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    Dec. 13, 1851.] ®D* &*&&*?+ 1189

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    readers that it, is an attempt to combin...

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  • 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.

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    The War In Afghanistan. History Of The W...

    bouring parts . These , a few other drugs of little note , and some iron from the Hindoo Koosh and the Solimanee range , formed the main staple of Afghan commerce . Between the large towns there was a constant interchange of commodities ; and long cafilas , or caravans , were ever in motion , from east to west and from north to south , toiling across the sandy plains , or struggling through the precipitous defiles , exposed to the attacks of predatory tribes , who levied their contributions often not without strife and bloodshed . " After this Introductory Book , Mr . Kaye narrates at considerable length , and with great animation ,

    the complete history of that unfortunate , and not very creditable , episode in our Indian annals—the war from 1838 to 1841 . He does so with a copiousness of detail , a vigour of style , and a trustworthiness of manner which wins the reader ' s confidence . And we think it right to add that the persons best informed on this subject give him high praise for accuracy and impartiality , making some deductions for the bias of friendship in his delineations of some minor officers . We state this because we have no authority ourselves in such matters : our judgment must be restricted to the literary qualities of the book .

    Mr . Kaye has composed his work with the aid of an immense mass of unpublished materials . He has had letters and documents placed at his disposal ; and the personal confidence of some of the chief actors has greatly aided him . To these he joins the advantage of a long residence in India . So much for matter . For its workmanship he has an open candid mind ; a clear bright style ; and a mastery over the difficult art of compilation : the three great qualities of an historian .

    But having thus given him his meed of praise , we must not forget to warn him against an occasional laxity of style . In the very first page of the book we were startled at the sight of the odious word " party "—Mr . Kaye waiting till " some more competent party " should undertake the history ! Nothing so bad as that offends us in the narrative ; but there is every now and then a sort of careless acquiescence in commonplace which , with a general tendency to diffuseness , must be accounted as deductions from the merit of these volumes . We have marked so many passages for extract that we are puzzled where to make the selection . Here is a page which makes you hold your breath : — THE STORMING OF GHUZNEE .

    " A gusty night had heralded a gusty morn , when Keane , inwardly bewailing the absence of his heavy guns , planted his light field-pieces on some commanding heights opposite the citadel , and filled the gardens near the city walls with his Sepoy musketeers . No sound issued from the fortress , nor was there any sign of life , whilst unseen under cover of the night , and unheard above the loud wailings of the wind , the storming column was gathering upon the Caubul

    road , and the engineers were carrying up their powder bags to the gate . The advance was under Colonel Dennie , of the Thirteenth Light Infantry ; and the main column under Brigadior Sale . Captain Thomson , of the Bengal Engineers , directed the movements of the explosion party ; and with him were his two subalterns , Durand and Macleod , and Captain Pent , of the Bombay corps . Three hours alter midnight everything was ready for the assault . ht batteries to

    " Then Keane ordered the lig open upon the works of Ghu / . nee . It was si demonstration—harmless but not useless ; for it fixed the attention of the enemy , and called forth si responsive lire . A row of blue lights along the walls now suddenly broke through the darkness and illuminated the place . The enemy had been beguiled by the false attack , and were now looking out towards our batteries , eager to learn the nature of the operations commenced by the investing force . And whilst the Afghans were thus engaged , anticipating an escalade suid manning their walla , the British engineers were quietly piling their powder bags at the Caubul gate . wellThe match

    " The work was done rapidly and . was applied to the hose . The powder exploded . Above the roaring of the guns and the rushing of the wind , the noise of the explosion was barely audible . But the effect was sis mighty as it , was sudden . A column ofblack smoke arose ; and down with a crash came heavy masses of masonry aud shivered beams in awful ruin and confusion . Tlien tins bugle Hounded the advance . Dennie , At the head of his stunners , pushed forward through the . smoke and durtof the aperture ; and soon Liu : bayonets ol Ins li Rbt companies were crossing th <; mvords ol the enemy who hud rushed down to the point ol attack . A lew moments of darkness and confusion ; and then

    the foremost soldiers caug ht , a glimpse ol the morning sky , and pushing gallantly on , were mmu « 'h » : iblished in the fortress . Three hearty , animating cheers—so loud and clear that ; they were hoard throughout , the general camp—announced to their excited comrades below thut Dcnnio and Iuh Htormeitf hud entered Ghiunieu . "

