The Press. — London, England, 1854-04-01 00:00:00

I APRIL i , 1854. industry. During all the winter the popula tion remains in a torpidly uncomfortable state, either frozen or suffocated, according to the nature of their dwellings, but in either case unable to stir beyond the walls, or carry on any branch of industry. The government of Armenia is, or was, very indifferently adminis tered. Metropolitan reforms have not reached the provinces, and every kind of oppression is practised under the name of justice. The wife of one sufferer came to complain to Mr. Cur zon. He was an Armenian, accused of theft by two soldiers, themselves the real authors of the crime. Naturally unwilling to confess a crime which he had not committed, his silence was construed as obstinacy, and the follow ing mild means were resorted to to make him speak. A cup, or bowl, of heated brass was put on his head ; " afterwards a cord was tied " round it, two sheep's knucklebones were " placed on his temples, and the cord tight " ened till his eyes nearly came out. As he " would not confess, his front teeth were " then drawn one at a time: pieces of cane " were run up under his toenails and finger " nails." He was next hung up by the hands, and his flesh torn with pincers. On Mr. Cur zon's request, and as a matter of private favour—not at all because justice required it — the man was set free, and his innocence after wards became clear. Through the interven tion of the British commissioner, torture was subsequently abolished, at least in name, throughout the pachalic of Erzeroum. The Armenian weather and roads are fright ful. In the mountains a custom exists by which the villagers go out every summer to the passes, and bury the dead whom they find there, retaining the clothes, arms, and bag gage as their perquisite. During several months all traffic is intercepted ; and, while this Siberian climate prevails in the highlands, the low valleys are infested with malaria, pro ducing fevers, and often death. The impor tance of such a district consists not in its resources or wealth, but in the geographical position and character which enables it to command the highroad between Turkey and Persia. In this respect its value to the pos sessing power can hardly be overrated. The Armenian population is pretty equally divided between Mahometans and Christians, the former having a slight numerical prepon derance. They enjoy a good deal of local self government, each village electing its elder, head man, or mayor, who is responsible to Government for all that takes place within it. They frequently migrate to the great towns, and have there the reputation of being sharp, and not over-honest, in money dealings. In the country their most characteristic qualities are hardihood and stupidity : The superiority of the Mahometan over the Christian cannot fail to strike the mind of an intelligent person who has lived among these races, as the fact is evident through out the Turkish empire. This arises partly from the op pression which the Turkish rulers in the provinces have exercised for centuries over their Christian subjects: this is probably the chief reason ; but the Turk obeys the dictates of his religion, the Christion does not ; the Turk does not drink, the Christian gets drunk ; the Turk is honest, the Turkish peasant is a pattern of quiet, good humoured honesty ; the Christian is a liar and a cheat; his religion is so overgrown with the rank weeds of superstition that it no longer serves to guide his mind in the right way. It would be a work of great difficulty to disentangle the pure faith preached by the Apostles from the mass of ab• surdities and strange notions with which Christianity is encumbered, in the belief of the villagers in out,of-the-wa7 places, among the various sects of Christians in the domt nions of the Sultan. This seems to have been the case for many centuries, and it has produced its effect in lowering the standard of morality and injuring the general character of those nations who are subjects of Turkey and not of the Mahometan religion. For, of two evils, it is better to follow the doctrines of a false religion than to neglect the precepts of the true faith. An Historical Review of the Reign of the Em peror Nikolai I. Translated from the Rus sian of Ustriitloff. By William Roberts. London : Madden. Tnz author of that is th e k Universoi is Prtyfessor of St. of Russian History Petersburg, and the translator's preface is dated from that capital. We have, therefore, before us an exposition of modern events in the light in which the Czar would wish them to be 'lowed. After detailing the strange cir cumstances that led to the abdication by THE PRESS. Constantine of his hereditary rights, and the