The Press. — London, England, 1854-12-16 00:00:00

1194 in on all sides by the Wallachs, pressed by the Austrians, and attacked by the Cossacks, the Sailers yet valiantly stood at bay, and with superhuman energy fought for and suc cessfully defended their mountain homes till the surrender of Villagos decided the fate of Hungary. Lastly, the gipsies and the Jews imperfectly conclude this heterogeneous list. The former, numbering about 40,000, retain to this day, as in centuries past, their unconquerable antipa thy to civilisation and regular life. In ever• country, uninfluenced by example, they have remained intact and uncontrolled, the same restless, thoughtless, indolent nomades, pre senting the most striking contrast imaginable to the Jews, here as in every other part of the world ever careful, planning, saving, and con triving. Such are some of the leading characteristics of the principal nations—for they are beyond tribes—which inhabit the ancient kingdom of Hungary ; and what variety of character is here ! The fierce pride and condensed nationality of the Magyar, the savage craft of the Croatian, the furious fanaticism of the Serbian, the opposed qualities of the Slavokian, varying with their creed, the mountain patriotism and high intelligence of the Szekler, the bigotry and vices of the 'Wallach, the lively wit and lazy contentment of the wandering gipsy, the grasping industry of the Jew, and, louring over all like a cloud, the dull leaden oppression of Austrian rule. What materials are here for the study of character and for those singular and imposing effects which the contrast of distinctly-marked races affords! The few extracts we make from Miss Birk beck's agreeable little book will show that she understands the value of her materials, and has talent to make a good use of them. Hungarian families frequently pass the even ing in the recital of stories connected with the late war to keep up the enthusiasm of the country's children. Here is a story of Szekler patriotism : One of the mountain passes leading from eastern Hun gary into Transylvania winds through the picturesque and romantic valley of the Maros river. The pass is in cue place defended by the fortress of Deva, which though small, still, on account of its inaccessible site upon a high stee rock on the left bank of the Maros, is one of great strength and importance. Towards the close of the war Da y ;, belonged to us, and was garrisoned by one officer, two au c officers, and forty-seven privates, most of them young' Szekler recruits. After General Bem had been driven by the Russians from Transylvania, the entire country fell into their power, save a part of Szeklerlancl and the castle of Deva. The latter, after a fruitless summons to surrender, was invested by the enemy. The siege or rather blockade had lasted about a fortnight, when Giirgey's treacherous sur render at Vilgois ensued. The besiegers lost no time in acquainting the garrison with this terrible event, warning them at the same time not to aggravate their fate by a further useless resistance. The communication, though at first considered in the fortress as a snare, soon turned out to be but too true, as the report was confirmed by the arrivals from the disbanded armies. The commander of Diva, with whose name I am, to my regret, unacquainted, was one of those rare characters who do not reckon their life by days but by deeds, and whose courage, keeping pace with the in creasing danger, excites them, amidst the general despon dency, to mark their retirement from the stage of action by some memorable achievement. Seeing the fruitlessness of a protracted defence the commander informed his men of their desperate situation. He spoke to them as Leonidas must have spoken to his three hundred Greeks at Thermopyls', and at length wrought the enthusiasm of his young soldiers to such a height that death seemed to them preferable to submission. One and all solemnly swore to perish in the fortress, the only spot that in the whole of their fatherland could yet be called free. Deva being pro vided with a large store of gunpowder, it was after a short debate decided that they should blow themselves up, together with their trust. In order, however, that the manner of their death might come to the knowledge of their relatives, one of their comrades was to be s,•nt off to their mountain homes before the decisive moment took place. Though each of them had either parents or friends, or some being even yet more dear, nevertheless not one would ac cept the offer of life and separate from his companions : so that the commander was obliged to decide by lot who was to be the hearer of the fatal message. Besides the men there was also the wife of a sub-officer in the fortress, who, it had been arranged, was to accompany the messenger home. But the brave women, instead of taking advantage of that opportunity to save her life, an nounced her determination, at all events, to share her husband's fate, and, urged on by patriotic inspiration, im plored for permission to set fire herself to the gunpowder; as the Hungarian heroine had done three centuries before in the castle of Veg-Veszely, when, seeing the place stormed by the Turks, she threw the lighted torch into the powder magazine and blew herself up together with hundreds of the savage foemen. Such romantic heroism in a woman filled the men wen on the brink of destruction with nn• THE