Of this I am sure; but whether Bullion Street can be willing to

understand it I am not so sure. Yet if it cannot, or some one in its

behalf, grass will grow there. And why should it refuse heed? Who is

more concerned? Does Bullion Street desire chaos? Does it wish that

the pith should be taken out of every statute, and the chief value

from every piece of property? If not, its course is clear. This nation

has a vital faith,--or had one,--well grounded in its traditions.

Conserve this; or, if it has been impaired, renew its vigor. This

faith is our one sole pledge of order, of peace, of growth, of all

that we prize in the present, or hope for the future. That it is

a noble faith, new in its breadth, its comprehension and

magnanimity,--this would seem in my eyes rather to enhance than

diminish the importance of its conservation. Yet the only argument

against it is, that it is generous, broad, inspiring; and the only

appeal in opposition to it must be made to the coldness of skepticism,

the suicidal miserliness of egotism, or the folly and fatuity of

ignorance.

Our nation has a political faith. Will you, conservative men, conserve

this, and so regain and multiply the blessing it has already brought?

or will you destroy it, and wait till, through at least a century

of tossing and tumult, another, and that of less value, is grown? A

faith, a crystallizing principle for many millions of people is not

grown in a day; if it can be grown in a century is problematical. The

fact, and the choice, are before you.

Our nation _had_ a faith which it cherished with sincerity and

sureness. If half the nation has fallen away from this,--if half the

remaining moiety is doubtful, skeptical about it,--if, therefore,

we are already a house divided against itself and tottering to its

fall,--to what is all due? Simply to the fact that no nation can long

unsay its central principle, and yet preserve it in faithfulness and

power,--that no nation can long preach the sanctity of natural right,

the venerableness of man's nature, and the identity of pure justice

with political interest, from an auction-block on which men and

maidens are sold,--that, in fine, a nation cannot continue long with

impunity to play within its own borders the part both of Gessler and

Tell, both of Washington and Benedict Arnold, both of Christ and of

him that betrayed him.

We must choose. For our national faith we must make honest payment,

so conserving it, and with it all for which nations may hope; or else,

refusing to meet these costs, we must suffer the nation's soul to

perish, and in the imbecility, the chaos, and shame that will follow,

suffer therewith all that nations may lawfully fear.

What good omens, then, attend our time, now when the first officer of

the land has put the trumpet to his mouth and blown round the world an

intimation that, to the extent of the nation's power, these costs will

begin to be paid, this true conservation to be practised! The work

is not yet done; and the late elections betoken too much of moral

debility in the people. But my trust continues firm. The work will be

done,--at least, so far as we are responsible for its doing. And then!

Then our shame, our misery, our deadly sickness will be taken away;

no more that poison in our politics; no more that degradation in our

commercial relations; no more that careful toning down of sentiment

to low levels, that it may harmonize with low conditions; no more that

need to shun the company of all healthful and heroic thoughts, such

as are fit, indeed, to brace the sinews of a sincere social order, but

sure to crack the sinews of a feeble and faithless conventionalism.

Base men there will yet be, and therefore base politics; but when once

our nation has paid the debt it owes to itself and the human race,

when once it has got out of its blood the venom of this great

injustice, it will, it must, arise beautiful in its young strength,

noble in its new-consecrated faith, and stride away with a generous

and achieving pace upon the great highways of historical progress.

Other costs will come, if we are worthy; other lessons there will be

to learn. I anticipate a place for brave and wise restrictions,--for

I am no Red Republican,--as well as for brave and generous expansions.

Lessons to learn, errors to unlearn, there will surely be; tasks to

attempt, and disciplines to practise; but once place the nation in the

condition of _health_, once get it at one with its own heart, once get

it out of these aimless eddies into clear sea, out of these accursed

"doldrums," (as the sailors phrase it,) this commixture of broiling

calm and sky-bursting thunder-gust, into the great trade-winds of

natural tendency that are so near at hand,--and I can trust it to meet

all future emergency. All the freshest blood of the world is flowing

hither: we have but to wed this with the life-blood of the universe,

with eternal truth and justice, and God has in store no blessing for

noblest nations that will not be secured for ours.

* * * * *

THE CHASSEURS À PIED.

Among the most celebrated corps of the French army, one of the most

conspicuous and remarkable is that peculiar body of troops to which

has been given the name of _Chasseurs à Pied_, or _Foot-Chasseurs_,

to distinguish it from an organization of mounted men in the same

service, uniformed and trained on similar principles. The Chasseurs

à Pied have not attained the same romantic renown as that acquired

by their brethren and rivals in arms, the Zouaves, but, nevertheless,

they have had an exceedingly brilliant career in the late wars

and conquests of France. They possess their own characteristics of

originality, too, and are, in many respects, one of the most efficient

and formidable forces in existence.

In order to convey a clear and correct idea of the new principles

adopted in the organization and equipment of the Chasseurs, and to

furnish our readers with some facts that may be interesting to them

as historical students, and most useful to such among them as are

connected with or may have any aspiration for military life, we must

beg them to go back with us, for a moment, to the very period of the

invention of gunpowder. It would be out of the question, of course, to

attempt, in these pages, a description of all the curious weapons

that were at first employed under the name of fire-arms. We will only

remark that such weapons were, despite the anathemas of Bayard and

the sarcasms of Ariosto, very much used as early as the middle of the

sixteenth century, and played an important part on the battle-fields

of that epoch.

To the Spaniards belongs the credit of having rendered the use of

fire-arms more easy, more regular, and more general among the nations.

For more than a hundred years the Spaniards were the very masters

of the art of war. Their power had begun to decline, but they still

retained their military superiority; and from the Battle of Ceresole,

won by the Count of Enghien in 1544, down to the memorable victory of

Rocroy, gained in 1643 by a hero of the same race and the same name,

they had the upper-hand in all pitched engagements. Their generals

were the very best and most thoroughly instructed, and formed a real

school; they, too, were the only officers who practised strategy.

Their organization was better than any other, and their celebrated

_tercios_ were the very model of all regiments. Their armament was

likewise superior, as they had adopted the musket, which was the

first fire-arm that a man could handle with any facility, load with

rapidity, and aim with any precision. Each of their _tercios_ or

battalions contained a regulated proportion of these musketeers, and

the number was large, compared to the whole mass of troops.

The excellent results attained by the Spaniards, in the more perfect

organization and equipment of their infantry, did not escape the

attention of the French officers; and one of them especially, the Duke

Francis de Guise, endeavored to turn his observations to good account.

It is to him that we are indebted for the first rough sketch of

regimental organization modelled upon that of the _tercios_, and, in

more than one encounter with the Huguenots, the numbers of thoroughly

skilled arquebuse-men embodied in the old French bands in Picardy and

Piedmont secured advantages to the Catholic armies. In the opposite

party, a young general who was destined to become a great king,

endowed with that creative instinct, that genius which is as readily

applicable to the science of government as to that of war, and which,

when tempered with good sense, may bestow glory and happiness upon

whole nations, Henry IV., had taken particular pains to increase the

number and the efficiency of his arquebuse-men, and frequently managed

to employ them in ways as novel as they were successful. At the Battle

of Coutras, he distributed them in groups of twenty-five, in the midst

of his squadrons of cavalry, so that, when the royal _gendarmerie_

advanced to charge the latter, they were suddenly received with

murderous volleys by these arquebuse-men _of the spur_, as they were

called, owing to their combination with the cavalry, and the shock

they thus encountered gave victory to the Protestants. Henry IV. went

even too far with his passion for fire-arms. He increased their number

and their use among cavalry so extravagantly, that the latter arm was

perverted from its proper object. The cavalry, for a long time, forgot

that their strength lay in the points of their sabres, in the dash of

the men, and the speed of their horses.

Most of the great captains of an early day thus signalized their

progress by some improvement in the equipment of their infantry. One

of the most formidable enemies of Spanish power, Maurice of Nassau,

a skilful engineer and tactician, was the first to array infantry in

such a manner as to combine the simultaneous use of the musket and the

pike. Before his time, fire-arms had been used only for skirmishing

service; he commenced to use them in line. This reform was, however,

only foreshadowed, as it were, by the Dutch General; it was reserved

for Gustavus Adolphus to complete it. While he was executing a series

of military operations such as the world had not beheld since the days

of Cæsar, he was also creating a movable artillery, and giving to the

fire of his infantry an efficacy which had not been attained before.

For the heavy machines of war which were drawn by oxen to the field

of battle, and which remained there motionless and paralyzed by the

slightest movements of the contending armies, he substituted light

cannon drawn by horses and following up all the manoeuvres of either

cavalry or foot. He had found the infantry formed in dense battalions.

His system arranged it in long continuous lines in which each rank

of musketeers was sustained by several ranks of pikemen, so that his

array, thus distributed, should present to the enemy a front bristling

with steel, while, at the same time, it could cover a large space of

ground with its discharge of lead. Attentive to all kinds of detail,

he also gave his soldiers the cartouch-box and knapsack instead of

the cumbersome apparatus to which they had been accustomed. In fact,

Gustavus Adolphus was the founder of the modern science of battle. In

strategy and the grand combinations of warfare, he was the disciple

and rival of the ancient masters; for, even if this "divine portion"

of the military art be inaccessible to the vast number of its

votaries, and if history can easily enumerate those who were capable

of comprehending it, and, more especially, of applying it, its rules

and principles have, nevertheless, been by no means the same in all

ages. On the contrary, the invention of fire-arms demanded an entirely

new system of tactics, and this the Swedish hero introduced.

