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Leader (1850-1860), 27th December 1856, Edition 1 of 2, Page 1243

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      such , demonstrative and demonstrated security , that any interference of theology would be conspicuously absurd . The Rev . Baden . Powell , however , is throughout consistent . The vexed and uncertain questions of the plurality of worlds , the fixity of species , and the Development Hypothesis are treated by him on the same inductive methods , as the unvexed questions of Astronomy or Physics . Herein lies the value of his work ; the charm of style , and the perfect candour of temper , render his exposition remarkable . ^ In this new edition , he has liberally availed himself of the suggestions of friends and critics , to coiTect and elucidate , as well as to enlarge the work , which has greatly profited by the revision . From the new matter we are tempted to add the following extract from his note on Feuerbach ' s Essence of Christianity , a work he has read with his usual candour , and praises with liis usual courage : —

      Whatever may be thought of Feuerbach ' s speculations as a theory of real Christianity , they certainly evince a deep insight into the working of the tendencies of human , nature towards those corruptions and excesses which too often usurp the name of Christianity , with which he seems to confound , it , and the study of which fully explains , on a common principle , the antagonism between that fanatical spirit in its diversified forms and all philosophical views . To those views , even in themselves , the vulgar mind feels a natural antipathy ; and when to these the demands of superstition are added , lve have a ready clue to all the delusions , extravagances , and incoherences popularly broached on such subjects , which are but the expression of a religious animosity against whatever tends to humiliate man ' s imagined self-importance , some instances of which have been adverted to in these Esasys . Hence we may understand the pious horror with ¦ which all new discoveries and -applications of the powers of nature are regarded ; hence the sacred jealousy of inhabitants in other planets ; hence the profaneness of the nebular hypothesis , " the dull and dangerous heresy of the age ; " hence the still more flagrant wickedness of the theory of development , and the high merit of those scientific men who pander to the popular religious appetite by denouncing such views ; hence the sin of geology , and the righteousness of those who seek to do away the offence even by the most transparent subterfuges and evasive compromises . The same spirit descends , on the one hand , to dictate a religious faith In the existence of live toads immured in solid rock from the creation , or full-grown animals brought forth out of the earth ; on the other , soars to the assurance that the whole universe is merely subservient to the supreme dignity and importance of man—the planets created only to be the locality of his future existence—the commencement of ¦/ us species the only epoch worthy the name of creation—the earth , as his abode , the moral centre of the universe , while its position as the jfhysical centre is but reluctantly denied , nay , may be even still open to question . The rotation of the moon on its axis is authoritatively condemned ! and that of the earth itself rests on arguments little better ! Foucault's experiment ( so eagerly grasped at by the Copernicans ) has been explained on quite other principles ! We Are thus in all points veering fast towards the old and orthodox Ptolemaic doctrine , which -will , doubtless , soon be stamped with the imprimatur of the Inspectors , and taught in our national schools , along with the creation of the world in six days , as indisputable Scripture truthj and all impugners of either handed over to the ecclesiastical tribunals .

      Untitled Article

      TWELVE MONTHS WITH THE BASHI-BAZOUKS . Twelve Months with the Bcuhl-Buzouks . By Edward Money , Lieut .-Colonel , Imperial Ottoman Army , and late Captain , Bashi-Bazouks . Chapman and Hall . This is a pleasant book , written in a light , racy stj'le—in fact , that most agreeable of all styles in which the occurrences seem jotted down without premeditation just as they spring up in the mind . Incident after incident , rapidly told , keeps alive the attention and carries the reader along at a good round pace , so that when , after an hour and a half's reading , the end is reached , it is unexpected , and undesired . Captain Money has been thrown amongst scenes of a novel and striking character . The novel and the striking have charms for him . He has an eye to the picturesque . He has also by no means a feeble faculty of depicting , in simple colours , the various military , social , and physical phenomena that he lias witnessed , and which he thinks worthy to describe . It is well to otter observations judicious and sound , in our opinion , about army matters , the results of his experience , and even to be censorious , though politely so , upon those above him . This gives a dash to the tone of the work . He may hereafter be looked upon as an authority , or examined before a commission of inquiry . At all events , he has spoken out , and the truth may take its chance .

