The Press.
London, England, 1854-06-17 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

Government seems to have acted kindly by
these fanatics, not refusing them leave to
depart, but trying, by persuasion and inter-
posing delays, to shake their purpose, in which
it finally succeeded, and the projected journey
was given up.

Throughout Georgia and the adjacent dis-
tricts there is visible a great decrease in popu-
lation. Many miles of plain are covered with
the ruins of canals, aqueducts, and works of
irrigation, resembling those of Ceylon and
Southern India. The existence of these
proves not only that a dense and civilised
community once occupied a region now almost
deserted, but also that a single monarch, and
he probably a despot, must have ruled over
innumerable tribes, now hcstile or at best un-
connected with one another. From the levies
known to have been raised in the thirteenth
century it seems certain that Russian Trans-
caucasia, with the independent territories
adjoining, had sixteen millions of inhabitants :
they do not now, at the highest estimate, ex-
ceed four millions.

It seems that a standing controversy exists
as to the mode of government most suitable
to these provinces. One class of legislators
desire to leave the national customs and pecu-
liarities as far as possible untouched, govern-
ing through native agency, and with as little
interference as may be : their rivals prefer a
more centralised system, agreeable to the
general custom of Russia. The latter theory,
notwithstanding some doubts entertained by
the Emperor himself, seems likely to prevail
in the end. The officials are everywhere
hated, but the physical condition of the Crown
peasants improves. Those under private per
sons have suffered by the transfer; for serf-
dom, in its strict form, did not exist in Cau-
casia until introduced from beyond the moun-
tains.

A few more details on the government of
these conquered provinces may not be unin•
teresting :
The position and life of the Russian army here resembles
that of the Roman legions, stationed in the frontier
countries and exposed to the incursive attacks of their
enemies. The soldiers are early trained to every kind of
labour, especially of a rural description, and mostly for the
benefit of the officers. The Emperor, on being informed
of the abuses which had arisen from this system, has in
many instances in person abolished and punished them
with inflexible severity. An anecdote is told, that on one
occasion in Tiflis, in face of the troops, he degraded Gene-
ral Dadien for some such cause; the general, overwhelmed
and humbled, merely said, " Czar, thou art just !"
Soldiers are better treated here than in the
northern parts of Russia. They are instructed
and employed in various trades, not harassed
with drills, and even encouraged to marry.
Those who do so generally become settlers ;
and every retired soldier who chooses to end
his days as a colonist is entitled to have
his family brought from Russia at the public
expense.

The Russians have not usually been fortu-
nate in generals. Yermoloff, or Jermalow,
whose character is here given, seems to have
been their best until Prince Woronzow as-
sumed the command :
Of all the early Governor-Generals who ruled here, no
one lives so strongly in the recollection of the soldiers, and
of the people at large, as General Jermalow. Anecdotes
and traits of his character are on the lips of every one, but
his memory is most cherished by the independent moun-
taineers, from a feeling that they received at his hands im-
partial justice. Every one who had any cause of complaint
repaired directly to the general, who assisted him whenever
he was able. Nevertheless his discipline was inflexibly
strict : if any village, or any inhabitant of one, did a wrong
or committed a robbery, the general immediately ordered a
space to be cleared near the church or sanctuary, a gallows
to be erected upon it, and the guilty persons were without
more ado hanged. Even in the enemy's country, among
the Circassians, similar spots are still seen. Whenever
any considerable robbery took place, and the thief could
not be discovered, the governor instantly ordered the village,
or the whole district upon which the suspicion rested of
being the home of the guilty person, to be summoned,
and to make good the loss. This system worked so well
that reports of robbery or theft became very rare.

