NEW BOOKS AND NEW EDITIONS

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1514, 7 March 1901, Page 29

NEW BOOKS AND NEW EDITIONS

‘The South African War, 1899-1900. A Military Retrospect up to the Relief of Ladysmith/’ by Major S. L. Norris, of the Royal Engineers. London : John Murray. Wellington : Whitcombe and Tombs. In view of the already formidably large number of books on the war in. South Africa, it might not unnaturally be assumed that Major Norris’s account of the earlier phases of the contest was superfluous. This would be doing both author and books an injustice. The major, after the apparently inevitable resume of the political events which preceded the outbreak of hostilities, proceeds to discuss -each succeeding movement and incident in the campaign with a special view to the education of his fellow officers in tiio peculiar lessons to be learned from toe strategy of the Boer and British commanders, and from the hundred and one special features in which the war has differed so completely from European campaigns hitherto accepted as infallible ob-ject-lessons for the military student. Though primarily a book for soldiers, the book is one which is nevertheless full of interest for the general reader. The style is simple and direct, and although, the opinions expressed as to the causes and results of British mistakes are expressed with laudable frankness, there is no such irritating assumption of “cocksureness” such as that which disfigured and lessened the value of the chronicle for which Winston Churchill, Lord Roslyn and other writers have been responsible. Major Norris pays homage to the gallantry of both sides, but does not shrink from stating his opinion that both. Boors and British were at times very badly led. On the Modder River engagement he remarks that “the want of unity of direction, which characterised this action throughout, was due, first to insufficient reconnaissance before the action, and, secondly, to the insufficient use of competent officers’, as gallopers, to keep the general informed of what was going on in different parts or the field, and to enable him to direct the various units.” The value, to the enemy, of smokeless power, in this and other engagements, is specially insisted upon by the author. Major Norris rs also of opinion that had not a large section of the Free-Staters —demoralised by the effect of the naval guns, which fired lyddite shells —fled, “it is. doubtful whether the English left could have crossed the river, and, this, the first combat on the western theatre to be fought on equal terms, would have resulted in a severe check to Lord Methuen’s advance, and in even greater loss to his army.” The battle of Magersfonteui, with its disaster to the Highland Brigade and the death of the gallant Wauchope, is described in a chapter which is one of the most interesting in the oook. Major Norris quotes evidence from several Boer sources to l show how magnificent was the gallantry of the Highlanders and what an intense admiration it caused even in the hearts of the enemy. Valuable also are thei chapters dealing with Gatacre’s reverse at Stormherg, with Buller’s movements, upon which there is some sharp criticism, and with other incidents of the campaign. The book contains several weill-executed maps. It is dedicated to the memory of Andrew Gilbert Wauchopie, who, whether in thirtv years with the colours, or in ten devoted partly to public affairs, as a gentleman, a soldier, and a patriot has for ever deserved well of bis countrymen. (Price, 2s 6d paper, 3s 6d cloth.) “A Century of Our Sea Story,” by Walter Jeffrey., London : John Murray. Wellington : Whitcombe and Tomb?. The volume to which Mr Jeffrey’s name is attached’ may be only an example of bookmaking, but the author has _ very cleverly fulfilled his task, which is to give a compact and readable survey of the marvellous advances made during the nineteenth century by Great Britain’s mercantile and naval marine. Beginning with a glance at the condition of the naval and merchant services as they were in 1800, Mr Jeffrey describes ohe old seaports and dockyards, the officers and seamen of a hundred years ago, and the life they led on sea and on shore. Proceeding then to review the principal naval engagements of the century, he traces the growth of our sea-carrying trade, and discourses ou the revolution worked therein by the introduction of steam. Other--chapters deal with customs of the sea, the wreck list of th 3 century, with exploration and piracy, with the interesting records of the South Seas, with lifeboat and lighthouse work, the book closing with a survey of the