accession of Nicholas to the imperial throne, the system of policy which the successor of Alexander was resolved to pursue is thus ex plained The events of twenty years have fully developed it. Basing it on the principles of unblenching equity, modera tion, and disinterested magnanimity, our Sovereign up holds the political balance of Russia with honour and dignity—at the right moment takes an active part in all great European events—and, by his powerful influence and formidable position, with a glance, se to say, without draw ing iist sword-4111e Wilke are our own] --annihilates the designs that are matured to shake the general peace of Europe. But he does not mix himself up with the petty and endless disorders of the West—so annoying to his predecessor—but replies with disdainful silence to the furious vociferation of demagogues, impotent to disturb the general repose, and because they are unworthy of his attention. On the other hand, under no consideration, under no title whatsoever, does he tolerate or permit fo reign interference in the affairs of his empire, in its rela tions with foreign states, in its disputes or alliances ; and woe to him who shall dare offend the dignity of Russia, or presume to disturb her tranquillity! To annihilate other powers and to aggran dise Russia " without drawing the sword" is indeed the key of Russian policy, as the events related in this work sufficiently prove, and for which they fully account. In it we may view, through an optical instrument pre pared at St. Petersburg, the Persian war, which lasted from 1826 to'2B ; the invasion of Turkey, which terminated with the treaty of Adrian ople; the battle of Navarino, and the circum stances which preceded it; the desperate struggle with Poland in 1880-81; together with the contests between Turkey and Mehe met Ali, which ended in consequence of the treaty of London in 1840. In relating these events the historian invariably proves too much ; for, after having described the Russian army as numerically immense and the Em peror as an incarnation of absolute wisdom, it always happens that, when war begins, the frontier force is unequal to the exigency of the moment. Thus, in the war with Persia, it is said, " The transcaucasian province was "in a most embarrassing condition, being " almost without any means of defence." But, after prodigies of valour and skill achieved by these overmatched forces, after defeating an enemy "of ten times" their number, and dragging "besieging trains and baggage-wag " goes . . . across two mountain-chains still " covered with snow, and scarcely accessible "to man," they capture Erivan, and " the " way to Persia is open." The Shah is repre sented as trembling, and at the mercy of the Russians ; yet, funnily enough, there was some difficulty in inducing him to make peace. A treaty was, however, at last signed, and the compact of Turkinaatchli belongs to a class of trea ties of the greatest advantage to us. By it firm and secure frontiers were guaranteed to Russia beyond the Caucasus ; her sacrifices were sufficiently indemnified, the protection of Russian merchants in Persia was secured, and a termi nation put to an onerous war, at the very time when Rus sia was entering into a quarrel with the Porte. The events of that war which made this peace desirable have lately been so much dis cussed that the reader is probably familiar with them. The following summary of the results of the first campaign is amusing The success of the Russian arms in 1828 1 in Europe and in Asia, by land and sea, the occupation of two principali ties, the greater half of Bulgaria, a considerable part of Anatolia, the reduction of fourteen fortresses, the capture of 30,0 M prisoners with nine pachas, 00 standards, and 1,',1(X1 guns—all this might, one would have thought, have oonvinced the Sultan of the absolute necessity of making with the powerful Emperor of Russia. Mahmoud, rot e iver, remained as inflexible in hie hostility as before, and, rejecting the propositions of peace, prepared for a re newal of the war. We have seen that the Shah of Persia ex hibited the same insensibility to defeat as Mahmoud. Let us now turn to the enemies of Russia. in Europe. The Polish army meet the Russians before Warsaw in 1881, the numbers are stated to be equal, but the advantages of position are in favour of the former : Russian bravery at length triumphed over all the efforts of the adversary. The defeated revolters, in the greatest disorder, threw themselves across the Vistula, losing about 12,000 men killed and wounded. The inhabitants of Warsaw with inexpressible terror went out to meet their broken army. The mass of the people was ready to en treat pardon of the conqueror; the senators and deputies