The Press. — London, England, 1855-06-23 00:00:00

JUNE 23, 1855. culate belongs to one temperament, to act to another. The man of one idea is often a great and beneficent working power in the world ; but in the present day Mr. Mozley regards it as a favorable sign that men have a suspicion of their own ignorance. We cannot resist quoting the eloquent passage in which this idea is conveyed : Whether the time, indeed, will ever come when men in general will see that on this and some other questions truth is twofold, and is not confined to either side singly,— that our perceptions are indistinct and contradictory, and therefore do not justify any one definite position,—re. mains to be seen. Philosophers have from time to time prophesied a day when a better understanding would com mence of man with himself, and of man with man. They have risen up from the survey of the past with the idea that it is impossible that mankind can go on for ever ?vesting the same mistakes ; that they must one day see the limits of human reason, distinguish what they know from what they do not know, and draw the necessary con clusion, that on some questions they cannot insist on any one absolute truth, and condemn each other accordingly. But the vision does not approach at present any very clear fulfilment. The limits of human reason are perhaps better understood in the world now than they ev.r were before ; and such a knowledge has evidently an effect upon controversy, to a certain extent modifying and chasten jog it. Those who remind men of their ignorance use an argument which, however it may fall short of striking with its full philosophical strength, and producing its due effect, appeals to an undeniable truth, before which all human souls must bow. And the most ardent minds, in the very heat of controversy, have an indistinct suspicion that a strung ground has been established in this quarter. On the other hand, this knowledge of the limits of human reason is not, and perhaps never will be, for reasons which I have given, very acute or accurate in the minds of the mass ; while the tendency to one-sided views and to hasty assumption is strong, and is aided by passion and self-love, as well as by better feeling misapplied. On the whole, therefore, while improved philosophy has perhaps entirely destroyed some great false assumptions which have reigned in the world, so that these will never rise up again, it can not subdue the temper and spirit which makes such assumptions. It is able occasionally to check and qualify, but it cannot be expected that it will ever habitually regulate theological thought and controversy. It will from time to time step in as a monitor, and take advan tage of a pause and quiet interval to impress its lesson upon mankind, to bring them back to reflection when they have been carried too far, and convert for the time a sense of error into a more cautious view of truth ; but it will never, perhaps, do more than this. Unable to balance and settle, it will give a useful oscillation to the human mind, an alternation of enthusiasm and judgment, of excitement and repose. It is from a conviction of the profound ability, large knowledge, comprehensive rea soning, and, on the whole, irrefragable views, contained in Mr. Mozley's book that we strongly recommend it to all persons who feel concernment in those lofty themes of thought and those sublime truths which, by the in- stincts of our nature, we continually aspire to yet never full) apprehend. Scope must be left for faith; and to believe without understanding, is a good part of our earthly education. That straining of the intellect to comprehend the Incomprehensible may be carried too far, yet, as a general rule, it enlarges its powers, and raises it above the earth, while teaching it—a most salutary lesson—its weakness and its ig norance. Hence it comes that the largest minds are the most modest, and that dog matism in any shape, but, above all, in that most odious, repulsive, and calamitous shape— belief in individual infallibility—is abhorrent to the spirit of true philosophy. To the noble library of English ratiocination Mr. Mozley has contributed a volume which we believe will live with its finest specimens. His plummet has sounded the depths of con troversies which have engaged the most lumi nous minds for ages, and he comes to the only conclusion concerning them which it is in the province of the human mind to form. His conclusion is besides practical, tending to exalt the faculties which reverence and adore th 3 Deity, and to extend the sympathies which unite men together in brotherly love. Russia on the Black Sea and Sea of Azof. By H. D. Seymour, M.P. London : Murk ray. MR. SEYMOUR visited the Crimea in 1844, and paid two visits to Southern Russia in 1844 and 1846. Adding to the results of his per- sonal observation the most trustworthy details he could collect from competent authorities on the past