Great Campaigns. Edited from the Lectures and Writings of the
late Major C. Adams, by Captain W. Cooper King. (Blackwood and Sons.) —Major Adams was professor of military history at the Royal Military and Staff Colleges, and this volume contains the notes, preserved as far as possible in their original form, but where it was necessary, pieced together and supplemented by the editor, of the lectures which he de- livered. The subject is described on the title-page as " A Succinct Account of the Principal Military Operations which have taken place in Europe from 1796-1870." They have, it is almost needless to say, a very groat interest and value. They require, indeed, close attention before they can be followed, but such attention once given, they will fully repay it. It is only to bo wished that it had been thought expedient to supply, at least for the most important battles, explanatory maps. Even the most attentive reader is likely to grow confused, unless ho can see the combinations which he is studying put visibly before him. Marengo, Austerlitz, Jens, Waterloo are the most important of the battles belong- ing to a former period. In more recent times we have Novara, Magenta, Koniggratz, Custozza, and Gravelotte, this latter including a sketch of the whole of the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-1. It is interesting to observe that Major Adams speaks highly of the strategy of Napoleon III. in the campaign of Magenta. Of the march on Novara, ho says, "For clearness of design, forethought of detail, and well-ordered accuracy of execution, this operation may justly be classed with the strategy initiated by the First Napoleon."
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