On this page
-
Text (3)
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
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.
-
-
Transcript
-
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.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
f tavo * ^ 1 THE LEADER . 649 ^ m^— ¦¦ . — ¦ ¦ ;
Untitled Article
interesting chapters full of racy descriptions . of manners and custom ? , and portraits of native princes and nobles with whom the Doctor formed pleasant acquaintanceship ; then we are introduced to an old friend of Sir John Bowring ' book , the second King , Professor of the Pali language , htt | erateurand student of the English language . Here is his Majesty " at home . " , ¦ * . ¦ ' "We entered a large room , and passed from one end of it into a royal snuggery . Here the King received us in an unostentatious and gentlemanly manner . He wore a rich black satin jacket over an embroidered skirt , and a changeable peach-blossom with embroidered slippers . The room had
sarong , a long table in the centre , covered with a ^ maroon silk cloth , and over it hung a punka . On each side of the room were hair-seat sofas , and over that on one side , was a coloured lithograph of Queen Victoria , Prince Albert , and five of their childrena present to the King , Over the opposite sofa was hung a map of the United States ; and at each side of it an oil portrait of Presidents Washington and Pierce—recently presented . A very large alabaster vase , and several small paintings , were among the decorations of the apartment ; and m the corners were correct statuettes of Napoleon , Wellington , Siamese
Prince Albert and "Victoria , modelled by a artist , after engravings . One end of this apartment opened upon a smaller one , in which , neatly arranged , were his electrical and philosophical apparatus ; and on one side of it opened into a secluded study , in which were many elegant and convenient arrangements- chemical apparatus and tests : a silver mounted desk ; handsome brass field bed , and brass , morocco-covered rocking-chair . In ¦ this study , and in the main apartment , were bookreases , filled with standard authors , American and English ; in general literature , history , science , theology , and
military affairs . " Having effected a treaty with the King of Siam the squadron proceeded to Simoda , where , not--withstandihg the terms of thfe treaty of 1852 , it was not without much skirmishing upon the part of the reluctant Japanese , and the exercise of considerable determination by the Commodore and Mr . Harris , that the latter gentleman was permitted to remain in his new capacity—a useful
bint to the out-going English Consul , ~ Having at length succeeded , the officers visited the streets and bazaar , . made purchases of lacquer ware ; and although the Doctor found the Japanese , not by any means so moral as they have been painted , he found the tradesmen andtlieir assistants so honest that by comparison they shamed his own countrymen . Although the information contained in the chapter devoted to Japan is but little , _ that little is < rood and valuable , as being the experience
of a shrewd and truthful observer . Thus far , the first two portions of the book ; the third division is filled with the ?' doings" Americans and English in China during the recent war , but , with the exception of an admirable view of the now Anglicised and Americanised city of Shanghai , it does not present much information . It is known interesting to those who like to obtain from a rival point of view the English proceedings among the Celestials during the stormy events from the affair of the lorcha , tue
" Arrow ; " to the taking of Canton , capture ot Yeli , the reign of terror in Hong Kong during the assassinations by the " Braves , the Easing or Alum poisonings , and the after quarrels of the illmatched Kilkenny cat-like officials , which have been recently somewhat flippantly characterised by the loading journal as " a , storm in a tea * -pot . " further , in justice to the Doctor we may add , that " Frankwei" is the most interesting and truth-like of modern books of travels in these now all-important countries of China , Siam , and Japan . '
Untitled Article
THE ROMANCE OF THE RANKS ; OB , ANECDOTES . EPISODES , AND SOCIAL INCIDENTS OF MILITARY LIFE . By J . W . J . Connolly , Quartermaster of the Royal Engineers , Author of the " History of the . Royal Sappers and Miners . " In 2 vols . ,. Longman and Co . When collecting the materials for his " History of the Royal Sappers and Miners , " Mr . Quartermaster Connolly found many little " episodes of social life , " chiefly relating to the corps , that were hardly suitable for the graver work , but which were highly interesting so far as they illustrated the " inner life" of the British soldier better than any work that could be written specially on the