    Those who philosophize as they read , glozing the text

    with' * Thoughts beyond the reaches of their souls , '' will find abundant opportunities in this history . Eead the following scene , and , taking your eyes from the elite of European advancement , think what centuries must elapse before this race can be moved along the grooves of our civilization : — " It was shortly after the retirement of Shah Soojah to the British possessions that Futteh . Khan set out , at the head of an army , to the western boundary of Afghanistan . Persia had long been encroaching upon the limits of the Douranee Empire , and it was now to stem the tide of Kujjar invasion that the Afghan Wuzeer set out for Khorassan . At this time he was

    the virtual ruler of the country . Weak , indolent , and debauched , Shah Mahmoud , retaining the name and the pomp of royalty , had y ielded the actual government of the country into the hands of Futteh Khan and his brothers . The Princes of the blood royal quailed before the Barukzye Sirdars . Feroozood-Deen , brother of the reigning monarch , was at that time governor of Herat . Whether actuated by motives of personal resentment or ambition , or instigated by Shah Mahmoud himself , Futteh Khan determined to turn the Persian expedition to other account , and to throw Herat into the hands of the Barukzyes . The execution of this design was entrusted his

    to Dost Mahomed . He entered Herat with Kohistanee followers as a friend ; and when the chiefs of the city were beyond its gates , in attendance upon the Wuzeer , with characteristic Afg han treachery and violence he massacred the palace guards , seized the person of the Prince , spoiled the treasury , and violated the harem . Setting the crown upon this last act of violence , he tore the jewelled waistband from the person of the royal wife of one of the royal Princes . The outraged lady is said to have sent her profaned garment to Prince Kamran , and to have drawn from him an oath that he would avenge the injury . He was true to his vow . The blow was struck ; but it fell not on the perpetrator of the outrage : it fell upon

    Futteh Khan . " Dost Mahomed had fled for safety to Cashmere . The Wuzeer , returning from the Persian expedition , fell into the hands of Prince Kamran , who punctured his eyes with the point of a dagger . What followed is well known . Enraged by so gross an outrage on a member of the Suddoze family , alarmed at the growing power of the Barukzyes , and further irritated by the resolute refusal of Futteh Khan to betray his brothers , who had effected their escape from Herat , Kamran and his father , Shah Mahmoud , agreed to put their noble prisoner to death . They were then on their way from Candahar to Caubul . The

    ex-Minister was brought into their presence , and again called upon to write to his brothers , ordering them to surrender themselves to the Shah . Again he refused , alleging that he was but a poor blind captive ; that his career was run ; that he had no longer any influence ; and that he could not consent to betray his brethren . Exasperated by the resolute bearing of his prisoner , Mahmoud Shah ordered the unfortunate Minister—the king-maker to whom he owed his crown—to be put to death before him ; and there , in the presence of the feeble lather and the cruel son , Futteh Khan was by the attendant courtiers literally

    hacked to pieces . His nose , ears , and lips were cut oif ; his fingers severed from his hands , his hands fro in his anus , his arms from Ins body . Limb followed limb , and long was the horrid butchery continued before the life of the victim was extinct . Futteh Khan raised no cry , offered no prayer for mercy , ilis fortitude was unshaken to the last , lie died as he had lived , the bravest and most resolute of men —like his noble lather , a victim to the perfidy and ingratitude of princes . The murder of Poyiidah Khan shook the Huddozye dynasty to its base . The ; assassination of Futtek Khan booh made it a heap of

    Dec. 13, 1851.] ®D* &*&&*?+ 1189

    Dec . 13 , 1851 . ] ® D * &*&&*? + 1189

    Readers That It, Is An Attempt To Combin...

    , of the American War with it graphic pen-aiid-peneil Hkotch of the various localities . A history of the Hitttle of" Waterloo , for example , in a very different thing from a visit , to the Field of Waterloo which should weave in history with local t . raditioiiH and descriptions . In like niamu-r this field-1 took of the Revolution is more than a history of the Revolution . It , is a handsome work profusely illustrated , the completion of which we await . 'I' / ir tt ' ritiiiv , * <(/ " Doufjits Jer / old . Collected I ' . ilil inn . Vol . ~ Men of ( ' ) iararler . Kni < ll > uiy ; ui « l Kvann

    readers that itis an attempt to combine the history ruiiiH . " BOOKS ON OUIt TAIILK . The Pictorial Wold-Hook of tin- Revolution ; or , Illustrations liy IVn mid IVnciloi ' llD ! Ui . it . » ry , Biography , Kcenrry . Uifhr . H , and Traditions ol ' tlie \ Vari ' urlii « l ) . 'l < i ; ndciH )' . Hy Unison . 1 . I . OHhiiitf . In two vols . Imported by Mainrmou Low . This is the first volume of an important American work , which we shall review at length when the Hecond reaches us ; meanwhile we may inform our „ i ,., u » i . it it iu . in niii'innl to combine the history

    We have ho recently , mid at , some length , considered the character of JVi roM's wiitin ^ s , that we nerd do little more than announce this issue of the second volume of the , cheap collected edition . It contains

    Readers That It, Is An Attempt To Combin...