The example set by Gustavus was not, however, very rapidly followed,

and, although some slight improvements were introduced by French

officers during the seventeenth century, it was not until the time

of Louis XIV. that the reforms started by Maurice of Nassau, and so

successfully continued by the Swedish army, began to attain their

consummation. The progress made in that direction was due to Vauban,

whose eminent genius had mastered every question and every branch of

study so completely, that, when applied to on any subject connected

with politics or war, his opinion was always clear and correct.

The very numerous essays and sketches from his hand which are found

deposited in the fortresses and in the archives of France all reveal

some flash of genius, and even his wildest speculations bear the stamp

of his high intellect and excellent heart. Engineering science was

carried by him to such a degree of perfection that it has made but few

advances since his time; and it was Vauban who induced Louis XIV. to

replace the pike and the musket with a weapon which should be, at

one and the same time, an instrument for both firing and thrusting,

namely, the bayonet-gun. The Royal Fusileer Regiment, since called the

Royal Artillery, was the first one armed with this weapon, (in

1670,) and in 1703 the whole French army finally gave up the pike.

Notwithstanding some reverses sustained by the infantry thus armed,

and notwithstanding the disapproval of Puységur and others, this gun

was soon adopted by all Europe, and the success of the great Frederick

put a conclusive indorsement on this new style of weapon. Frederick

had taken up and perfected the ideas of Gustavus Adolphus; and he now

laid down certain rules for the formation and manoeuvring of infantry,

which are still followed at this day; and since that time, no one has

disputed the fact that the strength of foot-troops lies in their guns

and their legs.

Our present firelock differs from the article used during the

Seven Years' War only in its more careful construction and some

modifications of detail. The most important of these relates to the

more rapid explosion of the charge. In 1840 the old flint-locks were

generally replaced by the percussion-lock, which is simpler, is

less exposed to the effects of dampness, and more quickly and surely

ignites the powder. Even the ordinary regulation-musket with its

bayonet was spoken of by Napoleon in his time as "the best engine of

warfare ever invented by man." Since the day of the Great Emperor, and

even during the reign of the present Napoleon, continued improvements

have been made in the character of the weapon used by the French

infantry. The weight, length, correctness of aim, durability, and

handiness of the gun have all been carefully examined and modified, to

the advantage of the soldier, until, finally, we have a weapon which

combines wonderful qualities of lightness, strength, correctness of

equipoise, ease and rapidity of loading, with perfect adaptability as

a combination of the lance, pike, and sword, when it has ceased to be

a fire-arm.

We have not here the space to enter upon a disquisition concerning

these progressive changes; but suffice it to say that nearly all the

peculiar styles of fire-arms were well known at an early period,

and that the rifling, etc., of guns and cannon, with the other

modifications now adopted, are merely the development and consummation

of old ideas. For instance, the rifled arquebuse was known and used

at the close of the fifteenth century, and, although the rifled musket

was not put in general use by the French infantry, from the fact that

its reduced length and the greater complication of movements required

in loading and discharging it deprived it of other advantages when

in the hands of troops of the line, still it was adopted in a certain

proportion in some branches of the French service.

As early as the middle of the seventeenth century, some corps of light

cavalry called _Carabins_ were armed with the short rifle-musket, and

hence the derivation of the term _carabines_ applied to the weapon.

These "carabines" were also very promptly adopted by hunters and

sportsmen everywhere. The Swiss and the Tyrolese employed them in

chasing the chamois among their mountains, and practised their skill

in the use of them at general shooting-matches, which to this very day

are celebrated as national festivals. The Austrian Government was the

first to profit by this preference on the part of certain populations

for accurate fire-arms, and at once proceeded to organize battalions

of Tyrolese _Chasseurs_, or _Huntsmen_,--to give the meaning of the

French word. These Chasseurs were applied in the Austrian service as

light troops, and so great was their efficiency against the Prussians

that Frederick the Great was compelled, in his turn, to organize a

battalion of Chasseur sharp-shooters. France followed suit, in the

course of the eighteenth century, and called into existence various

corps of the same description, under different names. These, however,

were but short-lived, although some of them, for instance, the Grassin

Legion, acquired quite a reputation.

Finally came the French Revolution. The troops of the Republic were

more remarkable for courage and enthusiasm than for tactics and drill.

They usually attacked as skirmishers,--a system which may be employed

successfully by even the most regularly disciplined armies, but which

is sometimes more especially useful to raw troops, because it

gives the private soldier an opportunity to compensate by personal

intelligence for the lack of thorough instruction. Struck by the

aptitude of the French recruits for that kind of fighting, the

Convention, in reorganizing the army, decreed the formation of some

half-brigades of light infantry. The picked men were to be armed with

the new weapon, and received the name of _Carabiniers_. The carabine

of 1793 is the first specimen of that kind of arm which was regularly

employed in France.

Subsequently, owing to many practical defects, when Napoleon

reorganized the equipment of the French armies, the carabine was

dropped from the service, although the regiments of light infantry

were retained, and their picked companies preserved the title of

Carabiniers. In the Imperial Guard, too, there were companies of

Skirmishers, Flankers, and Chasseurs, but neither one of these corps

was distinguished by any particular style of arms or drill. The

Emperor's wish was to have the armament and training of all his

infantry uniform, so that all the regiments should be equally adapted

to the service of troops of the line or light troops. Finally, to

carry out his design with greater ease, he formed all the men who were

more active and agile than the rest, or whose low stature prevented

them from becoming Grenadiers, into companies of Voltigeurs,--and this

was one of his finest military creations.

However, notwithstanding the correctness of Napoleon's views, as a

general principle, the thousand and one uses of a corps of picked

marksmen as light troops were so universally admitted that the

different nations of Europe continued and even augmented that branch

of their military service. Under different names they were found not

only in the armies of England, Austria, Prussia, and Russia, but also

under the banners of the secondary powers, such as Sweden, Piedmont,

and Switzerland.

After the disasters of 1815, the reorganization of the French army

was confided to Marshal Gouvion de St. Cyr, who united to sincere

patriotism every qualification of an able general. He gave to the

French service the basis of its present success, his suggestions

having, of course, been perfected and expanded in the mean time. Among

other things, he prescribed the formation of battalions of Chasseurs,

to be organized in legions, side by side with the infantry of

the line, but with their own special equipment. This plan was not

efficiently executed, and the Chasseur battalions shared the fate

of the Department Legions of France, and were merged in the existing

regiments.

The project, in a different form, was revived by Marshal Soult, who,

as Minister of War, in 1833, succeeded in securing the passage of

a royal ordinance prescribing the formation of companies of

sharp-shooters "armed with carabines and uniformed in a manner

befitting their special service." These companies were to be united

subsequently into battalions, and were to undergo a particular course

of training. Although the ordinance was not immediately carried

into execution, the impulse had been given, and erelong successful

improvements in the rifle having been effected by an old officer of

the Royal Guard, named Delvigne, and a certain Colonel Poncharra,

inspector of the manufacture of arms, the Duke of Orléans brought

about the formation of a company of marksmen peculiarly trained and

equipped, and provided with the so-called Delvigne-Poncharra carabine.

This company was placed in garrison at Vincennes, where, under skilful

and popular commanders, it gave such satisfaction that it was finally

decided to try the experiment on a larger scale, and a decree of

November 14, 1838, created a battalion of the same character.

This corps, then, and even now, known to the people as the

_Tirailleurs de Vincennes_, wore a uniform very similar to that of the

present Chasseurs, but quite different from that of the infantry of

the period. Instead of the stiff accoutrements and heavy headgear of

the latter, they assumed a frock, wide and roomy pantaloons, and a

light military shako. The double folds of white buckskin, which were

very fine to look at, to be sure, but which oppressed the lungs and

offered a conspicuous mark to the enemy, were discarded; the sabre was

no longer allowed to dangle between the legs of the soldier and impede

his movements; while the necessary munitions were carried in a manner

more convenient and better adapted to their preservation. The arms

consisted of a carabine, and a long, solid, sharpened appendage to

it, termed the _sword-bayonet_. This latter weapon was provided with

a hilt, and could be used for both cut and thrust, with considerable

effect, while, affixed to the end of the carabine, it furnished a most

formidable pike.

Although the Delvigne-Poncharra carabine had great advantages, it

still did not command the range of the coarser and heavier muskets of

the line, and, in order to make up for this in some degree, the most

robust and skilful men of the corps were armed with a heavier gun,

constructed on the same principles, but capable of throwing a heavier

charge with precision, to greater distances. The proportion of men so

armed was one-eighth of the battalion. The use of these two

different calibres of fire-arms had some drawbacks, but they were

counterbalanced by some curious advantages. For instance, the

battalion could keep up a steady fire at ordinary distances, while,

at the same moment, the men armed with the heavy carabines, or

_Carabiniers_, as they were distinctively called, even within their

own battalion, could reach the enemy at points where he deemed himself

beyond the range of the force he saw in front of him. United in

groups, the Carabiniers could thus produce severe effect, and actually

formed a sort of _hand artillery_,--to use an expression often

employed concerning them.

The Tirailleurs thus composed were, owing to the shortness of their

carabines, drawn up in two ranks, instead of in the regimental style

of three ranks. They manoeuvred in line, like all other infantry

battalions, but, in addition to the ordinary drill, were trained in

gymnastics and double-quick evolutions, as well as in fencing with the

bayonet, a special course of sharp-shooting, and what was termed _the

new Tirailleur drill_.

