The Press. — London, England, 1854-04-15 00:00:00

APRIL 15, 1854. result is obvious; its danger will be differently regarded by different persons. We have not in the above paragraphs attempted to give anything like a full analysis of Dr Pusey's opinions on these subjects. His treatise is ♦aluable, full of matter, and clearly written, the greater part of it being devoted to the question of " Colleges v. University and Private Halls." It is possible that many readers will think too much use is made of mediaeval precedent; yet Dr. Pusey may fairly argue that material improvement is not identical with moral progress, and that, though human customs alter, human nature remains much where it was. Travels in Siberia. S. S. Hill, Esq. By London: Longnians. A scam of travels may possess either of two merits: it may contain new and valuable facts, or it may describe in an agreeable style, and with a certain novelty of treatment, scenes which are already more or less familiar. Nearly all the works which come under our reviewal belong to the latter class—of course that which takes its place lowest in literary rank. Mr. Hill's journey is an exception ; his subject—Siberia—is almost untrodden ground. Captain Cochrane, indeed, told us something in the narrative of his pedestrian tour, and about half a dozen other travellers have fol lowed in the same track; but of these, Hol man, the blind tourist, was physically ill qualified for an observer; Sir George Simpson merely passed through the country at railroad speed, on his way to England from Oregon ; and Erman, doubtless the most scientific and laborious, is not happy in his style nor fortu nate in a translator. Consequently, Mr. Hill, if he has not the field absolutely to himself, cannot complain of either the number or the 'ability of his rivals. As regards personal qualifications, he occupies a fair though not a high position. His style is often involved and clumsy, but it is not pretentious ; he tells a plain story well; his descriptions of natural objects are neither particularly graphic nor the reverse ; and he only fails where he at tempts to generalise and discuss—a task for which his habit of mind seems to unfit him. Bating a few disquisitions which we should like to strike out, there is not much in these two volumes which requires abridgment. An Englishman who has passed three years between the Ural mountains and Kamschatka, and that of his own free choice, neither con fined to one place by business nor detained against his will, may claim a full and patient hearing. Would that no greater prolixity were displayed by writers who have less to tell ! Our author begins his published tour where most Russian travellers end theirs—at Moscow and Nijhui Novgorod. He proceeds from thence to Kazan and across the Ural—on to Ikaterinburg, Tomsk, and Krasnoyarsk — reaches Irkuutsk after a long delay—makes a little excursion to Kiachta, on the Chinese frontier—descends the Lena to Yaltoutsk— and finally reaches the Pacific port of Ochotsk —concluding a journey of between 7,000 and 8,000 miles over the worst of roads by a town in the interior of Kamschatka. Of Mr. Hill. apart from his book, we know nothing, except that he claims a Canadian origin ; but, let him go where h will. he will find few men more strongly pos e sessed with the spirit of adventure than himself. All civilised or semi-civilised societies have their anomalies, and Russia is not without her full share. At Novgorod Mr. Hill found a serf, unemancipated, whose mechanical skill had enabled him to amass a fortune of 120,0001. His master, naturally proud of such a de pendent, chose to retain him still in nominal subjection—nominal only, for the serf is en titled to purchase his personal freedom at the rate of about 2/. 10s. yearly. The Novgorod fair, according to our author, I draws together about 300,000 strangers, and the value of goods bought and sold there ex ceeds 9,000,000/. sterling. Many of the buyers and sellers come from immen distances, trave lli n g mostly by land, over fro se zen steppes and tracks that hardly deserve the name. These journeys , espe ciall y when rapid, as the Russian custom is, involve great hardships : THE PRESS. even natives rarely escape a kind of fever, the result of exposure, constant motion, and want of rest, which goes off, like sea sickness, after a certain time, but in the interval is sufficiently disagreeable. No traveller stops at night: inns do not exist, and the filth of a Russian posthouse repels the least fastidious. Saving of time, moreover, is an object where the dis tance to be traversed considerably exceeds the breadth of the Atlantic Ocean, as is the case between Moscow and Irkoutsk. The ch meter of Siberian scenery appears monotonous ; snow in winter, dry grass in summer, flowers and fresh verdure during a few weeks only of the spring, everywhere a wide unvaried steppe, a sparse and savage population, few houses, fewer trees, and scarcely any cultivation. Even the cities that occupy so large a space in the map shrink into insignificance when their real size is considered. Tomsk contains 9,000 inhabi tants ; Irkoutsk, the capital of Eastern Siberia, 40,000 ; Yakoutsk only 4,000. Of these three settlements only one would rank as a town in England, the rest being mere villages. Russia has been called the empire of inagnifi cent distances ; but to realise this fully we have only to consider that London proper, not including its suburbs, has a population equal to that of all Siberia—that is, of a tract which fills up the whole intervening void between Europe and America. Na description can exaggerate the severity of a Russo-Asiatic climate, which becomes worse as you go further to the eastward. Extremes of heat and cold are always found in the centre of extensive continents ; as wit ness Africa, South America, the Hudson's Bay country, and that of which we are now writing. At Yakoutsk a temperature of —BO deg. Fahrenheit has been known in winter (122 deg below freezing-point), although Yakoutsk lies only in N. Lat. 62 deg., or not much nearer the pole than our own Hebrides. This excessive frost exceeds by 20 deg. the utmost inclemency of weather undergone by Arctic navigators. In such a situation agri culture becomes almost impossible, the sub soil never thawing at any season. Yet the Yakoutes and Russian colonists residing there live and enjoy health, although their mode of passing the winter would not appear pleasant. The windows, trebly glazed, are barricaded with blocks of ice, which the addition of a little water fastens firmly into their place. These almost exclude light, and lamps are kept burning during 21 hours out of the 24. Only the rich use glass, talc being the ordi nary substitute. Skins are worn by the peasantry, and domestic ventilation seems not to be cared for. Mr. Hill tells us much of the exiles or political offenders scattered over Siberia. Their