history and present state of Southern Russia, he presents the whole to the public in a compact shape and very read able manner. Much of the information h THE PRESS. gives has been previously known to us through the pages of Haxthausen, Tegoborski, and other writers, but the compilation is judicious and especially welcome at the present mo- went. From the details given here a good notion may be formed of the great importance of our conquests in the Sea of Azof The military stores and provisions for Sebastopol come from the interior of Great Russia and Siberia, down the Volga and Don to Rostof, on the Sea of Azof, whence in peace they were shipped, and passed through the Straits of Kertch, the whole way by sea to Sebastopol and the other fortresses on the Black Sea. Since the war began they have come, as usual, down the Don and across the Sea of Azof, but instead of passing through the Straits of Kertch they have been landed near Cape Kazantip, on the coast of Crimea, within the Sea of Azof, and thence were carried across Crimea about 100 miles to Sebastopol, during the whole time of the siege, till the Sea of Azof froze in November last. • • • • • Thus continual supplies were poured into Sebastopol up to last November, the period of the freezing of the Sea of Azof ; and since that time the stores for Sebastopol have probably been carried across the ice to some point on the northern shore of the Azof, and thence by land over the isthmus of Perekop. Had the latter place been occupied, it would have been easy to have taken possession of the Strait of Yenitchi, and to have commanded the tongue of Arabate. Indeed, as I have mentioned in another place, there is deep water (24 feet) along the Arabate, on the side of the Azof, and a few gun-boats in the Sea of Azof would have rendered the Arabate impassable to the Russians. The Straits of Kertch were undefended up to May last; and had possession of thew been taken by our Government, and a very small force of gun-boats been placed in the Sea of Azof, the' supplies might have been stopped, and the Russians in Sebastopol reduced by this measure alone to great difficulties. Not only the military stores but also the rye-flour, for the troops at Sebastopol, is furnished from Rostof. In another place he writes that " Rostof is " the key to all the trade of the Sea of Azof, " and the south-eastern parts of the Russian " empire." A glance at the map will show that it lies some miles up the Don, and would probably be found as incapable of defence as Kertch. The allies it is to be hoped will pay a visit to the ports of Azof and Rostof, as there can be no surer mode of weakening the Rus sians in the Crimea than by cutting off their supplies, nor of tiring the Government and people with the war than by entirely checking the trade of these ports. The work of intercepting supplies from the mainland on this side the Crimean peninsula would still, however, be but half done, though the loss of the magazines doubtless collected in those ports would be severely felt. The roads of the mainland would remain open for the conveyance of Russian produce, which could be brought into the Crimea by the main road recently constructed bridging over por tions of the Putrid Sea. It remains to be seen whether an expedition can penetrate in boats through the Straits of Yenitehi. The strait, Mr. Seymour writes, " is 129 yards " wide, and 18 feet deep, but at the entrance " there is only four-feet water." While this road, connecting the Crimea with the main land, remains open on one side, and commu nication through Perekop is undisturbed on the other, it is not likely that supplies will fail the Russians, as the wide steppes between the Dniester and the Don comprise some of the finest soil in the world, and produce amazing quantities of grain—so much so that until the war broke out 'we had been accus tomed to consider the northern shores of the Black Sea as our " bread-basket." Were it practicable—as from a superficial view it would seem—to effectually intercept supplies by the two routes mentioned, that would appear to be the easiest way of effecting the complete subjugation of the Crimea, and of compelling the surrender of army and fortress together, as, cut off from the mainland, their supply of food would fail, their guns would get worn out, their ammunition exhausted, and their rein forcements be stopped. Though Mr. Seymour's book is written in a temperate spirit towards Russia, he clearly shows the aggressive policy systematically maintained by her Government since Peter the Great. Only on the supposition of a great scheme for the conquest of Europe can we explain her immense accumulation of military stores :-- We have found to our cost bow inexhaustible are the stores of Sebastopol, and yet it is said that a still g reater amount is laid up in the chain of fortresses that have been erected during the last twenty years on the German, and particularly on the Prussian, frontier. 