Gymnastics have always been encouraged in the French army, and, when

not carried to excess, they are of the greatest use, particularly in

developing the strength of young men, giving suppleness and confidence

to raw recruits, and facilitating their manoeuvres. Running was

naturally a portion of these exercises, although it was rarely

permitted in the evolutions of French troops, since it was found to

produce much disorder. The Tirailleurs were so trained, however, that

they could move, with all their accoutrements, in ranks, without noise

and without confusion, at a cadenced and measured running step termed

the _pas gymnastique_, or gymnastic step,--and they could use it

even during complicated field-manoeuvres. This was a most excellent

innovation, for it enabled infantry to pass rapidly to any important

point, and to execute many evolutions with the promptitude in some

degree which cavalry obtains from the combination of the two gaits.

The bayonet-exercise was very acceptable to the men, for it augmented

their confidence in their weapons and their skill in handling them.

The target or sharp-shooting drill was much the most complicated and

difficult, as the troops were taught to fire when kneeling and lying

on the ground, and to avail themselves of the slightest favoring

circumstances of the soil. The rules and methods adopted in this

branch of the drill have been the subject of profound and careful

study, and are exceedingly ingenious.

The approval of these measures by the French Government was such,

that, by a decree of August 28th, 1839, the merely temporary

organization of the Tirailleurs was made permanent and separate, and

the corps was sent to camp at Fontainebleau. There, the agility of

the men, their neat and convenient uniforms and equipments, and their

rapid and orderly evolutions struck every one who saw them. When, at

the close of their period of encampment, the King was passing them in

review as a special compliment, he warmly asked Marshal Soult what

he thought of the new corps. The Marshal, in replying, emphatically

expressed the wish that His Majesty had thirty such battalions instead

of only one.

However, the new organization found some opponents, and many urgent

arguments were adduced to prevent its extension. In order to put all

these to the test, it was finally determined to submit the Tirailleurs

to the ordeal of actual warfare; and they were speedily shipped to

Africa, where it was quickly discovered that their gymnastic training

had so prepared them that they easily became inured to the fatigues

and privations of campaigning life. Their heavy carabines succeeded

admirably, and the skill of their marksmen--among others, of a certain

Sergeant Pistouley--was the theme of universal praise.

The Tirailleurs were now brigaded with the Zouaves, and erelong had

shared glorious laurels with those celebrated troops.

Finally, in 1840, the dangers that seemed to be accumulating over

France on all sides assumed so dark a form that the patriotism of the

whole nation was aroused, and, in the midst of the general outpouring

of men and means, the Duke of Orléans was authorized to form no less

than ten battalions of Chasseurs.

The Duke set himself about this important task with all the zeal that

had characterized his first effort to create the organization, and

all the erudition he had gleaned from years of military study and

research. In the first place, he abandoned the title of Tirailleurs,

as being not sufficiently distinctive, and adopted that of Chasseurs à

Pied, or Foot-Chasseurs. The organization by battalions was retained,

and the one formed two years before at Vincennes was designated as the

First Battalion, and recalled from Africa to St. Omer as a model for

the other nine that were to be organized. St. Omer offered extensive

barracks, a vast field suitable to military exercise, and, in fine,

all the establishments requisite for a large concourse of troops. The

ranks were soon filled with picked men from all sides, and ardent,

ambitious officers from every corps of the army sought commands. Among

the latter we may mention a certain Captain, since Marshal de M'Mahon,

who was put at the head of the Tenth Battalion.

Under the eyes of the Prince Royal, and in accordance with a series

of regulations drawn up by him with the greatest care, and constantly

modified to suit circumstances, the battalions were drilled and

trained assiduously in all the walks of their profession connected

with their own destined service. Every branch of their military life

was illustrated by their exercises, and even the officers went through

a thorough course of special instruction under accomplished tutors,

who were also officers of peculiar ability and experience. While

the Duke of Orléans, with the distinguished General Rostolan and two

picked lieutenant-colonels, remained at St. Omer in charge of the

growing force, another lieutenant-colonel was intrusted with the task

of training subordinates to serve as teachers in sharp-shooting, and

for this purpose a detachment was assembled at Vincennes, consisting

of ten officers and a number of subalterns who had attracted attention

by their particular aptitude. These, after having been thoroughly

instructed in the manufacture of small arms, the preparation of

munitions, and the rules and practice of sharp-shooting, were sent to

St. Omer to furnish the new battalions with the officers who were to

form part of the permanent organization. The weapon selected was an

improvement upon the former carabines of the Tirailleurs; and while

the old proportion, to wit, the eighth part of each battalion, were

armed with guns of longer range, and styled distinctively Carabiniers,

these were set apart as the picked company of each battalion. The

Duke, taking up his residence at St. Omer, attended in person to all

that was going forward; and so constant were his exertions, and so

warm the zeal of those who assisted the enterprise, that in a few

months all the battalions were equipped, armed, and well drilled.

One fine spring morning,--it was in May, 1841,--a long column of

troops entered Paris with a celerity hitherto unknown. There was no

false glitter, no tinsel; everything was neat and martial, with bugles

for their only music, and a uniform that was sombre, indeed, but of

such harmonious simplicity as to be by no means devoid of elegance.

This column consisted of the Chasseurs, coming to receive their

standard from the hands of Louis Philippe, and speeding through the

streets with their _gymnastic step_. On the very next day, as though

to signalize the serious and entirely military character of the

organization, four of these battalions were sent off to Africa,

and the remaining six posted at the different leading fortresses of

France, where the collections of artillery, etc., enabled them to

proceed with the perfect development of their training.

It was only a year later, when the Duke of Orléans was snatched away,

on the very eve of some crowning experiments he was about to make in

illustration of the full uses and capacities of this force, that it

received the title of Chasseurs d'Orléans, which the modesty of

its founder would not tolerate during his lifetime. This name they

gallantly bore through the combats that marked their novitiate in

Africa, where it was at once found that the complete preparation of

both officers and men made victory comparatively easy for them. The

deadly precision of their aim struck terror into the Arabs, and, as

early as 1842, the splendid behavior of the Sixth Battalion in the

bloody fights of the Oued Foddah at once ranged the Chasseurs among

the finest troops in Africa. To attempt to follow them step by step

in their career would be idle in the space we have here allotted to

ourselves. We shall therefore cite merely a few instances where their

courage and efficiency shone with peculiar lustre.

In the course of the year 1845, an impostor, playing upon the

credulity of the Arabs, and artfully availing himself of the

organization ready furnished by the religious sect to which he

belonged, succeeded in bringing about a revolt of a great portion of

the tribes in Algiers and Oran. He went by the title of "Master of the

Hour," a sort of Messiah who had been long expected in that region.

But he was more generally known as Bou-Maza, or _The Father with the

She-Goat_, from the fact that a she-goat was his customary companion,

and was supposed by the populace to serve him as a medium of

communication with the supernatural Powers. This man exhibited a great

deal of skill and audacity. His activity was so extraordinary, and

he had been seen at so many different points at almost the same time,

that his very existence was at first doubted, and many supposed him to

be a myth. At one time it was thought that the insurrection had been

quelled, as a chief calling himself Bou-Maza had been captured and

shot, when, suddenly, the real leader reappeared among the Flittas,

one of the most warlike tribes of Algeria, and living in a region very

difficult of access. Against these and the Prophet, General Bourjolly,

the French commander, marched at once, but unfortunately with very

inadequate force. A terrible combat ensued, the Fourth Regiment of the

Chasseurs d'Afrique and the Ninth Battalion of the Chasseurs d'Orléans

having to sustain the brunt of it. Both these corps performed

prodigies of valor, and it was worth while to hear the men of

each reciprocally narrating the glory and the peril of their

comrades,--these telling by what noble exploits the mounted Chasseurs

(d'Afrique) had saved the remains of Lieutenant-Colonel Berthier, and

the others describing the Chasseurs à Pied, how they stood immovable,

although without cartridges, around the body of their commander,

Clère, with their terrible sword-bayonets bloody to the hilt!

On almost the same day, the Eighth Battalion succumbed to a frightful

catastrophe. At a period of supposed tranquillity, the Souhalia

tribe, who had been steadfast allies of the French, were unexpectedly

attacked by Abd-el-Kader at the head of an overwhelming force.

Lieutenant-Colonel Montagnac, with only sixty-two horsemen of the

Second Hussars and three hundred and fifty men of the Eighth Chasseurs

d'Orléans, hurried to the rescue. He was repeatedly warned of the

danger, but, despite all that could be said, he dashed at the whole

force of Abd-el-Kader. At the very first discharge, Montagnac fell

mortally wounded, and in a few moments all the horses and nearly all

the men were disabled. Captain Cognord, of the Second Hussars, rallied

the survivors, and this little handful of heroes, huddled together

upon a hillock, fought like tigers, until their ammunition was

exhausted. The Arabs then closed in upon the group, which had become

motionless and silent, and, to use the expressive language of an

eye-witness, "felled them to the earth as they would overturn a wall."

