Baron de Bazancourt , as the . chronicler of the war , Kas not been perhaps the most felicitous , thing done these three years . We hive , not the . least doubt that tie Baron deBazancourt looks upon Jiimself as the most fortunate of men , and his book as t 5 » e most . fortunate of lace the book

    works . Nevertheless we say it is unfortunate . la the first p ¦ was to be done to order ; in the next place the-Baron ' s conception of the role lie was to play was rather that of a claqueur , or showman , than that of in historian—a fine point of view from which to write the chronicles of a war . No sbbner was the Baron ' s first volume in print than it formed hostile < ritfcs—notablyv a weJl-fcnqwn and capable pen in Siacktcood ' s Magazine No soomer was * the second volume published than it was met by a universal -tmtcry from the English press enforcing .-a charge of something more than tinfairness ; and this general reprobation of the work was followed by a ^ hort official notice in the Moniteur repudiating the alleged official character -of the liodfe V of whictmore anon . Lastly , so closel y does misfortune tread < m tSielieeisvof tne poor Baron , that the very title of his-book , when rendered not true descriion of the contents of

    into English , ceases to be not only a pt the volumes , but not a true translation of the title the official chronicler bestowed on his own book . The Baron de Bazancourt , knowing what he ¦ was about , was content to call his volumes " L'Expedition de Crimee jusqu'a la Prise de Sevastopol : Chroniques de la Guerre d * Orient , par le Baron de JBasanCourt , Charge ^ de Mission en Crimee par S . Exc . le Ministre de l'ln-« truction Publique . ' * But bis translator makes an addition to this title by interpolating after the phrase «* Chronicles of the War in the East" the -words " from its Commencement to the Signing pf the Treaty of Peace . " TPhe work of the Baron de Baeancourt was already intrinsicall y so erroneous , * hat it scarcely recniired the finishing touch given by Mr . Gould to make -even its title-page iaise . The Chronicles , such as they are , extend to the taking of Sebaetdpol and no further . They totally omit what Mr . Gould ' s title implies they contain—the narrative of the war after the fall of Sebastof » ol . Tnere were movements made , and movements not made . In judging <* f tihe conduct of the campaign , especially so far as tbe French are , concerned ,

    it ia essential to knovr why certain movements ^< ere made , and why others were not made . Now Mr , GouW ' s title implies tbat this period of the war is included in the story supplied by De Bazancourt ; and hence , we eav , since the wily Frenchman inew better than to attempt to deal with a subject involving the reputation of a French Marshal , it is unfortunate for him that bis English translator ehould , by trying to cover a great omission with a false title , have made that omission so conspicuous . m The apparent object of the book seems to have been the depreciation of British services m the war ; the vindication of the French commanders from . adverse criticism , and the exaltation of the Emperor Napoleon into a consummate strategist . By dint of suppression and misrepresentation , M . de Baeanoourt continues to make out a superficial case for his ^ clients . Had he , however , carried on hie narrative beyond the capture of the Malakhofl , lie would have had to devise reasons that would account for the detention of 4 jfae Turks ji * thd Crimea , and the inactivity of PeHaeier . That would not Kttte been * fro eaey as the slandering of Lord Raglan , and it was , therefore , ¦ ev & dfcd / ' ' '" ¦ ¦' -. - . ¦ ' ' .

    „ . . ' T *© feiBtbry of' tbe volumes is almost sufficient to condemn tliem . In JF « Wua » y , , l «& 5 i the Baron de Baaancourt was sent to the Crimea by M . Fortoul fbr the expreea purpose of concocting a history of the campaign . Who was Fortoul ? 'The Minister of Public Instruction . The work , therefore , to be accomplished was to be of such a character as would suit the view » of the Director of Public Instruction ; that is , the instruction to be < jonvey » d was to be such as the Emperor would approve . Under these oir--Ottmstanees , what wonder that De Bazancourt should produce a French vomanoe of the war ? France must have glory ; here was glory dished up to

    fcy ^ the *! Imperial chronicler . Accredited the camp by Marshal v oillant , Zta [ BaC « Sxo < mrttook up his quarters there , and got together the odds and -ends of personal experience that help to make up this history . He also had jtooeM tD'doc ^ Mttmjto , snbh as the unpublished despatches of the French commaiMtar * and the < Sfameh Emperor . When ¦ we have added that tho product of tbe < B «* pft * tr labour , wwi . published with a dedication to the Emperor on its front , < md < n ihiitfwlionthat the Emperor had accepted-that dedication , we ohall ae 4 d to toil-the r « aden little more to make him aware of the contents afthe volumoa beforei us . We n » ed scarcely say that in the narrative of De Bakancourt the enaref of the Bngliah ia the Alma was of the most trivial kn & V tjurt Inkerman was won by th « Frenoh , -who condepcended to march Wthe aid of the EnglishV and that in the siege it ia tho English who are

    never in tame , and who are not able to carry on the works they commence . M . de Baeancourt , who nearly omits the English rnom the battle of the Alma * , quite forgets to state the . original wrong direction , was given to the siege by : tbe French , engineers ; that the p laoewas not assaulted in October , 1854 , partly because French batteries failed , blew up , were snuffed out , and what not . The translator of these volumes coolly tells us that the ' * facts " stated by De Bazancourt are authentic . No doubt the " facts" are ; but the difficulty in this case is to determine what are the facts * The statements of this writer are certainly not facts * An illustration of this is to be found in the explanation of Lord Raglan ' s death . It is one of the objects of De Bazancourt to adulate the Emperor , Now it seems that in the spring of 1855 Louis Napoleon sent out a plan of campaign to the Crimea which involved field operation . The plan is undoubtedly ingenious , and looks very well upon paper ; in fact , it is one of those plans : which almost anyone at all

    acquainted with military matters could design . Lord Raglan stoutly held out against this plan . Considering all the circumstances , he preferred direct operations against the place ; It offered the least risk—it was capable of the greatest development . One consequence of this dissidence was the recal of General Canrobert , and it is certainly evidence that the Emperor Napoleon preferred the military judgment of Lord Raglan on the spot to his own at a distance ; that he recalled his own incapable general , and appointed Pelissier to the chief command , with these instructions : * ' Coriformez-vous ^ iutant que possible aux instructionsdonnees ; s'il y a ueoessifcedeles modifier , quecesoit d ' acord avec Lord Raglan . " The fact was that Lord Raglan and General

