The Press. — London, England, 1855-10-20 00:00:00

1, OCTOBER 20, 1855. Yittratart. Narrative of a Journey from Heraut to Khiva, Moscow, and St. Petersburg, during the late Russian Invasion of Khiva. By Major James Abbott. Two Vols. Second Edition, with considerable additions. London : Madden. THOUGH many years have elapsed since Major Abbott originally published his " Narrative," the work itself has by no means been forgotten. It marks that period in our foreign relations when our Government became jealous of the acquisitions of Russia in Asia, and contem plated the probability of meeting her in arms in the very heart of Tartary. The march towards Khiva of a Russian army of 10,000 men was thought to directly menace our Indian empire. It was to anticipate or coun teract her aggression that the invasion of Affghanistan, forming one of the most disastrous chapters in our history, was under taken. The Russian expedition to Khiva fared little better. The difficulties of moving and maintaining troops in central Asia made themselves manifest by great calamities on both sides, and since 1841 our Government has recognised the truth that the steppes of Tartary form a safer barrier against Russian invasion than any we can hope to establish by seizing on Cabul. From Candahar, whither Major Abbott had marched with our army of invasion, he pro ceeded to Heraut, and thence was sent by the British agent, Mi‘jor Todd, on a mission to Khiva to secure the alliance of the monarch against Russia. In his last interview with the Khan, Major Abbott said to him : Your Majesty's dominions forming the barrier between two of the mightiest powers of the earth, and being in vaded by one of those powers, attract the gaze of all man kind. Should the other power awaken to a sense of her danger and true interests the consequence may be the con vulsion of the world. To which the Khan, with equal simplicity and good sense, replied that it was hard that those great powers, with all the world before them, could find no other battle-field than his dominions. Substantially, the " Narrative " remains as it was originally printed, and, for the sake of unity and consistency, the chapter which has been added (the 48th), on the present state of affairs, had better have been thrown into an appendix than incorporated with the body of the work. We are happy to be reminded what were the impressions entertained of Russia by so intelligent and experienced an observer as Major Abbott fifteen years ago, and we propose, therefore—•passing over all that relates to the Khiva mission—to extract some passages im mediately relating to Russia. As the Major came within sight of the Caspian he was attacked by a party of Kuz zauks and made prisoner. He was most un expectedly delivered by the arrival of a young Persian from Heraut, who sought him at Khiva, and had travelled thence with an escort fur nished him by the Khan. The Major was urgently entreated to return to Khiva, but he decided on advancing to the Russian territory. His escort deserted him when they said that the Russian frontier fort, Dahsh Gullah was in sight, though the keenest vision could not then detect it. The author writes : Here, then, we were to be abandoned, without guide, chart, or compass, in a land where every living thing was athirst for our blood. The sea on one side, the desert on the other. Our cattle dropping from fatigue, ourselves and they nnsupplied with sustenance for a single day. I re monstrated against the cruelty of this conduct. I reminded our guides of their solemn covenant, to bring me within sight of Dahsh Gullah. They said, indeed, it was in sight, but neither myself nor any of my suite could see it. Should they have mistaken their bearings, we were lost. The very first horseman we met would be top glad of an excuse to slay and plunder us, and we were no longer capable of even a show of resistance. The Major had been severely wounded cluing the brief resistance he was able to m tke to his capture. Two of his fingers had b , en severed by a sword cut, and his hand wis severely inflamed from want of proper treatment. In this destitute condition he ad vanced towards the Russian fort. When within sight of it he was met by some Cossack horsemen. He sent a message to the Governor, AO aitpr some iparleywas ad THE PRESS. mitted. From that hour his misfortunes ceased. He was received in the kindest manner. Every comfort the rude garrison could supply was placed at his disposal, and the Russian officers treated hint rather as a brother than as a hostile envoy who had ad vanced from India to form an alliance against them in Khiva. He was furnished with a carriage to proceed on his route to St. Peters burg, and when in the Oorahl district was met by a Russian gentleman, Mr. Chicachoff, who came from the Cossack Hetman of the Oorahl with offers of assistance, and apologizes that he had not been better attended to. Here he learnt that the Russian invading force had been recalled to Orenburg, owing to the losses they had sustained : Mr. Chicachoff himself had been, as a volunteer, on the expedition. He described the sufferings of the troops as very great, owing to the