The Press. — London, England, 1856-06-21 00:00:00

JUNE 21, 1856. and quitted it for his Eastern journey in 1845, it is noted that "he waited several years in France in vain attempts to gain the assis wilco of hi..t Government." In spite of his persevering efforts to reach Lahore, he was not enabled to proceed further than Candahar. His daring attempts to proceed, and his peril. ous journeys through countries where his life was often not worth an hour's purchase, show him to possess that singular combination of courage and constancy which marks the true hero of adventure. The narrative is edited by Mr. Danby Seymour, who first met the author in Teheran in 1840, after his travel in Central Asia, and afterwards in Pon dicherry, in 1834. The work is trans lated by Captain Jesse, has been revised by Sir Henry Rawlinson, and has been annotated by that distinguished Oriental ist, by the editor, and by Sir John Login, who was surgeon to the British Mission at Herat under Major Todd. We think the book worth the pains bestowed upon it. In Central Asia an immense field is open to the spread of European influence and the progress of civilisation. In this field Russia is slowly penetrating on one side, England on the other. At what point they may hereafter melt, and at how distant a date, are doubtful. At present we can only note tendencies of approximation. The terrible disasters which befel the Russian expedition to Khiva and the British invasion of Afghanistan must operate to retard efforts on one side and the other, and thus to isolate the barbarous Governments of Central Asia. But the inac tion will not last. The enterprise of adven turous nations is not to be thus restntined. They do not recognise any material barriers to progress ; and, in spite of all that may be urged against the impulses of aggression, we look forward with hope and pleasure to a time when vigorous but prudent and pacific efforts will be made to assure to British influ ence a firm hold in the - countries of . Central Asia. Much would be done to accomplish this object could satisfactory relations be established with the Government cf Persia on one side and the Government of Afghanistan on the other. Progress is the law of vigorous communities. They cannot say " Here will I " stand—within these limits alone will I work. " I will discourage further advance." But with that impulse which impels them onward they must accept all the responsibilities and complications, and toil, which the impulse is sure to excite, and must, instead of welcoming barriers as safeguards, view them as ob stacles, and cast its whole weight against them to throw them down, and to open the regions of influence which lie beyond. But this principle, which would seem to defy all limits, must act within limits, and there must be a recognition of barriers which are inter terposed by international law It is the de bateable ground afforded by barbarous or de generating life which opens to advancing nations a wove of activity ; and such ground they cannot afford to relinquish, without great danger of positive retrocession. As giving much novel and authentic infor mation on the countries lying between Persia and Afghanistan, the narrative of M. Ferrier will command attention. It is surprising that those countries which, it cannot be doubted, abound in all the material elements of wealth, should so long have been overlooked. At Heist he found the crafty governor, Tar Mohammed, eager for an English alliance. M Ferrier found it difficult to convince those authorities in Central Asia with whom lie had intercourse that he was not an English agent. Our reputation is established in those regions, and it is for our Government to take advantage of the way which has been prepared for our influence, to found on it established communi cations and modes of travel and commerce. . _ Through Persia the author travelled in cnm pany with caravans. This companionship has its advantages, but. also, it must be confessed, its discomforts:— No greater misery can be conceivel than that of travel ling with a caravan, the dioagreoriu of which are many and various. The ordinary muleteers are the greatest liars upon earth, atid annoy you in every possible way. The djiln•der, he who has, or holds, the bridle, or chief muleteer. is a very different character. He is generally an intelligent. honest man, is familiar with the roads, the Wu*, tWages, and hal* of pie ratio* tritKs Qt the THE PRESS. conntriea throngh which he journeys. Merchants often place large stuns of money in his hands for transit, and I have never known one of them betray his trust. The lower orders travel on asses, on which they place enormous loads. Once in motion, the caravan breaks into small patties of ten or twelve persons ; that of the djilo dar is at the head of the column, and there, in front of all, he puts his best beast, to set an example to the rest by her steady and sustained pace. This mule is always gaily caparisoned, the harness covered with embroidery and other varieties of decoration, in addition to the bells which give notice of the approach of the caravan. After these detachments comes the merchandise, also carried by mules, and those travellers who have only half, nay sometimes only a third, of an ass. for there is often a triple partnership, ride and tie—the f - xd, passengers bring up the rear. All halts and hours of march are determined by the djilo•dar. If there is no caravanserai, he selects the camping ground, and the goods are ranged under his orders in a circle or square, round which the travellers sleep ; the space within is reserved for the horses and mules, which are tethered to a long pole. The djilo-dar is, as he well need be, an active fellow, for he has sometimes to look after five or six hun dred mules, their burdens and their drivers, who are ten thonsond times more troublesome than their beasts. When the halt is made, he announces the hour of departure for that day or the next morning; he also regulates the pace, or stops the caravan, by various cr:ee, which are passed from mouth to mouth along the road. When a caravan is attacked by robbers. the Persian mu leteers, if armed, anti having the advantage of position and numbers, generally defend themselves with spirit ; but if there is any doubt as to the probable result, they think only of their mules, cut the harness, throw off the loads, and. leaving the merchandise to its fate, gallop off as hard as they can go. • • • • Provisions are to be obtained at almost every village; but if they are at a great distance from one another, or it is at the period of the year when the Persians keep their horses on green rood, that is between May and July, the caravan rarely encamps near the towns, and then the (lido dar gives notice, and the traveller lays in a stock. Poultry, eggs, and milk are to be had in most villages ; but rice for the pillau, the best and most nutritious food in Persia, is not always to lie met with. An excellent map accompanies the volume, and with its aid the route of the traveller can be traced from Teheran through the wide expanse of Turcoman country to Herat. By the