The March to Coomassie. By G. A. Henty. (Tinsley).—Mr. Henty
was " Correspondent " to the Standard, and in this volume he republishes his letters. How many volumes have already been written on this subject, we fear to say. What a task lies before the historian of the future who will have to make use of all these " mdmoires pour servir " ! Anyhow, Mr. Henty, whose pen has been already practised in such work (his "March to Magdala " was favourably received by the public), may claim a good place among contemporary authorities. To* his narrative of the campaign, he adds a chapter which he entitles " The Lessons of the War." He thinks that the medical and engineering departments did their work admirably, that the same praise is due to, the commissariat department, but that the transport failed, not through any defect of zeal or skill in those who were set to carry it out, but from an insufficient estimate on the part of the home authorities of what was wanting. Through this, he says emphatically, "The Ashanti campaign was within an ace of failure." The moral of the whole seems. to be that the Control Department, as it is at present constituted, is, quite ineffective. If it is so, let us hope that it will be set right before we have to deal with enemies more formidable than the Ashantees. We should say that an appendix containing letters from a correspondent who accompanied the advance of Captain Glover has been added to the volume.
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