subject . The latter has been the author ' s mam object in publishing these volumes . It was a good idea to paint the character of the soldier in all the phases of his life from his actions . A man can best be judged by his deeds , and , so far as the Royal Sappers go , this work gives us a good insight into their habits and customs . But as there is a great deal of difference in the character of the men that constitute the Sappers and Miners , and other bodies of our army , —there is avast deal of difference in the men in the Guards and the men in the Sappers—men of a totally different class ; and as Mr . Quartermaster Connolly ' s work
only treats of the Sappers it can scarcely be said to be more than an instalment ( a very good one , we admit ) towards our knowledge of the character of the British soldier . From the title of the work we expected , of course , to find some anecdotes selected from all regiments of our army . Had Mr . Connolly extended his field of operation his work would have been more interesting aud certainly more amusing—necessarily so , from the larger quantity of material he would have had to choose from . Many of the incidents contained been omitted
in the present work could then have , some curtailed , and the colouring of others dispensed with . That the interest of some of the best " sketches of character" should be spoiled to the civilian by the withholding the actor ' s name is no fault of Mr . Connolly ' s . The names of these persons will , of course , be recognised in the army . Hero our fault-finding ends . We had marked several sketches to quote , but owing to our lengthened remarks we can give but two or three ; and here is the first ,
called—A Ghostly Mistake . —S— -n , one of tlio sjclc orderlies of Woolwioh , was directed to rompvo from a certain ward a gunner who hail just ooaaoa . the mortal struggle . Taking the shell , ho . wont by mistake to the bedside of a poor sufferer , almost gone , ^ Wha ^ youwan ^ . ith mo ? " oiuttoreu the dvinff man , every word costing him a pang . "To put you into this bex !' said the orderly , with unfeeling coolness . .. .. . „ •< rjut r pray you won't—for—I am still auvo i " Hold your tongue 1 " rejoined S— -n , roproaohftilly , " Don't you think tho doctor knows bettor than you ? "
. .. . , Horo is another , which , wo aro told , is horribly true in the time of war : — A HoVjbfuju tiohuii&R . -v-An engineer of the
Untitled Article
works giving more elaborate information . The author then proceeds to Descriptive Geography , properly so called , which occupies more than 300 closely-printed pages , and which , taken in connexion with the previous volume and maps , brings within the reach of the student the chief facts and doctrines of modern geographical science . It is not long since geography , as ordinarily taught , afforded only an exercise to the memory , which was crammed with a multitude of facts uninteresting and useless , because they were isolated and unconnected with any generalisation that could excite the imagination or gratify the intellect . Now , however , the rise of physical geography and the increase of information concerning the actual contour and structure of the most important portions of the globe have imparted a new character to geographical study , and from being one of the driest it has become one of the most interesting pursuits , having for its chief difficulty the want of a concentration of materials scattered through a multitude of volumes . To a large extent , the work before us has removed this obstacle , and a great service would be rendered to popular education if " it were well studied by those whose function is to teach . We have had opportunities of witnessing the contracted effect upon pupils , of the common-place method of teaching , and of good oral lessons on physical and descriptive i ' l l
name , and the Orba . 1 he basin of the Tanaro wears the aspect of an elevated plain intersected with deep valleys . , " The Scrivia and Coppo traverse a fertile country , and fair into the Po on the limit of its upper basin . The affluents of the left are , the Clusone , which rises ia Mont Genevre , and receiving One affluent from the pass of Abries , falls into the main stream after a course of about fifty miles . " The Doria Riparia , also rising in Mont Genevre - and connecting the passes of that mountain with those of Mont Cenis at the Pas de Susa , it is divided from the Doria Baltea by the smaller affluents , Stura and Orca . " The Doria Baltea rises from two sources in Mont Blanc , and which open the passes of the Great and Little St . Bernard , communicating with the upper valleys of the Rhone and Isere : it receives numerous torrents , and has a rapid course over a deep and rocky bed . " The Seria , which has its sources in the southern declivities of Mont Rosa ; it is a stream of considerable size , but unimportant , as not opening communication across the Alps ; it receives the Gervio from the right . The upper course of this river is through a wild mountain valley , its lower through a flat country , through which it forms anabranches , and is connected with the other affluents on the right and left by canals ; its extreme length may be estimated at eighty-five miles ; it is the stream intermediate in character as in position between the upper and middle basins of the Po . "