PRESS. bounded admiration, and the commander, at their unanimous desire, granted the extraordinary request. On the evening of the 18th of August, 1849, after the last solemn farewell had been taken and the messenger let down from the walls by means of a rope, all at once an immense column of fire and smoke rose from the rocky projection, accompanied by a terrible explosion, which shook the neighbourhood fur miles around. In another moment the small town at the foot of the castle rock was covered with the falling ruins of the fortress which had disappeared from its lofty position. The deed was done. The fifty Szeklers had sealed their fidelity to their fatherland with their lives; but the crown belongs to the woman whose superhuman courage lighted the fiery train which hurried those heroic spirits into eternity. Omer Pacha's birthplace is situated in the mountains which have given to Austria some of her fiercest soldiers : In the wildest and loneliest part of the Croatian monn tains—the great Capella range—lies the small village of Plaski, the birthplace of Omer Pacha. It belongs to the regimental district of Ogulin, where his father, Baron Littas, then held the rank of captain. Omer Pacha was born in 1801, and brought up from childhood for the mili tary profession, which he embraced with great ardour, and in his twentieth year entered one of the Grenzer regiments as lieutenant. In consequence, however, of some quarrel with his colonel, he suddenly left the Austrian service, and went to Turkey. There, having changed both his name and faith, he offered his sword in defence of the Crescent. His offer was accepted, and he rose rapidly, signalising himself by his conspicuous military abilities ; and now, in his fifty-third year, he tills the highest and most im• portant post in that realm after his sovereign, the Sultan. The gipsies are witty, but timid : Where — he thinks himself a match, the gipsy is over bearing and a great bully; but if blows ensue he is the first to take to his heels. Of his bravado and mock cou rage the following anecdote conveys a tolerable idea. A Morre, when travelling with his old mare on a very bad and muddy road, remarked another cart approaching. He called to the driver from afar, with threatening gestures, that if he did not make room for him he would just see what he would do. The intimidated Jehu instantly pulled up. As the gipsy triumphantly drove past the other asked, " What would you have done if I had not got out of the way? " " Why, you stupid fellow," replied the Morre, with a shrewd grin, and a flourishing of his whip, " in that case I should have made way for you." - - - But they bear their privations with singular cheerfulness : A Morre was once found sitting on the banks of the Theiss, supping the water from the river with a spoon. On being asked what he was about, he gravely replied, "I am eating fish soup." " Well, but where are the fish ?" "In the river," was the rejoinder. Another went into the market to buy something to satisfy his appetite, which was just then greater than his means. He therefore tried to get the cheapest and the largest quantity of eatables for his money. After a long search he purchased a bunch of horseradishes, and began greedily to chew the pungent roots. Tears soon streamed from his eyes upon the un palatable food ; still he went on eating, only thus apostro phising his eyes: " Ay, you may eat on, it's all your fault ; why d►d you not look better after what you had pur chased?" Another, strolling through a village on a rainy day in a pair of torn boots, was accosted by a passer-by, who sug gested that his boots were much too bad fur such weather. ' You are mistaken, sir," the Morre said, proudly, " it is the weather that is too bad for my boots." Here are some good anecdotes of their timidity : No Jew ever abhorred firearms more than the Morre does ; therefore his services as a soldier are of no value. In that capacity alone he loses his gaiety, and becomes a misanthrope. His despair is graphically pictured in the following laconic letter which a gipsy recruit sent to his mother. As he could not write, he requested a comrade to indite a letter for him. " Write to her," he said, " 'woe '—again, ' woe'—and a third time, woe,' even to the soul of my grandmother ! Net a word more ; my mother will understand me perfectly." History has only one fact on record where the Morre, musket in hand, faced the enemy. This happened in the middle of the seventeenth century, when an Hungarian commander, in want of better troops, entrusted the gipsies of Nagy-Ida with the defence of an intreuchment near Kassa. The affair, as usual with the gipsy, took a comic turn, but unfortunately terminated in a tragedy. On the commander assuring the brown warriors that no enemy's balls would hit them in the front, they not only courageously met the attack, but repelled the Austrians after a fierce combat with great loss. Seeing them re treating, the Morres, elated with victory, mounted the breastwork, calling out after them, " You cowardly fellows, you are running away just as we had used up all our pow der." The enemy, on hearing this, and taking it for a fact, as it really was, returned to the attack, and, as the garrison had no ammunition, carried the intrenchment, putting all the gipsies to the sword. Since that fatal day, whenever a Morre speaks of a friend's misfortune, he ex claims, " It happened to him just as to our brothers of Nagy-Ids." A vein of pathos runs through many of the sto ries, although for the most part they record only the casualtie 3 of everyday life in the late war, but they have great merit, and show a keen perception on Miss Birkbeck's part of the character she attempts to delineate—a romantic nationality stifled by the heavy yoke of superior force. SATURDAY, ALMANACS FOR 18455. 