A Narrative of the Boer War. By Thomas Fortescue Carter.
(Remington.)—If we cannot accept this volume as history, and to do this would be to pronounce definitely on some very obscure and diffi- cult questions, we may say without hesitation that it contains some valuable materials for history. Mr. Carter has not the gift of very articulate utterance; he is apt to lose, if not himself, yet certainly his readers, in a multiplicity of details. But he has had good oppor- tunities of gathering knowledge of the subject about which he writes, and he is obviously candid and anxious to do justice. He was present at the disaster of Majuba Hill, and his narrative does not make that dismal affair seem any brighter. On one point—of which we have lately heard something, and of which we shall certainly have to hear more—the bad shooting of our troops, he is very emphatic. On the whole, though we can hardly recommend this book to the general reader, we may say that no one who wishes to find out for himself the truth about the war, its causes, its conduct, and its result, can afford to neglect this valuable contribution to its history.
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