    Canroberfc could no longer work together—had not been able for a long time to work together . And -well they might not , for if we may believe our voracious chronicler , Canrobert was for actively pushing the siege at Christmas . ' On the 18 th of June it was arranged tbat the p lace should be assaulted . Baron de Basancourt does not tell us that Pelissier forgot the injunctions of his master , nor that he changed the whole plan of attack agreed on between himself and Lord Raglan . Bearing all these things ia mind , we only ask the reader to inspect the following specimen of the Baaancourt mode of writing history . We prefer the original to the translation of the " facts , " as Mr . Gould so politely calls them : —

    La journee du 18 join avait produit dans 1 ' esprit de Lord Raglan nne Emotion profond & nent douloureuse qu'il ne chercha pas h dissimuler . Malgre' toutes lea apprehensions , ma ] gr < £ tous les obstacles et toutes lea difficult ^ sans cesse sorgi £ saat « s , il avait pousse a la continuation du sidge direct ; il a' ^ tait oppos ^ de tout son pouvoii au projet d'investissement , et avait entraine la demission volontaire du Ge ' n ( Sral Canrobert par son refus de coop ^ rer h ce mouvement . Si , dans les evehements qui sc passaieni et dans ceux que ravenir . tenait en reserve , la responsabilite' du Gene ' ral Pelissier ftait grande , celle de L ^ SflElaglan e " tait plus grande encore peut-6 tre ; car eUe avait pTe * c ^ d ^ celle du nonvean general en chef de l'araa ^ e francaise ., Iaj ^ e * ndral anglais donna dans aa pehsee un ' e importance immense it ce revers passager de nos armes , et d « vant tant de sang rdpandu , devant lea eflForts brise ' s de ses he " rolques soldats , le doute lui vint aussi , et avec ce doute une crnelle amertume qui serra son coeur navr ^; la male tranquillity du Gdne ' ral Pelissier , qu'il alia trouver a la batterie Lancastre , ne put effacer les douloureuses impressions qui s'etaient eznpareea de lui ; il retourna siiencieux et abattu vers son quartier general , dont il ne devait plus sortir que dans un cercueiL

    En effet , dix jours apres , e'est-a-dire le 28 juin , Lord Raglan expira ontre liiut et neuf heures du soir . That page from the book of our imperial friend is worth whole volumes of comment . It is all but totally untrue . Lord Raglan died of the cholera , and not of remorse because he had declined the responsibility of carrying out Louis Napoleon ' s plan of campaign . We have neither space nor time for a detailed examination of these volumes . What there is of value in them—certain authentic documentsmight have been comprised in a twentieth of the space . The thing actually required—an account of the movements of the French army—could have been better supplied by the barest narrative of some military man in a quarter of the space ; and then , perhaps , the style would have savoured less of Mantilim and more of Cresar .

    Salab For The Social. Salad For Tho. Soc...

    SALAB FOR THE SOCIAL . Salad for tho . Social By tbe Author of « Salad for the Solitary /* Bentley . The componnder of this Salad says that old books by £ reat authors are not in everybody ' s reach . Was that his reason for publishing a volume which contains very few references to great authors , or to old books ? He seems to have exhausted his ori g inality , his essence of brown-backed folios , his subtleties of obscure philosophers , his rare anecdotes and quaint epigrams , in his chapters for the Solitary , which really were the results of curious and

    eccentric reading . But , in this book , he imitates himself ; quotes Sydney Sinith , Southey , Disraeli . Hood , Leigh Hunt , and Talfourd ; relates stories of Currant and O'Connell , of Rowland Hill and Sheridan ; treats of natural history , law , literature , and the toilet , in commonplace essays , based on Eo pular authorities , and , in fact , fails altogether to make good the claims of is book as a treasury of choice sentences and illustrations from " fm ^ rant scarce old tomes . " Wo do not say that tho volume is unamusing . It is light , pleasant , easy , but not what it pretends to be . We shall merely be able to pick out from its ten chapters some good materials for tublo talkfragments that float in a redundance of familiar frivolity . This sort of noto is useful , but it scarcely adds to the flavour of the

    Salad : — Nowhere is paper bo much used aa in the United States . In Frunm , with 85 , 000 , 000 of inhabitants , only 70 , 000 tons are produced yearly , of whiuh ono-Bovcntu is for exportation . In England , with 28 ^ 000 , 000 of inhabitant ** , ti ( J , 0 O 0 tons are produced ; while in this ooun try tue amount is uearly aa groat m in Franco and England together . As gossip , the account of Lncktngton is oppropriato in a ohaptor oa bookcraft : — James Lackington—the well-known London bookseller—may be said to have ostabllshedTila claim to our notice from the publication of his " Autobiography . " Vrom tho sbadMof obscurity , he was Indobtod to thrifiintsa and parsimony , no low tli » u to his untiring b « m 1 « nd xortlous , for hi * ultimate distinction . Although wo m » y not

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), July 12, 1856, page 18, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_12071856/page/18/