The Press.
London, England, 1856-04-05 00:00:00

329

assailed by Rome, and constrained by no foreign pressure.
The instincts of order and devotion, which distinguished
the northern conquerors of Europe, lay undeveloped in
the germ, till, in the course of Providence, they met the
forms of law and of religion which they were destined so
happily to impregnate.
But it seems to us that the character which he
draws of the Germans is one common to all
barbarians. The instincts of order and devo-
tion were, at all events, just as strong in them
as in all savages. But what we should judge
by is the conduct of the race after it has " met
" the forms of law and religion." Is it then
superior to other races which have also met
those forms? That is the question ; which, if
answered in tl e affirmative, must certainly
prove a greater previous fitness for their re-
ception. We scarcely understand the meaning
of this superfluous attack upon our Teutonic
ancestors. We only hope their English de-
scendants may continue to resist the gripe of
centralisation as sturdily as they did.
Mr. Merivale seems doubtful of the extreme
depravity of the Royal Family of Rome, and
inclined to depict them in milder colours.
Neither Caligula, Claudius, nor Messalina
were, he thinks, so bad as they have come
down to us in the pages of Tacitus and
Juvenal. One murder, however, or one adul-
tery, more or less, would not make much diffe-
rence in our estimate of their character. But
we can recommend Mr. Merivale's description
of these two last reigns as among the best
things in the book. We close our notice with
an extract from the death of Messalina.
Nevertheless Messalina still hoped. She had withdrawn
again to the gardens of Lucullus, and was there engaged in
composing addresses of supplication to her husband, in
which her pride and long-accustomed insolence still faintly
struggled with her fears. Narcissus was not insensible to
his danger, and was anxious to strike his last blow without
delay. But the Emperor still paltered with the treason.
He had retired to his palace ; he had bathed, anointed, and
lain down to supper ; and warmed with wine and generous
cheer, he had actually despatched a message to the poor
creature, as he called her, bidding her come the next day
and plead her cause before him. Narcissus knew how easy
the passage might be from compassion to love; even the
solitary night and the vacant couch would kindle, he feared,
a sentiment of yearning and compunction in the fond do-
tard's mind. Swiftly gliding from the chamber, he boldly
ordered a tribune and some centurions to go and slay his
victim. Such, he said, was the Emperor's command ; and
his word was obeyed without hesitation. Under the direc-
tion of a freedman Euodus, the armed men sought the
outcast in her gardens, where she lay prostrate on the
ground, by the side of her mother Lepida. While her for-
tunes flourished there had existed dissensions between
them, but now, in her last distress, the mother had re-
fused to desert her child, and only strove to nerve her re-
solution to a voluntary death. Life, she urged, is over;
nought remained to look for but a decent exit from it. But
the soul of the reprobate was corrupted by her vices ; she
retained no sense of honour ; she went on weeping and
oroaning all in vain; when suddenly the doors were burst
open, the tribune and his swordsmen appeared sternly
before her, and Euodus assailed her, dumb-stricken as she
lay, with contumelious and brutal reproaches. Roused at
last to a sense of her hopeless condition, she took a weapon
from one of the men's hands, and pressed it trembling
against her throat and bosom. Still she wanted resolution
to give the thrust, and it was by a blow of the tribune's
falchion that the horrid deed was finally accomplished.
The death of Asiaticus was avenged on the very spot ; the
hot blood of the wanton smoked on the pavement of his
gardens, and stained with a deeper hue the variegated
marbles of Lucullus. The body was given up to her
mother. Claudius had not yet risen from table when it
was announced to him that Messalina was no more.
Whether she had fallen by her own hand or by another's
was not distinctly declared, nor did he inquire. Again he
called for wine, pledged his guests, heard songs and
music, and exhausted all the formalities of the banquet.
Nor on the following day did he allude to the circumstance,
or manifest any emotion of joy or hatred, of anger or of
sorrow, neither on seeing the triumphant foes of Messa-
lina. nor her sorrowing children. The senate favoured the
oblivion he seemed to court for the event, by decreeing
that her name should be effaced from all public and private
monuments. Narcissus was rewarded with the ornaments
of the qurestorship.

Kars and Erzeronm. With the Campaigns of
Prince Paskiewitch in 1828 and 1829. By
Lieutenant- General Monteith. London :

Longmans.

