The Press. — London, England, 1854-10-28 00:00:00

P.; •' I i fit tr a tur t. Diary in Turkish and Greek Waters. By the Earl of Carlisle. London: Longmans. LORD CARLDILR is a most unexceptionable re presentative of the Whig aristocracy, and, perhaps, the better representative that he has no decided character of his own. We respect his amiability and his virtues, but it would be uncivil irony to speak of him as possessing political opinions of his own. He reflects the aspects of opinion prevalent in his circle, and echoes the phrases dropped from lips which constitute his standard of political orthodoxy. We would back him against any character of his time for giving expression to the policy of his party. It is for this reason that we attach some importance to this diary. He left London, he tells us, on the 3rd of June last year, when the Eastern question had risen into great im portance, and when he was sure to have been indoctrinated with the sentiments of his Mends in the Government concerning it. " I " go," he writes at the commencement of his diary, " towards the venerable and mysterious " East, with a fixed conviction on my mind " that it is about very shortly to become the " theatre of completed scripture prophecy, " and of a commencing new dispensation of " events." The plain meaning of this phrase, " a new dispensation of events," as ex plained by subsequent entries, is, that the Russians are to take possession of Constanti nople and expel the Turks from Europe, a result to which he uniformly looks forward with much complacency. But, as a sincerely pious person, his lordship should be careful how he interprets scripture prophecy accord ing to his awn wishes, or what he conceives may be the interest of his friends in the Admi nistration. The above sentence is a key to the volume, though we are bound to say his lordship keeps his promise, and does not " perk this topio" too frequently in the reader's face. Steaming down the Danube, he acknow ledges that the inhabitants are adverse to Russian rule, and that hopes of progress are not discernible from that quarter. So, on quitting the Sulina mouth of the Danube, he records an instance of Russian faithless. ness : This channel was secured to Russia by the treaty of Adrianople, on the condition that it should be open to the commerce of all nations, and that the Russians should keep it in navigable order. They have brought a dredging machine there, but it has scarcely ever been detected at work ; and the result might be inferred from the spectacle which at present met our eyes, of hundreds of vessels in the river within the mouth, and scores of them in the sea without, unable to pass the Bar. Our ship only drew seven feet and a half of water, and had purposely brought no merchandise. We winded triumphantly through along double tier of vessels, but even we grazed the ground sensi bly on passing the Bar. But trifling circumstances of this kind do not shake his faith in the superiority of the Muscovite to the Turk. At Varna he met Mr. Stanley, son of Lord Stanley of Alderly, attached to the embassy of Constantinople, who expressed his opinion that in fair fight Turkey would beat Russia. But, adds his lordship, " I cannot share this anticipation ;" and the reason he gives is curious—" Every " thing seems done in such a slip-shod " manner." Whenever war is mentioned he takes the opportunity to declare his conviction—of course derived from his friends at home—of the preservation of peace. Under date of June 26th he writes, " I believe it to be tolerably " obvious at present that there is no imme " diate prospect of war." At a Turkish dinner, two days later, all were extremely courteous to me, not at all relishing the opinion I expressed that there would be no actual war at present. Describing the Sultan, he says : The impression his aspect conveys is of a man gentle, unassuming, feeble, unstrung, DOOMED. No energy of purpose gleamed in that passive glance; no augury of A vioto sat on that still brow. . . . T he Sultan looked 111 PT '4414,14 riding past; Bolingbroke, however , has It ariived. t,....%_ 130 thwarrival, according to Lord Carlisle's F.: * l :' satibipa4iituoPicts not to be long delayed, for 1, , in *it .. next entry, when it is stated that 80, 000 - Russians had centered Moldavia , he exclaims , ', Al tok , „ SaaVa S la g THE PRESS. with something like triumph at his own sagacity, II - "Bolingbroke seems on his . Repeating a story he heard that, owing to the increase of the Greek population, the Sultan would one day be told by his Ministers to become a Christian, he asks with covert road !" emphasis — Will it, then, be a convert or a conqueror, a Constantine or a Ferdinand, who will be first crowned in St. Sophia? On board the Bellerophon, the sight of a host of our tars enjoying themselves at a theatrical representation moved him to pity at the very idea of their being pitted