The Armenians are fully and well described
by our author. Next to the Jews, no scattered
people is so closely connected by a religious
bond ; and the Armenians, though spread far
over the earth, have still a home of their own
to which they may return. Families live
together, and have all things in common.
Free intercourse is permitted between unmar-
ried persons of both sexes, but marriage is

SATURDAY,

succeeded by a kind of discipline elsewhere
unheard of :

The girls go where they like, unveiled and bareheaded ;
the young men carry on their love-suits freely and openly,
and marriages of affection are of common occurrence. Bat
with marriage the scene changes : the word which the
young woman pronounces at the altar, in accepting her
husband, is the last that is for a long time heard from her
lips. From that moment she never appears, even in her
own house, unveiled. She is never seen abroad in the
public streets, except when she goes to church, which is
only twice in the year, and then closely veiled. If a
stranger enters the house or garden she instantly conceals
herself. With no person, not even her father or brother,
is she allowed to exchange a single word; and she speaks
to her husband only when they are alone. With the rest
of the household she can only communicate by gestures,
and by talking on her fingers. This silent reserve, which
custom imperatively prescribes, the young wife maintains
until she has borne her first child, from which period she
becomes gradually emancipated from her constraint: she
speaks to her new-born infant ; then her mother-in-law is
the first person she may address ; after a while she is
allowed to converse with her own mother, and then with
her sisters-in-law, and afterwards her own sisters. Now she
begins to talk with the young girls in the house, but always
in a gentle whisper, that none of the male part of the family
may hear what is said. The wife, however, is not fully
emancipated, her education is not completed, until after
the lapse of six years ! and even then she can never speak
with any strangers of the other sex, nor appear before them
unveiled. If we examine closely into these social customs,
in connection with the other phases of national life in
Armenia, we cannot but recognise in them a great know-
ledge of human nature and of the heart.

The above are only a few of innumerable
anecdotes and disquisitions, all instructive or
interesting. taron Haxthausen's book well
deserves to be studied, for it conveys an extra
ordinary amount of information in a very
unpretending form. The engravings with
which it is illustrated are singularly beautiful
both in design and colouring.

Modern German Musio. Recollections and
Criticisms. By Henry F. Chorley. London :
Smith, Elder, and Co.
NOTWITHSTANDING that the title of this book
refers to musk alone, so considerable a por-
tion of it is devoted to an account of the
author's tours in Germany that the work, in
point of fact, presents a double aspect to the
reviewer, as illustrating not only the modern
music of Germany but also the peculiar pre-
judices of its inhabitants. With the last of
these subjects we have no concern. The book
comes under our notice as belonging to the
literature of art; and it is our intention to try,
impartially, whether it can exercise any influ-
ence which will prove of lasting benefit.
We are satisfied that no one can rise from the
perusal of the pages before us without feeling
that the author is a man who has devoted much
time and thought to the subject of which he
treats, and who, in spite of a certain affected ob-
scurity of style and coinage of strange words,
has pretensions of no ordinary kind to literary
distinction. These qualifications, added to
the undoubted honesty of purpose and enthu-
siasm for his favourite studies which he
possesses, ought to render him a rare
phenomenon in these days, a good critic in art.
We say a rare phenomenon, because it is the
misfortune of our time that all criticism upon
art flowing out of the recognised channels is
practically useless. Nothing, for instance,
can be more deplorable than the pre-
sent state of criticism on painting and
architecture. Sublime, indeed, are the dis-
coveries of modern days, so much so that
they closely approximate to the ridiculous.
It is no uncommon thing to hear that the
Greek sculptors were wanting in dignity ; that
Michael Angelo, Raphael, and Titian are vastly
overrated ; that Domenichino (vide Mr. Choi.•
ley) has second-rate expression and borrowed
fancies (we wonder whether Mr. Chorley ever
saw certain frescoes at Rome, " Grotta Fer-
rata," by said Domenichino) ; and, to crown
all, the author of " Modern Painters," after
wasting his eloquence and ingenuity to prove
the bad taste and demolish the merits of the
great architects of the sixteenth century, whose
works, by his own confession, he has neither
seen nor studied, has lately infortned us that
Mr. Hunt's caricature of Christ with a lantern,
now on view in Trafalgar-square, is one o.f. the
"noblest works of sacred art ever painted.. The
primary cause of this evil, in our opinion, 15
the smattering of knowledge which pervades
all classes, and which renders the taste of the

