bastion-towers, the engineers raised their ladders against the wall. In an instant Dick was at the top of his ladder. In another instant he was lying at its foot with a bullet through his brain. Meiklejohn, too, was foremost of his party in reaching the top, and, as if to quiet the murmurs of "short ladders" which began to arise from the columns in rear, he laid about him lustily with his sword, striking at the defenders, with whom he now found himself face to face. But only for a few seconds. Seized by the hands of those behind the wall, he was torn off his ladder and hacked to pieces by the fanatics inside. Meanwhile Bonus, a yet younger subaltern of the corps, although off duty that day, had strolled forward from the trenches to see what was going on. Finding himself alongside the third ladder, and observing no eagerness on the part of those present to make use of it, he at once set a good example by mounting it, notwithstanding the missiles hurled at him by the defenders. Rapidly reaching the top, he did his best to parry the blows struck at him. But soon a stalwart rebel, clubbing his matchlock, swung it with full force at the youngster, and hurled him senseless to the ground, at the same time that the ladder itself was knocked out of its position. By this time all the engineer officers and many men were hors de combat, and as the chances of success seemed faint, the word was given to withdraw from the attempt, an operation which was luckily counterbalanced by the success of the British troops on the left, who had meanwhile carried the breaches in that direction. Bonus fortunately wore a strong helmet that day, and thus escaped death. As it was, he lay long senseless on the spot on which he fell. Such, then, are some of the duties of the engineer in connexion with the operations of a siege or an escalade. As regards the ordinary routine work of a campaign his labours are already varied; and if due attention were paid to his capabilities, his employment would assuredly become still more comprehensive than it now is. As Sir Francis Head very justly points out, the qualifications prescribed for officers serving in the department of the QuartermasterGeneral of the army are simply such as are possessed by every engineer subaltern on leaving the establishment for instruction at Chatham. The rudimentary knowledge of surveying, field-sketching, and other acquirements requisite for the preparation of reconnoitering reports which an infantry aspirant for staff honours contrives to pick up in leisure hours as an accomplishment, can in few cases be so perfect as the acquaintance with these duties which early training and maturer practice cannot fail to impress on every engineer. Moreover, the engineer on whom this training falls has been chosen from a select band of young Englishmen, and is at least as likely to prove specially fitted to excel in this branch of military skill as his brethren of the line who happen to have developed some amateur aptitude for such pursuits. But, indeed, so entirely has this circumstance been recognised by our army authorities, that engineer officers are no longer permitted to contest in the yearly competition for entrance to the Staff College, it having been declared that their training renders such an examination superfluous. In other words, it has been admitted that engineer officers already possess qualifications for staff employment which can only be acquired by the rest of the army by means of a severe course of study at a college devoted to this purpose. Such being the case, we might naturally expect to find many members of this corps employed on the army staff, above all in the Quartermaster - General's department, in which their capabilities for reconnoitering ground, for finding out the routes, rivers, fords, ferries, and bridges of the theatre of war, and their ability to turn these and other natural communications of the country to the best account would prove most valuable. But in any such conjecture we should sadly miscalculate the value which the Horse Guards places on engineers. Notwithstanding this admission of their qualifications-which appears to have been elicited from the authorities as a means of relieving the officers of the line from the competing efforts of the engineers-the corps is practically excluded from all staff employment, only one officer of it being attached to the department of the Quartermaster-General, and he in effect in a somewhat subordinate capacity. During one of our Caffre Wars, Sir Harry Smith, then in command of the troops at the Cape, ventured to place a couple of engineer subalterns on this branch of his staff. But no sooner had the news reached Whitehall than a peremptory order was addressed to the old General to displace the engineers forthwith, and to fill up the vacancies from the infantry. The dictum of the Duke of Wellington, that artillery and engineers were impracticable fellows-all mad, married, or Methodists has long been held to be a conclusive argument against employing them out of their own special spheres; and the old du ality of our army organization, which assign- But although thus denied an opportunity of showing their fitness for every branch of a soldier's duties in any campaign in which British troops have been engaged in Europe, officers of engineers have from time to time been able to burst through these official shackles, and thus assert the injustice to which their corps was subject. During the Crimean War, Captain Simmons, as a general of division, assisted by Lieutenant Ballard as a brigadier, did good work with Turkish levies against the Russian troops stationed on the eastern shores of the Black Sea; and in truth the fighting material they had to make use of was indifferently good in comparison with the welldisciplined troops of the Czar with whom they had to contend. Deteriorated by the evil example of the enervated bullet-fearing Pashas who commanded them, these soldiers of the Sultan were at first but imperfectly reliable under fire. But when they came to find leaders who really performed the duty of leading, the old courage of Central Asian ancestors was once again kindled in these sons of Islam. The campaign in Mingrelia, including the passage of the Ingour river, may