The Press.
London, England, 1854-01-14 00:00:00

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LONDON, SATURDAY, JANUARY 14, 1854.

POSTSCRIPT.

RUSSIA AND TURKEY.

From a multitude of conflicting reports as to time
and number we gather as a certainty that the com-
bined fleet, or part of them, actually entered the
Black Sea on the 3rd inst. The tempestuous weather
which had previously prohibited the movement had by
that time fortunately subsided, and enabled the ships
to leave their Beycos anchorage.
The accounts of another Russian defeat have been
received' through several distinct channels, and what
was a doubtful rumour on Thursday is now looked
upon as an eventuality. The most detailed state-
ment of the affair is derived from a telegraphic
despatch, received vid Belgrade, to the following
effect :
"On the 6th of this month a Turkish division,
15,000 strong, with 15 pieces of artillery, attacked
the intrenched position of Citale, not far from Kala-
fat, and took it by storm.
" The Russians lost 2,500 men.
"A reinforcement of 18,000 Russians, marching
from Karaul, was forced to retire with a loss of
250 men."
The news that an important advantage had been
won by the Ottoman army at Kalafat was officially
announced to the representatives of the powers at
Constantinople.
A reinforcement of 15,000 men for the army of
Asia was to be sent by transport to Batoun, if wind
and weather permitted. This convoy, escorted by
numerous forces, had nothing to fear from the Rus
sian ships, which were no longer able to quit So•
bastopol.
An envoy sent by Schamyl had arrived at Con-
stantinople bringing the most positive assu►ances of
devotion to the Sultan and his rule, with sympathy
for his cause. This warrior, who has kept Russia so
long in check, had lately been so badly off for powder
and ball that he was obliged to be extremely
sparing of it. Thus he had ordered his men not to
fire at the common men, but to pick oft' the officers.
lie has now received, in spite of numerous difficulties,
the ordnance and stores sent him by the Porte. He
thanks the Sultan, and assures his highness that he
may depend upon him and on his most strenuous
efforts. The assistance of Schamyl and his gallant
band is equivalent to an army.
Accounts from St. Petersburg of the 4th inst. have
arrived, but they communicate nothing in the shape
of an official intimation of the way in which the
Emperor views the new attitude of the Western
powers. It is stated, however, that extreme irrita-
tation against France and England prevails.

THE PARIS Moniteur contains a letter addressed
by the Emperor to M. Ducos, the Minister of Ma-
rine, appointing hi►n Grand Officer of the Legion of
Honour, and thanking him for having, on so reduced
a budget, prepared resources which will allow the
Government any day, the moment it may become
necessary, to double or even triple the naval forces
of France.

ORDERS HAVE BEEN RECIEVED AT LODIENT for four
new steam-frigates to be put in commission. Similar
commands have been forwarded to other ports.
AN IMPERIAL DEcitEE authorises the exportation of
potatoes and dried pulse from France to Algeria, in-
terdicting, at the same time, the exportation of those
articles of food from the colony until tho 31st of
July, 1854.

M. ARMAND BEETIN, the well-known principal pro-
prietor of the Journal des Debuts, died on Thursday
of quinsey. The death of M. Bertin will excite as
great attention as would that of almost any political
man of eminence. The press suffers a great loss by
the death of a gentleman whose talents, liberality,
and general conduct placed him properly at its head.
M. Bertin must have been nearly 60, and in appear-
ance somewhat resembled M. Lablache, being as
handsome and portly, although not quite so large.

THE PRESS.

THE DUKE DE CREVREUSE, son of the Duke de
Luynes, also died suddenly in Paris on Thursday last.
THE AmowkscE for the ROYAL FAMILY of PORTUGAL
has been voted in the Cortes without any dissentient
voice. The King has a conto per diem, about 85,0001.
per annum ; the Infante Don Luiz, 3,0001.; and each
of the other princes about 8501.
THE Hon. 11. H. Cuva, M.P., while attending a
meeting of the committee of the Shrewsbury and
Birmingham Railway on the 6th inst., was seized
with illness of an alarming nature, which has re-
sulted in an attack of pleurisy. Mr. Clive has con-
tinued to grow gradually worse ; and on Tuesday
evening it was stated that his recovery was almost
hopeless.
IF THE DONCASTER MEETINGS bear out their paper
promises, that place will this year rank higher in the
racing scale than it has ever yet done. The stakes
which have already closed for 1854 show the follow-
ing entries:—Trial Stakes, 13 subs.; Handicap, 78;
Steeplechase, 38 ; Betting-room Stakes, 26 ; Hopeful
Stakes, 55 ; St. Leger, 158 ; Champagne, 33 ; Muni-
cipal, 7 ; 200 Sovs., 8 ; Park-hill, 31; Doncaster,
110 ; Foal Stakes, 6 ; Don Stakes, 7; Filly Stakes,
10; Two-year Old, 30 ; Scarborough, 12; a match.
The deaths of Messrs Allen and H. &ebbing, two of
their very stanchest supporters, have reduced the
number of St. Leger entries from 164 to 158, but
still there is a very goodly company left—to wit, 35
fillies and 123 colts.
A RULE Nisi, preliminary to a criminal informa-
tion, was yesterday granted in the Court of Queen's
Bench against Mr. Harrison, printer of the Times,
on behalf of the Hon. Mr. Scott and seven other
directors of the South-Western Railway Company, on
account of a recent leading article in that paper in
which the proceedings of the board were severely im •
pugned.

