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Leader (1850-1860), 17th September 1859, Edition 2 of 3, Page 20, 1064 THE LEADER. L No. 495. Sept. 17, 18...

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      1064 The Leader. L No. 495. Sept. 17, 18...

      1064 THE LEADER . L No . 495 . Sept . 17 , 1859 .

      The Italian Campaigns Of General Bonapar...

      THE ITALIAN CAMPAIGNS OF GENERAL BONAPARTE-IN 1796-7 and 1800 : By Gieorge Hooper . With a Map . —Smith , Elder ' and Co . The present throws such a light upon , the past , that it may now be better interpreted than it could at any previous period . Nay , a few weeks will make a considerable difference in the state of opinion . The independence of Italy adopted by France as a cause advantageous to herself is now proved to have been not a mere illusion , of which the Bonaparte of the time might take occasion , for the benefit of a dynasty , but a real European cause , which , apart from all personal considerations , necessarilv arraved the leader of the French

      armies on the side of freedom . Whatever might be the ambition or character of Napoleon , whatever his motive or design , however despotic or self-seeking , his part was necessarily , by the law of events and the control of inevitable destiny , on the side of Italian liberty and against Austrian predominance . The Naj ) oleon of that time and this could , and can , only represent France , and the cosmical relation in which that country stands towards others . The misconduct of the . individual may delay the issue . But the tendency still progresses towards its destined termination , whatever may be the windings or impediments that the stream inay have to master .

      All this was shadowed forth in what has been called the " great design" of Henry IV ., and has since been indicated in the exploits of Napoleon IH . The ultimate form , however , to be assumed may be something very different from that projected by either ; but the spirit of the entire transaction will be the same , and the preservation of the balance of power in Europe the prevailing motive . Mr . Hooper ' s book is not altogether ; enlightened with the experience which is now accumulating , and which brings out the principle above announced in such strong relief ; nevertheless , he writes very sensibly on the general character of the contest . .

      " The first thing that strikes the observer is that the Napoleon of our day has Piedmont for an ally , and not for an enemy . Next , that he has started , not from iJiguria , but from Alessandria and the Po . Thirdly , that he has not had to depend at first upon limited and precarious communications , traversing barren rocks and dangerous shores , but that he has had open to him all the , roads into Italy , including the silent highway of the sea ; and that he has been able to transport men , materiel , and stores , to Genoa and to Leghorn , and to send a fleet of war ships into the Adriatic , as well as to march his battalions over

      the Mont . Cenis . Fourthly , one great fact must be noted ; the contending armies are four times as great as they w , ere in 1796 , and more than three as great as they were in 1600 . Nor is this all : new arms have been invented , ruled cannon and rifled muskets ; new appliances , the electric telegraph used in the field , the apparatus of the photographer , above all the railway and the steamship , which have vastly augmented the locomotive power of armies , lessened their fatigues , and brought them with speed and freshness to the very verge of the field of battle . These are great and important differences . It is true

      that the balance in favour of our day over the- days of old is shared by both sides , though in an unequal degree , for the Austrians have no commanding marine . In 1796 , the people , especially those of Piedmont and the States of Venice were animated by a strong dislike of tho French , In 1859 there is hardly an Italian , except he be a priest , or a noble highly placed in the service of Austria , or an ignorant peasant besotted with superstition , who is not devoted to Franco , because the French chief of 1859 , like his predecessor of 1796 , is regarded as the " liberator" of Italy . "

      The following also merits implicit attention : — 11 It has been seen that in our day the French invading army has had free access to the plains of Piedmont by the Alps , the sea , and the Apennines . In crossing the Mont C 6 nis the infantry wore , reminded of the geniu , a of Napoleon the Fir « t j and the horsemen who lately rodo along the Corniohe to tho gates of friendly Genoa , must also have remembered who it was that opened this flno road . On thoirside , also , the Austrians have made roads that did not eat which

      exist in 1796 . There is the . gr railway links Vienna with Verona , Mantua , and Milan . In addition to tho mountain road through tho Tyrol that , climbing tho Brenner , passes by Trent and dpwn the valley of tho Adige , they have made another road into tho valley of the Adige by the valley of tho Drave . They have alBo connected the valley of the Adige and tho valley of the Upper Adda by a now road , carried over the lofty ridge of the Stelvjo Into tho Valtolino . This road ,