well stand a comparison as a piece of soldiering with any of the operations carried on at the same time in the Crimean peninsula. a poor man, so high was his sense of honour that he declined gifts which seemed in his mind to carry with them the imputation of mercenary motives on the part of the recipiAs our leading journal justly remarked, on the occasion of his resigning his command in China, Charles Gordon there set an example of courage, of modesty, and of unspotted honour, of which his country may well be proud. Lord Napier's services are so fresh in our memories that it seems unnecessary to recapitulate these further proofs of an engineer officer's capacity for command. Lest, however, some critics may consider that the success of the Abyssinian expedition indicates a talent for organization rather than a fitness for fighting, it may be well to refer to former services of this general; to his enterprising tactics while commanding the division which did the hard work of the last China war, and to his daring operations while commanding a brigade of troops during the Indian Mutiny. His action with the well-organized army of mutineers at Jowra Alipore was one of the most gallant affairs of the campaign of 1857-1858. One day at the end of a forced march he found his fatigued little force in the immediate neighbourhood of the rebellious army of the Maharajah Scindiah -an army composed of infantry, cavalry, and artillery, equipped from British arsenals and drilled by British officers. Without a moment's hesitation he made up his mind to attack at any odds. Taking with him a battery of horse-artiliery and a few squadrons of cavalry, he worked his way in silence round the shoulder of the low hill that separated the contending forces, and suddenly making his appearance on the enemy's flank, plunged headlong into their dense ranks. A clear field and twenty-two guns were the reward of this day's work, by which Robert Napier effectually set at rest any doubts as to the calculating spirit of the engineer being in any way detrimental to the dash of the soldier. In China, again, a young captain of the corps not long ago found himself gradually developing from an adviser of the Imperial generals into the position of Commander-inChief of their entire forces. In this capacity Captain Gordon raised armies, fought battles, and reconquered provinces. Here, too, imperturbable courage on the part of one man served to convert a mob of timorous Orientals into a really useful fighting force. And when at length his firmness and In thus venturing to cite a few instances fearlessness had overcome the many obsta- of services rendered in the field by Royal cles he had to encounter, in the shape of an Engineers, we feel that we undertake what active enemy, unwilling recruits, and endless may seem to many a superfluous task. For official thwartings offered by orthodox man- ordinary reason and experience ought alike darins to this resolute white devil-in short, to teach us that such services are not likely after the insurrection which threatened the to be below the level of those performed by very throne of China had been quelled by men whose natural aptitude for military stuhis personal efforts,-Gordon returned to dies has not, in the first instance, been dehis ordinary engineer duties without carry-termined by the test of examination, nor has ing with him any outward benefit. Having done his duty as an English officer, he now as an English gentleman refused the offers of service and of rewards made to him by the grateful Emperor of China. Although afterwards been developed by a professional education. The regimental routine prescribed as the sole training of most officers of our army is excellent as a means of teaching them habits of order and obedience, but be yond a certain limit its action is apt to be tary, those young Frenchmen contrived injurious. Long subjection to its monoto- somehow or other to beat their orthodox annous restraint tends to merge the man into togonists,-quite in opposition to. the rules the machine-or rather into an isolated laid down for such cases, it is true,—but fragment of a machine,-useful so long as beat them they certainly did. The Austrians the entire apparatus is in gear, but helpless could of course console themselves with the so far as individual movements are concerned. reflection that their very defeat but the If any one doubts the evil effects of this better proved their rigid adherence to estabsystem of cherishing the military attributes lished rules of procedure. With one of of an army at the expense of its warlike qual- Molière's doctors they might even say, "Il ities, let him look at the last struggle be- vaut mieux mourir selon les règles que de tween Austria and Prussia. No troops in réchapper contre les règles." Sentiments the world are better disciplined than those of this kind might very possibly have soothed of the Kaiser. None have higher courage. the court circles of the Vienna of that time. That they went down before the soldiers of But we doubt if Englishmen of the present North Germany was not due to the mere day would be content with such an apology mechanical superiority of the needle gun. offered on behalf of a British army beaten The same intelligent spirit of soldiering which under similar circumstances. We question supplied the Prussians with that admirable whether the nation, on hearing that its flag weapon was visible throughout every phase had been so soiled, would be satisfied by an of their proceedings, visible in the strategy explanatory circular from the Horse Guards of their generals as well as in the individual assuring us that the unpleasant result had efforts made by every man of the force. Sa- been brought about in strict accordance with dowa, to use a well-worn expression, was the regulations of the service. simply the victory of mind over matter. That radical reforms are required in the To our country that seven weeks' war in organization of our army appears to be the Germany ought to carry a special warning. conviction of the country, and symptoms are If any lesson were to be gathered from it, it not wanting to show that the earliest efforts was assuredly this, that mere courage, active of its reformers are likely to