WAR-OFFICE, JAN 13.
[From Last Night's Gazette.]

3rd Regiment of Light Dragoons—Lieutenant William
Henry Orme to be Captain, by purchase, vice Barnes, who
retires; Captain Frederick Sitwell, from the 85th Foot, to
be Captain, vice Orme, who exchanges.
7th Light Dragoons—Lieutenant Frank Garforth, from
the 68th Foot, to be Lieutenant, vice William Francis
Willoughby Garforth, who exchanges.
Scots Fusilier Guards—Ensign and Lieutenant the
Hon. Alexander Edward Fraser to be Lieutenant and
Captain, by purchase, vice Forteacue, who retires ; Charles
George Tottenham, Gent., to be Ensign and Lieutenant,
by purchase, vice Fraser.
13th Regiment of Foot—Captain George Abercrombie
Robertson, from half-pay unattached, to be Captain, vice
Honourable Einilius John Weld Forester, who exchanges ;
Lieutenant William Henry Kerr to be Captain, by pur-
chase, vice Rohertson,wbo retires ; Ensign Noel Hovenden
Bryan Vardon to be Lieutenant, by purchase, vice Kerr ;
Philip Edward Victor Gilbert, Gent-, to be Ensign, by
purchase, vice Vardon.
21st Foot—First Lieutenant the Honourable William
George Boyle to be Captain, by purchase, vice Watson,
who retires; Second Lieutenant Henry King to be First
Lieutenant, by purchase, vice Boyle ; Edward Isaac
Haddock, Gent., to be Second Lieutentnt, by purchase,
vice King.
35th Foot—Sergeant-3Tajor Michael McLoughlin to be
Quartermaster, vice Cole, who retires upon half-pay.
41st Foot—Ensign Alfred Taylor to be Lieutenant, by
purchase, vice Barnard, promoted ; Walter APClellan
Lambert, Gent, to be Ensign, by purchase, vice Taylor.
42nd Foot—Lieutenant the Honourable George Henry
F.sse'x Grant to be Captain, by purchase, vice Wedderburn,
who retires; Ensign George Fraser to be Lieutenant, by
purchase, vice Grant; Rothes Lennox Dunbar, Gent., to
be Ensign, by purchase, vice Fraser.
43rd Foot—Ensign Lord Eustaoe Henry Brownlow Gas-
coyne Cecil to be Lieutenant, by purchase, vice Viscount
Bury, who retires ; John liardoe Bowes Elliott, Gent., to
be Ensign, by purchase, vice Lord Cecil.
44th Font—Lieutenant George Nathaniel Micklethwaite
to be Captain, by purchase, vice John Warren Glubb, who
retires; Ensign the Honourable Henry Handcock to be
Lieutenant, by purchase, vice Micklethvraite ; Geo. Evatt
Acklom, Gent., to be Ensign, by purchase, vice Handcock.
88th Foot—Lieutenant William Francis Willoughby
Gafford', from the 7th Light Dragoons, to be Lieutenant,
vice Frank Garforth, who exchanges.
70th Foot—Ensign Samuel James Lyle to be Lieutenant,
by purchase, vice Armstrong, who retires ; Charles Gran-
ville Stuart Menteath, Gent., to be Ensign, by purchase,
vice Lyle.
77th Foot—Lieutenant William Fortesene Scott, from
the Ist Foot, to be Paymaster, vice Galway, retired upon
half-pay.
82nd Foot—Ensign Charles Newton Biggs to be T.ieute-
nant, by purchase, vice Luard, who retires : Arthur Platt
Hensley. Gent., to be Ensign, by purchase, vice Biggs.
Kith Foot—Captain William Henry Orme, from the
3rd Light Dragoons, to be Captain, vice Sitwell, who ex-
changes.
87th Foot—Assistant-Surgeon Benjamin Swift, M.D..
from the 98th Foot, to be Surgeon, vice Staunton, de-
ceased.
08th Foot—Assistant-Surgeon Neil Henry Stewart,
M.D., from the Staff, to be Assistant-Surgeon, vice Swift,
promoted in the 87th Foot.
UssrrscHED.—Captain Jonas Pasley Hardy, from the
58th Foot, to be Maier, without purchase.
Colol3l3SAmAT.—Deputy Commissary-General Henry
James Wild to be Commissary-General.

