The Press.
London, England, 1855-10-27 00:00:00

For years the Conservatives were in the ascendancy.
The protracted war against Persia checked the progress of
reform."

" Party," in the modern meaning, was un-
known to the ancient world in any real sense.
The ascendancy of individual genius and of
heroic spirit was far more personal and pre-
pellent than " party," with its traditions and
obligations, can allow. But of " faction "—a
very different thing—there was a supera
bunda.nce in Greece and Rome. Representa-
tive government, with its complications of
" interests," was also unknown; and, though
the great philosophic laws of history are most
curiously exemplified by the annals of anti-
quity, it is impossible to obtain close analogies
for our modern politics. Historical parallels
are always more ingenious than useful : they
are the playthings of a rhetorician, and not
the tools of a thinking spirit.
There is a large quantity of knowledge com-
pressed into these volumes, and to young
men, or advanced pupils, with access to works
of reference, the work may be recommended.
But notes and an appendix would be great
improvements to it, and a supplementary
chapter might be added to a second edition.

The Tribes of the Caucasus. With an Account
of Schamyl and the Murids. By Baron
Haxthausen. Translated by J. E. Taylor.

London : Chapman and Hall.
THE present aspect of the war iu Asia Minor,
the heroic defence of Kars—second only to
Silistria—and the position of Omer Pacha on
the seacoast, with an army, preparing for
the invasion of the Russian provinces, direct
attention to the state of those countries bor-
dering the Caucasus. The range of the Cauca-
sus, which marks the boundaries of Europe
and Asia, varying from 5,000 to 18,000 feet
above the level of the sea, lies north-west and
south-east from Baku on the Caspian, to the
Black Sea, a distance of some 750 miles. On the
north lie the vast plains of the Caspian,'a portion
only of that uninterrupted line of steppes
stretching from the Carpathians to the China
Seas, throughout all history the "heritage and
country " of nomadic tribes ; while on the
south the rich countries of Georgia, Mingrelia,
and Goorva stretch down from the dividing
range, teeming with fertile soil and luxuriant
pastures, beautiful valleys and majestic moun•
tains. With a population of some four mil-
lions and upwards, of which one and a half
millions belong to the unconquered mountain
districts, and an average of twenty-five or
twenty-six to the square mile, there is no
country in the world which in the same ex-
tent comprises such a variety of race and
infinite difference of dialect. Though the
Tatars, Georgians, and Armenians may be
considered as the three principal nations,
yet they are divided and subdivided into seve-
ral stems, each with a different dialect. Of
languages, says the Baron, " severity at least
' exist, and, although it is improbable that these
t• may have all been originally independent,
" it is remarkable that none of the inhabitants
" speaking them can understand the rest."
Yet out of all these languages and tribes a
literature is only to be found among the Ar-
menians and Georgians, two nations which by
history and tradition trace their origin and
genealogy direct to Noah and the Patriarchs.
For many centuries these two countries (Ar-
menia and Georgia) possessed a vast corn-
mercial and military importance—first, as a
depot of trade between the East and the West;
and secondly, since their conquest by the Turks
and Persians, as being the keystone to supre-
macy in Western Asia. During the existence of
these rival empires the balance of power be-
tween them was equally poised, Eastern Trans-
caucasia being attached to Persia, and Western
t) Turkey; but as these two great empires
mutually declined, Russia, growing in strength
and resources, as gradually encroached, and
at length by diplomacy and power succeeded
in absorbing both countries to herself, and,
at the commencement of the present war,
from her commanding position, threatened
alike both Persia and Turkey in Asia Minor.
Yet here her further advance was stopped
by the hardy mountaineers of the Caucasus,
thoss warlike heroes who have ever de-
feseied the anuieut iztotarehies of 216ia against