crafty ruler Yar Mohammed he was received with great distinction, through the firm con viction that he was au Englishman : " Yon are an Englishman," said he, abruptly ; " I know it : why, therefore, concealment ? Come, now, tell me what are your intentions. If I have been to blame with your Government, I have a right to complain of their con• duct to me. Let h)gones be bygones. There is some• thing to be said on both sides. Our political relations can again be renewed, and on a friendly footing, and I will be as sincere as you can have a right to expect ; the duplicity that I formerly practised to Pottinger and Todd Sahebs ought not to lower me in your opinion ; they excited the anger of that old drunkard, the Shah Kamran, against me ; my life was at stake, and it was high time that I should defend it. I was in a state of continual alarm ; hut that has ceased since his death ; at the present time all authority is centred in me : the Afghans are devoted to me, and I have got rid of the Persians. Speak to me, then, without reserve, and, if your alliance can be useful to me, mine way be of service to you." Notwithstanding the author's assurances that he was not an Englishman, it is doubtfnl whether, even at last, he inspired belief. It was after he left Herat that his main perils and disappointments commenced. He tried to reach Lahore by Balkh and Kabul, but was stopped, and ultimately sent back to Herat He then resolved on trying the route through Southern Afghanistan to Kandahar, and was furnished with letters by Yar Mohammed to host Mohammed Khan at Kabul, and Akbar Khan (our old enein3 I at Kandahar, but these letters he had no opportunity of delivering With great difficulty he penetrated to Kanda har, through a country previously unknown to Europeans ; but there he was suspected, plun dered, confined, and, after some narrow escapes, sent back to Herat, and from thence finally returned to Teheran. On his last visit to Herat he met with un expected sympathy. Fethi Khan, a cousin of Yar Mohammed. had been employed in some diplomatic missions..and had had much inter course with the English He made the author obliging proffers of assistance : As Asiatics are generally very lavish of propositions of this kind, without the least ides of carrying them into effect, I received those of Fethi Khan as simply the ex- pression of a polite feeling ; but I was in error, for a very short time after he had left he sent me 330 francs in gold, a complete Afghan dress, a gun, a watch, and three horses ; and during the whole time I resided at Herat was of service to me in many other ways. " After the many civilities I received from the English in India," said he, " it is only a duty which T perform—they are Europeans, so are the French, so that it is all one aul the tame thing." The incident is worth notice, as showing the grateful feelings with which the English are remembered at Herat. Even in Kandahar the author formed an opinion that the people re gret our departure : The people were irritated, it is true, because their prejudices had been shocked, and rose to shake off their yoke; but now they regret them, and I have twenty times heard Afghans speak in terms of just appreciation of what they had done for their good. They remembered with gratitude their justice ; their gratuitous care of the sick in the hospitals; the presents of money and clothes they re ceived when they left them cured ; the repairs of their public works; and the extension of commerce and agricul ture, owing to their encouragement. There are other expressions to the like effect, leading to a presumption that it would be no difficult matter for us to establish friendly relations through the whole extent of Afghan istan, and to open channels of trade. The whole volume, indeed, tends both to raise our opinion of the commercial capabilities of the countries of Central Asia, and to show that with management they could be made more accessible than is generally supposed. Con quest is out of the question; but much may be done to induce the rulers of those coun tries to favour commercial intercourse. To this end the efforts of our Government might be wisely directed. The editor, noticing the changes that may be expected from the steam navigation of the Indus, and the extension of the railway system in India, writes It is in these countries of Central Asia that we shall for some years to come have to fight a pacific battle with Rus sia, a battle which friends may fight, in which the straggle will not exhaust but invigorate the combatants; where the object of contention is, as to -rho shall bring to the nations of Asia the manufactures of the civilised word • who shall stimulate them most to send in return the productions of their own fertile countries. For such purposes, we never can stretch out our arms too far. The extension of our commerce is the most unexceptionable mode of extend ing our power, and it would be matter of unmixed satisfaction could the humanising influences of trade be made by any means to penetrate the countries partially opened to our view in M. Ferrier's valuable volume, and the yet more barbarous States—not hope lessly isolated let us hope from the civilised world—of Khiva and Bokhara. The Primitive Doctrine of Baptismal Regenera. tion. By J. B. Muzley, B.D. London: Murray. THE present treatise is one of many attempts which have been made of late to reconcile the teaching of the Church with what men witness in the world, and with the peculiar doctrines of election and final salvation which some teachers have chosen to consider synonymous with regeneration. Some writers would lessen the importance attributable to the gift of regeneration, while others, like Mr. Gorham— and we suppose we must now add Mr. Mozley—A ould dissever regeneration from baptism. "The present treatise," says the author, " is strictly confined to one object, the aster " tuning of the meaning of a word,—the word " regenerate." This term he makes equivalent to final salvation,—to absolute goodness and holiness, which once possessed can never afterwards be lost. This gift, he says, cannot be conferred in baptism, and therefore the statements of Scripture and the Church must admit of some qualification. To reconcile his definition of regeneration with the testimony of the Church and the actual state of baptised persons, he maintains a position which has been suggested before, but never. that we are aware of, maintained as in this book, that when Scripture and the Church speak of baptised persons as regenerate, they merely use the language of a charitable hope and supposition, just as we ourselves speak of men being honourable, or kings being reli gious. The greater part of his work is occu pied in proving this to be the intention of Scripture, of the early Church, and of St. Augustine ; and he concludes with an appli cation of his theory to the doctrine of infant baptism. In regard to the use of the word we would ask Mr. Mozlev, is actually and positively conferred in not ? If there is. what better name can to it thanitbat which the Church regenerate, any Grace i baptism or !an be given has always