The enemy found none remaining but the dead, or those who were

so badly wounded that they gave no sign of life. Before expiring,

Montagnac had summoned to his aid a small detachment he had left in

reserve. The latter, on its approach, was immediately surrounded, and

perished to the very last man. There was now surviving of the whole

French force only the Carabinier company of the Eighth Chasseurs, upon

whom the Arabs rushed with fury, from every side. After a resistance

of almost fabulous heroism, during which the flag of the company was

shot away in shreds, and the Carabiniers cut their bullets into

six and eight pieces so as to prolong their defence, every volley

decimating the foe, this little band of seventy men, encumbered with

ten wounded, succeeded in wearying and disheartening the Emir to such

an extent that he determined to abandon the direct assault which was

costing him so dearly, and to surround the French detachment in the

ruined building which served them for a refuge, and so starve them

out. Captain Dutertre, Adjutant of the Eighth, who had been captured

by the Arabs in the early part of the action, was sent forward by the

enemy toward his old comrades. For a moment the firing ceased, and

the Captain shouted so that all could hear him,--"Chasseurs, they have

sworn to behead me, if you do not lay down your arms; and I say to

you, Die, rather than surrender one single man!"

The Captain was instantly sabred, and the conflict recommenced. The

same summons was repeated twice afterwards, and twice failed, when,

finally, the firing ceased, and the Arabs bivouacked around their

prey. Every possible approach was closed and guarded, and, thus caged

in, the Chasseurs remained for three nights and days without food or

drink. At length, by a sudden and desperate dash, on the morning

of September 20th, the seventy heroes, bearing their ten wounded

comrades, succeeded in breaking through the line of Arab sentinels,

and escaped to a neighboring chain of hills. Thither they were pursued

by their wild foemen, who, although infuriated at the daring and

success of this sally, had a sufficient respect for the heavy

carabines of the French, and merely hovered closely on their rear,

awaiting some favorable opportunity to dash in upon them. This moment

soon came. The French soldiers, no longer able to withstand the

torments of thirst, descending from the hills, in spite of the

entreaties of their officers, dashed into a neighboring stream to cool

their burning lips. The instant of doom had come, and, in less time

than it takes to recite the narrative, all but twelve of the little

band were massacred by the exulting Arabs. The twelve escaped to

Djemaa only after terrible privations and sufferings.

We might readily fill a volume with episodes equally glorious and

equally gloomy in the career of the Chasseurs. They were in nearly

all the brilliant actions of the ensuing Algerian campaigns, and, at

Zaatcha, Isly, and other famed engagements, they contended side by

side with the renowned Zouaves for the palm of military excellence.

Their agility, their promptitude in action, their ardor in attack, and

their solidity in retreat, their endurance on the march, their skill

and intelligence in availing themselves of every inequality of ground

and in turning everything to account, made them so conspicuously

preferable, as an infantry corps, for certain operations, that Marshal

Bugeaud caused the number of battalions employed in Africa to be

increased to six. From that time to the present, continual progress

has been, made in the organization, discipline, and instruction of

the Chasseurs, and all the objections which at different periods were,

raised against the special composition and details of the force having

been one by one met and obviated, France now counts no less than

twenty-one battalions of them in her army.

It was for a long time thought by some, that, although the Chasseurs,

like the Zouaves, had been successful in the skirmishing engagements

of Algeria, they would not be found so useful in European warfare.

This opinion was proved to be erroneous at the siege of Rome, in 1849,

where the Chasseurs, armed with their new and terrible weapon, the

_carabine à tige_, in the management of which they had been thoroughly

drilled, rendered the most important service; and from what was seen

of them there it became evident that the existence of such a force,

so perfected in every particular, would hereafter greatly modify the

relations and conditions of the defence and attack of fortified works.

The importance of this fact will impress the reader, when he remembers

how large a part fortresses have played in warfare since 1815, and

especially when he glances at the tendency everywhere perceptible now

toward transforming military strongholds into great intrenched camps,

as revealed at Antwerp in Belgium, Fredericia in Denmark, Buda and

Comorn in Hungary, Peschiera, Mantua, Venice, Verona, and Rome in

Italy, Silistria and Sebastopol in the East, and Washington, Manassas,

and Richmond in America.

Other nations have not been slow to follow French example. Russia

is rapidly manufacturing rifled pieces for her service; England

is providing her whole army with the Minié musket, and Austria and

Prussia are applying inventions of their own to the armament of corps

organized and trained on the principle of the French Chasseurs.

The Duke of Wellington is said to have remarked, not long before his

death, while speaking of the English troops, that they had, indeed,

adopted the new musket, but that it would be physically difficult for

them to transform themselves into light infantry. The same observation

will undoubtedly apply to all the Continental nations excepting the

French; but in the United States, while we could muster the finest

heavy troops in the world, we have also the most abundant material for

just such light infantry as those described in the foregoing sketch.

The Chasseurs are not merely distinguished as perfect light infantry,

but they also form excellent troops of the line. By the weight of

their fire, they are capable of producing in battles and sieges

effects unknown before their appearance on the scene, and that is the

great point, the entirely new feature about them.

The creation of these battalions, well planned and happily executed

as it has been, remains a most important event in military history.

Consecrated by the valor and the intelligence of the officers and

soldiers of France, it has been the signal and the source of new

and rapid reforms. One of these battalions attached to each infantry

division adds fresh force to that fine classification which first

arose under the Republic, and, although somewhat perverted under the

Empire, still remains the basis of the French grand organization,

recalling, as it does, the immortal idea of the Roman Legion.

With the aid of its example, and the emulation inspired by the success

of the Chasseurs, the splendid system of the French infantry-service

has been completed under the present Napoleon; and we now behold the

race he rules so disciplined for war, the respective qualities of the

North and the South of France, the firmness and solidity of the former

and the enthusiasm and ardor of the latter, so beautifully blended,

that we may well exclaim, "Here, indeed, is a whole nation armed! _in

pedite robur_!"

In conclusion, the writer and compiler of this sketch would not be

venturing too far, perhaps, were he to remark that so excellent an

example can be nowhere better followed than in this country, if, as

would to-day appear a certainty, we are to turn aside from the ways of

peace to study the art of war. We have here precisely the material

for whole armies of light infantry, the most favorable conditions

for their equipment and instruction, and, owing to the nature of the

region we inhabit, its dense woodlands, its wide savannas, its broad

rivers, and its numerous ranges of rough mountains, the very land

in which the tactics and marksmanship of the Chasseurs would be most

available.

LATEST VIEWS OF MR. BIGLOW.

PRELIMINARY NOTE.

[It is with feelings of the liveliest pain that we inform our readers

of the death of the Reverend Homer Wilbur, A.M., which took place

suddenly, by an apoplectic stroke, on the afternoon of Christmas day,

1862. Our venerable friend (for so we may venture to call him, though

we never enjoyed the high privilege of his personal acquaintance)

was in his eighty-fourth year, having been born June 12, 1779, at

Pigsgusset Precinct (now West Jerusha) in the then District of Maine.

Graduated with distinction at Hubville College in 1805, he pursued his

theological studies with the late Reverend Preserved Thacker, D.D.,

and was called to the charge of the First Society in Jaalam in 1809,

where he remained till his death.

"As an antiquary he has probably left no superior, if, indeed,

an equal," writes his friend and colleague, the Reverend Jeduthun

Hitchcock, to whom we are indebted for the above facts; "in proof

of which I need only allude to his 'History of Jaalam, Genealogical,

Topographical, and Ecclesiastical,' 1849, which has won him an eminent

and enduring place in our more solid and useful literature. It is only

to be regretted that his intense application to historical studies

should have so entirely withdrawn him from the pursuit of poetical

composition, for which he was endowed by Nature with a remarkable

aptitude. His well-known hymn, beginning, 'With clouds of care

encompassed round,' has been attributed in some collections to the

late President Dwight, and it is hardly presumptuous to affirm that

the simile of the rainbow in the eighth stanza would do no discredit

to that polished pen."

We regret that we have not room at present for the whole of Mr.

Hitchcock's exceedingly valuable communication. We hope to lay more

liberal extracts from it before our readers at an early day. A summary

of its contents will give some notion of its importance and interest.

It contains: 1st, A biographical sketch of Mr. Wilbur, with notices

of his predecessors in the pastoral office, and of eminent clerical

contemporaries; 2d, An obituary of deceased, from the Punkin-Falls

"Weekly Parallel"; 3d, A list of his printed and manuscript

productions and of projected works; 4th, Personal anecdotes and

recollections, with specimens of table-talk; 5th, A tribute to his

relict, Mrs. Dorcas (Pilcox) Wilbur; 6th, A list of graduates fitted

for different colleges by Mr. Wilbur, with biographical memoranda

touching the more distinguished; 7th, Concerning learned, charitable,

and other societies, of which Mr. Wilbur was a member, and of those

with which, had his life been prolonged, he would doubtless have been

associated, with a complete catalogue of such Americans as have been

Fellows of the Royal Society; 8th, A brief summary of Mr. Wilbur's

latest conclusions concerning the Tenth Horn of the Beast in its

special application to recent events, for which the public, as Mr.

Hitchcock assures us, have been waiting with feelings of lively

anticipation; 10th, Mr. Hitchcock's own views on the same topic; and,

11th, A brief essay on the importance of local histories. It will be

apparent that the duty of preparing Mr. Wilbur's biography could not

have fallen into more sympathetic hands.

