The Sun.
London, England, 1856-05-17 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

The Russian Empire ; its People, Institutions, and
Resources: By Baron Von Haxthausen, author
Of Trans-Caucasia," &c. Translated by R.
Farie, Esq. 2 Vols. Chapman and Hall.
This work presents some features of novelty in
the consideration of a subject that has been of late
so frequently discussed. It shows us the Russian
empire from a German point of view. Hitherto
the works which have appeared among us on this
topic have been the production of Englishmen, or
of those equally disposed to regard despotism and
slavery with aversion. It is usually advisable to
regard a question from both sides before forming
a decided and unchangeable opinion upon it ; and
it may, therefore, be useful for the attainment of
an unprejudiced decision on the Russian principles
of government to peruse the volumes before us,
and weigh the arguments advanced by its partisans.
It is in this light that we regard Baron Von Hax-
thausen, though he does not declare himself as such
at the outset ; neither are his comments those of
unqualified praise. On the contrary, he admits
many unfavourable statements, and even raises ob-
jections to anything that strikes him• as injurious
to the advancement and civilisation of the
people. Nevertheless, it is easy to perceive to
which-side his opinions incline, and long before the
reader arrives at the open panegyric upon the
Russian Government, in the second volume, he is
on his guard against the favourable conclusions
drawn from the descriptions. He is the less in-
clined to put faith in the political judgment and
foresight of the author from a chapter on the
Russian aggressions in the last century, and his ex-
pression of a firm conviction that scarcely any-
thing would induce Russia to go to war with
Turkey. The work, it must be premised, was
written before the much-disputed Turkish ques-
tion had been heard of. It originally appeared in
three volumes, the first two being published in
1847, the last in 1852; but from the numerous re-
petitions, no doubt caused by the long intervals at
which it was written, and from many details being
only of local interest, such as a minute
description of all the varieties in the agri-
cultural system, the translator has (thought it a).;
visable to abridge it. He informs us in the trans-
lator's preface that the work is already known in
this country in the original German, and in a
French version which has since appeared. The
translation of the present volumes has been made
entirely from the German. In alluding to the
high reputation which Baron Haxthausen has at-
tained, he remarks that whatever opinion may be
formed of his views, the reader cannot fail to be
convinced of the earnest and impartial manner in
which he pursued his investigations. We have
before stated that his opinion of the Russian do-
minion is generally a favourable one, and the
translator is aware of this fact. He says, that
although the translation was commenced during
the war, and was first prompted by the attention
recently drawn towards the state of Russia, it
would be a great mistake to suppose that the book
je indebted to its value for those accidental circum-
stances. Its perusal, he tells us, will be much
more useful when the temporary excitement has
ceased, and in looking forward to its publication
he has often regarded the termination of hostilities
as a favourable time for bringing it before the
public. It is much to be questioned, however,
whether the feeling against Russian des-
potism, and the suspicion with which her
aggressive movements are regarded by the peo-
ple of this country is extinguished with the
conclusion of the war. The author, in his preface,
tells us that for many years he has devoted his at-
tention to the study of rural institutions, as he
calls them, or the relations of the State, the land•
owners and the peasants to one another. Some
twenty years ago he received a commission from
the Prussian Government to prosecute his re-
searches through all their provinces, and draw up
a detailed report on the state of the peasantry.
He spent several years in the prosecution of this
object, which led him to desire still further to ex-
tend his observations on the Slavonic races. For
this purpose he obtained the sanction of the Em-
peror, and started on his expedition in the spring
of 1843. He passed little more than a year in
Russia, and therefore does not pretend to under-
stand the national life in all its bearings ; but, he
says, twenty years of travel have sharpened his ob-
servation for this kind of study, and he therefore
hopes not only to have communicated much that
was unknown, but also to have indicated a new
method of studying Russian life. Instead of con-
fining himself to the capital, his experience has been
chiefly among the peasantry, and with the excep-
tion of the Cossacks, of whose origin he gives a
brief account, he says little of early Russian his-
tory. His book, therefore, though on a subject
that has been very frequently discussed of late, has
some features of originality. But the conclusion
arrived at by the reader is very much the same is
usual. Thus, in speaking of the affection of the
common people lot the Czar, he affords proof of the
slavery to which they are reduced :
