BOOKS OP THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1716, 5 April 1913, Page 9

BOOKS OP THE DAY.

A SOLDIER'S BUSY LIFE

'A very interesting-volume' of ,reniinis- t ■times,- military, .and'- - is-Major-General: Sir. Alfred .Turner's "Sixty Years of a Soldier's Life" (Methuen and Co., per. Whitconibe and, Tombs). Born in 1812 m London the author was educated at Westminster School, then tuider the lieadmastership of Dr. Liddell,: afterwards for many years Deiiri of.' Christchurch. In 188(1 the author : passed, by examination, into the Military College'at Addiscdmbe," the seminary of the East India Company. Thence' to Woolwich', where the terriblo severity of the punishment™especially the brutal floggings—aroused the _ young eoldier's indignation. "The punishment of ififty lashes was then considered, quite merciful. . A man- found aslejp at hi? post as sentry, got fifty-six labour." ' ' Some Rowdy Yankees. In 1861--he-joined the Ro.val Artillery, at''Woolwich, and in 1865- sailed for. Calcutta in the Durham, a voyage, in his case, of a hundred and ten days. In 1862 or 1863 it fell to tho young officer's lot'to go to Dover to remove some smoothbore; guns which ware being; replaced by thernew' rifled ordnance.. The Confederate cruiser,'the-famous Alabama, _put into Dover at the time, and tho officers,, a quiet determined body of men, wore duly invited to din® 'witli the officers, of the Royal Artillery at Dover Castle. Tho Alabama went forth,,and a time after' her Northern, rival, the equ'allyfaihous Kearsage, turned' Dover. . Again the British officers dined tho strangers, arid soma of the'latter, becoming:, "very merry,", suggested that ;tliey would like to stay till A a:in., when they had to go and report themselves on board. Says the.author. , - -'•' Their wish, of course, was: given V effect ,to, and supper was ordered for 3 . a.m.,,, at the close of which an: Artil- • lery : officer rose and " proposed., -.the ■ health of the guests, to, which one of tb'elri responded.-He. thar'iked his hosts in-- warm, but somewhat over-profuse, terms, broken by liiccups and emotion, for their kindness and hospitality to the officers of the Kearsage, and wished us long lifo and prosperity, con- , eluding in this very remarkable l style': ''But make no mistake,' in less-than three years tho Stars anil- Stripes will be floating over this 1. old castle of ■; yours." Tho sense of hospitality, precluded reply to this significant : and ' minatory • arid Britons , and ■ Yankees parted the best of friends.- But, adds thp author, when, a few days later, the Kearsage encountered the Alabama,'-and after a tough fight, sank, her, "had the.result of. the naval conflict been-otherwise, we should not have felt any poignant regret." Under Lord Spm'e'r in Ireland, Returning from'lndia in 18G7. the. author was transferred,' ito! a field battery . in Ireland, and. saw . something'. : 'of,. tho Fenian movement.."': Two, years'./Tatcr lio was again, in India, .stationed:ia.t.:iPeshawnr, and saw sejpj&pS hill tribes., Returning ;to ,Englßnd :M in;'iß73 his military career continued incident until, in lSffi.'.he .werit'. W 'lMand, where he acted for'a - time as'AvIKC. alul Military Secretary to Lord " '.Spencer. Of this nobleman and statesman' Sir Alfred writes in terms of the highest-praise and affection. Lord Spencer was; "by nature 'very reserved, and because''.-he, loathed anything .like pushing' and self-advertise- • nient,; ho was' often judged," says tlie author, , "to : be - somewhat'/.cold and haughty." But hei was. jsossessed of the firmest .;determinatio.n,',.'aikl .{never, says Sir Alfred, "was .th'erft.a iniore .malicious mis-statement:thati'that the Viceroy was a mero puppet :iri -Mr. (Gladstone's hands." The Gordon Relief; Expedition. .• ■ Tho author was'a jnenibef of the Gordon Relief Expedition?ill- 1881-1885, and , gives some * very' interesting':: notes upon •his experiences under-Wolseley and Duller. Ho warmly ■'defontls " Sir Charles Wilson, who was. afterwards charged'with inactivity. ' "It is moro jtliah doubtful," he says, "whether the : arrival of Wilson with the steamers and his tiny escort of twenty-men of tho Sussex 'Regiment would have made any difference; probably'they would, have shared Gordon's fato." i Referring to . th«i : return <jf Buller with his desert column, "which had' gone through a period of terriblo strain, privation, and hardship,":ho says: ' The troops presented a .very different appearance from what, they did ' on the Bth January, when they set out'-'in.full'confidence of saving Gordon; Allwere then mounted.. Few Camels wore now to'bo seen, at least alive, for the desert.was strewn ■with dead . ones,, ■: and the soldiers plodded along on foot, almost'in'rags, often- ■ shoeless." Tho Bashi-Bazouks and tho Arabs. According -to Sir Alfred Turner,--the ferocity displayed by thejMahdi-and his followers towards the Turkish and Egyptian soldiers whom they: defeated and captured was only a fitting, revenge for years of villainy connived at by tho Khedive's officers. The Bashi-Bazouks were specially hated by the. Arabs. The author'says:— ' , . ' • Malting raids upon tho Arab settlements, levying taxes oh their own account, and. carrying off their animals, was the least ot their misdeeds. , From time to time a . raid would be made by an armed'party of these soldiers upon, an Arab . villas®, from which all tho comely young women and maidens wero carried off to the fort. —Thero;tho,pick 'of 'them;• were sold to the officers, tho - remainder being kept by' -the men. After : a time the officers, having become tired of their prey, sold them back at a greatly-reduced price to tho men, who ' afterwards took back the wholo of tho abducted' women to their Arab hus- - bands and fathers, and mado them purchase them back at the point of, 'the'-sword. The Magic of a Glass Eys.« A-curious little incident occurred at luirot, where'some Arab chiefs paid a visit to General James Dormer: : Coffee was served, ar.d conversation . was carried -on through an interpreter. He'asked them if this Mahdi could do . everything the' English could do. They shrugged their shoulders, and Smiled in derision at the illea of doubt being possiblo'on this subject. Can he do this? asked tho General; and taking out his glasjs eye, he tossed it in tho air, caught it, put it back, and fixed them with a stony stare. ■For a moment the visitors remained . rigid with awe, then, in wild panic, shouting out, 'La Haul wa la Kuwata ill'a billahi".("There.is no power, no strength, but in God"—-tho Mohammedan's appeal to - Allah'.when ho is frightened), rushed out of the tent, ■ and"nover stopped, till ft good distance v lay between therii and the canton- . inent. The incident . is reminiscent of a fictional episode of milch the same character, that of Captain Good and his glass eye in "King Solomon's Mines." . In this case, at least, fiction preceded fact. Six Years in Ireland. ' ' Practically half -' Sir-Alfred Turner's book is devoted to an account of his experiences in Ireland., He was always, it appears, "a firm believe::" in Mr. Gladstone and Lord Spencer, and after his return from London in 18GG was very gratifiod when' offered the position of privato secretary to Lord Aberdeen. Ho has a good deal to say about the state■ ol Ireland generally, and especially the ' prevalence of crime in t lie West

