3 DECEMBER 1870, Page 21

Germany and the Rhine, 1869-70. By Harry Swinglehurst. (Seton and

Mackenzie.) This little volume bears the "red cross," and, like some other men and things which have assumed that symbol, is some- what an imposition. Ninety-three pages are occupied with letters which the author wrote last year from "Germany and the Rhine," and which contain the ordinary traveller's talk about scenery, picture- -galleries, and so on, contributed to a country newspaper. Two letters of ten pages' length are dated from Bonn in the July of the present year ; and there are about twelve pages more, written in England, and not better than the common talk about the war one has heard a thousand times over. So Mr. Swinglehurst floats his second edition; and, certainly, the more hollow the contrivance, the better for floating. —On the Trail of the War. By Alexander I. Shand. (Smith and Elder.)—Mr. Shand did not go into the scenes of actual conflict, except when he was in the neighbourhood of the bombardment of Strasburg ; but he observed, and all the more impartially, doubtless, for not being exposed to the influences which disturb even the spectators of bloodshed, the state of the country through which the German hosts had passed. He agrees with the most trustworthy witnesses in speaking in the highest terms of the conduct of the German troops; but then he is talk- ing of the earlier part of the campaign, and no human troops can avoid some deterioration in six weeks occupation of a country which hates them. One thing seems quite plain. Never has an army behaved so irreproachably to women. Mr. Shand, who has a lively and vigorous otyle, has given us here a perfectly readable book.—The War of 1870, by Count de la Chapelle (Chapman and Hall), is a picture of the fighting of the campaign as far down as the battle of Orleans, from a French point of view. It is really deplorable to see the pertinaCity with which men who would not on any considerations be consciously untruthful, cling to the most absurd fictions. According to M. le Comte, the Prussians 'lost a number of men that must have ensured their defeat in almost

• every action. Sometimes these numbers are given in such a way as to make it difficult to understand how any intelligent creature could have written them down, not in a letter, remember, but with the deliberation of one who writes a book. Of one battle we read "the losses of the Prussians were enormous, and have been estimated at 16,000 men killed and 10,000 wounded. Who ever heard of a battle with more killed than wounded? And it does astonish one to hear again of the fabulous eight thousand who were precipitated into the quarries of Jaumont.—A Manual of Instruction for Attendants on the Sick and Wounded in War, by Staff Assistant-Surgeon A. Moffatt (Griffin), is a work which is described by its title. It only remains to add that Mr. Moffatt holds an official posi- tion as "Instructor of the Hospital Corps " at Netley.