The Press. — London, England, 1854-09-23 00:00:00

Sti 3 TEipElt_3, 1854. Herby Debating Society—a mimic parliament. Her Majesty's Opposition, about seventy in number, sat on one side the Speaker ; and her Majesty's Ministry, five in number, sat on the other. The orator, amid loud cheers from the Opposition, was declaiming against the corn laws, as I soon discovered, from the curious coincidence that his remarks tallied exactly with those of that morn ing's limes ; while the five Ministerialists cried out " Question !" at the end of every sentence, even if it had only contained the stalest truisms. The bitter invective and stinging personality would have taken me back to the days of Chatham, if at that time I had ever heard of him, while I can compare the hubbub going on all the time to nothing better than the present Rouse of Commons during an Irish debate. One hon. member commenced his speech thus :—" If the hon. member's arguments were as plain as his counte nance, instead of being as confused and incomprehensible as his brain ; " while another concluded a magnificent peroration by appealing " not to your hearts, for they are false—not to your honour, for you don't understand the word—not to your common sense, for I never heard of it; but to my country," &c. Sm. And, as the debate went on, members predicted on the one hand " the Universal ruin of the country," and on the other hand " the prosperity of all classes reaching a pitch never yet dreamed of," if this bill do pass ; neither of which predictions I have yet lived long enough to see fulfilled, though the bill has passed. Many of the speeches, however, were very good. I was assured, and indeed often afterwards found it to be the case, that discussions on historical or philosophical points were much less violent, and showed More talent and study, than those of the subjects of the day, which are both too exciting and too superficially spoken upon to be proper subjects for PO young a society. • The author has the excuse of " little leisure" fqr the defects of his composition. It is very strange that, while in his prefacie he attempts to take the part of our public schools, he never perceives that the perusal of his chapters must leave behind a most depressing and disagree able view of the whole subject The defenders of our schools and their peculiar institutions must close the volume with declining to accept the author for a literary champion. It de serves, however, to be recorded that he gives his verdict in favour of "public" over " private " schools; but we fear : that terror-stricken mamas, after the perusal of his pages, would refuse to send their " litttle darlings" to either of them, but resolve, unwisely, to keep them tied to their own apron-strings at home. The Baltic, the Black Sea, and the Crimea. By Charles Henry Scott. London.: Bentley. Scorr's book appears at an opportune moment, and, as containing one of the latest accounts published of a country tititi intensely interesting to us as the seat of war, it will, no doubt, be well received He voyaged down the Volga from Nijni-Novgorod to Astrachan, then proceeded to the Crimea, and spent some days in a close examination Of Sevastopol. He went over the works at his leisure, and at no time was disturbed by any manifestation of thatjealouny which it has been said Russian authorities feel at the inspection of their great military and naval works by fOreigners His tour, it is true, was made in. the autumn of 1850, When Russia and t ngland were fast friends, and as four years have since elapsed the defences of Sevastopol have probably been materially strengthened. The time which has been afforded Russia for preparation after her great fortress was first threatened by the pre sence of the allied troops at Varna has doubt less been well employed, but the fortifications on the sea front must be in substantially the Bartle state as when inspected by our author. Some observations on Finland at the corn mencement of the volume afford matter for reflection. Mr. Scott says:— We had some conversation with educated Fins, and never did we listen to more stirring words of burning hatred, towards the oppressors of their country, who are doing everything they possibly can to blot out the memory of their dearest associations and traditions, by curtailing the national literature, and restricting education within the arbitrary limits permitted by a scrutinising police. Under Nicholas, it is said, a heavier yoke has been laid on the Fins than under Alex ander. who confirmed them in many of their priviliges Nicholas has by no means followed out the policy of his brother. It is true he has not always openly attacked these pri v il eges, b ut h e h as, nevert h e l ess , ap plied insi diously at the root a slow but cankering poison, the effect of which is already displaying itself in withering blossoms and rotten fruit; and, unless a change shall soon take place, the noble tree itself must die and fall. Yet it is fairly admitted that Helsingfors, the capital of Finland, presents ti thriving aspeet:-- THE PRESS. In the foreground Were hundreds of market-boats, win' a busy multitude on the shore, moving to and fro, a picture full of life and animation. Ranges of noble buildings lined the quays, above which rose other splendid edifices— the university, senate-house, courts of justice, observatory, and palace of the governor, displaying their painted iron roofs, of