In a private letter with which the reverend gentleman has since

favored us, he expresses the opinion that Mr. Wilbur's life was

shortened by our unhappy civil war. It disturbed his studies,

dislocated all his habitual associations and trains of thought, and

unsettled the foundations of a faith, rather the result of habit than

conviction, in the capacity of man for self-government. "Such has

been the felicity of my life," he said to Mr. Hitchcock, on the very

morning of the day he died, "that, through the divine mercy, I could

always say, _Summum nec metuo diem, nec opto_. It has been my habit,

as you know, on every recurrence of this blessed anniversary, to read

Milton's 'Hymn of the Nativity' till its sublime harmonies so dilated

my soul and quickened its spiritual sense that I seemed to hear that

other song which gave assurance to the shepherds that there was

One who would lead them also in green pastures and beside the still

waters. But to-day I have been unable to think of anything but that

mournful text, 'I came not to send peace, but a sword,' and, did it

not smack of pagan presumptuousness, could almost wish I had never

lived to see this day."

Mr. Hitchcock also informs us that his friend "lies buried in the

Jaalam graveyard, under a large red-cedar which he specially admired.

A neat and substantial monument is to be erected over his remains,

with a Latin epitaph written by himself; for he was accustomed to say

pleasantly that there was at least one occasion in a scholar's life

when he might show the advantages of a classical training."

The following fragment of a letter addressed to us, and apparently

intended to accompany Mr. Biglow's contribution to the present

number, was found upon his table after his decease.--EDITORS ATLANTIC

MONTHLY.]

_To the Editors of the_ ATLANTIC MONTHLY.

Jaalam, 24th Dec'r, 1862

RESPECTED SIRS,--The infirm state of my bodily health would be a

sufficient apology for not taking up the pen at this time, wholesome

as I deem it for the mind to apricate in the shelter of epistolary

confidence, were it not that a considerable, I might even say a large,

number of individuals in this parish expect from their pastor some

publick expression of sentiment at this crisis. Moreover, _Qui tacitus

ardet magis uritur_. In trying times like these, the besetting sin of

undisciplined minds is to seek refuge from inexplicable realities

in the dangerous stimulant of angry partisanship or the indolent

narcotick of vague and hopeful vaticination; _fortunamque suo temperat

arbitrio_. Both by reason of my age and my natural temperament, I am

unfitted for either. Unable to penetrate the inscrutable judgments of

God, I am more than ever thankful that my life has been prolonged till

I could in some small measure comprehend His mercy. As there is no man

who does not at some time render himself amenable to the one,--_quum

vix Justus sit securus_,--so there is none that does not feel himself

in daily need of the other.

I confess, I cannot feel, as some do, a personal consolation for the

manifest evils of this war in any remote or contingent advantages

that may spring from it. I am old and weak, I can bear little, and can

scarce hope to see better days; nor is it any adequate compensation

to know that Nature is old and strong and can bear much. Old men

philosophize over the past, but the present is only a burthen and a

weariness. The one lies before them like a placid evening landscape;

the other is full of the vexations and anxieties of housekeeping.

It may be true enough that _miscet haec illis, prohibetque Clotho

fortunam stare_, but he who said it was fain at last to call in

Atropos with her shears before her time; and I cannot help selfishly

mourning that the fortune of our Republick could not at least stand

till my days were numbered.

Tibullus would find the origin of wars in the great exaggeration of

riches, and does not stick to say that in the days of the beechen

trencher there was peace. But averse as I am by nature from all wars,

the more as they have been especially fatal to libraries, I would have

this one go on till we are reduced to wooden platters again, rather

than surrender the principle to defend which it was undertaken. Though

I believe Slavery to have been the cause of it, by so thoroughly

demoralizing Northern politicks for its own purposes as to give

opportunity and hope to treason, yet I would not have our thought and

purpose diverted from their true object,--the maintenance of the idea

of Government. We are not merely suppressing an enormous riot, but

contending for the possibility of permanent order coexisting with

democratical fickleness; and while I would not superstitiously

venerate form to the sacrifice of substance, neither would I forget

that an adherence to precedent and prescription can alone give that

continuity and coherence under a democratical constitution which are

inherent in the person of a despotick monarch and the selfishness of

an aristocratical class. _Stet pro ratione voluntas_ is as dangerous

in a majority as in a tyrant.

I cannot allow the present production of my young friend to go out

without a protest from me against a certain extremeness in his views,

more pardonable in the poet than the philosopher. While I agree with

him that the only cure for rebellion is suppression by force, yet I

must animadvert upon certain phrases where I seem to see a coincidence

with a popular fallacy on the subject of compromise. On the one hand

there are those who do not see that the vital principle of Government

and the seminal principle of Law cannot properly be made a subject of

compromise at all, and on the other those who are equally blind to the

truth that without a compromise of individual opinions, interests, and

even rights, no society would be possible. _In medio tutissimus_. For

my own part, I would gladly----

Ef I a song or two could make,

Like rockets druv by their own burnin',

All leap an' light, to leave a wake

Men's hearts an' faces skyward turnin'!--

But, it strikes me, 't ain't jest the time

Fer stringin' words with settisfaction:

Wut's wanted now's the silent rhyme

'Twixt upright Will an' downright Action.

Words, ef you keep 'em, pay their keep,

But gabble's the short cut to ruin;

It's gratis, (gals half-price,) but cheap

At no rate, ef it henders doin';

Ther' 's nothin' wuss, 'less 't is to set

A martyr-prem'um upon jawrin':

Teapots git dangerous, ef you shet

Their lids down on 'em with Fort Warren.

'Bout long enough it's ben discussed

Who sot the magazine afire,

An' whether, ef Bob Wickliffe bust,

'T would scare us more or blow us higher,

D' ye s'pose the Gret Foreseer's plan

Wuz settled fer him in town-meetin'?

Or thet ther' 'd ben no Fall o' Man,

Ef Adam'd on'y bit a sweetin'?

Oh, Jon'than, ef you want to be

A rugged chap agin an' hearty,

Go fer wutever'll hurt Jeff D.,

Nut wut'll boost up ary party.

Here's hell broke loose, an' we lay flat

With half the univarse a-singein',

Till Sen'tor This an' Gov'nor Thet

Stop squabblin' fer the garding-ingin'.

It's war we're in, not politics;

It's systems wrastlin' now, not parties;

An' victory in the eend'll fix

Where longest will an' truest heart is.

An' wut's the Guv'ment folks about?

Tryin' to hope ther' 's nothin' doin',

An' look ez though they didn't doubt

Sunthin' pertickler wuz a-brewin'.

Ther' 's critters yit thet talk an' act

Fer wut they call Conciliation;

They'd hand a buff'lo-drove a tract

When they wuz madder than all Bashan.

Conciliate? it jest means _be kicked_,

No metter how they phrase an' tone it;

It means thet we're to set down licked,

Thet we're poor shotes an' glad to own it!

A war on tick's ez dear'z the deuce,

But it wun't leave no lastin' traces,

Ez't would to make a sneakin' truce

Without no moral specie-basis:

Ef green-backs ain't nut jest the cheese,

I guess ther' 's evils thet's extremer,--

Fer instance,--shinplaster idees

Like them put out by Gov'nor Seymour.

Last year, the Nation, at a word,

When tremblin' Freedom cried to shield her,

Flamed weldin' into one keen sword

Waitin' an' longin' fer a wielder:

A splendid flash!--an' how'd the grasp

With sech a chance ez thet wuz tally?

Ther' warn't no meanin' in our clasp,--

Half this, half thet, all shilly-shally.

More men? More Man! It's there we fail;

Weak plans grow weaker yit by lengthenin':

Wut use in addin' to the tail,

When it's the head's in need o' strengthenin'?

We wanted one thet felt all Chief

From roots o' hair to sole o' stockin',

Square-sot with thousan'-ton belief

In him an' us, ef earth went rockin'!

Ole Hick'ry wouldn't ha' stood see-saw

'Bout doin' things till they wuz done with,--

He'd smashed the tables o' the Law

In time o' need to load his gun with;

He couldn't see but jest one side,--

Ef his, 'twuz God's, an' thet wuz plenty;

An' so his "_Forrards_!" multiplied

An army's fightin' weight by twenty.

But this 'ere histin', creak, creak, creak,

Your cappen's heart up with a derrick,

This tryin' to coax a lightnin'-streak

Out of a half-discouraged hay-rick,

This hangin' on mont' arter mont'

Fer one sharp purpose 'mongst the twitter,--

I tell ye, it doos kind o' stunt

The peth an' sperit of a critter.

In six months where'll the People be,

Ef leaders look on revolution

Ez though it wuz a cup o' tea,--

Jest social el'ments in solution?

This weighin' things doos wal enough

When war cools down, an' comes to writin';

But while it's makin', the true stuff

Is pison-mad, pig-headed fightin'.

Democ'acy gives every man

A right to be his own oppressor;

But a loose Gov'ment ain't the plan,

Helpless ez spilled beans on a dresser:

I tell ye one thing we might larn

From them smart critters, the Seceders,--

Ef bein' right's the fust consarn,

The 'fore-the-fust 's cast-iron leaders.

But 'pears to me I see some signs

Thet we're a-goin' to use our senses:

Jeff druv us into these hard lines,

An' ough' to bear his half th' expenses;

Slavery's Secession's heart an' will,

South, North, East, West, where'er you find it,

An' ef it drors into War's mill,

D' ye say them thunder-stones sha'n't grind it?

D' ye s'pose, ef Jeff giv _him_ a lick,

Ole Hick'ry'd tried his head to sof'n

So 's 't wouldn't hurt thet ebony stick

Thet's made our side see stars so of'n?

"No!" he'd ha' thundered, "on your knees,

An' own one flag, one road to glory!

Soft-heartedness, in times like these,

Shows sof'ness in the upper story!"