against the fire-eating Russians of his lordship's imagination It was impossible to look round on the manly jolly audience without hoping that they are not reserved to be mowed down by Russian cannon. The Turks have in general a good character for honesty; but, according to a trusted in formant of Lord Carlisle, the Greeks fairly pay their debts, but he has found, by damaging experience, that it is despe rate to lend money tti the Turks. In other places we read of the " amazing " amount of peculation, irregularity, and judo " lence among the Turks ;" that they are " shiftless," and that in Smyrna he met with " one of the most damning specimens of " Turkish impotence " he had yet encountered. Towards the middle of August, when Lord Aberdeen's Government contemplated leaving Turkey to make head against Russia as she best could, Lord Carlisle notes sneeringly We hear that the Turks are much out of humour with us, as they think we have left them in the lurch, and, I believe, prevented their occupation of Moscow. Three days later the dissatisfaction of the Turks is again noticed, and Lord Carlisle indi cates his opinion of what British policy should have been I hear on all sides that there is great exasperation against England among the Turks, and we are reproached for having encouraged them to resist Prince Menschikoffs original demand ; and now, after they have made great efforts, and incurred large expenses, counselling them to adopt a declaration, slightly varied in form, but almost identical in effect. lam inclined to think that we ought either not to have gone so far at first—which I believe would have been best—or to go further now. It is thought possi ble that the Turkish Government may still decide on re sistance. When, in prospect of an invasion by Russia of Turkish territory, Abdul Medjid announced his intention of going to Adrianople himself in the spring to take the field, it is slightingly mentioned as " rather a long adjournment of "his Gazi-hood." So persuaded is his lord ship of the inevitable fall of Turkey, that the evidences she gave of vigour and capacity on occasion of the rupture with Russia failed to impress him favourably. In the conversation of every one he met he found illustrations of " the sense usually assigned to the prediction "in the Apocalypse of the waters of the " Euphrates being dried up." As the result of Turkish dominion, ho sees everywhere deserted villages, uncultivated plains, banditti-haunted mountains, torpid laws, a corrupt Administration, a disap pearing people. On the other hand, the Greeks are generally praised for their intelligence and the progress they are making, though his lordship is com pelled to record incidents which fully show the treacherous conduct of the Greek Court in her relations with Turkey at the commence ment of the war. Could Lord Carlisle and the party he represents have had their way Turkey would rather have found in England an insidious enemy than a powerful ally. Apart from his political opinions, Lord Carlisle is a pleasant diarist. He is too eminent a personage, it is true, to care much about his style, which in his own phrase is apt to be " slip-shod " He " cannot abide" one thing, and he " gets to feel" another; Mr. Marsh, the American Minister, is one of the "best-conditioned " men to be met with ; the ward-room of the Britannia is a " well-condi tioned" mess ; and Captain Excelmans is very intelligent and " well-conditioned"—phrases not admitting of very definite meaning as his lordship applies them. These are trivial faults, however. The extracts with which we conclude afford a fair idea of his lordship's powers as • descriptive writer ; SATURDAY, CONNECTION BETWEEN RELIGION AND PROSPERITY. The scenery along the Elbe continues to be pretty, but the transition from Saxony to Bohemia, with regard to the aspect of the people, of their dwellings, and of their agriculture, rather resembles the change from English to Irish landscape ; not that Saxony is so well dressed as England, or Bohemia so ill dressed as Ireland. How are we to distribute the causes of this difference—what to Government ? what to creed? I think I may take credit to myself for wishing to look at all things with au unbigoted eye ; but true it seems to be, that as soon as you come to the crucifix on the high knolls and in the little groves, often moat picturesque in effect, the appearance of com• fort and well-being among the people is on the wane. A DIPLOMATIC RECEPTION AT VIENNA. June 12, 1858. Later in the evening the Westmorlands again took me to a reoeption at Count Buol's, the Secretary for Foreign Affairs : I was received very civilly. I was introduced to the Russian Minister, M. Mayendorff, who seems a very accomplished person. M. de Bourqueney, the French Minister, whom I saw at Schanbrunn, rather expects war. Prince Metternich told him that his instinct predicted peace, though his reason