brown or green, yellow or red. - - - This prosperity must be set for what it is worth against the expressions of opinion we meet with here, that the industry of Finland is in a declining state. Sweaborg, in Mr. Scott's opinion, is the strongest of all the Baltic fortresses : The harbour is remarkably fine. Closed in on every side, and sheltered from all winds, it is capable of containing the largest fleets, protected towards the sea by the gigantic fortress of Sweaborg, of immense natural and artificial strength. Indeed, it conveyed to us the idea of being even stronger than Cronstadt, or Sevastopol, though not so showy and effective in appearance. Built upon seven islands of granite, many of its bastions and batteries are cut in the Aolid rock, and every available spot where they can be placed with advantage bristles with cannons of the heaviest metal, and largest calibre. The principal en trance to the harbour is narrow, and as we passed out of it we looked into the great yawning mouths of these huge guns, which appeared ready to vomit forth their deadly projectiles. The voyage down the Volga presents many attractive points. The scenery was often ex tremely grand or beautiful, and the country almost uniformly fertile. As a consequence of this fertility, provisions were abundant and very cheap ; We landed to do our usual marketing at the small town of Kamashin, and returned to the boat laden with eight pounds of beef, a couple of dozen eggs, a large water-melon, and a great batch of potatoes, all for the large sum of thirty kopecs, or one shilling. In other places on the line of the Volga our travellers found marketing equally cheap, but the villages were in general poor, and the homes of the people excessively dirty. From Astrachan Mr. Scott travelled across the Steppe to the northern shore of the Sea of Azof, inhabited chiefly by the Little Russians, formerly Cossacks of the Ukraine : The costume of these men differs but slightly from that of the Don Cossacks ; consisting of a cotton tunic confined at the waist with a sash; loose trousers tucked into large boots, and a cap with a deep border of lamb-skin. The women, however, are more picturesquely attired. They wear a shawl or large handkerchief wound round the head, somewhat in the form of a turban, and often orna mented with artificial flowers or fruit: the hair of the un• married girls falls in long braids over the back, tied at the ends with coloured ribbon. The gown of printed cotton is worn beneath another of the same material, but much shorter and of different and bright colours; some had on Wellington boots, others coloured slippers. Both men and women are fine, and their carriage is good; many of the latter being well-looking. Continuing to skirt the Sea of Azof, he visited Taganrog, and reached Kertch by the narrow tongue of land running along the north-east coast of the Crimea, and separating what is called the Putrid Sea though our author could detectno fetid exhalations from it—from the Sea of Azof. kertch evokes great his torical reminiscences : We stood upon the hill where tradition states that Mith ridates often sat to view his warlike hands ere they went forth to meet their enemies in deadly conflict. Before us lay the broad waters of the Euzine Sea tranquilly reposing; abd beyond far away, darkly outlined on the blue firma ment, stretched the lofty range of Caucasus, the birthplace of man's noblest race ; where the children of the hills fur the last thirty years have grappled and still wrestle with the boasting colossus of Muscovy. The despot's slaves and the sons of freedom .in a death struggle—these to ravage, and the others to defend their wives and children and the mountain homes, loved with such deep, such wild affection. We turned to the plain on the eastern edge of which once stood a Panticapieum ; it appeared like a great amphi theatre, covered with numberless mounds. In the valley and on the encircling hills alike stood boldly out those tumuli, the abodes of death. • . . . Every buntline of any size in this huge cemetery has been opened, pillaged of the gold and precious things it contained, and the dust of heroes and legislators scattered to the winds. First broken into for their wealth, they are now systematically searched for antiquities to till the museum of the her mitage at Petersburg. We descended and wandered through this plain. How many associations of the pant arose, how many painful feelings of the present ! We entered a large tomb, by a passage of beautiful masonry, forty paces long and twenty four feet high, the upper tiers of stone projecting one over the other until they met to form the roof—a simple plan adopted before the arch was known. The mausoleum itself was of the same excellent workthanship, the stones eat with such accuracy that, laid without mortar, the lines of junction were scarcely visible : a cone-shaped roof was clued in by projecting tiers as in the passage. Ascending to the top of the great mound, an admirable view was obtained of the Sea of Azof, the Hill of Nit hri dates, the modern town of Kertch, its harbour studded with shipping, Ind the opposite isle of Tinian. 