geography . In the one case the portions of the globe under discussion seemed to the pupil as dead as the lesson itself ; in the other all started into life as the effect of the position of masses of land and water , the direction and complication of coast lines , the nature of slopes , and the disposition of mountain chains came into view . Much of this kind of information has been popularised in this country by cheap editions of the works of Humboldt , and by Guyot ' s " Earth and Man , " and we cannot doubt that a desire has been created for more detailed instruction such as the
present book will afford . From the condensation required to keep , the work within the requisite bounds and price , the reader will not expect that brilliancy of description and beauty © f style necessary for pleasant reading ; but in addition to aiding systematic study it wifi prove useful as a sort of dictionary for reference , when the character of any particular country is a matter of special interest . As an illustration of this we quote a few passages from the geography of Italy , that will throw light upon the positions and operations of the armies now contending in the valley of the Po .
THE SCEXE OF WAR . " The Upper Course of the Po . —This river , the Padus or Eridarius of the ancients , rises in the eastern precipices of Mont Viso , at an elevation of above 6 , 500 feet , in immediate proximity to the sources of the Durance ; and flowing first to the south and by east to north , and then again by east to south , takes a double course formed by two semicircular arcs , having diameters of about seventy-five miles , and giving to the upper basins of the Po a length of about 125 miles ? while its breadth , from the sources of the Dora Baltea on the north to those of the Bormida on the south , will exceed 150 .
' * The steepness of the southern and eastern slopes of the Alps gives great rapidity to the upper waters of the Po and its northern affluents , and therefore on arriving at the level plain , at the foot , they are subject to serious inundations' ; the course of the river becomes tortuous , its stream sluggish , obretructed by shoals and sand-banks , and forming numerous channels ; this character becomes apparent oven in its upper basin , at the eastern extremity of which the river attains a breadth of about 1 , 500 foot . " The affluents of the upper basin are on the right i the Vraita , theMaira , and the Grana ,, which , uniting together , fall into the main stream ; the former rises in Col d'Agnello , and opens a passage into France . Those are separated from the Tanaro , the next
A MANUAL OF GEOGRAPHICAL SOIMNCK . Parker and Son . The present volume contains two parts , one ' oh Ancient Geography , by the Rev .. W , L . Bcvan , and the other on Maritime Discovery and Modern Geography , by the Rev . 0 . G , Nicolay . The first portion , which occupies about a quarter of the book , affords a suocinct , well-written account ot ancient writers and discoveries , which will prove sufficient for general purposes of eduoation or reference . Anything more elaborate than a sketch of this branch of the subject would be out of place in a work whose main objoot is to exhibit the science as it is , and in which historical matter can only bo introduced incidentally . The second portion begins with a summary of . Maritime Discovery , rendered additionally useful by references to
affluent of the river from the right , by the heights of Montforrat , which , projecting from the maritimq Alps , obtrude themselves on the course of the Po and turn it northward , as already noticed , and fill the second semi-circular aro ; and while the Tanaro collects the streams which full from , the southern slope , the main stream flowing round those to the north does not receive any affluent from them . " The Tanaro passes along the diameter of the semicircle above alluded to , in an irregular north-east course . This is a considerable stream , rising in the Col de Tende , and having a course of 125 miles , for forty of which it is navigable ; H has several affluents , some of which arc considerable ; on the loft the Eleno and the Storra , and on the right the Bormida , formed by the confluence of two streams of the eame
-
-
Citation
-
Leader (1850-1860), May 21, 1859, page 649, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2295/page/17/
-