" The common Russian (Muzitik) entertains no slavish,
but simply a childlike, fear and veneration for the Czar ;
he loves him with devoted tenderness. He becomes a
soldier reluctantly, but, once a soldier, he has no feeling
of vindictiveness for the coercion exercised upon him,
and serves the Czar with the utmost fidelity. The cele-
brated expression " Przlazeno" (It is ordered), has a
magical power over him. Whatever the Emperor com-
mands must be done; the Russian cannot conceive the
impossibility of its execution ; the orders of the police
even are not worded Zapreshtcheno (It is forbidden), but
Ne prikazeno (It is not ordered). The profound venera-
tion felt for the Czar is also shown in the care of every
thing belonging to him ; the Russian has the deepest re•
spect for the Kaziomne, or property of the Czar. Ka-
ziomne does not die, does not burs in fire, or drown in
water,' says a Russian proverb."
And in speaking of the horror with which enlist-
ment is regarded, and the violence exercised by
the authorities, he says—
" Formerly every levy of recruits was accompanied
by scenes of violence and despair. Men who believed
themselves threatened fled into the woods, and peasants
and soldiers were sent with cudgels and ropes to catch
them. Bloody scenes often occurred. The recruits
were frequently better guarded than our convicts. They
rarely arrived (I speak of past times) without chains at
the depots. A great improvement has no doubt taker,
Place since the condition of the soldier has been erne-
lioristed, and the period of active service diminished ;
and likewise since the increase which has taken place in
the military spirit of the nation. The severe injunctions,
however, against harbouring recruits prove how great is
even now the aversion to the new profession, and how
much the people sympathise with those who escape."
He informs us that "Russia exercises through the
Church a great and secret political influence over
all the Slavonic peoples belonging to the Eastern
-Church, who regard the Russian as the mother
Church ; it practically stands at the head of East-
ern Christendom." On the subject of Russian
aggressions, he speaks with singular inconsistency,
as well as very little judgment. Either he must
be strangely unacquainted with her acquisitions of
territory, or wilfully deceive himself as to her po-
licy. But although he indulges in indignant con-
tradictions of such assertions when made in dispa-
ragement of Russian honour, a little further on he
often forgets himself, and in summing up her grand
achievements reckons triumphantly the provinces
she has gained. Thus, he says—
" There is a widely-spread belief in Europe that Rus-
sia is an ambitious colossus, thirsting after conquest, and
aspiring to universal monarchy. Without referring to the
very problematical possibility of a universal monarchy
at all, or any peculiar qualification for it in this instance,
I believe still less in any view of this kind on the part
of Russia. I know Russia in its internal relations per.
baps better than most persons in Europe, even better
than the majority of Russians themselves, but I cannot
with truth say that I have seen anything to indicate any
tendency of this kind, either in the views of the Go-
vernment or in the ideas and wishes of the people."
Apparently forgetting that a fewspages before he
has told us, in speaking of the southern coasts—
" Here Russia has performed wonders, when we con-
sider that 76 years ago she had not a single point on the
Black Sea. At present she possesses the half of all its
coasts from the mouth of the Danube to the mouth of the
Rion (Phasis), or to the frontier of Asia Miner, an ex-
tent of a thousand miles."
In speaking of the conquests of Russia he divides
them into three. Firstly, " those in which the
chief branch of the people, headed by their prince,
engaged to attain unity in nation and government."
Among these he reckons Kief, the Ukraine, White
Russia, Little Russia, and part of Rod Russia.
The second class of conquests are those which pro-
ceeded from an instinctive belief among the people
in the mission assigned them. These are the con-
quests of the coasts and of the Crimea. The third
consists, he tells us plainly, of conquests in the in
terest of the State, such as the partition of Poland,
the subjection of Finland, the occupation of part
of America, the acceptance of the Crown of Geor-
gia, the conquests of Armenia and Daghestan,
and the Northern districts of Turkey. A.
moderate list for a power which, he tells
us farther on, in the last twenty years has
not conquered a single village. It may easily be
perceived that under one of these convenient ex-
cuses most acts of aggression and breaking of
treaties may be ranked. In justice to the author
we must state that he does not defend this third
class. It is very curious to read his remarks upon
Russia and Turkey. He totally rejects the pro-
bability of a war. From the Peace of Adrianople
the Porte, he says, has had no more staunch friend.
" Were a war to break out from this cause, the whole
of Europe, with England at its head, wou d unite, and
with the latter Power it would be a war to the knife.
Even should Russia for a moment be successful, such a
conquest would always be precarious as long as Europe