be directed or passive, is no longer sufficient to save an to the system on which it is supplied with army from defeat. The tactics pursued by officers. Already the movement against our best generals in the Peninsula and at the sale of commissions has assumed formiWaterloo, which almost invariably consisted dable dimensions. Setting himself astride in relying on the unflinching resolution with this hereditary cheval de bataille, a memwhich English troops can endure the on- ber of the present Administration has slaught of assaulting columns, would be of not hesitated to proclaim the necessity of little avail in a modern battle-field. The abolishing this and other practices, which conditions of the combat are altogether al tend, in his mind, to make the army a createred by the use of arms of precision of the ture of the Crown rather than a servant of present day. Any general in the field at- the country. And doubtless many members tempting to handle troops after the time- of the House of Commons are prepared to honoured maxims to this day practised on support this gentleman in effecting important English parade-grounds would never repeat changes in this respect. How far the prethe operation. Long before his cumbrous sent purchase system may be beneficial, and columns had taken up their alignments and how far it may be injurious to our army, dressed up to their points, his ranks would we need not now inquire. Much may be urged show sad gaps. An enterprising enemy in support of each view of the case. And might sorely violate his notions of "proper we, who may now be set down as endeavourfronts" and "proper pivots " by falling head- ing to advocate certain claims of the Royal long on him without regard to any other Artillery and Royal Engineers, in which this principle of war than that of securing success. systems does not obtain, may possibly be reIn arms, as in all things, innovations invari-garded as but partial judges of this matter. ably meet with the cry of "heterodoxy, heterodoxy," from the praisers of past times. Napoleon and the other generals of the French Republic adopted methods of fighting utterly at variance with the good old types of strategy laid down in the ingenious treatises on warfare with which the Austrian commanders of the day were thoroughly conversant. Departing from the hallowed prescriptions of the old masters of the art mili At the same time, as it happens that these corps are the examples selected by Mr. Trevelyan and his school to prove the advantages of the principle they seek to promote, we may venture to point out what seems to be the secret of success in their instance. And at the outset we may mention that there is this radical difference in the Ordnance corps from the model organization which these abolitionists seem to have set be fore themselves, in so far that in them none of the officers have risen from the ranks. Moreover, although admission to the Royal Academy is nominally open to all competitors, yet the nature of the qualifications which are exacted does in reality restrict the candidates to certain classes of the community-classes, in fact, which can afford to pay £130 a year for their boys during their training at Woolwich, and can make them some annual allowance afterwards during their subaltern days at Chatham.* In short, the officers of the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers are the sons of the gentle folks of England. This condition of the question may no doubt seem of small moment to enthusiasts whose abstract notions of a perfect military organization may be summed up in the supposititious bâton de maréchal which each French soldier is said to carry in his knapsack. But to those who have an everyday acquaintance with the subject the circumstance is hardly capable of being overrated in importance. Men who have mixed much with the English soldier well know that the respect and obedience he yields to an individual of the class which he designates as gentlemen are not to be obtained by persons of a lower social position. On service the display of courage will always insure a leader being followed, irrespective of birth or breeding; but in barracks-and barracks, be it remembered, constitute the normal scene of duty the English soldier will usually be found much less tractable to the orders of the most meritorious officer that ever rose from the ranks than to the most careless of subalterns freshly set free from Eton or Sandhurst. In course of time a juster appreciation of human equality may possibly pervade the rank and file. At present, however, it is well that their existing sentiments on this subject should not be overlooked in any scheme devised for commanding them. In addition, however, to the mere circumstance of social condition, the Engineer officer has, as we have seen, a professional education such as is seldom enjoyed by his fellows in the line. His future occupations, too, being of an ever-varying nature, are better calculated to develop his capabilities as a man than the monotonous repetition of one small round of mechanical duties which constitutes the military career of most officers of our army. The cost of a cadet varies according to circumstances. The sons of officers are admited on lower terms than those of non-military men; and, again, the lower may be the rank of the parent, the less is the amount required for the boy., £130' may be set down as the average cost. When the elements of drill and discipline have been fairly mastered by a young soldier, it is right that he should acquire knowledge of the varied kind which is necessary for the application of these to the wants of warfare. A mere capacity for manoeuvring troops is but a poor qualification for commanding an army; and yet, Heaven knows, this is about the limit of learning attainable by many of our officers, whose mornings are occupied in dawdling through drill and orderly-room duties, and whose afternoons are filled up by strolling in search of such bonnes fortunes as are to be met with in the streets of the country quarters in which they find themselves. Surely it is better for a man to be engaged in healthy occupation for the mind and the body than to be condemned to the life-long listlessness of mere barrack work. If certain