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450 T J± -fci .Li JB A JJ JB J&. i- ^___...
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THE NEW ZEAL ANDERS. New Zedlcmd, or Zea...
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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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Kars And Kmety. Narrative Of The Drfnce ...
with a . view to cover the entire ground with lines of fire that Colonel Lake prepared « nd superintended a plan of field works , commanding every avenue of attack , and creating a duster of minor fortresses wherever the enemy could have menaced with * his batteries , either the town or its external defences . The winter and spring of 1855 were spent in preparations . Towards the end of May the , Russians approached . Early in Jusne their divisions came in view ; the Turkish outposts were attacked , and the long contest was begun . Had the Ottoman cavalry behaved with proper spirit , the Cossacks might on this occasion have been thoroughly five to
routed . However , the campaign bad been opened . From thirtyfifty thousand men of all arms were before the place , under Mouravieffwell-disciplined , and abundantly supplied . So much alarm was caused by their appearance that , on the 20 th of June , Lord de Reddiffe wrote to Lord Clarendon : "It is bis { the Seraskier ' s ) opinion that the positions at Kara ^ re not tenable against tbe enemy . " All direct communications with Erzeroum were cut off . And now , when too late , it was found that Redpathism had been at work in the stores ; vast quantities of provisions existed only on paper ; blocks of stone had been put with the flour in sacks ; the food of the garrison had been embezzled .
With the course of the struggle between the army inside and the army -outside the public is already familiar . The narrative , as presented by Colonel L » ake , is solid , serious , authentic , and illustrated by a variety of important documentary matter . It is a military study of rare value , and should become a class book in military schools . Many a future Williams may imbibe from it the inspiration that will enable him to told some future Kars against . the watchfulness and superior resources of a formidable foe- We shall confine our notes , however , to those passages in which justice—reluctant and grudging justice , we are sorry to say—is done to the name and deeds of Kmety 9 the chivalrous Hungarian general to whom so much was owing upon every memorable day in the history of the Kars siege . At the battle of Injfi-Dereh , according to a despatch from General Williams , dated February 13 , 1855 , he was one of the few who endeavoured , by personal bravery , to encourage the soldiers when abandoned by their officers : — Since that battle General Kme * kept the outposts , and -was the eye of the army until it went into winter-quarters ; and he is still the officer in charge of the advanced
posts of Kars . General Williams , in the same despatch , complained to Lord de Redcliffe that Kmety was without the pay due to his rank , and that no decoration had been conferred upon him : — Be is one of t & ose men who abstain from complaints or intrigues , and I make this . appeal in his favour without a request on . his part . The great battle of the ' 29 th of September took place . We state Kmety ' s services only as they are stated by Colonel Lake : — Major Teesdale had just reached his tent , and was in the act of dismounting when lie -swts startled by a gun flashing through the darkness directly in front .
This was so extraordinary an event , that he at once galloped off to the battery from whence the sound proceeded . He asked the officer at the gun what was going on , and was then told , for the first time , that the Russians -were advancing . Nothing < : ould be seen in the valley but a darker shade across it than usual . It was now halfpast ibur . The guns continued to fire steadily from the Tachmasb works on the , approaching mass , and soon . all uncertainty ceased , for the Russians , finding that they were discovered , set up a yell from twenty thousand throats . The whole black valley seemed to be Alive with the multitude that came . rushing on in apparently irresistible numbers . The fire ran along the whole line of the defences almost at the . same moment , and showed the busy figures of the Turks hastening to every . assailable point .