1. The British Almanac and Companion. Knight and Co.-2. The Colonial Almanac. A. and C. Black. —3. The Literary and Scientific Register and Almanac. Bogue.-4.. The Boudoir Almanac. Waterlow and Sons.-5. The War Almanac. Clarke.-8. Zadkiel's Almanac. Piper. 1. This Almanac, with its Companion, produced with accuracy as to its tables and calculations, and judg ment as to its selection of original papers, continues the most useful year-book extant. It looks back as well as forward, and so forms a double guide, chroni. cling results of the last year's industrial history and national movement, while giving data for all future transactions. Among the original papers in the Com panion is one by Professor De Morgan on the " Pro. gress of the Doctrine of the Earth's Motion," between the times of Copernicus and Galileo, scarcely appro priate here, as it has no immediate relation to present events ; another, more suitable, on the " Occupations of the People," founded on the census of 1851, bring ing out the singular and almost incredible fact, that in this hard-working nation half of our population do nothing for their livelihood; and a third, on the " History of the Campaign," succinctly recounting its leading incidents. 2. The " Colonial Almanac " is well designed and carefully compiled. It embraces statistics on all sub. jects relating to colonial interests, as the shipping engaged in various colonial trades—the value of colonial produce—Government offices and officers -emigration returns—and much other detail of a similar nature. From the evident usefulness of the publication it is likely to take an established place in the counting-house of the merchant and broker. 3. A useful compendium of information upon most points in science, literature, and art, and, being available as a pocket-book, may be always kept at hand for easy reference. It is well printed, well got up, and, having been in existence many years, has been gradually improved. There are, however, a few typographical errors in the mathematical pages ; and Mr. Gutch does not appear to be aware of the little importance Professor Potter's views are considered by the scientific world with regard to Laplace's cot• rection of Newton's theory of sound. Mr. Potter's peculiar views, which appeared in a number of the Philosophical Magazine in 1851, have been abun dantly answered and refuted by many eminent men in the same publication, and hence his paper on acoustics ought not to be quoted [in 1854-5] as an " important communication." 4. The "Boudoir Almanac," printed in colours and mounted on cardboard, with a glowing view of Stamboul surmounting the months, forms a pretty ornament either to frame as a picture or lie on a table. 5 and 6. W need only acknowledge the receipt of the "War Almanac," containing Lord Raglan's despatches and ome slight notice of the most distin guished of the allied commanders in the army and navy; and of " Zadkiel," with his usual amount of mysterious prediction, and a portrait of the great Chinese Unknown, Tao Sze. The Story of the Peasant-Boy Philosopher. By Henry Mayhew. London : Bogue. THE object of this book is, by a simple relation of mechanical and other experiments, to excite a taste in youth for natural science, and hence will be seen the necessity of correctness, clearness, and simpli3ity in its statement of elementary truths. Mr. Mayhew, however, has, we believe, entirely sacrificed the two first principles to the last, and in several of his explanations of experiments he has incorrectly related the results, for the sake, we charitably sup pose, of simplicity. For instance, in his explanation of the principle of the lever, pp. 40-2, he has described an experiment which if performed in the manner he relates would have led to results very different to those stated. It' the boy philosopher had rash " tossed," "flung,' or "dropped" the bullets at. the scale, as Mr. Mayhew desnibos, we suspect that the equilibrium of the stubborn beam would have been destroyed considerably earlier in the experi ment. The simple fact is, that Mr. Mayhew, as is commonly the case, has confounded the statical and dynamical effects of force, and, in applying a propo sition to " impulses " which is only true of "pressures," has committed an error at the very threshold of his subject, which tends to produce con fusion of thought, and inevitably leads to a super ficial knowledge of the subject, if to nothing worse. Again, at p. 132, we meet with the following state• ment :—" The parts of a revolving body acquire a " greater or less tendency to fly from the centrein " proportion to the rate of revolution." Now here Mr. Mayhew entirely leaves undefined this rate of revolution. Is it the angular or linear rate? Ag ain, the phrase " in proportion to," unless it possess a very unusual meaning, by no means accurately expresses the law of variation of centrifugal force, and we are left in doubt whether the author himself clearly. comprehends the truth he intends to express ; but