of the Diet hastened to conceal th e m selves ; many thought of flying across the frontiers • Niemckwicz himself with drew to Cracow, and Prince Rideivil threw off the title of commander-in-chief. To consummate the blow it remained to take possession of the scarcely defended fortification of 305 Praga, in order to destroy the nest of the revolt, as Surikoff had done in a former reign, to compel the trembling War saw, and with it even all Poland, to fall at the feet of the Russian Emperor. So thought also the chief of the staff, Count Toll. But the counniuider-in-chief ordered the victorious army to halt at the very minute when it was ready, on the heels of the flying foe, to force its way into the fortifications of Praga—into Warsaw itself—and passed some days of inactivity on the Said of tlrokhof• ; subse quently he retired to Minsk, in order that—awaiting the open ingot the Vistula—he might cross over to its left side, and thence take Warsaw. The rebels, recovering from their fright, absolutely claimed the victory and again took up arms, aud, proclaiming Colonel Skrjinicky their leader with the title of generalissimo, sent strong detachments to the banks of the Veprj and the Rarer, for the purpose of separating the forces of the Russian field•marshal. Count Dibitch waited for the opening of the Vistula more than a month. The bravery of the Russian soldiers is unde niable, so far as courage consists in a stolid obedience to orders. Sentinels have been known to perish by fire and water when they could hove escaped from the conflagration and inundation rather than desert their posts, and how they stand to be killed in battle they hare proved from the days of Charles XII. downwards. For their victories are not nu merous ; indeed, unless the brilliant successes recorded in this book and in recent bulletins be exceptions, we think history will say that Russia can boast only of one general, and ho was Suvarow. But his eucoess was by no means uninterrupted, and the natural features of his battle-fields were favourable to his troops. Charles XII. and Napoleon fell only before the Russian climate, and not before the Russian arms. With the one exception of that " little odd old man," we believe the Rus sians never won any battle without the aid of overwhelming numbers. For this many rea sons may be given, but our space is too limited. The career of Russia, in all departments, is, in Ustrialoff's works, represented as glorious, but if there is one thing more than another in which she excels it is education. The following closes the book : The future is known but to God. lf, however, universal and fundamental education may Serve as a sure pledge of the future, of which there can scarcely be a doubt, then a happy lot is in store for Russia. Views of Canada and the Colonists. By James B. Brown. Edinburgh : Black. London : Longman. A noon meant rather for reference than read ing ; useful to emigrants, and interesting to those who concern themselves in colonial matters, but less so to the general public. Mr. Brown, an eight years' resident in Canada, has taken much pains in collecting within a small compass all the most important facts — statistical and general—which a colonist, ac tual or intending, can want to know. He avoids risking an opinion on doubtful or con troverted subjects ; and this wise discretion gives to his work an appearance of authority and impartiality. What he has attempted he has done well—that is to say, assuming (and we have no reason to doubt it) that his state ments of detail are accurate. He has done good service in disabusing the public of an impression equally general and fallacious — that Canada is not making progress. The eastern, or lower, province, of which both the soil and climate are inferior, and which is peopled mainly by the French rare, has re mained nearly stationary. Upper, or Western, Canada, which seventy years ago did not exist as a civilised country, already begins to take the lead. Its population was : In 1721 60,000 „ 1811 „ 1825 158,000 „ 1880 210,000 „ 1834 820,000 „ 1841 466,000 „ 1848 723,000 Besides a considerable increase since that time, these figures show, what in a question of colonial progress should always be remembered, that it is the first step that costs—a large po pulation, with unlimited territorial area, draw ing to itself labour from abroad with great ease and at a rapid rate, while a small and scattered population is comparatively slow in augmenting its numbers. In emigration as in nature, the greater the bulk of the attracting mass the more powerful the attraction. And it is from this cause, not from any imagined superiority, either natural or political, that the ratio of increase in the United States I ` ll =I i 1