SATURDAY,

Assistant Commissaries-General Charles Williams,
William Fletcher, and William Fisher Mends, to be
Deputy Commissaries• General.
Deputy Assistant Commissaries•Ueneral Edmond John
M`Mahon, Montague William Darling, Edward Brick-
land, and Kean Gabon, to be Assistant Commissaries.
General. _ _

Commissanat Clerks Arthur West, Walter Thompson
McKinstey, Robert Grey Donalson Selby, James Stewart
Calder Sutherland, Charles Foster, James Bailey,
Matthew Bell Irvine, George Joseph Wrentmore, and
Horace Travers, to be Deputy Assistant Commissarieb•
General.
ADMIRALTY, JAN. 7.
Corps of Royal Marines—Gentleman Cadet John Richard
Mascall to be Second Lieutenant.
COMMISSIONS BY HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS THE WARDEN or

I

JANUARY 14, 1854.

f it tratur t.

History of Europe from the Fall of Napoleon to
the Accession of Louis Napoleon. Vol. 11.
By Sir Archibald Alison, Bart. London :
Blackwood.
WE have read this volume with greater plea-
sure than its predecessor. It has more merits
and fewer faults. Sir Archibald's style is not
indeed perfect: it wants concision, the meta-
',bon are often ungraceful, and occasionally
panigraphs appear so full of repetition, and so
slovenly in their diction, as to seem to resem-
ble rather the improvisation of a second-rate
debater than the deliberate composition of
one who aspires to address posterity. We
could point out, were the task not ungracious,
a dozen such instances within the compass of
a hundred pages, some disfigured by actual
bad taste, others by the mere want of a little
revising care. It is when our author attempts
to be declamatory that he most frequently
breaks down. Oratory, written or spoken, re-
sembles music : a single discord mars the
effect of a whole passage ; and the higher the
style aimed at the more disappointing is the
effect of failure. If an illustration of our
meaning be required, let the reader turn to
p. 463, where the trial of Queen Caroline is
described. Sir Archibald, iu a note relating
to this passage, very candidly admits that he
has taken Macaulay as his model in the art of
word-painting, thereby producing unfavour
able comparison. The model is not one to be
safely copied ; and the author of the " History
of Europe" is the last man who should at-
tempt to copy it. Since Madame D'Arblay's
laborious efforts to write like Dr. Johnson,
there has been no instance of a more unhappy
literary imitation. Fortunately it is confined
to a single scene, occupying less than two
pages. Let the historian rest satisfied that
he has shown what he can do when he likes,
and let him never repeat the experiment.
We dwell on these shortcomings, not be-
cause it is any pleasure to do so, but because
they are of a character to be amended without
more trouble than an author ought to bestow
on a new edition of a great work. If the sub-
stance of this history were not thoroughly
valuable—if the book were not one likely to
live, and be consulted, if not read, a century
hence—we should hardly have paused to coin
ment on inappropriate epithets, ill turned
sentences, and clumsy imagery. Criticism is
wasted where the deficiency lies on the side
of natural gifts ; but Sir Archibald Alison has,
or may have, every quality of a historian—
great accuracy, untiring diligence, lucid order
in the arrangement and statement of facts,
and a style which, by attention, he can render
not unpleasing. His faults are verbal only,
and arise, sometimes, from a straining after
rhetorical effect, for which his mental consti-
tution wholly unfits him ; more frequently
from simple haste, and impatience of the
"limie labor."
The present volume deals with a period of
ten years, from 11414 to 1825; and contains
separate histories of Spain, Italy, Russia,
France, and England during that term. From
so vast a muss of matter it is of course impos-
sible to do more than select here and there,
almost at random, isolated extracts of more
than common interest ; and perhaps no part
of this work will be more generally read at the
present time than that which relates to the
affairs of Eastern Europe. The increase of
Russian power since the overthrow of Napo-
leon's army is ably set forth, and dwelt upon
at length. Setting aside other conquests, the
annexation, virtual though not nominal, of
the Grand Duchy of Warsaw added enor-
mously to the Czar's resources. A territory
exceeding that of Ireland by one-half, and
containing some of the most fertile soil in the
world—a race famous for bravery in war, and
at that time not indisposed towards their new
masters—a frontier advanced to within ten
days' march of Vienna and Berlin—such were
the fruits reaped from success by the most
powerful of England's allies. But the internal
and spontaneous growth of the empire bears
just Proportions to its enlargement from with-
out. No European State, except rmsia, ap-