Such was the attack , which was continued for hours with signal gallantry by almost overwhelming numbers . Eight battalions rushed upon the Hennison lines , where KLmety commanded in person ; the resistance here was marvellous ; scarcely a ball failed -, the head of the column was several times literally shot away ; hardly a Russian general officer escaped ; the Turks were led out of the batteries by Kmety himself , and the Russians were driven down into the plain at the point of the bayonet : — This column left eight hundred _ nd fifty corpses upon a space not exceeding an
. acre . area . Ktn 6 t . y had saved that portion of the lines entrusted to his care , but he would not rest ; he hurried to the rescue in another part of the field : — Scarcely were the defenders of Yuksek Tabia freed from this crushing fire , when General Kmety , at the head of four companies of chasseurs , came up from the Kennison lines . Kunning into Yarimai Tabia , and springing like chamois amongst the rocks , these gallant soldiers made short work of the few Russians who still held their . ground there , and then re-forming , went gaily on to Tachmasb . Here the fight continued to rage with unabated fury . Only three componies arrived with the noble Hungarian ; the men supplied themselves with ammunition from the pouches of the Russian dead : — Sallies were made for no other purpose than to obtain the needful supply , and at one time part of the garrison were employed in stripping oft' tho pouches of the fullon on one side of the redoubt , and throwing them to their comrades , who were thus ^ enabled to reprdsc tho en emy on the other side .
Oodonel Lake places Kmdty at the head of tho list of officers who , with Turkish troops under their command , undoubtedly bore the brunt of the bottle , in -which ten thousand men repulsed and routed five-and-thlrty thousand , general Williams , in 4 i despatch . describing the afiivir , bore testimony to the CQaepicwras courage wad conduct of his Hungarian ally , -nltohoaagb . he scaroehy gave , _ uo prominence to his share in scouring the victorious r > esult of ( the day . Not a word of allusion was contained in Lord Clarendon ' s reply , wyt u-word Am the Sultana ' s address . But the following paragraph clearly Bhoww the importance of Kmcty ' e aid to the defenders of Itars : — The feasibility © r nTeftmit was now dieousBofl . Secrecy being tho element of a Buccea » £ tt \ Bortio , * h e jAun -woe-only corauded to the Mushir , tho chief of the staff , and -General Km < Sty , ' '
Again ; Betoeat . having been lOecMea njpon , Mktfor Toeadalo vma ordered to prepare , will ) General Kmety , a ( proposition tax the boat line of anarch . They decided that a retreat was imnoasible .
When it had been determined to surrender , no stipulation was made tli the Hungarian Generals Kmety aud Ivallmann should not be delivered o to the Austrians . They knew , therefore , that to capitulate with the ^ t of the garrison would be to risk the execution of the sentence of death passed against them by the Imperial Courts , and preferred to risk an end vour to escape . Kmety , then , was among the foremost of the heroes of well-defend d Kars , and it would not have detracted froni the glory of Sir AVillimn p e wick "Williams had he associated his name in public with the names of I it " and Teesdale .
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450 T J ± -fci . Li JB A JJ JB J & . i- ^_____ SATURDAY ,
The New Zeal Anders. New Zedlcmd, Or Zea...
THE NEW ZEAL ANDERS . New Zedlcmd , or Zealandia , the Britain of the South . By Charles Hursthouse . 3 vols Stanford . We have always valued the native New Zealanders as a race destined to arrive at a high state of civilization . Naturally , or , according to Bolino-. broke , unnaturally , they are particularity ferocious ; but they are intelligent and teachable . The poor Australian seems to belong to that period in ° the history of man when he collects the seeds of wild grapes , leaves t he dead in tree tops to be eaten by birds , roams over uncultivated plains , and dies under the touch of society . We can make nothing of the Ashantee or the Zulu ; the Doko appears as if created for cavern-life and to feed on grubs ; but the Maori is a singularly improvable being . Not that he is easilyreclaimed , but that he has a clear and strong intellect , and , after existing
for a few years among Englishmen , becomes their companion or their rival . Formerly , he liked the flavour of human flesh ; his instincts , in that respect , still force him to despise the poetic doctrine that he who once eats of a cannibal dish will become a madman ; yet the New Zealander has certain British qualities in his moral and physical composition . He has never been scorned by the islanders of the West , who have looked with contem pt upon Kafirs , Hottentots , and even Hindoos , but who have invariably regarded with respectful admiration a people that fed on dogs and sharks , drank blood , and ran , wrestled , and swam with the strength and fortitude of gladiators . Mr . Hursthouse , anxious to apologize for his friends , explains that the
Maoris were not the only cannibals in the world , since the peculiar institution exists among " that great race of men scattered over the Indian Archipelago , Madagascar , South Sea Islanders , and parts of the American continent . " With reference to the Indian Archipelago we suppose he alludes to the Sumatran Battas , occupying a very limited district of a single island . Stedman ' s report that among certain tribes in the interior of Africa the limbs of men , women , and children , are hung up for sale in public shambles is very like an apocryphal story , and wants confirmation . We will not believe , even on the authority of the Sicilian Diodorus , or of St . Jerome , that the ancient Britons were a eannibal nation , although it is true that some Caledonian tribes were accused of deliahtinjj in human flesh , killing the shepherd
and sparing the flock , and capturing young maidens in order to serve up their legs and bosoms at the repasts of chiefs . All these statements ' rest upon the most untrustworthy foundation of gossip and calumny , lleally , then , there is no excuse for such a digression as the following on the part of Mr . Hursthouse : — If in the neighbourhood of the commercial and literary town of Glasgow , a race of cannibals has really existed , we may contemplate in the period of the Scottish history the extremes of savage and civilized life . Such reflections tend to enlarge the circle of our ideas , and to encourage the pleasing hope that New Zealand may produce , in some future age , the Hume and Macaulay of the southern hemisphere .
