SOME BOOKS OF THE WEEK.
[Under this heading we notice such Books of the week as have not been reserved for resins in other forms.] The Land of the Boxers. By Captain Gordon Casserly. (Long- mans and Co. 10s. 6d.)—This is no exhaustive description of Pekin and Tientsin and their surroundings, but a pleasantly written account of Captain Casserly's travels to the scene of the fighting, and a contemporary view of the attitude of the Allies towards each other and to the Chinese at a period not long before the evacuation. The third chapter is perhaps the most interest- ing of all, wherein the author has collected the opinions and criticisms of the Allies on each other's troops, their comments on our Indian troops, and a general summary of Continental military ideas and practice from the Indian officer's standpoint. Every- body will read these views with unusual attention, for taken with the spontaneous and complimentary remarks on our Indian Army by the Continental Staff Officer, they really consti- tute some very reliable facts on which to estimate the efficiency of the British soldier. Count von Waldersee's " Donnerwetter!" of astonishment at seeing the horse artillery gallop past him with their guns is an involuntary testimony the value of which nothing can destroy. Such an acknowledgment is gratifying, if it only extends to one arm. The deepest impression, however, made on our Allies was the conviction that the Indian army, composed of races more dissimilar than the Germans and the English, fought with a solidarity, a discipline, and a dash which the most famous European regiments could not surpass. The picked contingents of the Allies could put no cavalry in the field to compare with a Bengal Lancer or a Bombay Cavalryman. German discipline, as a recent instance shows, is iron. That officers could maintain discipline and yet be on friendly terms with their men seemed an impossibility to the Germans. A private, in their opinion, would cease to respect an officer whom he had beaten in a tug- of-war ! But, then, to a man who thought a Captain could no longer command his company if more than a pace separated the men there are many impossibilities. To see the British flag flying at every port they passed was also what is vulgarly known as an " eye-opener " to many of them. Nor need we wonder at the Staff Officer who politely contradicted Captain Casserly's assertion that we had between thirty and forty thousand Boer prisoners at one time. " Oh, but you have not," said he ; " two or three thousand at most. We are not ignorant of the course of the campaign : we read our newspapers carefully." But we must remember that it is thirty years since they have been on active service. Captain Casserly gives us a very pleasant impression of the good terms prevailing between the several contingents. The friendliness between the Japanese and the Indian troops was very remarkable. His own opinions on the respective merits of the different types of soldier, seen after the war, corroborate those already published. The incidents of his trip to Pekin, the Summer Palace, and other places, his friendly encounters with hospitable Russians, the present appearance of the "Land of the Boxers," and the possibilities of the Chinese soldier are entertainingly written, and show Captain Casserly's judgment and powers of ready observation.
Previous page
