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BRIALMONT'S WELLINGTON . History of the Life of Arthur Duke of Wellington . From the French of M . Brialmont , Captain on the Staff of the Belgian Army- With Emendations and Additions by the Rev . G . R . Gleig , M . A ., Chaplain-General of the Forces , and Prebendary of St . Paul's . Vols . I and II . : Longmans and Co . This life of tbe . Dake of Wellington is a composite work . It has been produced by an Anglo-Belgian , alliance . Originally written in French by Captain JSrialinont , a Belgian , it has been translated , enriched with additions , and improved by corrections by the Chaplain-General of the Forces . The original enjoys the further distinction of being the first biography of Wellington in the French language . The reader will not , however ,, have ' failed to note that the author is not a Frenchman . Mr . Gleig , in his preface , explains how he came to set his hand to . this "book : —
There was a time when the thought of becoming , sooner or lateT , the biographer of the great Duke "haunted me like a passion . " I even went so far as to open the subject to his Grace himself in his lifetime . But the proposal was met with so much of wisdom , mixed with great kindness , that 1 could not do otherwise than abandon the idea on the instant . It . was impossible , indeed , to fence with arguments which turned upon a generous respect for the reputation of others , or to doubt the fitness of postponing to some future age revelations which , could not be made in the present , except at the cost of much private suffering , aad no small amount of public inconvenience . The subsequent appearance in print of the Duke ' s despatches in print may
be said , indeed , to have so far modified this ' . decision ,-that they make the world very fully acquainted with his career as a soldier and a diplomatist . And if the laudable purpose of his son and successor be persevered in , the materials will be arranged and prepared for the perfect accomplishment of a great task , by some biographer yet unborn . But more than this it would be idle in the present generation to expect . There are confidences in public as well as in private life , particularly among those to whom the destinies of empires have been entrusted , which must continue such—long after both the objects and the subjects of them have passed from the stage . To violate these prematurely could lead only to heart-burnings and confusion .
When M . Brialmont's book was published the dreains of Mr . Gleig's earlier days came back upon him in full force , and he reluctantly consented to become its translator and supervisor . He had known the great Duke ; some of the old friends of our English hero , and the present duke himself , promised aid . These were powerful inducements , and they prevailed . In these two first volumes , beyond the task of turning English into French , Mr . Gleig has not done much . He has interpolated in the text some information respecting the earlier life of the Duke , not to be found in the French original . He Las put in some caveats against the opinions of the author ; notably as they affect the character of the English soldier and the conduct of the British in India . For the rest he has followed the narrative of M .
Brialmont , the chief merit of which , as he justly says , " consists in the skill and knowledge with which he describes the Duke's military operations . " The two volumes before us carry the narrative down to the end of 1815 , the termination of the Duke's ' . military career . It will be the third volume that will contain whatever fresh information respecting ; the civil and political life of Wellington Mr . Gleig can supply . But he deprecates expectation , and repeats the statement already quoted that the " time has not yet come for telling the whole truth , " and that he is " especially restrained as to those ( matters ) about which it is expected that my readers will most desire to be accurately informed . " This is to be regretted , but we admire the feeling which dictates reticence ; sure that the Duke himself , could he be consulted , would be the last man to desire that any additional halo should he thrown around his glorious memory at the expense of the lacerated feelings of others .
As to the mode in which the work is executed we could have desired a little more care and nieeness . The volumes are handsome , solid , and in substance worthy of the hero they commemorate . But it would have been more worthy of his memory to have secured the perfect printing of the book ; to have had no list of errata ; no errors of the press not mentioned in that list of errata . The volumes arc also garnished with portraits , and maps and plans indispensable in a military work . We remark that some of these plans are improvements upon those published in the original French edition ; and that the whole arc clearly printed . But how is it that in the beautiful plan of the buUlc of . Ass ; iye we have a host of distinguishing capitals and no letterpress references to explain them ; making the plan ¦ useless except to those who have seen other plans ? Why is the erroneous section of the plan of the battle of Busuco retained ? Small matters like these may be deemed but slight blemishes , yet they are not undeserving attention when they npnear in a Life of Wellington . On the whole , however , we are bound to say that the map 3 and plans are particularly well
executed—some , beautiful specimens of their kind ; all , having the merit of impressive distinctness . _ M . Brialmont has executed his task well . His narrative of Wellington's military career demands and will receive high praise . He seems to have spared no pains to inform , himself , to have studied his hero , and to have written down his deeds eon etmore . Hence , even where so much has been written before , \ vo have a real book made out of old materials . M . Brialmont has endeavoured to bo , and has succeeded in being , impartial ; and wh « rc ho errs we may safely set down his error to a conscientious mistake in judgment , or to tlio want of information he could not command . In style ho is not ambitious , but contents himself with being clear , vigorous , and nmiily . The narrative Hows on in an easy current , and will carry tlie reader , certainly the military reader , along with pleasure and prolit . In short , the book is soldierlike , as becomes tliu book of u soldier , describing the career of u rioldicr . Wo lmvc especially , also , to remark that M . Biiuliuoiil's criticisms arc valuable , becuuso they are , in . thu main , just , always shrewd and discriminating , never blurred with rhetoric or passion . In his estimate of
the English soldier , we believe he errs ; but he errs because he gives undue weight to some exclamations of the Duke of Wellington , written under the influence of passion , and strong , because intended to produce an instant effect . That the Duke was proud of his Peninsular army is evident from his declaration that with it he could go anywhere and do anything , and from the exception he makes in favour of his " old Spanish infantry " in the sentence of disparagement he rather ungenerously passed upon his Waterloo army . But the Duke ' s standard was high . The more his soldiers and his organization improved , the higher it became ; and no force ever satisfied him except that famous army which he moulded and fashioned himself during six years of warfare in Spain .