critics choose to cavil at the employment of engineers on duties which may seem to belong to the civilian rather than the soldier, we would ask these gentlemen to look at the many engineers who held high commands during the late war in America, and then to tell us if the usefulness of Robert Lee, of Meade, of Beauregard, and their brother officers, was in any way impaired by the varied callings of peaceful life which had occupied their previous years of military inactivity. We would even ask these objectors to look at the case of Lord Strathnairn, whose regimental work may be said to have ceased on his reaching the rank of captain, and then let us know whether his subsequent successful career as a general can be considered to establish the inferiority of a comprehensive course of training, civil as well as military, compared with that finite instruction which is comprised within the red boards of the Queen's Regulations for the Army. We think most Englishmen will agree with us in considering that able generals are not sufficiently numerous in our army to warrant us in refusing to seek for them wherever they can be found. In making this selection, it seems unwise that the country should be denied the choice of some 2300 officers of artillery and engineers, whose military training has been more care fully conducted than that of any soldiers in its service. In justice to these ordnance officers, too, it is right that the mischievous ban which hitherto has excluded them from commands should now be removed. Its existence is the veriest mockery imaginable of the claim of intellect or of culture to appear arrayed in a red coat. If, notwithstanding their early training and their after services, these officers shall still be denied this act of justice, then let their regimental motto become their protest | one in Cyrillic, the other in Glagolitic letters. -let the legend which hitherto has been The dignitaries of the Church had been paywell obeyed by both corps on the field of ing unwonted honours to characters which battle be supplemented by an affix of inter- had probably been traced by a schismatic pen. rogation, and be henceforth blazoned on their arms and accoutrements after this fashion QUO FAS ET GLORIA ducunt? 5. Récits d'un Chasseur. Traduits par H. DELAVEAU. Paris: 1858. 6. Scènes de la Vie Russe. Traduites par M. X. MARMIER. Paris: 1858. 7. Nouvelles Scènes de la Vie Russe. Traduction de H. DELAVEAU. Paris: 1863. 8. Various French and German Translations of single Works. In the days of old, when a new king of France was being crowned in the cathedral of Rheims, a certain ancient volume used to be brought forward at one period of the ceremony, and on it the new monarch was solemnly sworn in. This volume, which was known as the Texte du Sacre, was as remarkable for the splendour of its exterior as for the incomprehensibility of its contents. Its binding was a mass of gold incrusted with precious stones; when it was opened, a manuscript was revealed, beautifully written on parchment in two different sets of equally unknown characters. No one knew with certainty what it was, or how it came there; but tradition averred that it was a copy of the Gospels in some Eastern tongue, and that it possessed unusual claims on the reverence of the faithful. Successive generations duly revered it, but no one solved the question of its language until at last Peter the Great happened to pay Rheims a visit, and the treasures of the cathedral were brought out for his inspection. When the mysterious volume was opened before him, he at once exclaimed, "Why, that's my own Slavonic!" And so it really was, turning out, when it was examined a century later by a competent scholar, to be a copy of part of the Gospels, written in two columns, the That the study of Slavonic literature should have made little progress in France at the time of the Czar's visit is scarcely to be wondered at. But it does seem strange that it should always have been regarded in our own country with an indifference bordering upon contempt, and this carelessness is especially remarkable in the case of Russian literature. Some of the Slavonic peoples, such as the Czekhs, for instance, or the Bulgarians, do not form important nationalities, and have few interests in common with us. But this can scarcely be said of the Russians, and yet the language their many millions speak has always been thought ut terly unworthy of our attention. As to the books they read, so little is known about them here, that the traveller who returns from Russia, and affirms that it really possesses a national literature, is often listened to with more astonishment than belief. Yet no one can have any doubt upon the subject who has ever spent an hour in the warehouse of any of the great publishing houses at St. Petersburg, or who has ever strolled along the Paternoster Row of Moscow, the long line of bookshops which extends from the St. Nicholas gate of the Kremlin to the northern angle of the "Chinese City." Merely by looking at the titles of the new books in their windows, it is easy to discover that the Russian publishers are by no means idle. It is true that many of these books are translations, but there are also numbers of original works, chiefly travels, biographies, histories, and critical, statistical, and philosophical essays, together with a good many novels, and a very few poems. Poetry is just now at a discount in Russia. Indeed, all romantic literature is to a certain extent discouraged. Young Russia is bent on studying natural science and metaphysics, and under its influence Fact has become inordinately hard of late years, and Fiction has taken to assuming an unusually reflective and studious air. In some modern Russian novels the romantic element seems to bear an unduly small proportion to that which at least affects to be philosophical, and the position of the artist to be unfairly subordinated to that of the teacher. In many instances this is of no importance, but it seems to be not a little unfortunate when the artist is one of real power. Of course, really great artists are but rarely to be met with in any country; but Russia at this moment possesses at least one writer who is worthy to be ranked among them, and it is to his |