The Press. — London, England, 1855-07-28 00:00:00

JULY 2 1855. greater tribute can be paid to the historian than the fact that even at this day the forty fourth chapter of the " Decline and Fall " is received as the text-book on civil law in some of the foreign universities. Of recent juridical writers, Mr. Justice Story and the late lamented John William Smith (author of the "Leading Cases ") most approach the luminous conden sation of Gibbon ; but they want his mastery over language, though their merits as legal writers must ever be held in grateful recol lection. We are glad to see that the dissertation on the civil law has been specially regarded in the present edition. Dean Milman has most ably supported the text with additional notes of such value that our law libraries would not be considered perfect if this edition of " Gibbon were not upon their shelves. The value of the new notes on this part of the " Decline and Fall " can be best judged by the following citation from Dean Milman I have consulted, I. The newly.discovered Institutes of Gaius (Gaii Institutiones, ed. Ooeschen, Berlin, 1824), with some other fragments of the Roman law (Codicis Theodosiani Fragennta inedita, ab Amadeo Peyron, Turin, 1824). 11. The History of the Roman Lew, by Professcr Hugo, in the French translation of M. Jourdan, Paris, 1825. 111. Savigny, lieschichte des Romischen Rechts im Mittel&lter, 8 vols., Heidelberg, 1813 (2nd ed., 1834.1851). IV. Walther, Geschichte des Rdmischen Rechts, Bonn, 1834 (2nd ed., 2 vols., 1845.48). But lam particularly indebted to an edition of the French transla• ion of this chapter, with additional notes, by one of the most learned civilians of Europe, Professor Warnkimig, published at Liege, 1821. These notes are distinguished by the letter W. And certainly the illustrations by Professor Warnkiinig are of great use. Dr. Smith also has paid special attention to this important chapter; and we venture to suggest its publi cation in a separate form, as it forms a treatise in itself. The conscientious care with which this edition has been brought out demands our highest praise. It is the best and most highly finished of all "hurray's British Classics" yet published. It has an admirable index of nearly one hundred and fifty pages, which is of the greatest utility; and the construction of this index must have cost no small pains. The typography and paper are excellent; and, whether for the library of the mansion or the shelf of the cottage, this edition, from its united elegance and genuine cheapness, is an equally welcome acquisition. In the matter added by the new notes lawyers, ethnologists, philologists, and divines will find special knowledge of great value to their respective pursuits. We trust that " Hume's History of Eng land " (announced in " Murray's British Clas. sics ") will receive as much attention from its editors as the great work of Gibbon presented to us here with so much taste, knowledge, and editorial care. Commentaries on the Productive Forces of Russia. By M. L. de Tegoborski, Privy Councillor and Member of the Council of the Russian Empire. Translated from the Original. Two Vols.—Vol. I. Loudon: Longinans. AN authentic work upon the productive forces of Russia is the more welcome from the slight knowledge which we possess in this country of the resources of that vast portion of the globe. Perhaps much of this ignorance is due, as M. Tegoboraki asserts, to want of familarity with the language—for as regards her native tongue Russia is not yet included in the family of European nations—and to an indis position to study the various works which from time to time have been published on the Continent upon Russia and her resources (Von Reden's " Das Kaiser-Reich Russland," and " Russland, Kraft-Elemente and Einfluss- Mittel," for instance); and also to an imper fect comprehension of the extent of those surveys which the Russian Government have perseveringly continued during the present century, tho statistical returns of which have from time to time been published by the various Ministries of the Government. In such a vast and anomalous empire, pos sessing so many varied conditions of soil and climate, and so scattered a population, the difficulty of procuring accurate returns must necessarily be great; hence little more than THE PRESS. an approximation to the truth can be looked for; yet in the comprehensive series of tables and commentaries which M. Tegoborski has given us he appears to have collected, classi fied, and analysed an immense amount of facts, without prejudice and with singular imparti ality and moderation. M. Tegoborski places the productive forces of a nation under two categories, the "Physical and Material," and the " Intellectual." Under the former, the geographical and topographical position of the country, its soil, its popula tion, and its animal and mineral products, are classified ; and under the latter head the degree of civilisation to which the people have arrived, and the national customs and cha racter, are closely analysed. That portion of the work which treats of the classification of territory in regard to the geographical position and extent of each pro vince is remarkably clear, and had a chart been added to the volume a comprehensive survey of the empire could have been ob tained at a glance. Russia, which claims an extent of territory of 367,200 geographical square miles, 99,275 of which lie in Europe, is divided into fifty-ono Governments, which appear to be remarkably disproportioned ono to another ; that, for instance, of Archangel, which amounts to 15,000 square miles—a superficial extent nearly one-third above the superfices of the whole Austrian empire, in cluding Hungary—is nearly three times larger than any other province in the Russian empire, and from thirty to forty times more extensive than many of them, including St. Petersburg and Moscow : This immense extent of empire ( observes M. Tegoborski) is attended with many inconveniences in regard to adminis tration and finance. It opposes great obstacles to internal communication, to the exchange of the productions of the soil and of industry, and consequently to the progress of national wealth. It also presents great varieties of result from administrative and financial legislation ; for a measure or regulation which is of easy execution in one of the Baltic provinces, having an extent of three or four hun dred square miles, may often be attended with very different practical results in the Governments of Wologda or Arch angel,—the former with a surface of nearly seven thousand, the latter of more than fifteen thousand square miles, and with an exceedingly thin and scattered population. For a considerable portion of the empire, Nature has ob viated the di;. oulties resulting from these great distances by a very extensive network of river communication, the utility of which we shall afterwards have occasion to refer to. During four or five months of the year, likewise, land transport by means of sledges is facilitated by the abundance of snow. Russia possesses an European population of nearly 62,000,000, and a total of nearly 68,000,000 in both Europe and Asia, which is increasing at an