NEW BOOKS AND NEW EDITIONS

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 4301, 9 March 1901, Page 1 (Supplement)

NEW BOOKS AND NEW EDITIONS

13 - ' ’ fc ‘'The South African War, 1899-1900. A 3 Military Retrospect up to the Relict s of Ladysmith, ’ by Major S. L. Nor- > riv, of the Royal Engineers. London : John Murray. Wellington : * Whitcoinbe and Tombs. In. view of the alretady formidably large number of books on the war in South Africa, it might not unnaturally be ns- - suited that Major Norris’s account of the - earlier phases of the contest was superI fluous. This would bo doing both author 1 and books an injustice. The major, after s the apparently inevitable resume of the 1 political events which preceded tho out- ; break of hostilities, proceeds to discuss i each succeeding movement and incident • in tho campaign with a special view to s the education of his fellow officers in the peculiar lessons to be learned from the i strategy of tho Boer and British commanders, and from tho hundred and one special features in which the war has differed so completely-from European campaigns hitherto accepted as infallible ob-ject-lessons for tho military student. Though primarily a book for soldiers, tho 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 “cooksuraness” such as that which disfigured and the value of the chronicle for which Winston Churchill, Lord lioslyn and other writers have been responsible. Major Norris pays homage to tho 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 uso of competent officers, as gallopers, to keep the general informed of what was going on in different parts of the field', and to enable him to direct the various units.” The value, to the en- , emy, 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 sec- v tiou of the Eree-Staters —demoralised by the effect of the naval guns, which fired lyddite shells—fled, “it is doubtful whether the English left could havo crossed tho river, and, this, the first combat on tho 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 Magarsfontein, with its disaster to the Highland Brigade and tho death of the gallant Wauchope, is described in a chapter which is one of the most interesting in the book. Major Norris quotes evidence from several Boer sources to 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"'the chapters dealing with Gatacro’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 wall-executed maps. It is dedicated to the memory of Andrew Gilbert Wauchope, 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 his countrymen. (Pr'ce, i2s 6d paper, 3s 6d cloth.)

“A Century of Our Sea Story,” by Waiter Jeffrey. London : John Murray. Wellington; Whitcombe and Tombs.

Tho volume to which Mr Jeffrey’s name is attached may be only an example of bcokmaking, but the author has very cleverly fulfilled his task, which is to give a compact and readable survey of tho 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 ibe 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 on the revolution worked therein by the introduction of steam, Other chapters deal with customs of the sea, the wreck list of tns 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 ti e present state of both tho navy and the mercantile marine. There is much : ci Mr Jeffreyfs well-thought-out and very readable record which is of special interest to dwellers ’neath the Southern Cross, and the passages descriptive of thd old whaling days, and the earlier period of emigration to these colonies should nor be overlooked. The hook fairly bristles with interesting and valuable statistics, arranged and dealt with in a manner which will appeal to the general readem Marvellous indeed is Mr Jeffrey's stimmary of the advance made by Britain’s mercantile marine, which contains some very striking facts. The difference, he points out, in the tonnage of the mercantile marine of the British Empire in 180 G 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 ships;. 2666 of them belonged to London, 796 to Liverpool and 2161 to our colonies, Canada and the West Indies. Australia was of 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, however, to the navy and to the mercantile marine of to-day, of finding sufficient Britishhorn seamen, is the subject of some thoughtful and rather alarming sentences in the last chapter of a book which wo cannot toe highly commend to the attention of our readers. A portrait of Nelson is given; ns 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: Whitcomhe and Tombs. Mr Robertson-Scott’s book 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 encyclopedia to men and matters Chinese, in which tho information given is not only extremely interesting, but is distinctly valuable for the purposes of ready leference. Thu object of the book is, so tho 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 uewsxiaper reader would he likely to seek from a friend who had lived In tho Far East.” Acting on this hypothesis Mr Robertson-Scott deals successively with the vastucss t-l China anti 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 of what the author calls “The General Scramble ” Four chapters follow in which wo are told how the Chinaman is governed, are informed as to his 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, somei “brief biographies of leading Chinese Men of tho 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 noted features one of the best maps of China we have ever seen attached to a book on tha mysterious Empire of the Mongols and Mantchus, and it will he admitted that although a_coxnpilation, 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 tho various items of information and the use cf a specially black and distinct type for the heads of separate passages affords ca-y reference to tha facts given. (Price 2s 6d paper, 3s 6d cloth).

“In the Palace of tho King; A Love Story of Old Madrid/’ by F. Marmii Crawford. London : Macmillan and Co. Wellington: Whitcombe and Tombs.

Mr Marion' Crawford’s now story ’s > tire best thing that we have had from his pon since ho charmed the novel-read-ing public with that really admirable triology of romances of life in modern Rome which began with “Saracinesca.” Leaving for the nonce his well-beloved It ily, he now takes his readers 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 rho Spanish capital and the life of its Spanish Court, when Philip the Second neM tho sceptre, he gives us a series of pictures of surpassing interest. Political and Court intrigues, personal - jealousies, hatreds, the jealousies 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-out plot, and his hero and heroine 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, lotos take Mr Crawford’s own introduction.“Ho was a man among men, good and true; hut ho was a soldier, and a leader, whodaily threw his life to the battle, as Douglas threw the casket that held the Brace’s heart into the thick of the fight to win it back, or die. Tho 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 bade Granada a second time from tho Moors, as bravely as his great-grandfather Ferdinand had won it, but less cruelly, who wen Lepanto, his brother’s hatred and a death by poiseu, the foullest stain in Spanish history.'’ The romantic life of Mr Crawford’s hero, was, it will bo remembered, the subject of a masterly monograph by the late Sir William Stirling Maxwell, and tvashington 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 he makes. Tho 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 plot, 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, tho 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 irrossist’iblc as that of Dumas’ “Marguerite de Valois,” or “Lo Damede'Mousoreau.” “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 ho the last to bo 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 out as a “nice deed m a naughty world.” (Price 2s 6d paper, 3s 6d cloth.)