English oaks were but as dwarfs, rose on one side, and overshadowed the whole level space. The bright beams of the full moon glanced among the topmost leaves, and tipped the higher branches with silver, contrasting strangely with the scene below, where a large watch-fire cast strong red glare on the surrounding objects, throwing up dense volumes of smoke, which eddied in dun wreaths amongst the foliage, and hung in the still night air like a canopy, leaving the space beneath comparatively clear.

A temporary guard-house, with a rude verandah of bamboos and palm leaves, had been built between two of the immense spurs of the mighty tree, that shot out many yards from the parent stem like wooden buttresses, whilst overhead there was a sort of stage made of planks laid across the lower boughs, supporting a quantity of provisions covered with tarpaulins. The sentries in the back ground with their glancing arms, were seen pacing on their watch; some of the guard were asleep on wooden benches, and on the platform amongst the branches, where a little baboonlooking old man, in the dress of a drummer, had perched himself, and sat playing a Biscayan air on a sort of bagpipe; others were gathered round the fire cooking their food, or cleaning their arms.

It shone brightly on the long line of Spanish transports that were moored below, stem on to the beach, and on the white sails of the armed craft that were still hovering under weigh in the offing, which, as the night wore on, stole in, one after another, like phantoms of the ocean, and letting go their anchors with a splash, and a hollow rattle of the

cable, remained still and silent as the rest.

Farther off, it fell in a crimson stream on the surface of the sheltered bay, struggling with the light of the gentle moon, and tinging with blood the small waves that twinkled in her silver wake, across which a guard boat would now and then glide, like a fairy thing, the arms of the men flashing back the red light.

Beyond the influence of the hot smoky glare, the glorious planet reassumed her sway in the midst of her attendant stars, and the relieved eye wandered forth into the lovely night, where the noiseless sheet lightning was glancing, and ever and anon lighting up for an instant some fantastic shape in the fleecy clouds, like prodigies forerunning the destruction of the stronghold over which they impended; while beneath, the lofty ridge of the convent-crowned Popa, the citadel of San Felipe bristling with cannon, the white batteries and many towers of the fated city of Carthagena, and the Spanish blockading squadron at anchor before it, slept in the moonlight.

We were civilly received by the captain, who apologized for the discomfort under which we must pass the night. He gave us the best he had, and that was bad enough, both of food and wine, before shewing us into the hut, where we found a rough deal coffin lying on the very bench that was to be our bed. This he ordered away with all the coolness in the world. "It was only one of his people who had died that morning of vomito, or yellow fever." "Comfortable country this," quoth Splinter," and a pleasant morning we have had of it, Tom!"

THESE two publications reached us nearly at the same time. The one is a brief pamphlet, the other a bulky volume; and if merit, or even importance, were to be judged by size, we should certainly be inclined to notice Mr Turnbull's production first. But not being at all of the opinion of that learned Dutchman, who observed,

"My broder be de great poet,

Who all de vorld must please;
For he have vrite von book

As big as all dis cheese,"

-we quote from memory-we shall begin with the pamphlet, which is decidedly the most interesting document that has hitherto been published upon these celebrated THREE DAYS, which overturned a throne, and changed a dynasty.

Before proceeding to our task, let us still make one or two observations. First, it may be necessary to state, that we know nothing of either of the authors under our review. We sit down impartially to consider both. We have no predisposition to exalt the Staff-Officer above Mr Turnbull, or to raise Mr Turnbull at the expense of the Staff-Officer; and, in every respect, we are perfectly unprejudiced towards either of them. One feeling we do certainly entertain on the subject of their writing. We have heard, for the last three months, an immense deal of disgusting bombast on the late French Revolution, till our very stomachs turn at the reiteration of the words heroism, enthusiasm, patriotism, from the burlesque absurdities to which those noble names have been applied; and we certainly shall feel and express unqualified disgust wherever we meet with that turgid exaggeration which caricatures great actions by vain hyperbole.

Amongst the multitude of publications to which the late Revolution in France has given rise, there have been two great wants, which every one who wished to form for

himself a sane judgment of that extraordinary event, must have felt and lamented. The first of these wants has been, a statement of the party who succumbed in the struggle. On this point we have hitherto had no light.

The motives on which the King and his Ministers acted, have been surmised; but, of the actual current of events-of those movements and actions, which are always so disfigured by party prejudice, and in regard to which no just conclusion can be drawn, without examining and comparing the accounts on both sides-of these, we know nothing but from the faction which has triumphed. The second great want, has been any publication on the subject, giving a calm unexaggerated history of facts, without any touch of that caricatured excitement of feeling which the French so often mistake for enthusiasm, or of that bombast of language which they fancy the sublime. We have seen nothing before the publication of the pamphlet under our notice, but partial statements, exaggerated by all the gasconade of highly stimulated vanity.

"The Account of a Staff-Officer of the Guards," in a great degree remedies both these defects in the history of the Revolution. The style is clear, unaffected, dignified; enough of the Frenchman and of the partisan appears to leave on the mind of the reader the strongest moral conviction of its authenticity; while wounded pride, and national vanity, and some degree of generous indignation, are all tempered by a high tone of gentlemanly feeling. The matter is as valuable as the manner is agreeable and convincing. A clear brief statement is given of all the movements of the royal troops opposed to the Parisian mob. The refutation of innumerable errors is thus obtained, and half the tumid pretensions of the victors are put down by the plain tale of a hundred pages. We must, however, enter

tionary spirit which had shewn itself for nearly two years, by a great and unprecedented exertion of the royal authority, there should not have been at hand to support its measures, above six thousand troops in whom any reliance could be placed.

