The sun., 1889-04-28

| The pupils who do not begin the dead Ian
| guages until % or IA make such rapid prog
ress that in q few years they regain the timo
| that seemed lost for this study, and which
meanwhile they had moro usefully employed.
Notes OF nm Accomplished Traveller.
OF making books of travel there is no end
| but since George |. Hllard's six Months in
| Italy" we have had none from an American
pen 30 well worth reading as the Winding Jour
neg around the World. by o. W. WIGHT
tHoughton, Mifin & Coz Tho author is we'll
known to his educated fellow countrymen rs
an editor OF Sir William Hamilton's "Philoso-
ply" and as n translator of Pascal, Montnigne
and Cousin. He carried with him the equip
ment. without which man sees but little un.
derstandingly. the indispensable master-key to
the phenomena visible at particular
period. viz. a mind richly stored with
knowledge OF history tho word
being used. OF course. in the broad
sense to include the whole social, Intellectual.
aesthetic. moral and religious, as we'll as polii-
cal past of q given nation. DR.. Wight is not
primarily or mainly student Of art like Hill
lard. n keen inspector Of manners like Haw-
thorne, a profound observer of the ply slcal
and moral traits distinguishing n people. like
Ralph Waldo Emerson. Ho has an eye. in
deed, for all such national characteristics, but
before and above all, he Is an Investigator Of
the political. educational, and economical in
stitutions which collectively constitute the
structure of a nation. Besides the qualiflca-
ton OF far reaching and minute acquaintance
with the past he had the additional advantage
OF comparing the state Of Europe In 1887 with
the very different condition OF many OF Its
countries at the date OF former visit made
thirty years ago. DR.. Wight, In fine. approves
himself. in the book before us. an observer
such as Bacon had in mind in his famous es-
say on travel. and there are but few readers
no matter how extensively they may them
selves have travelled, who will not profit by
discovering in these pages how much they
missed seeing or failed to understand.
We propose to cXempllfy the singular value
OF this book by referring to only one of its
twenty five chapters. that, namely. which treats
OF the place OF Russia in the European system.
By such brief extracts US We shall DO able to
make from this single chapter, the reader can
estimate the scope and merit OF the volume.
DR.. Wight perceives. for instance. and helps us
to appreciate the depth and magnitude Of the
change which has come over Russia In the last
quarter OF n century. since she turned her back
upon the principles and standards OF progress
adopted by Peter the Great He shows us in
carnated in Michael Katkofr the new Russian
spirit which has abandoned the attempt
to reproduce the western type of civilization.
and which has resolutey entered on new
path OF development within rather than out
side OF traditional and national lines. DR..
W!ghts account Of Katkofrs purpose and
achievement is the clearest and fullest that has
been penned by an American. He shows how
the subject OF his sketch-after beginning by
advocating tho transportation OF western
a5 ha
model OF the English Constituton-grew into
apostlcshtp OF Russian nationaism. or.
in other words, came to perceive the
organic existence OF the Russian peo-
pie. and to understand its inner meaning.
If Katkon advocated tho abandonment
Of the liboral university statutes OF 1863.
which he had himself been instrumental in
procuring, it was in obedience to the spirit Of
the Russian nation, whose life he had come to
represent If he was reactionary in politics, it
was because ho had abandoned liberal theories
Of government for the principles vitality inher-
ent in the Russian national existence. '
Russia in him listened 10 her own aspirations
her own rescntments, her own political and re-
ligious beliefs, her own dreams OF vengeance
md ACKNOWLEDGMENT. hcr own worship Of the
spiritual and temporal power OF her rulers
her own contempt for those who would
substitute foreign and alien life which !
she had lived during thousand |
years OF struggle. suffering. and grim battle. |
In him Russia proclaimed that she was her. |
self. that she was not and could not be another. |
Russia understood him, for he uttered the Ian |
guage of her own heart" The author adds that |
he saw Katkoff a few days before his death. He |
had we are told, the look OF one cons clous OF |
having had n mission, at the same time con- |
scious of having completed his toll In this |
world. and already gazing into eternity. The |
terrible earnestness OF conviction still CLEANED |
through his sunken eyes,
DR.. Wight Is also at some pains to correct the |
current misconception of the meaning attached |
by Katkotf to tho word "Panslavism." which
he so often used. 1t was not merely or pri-
marily his intention TO condense In that term
an advocacy OF union Of all Slav peoples. in
cluding. for example, those now independent,
or those comprised within the boundaries OF
Austro-Hungary or Turkey. The essential
feature OF Panslavism. as he employed he
word, was the transformation OF all the Cars
subjects into thorough Slavs or Russians. lie
insisted. in other words, that the non-Slav
fraction OF the population--about q fifth
Of the whole-should DO made completely
homogeneous with tho rest He oontended.
moreover. that the Catholic section Of tho Slav
population, which is principally domiciled In
the old kingdom OF Poland, should be made as
entirely and lrrevocably Russian as the main
body belonging to tho Greek Church. 1t Is. he
points out in conclusion, not so much tho Czar
with his Europeanized bureaucracy aud Ger
nanized military staff, that Is dreaded by Cor
many and Europe, MS the organic Russian peo-
ole OF which KatkofI was the mouthpiece.
Thore Is no part OF this volume which the ma
ure and cultivated reader who himself intends
% visit Europe should overlook. We would. how
,ver. direct particular attention to the chap