      About the middle of July , 1855 , Mr . Money , holding then no commission in any army , . thought he would sec how things were going on around Sebastopol . In the Dardanelles , on his way out , he overheard the Queen ' s messenger entreating the captain of his vessel to stop the steamer , as he had despatches to deliver to General Beatson , commanding the Bashi-Bazouks , or Osmanli Irregular Cavalry , as they were afterwards called , on that shore . The captain refused , as it was not one of his halting places . The messenger was perplexed- In this dilemma , Mr . Money oil ' ered to convey the despatches from Gallipoli , which he did in a riding-dress consisting of nothing but leather—brown withal—leather breeches , leather waistcoat , and leather coat . At the camp nil was in delectable confusion . In front of the commandant ' s house—a low , rambling two-storied building—groups of Arabs ,-Affghans , Turks , Persians , and Albanians were lounging about in uniforms no two ot which were alike , smoking and chatting . Everything presented a free-and-easy appearance . He is introduced to the chief , and presents the despatches . The following conversation then ensues : —^ General Boatson : " How long were you in India ? " u Ten years . " " Were you with your regiment the whole time ?"— "No , sir . " " Ah , you want service with me ? " — "I do , s \ r ; and if you have anything to oiler me , I shall be thankful for it . " " You can ride P "— " I can . " " What rank did you hold in India , or rather what rank do you hold , for I suppose you still belong to the service ? " — "No , I left it eighteen months ago . I was but a lieutenant when I left it . " " Well , I WUI recommend you for a captaincy . Yes , Captain Money ( with an emphasis on the rank ) , you stand posted to tho —th regiment as adjutant . " There is something dramatic in the rapidity of this appointment and promotion . The turn things had taken was perfectly unexpected , vet not so startling as some other cases on record . A Mr . S . a short time before had brought a letter of introduction to General Beatson from Lord Stratford .

      Hie general was in nee 1 of officers at the time . Mr . S . presented himself had audience of the commandant , and left the audience chamber , which he had entered a few minutes before a plain unmilitary Mr . , as Major S in command of an . Arab regiment of Bashi-Bazouks , with pay and emoluments equivalent to at least 1100 * . per annum ; but by a very , to him , lucrative mistake at the War Office , he was gazetted as lieutenant-colonel , which increase of title he derived the benefit of till the disbanding of the corps at the end of the war . Another instance was that of Mr ? G ., a perfect linguist , who came from Smyrna . He was appointed first as head-interpreter , and , for services thus rendered , was shortly after made a lieutenantcolonel , and generally spoken of as Colonel G . Many young clerks who had thrown aside their pens and leaped down from the counting-house stools to embark for the East , procured similar employment because they were on the spot . Of such , materials were the officers destined to discipline and keep in order the wild hordes of Turkey and Albania made . The descriptions of the men , their costumes , their horses , &c , which Captain Money introduces , are very picturesque . He respects the invaluable rule of not giving unnecessary pictures , or saying too much on one subject . A few strokes of his pen convey a-complete sketch of what he wishes to place before the reader .