exists. Ordinary prudence forbids her to risk so great
a venture, the advantage,; of which, if successful, would
be very problematical ; while, on the other hand, the
preservation of Turkey gives Russia the most advan-
tageous position. The consanguinity and common reli-
gious faith of the majority of the subjects of the two
countries strengthen the influence of the latter so much,
that in all great questions Turkey must invariably follow i
the direction of Russia. All existing treaties afford,ill
the development of her naval power and trade, the
greatest security and the most important advantages ;
the Porte also is well aware that, as Russia has no
greater interest than her preservation, she possesses in
the latter a sure friend and protector, who will defend
her against foreign enemies, and likewise against inter
nal dissolution. If Turkey should fall from this latter
cause, an event which would raise the question of the
partition of the dismembered provinces, then indeed
Russia would demand her share of the booty.
" Conquest for its own sake alOne—the simple lust of
conquest—has lost its attractions since the time of Na-
poleon. No trace of this exists in the Russian people,
and the Government, at least for the last 25 years, has
shown a moderation in this respect which Europe did
not anticipate."

A little further on we meet the following re-
marks :

" Let us glance now at the political position of Russia
in relation to the rest of the world, and first at her rela-
tions with Turkey, in which her most powerful material
interests and spiritual sympathies are involved. Here
the entire former policy and position of Russia have
been changed. To weaken Turkey was the effort of
Peter the Great and his successors, Catherine IL
dreamed of destroying the Turkish empire, and re-estab
lishing the ancient Constantinopolitan throne ; she gave
the name of Constantine to her second grandson. The
present policy of the Russian Government, on the con-
trary, does everything to support and strengthen Tur-
key ; it is indeed superior to the natural and popular
sympathies of the Russians, who see in the Christian
subjects of Turkey their nearly-related oppressed bre-
thren and fellow-believers, and in the Pratriarchate Of
Constantinople their Mother Church."

England's conquests, he exclaims, rarely meet the
censure of the world, while Russia's love of con-
quest has been decried throughout Europe, as be
considers, most unjustly. He devotes several
pages to enforcing his views of her pacific inten-
tions. The effect, however, is slightly marred
when, in the next chapter on the army, he is at'
tacking the incredulity of those who refuse to be-
lieve in the immense military force of Russia, yet,
he says, there is an instinctive feeling of her power

"No man of education or reading can avoid acknow-
ledging that this state has, in the last century and a
half, from being an insignificant country, constituted oil
the Asiatic model, become a great European power
on land indeed the most important of all—one which
forty years ago withstood the power of a man before
whom all the other countries, England alone excepted,
and she only protected by her wooden walls, sank into
the dust ; that, since then, in spite of all the rhetoric of
the West, Turkey has been humbled, Poland laid pros-
trate, and Hungary subdued by the arms of Russia. Na"
poleon's declaration—whether be made it or not—with
rpgard to the future of Europe, sounds the more unplea-
snotty from the fact that a universal, almost oracular,
judgment is attributed to this man in these things.
Thus is it to modern democracy or the Cossacks that
Europe is to fail! "

His assertions that the tyranny exercised over
the people is exaggerated, are scarcely more im-
pressive; at all events it is not very consistent with
English ideas to hear that the houses are built
two and two, that each man may keep guard over
his neighbour, or to know that one of the police
is stationed at the top of every street to keep order
and know who lives in every house. All these,
however, are minor things, but they betray greeS,
principles, and, whatever the effect they produced
on the mind of our German author, we do net
think they will change the prevalent belief in the i
tyranny exercised over the Russian people. It s
very curious to read a description of Sebastopol
and Balaklava, as they looked ten or twelve years
ago, and think of the scenes that they have since
witnessed. The volumes, indeed, are full of in-
teresting details, and from the ease of their style
and excellence of their language, do not remind
the reader that they are a translation. They will
no doubt be extensively read from the literary
celebrity of their author, and from the importance
of their subject. It is not likely they will meet
the views of the generality of readers in this coup'
try; it is not to be desired that they should, but
they are written without bitterness or inconsidere.
tion. There is undoubtedly a vast amount of 111-
formation to be obtained from them of a kind not
prevented by superficial travellers, and they reef,
therefore, lay claim to be considered a valuable
work, though they leave the reader still convinced
that the policy of Russia is aggressive, and the state
of the people an unacknowledged slavery.

Literary Gazette.—The appearance as well as the
value of this critical journal has of late been cork
siderably improved. The typographical arrange'
ments cannot readily be surpassed, while a decided
impulse is given to antiquarian zeal by a page of
excellent illustrative engravings of valuable anti-
quities. Altogether the Literary (gazette seems to
have taken a new lease of popularity.