An' why should we kick up a muss

About the Pres'dunt's proclamation?

It ain't a-goin' to lib'rate us,

Ef we don't like emancipation:

The right to be a cussed fool

Is safe from all devices human,

It's common (ez a gin'l rule)

To every critter born o' woman.

So _we_'re all right, an' I, fer one,

Don't think our cause'll lose in vally

By rammin' Scriptur' in our gun,

An' gittin' Natur' fer an ally:

Thank God, say I, fer even a plan

To lift one human bein's level,

Give one more chance to make a man,

Or, anyhow, to spile a devil!

Not thet I'm one thet much expec'

Millennium by express to-morrer;

They _will_ miscarry,--I rec'lec'

Tu many on 'em, to my sorrer:

Men ain't made angels in a day,

No matter how you mould an' labor 'em,--

Nor 'riginal ones, I guess, don't stay

With Abe so of'n ez with Abraham,

The'ry thinks Fact a pooty thing,

An' wants the banns read right ensuin';

But Fact wun't noways wear the ring

'Thout years o' settin' up an' wooin':

But, arter all, Time's dial-plate

Marks cent'ries with the minute-finger,

An' Good can't never come tu late,

Though it doos seem to try an' linger.

An' come wut will, I think it's grand

Abe's gut his will et last bloom-furnaced

In trial-flames till it'11 stand

The strain o' bein' in deadly earnest:

Thet's wut we want,--we want to know

The folks on our side hez the bravery

To b'lieve ez hard, come weal, come woe,

In Freedom ez Jeff doos in Slavery.

Set the two forces foot to foot,

An' every man knows who'll be winner,

Whose faith in God hez ary root

Thet goes down deeper than his dinner:

_Then_ 'twill be felt from pole to pole,

Without no need o' proclamation,

Earth's Biggest Country's gut her soul

An' risen up Earth's Greatest Nation!

REVIEWS AND LITERARY NOTICES.

_Slavery and Secession in America, Historical and Economical; together

with a Practical Scheme of Emancipation_. By THOMAS ELLISON, F.S.S.,

etc. Second Edition: Enlarged. With a Reply to the Fundamental

Arguments of Mr. James Spence, contained in his Work on the American

Union, and Remarks on the Productions of Other Writers. With Map and

Appendices. London: Sampson Low, Son, & Co.

We have too long delayed to speak of Mr. Ellison's book. More than a

year ago, before Mr. Stuart Mill or Professor Cairnes had written

in our behalf, before we had received a word of sympathy from any

representative Englishman, save Mr. John Bright, the first edition of

this work was placed before the British public. And we could not

have asked for a better informed or more judicious defender than Mr.

Ellison. "Slavery and Secession in America" is a temperate and concise

statement of the essential features of our national struggle. The

supposed interest of half a million of slaveholders in the extension

of the Southern institution is truly represented as the cause of their

guilty insurrection against the liberties of their countrymen.

Mr. Ellison does not desire immediate emancipation, and wastes no

sentiment upon the sufferings of the negro. But the economical and

social position of Slavery is given with the unanswerable emphasis of

careful figures. He traces the rise and increase of the institution

in the States, until its disgrace culminates in a bloody rebellion.

He clearly shows, that, by acknowledging the doctrine involved in

Secession, by allowing it to govern the intercourse between

nations, the morality of society would be shaken from its base. The

anti-slavery character of the strife in which we are involved is

made to appear,--slavery-diffusion being the object of the South,

slavery-restriction the aim of the North. It is shown that the

Secession ordinances utterly failed to point out a single instance

in which the rights of the Southern people were infringed upon by

the National Executive; also, that the alleged right of Secession is

neither Constitutional, nor, when backed by no tangible grievance,

can it he called revolutionary. In short, Mr. Ellison takes the only

ground which seems possible to loyalists in America: namely, that

Secession--in other words, the treason of slaveholders against the

Constitution of their country--is of necessity punishable by law; and

that good men of all nationalities should unite in the moral support

of a benignant government thus wantonly assailed.

The "practical scheme of emancipation" promised us in the title can

hardly be said to amount to a scheme at all; but there are suggestions

worth attending to, if that delicate matter might be managed as we

would, not as we must.

We have marked but two passages for a questioning comment. General

Taylor, by an inadvertency strange to pass to a second edition, is

represented as putting down the South-Carolina Nullifiers in 1838.

Also, Dr. Charles Mackay, the New-York Correspondent of the London

"Times," is quoted as having once borne anti-slavery testimony. This

is certainly hard. Whatever emoluments slave-masters or their allies

may hereafter have it in their power to bestow this gentleman has

fairly earned. If he ever did say anything that was disagreeable to

them, it should not be remembered against him.

The merit of Mr. Ellison's book is neither in rhetoric, philanthropic

sentiment, nor any exalted theory of political philosophy; it is in an

unanswerable appeal to statistics, and a condensed statement of facts.

The work may be commended to all desirous of arriving at the truth.

But no conventional phrases of a book-notice can express our

obligations to Mr. Ellison and those few of his countrymen who have

publicly rebuked the noisy bitterness of writers striving, with too

much success, to debauch the sentiment of England. Most dear to us is

an occasional lull in that storm of insolence and mendacity designed

to embarrass the Government of the United States in the august and

solemn championship of human liberty committed to its charge. And let

it be remarked that our expectations of English approval were never

Utopian. The great principle involved in the American contest was so

far above the level of the ordinary pursuits of men, that, even

among ourselves, few have been able to transfuse it into their daily

consciousness. We never looked to England for the encouragement of a

popular enthusiasm,--hardly, perhaps, for a cold acquiescence. John

Bull, we said, is proverbially a grumbler, proverbially indifferent to

all affairs but his own; he will be annoyed by tariffs, and plagued

by scarcity of cotton;--what wonder, if we are a little misunderstood?

The minor contributors to his daily press will not be able to think

long or wisely of what they write; we must be ready to pardon a

certain amount of irritation and misstatement. That such was the

feeling of intelligent Americans towards England, at the beginning of

our troubles, we have no doubt. But for the scurrility heaped upon

us by what claims to be the higher British press we were totally

unprepared,--and for this good reason, that such malignity of

criticism as is possible in America could never have suggested it. Let

us not be misunderstood. We acknowledge the "Rowdy Journal" and Mr.

Jefferson Brick. Undoubtedly, newspapers exist among us of which the

description of Mr. Dickens is no very extravagant caricature. But

their editors, if not of notoriously infamous life, are those whose

minds are unenlarged by any generous education,--men whose lack of

grammar suggests a certain palliation of their want of veracity and

good-breeding. Such journals are seldom or never seen by the

large class of cultivated American readers, and are in no sense

representative of them. The "Saturday Review" and "Blackwood's

Magazine" are said to be conducted by men of University training.

Their articles are written in clear and precise English, and often

contain vigorous thought. They publish few papers which do not give

evidence of at least tolerable scholarship in their writers. Of

kindred periodicals on this side of the ocean it may be safely said,

that the intelligence of the reader forces their criticism up to

some decent standard of honest painstaking. We may thus explain the

bewilderment which came over us at that burst of vulgar ribaldry

from the leading British press, in which the organs above named have

achieved a scandalous preeminence. Vibrating from the extreme of

shallowness to the extreme of sufficiency, scorning to be limited in

abuse by adhering to any single hypothesis, the current literature

of England has gloated over the rebellion of Slavery with the cynical

chuckles of a sour spinster. Would that language less strong could

express our meaning! President Lincoln--whatever may be judged his

deficiency in resources of statesmanship--will be embalmed by history

as one possessing many qualities peculiarly adapted to our perilous

crisis, together with an integrity of life and purpose honorably

representing the yeomanry of the Republic. This man, the ruler of a

friendly people, British journalists have proclaimed guilty of crimes

to which the records of the darkest despotisms can scarcely furnish a

parallel. The precious blood of Ellsworth was taken by the "Saturday

Review" as the text of such disgraceful banter as we trust few

bar-keepers in America would bestow upon a bully killed in a

pot-house fray. General Butler, for a verbal infelicity in an order

of imperative necessity and wholesome effect, has been befouled by

language which no careful historian would apply to Tiberius or Louis

XV. But enough of this. We should be glad to believe that these

utterers of false witness were boorish men, in dark and desperate

ignorance of the true bearing of our current affairs. We are unable so

to believe.

It is a relief to turn to that small company of Englishmen who

have extended brother-hands to us in the day of our necessity. No

world-homage of literary admiration is worth the personal emotion with

which they are recognized in America as representatives of that

_Old_ England which has place in the affection and gratitude of every

cultivated man among us. They have done us justice, when contempt for

justice alone was popular, and a cynical skepticism seemed the only

retreat from blatant abuse. Cairnes, Mill, Ellison, and others whom we

need not name,--for the sake of such men let us still think of England

in generous temper. Their sympathies have been with us through this

terrible arbitrament of arms; they were with us in that solemn close

of the old year, when the destiny of our dumb four millions weighed

upon the night. These men have told us that the principle for which we

contend is sound and worthy: they may also tell us that we have made

occasional mistakes in reducing the principle to practice; and of this

we are painfully conscious. It is well for us to forego that reckless

bravado of unexampled prosperity once so offensive to foreign ears.

Yet the best thing we ever had to boast of has been with us in the

storm. According to the admirable observation of Niebuhr,--"Liberty

exists where public opinion can constrain Government to fulfil its

duties, and where, on the other side, in times of popular infatuation,

the Government can maintain a wise course in spite of public opinion."