present state of both the navy and the mercantile marine. There is much ’’a

Mr Jeffrey’s well-thought-out and very readable record which is of special interest to dwellers ’neath the Southern Cross, and the passages descriptive of thd cid whaling days, and the earlier-period of emigration to these colonies should nor be overlooked. The book fairly bristles with interesting and valuable statistics, arranged and dealt with in a manner which will appeal to the general reader. Marvellous indeed is Mr Jeffrey’? summary of the advance made by Britain’s mercantile marine, which contains some very striking facts. The difference, he points out, in the tonnage oi the mercantile marine of the British Empire in 1800 and 1900 is “the difference between one million- eight hundred thousand, and thirteen and a half millions. In 1800 we owned fewer than 18,000 shins ; 26G6 cl therm belonged to London, 706 to Liverpool and 2161 to our colonies, Canada and the West Indies’. Australia was cf too little importance to be counted. The tonnage owned in the colonies to-day equals that of the parent State in 1800, and Australia alone, which in 1892 owned three vessels, now owns' 500,000 tons of shipping. The danger, howov.T. to the navy and' to the mercantile marine cf to-day, of finding sufficient Britishborn seamen, is the subject of some thoughtful and rather alarming sentences in the last chapter of a hook which we cannot too highly commend to the attention of our readers. A portrait cf Nelson is given as a frontispiece. (Price 2s 6d paper, 3s 6d cloth.) “The! People of China, Their Country, History, Life, Ideas and Relations with the Foreigner. ’ By J. W/Rob-ertson-Scott. London: Methuen and Co. Wellington : Whitcombe and Tombs. Mr Robertson-Scott’s bonk on China and its people is avowedly a compilation, but although we must confess to usually preferring opinions gathered at first hand, it is only fair to say that the compiler has apparently gone to the very best and latest authorities and has produced what may be described as a handy encyclopaedia to men and matters Chinese., in which the information given is not only extremely interesting, but is distinctly valuable for tlxe purposes of ready reference. Thd object cf the book is, so the compiler states in his preface, to supply, in as compact and" interesting a form as possible, “the kind of information about the country and its peoples, and their relations with the foreigner, which an intelligent newspaper reader would be likely to seek from a friend who had lived in the Far East.” Acting oil this hypothesis Mr Robertson-Seott deals successively with the vastness of China, and what the country looks like, with its history, from “Confucius to Lord Macartney,” with the story of “British relations with China,” gradually bringing Ins reader along to the present days cf what the author calls “The General Scramble.” Four chapters follow in which we are told how the Chinaman is governed, are informed as to liis education, his examinations and his literature, his personal characteristics and social life, and his religious beliefs ; after which come sections headed “The Foreign Devil,” and “The Future.” An appendix provides some special details as to the Empress Dowager and the Boxers, some! “brief biographies of leading Chinese Men of the Time,” a note on “the best books ou China,” and a very useful glossary and yet more useful index. Add to these and the previously nested features one of the best maps of China we have ever seen attached to a book on thei mysterious Empire cf the Mongols and Mantchus, and it will be admitted that although a compilation, Mr Robertson-Scott’s work is likely to be of both interest and value to students of Far Eastern events and problems. The arrangement of the various items of information and the use of a specially black and distinct type for the heads of separate passages affords ea-y reference to the facts given. (Price 2s 6d paper, 3s 6d cloth). “In the Palace of the King; A Love Story of Old Madrid/’ by F. Mar cm Crawford. London: Macmillan and Co. Wellington: Whitcombe and Tombs. Mr Marion Crawford’s new story is the best thing that we have had from his pen since he charmed the novel-read-ing public with that really admirable triology cf romances of life in modern Rome which began with “Saracinesca.” Leaving for the nonce his well-beloved Italy, he now takes his readeirs to old Madrid. Madrid in the proudest days of Spanish triumphs, the Madrid at whose Court splendour and superstition ever jostled each other for pre-eminence’, and of the Spanish capital and the life of its Spanish Court, when Philip the Second iieM the sceptre, he gives us a series of pictures of surpassing interest. _ Political and Court intrigues, personal jealousies, hatred's, the jealousiefe and hatreds of a race which loves and hates with equal intensity, afford the novelist ample scope for the creation and development of a clear-cut plot, and' his hero and hero me alike are real flesh and blood, with nothing of the mere fictional puppet about them. The heroine, Maria Dolores do Mendoza, is a handsome, fearless, truly noble young lady, the daughter of a gallant old soldier. As for the hero, iet_us take Mr Crawford’s own introduction. 1 He was a man among men, good and true; but he was a soldier, and a leader, who daily threw his life to the battle, as Douglas threw the casket that held the Bruce’s heart into the thick of the fight.

to win it back, or die. The man she loved was Don John of Austria, the son of the great dead Emperor Charles the Fifth, the uncle of dead Don Carlos'and the half-brother of King Philip of Spain —the man who won glory by land and sea, who won bank Granada a second time from the Moors, as bravely as his great-grandfather "Ferdinand had won it, but less cruelly, who won Lepanto, his brother’s hatred" and a death by poise u, the foullest stain in Spanish history. ’ The romantic life of Mr Crawford’s hero, was, it will be remembered, the subject of a masterly monograph by the late Sir William Stirling Maxwell, and Washing- , ton Irving and other writers have also been fascinated by the same prince’s brilliant personality. In Mr Crawford’s novel, however, we meet Don John as a lover, not as a soldier, and truly a gallant young lover lie makes. The love path of Donna Maria and Don John_ is by no means rose-strewn. The King hates his half-brother and plots his death, indeed tries to kill him by a foul stroke, and a jealous and over-amorous Court lady, the Princess of Eboli, has her own reasons for desiring to thwart Don John’s designs. The niot, which is complicated but which works out very clearly, is most ingeniously conceived, and the story has some admirably drawn minor -characters. The sturdy, loyal old Mendoza; the intriguing and mercilessly cruel Antonio Perez, King Philip’s private secretary ; Donna. Inez, Maria’s sister; Ruy Gomez, the Minister of State, and not forgetting the court jester, all are worthy additions to Mr Crawford’s portrait gallery. As for the entrain of the story, it" is as irressistible as that of Dumas’ “Marguerite de Va'leis,” or “Lo Darned© Monsoreau/’ “In the Palace of the King” is, we believe, the first of Mr Crawford’s novels to possess a Spanish scenario. Its readers, if they share our opinion, will hope it may not be the last to be so featured. In the multitude of colourless novels that are published nowadays, one such vigorous, entrancing romance as “In the Palace of the King” shines cut as a “nice deed m. a naughty world/’ (Price 2s 6d paper, 3s 6d cloth.)