JUNE 17, 1854.

day a mass of Babel-like confusion. The
greater part of the modern critics and artists
think and talk, but do not study; and, for the
want of that power of perception which is only
to be acquired by constant contemplation of
the best models, they have acquired an over
weening confidence in their own powers and a
most unjust conception of the works of the
old masters. Equally unsatisfactory, though
from a different cause, are our musical criti-
cisms. The taste for music in this country is
very much in advance of the taste for the
other branches of the fine arts. The classical
masters are much in vogue ; classical compb-
sitions, whether opera, symphony, or chamber
music, are daily gaining ground in public fa-
vour; while the lovers of archaism, extrava-
gance, and exaggeration are in a large minority.
Notwithstanding this, musical criticism gra-
dually gets worse and worse, and the decay of
this branch of literature can only be ascribed
to the class of persons employed in its produc-
tion, and will never be remedied until the
present system becomes extinct, and a new
one; On sounder principles, organised and es-
tablished. Under these circumstances, every
encouragement should be given to gentlemen
Of extensive knowledge and independence of
mind who come forward to join the ranks of
the musical critics ; and a hearty welcome is
at least due to Mr. Chorley on his public ac-
ceptance of the arduous undertaking
In the book before us a chapter or more is
devoted to each Gertnan school of music—
coMPosers,instrumentalists and singers coming
in for the share of praise or abuse. Although
the involved sentences and the strange ex-
pressions which are to be found in almost
every paragraph will hardly allow us to say that
the subject is pleasantly handled, yet, when
Mr. Chorley is free from the pressure of that
mass of crotchets which must be admitted to
constitute his rock ahead in literary life,
he is an instructive and interesting com-
panion. His remarks upon the various
artists now gone by, and upon the court
influences of the last century, are full of
valuable matter; and the chapter entitled
"Beethoven as an Influence," though slightly
redolent of truisms, is upon the whole a very
excellent criticism. We must, however, warn
our readers against accepting Mr. Chorley
as a guide when his prejudices are con-
cerned. Take, for instance, his violent ad-
miration for Gluck. Admitting as we do
the composer's original genius and rare inspi-
ration, we never can admit, as contended by
Mr. ChorleY, that he was Mozart's superior in
the highest forms of musical drama. Gliick's
operas are of infinite beauty, but they smack
too much of the morbid taste for dead-alive
classicality so prevalent during the last cen-
tury to become popular in the present day.
To compare them with Mozart's operas is an
insult to the memory of the man we wish to
revere, for they have no pretensions to that
freshness of nature and giantlike strength
which have always rendered Don Giovanni and
Le Nozze such pearls of price to theatrical
managers. But Mr. Chorley's depreciation of
Mozart does not end here. He delivers him
self of the following sentiments :

No more exact parallel can be made than the one
which designates Mozart the Raphael of his art
We can go backward from Mozart to Bach and Handel.
We can go forward from him to Beethoven. We can con-
descend (if it please the purists so to state the case) from
Don Juan and Figaro, to Guillaume Tell and Il Barbiere ;"
but some of us cannot return from any of these masters
to Mozart without feeling as if some of the brightness so
long thought incomparable had passed away from our
divinity , that while, as a mingler of many powers he has
no peer—if regarded either as a subduer, as an awakener,
or as a charmer by mirth—there are separate stars of the
first magnitude larger than his star.
Is it possible to read these remarks with
common patience ? Mr. Chorley designates with
rgason Mozart as the Raphael of music, and
then gravely tells us that he has been beaten in
turn by every great composer. Does Mr. Cher-
My think Raphael equally unfortunate ? that
any works having greater interest than the
" Stanze" among frescoes, and the " Madonna
di S. Sisto" (to whose holy and spiritual smile
a reference is made—vol. i., p. 337), among
Pasel pictures, can be cited ? No. Ra-
phael, like Mozart, was too deeply imbued
with the spirit of beauty to attempt anything
absolutely colossal to the eye; butthe absence