GENERAL MONTEITH'S work may be divided
into three portions,—the first embracing the
early wars between Russia and Persia, the
second the struggle in the Caucasus, and the
third the campaigns of Prince Paskiewitch in
1828-9. It is of a purely military character,
and written throughout with military simpli-
city. The author was himself an eyewitness
of many of the scenes which he describes, and
they are always told with great perspicuity,

unencumbered by too copious a use of tech-
nical phrases.
We are surprised to find Persia possessed of
so much vitality. In 1820 she made head
against Russia, and defeated her armies in
two separate pitched battles. But the real
strength of Russia in these countries lies in
the disunion of the Mahomedans; for the
Turks and Persians belong to two different
sects, and each pique themselves on their
orthodoxy with a tenaciousness_thaf would not
disgrace Christians. The consequence is that
either would rather unite with Russia against
the other than form a mutual league for de-
fence against the common enemy.
In the war which broke out in 1828 Turkey
was taken at a great disadvantage, while Rus-
sia was in a state of complete preparation.
The Turks nevertheless fought with great
gallantry on various occasions, and I their
remissness at Kars was succeeded by a piost
obstinate and devoted defence of the fortress
of Akhalkalak. We subjoin General Mon-
teith's account of the operations before
Kars :

The fortress of Kars is of great antiquity, and was
celebrated in the time of the Armenia,' kings, but it has
been greatly enlarged by the Turks. Before the use of
artillery it was considered a place of great strength, and
ventured to stand a siege by Timour, by who►n it was
taken ; though it was more fortunate when besieged by
Nadir Shah. The upper fortress is divided into two parts,
the highest serving as a citadel, where the Turkish
janissaries usually resided, the lower part principally occu-
pied by the inhabitants; the whole is inclosed within walls
of stone, built on the slope of a hill, but the nature of the
ground does not allow of a ditch or glacis. It is corn-
mended from without by some hills within short cannon
range ; and from the circumstance of the walls being built
on a steep descent, the exterior of many parts of the fort-
real' is seen from the outside. Two suburbs on the low
ground afforded cover to within a short distance of the
walls, and were principally inhabited by Armenians, Kurds,
and some Jews; they were only defended by a low wall of
1 ose stones, and were indeed incapable of further defence.
The population was about 12,000, the majority of whom
were Christians.

Prince Paskiewitch determined to occupy Kutchik
Koee, for which purpose he was obliged to march nearly
round the fortress—a dangerous movement, both from the
presence of the Turkish army, and from the number of
ravines, now filled with water from recent rains, which the
troops would have to pass. They had, however, less
difficulty to encounter than had been anticipated ; for they
hardly met with any resistance from the Turkish army,
which merely defended the village of Azakchai for a few
minutes, andithen retreated beyond the Kars river. The
Russians were now encamped so ns to intercept the road
from Erzeroum, and it was determined to give battle to
the Seraskier should he arrive before the place was taken,
though there was every reason to hope, from the slowness
of his movements, that this would not be the case.

The Pacha of Kars, in a vain attempt to retrieve the
emir he hail committed in permitting the Russians to
perform their march without opposition, now made a
serious attack with about 5,1100 cavalry, and the infantry
of lspers, but without success, and only a few of the
men, profiting by the broken pound, were enabled to re-
gain the town; the remainder retired beyond the Kars
river. The cavalry did not again venture to molest the be-
sie 4ing army.
fhe Turks having neglected to occupy a range of hills
which extend to the suburb of °data Bassi, General Pas-
kiewitch ordered it to be fortified, and placed there six
battalions of infantry, two regiments of Cossacks, and six
pieces of artillery. This may be considered as the first
Pparallel, extending on both sides of the ravine of the
ashkoe Chie, from which the batteries commanded and
took in reverse the works attacked. Four batteries were
arnstrueted, whose fire was principally directed against
ar intrenched camp, which the Turks still occupied out-
s de the town as well as the great burying-ground beyond
th • river. The first notice the Turks had of the existence
or these batteries was their opening fire on the morning of
the 23rd of June. They soon recovered from their sur-
prise, however, and returned the fire with vigour; but
they were dislodged at the game time from the burying-
ground and the rocks behind it ; and though they made
strenuous efforts to recover the burying-ground, and for the
moment succeeded, they were at last forced to retreat, and
the Russians were able tostestablish themselves perma-
nently there. The Turkish intrenched camp occupied
the ground which was intended for the second parallel,
bit after an obstinate conflict they were driven entirely
b:yond the Kars Chie ; they were equally unsuccessful in
t leir attempt to defend the suburb opposite the castle, and
the Russians lodged themselves in the buildings which the
puha hail neglected to destroy. The second parallel was
now completed ; a battery of four pieces of heavy artillery
was established in the Palace of Timour Paella, which
Colonel Bourtsoff bad made himself master of; another,
of six pieces, was placed on the height occupied by the
Turkish intrenched camp, and a third on the height occu-
pied by Colonel Borcdine. These batteries swept three
aides of the fortress, and soon silenced the Turkish
artillery, spreading terror among the inhabitants, who
began to seek shelter in the ravines of the Kara Deng.
The bastions and ramparts of the subtle)) of Ouata Tipha
beginning to fall. Prince Paskiewitch instantly ordered a
breaching battery to be established on the walls of the
suburb, from which the Turks were entirely driven, and
General Mouravieff succeeded in occupying the Kara Daug