      constructed in part above the limits of the eternal snows , is a marvellous work of engineering . It traverses ravines on bridges , it dives under hills , and descends in steep gradients abrupt precipices . It is regarded as a strong line of military communication with Como and Milan , because it may be easily defended ; but it may be questioned whether , with an insurrection in the Valteline , it would be of great service in a campaign beyond securing a line of retreat , easily closed to a pursuing force ,. or in serving as a route along which a corps might be sent to vex and threaten the rear of an army fronting the Mincib . Then there is a road over the Mont Tonale which connects one of the affluents of the Adige with head waters of the Oglio , and joins the great Lombard

      highway between Milan and Brescia . The road over the lofty Tonale is connected with a road extending westward to the basin Of the little lake Lake Idro , a * passing down the eastern shore of the lake into the rugged and dangerous defile of the Val Sabbia , and connecting it with the base of the Lake of Garcia . All these roads have been , made for the purpose of giving Austrian troops a flank access into the plains of Lombardy . They may be turned against her by a daring chief , who with a sufficient force should carry on a partisan war in the hills and deep glens so suitable for that kind of fighting , because they give access to the Tyrol and the flank of the Austrian line of communication by the valley of the Adige , as well as access to Lopibardy . " .

      It will not be expected that we should p resent any analysis of this work , which obviously contairi's a popular exposition of a story only too often written , and generally known . Of course , the author has endeavoured to throw in new light , and to redistribute the events to serve his own peculiar purpose . The tale is told with great spirit . Mr . Hooper ' s style is good ; his descriptions are graphic , and the course of action proceeds with rapidity and Bonapartean vigour . The author ' s manner is appropriate to the stirring nature of his aruument .

      • "Tuo English Humourists Of Tho Eightee...

      • "Tuo English humourists of tho eighteenth century , " throe of whom , Swift , $ tcclo , and Goldsmith , wore Irishmen .

      Less, Maddening Fight. All Must Pity, As...

      less , maddening fight . All must pity , as Johnso n and Thackeray pity , but who can love ? He put on the surplice for mere earthly views , and it was to him as the shirt of Hercules ! * And next ( could two men differ more ?) of Goldsmith . I thought of him shy and silent ( for he was a dull boy , we read , and never learned the art of conversation ) , chaffed by his fellow-students , and saluted by them , doubtless , in the exuberance of their playful wit , as Demosthenes , Cicero , & c ., & c until he might have felt himself , like his own " Traveller , "

      " Remote , unfriended , melancholy , slow , ' had there not been the " eternal sunshine " of genius and the manifold soft chimes of poesy , to make his heart glad . "He was chastised by " tutor , for giving a dance in his room , " ( was it a prance a la Spufgeon , and for gentlemen only ; or was there a brighter presence of " sweet girl-graduates with their golden hair ? " ) " and took the box oh his ear so much to bis heart , that he packed up his all , pawned his books and little property , and disappeared from college . " * Horace Walpole speaks of him as " an inspired idiot , ' and Garrick describes him as one " for shortness eall'd Soil , Who wrote like an angel , and talk'd like poor Toll ;" but I take leave to think that " the Deserted Village , " a tale told by this idiot , will be read when Walpole is forgotten ; and I believe the author to have been as deep as Garrick . "

      Other thoughts follow on those—reniiniscencies and associations without number , indicating that the Oxonian , fast , as he might be , was not altoo-ether unread , though not overburtliened with such reading as destroys human wit , and makes a man respectable and dull . We regret to say , that in more than one instance , the undergraduate gives reason to . doubt of his thorough resj > ectability ; that he is never dull we are willing to state with , more readiness . The style is , to us , somewhat remarkable , and we detect in it the juice of the lemon . Sometimes * the author indulges in verse . Here is a specimen . THE BELLE OF THE SHANNON , t