The closing scene in the military career of the two great captains of their age , Napoleon and Wellington , so recently and so ably illustrated by Colonel Charras , is worthily treated by Captain Brialmont . He has had an advantage which his predecessors did not possess in the perusal of an important memoir written by Wellington himself in reply to the strictures of the Prussian general Clausewitz , and now for the first time published . Our readers ' will be glad to know that it disposes of many points , and effectually of the error of ignorant and commonplace minds that the Duke was surprised . We have shown in our notice' of the work of Charras the unfounded character of this statement ; and we are glad to find it confirmed by the facts as narrated by the Duke himself in . his plain matter of fact style , and by the judgment of a man of science like Captain Brialmont . It may be conceded that the Duke exercised too much caution in keeping his
troops too long scattered in their cantonments ; but in the face of a firstrate French army , led by Napoleon , to whom so many lines of operation weve open , we can never agree that it would have been " judicious" to have taken up a position ' ¦' with the view of staking all upon one decisive battle . " One proof that it was not necessary to dp so is that the Duke actually concentrated his army within four-and-twenty hours . We are also inclined to think that Wellington acted judiciously in holding the right of his position in strength ; and in keeping a strong reserve far from the field of battle . It was never his tactics to stake all upon one battle , and experience proved that he was correct . The corps posted at Hal was his investment against
fortune . The strong force on his right was his reserve to meet the contingencies of battle ; and how much he relied upon his right is proved by the fact that the general he placed in command there was the general he trusted most—Lord Hill . It should be observed that in leaving his left weak , he very properly counted upon the preconcerted co-operation of the Prussians . By keeping his right strong , he always- * had a force to throw upon the French columns assailing the left . The strength of the apparently weak left wing is shown by the fact that N " ey failed signally in his great effort to force it , and Napoleon almost desisted from the attempt . But the reader will find all these questions discussed in the work of M . Brialmont , and the memorandum of the Duke , and to them we refer him .
It may seem invidious to point out errors in a book generally so good . But Ave are sure M . Brialmont will not think it so . We regret .-to find that , following . Charras , he refers the splendid . movement made by Sir John Colborne upon the flank of the Imperial Guard , to General Chasse , and that following Vaudoncourt , he repeats the story about the French cavalry breaking several squares . No squares were broken that day ; but one or two "battalions were cut up , and the brave Ompteda killed in consequence of an injudicious movement ordered by the Prince of Orange . These are lamentable oversights . But the book is so excellent as a whole , that they may readily be forgiven .
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THE SIEGE OF DELHI . The Chaplain ' s Narrative of the Siege of Delhi . By the Rev . John Edward vV " . Rotton , Chaplain to the Delhi Field Force . Smith , Elder , and Co . A plain , unvarnished record , inartistic enough , as the writer modestly admits , of what came under a field-chaplain ' s daily observation from the outbreak at Meerut to the occupation of Delhi by General Wilson . Our author is a sincere , hard-working , and generous-minded man . As may be imagined , a willing chaplain found plenty to do with the little army before Delhi , and the continual record of his ministering experiences among the dead and dying lends the sombre hue of an obituary to a large portion of his pages . This he has relieved—and it may be with good taste—with so little of the Oriental colour , or of the usual high lights of a "Special Correspondent ' s " letter , that bis work will be most acceptable to the friends and relatives of the many Christian heroes whose fate it tells , and to whose later hours it
alludes . It was a wearing siege ; for all knew that , though they might advance sap , and breach bastion with the handful of an army , they could not pretend to assault ; or hold a witlled town sevou miles in circuit without reinforcements . These camo in only "b y driblets . Thero was nothing for it but to fight through the cheerless , wretched , rainy season—us it were to kill time—for the celebrated position known as Hindoo Rao ' s house . This was exposed to the concentrated and correct fire of the four principal bastions of the town ; and a detached battery of guns , known as "Whistling Dick . " and " Tambourine Sail , " worked day and night . The odds of ^ the combatants were from ten to one to fifty to one against us . Our loss in maintaining it was 728 Rides and Glioorkas out of I 100 of nil ranks , not reckoning that of the reserves and supports culled up at each of the twentysix attacks directed by a desperate enemy ugainst this Malukhoff of tho East .
Sickness was , meanwhile , as busy as gunpowder . Poor old General Kae < J , provisional cotmriuudur-in-chief after tho < leath of Sir Harry Bnrnnrd , seemed never to enjoy an hour ' s health . He could not hold up against the labour and responsibilities of the command . Brigadier Wilson succeeded him , and tho siege went on with fresh activity . So what with camp , ami hospital , and field duty , our bearded and mustachioed chaplain in juckbooLs and breeches had enough to clo . Wo can answer for it , ho was well to tho fore , and ho shall have the benefit , like a good fellow , of tho gone resity with which ho speaks of one who was his only colleague during tho
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Critics are notthelegislators , but the judgesatnd police of Literature . They do not makelaws—th . ey interpret and try to enforce them . —Edinburgh Review . - ?
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^ 0 . 433 , ^^ 10 , 1858 . ] _ J _ THE LEADER . 665
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Leader (1850-1860), July 10, 1858, page 665, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2250/page/17/
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