LAST WRITING OF ADAM MICKILWICZ•

The death of Mickiewicz, the celebrated Polish poets
has been a universal mourning amongst his dompatriots•
Charged with a special mission in the East by the French
Government, who had before appointed him to the place
~f Librarian to the Arsenal, vacated by the death of
Charles Nodier, he would have had it in his power to
have rendered great service to the Polish cause and t.O

the Government by whom be Cadbee:ll;iaied•
Mickiewicz, by the elevation of his mind, by the number
and the variety of his works, bad acquired an European
fame. He had become the national poet of the Slavonia!)
race—that family of 72 millions of men, of which he Was
in a manner the living voice. Like Lord Byron, be
went and died in the East ; like him, surrounded by
soldiers in the camp of war, he fell, in the midst of heaps
of arms, and the thrilling noise of a nation awaking to 0,
new life. The letter we publish was written eight days
before his death, and addressed to the young Prince
Ladislaus Czartoryski, his companion during the voyage,
at the moment of the Prince's departure from Constan-
tinople. We give it as an historical and literary docu-
ment

"Prince,—l have not had the heart to go and see
you, or to converse with you, since your return from the
camp at Burgas ; for a conversation without reciprocal
inccrity could be nothing but idle talking, if not some'
thing worse. Bes;des which, I should only have re-
pented myself in expressing t aths you do not like to
hear, and always receive by enveloping yourself in your
diplomatic reserve. You have desired me to impart
our conversation to Prince Adam, your father ; the per•
onal sentiments I entertain for him made it a duty for
me to declare to him all my thoughts. I have done sop
and concealed nothing from him of what I have said to
you ; adding to this my own observations on the con-
duct you have held since your arrival in the East. 10
my opinion this conduct was a perpetual negation of the
hopes that our compatriots had conceived at the time of
your arrival. You have made your appearance here,
not as the representative of the Polsh cause, but as the
partisan of Mr. Ladislaus Zamoyski, your uncle—with
the mission of neutralising the patriotic projects of
Sadyk Pacha (Czaykowski), ancient chief of the Mussel'
man Cossacks. From the moment I perceived your de-
sign I endeavoured to demonstrate to you, in his tent
even in the camp of Burgas, the necessity of your having
a frsnk understanding with him, and you kept the same
silence as before.

"Seeing at every instant more clearly into your it"
tentioas, I declared to you that it was evident for rile
that there was on the part of Mr. Zamoyski, and on yours,
a fixed plan to expel Sadyk Pacha from the position io
which he had already rendered us so many services, and
in which he might still be so eminently useful to Poland:
ro all this you answered nothing.
"It was then no longer doubtful to me that you came
with instructions already made on the part of Mr. Za-
moyski, and with a weapon sharpened beforehand against
Sadyk Dacha. Had you believed him useless, or seen
hurtful to the future, in that case you ought to have pro-
flounced openly against him ; you ought to have sum-
mooed him to cede the plan to a better and more worthy
man. It was permitted to you to discuss with him, to
combat him, but not to forge arms against him under
his own roof, at his own table ! Poles ! Prince! act
differently. An Arab even, admitted to the hearth,
does not conspire against his host.
You came then to the East, where so many hopes
may arise ; the eyes of so many Poles were turned to.
wards you ! The theatre even on which you were
mounted raised you still higher ! Well, in this country
of promise the first trace you left of your passage was
to publishing that a woman conducted there by you bad
rendered such and such services. Really, Prince, if the
question for you was a reform in the hospitals, it was
necessary, in the first place, to change the doctors, the
infirmaries, and to make use of the funds employed io
their maintenance ; but in no case was it proper to
exact subscriptions from officers who received no pay.
The means employed by you to cause other women to
be received into the Convent gratis appeared to me also,
to speak candidly, ridiculous, and scandalous even for
strangers. A camp of war has not for its sole destina-
tion the accomplishment of works of charity. The Gos-
pel says, "The poor ye have always with you"( St. John,
chap. xii., v. 8). What may not be always with us is
the occasion, perhaps unique, of raising the national
banner on a soil so near our own. This is the first
Polish camp we have had for a long time. God only
knows how long we may have it, such as we have seen
it, even in the midst of its distress, full of life and hope.
" I ought to add that the taimy or rations of war re'
ceived here by Mr. Zamoyski, in his quality of general'
would suffice to maintain an entire hospital. The bean
ideal of this man was, it seems, to become an English
general. He has attained his wish, but his destiny als°,
reaches its term. What would be the future destiny o'
our nation under such a chief ? For myself I cannot
anticipate any that is desirable.
" In expressing to you, Prince, all my grief, I am,
with consideration, &c.,

" AD em lkiliariEwicz.
" Constantinople, Nov. 19, 1855."

The King of Naples is preparing a written justifiaa'
tiou of his pkolicy, to be issued in the form of a letter to
the Austrian Government.