and south-west, whither he soon went as assistant to Sir Redvers. Buller, : . .whose patience in inquiring. into' the' actual "causes of the erimes .. and'.'disturbiuibo" he strongly, commends;, The-author makes it fairly.' clear' that - his own sympathies were very" frequently much 'more -with the evicted 'tenants 'than, with ■ .thepan'dlords, and that -hc,vin..,common- with.\so many .lkitishmilitary-Snd.'.policorbfßcials who have served-iri'lreland,'heartily disliked ' what .tlrey considered '. the- dirty work they, were Soften''callied'-upoii-to. jierforin in the . 'discharge' of. their. 'duties. To attempt even .".a" condensation' of," tho several chapters ..in -which'the f ; author i;r.e: counts his experiences in.:cpnuecti<)h-.with the maintenance-;' of; laV arid , order /-.in Ireland,, his .views .on 1 the.'Land League, and 'niany. otherfeatures 4of "thb „Homo Rule' agitationr : is''impossible in.-the space at mv fcomniand. ' Often,'he'says,'he was asked: "Why, if the work- was so..distasteful and repugnant to him, lie did not resign, and leave it to others?" His reply is that ho had the example of his great ■ chief,' Lord Spencer, before him, who, "because he considered it his duty, stuck to hi§ most uncongenial task . . in the face of the', most ,■ hideous; and outrageous abuse ever poured on'the head of man." The Home Rule Question. it fell to Sir Alfred's lot at times to be'equally well abused-by the National-' ists, but in ono of his closing chapters ho avows himself "a convinced Home ltuler." "The ; spectro of separation has," he is' of opinion, 'long been' laid," but he is "positive that peace and content will never be permanently established in' Ireland till a form' of self-government, that will give the people the management of their own local affairs, is'granted to them." He does not, lie says, "underrate the Ulster difficulty" but that "thero would be any religious intolerance, bigotry, or persecution'on, tho part of -the; Catholics in case of .Homo Rule, I utterly disbelieve." He >servedin Ireland from 188G to 1892, and, he says, "quitted Ireland nnd the Irish people with the deepest, regret." Those who have carefully studied the history of the Nationalist movement; may probably_ dissent from certain of tho author's views on political questions, but there is no gainsaying the frankness arid transparent sincerity .with, which they aro expressed. The final, chapters deal' With.. tho_ author's activities in various official positions and pubic interests since 1892, more particularly with his experiences at the War Office, but to these I may not refer. The book is. .throughout,' one of special interest," and well .worth reading.