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

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    pourt 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 , " wluch forms " the best and most readable history of the Affghan war . " In 1846 , having shares in the Great Western Railway , he published two pamphlets in favour of the broad gauge . But these occasional vents for his intellectual energy were not sufficient . He was impatient of obscurity and inaction , notwithstanding his languid constitution , and became in 1846 the director of an atmospheric railway , which was never constructed . But

    he was destined for better employment . In 1847 , a letter from Lord Grey 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 England 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 ROAD TO THE TRENCHES . * ' Leave me comrades—here I drop" No , Sir , take them on ^ - " All are wanted—none should stop" Duty must be done . ¦ " Those Whose g-uard you take will find me . "As they . pass below . " So the soldior spoke , and staggering Foil amid'the snow . And ever on . the dreary heights Down came , the snow .

    " jMcn . it must bo as he asks ; " Duty must be done : ¦ " Far too few for half our tasks , " VVe can spare not one . . " Wrap him in this : I need it less : " Fcttr not—they shall know . •*' Mark . the place '—yon stunted larch . " Forward ! On they go . . And silent—on their silent march Down sank the snow : ' O ' er his features , as he lies , Culms the wrench of pain ; CJose , faint 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 V' No ! Look , a little growing heap , Snow above the snow , Where heavy on his heavy sleep —Down fell the Snow . Strong hands raised him , voices strong Spoke within his eacs :.. Ah , his dreams had softer tongue , Neither now he hears . One more gone for England ' s sake Where bo many go . Lying down , without complaint , Dying in the enow . Starving , striving for her sake , Dying in the snow .

    Simply done his soldier ' s part Through long months of woe , All endured with soldier heart , Battle , famine , snow : Noble , nameless , English heart , Snow-cold , in snow . This of itself were sufficient to give immortality lo Henry Lushington . The essays in the present volume arc three : — " Italian * War , 1848-49 . ' — I . The Struggle ; II . The Defeat ; and , III . Giuseppe Giusti ; " the two first being reprinted from the Edinburgh , and the last , from the British M 1 * 4 ^ H Aft 4 ^* AA # * M J A »* / A «* «* M -5 . M V 4 it 4 * 3 < fr «** 4 S J "» ^» J ** W 4 » J \ rM « % rt h 4 * I * r ± Quarterly ReviewGiusti accepted the

    * ^ , was as poet of the Italian movement to which the preceding essays related . " Never , " says Gualtorio , a contemporary historian , " was a sharper assailant of tyranny and its slaves or interested sycophants . . . . . His versos will livo as tho best picture of tho manners of his times—of tho political passions , and , so to speak , tho inflammatory humours , of tho sooioty in which he moved Ilia ( loath was not one of the least misfortunes which accompanied or followed close upon tho memorable doient of Italy . " His productions consist of lyrical satires , first circulated in manuscript , then in part published under tho modest name of " Versos . " Tho

    state of things , Mr . Lushington remarked , t ' m which society is , and tho loading article is not , has often been regarded as tho very state in , which tho epigram of conversation is most in demand , and consequentl y most fUUy supplied . Tho commercial princi ple is verified oven in the any manufacture of witticisms , and 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 pome 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 , Berangef 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 thing which ought to be attacked and destroyed ; and 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 not attempt to remove his subject to a distance , either of place or time ; he 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 Arnaldos . " The " Stivale , or Boot" 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 . " Girella , or the Weathercock" is another , which is dedicated " to the blessed sotil of Signor Talleyrand . "

    It was not until 1847 , that Giusti appended his name to his poems , when he published a small volume ; one of these entitled "Congresso dei Birri " is celebrated , and was effective in its day . The poet died within three years afterwai-ds , 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 hi season , and should be read for the explanation of the events now passing in Italy .

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    THE CRUISE OF THE PEAKL BOUND THE WOULD . With an Account of the Operations of the Naval Brigade in India , By the Kev . E . A . Williams . M . A ., Chaplain Koyal 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 and seamen of the royal

    navy leaving their ships , and taking ^ then * guns seven or eight hundred miles into the interior of a great continent , to serve 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 he writes is simple and unadorned . .