pointed to war ; also, that he feared the question might have to be resolved, not at Petersburg, but at Moscow (that is, by the high Russo. Greek Church party). THE EMPEROR OF AUSTRIA. The present young Emperor showed great modesty and anidence ; he is an excellent son, and very much attached to his mother the Archduchess Sophia. What I collect about his character is this: I believe he is spotless in morals, very conscientious in the performance of duty, de termined to do all himself, very simple, and without any turn for display ; this is all on the promising side—on the other, he as yet seems almost exclusively devoted to his army ; It is natural, indeed, for him to feel that he and the monarchy owo. everything to them. Those who surround him are thought to be narrow and harsh, and there have been some symptoms of hardness in his own character. On the whole, hitherto th. good appears to me to pre dominate. A TURKISH DINNER. Our host was the chief physician of the Sultan. We arrived at his house in Scutari about half an hour before sunset; and as we could not dine, during the Ramazan, till after it, neither food nor pipes being allowed between the rising and setting sun, we sat in the garden with our host, who, not in good keeping with his art, plied ua with un ripe fruits. A young Circassian girl, of about twelve, and so not of an age to prevent her appearing before Franks, was sent from the Seraglio, that the state of he r health might be examined. At last the cannon fired : Hark! peal'd the thunder of the evening gun ; It told 'twas muse., and we blued that sun. Corsair. There was quite a rush to the meal. The party amounted to nine : there was a priest or lmaun in a viole; robe ; but the person who was the best dressed, and seemed to be made most of, was a perfectly black gentleman from the Seraglio. .Gur host talked some French , t he rest nothing but Tarkish, in which Dr. Sandwith is very fluent. All sat down on low cushions upon their legs ; this I could not quite effect, but managed to stow mine under the small low round table. Upon this was placed a brass or copper salver, and upon this again the dishes of food in very quick and most copious succession : we all helped ourselves with our right hands, except that just for the soup we had wooden spoons : this is not quite so offensive as it sounds, since they hardly take more than one or two mouthfuls in each dish from the part imme- diately opposite them, so the hands do not mingle in the platter : it seems to me, however, that the first advance in Turkish civilisation to which we may look forward will be the use of spoons, and thee, through succeeding epochs, to knives and forks The diapason ending full in plaids. I must say that I thought the fare itself very good, con sisting in large proportion of vegetables, pastry, and con diments, but exhibiting a degree of resource and variety not unworthy of study by the unadventurous cookery of Britain. THE BOSPHORUS. Steamed down to Constantinople; Mr. Skene was with me, and made an incomparable cicerone for the Bosphorus, telling me the tenants of the long line of palaces, and their histories : this was the house of Mehemet Ali of Egypt; this is the house of his chief rival, old Khosrew Pasha, now living there at ninety-Rix; he has filled the office of Grand Vizier for fifty years altogether, with various breaks, and still retains many of the simple habits of his origin, as a Circassian shepherd. Here Darius Hystaspes crossed the strait on his Scythian expedition; here he sat on the rock to witness the passage ; the inscription on the stone to commemorate it, which was known formerly to exist, has not been discovered; the ground on either aide is now occupied by the tall round white towers of the forts, the Itumili and Anatoli Hissers ; the first, built by Mahomet the Second before the captur e of the city, still goes univer sally by the name of the Conquerer. From that window, or rather slit in the wall, he used to examine the means of approaching the capital ; under that low culvert, in the after destination of the place as a prison, the bodies were floated into the Bosphorus. The European fort is built on the most fantastic plan, to imitate the Arabic letters of the word Mahomet. On one side is Balta Liman, on the other Unkiar Skelessi, both famous in the annals of modern treaties. This rapid bit of current is the Shed.= Akindesi, or Devil's Current, so said to be called be.!ause a Sultana had been angered by seeing a Christian cougregie Lion coming out of a church on Sunday, and had imme- . diately given orders for the destruction of the church; whereupon on her return the boat was upset, and all saved but herself. It was in that long.spreading house in t he he bay that the sister of the present Sultan, the wife of B Pasha, kept long watch over her boy, to avold . the law which doomed all the male children of the sisters of