NEW BOOKS.

Evening Star, Volume IX, Issue 2570, 13 May 1871, Page 3

NEW BOOKS.

Cassell's Illustrated History 0/ the War he tween France and Germany. Cassell, Tetter and Galpin, London and New York. Keith and Wilkie, Dunedin. So rapid and confusing were the events that were brought about by and took place during the Franco-Prnssian war, that even the most persevering reader can hardly have formed a clear conception of the order ol their succession. The same papers brought news of half a dozen battles and sieges ; of the movements of different armies; of the defeats and successes ; and, notwithstanding the ability with which many of the accounts were written, it was impossible to trace the dependence of one event upon what preceded it, or happened coincidentally with it. With their usual promptitude, Messrs Cassell, Tetter and Galpin have issued fie first number of a work which will aid materially in forming a correct judgment of the war. It is written in a free and popular style, and is devoid of the common fault with historians of dwelling too minutely upon details that have only remote connection with the narrative of events. Accepting the hading statement as tr le, that the antagonism between France and Germany, as embodied in their respective rulers was traditionary, the cause of .quarrel had been accumulating for ages, William of Prussia aud Louis Napoleon represented Teuton and Celt, who for fifteen or sixteen bundled years—perhaps longer—have disturbed Europe with their feud. Whether Louis Napoleon'was hurried into the war by his people, as he averred, or whether he led them into it, the object was to weaken the power of the Teuton : the result has been to bring down the Papacy, to concentrate the German Empire, and to bring France to the verge of ruin through national anarch}'. Great results must be the consequence of this war, but generations may pass before they arc developed. Possibly the consequences may equally affect the conqueror as the conquered, and in a way little anticipated. On these grounds this great war, now become historical, acquires new interest; and wa can fairly commend Cassell’s compilation as a most inter esting recapitulation and arrangement of its causes and progress. In addition to the letter-press, which is exceedingly neat typographically, the illustrations are most spirited and numerous. The first number contains portraits of the two Emp.rors, Count Von Mol Ike, the Crown Princ, and others, besides drawings of battles and artillery, &c.