The Press. — London, England, 1854-06-03 00:00:00

JUNE 3, 1854. could only produce an inarticulate bellowing noise, which died within those massive walls. There was no hope, no m ercy ; and the Jew blasphemed, cursed God and man, gold and diamonds. Oh! how many good works omitted, how many deeds of beneficence neglected, how ■rainy lost enjoyments were represented by that heap of valuables, which were not now worth a crumb of bread—a drop of water! But the tread of footsteps continued with some intervals of silence ; Jehu knew that his abode had been invaded by persons who were in search of him, but who did not light upon the entrance to the vault--the spring of the s lab. How dear did he now pay for his excessive precau tions, his care, his watchfulness to preserve that heap of gold, which he would have to abandon very soon. But the footsteps were succeeded by strokes—there was no doubt they were opening the eutrauoe—they had heard the cries of the poor old man—they had taken compassion on him— they were now descending—they were at hand—the Queen --her squires—oh !he had now nothing to fear—he was saved, with all his treasures. The Jew now forgot all his dangers—all his tortures; his riches were saved, but they were discovered—they were exposed toithe covetous eyes of strangers : oh ! what a sorrowful embrace did the Jew now if ive to the chest so despised just before ! " No, there is nothing here," he cried "minerals--earth —for medicines. Nothing, nothing !" he said, maki ng an effort to shout, and echo faintly repeated his last words, " Nothing, nothing !" The wretched man paused to listen, holding in his breath ; he turned his eyes towards the stair and — nothing! nothing! It was all an illusion. Nothing more than hunger, thirst —a burning, devouring thirst which was not now contented with blood derived from his lacerated breast, but sought a fountain in every finger which he gnawed and sucked— nothing, nothing ! Those who like "historical " novels will find much freshness of style and many interesting descriptions in "Dona Blanca of Navarre." The Caucasus. By Ivan Golovin. London : Triibner and Co. MR. IVAN GOLOVIN is at work again ; and in this volume he has really given us a good deal of curious information, mixed with some strange opinions and not a few apocryphal statements. His intense hatred of everything connected with Russian administration makes him a doubtful witness, though an amusing narrator. We do not believe, without better proof of the fact than a single unsupported assertion, the story told of the Aleoutes and their governor : Forty years ago the governor, Baronoff, in order to try rifles, used to place twelve Aleoutes by the side of one another and order his soldiers to fire on them, in order to ascertain through how many heads a ball would go. Such a pastime is now out of fashion, because the Aleoutes are too scarce. Indeed, their islands have been so brutally devastated that the population of the island of Kadiak, which amounted to 10,000, is now reduced to 500. The best part of this volume is the account of Schamyl, which we extract and abridge : Selismyl is now fifty-six years old ; he is fair, with grey eyes, and a regular nose. He is a middle-sized man, and his constitution is rather delicate, though he has from his youth endeavoured to strengthen it by exercise. As well as bis actual antagonist, Prince Vorontzof, he suffers from pain in his eyes ; his hands, his feet, and his mouth are small, and the colour of his skin is more white than that of his countrymen. But now his heard is grey. Schamyl is a Lesghian by birth, and he was born in 1797 in the soul of Hernry. His knowledge of the tongue, of the literature, and of the philosophy of the Arabs is very extensive. He is indebted for his superior learning to Moullah Dshelal-eddin, whom he has always treated with great veneration, and who contributed much to raise him to power. Ambition, dissimulation, and the calm which fits the prophet as well as the chief, are the distinctive features of his character. . He considers himself as the arm of Providence; and the Murides believe that he is inspired. The wonderful luck with which he has three times escaped a death which was deemed unavoidable has confirmed the faith of the people in him, and keeps up his own energy. Wounded in 1831, at the storming of a fort, where his bravest companions were killed, he disappeared, and was not heard of again for a considerable time. The Russians say he was captured ; it is certain that two of his sons were educated at St. Petersburg as cadets ; one, however, escaping afterwards. Three years after this first escape he was attacked by some Russian partisans among his own countrymen, and singly survived a general massacre. And in 1839, when 2,400 Circas sians were either killed or taken at the fall of Ak hovlgo, S c h am yl a l on e, though command ing the garrison, contrived to make his way out. How this almost miraculous deliverance was accomplished