      i . With swate sensashuns , Her hair ' s the brightest , And palpatashuns . Her hand the whitest , Ami siispifJVShuus , iler Stt-p the li-ht .-sf ,-Which thrill me through ! Ah me , those fate ! Here in Limerick , city You need not tell a-Of maidens pretty , -bout Cindcre la , A tender ditty ; Fox- lacrs excel a-I'll chant to you . -ny boots you'll mate . ii vin . With maid and man on , With look the purest , A stamer ran on , That ever tourist , Where silver Shannon From eyes azurcst , In glory glames ! Saw anywhere , Shure , all big rivers I met her blushing , He bates to shivers , Ab I went rushing . Rowling majestic . F or bitter beer , down This filing o Strames ! The etibin stair . There , blandfy ' baming , Then she sat and smiled , As we went standing , where , ... „ ,. _„? Och , was I draining ? On luggage piled there t I firat did note , She «» c boguiU'd . -nc er Such a swate fairy , A smilo Tiko that ! As super mare . And 1 began to No . nor vet in acre . Compose a canto ® w o ' vfc ^« : r lltctiu ' IV . Her . very bonnet A * Dcsarves a sonnet , I ' ve road in st ° X < And I'd write one on it ,. What chides of Bjo « 7-If I'd the tlmo . Knights « rand »'"•«? % But something fairer , For love have v , routfM . And dear , an < T rarer . But ne ' er w » ; clid , In ooorso , tho wearer . Nor torture eruul , Shall hive my rhyme . rd /^ C Ought ' With . eyes like may tcors , X . - a ,.. nt 0 Bt And parfect phayturos , For hor voicela swatoBt , Which alay bate yours , HorBliapo tho Jt , Great Vanus , fair 1 And she conii « h'Bt I'll no ' er forget her , . Of womankind . As llrat I mot hor , And while t Ii t r |\ or , On ( what place bettor ?) I » sunlight a «»> f !» The onbin stair . Oh , biifo , he'll nlvor Her ayual ttnd . Hor darlint faco is _ . x f '; .,,, nnrtocl . Beyond all praises , Troth , since wo \? $ »""»• And thin for graces . I ' vo fe t down- 1 uaitca , There ' s not her like . And dlHooiiHai tea , — All other lassos A oup too o < v Sho Just surpasses , And bo r thnik . »? K ' a As wine mofassoH , We'd bvttor Avltik . W 7 " . Or salmon nlko . Hor health In whloKoy , * IJeforQ wo go . Enough . With those examples row low wJ be satisfied , and for tho roet w , oi course , puj ohaso tho volume itself .

      A LITTLE TOUR IN IRELAND ; being a visit to Dublin , Galway , Connaiuara , Athlone , Limerick , Killarney , Glengarriff , Cork , & c , & c ., & c . By an Oxonian . With Illustrations by John Leech . —Bradburyjfc Evans . Were the Oxonian ' s work other than it is , Leech ' s illustrations would go far to make this book popular . It professes to be the production of a fast undergraduate , who writes satirically enough on current topics . Fox-hunting and lovemaking were among his foibles . His life was an everlasting dream of fair women . His attachments were fierce but fugitivq . He was upwards of six feet high . His thoughts are not always equally elevated . His opinions on places , persons , and things in Ireland arc of the running order .

      Touch and go ; touch and gq . Nevertheless , among these touches , are touches of sincerity , e . gv" The Chapel of Trinity College , like some in our English Universities , is more suggestive of sleep than supplication , gloomy without being solemn , and the light dim without being religious . There was a sacrifice of two inverted hassocks upon the altar , but the idol of the place , a gigantic pulpit , indignantly turned his back on them , and I was not slow to follow his example , with a sigh for

      ' "Tho good old days , when nought of rich or rare , Of bright or beautiful , was dcom'd a gift Too Uboral to Him who givoth all . " Indeed , I felt much more impressed and inclined to take off ray hat in tho Examination and Dining Halls , as I stood in the pictured presence of Irish worthies , and thought of them , and of others not there pourtrayed , in all their young power and promise . I thought of Archbishop CJssher , who , a boy of eighteen , contended with tho Jesuit , Fifcss-Symonds , and was designated by his opponent as " acatholicorum doctissimus . " I thought of Swift

      as woll I might , having recently road , for tho third time , that most touching casay on his life and genius frorn tho master hand of Thackeray . * I could cry over that lecture any time ; there is so much noble sympathy in it of one great genius with another — such a tender yearning not to condemn , and , all the while , such a grand , honest resolution to take side with what is right and truo . I thought of Swift , 11 wild and witty , " in tho happiest days of his unhappy life , getting his degree , " apcoiali gratid " ( as a most particular favour ) , and going forth into tho world to bo a disappointed , miserable inan <—to fight against weapons which himself had welded , a hop < s-

      Thackeray. * * .'., Atfiimnv's Most T Th...

      Thackeray . * * . ' ., ATfiimnv ' s most t Tho ' tmo and'mfptro are ^ m ^ ^ Jdf ^ musical voruos in praise of Tho toll * q / *«? , £ x '»«» from ( in t This luggage included a long narrow box , aa J ^^ ,. aperture attBol ^ n thoro emerged from ° t 0 ' ] 1 } , „ ,, >) m oook ^ B head , oxhlbitiner ( dosplto the pwwiMg ° r >> »» ^ oxnfosBlon of sublime misery . I doubt whothor tn »" wl « ovor take heart to 3 proaa his tali again .

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 17, 1859, page 20, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_17091859/page/20/