This liberty has been preserved to us through all the turbulence of

war. Like some divine element, it has mingled in the convulsion of

human passion, and already prophesies the day when the service of man

to man, as of man to God, shall be rendered in perfect freedom.

_A Treatise on Military Law and the Practice of Courts-Martial_. By

CAPTAIN S.V. BENÉT, Ordnance Department, U.S. Army, late Assistant

Professor of Ethics, Law, etc., Military Academy, West Point. Mew

York: D. Van Nostrand.

In these days of large armies and intense military enthusiasm, the

very title of a military book commends it, _primâ facie_, to public

interest; and when it promises to elucidate and systematize the

intricate subject of military law, it has great specific importance

in the eyes of the tens of thousands of officers who are constantly

called upon to administer that law, and to whom the duties of

courts-martial are new and difficult. But, to understand still more

clearly the great value of such a work, supposing it to be well

written, we must go back in the history of military courts, and see

how little had been done to render them systematic and uniform,--what

a comparatively unoccupied field the author had to reap in,--what

needs there were to supply; and then we shall be better able to

criticize his work, and to judge of its practical value.

For a very long period we followed, in our army, the practice of the

English courts-martial, as we adopted the English Common Law in our

civic courts.

The military code to be applied and administered by courts-martial is

contained in the Act of Congress of the 10th of April, 1806, commonly

called "The Rules and Articles of War," and in a few other acts and

parts of acts, supplementary to these, which have been enacted from

time to time, as circumstances seemed to require.

In the year 1839, Major-General Macomb, commander-in-chief of the

army, prepared a little treatise on "The Practice of Courts-Martial,"

which, in lieu of something better, was generally used; and the modes

of proceeding and forms of orders and records there given established

uniformity in the actions and duties of such courts throughout the

army.

Five or six years later, Captain John P. O'Brien, of the Fourth

Artillery, issued "A Treatise on American Military Law and Practice of

Courts-Martial." This work evinced a great deal of legal research, and

a thorough knowledge of the practical applications of military law;

but it is voluminous, wanting in arrangement, and, while valuable as

a storehouse from which to draw materials, not suited for ready

reference, or for the study of beginners. It is now, we believe, out

of print; and, as its accomplished author is not living, it can hardly

be adapted to the wants of the army at the present day.

In the year 1846, Captain William C. De Hart, of the Second Artillery,

published his excellent work, entitled, "Observations on Military Law,

and the Constitution and Practice of Courts-Martial." In his Preface

he says,--"Since the legal establishment of the army and navy of

the United States, there has been no work produced, written for the

express purpose,... and intended as a guide for the administration

of military justice." And, in a note, he adds, "The small treatise on

courts-martial by the late Major-General Macomb is no exception to

the remark." He makes, if we remember rightly, no reference to Captain

O'Brien's work, which appeared but a short time before his own.

The work of Captain De Hart, so far in advance of what had yet

appeared on this subject, written, too, by an expert, who had been

long employed under the orders of the War Department as the acting

judge-advocate of the army, (the office of judge-advocate not being

created till a later day,) was regarded as the chief authority in the

army. But it was never designed, nor can it be easily adapted,

for instruction. It is a philosophical discussion of the subject,

containing many historical citations and illustrations, which show

the reader his authorities without fortifying his positions. For a

text-book, therefore, it lacks arrangement, and is too discursive.

Up to this time, the subject of military law was not studied at the

Military Academy; but in the year 1856, when the course of studies in

that institution was lengthened, so as to consume five years instead

of four, this branch was added to the curriculum, and has since been

retained,--its importance being made every day more manifest. Then a

treatise was wanted, which, while it could be used as authority in our

vast army, should be also suited as a text-book for the cadets, from

which they could recite in the section-room, and which should be their

_vade-mecum_ for future reference,--originally learned, and always

consulted.

This was Captain Benét's self-appointed task, and he has performed it

admirably. He has examined all the authorities, French and English,

and his book bears the evidences of this original investigation. For

purposes of study, his system is clear, his arrangement logical, and

his divisions numerous and just. All the directions as to _trials_ are

very practically set forth, so that any sensible volunteer officer,

appointed upon a court unexpectedly, could very soon, by the aid of

these pages, make himself "master of the position." And as there is

much concurrent, and sometimes apparently conflicting, jurisdiction of

military and civic courts, this volume ought to be on every lawyer's

table as the special expounder of military law, wherever it may

approach the action of the civil code.

Having said thus much of the general plan, scope, and merits of the

work, let us cast a brief glance at the nature of its contents. It is

called a treatise on _Military Law_. What is military law? It is that

law which governs the army, and all individuals connected with it. In

other words, it has respect to military organization and discipline.

It must not be confounded with _Martial Law_, which is the suspension

of civic law, and the substitution of military law over citizens, not

soldiers, in extraordinary circumstances.

Military law, which cannot wait for the slow processes of civic

courts, is immediate and condign in its action, and is administered

by courts-martial, to which are confided the powers of judge and jury.

These courts examine into the cases, find verdicts, and pronounce

sentences,--all, however, subject to the revision and sanction of the

supreme authority which convened them.

Courts--martial are divided into two classes: _General Courts_, for

the trial of officers, and of the higher grades of offences; and

_Regimental_ or _Garrison Courts_, for the consideration of less

important cases in a regiment or garrison. General courts vary in the

number of members: they must be composed of not less than _five_, and

of never more than _thirteen_. Regimental or garrison courts are

never composed of more than three members. For general courts, only, a

judge-advocate is appointed to conduct the prosecution for the United

States.

The offences against military law are determined by the "Rules and

Articles of War," in which the principal offences are distinctly set

forth and forbidden; and, that unanticipated misconduct may not be

without cognizance and punishment, the _ninety-ninth_ article includes

all such cases under the charge of "conduct to the prejudice of good

order and military discipline," which is of universal scope.

The punishments are also set forth in the Articles of War. Those

prescribed for officers include death,--cashiering,[A]--cashiering,

with a clause disabling the officer from ever holding any office

under the United States,--dismissal,--suspension from rank and

pay,--reprimand. For soldiers the principal punishments are

death,--confinement,--confinement on bread-and-water diet,--solitary

confinement,--forfeiture of pay and allowances,--discharges.

[Footnote A: Cashiering implies something infamous in the British

service; and although it has been attempted to make no distinction

between cashiering and dismissing in our service, something of the

opprobrium still attaches to the former punishment.]

The conduct of the trial, the duties of all persons concerned,

members, judge-advocate, prisoner, witnesses, counsel, etc., are

given in detail, and will be very easily learned. Forms of orders for

convening courts-martial, modes of recording the proceedings, the form

of a general order confirming or disapproving the proceedings, the

form of the judge-advocate's certificate, and the forms of charges

and specifications under different articles of war, are given in

the Appendix, and are used _verbatim_ by all judge-advocates and

recorders. There are also explanations of the duties of courts of

inquiry, and of boards for retiring disabled officers; and extracts

from the Acts of Congress bearing upon military law. The Articles of

War are also given for reference. The book is thus rendered complete

as a manual for the conduct of courts-martial, from the original order

to the execution of the sentence.

From what has been said, it will be gathered that the work was needed,

that it admirably supplies the need, and that it may be recommended,

without qualification, as providing all the information which it

purports to provide, and which could be demanded of it, in a lucid,

systematic, and simple manner. It is an octavo volume, containing

377 pages, clearly printed in large type, and on excellent paper;

the binding is serviceable, being in strong buff leather, like other

law-books.

_Lectures on Moral Science_. Delivered before the Lowell Institute,

Boston. By MARK HOPKINS, D.D., LL.D. Boston: Gould and Lincoln. 12mo.

It is a little curious that there is not a single science in which

man is constitutionally, and therefore directly interested, to which

Emanuel Kant has not, in one way or another, written a _Prolegomena_.

Professionally he did so in the case of Metaphysic: and out of the

great original claim which he here established there emanates a

separate claim, in each particular science of the order already

indicated, to a sublime dictatorship. And chiefly is this claim valid

in Moral Philosophy; for it was his province, the first of all men,

clearly to reveal, as a scientific fact certified by demonstration,

the divine eminence of the practical above the merely speculative

powers of man,--the fulfilment of which mission justly entitled him

to all the privileges incident to the vantage-ground thus

gained,--privileges widely significant in a survey of that field where

chiefly these practical powers hold their Olympian supremacy, the

field of Moral Philosophy.

Nothing could have afforded us a better excuse for a _résumé_ of Kant,

in this connection, than the new work of Dr. Hopkins. Of the many

treatises on Moral Science with which the reading world has been

flooded and bewildered since the time of Coleridge, there is this one

alone found worthy of being ranged along-side of the works of the

old Königsberg seer,--the one alone which, like his, deals with

the grander features of the science. It is the best realization

objectively of Kant's subjective principles that has yet been given.

But how, the plain English reader will ask, are we to understand from

this the place which the new work takes in literature? Not readily,

indeed, unless one has already taken the trouble to examine such of

Kant's treatises as have found their way out of German into hardly

tolerable English, and has, moreover, reflected upon the importance of

the principles therein established. But, of those who will read

this notice, not one out of fifty has had even the opportunity

for examination, not one out of five thousand has really taken the

opportunity, and, of those that have, one half, at least, have done so

independently of any philosophic aim, and have therefore reflected to

very little purpose on the principles involved. Therefore, what the

reader could not or has not chosen to do for himself we will do for

him, at the same time congratulating him that there is now placed in

his hands as complete and perfect a structure outwardly, in the work

under notice, as the groundwork furnished by the old master was, in

its subjective analysis, simple and profound.