seems still unknown; he himself, of course, ascribed it to the favour of Heaven, and in order to strengthen that im pression kept the human agency employed a profound secret. His misfortunes do not appear to have daunted the prophet-chief, for THE PRESS. we subsequently find him moving from place to place, everywhere stirring up insurrection, even among tribes which had consented to receive the Russian yoke. Like most enthu siasts, he considers that his mission dispenses him from the ordinary obligations of morality. "No faith with the enemy" is both his pre cept and his practice. In 1837 his master and predecessor, Khasi-Moullah, took a solemn oath of fidelity to the Czar, and forthwith broke it; au example which dues not seem to have been lost on the disciple. He professes to have visions and revelations, but does not on that account neglect the ordinary means of exciting a people to action. Decorations, dis tinctions, and military rank, are bestowed freely among his troops. He has in pay a foreign legion of 4,000 deserters, adventurers, and refugees, of all nations; but trusts his personal defence to a picked body of followers of his own creed and nation. He governs quite as much through fear as through love Schamyl had for a long time a potent rival to his power in the person of Tashew-Hadshi, who, conscious that he could not effectually struggle against his influence, ac knowledged his supremacy in 1837. Religion, union, and violence, are the three springs of Schamyl's power. He has known how to establish unity in religion, to reconcile Ali with Omar, to mingle all sects into a single one, and through faith to keep the different populations united in their common hatred of the " MOSCOVb." But fear has more share than interest in maintaining the various souls under his domination ; for he chastises traitors and subdues rebels. We should be wrong indeed if we believed that the populations which obey him are pleased with his sway. In fact, he raises regular and irregular contributions in coin, in men, and in provi Biota, which are considered as vexatives. Every tenth man is obliged to rally around his standard, and the others to keep themselves ready to obey the first order, or to en counter the first danger. Every family pays a tax of a silver rouble ; and the tenth of the harvest is taken to the storehouses of the chief. Discontent is so great that Schamyl dares not to appear in public unless surrounded by a numerous escort. Thus, when in '44 the people of the Kabardas refused to listen to his exhortations, he in vaded their territory, destroyed sixty villages, and plundered and wasted the country with out mercy. He tried similarly to influence the Circassituis of the seacoast, but failed, owing to diversity both of language and of interest. His power of eloquence is described as remarkable, and we have the following sample of his proclamations, inflated indeed and hyperbolical in expression, but full of vigour : Do not believe that God favours number ! God sides with good men, and they are always less numerous than the wicked. Carry your eyes around you, and everywhere you will find the confirmation of what I am telling you. Are there not less roses than ill weeds? Is there not more mire than pearls, more vermin than useful beasts? is nut gold more scarce than common metal? And are we not nobler than gold sad roses ; than pearls and horses, and all the useful animals taken together? for all the treasures of the earth are transient whilst we have been promised an eternal life. But, if there are more ill weeds than roses, are we, instead of extirpating them, to wait until by their growing and increasing they have stifled noble flowers ? And if our enemies are more numerous than we are, is it wise to allow them to take us in their nets ? • • • • • • Do not, therefore, be astonished at the infidels increasing so quick, and sending always fresh troops to the field of battle to replace those which we have destroyed. For, I tell 3ou : A thousand mushrooms and venomous plants grow out of the earth before a single good tree has reached maturity. lam the root of the tree of liberty ; my Murids are the trunk, and you are the branches. But do not believe that the rottenness of one branch will cause the decay of all the tree ! God will cut off bad branches and throw them into the fire of hell ; for he is a good garnerer. The Red Man. A Lecture by the Rev. Lord Wrio thesley Russell. London : Seeleys. This lecture was delivered to the Church of England Young Men's Society. Its author distrusts the so called science of ethnology. lie reminds his hearers of an important fact : " You will permit me to observe, that, although superfi cial ethnologists, like superficial geologists, have at times been too ready to allow their own crude theories or imper feet knowledge to aisle them reject the received scriptural account of the origin of man, the testimony of more accu rate investigators, more profound philosophers, Adelung, and