In the annals of political infatuation-too extensive a page in the book of history-no parallel folly can be found. One conclusion may, however, be fairly drawn from this fact, namely, that both the King and his ministers firmly believed that the ordonnances which were issued on the 25th of July were just and reasonable. Had they looked upon those ordonnances as that gross violation of law which they undoubtedly were, some force would have been prepared to maintain them: but no force was provided, and that this negligence was the effect of a feeling of security, rather than any difficulty in procuring steady and loyal troops, is evinced by the statement, that, at a week's notice, the guards and household troops who remained firm to the last, might have been increased in number to nearly twenty thousand effective men, by calling in the detachments stationed at Caen, Rouen, Campéigne, Fontainbleau, and other places not far from Paris. As another proof of the confidence of the ministers, the pamphlet states, that

revolution had for months been sown by the inflammatory addresses of the periodical press, were preparing to take advantage of the monarch's imprudence, and to make it a pretext for instantly accomplishing the work that had been long meditated.* The king, by the ordonnances he issued, strove to defend his crown against this long meditated Revolution, but by the illegality of his measures he afforded the pretext, and by the absence of preparation afforded the means, of carrying the purpose of the people into execution.

On the evening of the 27th this purpose became no longer a matter of doubt; and the Officer of the Guards goes on to detail the real events of the tumult which occurred on that day. The actors in that tumult were supplied from the lowest dregs of the Parisian population; but it was easy to see, by the immense number of discharged workmen, that this was only a screen behind which more powerful engines were in preparation, and that shortly the operations of the Revolution would be openly conducted by those who had been long labouring for it.

No event of any great import is noted during the course of that day, except the active commencement of hostilities between the people and the royal troops. On this subject, the writer affirms, that after repeated attacks on the part of the people, the guards fired twice in the air before multitude the violence to which they they proceeded to retaliate upon the had themselves so long submitted. Enough surely had taken place before the close of that momentous day, to warn the members of the government of the popular feeling. Had they possessed eyes they must have seen, had they had ears they must have heard, the awful signs of a roused-up nation. Then was the moment to concede if they found that they had mistaken the feelings of their country,-if they found that they had neither justice nor power to support them;-then was the

moment to have used every exertion, and to have prepared every means, if they felt that right and strength were on their side;-then was the moment to have displayed their whole force, their whole activity, their whole wisdom, to guard against the possibility of reverse, and to render the struggle as short as mercy could desire. Instead of such precaution, what is the picture presented to us by an eye-witness and a principal actor in the scenes he describes?

"Almost the whole strength of the garrison had been already employed, and it was evident it would have to face next day an increased force of from 60,000 to 80,000 men, of which a great portion

would be armed. There were known to exist in Paris 40,000 equipments of the

old National Guard; the attempts on the gunsmiths' shops had not altogether failed; at daybreak they might be expected to be renewed, and the several guardhouses scattered through the town, which could offer no resistance, would of course

afford a considerable number of muskets; the Arsenal was well supplied both with arms and ammunition. The powdermagazine of Deux-Moulins was unguard

ed.

All these points ought to have been considered and provided for. This night offered leisure to arrange, and opportunity to execute, all necessary precautions; -the circumstances were urgent,-the danger obvious and imminent, yet NoTHING AT ALL WAS DONE. All that I have just stated was represented to the proper authorities, but nothing was attended to; blindness, folly, and fatality, were triumphant.

"At eleven o'clock the troops were ordered to return to their respective quarters; the streets through which they had to pass were dark and silent; the capital looked, as it were, motionless. The voice of the great city was still.' It was, they now tell us, this very silence and apparent tranquillity that contributed to strengthen the fancied security of M. de Polignac--a security in which Marshal Marmont, it would seem, at least participated."

We must now proceed to the military operations of the 28th, when Paris was declared in a state of siege, and Marmont, Duke of Ragusa, took the command of the royal forces. Be it remarked, that after clearing the streets the night before, the troops had been marched back to their barracks, where they remained without orders till eight o'clock the

next morning. During this time the whole of the town remained unguarded; and long before eight the people were in arms, the detached guard-houses, the arsenal, and the powder magazine, were attacked and taken, and the Hotel de Ville was in the hands of the populace ere a single battalion had quitted its barracks. When at length the troops were assembled on the Place du Carousel, where Marmont had established his head-quarters, that officer proceeded been very successful had he to act upon a plan which might have possessed a force of fifty-thirty-nay, twenty thousand men; but which naturally proved abortive when attempted by an army not exceeding eleven thousand in number, of which only six thousand could be depended upon.

The author before us takes

the following review of the Duke of Ragusa's scheme. His surmises are evidently very near the truth, and the deductions from them are beyond doubt correct.

"Marmont's design appears to have been to occupy in force the Champs Elysées-the Tuileries-the Ecole Militaire -the Panthéon-the Palais de Justicethe Hôtel de Ville-and the interior Boulevards, the occupation of which would cover several empty barracks. The defence of the Palais Royal, confided to a battalion of Guards, was connected on one side with that of the Bank, in which 100 men were posted; and, on the other, was to keep up a communication with the Louvre by the Rue du Coq, and other streets in that direction. But from some movements, which shall be stated presently, it appeared that the Marshal wished also to keep open the great perpendicular communications which cross Paris from the Port St Denis to the Panthéon, through the streets of St Denis and St Jacques; and from the Tuileries to the Boulevard, through the Rue de Richelieu: as well as two interior lines parallel to the river through the Rue St Honoré, and the Marché des Innocens; and along the Quays and Places du Châtelet and de Grève, to the Place St Antoine, at the

extreme east of the town.

either in number or spirit, suffice for the "But the troops at his disposal did not, execution of such a plan. The delay which prevented the 15th light infantry occupying the Place de Grève wholly disarranged it; and, to confess the truth, the attitude and spirit of the regiments of the Line were alone sufficient to defeat that, or even a better digested arrangement.