average rate of one per cent. per annum. With great variety in the quality of the land, her soil is on the whole abundantly fertile ; her rivers are numerous, and, with the exception of two, the Vistula and the Dniester, take their rise within the limits of the empire; her lakes are many and extensive, and of great importance in completing the vast natural system of fluvial communication which obviates the difficulties resulting from the immense extent of the empire, and forms a network of communication between the several provinces of the empire. With abundant supplies of timber in the recesses of her im mense forests, with an average of five cattle, ten sheep, and about three horses to every twelve persons—an average far beyond that of any other continental country—with varied and numerous agricultural productions, and the most valuable mines of gold, silver, platina, copper, iron, and coal, producing, in their present imperfectly worked state, an annual revenue of about 5,500,0001., we see that Russia occupies a thoroughly inde pendent position in everything which re gards the wellbeing of her inhabitants and the development of her resources. But, on the other hand, if her population is enor mous, it is vastly disproportioned to her extent of territory ; it is thinly scattered, and gives in Europe an average only of 847 per sons to the square mile. If her rivers are numerous, they empty themselves—with the sole exception of the Dwina, which is only navigable for a few months in the year either in seas which are entirely closed, such as the Caspian, or which, like the Baltic and Black Seas, have their egress through narrow straits held by other Powers, 717 and iu time of hostilities easily blockaded by an enemy's fleet. And, finally, if her mines are rich, her supplies great, and her resources enormous, the ono cannot be worked without labour, the other cannot be rendered available but by trade ; and it is this want of external outlets for the develop ment of her resources which is the secret but natural cause of Russia's perpetual aggressions upon neighbouring States. With regard to the statistics of population M. Tegoboraki offers us some curious facts. The disproportion of males to females in the towns and cities of Russia is a singular ano maly : On comparing the male and female populations of the towns, we find that the former commonly exceeds the latter, sometimes—especially in towns of the first and second class—by a very considerable proportion, as, for example, by 30 to 50 per cent. At St. Petersburg, there were reckoned in 1661, 336,000 male individuals out of a popu lation of 892,0ta1, which gives the proportion of 67 males to 33 females; at Moscow, out of 893,5(k) inhaniuits, 241,300, or more than 61 per cent., belonged to the male sex. M. Haxthausen cites, as one of the most striking of these contrasts, the town of Rybinsk, of which the total population amounts in summer, according to him, to 130,100 inhabitants, whilst the number of females dues nut exceed 2,500. These proportions betwixt the numbers of the two sexes present an anomaly nowhere else met with. In Germany, and other countries, it is precisely in towns of the first and second class that the female population almost invariably exceeds the male. N. Tegoborski accounts for this difference by the fact that in Russia it is the male popu lation only which moves about and emigrate to the capitals, while the women invariably remain at home. The vast accumulation of military in the towns would perhaps bo the more correct way of expressing the emigra tion of the males ; and this singular dispro portion of sex may in some measure account for the peculiar dissoluteness of society in Russian towns. The account of the origin of the Russian cities is well given : The classification of our towns according to the extent of their population, and the numerical comparisons which we have exhibited betwixt them and those of France, Austria, and Prussia, do not show to our disadvantage, if we take the absolute cipher of their number, and of their population, that is, if we leave out of view the extent of our total territory, and the number of our entire population. But with us the wealth and prosperity of the towns are not always in proportion to the number of their inhabitants. This is often seen in their exterior. The large number Lf our towns, even of those whose population is most consi derable, are badly built ; the greater part of the houses are of wood ; frequently it is only the churches and public, buildings that are constructed of stone or brick; the streets are ill paved, or more frequently not paved at all. With the exception of a few towns especially favored by their situation, and which are so many centres to which the great Interests of our home and foreign commerce converge, we seldom find the bustle and animation produced by com merce and industry. In general, the origin and foundation of our towns, *As constituent elements, and their condition, give them a pe culiar character very different from that of other towns of the European Continent. In Germany, France, Italy, and the other countries of Europe, the greater number of the larger towns date from the middle ages, or a still earlier period ; they were founded spontaneously, as it were, by a concourse of circumstances peculiar to the times and places which called them into being. They were corporations, associations formed in the midst of feudal institutions, sometimes with the view of affording better means of resistance to the oppression of the great feudatories, and sometimes with a view to commercial and industrial interests. Frequently there was the union of a political with a material object, as in the case of the Ranee towns of Germany. This community of interests developed from the °Meet a municipal spirit, which has been the cause of their strength and their prosperity. A similar spontaneity of origin has been wanting to the greater part of our towns. With the exception of a few ancient cities, to which the po litical or commercial interests of a more remote epoch con• verged, as Moscow, Kazan, Vlladitnir, Souzdal, Jaruelaw, Rostow, Nowgorod, Wologds, Nijni•Nuwgorod, Kiew, Riga, Archangel, and some provincial capitals, the major part of the Russian towns are of modern foundation. They have arisen at the fiat of Government, and frequently much lass for the sake of existing interests than with a view to the future. The Empress Catherine 11. erected into towns a great number of villages of which the situation, favor able to commerce, contained the germ of their prosperity, and several of these foundations, due to the foresight of Government, have been completely successful. A consi• derable number of these paltry villages have become rich and populous cities. The second part of this volume opens with an able discourse upon tho importance of agriculture to the advancement of the tunpirc, upon the vast disproportion between the value of lilnd and the value of labour, and concludes with a general view of the efforts towards modern improvement, and of the position of Russia with regard to her industrial interests. Russia, says M. Tegoborski, is eminently an agricultural country :