Blumenbach, and Curler, and Lawrence, and Rosen muller, with other names of eminence in science, all con cur in supporting the Mosaic account." Elsewhere he says:— " Following, then, the threefold division of Curter, who enumerates the Caucasian, the Ethiopian, and the Mongo- lian races, we assign to Shea the noblest of the three, that is, the Caucasian race. To him was given blessing. The 521 Caucasians are the salt of the earth—the erangelisers—the possessors of the one true faith, in Judaism, and after wards of its developmeut in Christianity. The Ethiopian race bears the curse of Ham—bondage; and to the Mon golian, who claims descent from Japhet, belongs enlarge ment—the widest extension over the face of the habitable globe." Only sciolists sneer at the ethnological importance of the Caucasian race, and it would be well that they should Recollect, as Lord Wriothesley Russell teaches, that the illustrious Cuvier recognised its high im portance. The lecture is f irs,..c.. l lly written, and has a pleasing tone of thought. Hospitals and Sisterhoods. London : Murray. A SMALL volume compiled, rather than originally written, to advocate the formation in the Protestant Church of sisterhoods analogous to those which in the Roman Catholic Church are known as Sisters of Charity, &c. The experiment has, it seems, been successfully tried at Kaiserswerth, in Prussia, where I'astor Fliedner has organised a body of women, called " deaconesses," who administer spiritual con solation and instruction to the sick whilst they dis charge the duties of nurse. These devout women are not under vows, but they voluntarily undertake to serve for a certain period, receiving in return no wages, but only a decent maintenance. This, if it could be introduced, would certainly in many respects be a great improvement on our Pi iggs and Ciampi, but we doubt its practicability. l'he subject is, how ever, worth serious consideration. This unpre tending little volume is written in an earnest spirit, and contains much information on the subject of those sisterhoods both in the Old World and the New. Jack and the Tanner of Wymondham. By the Author of " Mary Powell." London.: Hall, Virtue, and Co. THIS IS a tale of "ye olden time," written in the style which has gained so much popularity for the author's works. The story dates back to the reign of the boy-King Edward VI., and Garnet and Gillian make proper use of " Aye marry " and " By my fay." The setting, in short, though it might not satisfy a Ilitgon, is sufficiently antique to give an air of vrai semblance to a stirring, well-told story, designed to beguile the tedium of a journey through deep cuttings and tunnels of railway travel. The Autobiography of a Working Man. By Alexander Somerville. London : ilardwicke. This is the second edition of a noteworthy work. The author has experienced many vicissitudes in life, writes well, and, as we believe, relates truly the various incidents of his career. In the obscure strug • gles of the son of the bumble but high-minded Scotch peasants there is a Smollett-like force and fidelity which invests the most ordinary incident with interest. The volume does not embrace his services with the Legion in Spain, nor his connection with the Anti-Corn Law League. Men born in an humble station, with superior mental powers, may derive use ful warnings from the contents of this autobiography. The Lamplighter. London : Clarke, Beeton, and Co. THIS is a reprint of an American fiction. It is a sentimental description of the sufferings of a for saken child, and the interest sought to be excited is of the harrowing kind. But we yawn oftener than weep as we peruse its prolix narrative. There are obvious attempts at imitating various styles of our female fictionists, but the writer is not successful. For a tale of common life it wants truth of local colouring, and there is absence of reality throughout. Mere sympathy will not compensate for the genuine power that results from knowledge of life. A Trip to Sea from 1810 to 1815. By George Miller. London : Simpkin, Marshall, and Co. WE notice this little book because it affords a remark able instance of the mania for authorship which pre vails, and of the facilities which exist for its gratification . Mr. Miller is now " the oldest butcher and auctioneer in Boston," where be " fixed" in the year ltil7. But he had previously been a sailor, and the old story of the " persuasion of friends" induced him to publish this account of " the every-day life of a common sai " lor," though "fully sensible he was but ill-qualified "for the task." Mr. Willett, with his pipe in his mouth, looking wisdom at his boiler in the Maypole parlour, may be an important personage in the eyes of his cronies, but it by no means follows that his re miniscences will possess interest for the public. If this mania continues we may soon expect to see ad vertised "Cabs and Cold Without; or, Glimpses of the Haymarket by Moonlight. By the Lriver of a Hansom." ~1 1 __J