intensity of the cold, which froze their brandy ; of course breaking the bottles in the pro cess. The thermometer was at 40 deg. of Reaumur. The snow in many places five feet deep. lam not certain that I detail these facts as Mr. Chicachoff narrated them, be cause I have heard many accounts of the expedition sub sequently, and was not in a condition to take notes during my residence in the Orenburg district. I must, therefore, decline making him my authority for the precise letter of this account. Through snow so deep and so feathery, it was, of course, impossible for laden cattle to advance. Equally impossible was it that they should reach the pas ture of the steppe. The troops, therefore, were arrested at the severest portion of the journey ; the highlands between the Caspian and Aral seas, or rather &little north of that point, and near one of the streams of the river Yem or Ember ; and there the camels died in such numbers as to render the prosecution of the invasion, for the time, im- practicable. On his journey he had many opportunities of noticing the Russian peasantry. Here is a pleasing picture, drawn from life, as he approached the town of Oorahlsk:— The dress of these women was singularly picturesque and neat. My impression, from this glimpse of the pea santry of Russia, was most favorable. They are not, indeed, handsome ; they are seldom comely. But the men are robust and athletic ; and the women made such a show as I imagine could be made by no other country of Europe. I do not, of course, speak of their charms, but of the singular decency of their outfit. They are fond of colours, and of colours that harmonise ; scarlet, crimson, white, and light blue. The groups were most fascinating to my eye. The complexion is high. The eyes are grey. The features in no way remarkable. A beautiful woman I did not see be tween Gorief and Oorahlsk ; and a slovenly woman had been equally a rarity. Often we found them enjoying in the evening their national music. At one village 1 persuaded them to dance before me. A young woman stepped into the circle, and began a pas suel to a merry tune. A young clown, after much encouragement, was persuaded to join her. The two confronted one another, the youth making desperate love with eyes and gesture, whilst his feet were rapidly moving, and the lass turning her back just as his hopes had reached their highest. The performance was admirable. The wit and spirit of the parties were main tained to the last. This was the first specimen I had of the humour of the Russians, which is perhaps not to be sup passed. In another passage he says : My companion, not being a Russian, could not give me that insight into the condition of the peasantry in which I felt so deeply interested. A traveller sees amongst them only the elements of peace and contentment. He finds them dwelling upon the richest soil in the world, in the midst of abundance, in comfortable houses, and a land still large enough for its inhabitants ; he perceives that they are exempted from two of the fears that embitter life in more civilised lands, fear of want, and of robbers ; he finds them healthy, stout, well-clad, civil to strangers, and hospitable. The fair town of Oorahlsk, after his long wanderings in barbarous lands, struck him with an aspect of enchantment. He could not enough admire the wide, free streets, and the beautiful women dressed in elegant cos tumes, nor be sufficiently grateful for the kindness of the people and the hospitality forced on him. It was at this town that he took leave of his Cossack escort : Wine and other refreshments were brought, and the conversation took that jovial turn in which the merry, warm-hearted Cossacks delight. "You will go away," they said, " and report of us that we are uncivilised. You shall not add that we do not love the stranger. We are a rude race, and have little to offer an Englishman that can be acceptable to the inhabitant of so luxurious a land. But what we have is hraitily at his service, and we will add our best wishes that his affairs may prosper." I replied, and I now repeat it, that I rejoiced in an acci• dent that had made me acquainted with so estimable and warm-hearted a people. That the name of Cossack, which heretofore had awakened only ideas of the courage, hardi- hood, and gallantry of an uncultured nation, would hence forward be inseparably linked with courtesy, hospitality, and worth ; that polish had been carried as far in their case as was healthful ; it bad improved their natural ad vantages, without effacing the features of their character ; that I could honestly say of them good alone ; and that I was sure they never could have cause to regret the visit of any traveller who would truly mport upon them ; 1003 that, as we had been comrades in the last European war, so I trusted we should ever continue friends and allies. Vain hope ! But the pas9age may servo as a corrective to those brutal denunciations of the Russian soldiery as " bloodhounds " and " savage militia," which are thought just now best calculated to pl ease our public. At Orenburgh the Major met the Governor Perroffski:— Our relative position was singular. He