905 From Kertch the author proceeded to Theo dosia, the busy seaport of the gulf of Kafla, presenting all the characteristics of a Persian town, and thence to Simpheropol, a town to Which great importance now attaches, as it is probable that the main body of the Russian army is stationed there : The new part of Simpheropol is indeed but another; sample of a Russian provincial capital, in addition to those we have so often described, though better than the gene rality of them. It has wide streets, straggling houses, painted roofs, conspicuous churches, fine public buildings; well-kept gardens, rattling droskies, and a tolerably good German hotel, at Much we took up our quarters. A population of about twelte thousand souls, of which half are Tartars, a quarter Russians, and the rest made up of gipsies, Jews, Greeks, and Armenians, produces a mixture of costumes, and a clatter of tongues, which we now heartily desired to exchange for the more interesting sight of the sitnple Tartar, in the quiet little villages of his mountain haunts The Tartar bazaars of Simpheropol differ but little from those of Karasubazar, excepting that they are rather cleaner. The manufactures are of the same deserip:iou. We remained two nights at Simpherupol, much enjoying the luxury of clean beds. At Sevastopol the author was fortunate in finding Colonel Upton, under whose superin tendence some stupendous engineering works had been accomplished, and during the ten days he remained, the Colonel accoinpanied him to see what was most noteworthy in the place. Mr. Scott confirms all that has been said respecting the strength of the fortifica tions seaward : The port is defended to the south by six principal batte ries and fortresses, each mounting from fifty to a hundred and ninety guns ; and the north by four, having froth eighteen to a hundred and twenty pieces each ; and besides these are many smaller batteries. The fortresses are built on the casemate principle, threo of them having three tiers of guns, and a fourth two tiers. Fort St. Nicholas is the largest, and mounts about a hun dred end ninety guns ; on carefully counting them, are made a hundred and eighty-six. By great interest, we ob tained permission to enter this fortress. It is built of white limestone ; a floe sound stone, which becomes hard, and is very durable, the same material being used for all the other forts. Between every two casemates are furnaces for heating shot red-hot : we medsured the calibre of the guns, and found it to be eight inches, capable of throwing shells or sixty-eight pound solid shot. Whether all the gtu►s in the fortress were of the same size it is impossible to say, but my belief is that most of the fortifications of Sevastopol are heavily armed. We entered Fort St. Nicholas through the elegantly-furnished apartments of the military commandant, situated at its south-western end. At the period of our visit there were certainly not more than eight hundred and fifty pieces of artillery defending the port towards the sea, and of these about three hundred and fifty could be concentrated on a ship entering the bay. Other batteries, however, are said to have been since built. We took some trouble to ascertain these facts by counting the guns of the vorious forts; not always an easy matter where any suspicion of our object might have subjected us to grave inconveniences. Sevastopol is admirably adapted by nature for a strong position towards the sea, and it will be seen from what we have stated above that tbis has been fully taken advantage of to render it ony of the mon for midably-fortified places in that direction which could be imagined. At the time of Mr. Scott's visit there were no fortifications of consequence on the land side : The town of Sevastopol is situate on the point of land between the commercial and military harbours which rises gradually from the water's edge to an elevation of two hundred feet It is more than a mile in length; and its greatest width Is about three quarters of a mile, the streets entering the open steppe on the south. It was partly de fended on the west, towards the laud, by a loopholed will, which had been pronounced by one of the first engineers of Russia as perfectly useless ; and plans for completely fbr tifying the place in that direction were said to have been made ; but whether the work has since been carried out we know not, though we haven deep conviction that strong de fences will be found to exist there by the time a besieging army arrives. These, however, being hurtle raised, can _ neither be of sufficient magnitude nor strength to offer a serious resistance to a long•coutinued fire of heavy artillery, and unless these fortifications are on a most extensive scale, and embrace a very wide circuit, they may he °em it:landed from so many points that, attacked with heavy gnus of long range, their speedy reduction becomes a matter of certainty. None of the sea batteries or forts are of the slightest ser vice for defence on the land . side. Indeed the great fort, " St. Nicholas," has not a gun pointed in that direction; and such an armament would he perfectly useless if it ex isted, as that part of the hill mi which the town stands rises behind it to a height of two hundred feet. In fact, all the fortresses and batteries. both to the north and south of the great Lay, are commanded by higher ground in the rear. Mr. Scott's whole description of Sevastopol conveys a forcible idea of the magnitude of the works accomplished there. They may be fitulty in particular rotpects, but thdt enema cha racter exhibits the 'resource's of a vast military empire. Here, as elsewhere throughout Russia, the traveller is struck with the aspect