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

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 please 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!

tice fifteen years ago, when no such considera-
tions were likely to prevail.
Several chapters are devoted by Major
Abbott to a survey of the political situation of
Russia. He thinks that the empire must
break up as civilisation advances:—

That so widely-spread an empire should hold together
under a free constitution, seems impossible. Whenever
prosperity shall have produced surplus capital, and surplus
capital shall have improved communication, and improved
communication shall have carried, with the tide of know-
ledge, its inseparable adjunct, power, this enormous empire
must split into a Northern and a Southern Kingdom; and
every foot of territory Russia adds to her south-western
frontier is tending to hasten the dismemberment.

The naval power of Russia is never to be
dreaded, he thinks. Subsequent events have
fully confirmed the justice of this passage,
written fifteen years ago :
But Russia was not designed by heaven to be a great
naval power. It is not the genius of her people. They
have not the enterprise, the decision, the promptitude
necessary for naval exploits. They would not run, they
would make a good stand-up fight, when put to it; but
they had much rather leave it alone, and they are wise. It
is not their province, nor ever can be.
His reflections on the Russian army are
equally shrewd. It must always, he thinks,
be essentially weal for aggressive, or external,
warfare. His reasons are given at great
length, and are unquestionably sound. Russia
has made her conquests by her diplomacy
more than by her arms ; and the author was
decidedly of opinion that she would never run
the hazard of an European war. In a note
to this passage he adds

- - .
This, which was written in 1841,1 will not alter, because
it is virtually true, although Russia has at present over-
reached herself, and involved herself in hostilities which
she had not. the remotest intention to provoke. The
invasion by Russia of the Turkish empire arose in the
strong assurance she had received from all her foreign
agents that England would wink at the atrocity; that
France, from internal discords, was powerless to oppose it ;
that Austria, from gratitude, would acquiesce, and Prussia
from cowardice. The cowardice of Prussia is one of these
assurances confirmed by the event. And it is certain that
had Lord Palmerston been Minister for Foreign Affairs at
the time, the invasion would have been deferred to a more
convenient moment. The high.spirited Emperor, scene.
Wined to look upon himself as a god, had become too far
involved to retreat, before he perceived the vigorous oppo-
sition awaiting him from Great Britain. It was then
utterly impossible to recede. The counsels of Nesselrode,
the sagest of the Russian ministers, seem to have been
ever opposed to this deviation from the cautious policy
heretofore pursued by the Government.
In the new chapter contributed to this
edition, the author enforces this view at more
length; Nicholas was completely deceived by
the timid tone of our Government at the be-
ginning of the dispute, and read in it a " con-
" firmation of his presumptuous hopes."
Russia, he says, without the hearty aid of
Austria and Prussia, is vulnerable only on
two points, the coast of the Baltic and the
Black Sea, but success on those points he
submits would not be decisive :
The allies may, undoubtedly, destroy the navy of Russia;
wrest from her, for awhile, the Crimea and the southern
coast of the Baltic, and drive her back along her western
frontier. But even then Russia, though sorely discouraged,
is not necessarily subdued. She falls back from her cul.
tivated possessions to those boundless wastes, where she
alone can find subsistence, and whither no army can follow
her, for good. If the submit, it is from no fear of destruc-
tion, but merely to gain time and opportunity.

active hostility, he
from the sacrifices it

to be this, that it rouses
v forcing it to act on the
_ the false proclamations
acting in self•defence, and

doeltade, protecting
would be our wiser
id would inevitably
_ blockade is of all
services required from a powerful navy the
most wearisome and unpopular. The advo-
cates of this scheme seem to have forgotten
that great nations cannot have little wars.
The peculiar applicability of much of Major
Abbott's narrative to present circumstances,
mist be our excuse for quoting lib largely
from a book which has long since obtained
deserved popularity among narratives of travel
and adventure. He is a shrewd observer,
with much of that imaginative faculty which
constitutes the link between the conclusions
of reasoning and the inspirations of genius.
We are sure the public will, like ourselves, be
glad to refresh their recollection of this spirited,
MilUitctiTe) Ana gentiemalq book.

To our present system of a
moots an objection, apart fro
entails on us :
Its worst effect, however, seems tc
the spirit of the Russian nation, by
defensive. It gives a colour to all t
of the Autocrat, that he was actin,
that we she the aggressors.
Ite thinki a vigorotts bloc
Turkey at the same time, w,
policy. But a war of this kin,
soon die out of itself, as 1