    The Pearl was the first of the new class of 21-g-un corvettes which had been commissioned , and in 1855 left Woolwich for Portsmouth , where it was intended she should ^ join the fleet , which was assembling for the third expedition to the Baltic . She wont out to sea for a trial trip , then returned to Spithcad , when , not being wanted for her original purpose , they loft on tho 30 th May 1856 , and on the 9 th Juno arrived at Madeira . In four days they were cm voyage for Rio de Janeiro , and in about a month's time anchored in its magnificent harbour . In less than another they had entered the Straits of Magellan , and in a few days more

    emerged into tho Pacific Ocean . She ultimately oontinuod at tho Pacific station' until April , 1857 . Hero wo must discontinue minute detail , and ' at a stride , find tho Pearl y after having visited 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 the hands of tho rebels ; and shortly after a Chuoklidar waved his standard over tho rioh and fertile province of Goruekporo . Wo pass on to tho action at Sohunporo , which our chaplain dosoribos so technically , that wo must oontont ourselves with stating that tho rebels fled , and were followed up in hot pursuit . Two hundred British seamen had

    been opposed to six thousand Indians , and prevailed , without the loss of a single man . " Por several days successively prisoners continued to be taken , one of whom was a Sepai of the 10 th Kegiment of ^ Native Infantry . " Following the routine at that period of the war , he was blown away from a gun in the presence of the assembled troops , explanations having been given to the Gorkhas that tliis was not the English method of treating prisoners taken in war , but was only inflicted in this special

    case when the crime committed 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 lashed to it with his back to the muzzle , and met his end with remarkable apathy . - He acknowledged having been engaged on the 26 th , and he must have been zealous in the cause he had espoused , for he had gone out to the battle unarmed , waiting to take the place of some fallen comrade , whose arras he could uppropriate . "

    We next have to dp with the . crossing of the Gogra , and the Battle of Phoolpore . Touching the last , the chaplain relates , that it was the only action in which he had seen the Gorkhas make a " kookrie charge . " . " The kookrie is a erooked-bladed knife , varying from twelve to fifteen inches long , and 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 kamarbandj or girdle . They place implicit 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" NepauJ , their greatest chiefs wear them , mounted either with gold or silver , and sometimes splendidly adorned with jewels . When 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 sharp vblley was over , and the enemy had retired to a little distance , our line advanced , and the Ramdhul regiment was persuaded to try the effect of a charge through some thick crops and a tope where it was pnssihle a few of thfi finemy might 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 , who performed the work with remai'kable expedition . The walls of the houses were two or two smd a-hali 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 act . Sometimes , if this failed , he opened his wide mouth , and bit the top of the wall , and pulled down loosened and detached pieces with his trunk , and then , with the wall thus mutilated aiu . 1 -weakened ,

    he tried the pressure of his skull again , levelling u village with marvellous rapidity . Near tho vilhige where this feat was performed , they hud a brisk encounter with the enemy , who assaulted them in large numbers , but was nevertheless totally deleatoil . Again and again after this were tho rebels beaten . —at . Huvreah , at Debroah , at Doonmronhgunge , and at Amorha . We could have wished tlmt these aliah' 9 had been described with , a more bnlliant pen ; but it must suffice to state that all were highly creditable to the Naval Brigade of the Pearl . His Excellency , the Viceroy and Oovornor-goncral , thus acknowledges their services rendered to tho state : —

    " Disembarked on tho 12 th of September , IM < , thoy have for fifteen months fbrinod a main part ol tho small force to which the security of tho wide district of Goruckporo , and of tho country adjoining ir > has been entrusted , and which has held during Unit time important advanced posts , oxposod to constant attack from tho strongholds oi' tho rebyls . " The duty has been arduous and harassing , uut it has boon cheerfully and thoroughly performed , ana tho discipline of the Pearl ' s Brigade has boon auniivablo . Tho Gazettes of tho Oth and : Ji » rd of Marcli , 27 th April , 11 th May , 22 ml Juno , Gtli and 1 , 'Jth Ju'y , 13 th August , 12 th and loth October , U 3 nl and aot » November , 1858 , and 11 th January , IBM ! , hiivo shown that when tho Gorucknore tflohl 1 ' orcp Has been ongagod , tho Brigade has signally dlstingulsnoa Itself . "

    This testimony was moro tlinn dosoi-vod , nnd Mr . Williams merits thanks for the humble recora hero given . A more entertaining book might hnve

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 3, 1859, page 1014, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2310/page/18/