lot, except as regards absence from their country, is not hard ; they are free to choose an occupation, and in many instances a residence, their sole sentence being that of banishment beyond the Ural. Large numbers of criminals are also sent over the mountains, it is supposed about 10,000 yearly, some of whom are kept to hard labour. For murder the penalty is a public flogging (often fatal), and, in case of recovery, penal servitude for life in the silver mines of Neutchink. Though a wide distinction exists between the two classes of sufferers, yet association to a certain extent is inevitable ; and the degradation thus incurred forms to honourable and high minded men not the least severe part of their sentence. The families of exiles are kindly dealt with, often recalled to Russia, and granted employ ment in the military or civil services. It is not a little startling to find our author loud in his praises of Russian tolerance in re ligious matters. The fact, however, may be admitted so far as the savage tribes of Siberia are concerned, and his capable of easy explana tion. The policy of Russia has invariably been founded, not on impulse or abstract prin ciple, but on a farsighted calculation of results. Towards Europe her attitude is essentially aggressive. Western ideas must be excluded —liberalism in Church and State must he guarded against—at whatever cost of severity. In the far east it is different. From that quarter no danger is apprehended ; the predo minance of an energetic race and organised MIM•Os 353 government over hordes of scattered savages cannot be shaken, and, where conquest is complete, conciliation becomes as easy as it is wise. Our author has a liking for the Greek Church, and overlooks its many follies and superstitions in favour of that one merit which distinguishes it above that of Rome—the per mission of marriage to the clergy. We shall. not dispute the point, only observing that a priesthood who fir ignorance and rudeness are justly looked down upon in Europe may still be useful agents of civilisation among Tungooses and Yakoutes. The most interest ing part of these volumes is that wherein Mr. Hill relates his excursion to the Chinese bor. ders. He began by visiting, and crossing, the great Baikal lake, an inland sea, whose coasts, rugged anti wooded, are scarcely yet explored. His passage was effected over the ice, which he found ten feet thick, yet so perfectly trans parent that the water below was everywhere visible. A few days' journey brought our tra veller to Kiachta, a petty village of' 1,200 inha bitants, yet famous as the advanced post of Russo-Chinese trade. He was allowed to visit the Chinese town opposite, and even asked to dine with the governor. Here—his nationality being unknown—he heard a candid opinion of his country : The interpreter ( for such was his tansy) kept talking continually about the English, which of all things Ile onght to have avoided, and myself found whet passed Ito amusing, as it was communicated to me, that I could not make up my mind to restrain him The wars we carried on in China were the eubject chiefly dwelt upon Tbe inter preter pretended that be knew a very little either of the Eng lish or of these wars, and the merchant undertook to en lighten him. The English, he said, are a nation without fired homes, dwelling sometimes in some islands in the ocean and sometimes others. They are in truth mere pirates, continually at war with all other nations. They come co casiovally on our coast, from which we could very well drive them; but, as we find their sole object is money, and our country is rich and we are disposed to peace, we RATO them what they demand, and they depart satisfied. Bat, just as this was passing, one of our party, who neither es derstood a word of the mixed tongue in which it wasspoken, nor of that in which the interpreter and myself communi cated, contrived nevertheless to betray our little secret con cerning myself, by letting the Chinese merchant know that he was entertaining one of the predatory race. I was not, however, aware tit this until the interpreter informed me, that, neon observing the confusion of the Chinese which it had occasioned, he bad flatly contradicted it im mediately, and declared that I was an Italian. Notwithstanding the outward show of civi lity displayed, Chinese exclusiveness remains in full vigour. Of this trait a characteristic specimen is given. A young girl, a child in years. strayed from her parents, and, crossing the interposed space of neutral ground, was found by a Siberian party in the Russian streets of Kiachta. None could speak or un derstand her language. Yet she showed no fear. They took her home, entertained, and sought to restore her to her family : In the morning, when the cherished little stranger awoke, the family with whom she had lodged, nothing di minished in their interest for their charge, began to think it time to give notice to the Russian governor of the pre sence of a Chinese subject among them ; and a party, composed of both sexes, led the girl out to present her at the government-house. They were not, however, above half way across the broad square, which lay between their abode and the palace, before two Chinese appeared, who it was soon evident were in search of the girl. There was nothing particular the appearance or manner of them men as they sho rtappached to aflOrd any clue to the still unsolved mystery. The girl, whether they were her kinsmen or not, which was 'lever known, seemed to nive them as soon as they appeared ; and she did not best. tate for a moment to obey what seemed to the Russians present to be a simple command to her to accompany them. No objection was made by the protectors of the girt during the past night to render up their interesting charge, nor were they able to hold a word of conversation with the men who claimed her. They accompanied the Chinese, however, and the little adventurer to the Russian barrier, where they took a feeling leave of the girl, and the two par lies sepal at ed. But would that the story could end here! Why our common Creator has made the wide difference between the feelings of his creatures of the same order, which the end of this tale reveal', who is able to tell us? The blood of their race was siipposed by the inhabitants of this b o rder town to be contaminated, even by the circumstances above related, and the offence must be avenged before the stain could he expunged. Before the sun set that was on the meridian when the Russian ladies took leave of their che rished little charge, the innocent girl was decapitated, and her lifeless body cast upon the plain beyond the walls of the town, to be devoured by the wolves. Before returning to Irkoutak, Mr. Hill visited the Khomba lama, or spiritual chief of the Bouriats, a tribe numbering 200,000, Russian in government only, but Buddhists in their ■ ■ 111.1 In AIM