Those who approach human nature, or the nature outside of us, with

a reverence for reality, will give precedence, after the manner of

Nature, to those powers which are predominant and determinative; and

in man these are Reason and Will. These two exist as identical in

Personality, which we may denominate as we choose, whether Rational

Will, or, as Kant does more frequently, Practical Reason. Here, in the

identity of these two powers in Personality, and still more in

their relation to each other as they are differentiated in personal

existence, does Morality originate and develop according to

principles.

Now let it be remembered that Kant's mission was, as above indicated,

to exclude the speculative side of our nature from any direct relation

to human destiny, inasmuch as it could not answer either of the

three great questions which every man everywhere and of necessity

puts,--Whence am I? What am I? and Whither do I tend?--and therefore

stood confused in the presence of any grand reality, whether human or

divine, and to make the Practical Reason the sole and immediate link

of connection between ourselves and the realities from the presence of

which the Speculative Reason had been driven. Then will it be

clearly seen how he would answer the fundamental question of Moral

Philosophy,--Wherein does the quality of Goodness originally reside?

The answer, from Kant's own lips, is this: "There is nothing in

the world, nor, generally speaking, even out of it, possible to be

conceived, which can without limitation be held good, but a _Good

Will_." The good is not in the end attained, not even in the volition,

but is a principle resident in the will itself. "The volition is

between its principle _a priori_, which is formal, and its spring _a

posteriori_, which is material; and since it must be determined by

something, and being deprived of every material principle, it must be

determined by the formal."

Now, although President Hopkins considers Moral Philosophy as a

philosophy of _ends_, he evidently does not mean ends _a posteriori_

and _material_, but ends _a priori_, using the term as the best

objective translation of _principles_. Almost as if with the conscious

design of making his work harmonize with the groundwork furnished by

Kant, he has developed a graduated series of conditions, according

to which we ascend "the great world's altar-stairs," from lower and

conditioned good up to that good which is the condition of all, itself

unlimited, namely, in the will fulfilling its original design. The

"law of limitation," according to which not only the subordinate

powers of man, but even the forces of Nature, from those concerned in

the highest animal organization down to that of gravitation, are made

to take their places in the chain of dependence which hangs from the

human will, is the most important part, scientifically, of the whole

work. It is in accordance with this law that the science of Morals

becomes a structure,--universal in its base and regularly ascending

after the order of Nature, harmonious in all its parts, and proceeding

upward within hearing of universal harmonies. Hitherto there has been

no such structure; but only tabernacles have been built, because there

was no Solomon to build a temple.

Once having determined the connection which there is between the Will

and the principle of Good, there still remains to be determined the

place which Reason has in this connection.

Merely to act according to some teleological or determining principle

gives man no preëminence above Nature, except in degree. That which is

peculiar to man is that he has the faculty of acting according to laws

_as represented and reflected upon in the light of thought_,--to which

reason is absolutely indispensable. Reason is therefore necessary to

choice,--to freedom. There can, therefore, no more be goodness without

reason than there can be without will. Yet there might be, as Kant

justly argues, if good were to be in any case identified with mere

happiness. "For," says he, "all the actions which man has to perform

with a view to happiness, and the whole rule of his conduct, would be

much more exactly presented to him by instinct, and that end had been

much more certainly attained than it ever can be by reason; and should

the latter also be bestowed on the favored creature, it must be of use

only in contemplating the happy predisposition lodged in instinct,

to admire this, to rejoice in it, and be grateful for it to the

beneficent Cause; in short, Nature would have prevented reason from

any practical use in subduing appetite, etc., and from excogitating

for itself a project of happiness; she would have taken upon herself

not only the choice of ends, but the means, and had with wise care

intrusted both to instinct merely." The fact, then, that reason has

been given, and has been endowed with a practical use, is sufficient

to prove that some more worthy end than felicity is designed,--namely,

a will good in itself,--rationally good,--that is, _from choice_.

Out of the _rationality_ of will is developed its _morality_. Here,

only, is found the possibility of failure in respect of the end

constitutionally indicated,--here only the avenues of temptation, by

which alien elements come in to array the man against himself in

a terrible conflict, so sublime that it is a spectacle to heavenly

powers. It is only as this rationality is clearly developed, and is

allotted its just place in Moral Science, that the universal structure

to which we have already alluded, and which, as we saw, culminated

in the will, assumes its peculiar sublimity. For the _voluntariness_

which is consciously realized in reason gives man the mastery over

constitutional processes, not merely to direct, but even to thwart

them; nor this merely for himself, but it is in his power, through

the nullification of his own constitution, to nullify also that of the

world, to dally with the institutions of Nature, and on the grandest

scale to play the meddler.

Merely of itself, apart from reason, the will could only work out its

teleological type in darkness and by blind necessity; there could be

no goodness, for this involves conscious elements. But through reason,

that which of itself the will would yield as unconscious impulse

obtains _representation_, and thus becomes a recognized principle,

which in connection with the feelings involves an element of

obligation.

Conscience, thus, instead of being a separate and independent faculty,

is, as Dr. Hopkins also places it, a function of the moral reason.

Into the courts of this reason come not only the higher indications of

will, but also the impulses of appetite, instinct, and affection,--not

moral in themselves, indeed, but yet assuming the garments of morality

as seen in this high presence.

That which was made fundamental by Kant, in all that he has left on

the subject of Moral Philosophy, is the position that it is wholly

to be developed out of practical reason, or will as represented in

reason. The same position is fundamental in President Hopkins's work,

and it is here that its philosophic value chiefly rests. This position

is developed in plain English, with strict scientific truth, and yet

with a warm and sympathetic glow, as regards outward embodiment,

that very much heightens the elevating power of the principles

and conclusions evolved. Nor is man, because of his independent

personality, made to stand alone, but always is he seen in the

higher and All-Comprehending Presence. Ideal truth is reached without

necessitating Idealism, and harmony is attained without Pantheism.

We have purposely confined ourselves to the most general feature of

the work, because it is this which gives it its great and distinctive

importance; yet the whole structure is as elaborately and beautifully

wrought as it is fitly grounded in the truth of Nature.

_The National Almanac and Annual Record for 1863_. Philadelphia:

George W. Childs. 12mo. pp. 600.

Volumes like this are the very staff of history. What a stride in

literature from the "Prognostications" of Nostradamus and Partridge,

and the imposture of such prophetic chap-books as the almanacs of

Moore and Poor Robin, to the bulky volumes teeming with all manner of

information, such as the "Almanach Impérial," the "New Edinburgh," or

"Thorn's Irish Almanac"! In the list of superior works ranking with

those just named is to be included the new "National Almanac." We have

here assuredly a vast improvement over anything in this way which

has heretofore been attempted among us. A more comprehensive range of

topics is presented, and such standard subjects as we should naturally

expect to find introduced are worked up with much more copiousness and

accuracy of treatment. It is evident on every page that a thoroughly

active and painstaking industry has presided over the preparation of

the volume. Statistics have not been taken at second-hand, where the

primary sources of knowledge could be rendered available. The details

of the great Departments of the Federal Government have been revised

by the Departments themselves. In like manner, the particulars

concerning the several States have in most cases been corrected by a

State officer. Thus, as respects the leading subjects in the book, we

have here not only the most accurate information before the public,

but we have it in the latest authorized or official form. Facts are

as a general rule brought down to date, instead of being six or

twelve months behind-hand, as has been the case heretofore in similar

publications, the compilers of which were content to await the tardy

printing by Congress of documents and reports. Hence the work is

pervaded by an air of freshness and vitality. It is not merely

a receptacle of outgrown facts and accomplished events, but the

companion and interpreter of the scenes and activities of the stirring

present. It strives to seize and embody the whole being and doing of

the passing time.

It is quite impossible to exhibit in these few lines any adequate

conception of the diversity and fulness of the subjects. All the

valuable results of the last census are classified and incorporated.

Then we have the entire organization of the military, naval, and

civil service,--the tariff and tax laws conveniently arranged,--the

financial, industrial, commercial, agricultural, literary,

educational, and ecclesiastical elements of our condition,--the

legislation of the last three sessions of Congress, and full and

detailed statistics of the individual States,--to which is added a

minute sketch of the foreign Governments. Nor can we overlook the

fact, that, in the abundant matter relating to our present war,

the narrative of events, obituary notices, etc., reach back to

the commencement of the Rebellion, so as to furnish a complete and

unbroken record of the contest from its outbreak. So much for the

diversified nature of the matter; and an idea may be formed of its

aggregate bulk from the fact that it exceeds, by nearly one-third, the

size of the "American Almanac."

The publication is, we trust, the dawning of a new era in this

department of our literature. We have done well heretofore, but we

have been behind many of the leading foreign works. There are in this

initial volume indications that the new series which it inaugurates

will be conducted with a thoroughness, enterprise, and skill which

cannot fail to supply a great want. The politician, statesman,

and scholar, the merchant, mechanic, and tradesman, every

newspaper-reader, and, in truth, every observant and thoughtful man,

of whatsoever profession or business, always wants at hand a minute

and trustworthy exhibition of the manifold elements which constitute

the changeful present as it ebbs and flows around him. Such hand-books

are indispensable for present reference, and they constitute an

invaluable storehouse for the future.