THE PRESS.

proaches it in the rapidity with which its
population has augmented, the rate of increase
being such as would, if continued, double its
inhabitants in seventy years. But this fact
alone furnishes no fair measure of Russian
development. In France the crowding toge-
ther of multitudes on a narrow area leads to
di▪
stress, disturbance, revolution, and eons°
quent repression. In England emigration
affords a safety-valve, but at the expense of
whatever strength a greater number of work
ing and fighting men might give to the com-
munity in war and peace. Russia, like Ame-
ri▪
ca, has room for all, were she peopled as
densely as the British islands are. Five hn-
dred millions of human beings—one-half the
human race now existing—might find space
within her European territories alone. These
two results must not be lost sight of. Propor-
tionably to the rest of Europe, there is reason
to suppose that her material strength will be-
come greater and greater every year ; while
thatincrease of strength is not accompanied
by any danger from overcrowding, or from in-
sufficiency of the means of maintaining life.
The political power of the nation, remarks our
author, is vastly enhanced by the absence of
class rivalry. The whole people is agricultu-
ral—dispersed, not concentrated—peaceable
in habits and oriental in ideas. The urban
population, forming but one-twelfth of the
whole, possesses little wealth, and exercises
no influence. There is, therefore, among all
classes a general unity of interest, to which
must be added an almost absolute unanimity
—real among the peasantry, of eeted among
the more powerful and educated—in matters
of religious belief. Here are sources of vast
external power, which the concentration of
authority, temporal and spiritual, in one head
serves to direct with equal secrecy and skill.
So far we agree with Sir Archibald; but we
must join issue with him when he passes a
general though far from unqualified eulogy on
the Russian system of internal administration.
With a feeling common to pemons of his east
of mind, especially to those who incline to
rate human nature low, he admires the energy,
the secrecy, and the consistent policy of des-
potism, overlooking or slighting the elements
of weakness and decay which it contains.
We grant that in Russia the experiment is
tried under most favourable circumstances.
We admit that the revolutionary spirit has
never extended to any part of the Russian
dominions, Poland only excepted. We con-
cede that the Russian people are such as our
author forcibly describes them :
They unite the devotion and singleness of purpose of
Asia to the industry and material resources of Europe.
It is incorrect to say that the Russians, like the inhabitants
of England or France, are generally loyal, and only occa-
sionally seized with the disturbing passions of revolution
or religion. They are loyal at all times, and in all places,
and under all circumstances. They can never be brought
to combat the ('zar but in the name of the Czar. Devo-
tion to the throne is so interwoven with the inmost feel-
ings of their hearts that it has become part and parcel of
their very being ; it is as universal as the belief in God
or a future state is in other countries. No disturbing or
rival passions interfere with the unity of this feeling, which
is sublime from its universality, and respectable from its
disinterestedness. The Czar is at once their temporal
sovereign, their supreme chief, whose will is law in all
temporal Malta, and the head of their Church, under the
?Nis of whose protection they alone hope for entrance
into paradise in the world to come. The Patriarch of
Constantinople is, properly speaking, the head of the
Greek Church, but he is a foreigner, and at a distance ; the
real ecclesiastical authority resides in the Czar, who
appoints all the bishops; and his brows are surrounded, in
their eyes, at once with the diadem of the Sultan and the
tiara of the Pontiff.
This unity of feeling—the result of the combination, in
the same people, of the Asiatic principle of passive obe•
dience in temporal, and the Roman Catholic one of unity
of belief in religious concerns—has been much enhanced
in Russia by the entire identity of material interests over
every part of the empire.
A Sovereign reverenced as the terrestrial
impersonation of the Supreme—a clergy
igno-
rant indeed, and fanatical, but numbering
nearly a quarter of a million, and influencing
multitudes who exceed them both in ignorance..
and fanaticism—an administration, both end
and military, thoroughly centralised—rank
conferred and taken away at the pleasure of
the Czar—an aristocracy numerous, and not
devoid of wealth, though debarred from inde-
pendence—universal ignorance, with a preva-
lent system of serfdom—surely, if autocracy be
an effective instrument of human governincut