599 As the nations of Europe are fully occupied in their own affairs, and as Russia is peculiarly inaccessible by na ture, she never could fear an invasion, and her armaments roust therefore be looked upon as threatening her neigh bours. Besides, as will afterwards be seen, her army for the internal service of the country is totally distinct from the immense mass of men called the Grand Army, kept hovering for many years past on the frontiers of Germany, in a mobilised state, and ready to pour down its legions upon any point at a moment's notice. He writes in another place : The possession of India, of the Mediterranean, and of the Sound, were three principal objects of Peter the Great's ambition. The Sound has been prospectively guaranteed to Russia by the treaty which Lord Painterators concluded three years ago, in which the reversion of the Danish throne is secured to the Czar. Our present expf di tion to Sebastopol is to prevent her first step in the Medi terranean by the possession of Constantinople and the Dardanelles. With respect to India, Russia has quietly worked her way as far as the Sea of Aral, by advancing ♦illages of Cossacks, and digging wells every ten miles. The English Government have for many years past been remiss in noticing these aggressive measures, and even now it is to be feared that our agents in Persia, whence we act upon Central Asia, are not men fitted to oppose the experienced and able agents of Russia, or to give us that reasonable probability of success in our Eastern campaign which proper measures might command. But powerful while unchecked, Mr. Seymour conceives that Russia must break down in the present contest through want of both money and men. His details on these points in his eighth chapter are valuable. Her revenue at present, he calculates, is not equal by several millions to the expenses of her army and navy alone, leaving all the expenses of the State and the interest of her debt unprovided for. So great is the waste of life in the Russian armies, that the conscription is a fearful drain on the people. He estimates that " 1,350,000 " have disappeared through the agency of the " Russian army since 840." The average duration of life in Russia he takes to be only twenty years, while in London it is forty-three years. He is too sanguine, however, in sup posing that it will be impossible for Russia to carry on the war for six months longer. The resources of a great power—and Russia is rich in natural products—are not to be exhausted so soon. Speculations on an early termina tion of the contest would but mislead us. The war has assumed a new aspect, and it must be waged till Russia is sufficiently weakened to induce her to accept peace on terms which will limit her power in the South, give to her empire in that direction an express and will dettned frontier, and so prevent a continuants of that aggressive policy which, preying espe cially on the Turkish provinces, and threaten ing to absorb Asia Minor, has brought her too near to the States of Western Europe on one side, and to our Indian empire ou the other. The history given of the Crimea is com plete, and we can particularly praise the por tion relating to its antiquity. The argument to show that the wanderings of Ulysses in the 10th, I lth, and 12th books of the Odyssey were on the coasts of the Black Sea, and not on those of Italy and Sicily, is extremely inge nious. Mr. Seymour supposes the Ltestrigous to have been the inhabitants of the Crimea. Balaklava is identified as the port where Ulysses met the daughter of Antiphates : Within a long recess a bay there lies Edged round with cliffs high pointing to the skies : The jutting shores that swell on either side Contract its mouth and break the rushing tide. The rocks of Scylla and Charybdis, with their whirlpools, are taken to be the " blue Symplegades," at the entrance of the Bos phorus. Scholars will read this portion of the work with pleasure, and the fulness of its information on subjects which have become the most engrossing of the day will no doubt F secure for it welcome reception by the public. Royal Hotel Guide. London : W. H. Smith. THE third edition of this useful handbook to tra vellers still improves in all matters of detail upon its previous issues. We have now a good list of conti nental hotels—many with their charges affixed— which can be recommended to tourists. The advan tage of possessing such a guide is obvious, as it enables the traveller to make his arrangements, and calculate his expenses before setting out. There is only one improvement we would recommend, which is that the hotels should not be arranged alpha betically, but in that order of precedence to which their station entitles them. All doubt would by this means be removed from the mind as to the real posi e I 11 l• 1* S. a ie It LT ,e is tt to r. 1,11 )0 le p- to a- le DO t 0 er ll- le e- n- er >n tie - )r-