called me his enemy ; and circumstances had given him a right to hold me as such. Yet he treated me with the generosity and never•slumbering Attention of a friend. I told him, I felt more honoured in one such enemy, than in an hundred ordinary friends. He said, that if he caught me at Xhiva he would slay me. I replied, that if I suffered him to get there, I should deserve death. He placed at my disposal his cattle and equipages, and assured me he would never forgive me if I wanted for anything that Orenburgh could supply. I might possibly meet him at St. Petersburg; hut he thought it more probable that we should meet on the road. He begged me, in spite of my bitter enmity, as he was pleased to term it, to consider him as my friend. I parted from him with a regret, which the reader will readily comprehend. This generous noble minutely inquired into the wants of his guest, that he might have the, pleasure of supplying them : He by this means discovered that I had attempted without success, to procure a map of Russia, and be now sent me a magnificent map of the empire, insisting that I must accept it, as he had another. He had also found out that 1 had no watch, and begged of me to wear cne of his until I should arrive at St. Petersburg. It was a beautiful timepiece, which never required winding! the motion of the wearer's body winding it up. It was the first of the kind that I had seen. He inquired whether there was any other way by which he could contribute to my comfort or convenience. I replied, that he might crown all his kind and generous attentions by a gift which I should value more than all, a lithograph of himself. He had none; but sent me, instead, a present almost too costly to be accepted, yet one that, under the circumstances, it was im- possible to refuse. It was a pair of bronze cuts from the masks (taken immediately after death), of Peter the Great and his rival Charles XII., of Sweden. There were but two casts made from the original masks. The Emperor of Russia has one. I assured Perroffski, in thanking him for these most precious relics, that the Russian empire contained no gem that I should value more highly. That they should be preserved in my family as a sacred memento of the friendship and hospitality of Perroffaki. In the description of these valuable masks there is so much literary merit that we beg leave to transcribe the passage : The countenance of the Czar is massive, and full of power. The profile is great, though not noble. The nose aquiline, the mouth compressed. The forehead is high, ample, sinuous ; one of the grandest developments I limo ever seen. Let phrenologists comfort themselves with the assurance, that the organ of constructiveness, which taught Peter to mould into form this magnificent empire, is on a gigantic scale. A smile of firmness is upon the lips—the smile of one superior in genius, as in station, to fellow men. In this posture did they settle for ever. In this frame did the great architect of a nation enter upon the untried world. My emotions almost overpowered me, as I gazed fixedly upon those lineaments, silently illumined by the lamp of night. This was not the sculpture of the living monarch, it was not even Peter in the hour of repose; but the Genius of the North, as death had surprised him, closed his eye and folded his wing. It was the mighty in the hour of his weakness, the conqueror at the moment of his overthrow. The strong in his languor, the proud in the vanity of his feebleness. The hero, the patriot, the legislator, the tyrant, resolved into a scanty heap of wise rale dust. And who is that beside him? Who would presume to approach his presence, or share with him the pillow of repose? He who taught him, by defeat, the path to vic tory. The dauntless, the magnanimous, the indomitable Charles. It is only possible to equal the contrast of these two masks by contrasting the minds of the rival kings. The face and head of Charles are smaller than those of a woman. It is difficult, at first, to believe they could ever have belonged to a man. The features, also, are not pro minent; and the sole mark of power is in a compression of the lips, which is more than firmness, and amounts to obstinacy. All besides is smooth and delicate; and the countenance promises no more than intelligence, firmness, and promptitude. The hospitality of Perroffski continued to the last : A day wu now fixed for my visit to the district The carriage of Perroffski wu placed at my disposal, in spit of many a desperate effort of mine to purchase ; and ha I permitted it, the same generous hand had paid all the expenses of my journey. Thus did the noblest and most generous of opponents (for I had come to traverse and disconcert the whole system of his ambition) lavish upon me the affectionate attentions of a brother. The like hospitality was continued to him throughout his long journey till he finally quitted Russian territory. In the case of Lieutenant Royer, it was assumed that the generosity of the Russian emperor was to be attributed to craft ; and it is well therefore to recur to such descriptions as these of Major Abbott, to show what wss the Rw3sish pm!