    Travelling Hours : Curiosities of Communication . ( . Knight . " Literature tor the Rail" seems now the decided bent of publishers . It would be strange if ( , 'harlc . s Knight , the creator of cheap , good literature , did not bring his quota . The specimen before us aims more at . instruction than entertainment , yet . the instruction is entertainingly given . It contains separate articles , brief yet . full , on The . Hand and the . Hailuuti / , us it . wart and is- / , c . how our fathers travelled by rack horses . Carriers , Long ttt . nge W .-iggons , Stage < loaches , and Mail Couches ( where by the way a passage or no

    might fitly have been inserted from that , wonderiul bit of word -painting by Do Quincey , in IHae . kwond some two years ago , <> " ¦ the Ulor ;/ of Mail (' ouch Travelling ) , and a very fair outline of Railway travelling . Then come the lilect . rie . Telegraph .- the , SV // 7 and the Steamer- --and Ocean . Steamers , including our Foreran Mails . The papers have no preface ; slating whetl ' ier they are original or selected ; but we belie v <; there can be little danger in ascribing the whole to ( Muirles Kui |> ht , and we have a remembrance of having rend norm : of the pageH before , we think iu UowchoUl Words .

    We knew the book of old , and have examined this edition with considerable pleasure . It is a compact , closely printed book of some ( i /> 0 pages with 200 woodcuts , many of them beautiful , and a full index . The explanations sire clear and brief ; hut being addressed to the profession are of coure stiff with technical terms . We mention this because the book is a hook to work with , not to be read by the uniustructed . It forms one of Churchill's valuable scries of Manuals , and cannot be too emphatically recommended .

    The / Jnatomist ' n Fade Mccinn : a . System of Human Anatomy . liy KrasrniiH Wilson , l- ' . K . S . Filth Edition . Churchill . It is enough to write fifth edition on nny work of pure science to dispense with criticism altogether . A book like the present can only succeed by intrinsic excellence . It is not entertaining . It flatters no prejudice . It backs up no system . Only continued use , and comparison with other works , can make its merits appreciated ; and the sense of its value must be very evident before it could reach a fifth edition .

    The physiology of his subject Dr . Searle touches only in outlines . We seize the pretext , however , to lay before our readers a modern discovery which will interest them , viz ., that sugar is elaborated in the tissue of the liver ! Hence M . C . Bernard , the French chemist , regards the liver and the lungs as performing two complementary functions : —the liver elaborating the sugar , the lungs consuming it in the act of respiration , separating from it the carbonic acid which it expires .

    on—one eternal corso ricorso , one and reaction , one vast interdependence of separate parts . We touch this point in passing as a caution to the unprofessional reader , to whom we commend the work , not by which to treat his own diseases , but by which he may gain a clear conception of his liver . Dr . Searle shows how there may be disease of the liver without pain , without even appreciable enlargement ; and he enumerates several results of his own professional experience : with which , as laymen , we have nothing to do .

    network of action Like many others who have devoted themselves to the study of some special organ , Dr . Searle seems inclined to over-estimate its importance . From a perusal of his book the general reader would conclude that the liver was almost always the source of functional derangements . Whereas the complexity and connexity of the human frame is such that the great problem of pathology has always been correctly to localize disease . The heart acts on the liver , the brain on the heart , the stomach on the brain , the lungs on the stomach , the liver on the lungs , and so

    final change in the lungs , a larger might have been devoted to it , and even the unprofessional reader not found it tedious . Dr . Searle has , however , aided his text by two diagrams , —poor , indeed , as representations of the organs , but clear enough as diagrams ,- —the second so useful in conveying an idea of the circulation through the liver , and the relations in which the liver stands to the principal organs , that it is well worth the small price of the volume .

    volume The Liver , the Great Purifying Organ of the Body ; its Importance to Health , and the extreme Frequency of its Disorder . By Charles Searle , M . D . H . BailliCre . Dr Searle has here presented to the public a small volume in which the function of the liver in the animal economy is clearly and popularly illustrated in language free from technicalities . Considering the part played by the liver , as the chemical laboratory in which , the blood must be prepared for its

    eight of his humorous extravaganzas which appeared years ago in Blackioood ' s Magazine : very extravagant and droll they are ; but Men of Character is hardly the name for them , as he himself seems perfectly aware , saying : — " Indeed , Men of Character are little other than Men of Outlines ; pen-and-ink flourishes ; with possibly , now and then , some better trace of human similitude , and now running into mere grotesque . " Let us add , however , that the Jerroldian style is never absent .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 13, 1851, page 17, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_13121851/page/17/