      Ihe first portion of his book delineates the laxity of discipline and order in the camp , and more than alludes to the incapacity of General Beatson in his management of the wild and irregular soldiers under his command . He does not wish to sit in judgment upon his former chief ; Captain Money only acts like the indulgent schoolmaster towards a favourite pupil . ' He censures his conduct and exposes his errors , but forbears to let the lash fall full upon his shoulders . The following lively picture is a good skit upon camp-life as it presented itself to Captain Money in the Bashi-Bazouks camp at the period of his arrival . " Why do you keep those big boots on ? " said Colonel M——; " take them off and lie down there" ( pointing to a half-sofa , half-bed ) , " have another pipe ; you must learn to smoke with the Bashis . " " Alas , it is an accomplishment Fve possessed some years ; but tell me , is . there nothing to do ? " " How do you mean ? " " - No regimental business ? " " Well , none that I know of . " " Who does your writing work in the regiment ?" " No one , I won ' t have any . It ' s an irregular force , and no red-tapeism is wanted . " " But still there must be some writing—muster rolls , pay abstracts , and things of that sort . " " Oh ! yes , there is , but it ' s easily done . You ' re not smoking . " " Thank you , I ' ve smoked enough . What do you do with yourself all day ? " " Eat ; a little , drink a little , and sleep a great deal . " " Ah ! and what do the men do with themselves ? " "Much the same . " " But you give them something else to occupy themselves ; you have parade sometimes ? " " Yes , two or three times a week ; it won ' t do to work them too much . " ¦ ¦* ' Why ? " " They'd kick if you did . " " What—the men or the horses ? " " Both , I expect ; they are not accustomed to it . " This lamentable display of indolence on the part of their superior officers gave the Basbl-Bazouks the idea that the English were deficient in courage as well as capacity . As a natural . result they became insubordinate and insolent , and at length , through , the weakness of General Beatson , so unmanageable , that he was recalled and General Smith placed in . his stead . At this point , or rather after a short . sojourn in the Crimea , our author was sent to Manastor to take the command of a body of recruits collected there , lie found the same spirit of indeiJendence and reluctance to obey orders in these new levies . But he determined to make the experiment of bringing them into something like discipline ; the experiment was a difficult , nay , dangerous one . But by firmness , by leniency , by cultivating the good-will of his soldiers , he overcame the difficulties and the dangers , and eveutually produced a regiment capable of acting in unison with regular cavalry . To us the experiment is interesting ; as it shows where we may look for valuable aid in the event of a similar war breaking out again .

      Untitled Article

      PUNCH'S ALMANACK . The stationers' shop-windows are now filled with the thousand and one pleasant pictorial fancies which this season of the year always brings forth . These illustrations are among the most agretable attendants upon Christmas ; and we are involuntarily led to wonder how the people got on without them less than twenty years ago . Fancy walking along the streets , and seeing none of these Yuletide woodcuts smiling at you as you pass ! It is not our province to criticize such of our illustrated contemporaries as come within the category of newspapers ; but the genial Almanack of Mr . Punch claims , and must receive , a word of notice , though of course the reader will understand that we arc merely enjoying ' with him that with which he must by this time be fully acquainted . And let it be at once admitted that the subjects of Mr . Leech ' s drawings are such as we have had several times before ; yet what life , humour , and grace—what perennial freshness and exhaustless wealth of fancy—are exhibited in these hackneyed themes of Cockney hunting and fishing , juvenile mischief-inakiug and impudence , young ladyism ( and old ladyism too , for the matter of that ) , domestic felicities and domestic troubles ! How wonderful this power of producing perpetual new faces , each of which is an absolute portrait from human nature ! How pleasant to be introduced to that jolly old Briggs again , dragged as he now is through inconceivable catastrophes of salmon-fishing , in presence of the most self-possessed and metaphysical of Scotchmen ! These Briggs illustrations alonoare , as people are fond of saying , worth the whole price of the number . The most striking picture , however , is that of the dark lane and the garotters ( an extremel y seasonable woodcut ); while , for exquisite lightness , brightness , and airiness , we must turn to the one entitled "A Cavalier , " and feast our eyes on that girl in the balcony ( the bfueheaded one , you know ) , with the round face and the round eyes , looking down into the breezy morning with an expression and action made up of fim and timidity . The only weak things in the Almanack are the first page and the last—the one by Mr . Tenniel and the other by Mr . Leech . The literature of tho number is very buoyant and amusing ; and the legends of certain amiable saints—in which we fancy we detect tho thoughtiul and fantastic pen of Douglas Jerrold—are admirable .

      Untitled Article

      ^ ggg ^ gg Ih . ^ g L E A D E R S : ! ^ - _ , __ _ _ THE , ; , 124

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 27, 1856, page 1243, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2173/page/19/