The celebrated New Zealand chief , Hongi , who visited Eng land m 1820 , is styled " the cannibal Napoleon . " He was the cynosure of London drawingrooms . Why not ? Cabrera danced with the daughters of our aristocracy . George IV . gave Hongi a suit of armour ; other folks gave him guns ; buauiilul ladies smiled in his eyes ; " he was so susceptible of female criticism , that at a party once , when some fair critics were making merry at his tuttoo , he threw himself across three chairs , buried his head , and remained shut up until the company had departed . " This Maori brave was informed on bis way home that some warriors of a rival tribe , ruled by l ' rinco Hinaki , had knocked one of his people on the head . He met Hinaki himself , who sued for peacesat at the same table with him , and argued with him—but to no
, purpose . JBlood must be avenged . There was war , and Hongi , alter a murderous battle , shot his foe , scooped out his eye with a . clasp-knife , ate it , stabbed Hinald in the neck and drank hid blood . The two brother * of tho dead chief , with about three hundred common men , were eaten ; Hongi took twenty prisoners whose lives he wished to spare , but his daughter , having lost a husband in the battle , slew them all with her own hand . Then rushing into a forest , she attempted to kill herself , but failed ; it wub m vain that her friends sought to heal the wound ; the found an opportunity to commit suicide . Mr . Hursthouse quotes a still more striking example o ! tUo lex taliouis in New Zealand . Tainui was a chief who luid slain a rival chicl ,
Pehi . T _ uaai was conquered by the Fohi clan : — Tlio victors returned to the vessel laden with 600 bnskots of human flesh . Somo say that tho ilesh wan cooked in the ship'u coppers ; and it la not improbable , as tuo vessel was completely in tho lmnda of the nativea . On roaolung Kapiti , l'U"ui wn » given up to the widow of Pehi , who took him , with hia wilb and BWter , to liur ° ; house ; giving up half to thoir use . They talked so friendly to one another , aua »« behaved bo kindly to him , that a stranger would huvo taken them for man mm v » rather than for u doomed captive with his deadly foe . She ueod oven U > eloilio niu in her finest gn-rmcntH , and to deck his head with choice fouthord . Ihi * continual" ) about two weeks , until either she hud aafiemblud her friend * , or thought lior viu sufficiently fat for killing . She then suddenly canned him to bo floi / . od nnd bonnu , with hi * arms fetched to a tree ; and , whilnt in this poultlon , slio took a "I" **' , long narrow rod of iron , with which bIio stabbed him in the Jugular urtory , ' "'" his warm blood an it gushed forth , placing nor mouth to . tho orifice . JJe w «« «" wnrds cooked and eaten . native
Cannibalism is now supposed to bo extinct m New Zealand ; the , dislike « ny allusion to it . They tattoo and labour less than / uronoryJ » ° « fewer filnvoB , are aiot so iiwotemtely polygnnawt , and mul nowspnpwB their own Language .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), May 9, 1857, page 18, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_09051857/page/18/
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