THE RUSSIAN SHORES OF THE BLACK SEA. (Concluded from last number.) [From the Times.]

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume IX, Issue 930, 1 July 1854, Page 4

THE RUSSIAN SHORES OF THE BLACK SEA. (Concluded from last number.) [From the Times.]

Against every modern English writer who travels ten miles out of his own country, and thinks it necessary to communicate his impressions to the public on his return, we have one serious charge to bring. Mr, Oliphant, agreeable as he is, doe 3 not escape the censure. Tt matters net how far the writer prosecutes his journey, or how short his stay in foreign par(3 may be, one fault, when he pots pen to p^psr, he is certain to commit. He will evince the greater anxiety to desciibs what we are by no means solicitous to have explained, and he will scarcely notice the things which we are p'ning to make acquaintance with. When Mr. Fortane, that most charming tea-ga-therer, visited Chini, and forced his way into the interior of the country, tea-gathering was his object, and it'was natural enough "that be should talk eternally about plantations ; but how gladly would we have escaped from all his gardens for a quiet half-hour's chat with the Chinaman 'n the bosom of bis family, or for a walk vrith him in his daily haunts of business or of pleasure ! When Dr. Wordsworth, Cinon of Westminster, wrote his uncle's life, he took us to Tlydal Mount, but, instead of knocking al the door like one of the family, and introducing us to the old poet at- his fireside, be positively pulled oat his ruler like an | appraiser, and measured the length and breadth i of the stone steps that led from the poet's garden j to the porch, Men will write about scenery nnd all that, and they will not write about customs, manners, character. The consequence is inevitable. Scenery varies so little, except in the salient points, that the description of one country reads exactly like the description of another. Nor is this all. Unless the delineator of scenery write with the feeling, knowledge, and translating power of a Ruskin, he may describe for an hour without fixing any distinct idea upon the mind of his reader, We will bs sworn that the very words in which Mr, Oliphant, mo3t conscientiously no doubt, portrays Russian scenery have been employed by doaens of his literary predecessor! in I depicting the peculiar landscapes of France, Italy, Spain, South America, and Australia. " Stretching away to tho north," he writes on one occasion, "the eye ranged over a vaat expanse of couutry, thinly doited irith villages and church spire 3." He travels a little further, and then " from the heights we had a lovely view of the river, as the last rays of a most brilliant sunset shed & warm glow over the vast basin, beautifully tinting," &c. Then "curling wreaths of blue smoke ascended from clumps of trees scattered over the park-like scenery, while large herds of. cattle seemed from their dirainutiveness," &c. Such paiuting will do for any canvas, and is not worth much when it is before us. Old Dr. Johnson, who eared nothing for scenery, and would have committed suicide on tbe Downs at Brighton, could he but have found one solitary tree on which to hang himself, was not very far from tbe mark when be asserted that no history has any great value but a history of manners, and for tbe simple reason that it comes directly home to us all. If at any time we may demand such a history, it is surely when our authors introduce us to new countties and to strange people ; and Mr. Oliphant has tohl us much less than he might of tbe occupations and manners of tbe inhabitants of Russia. The brief glimpses that we get here and there throughout his volume of Russian or Tartar life make us the more regret that the author has been generally so chary of his observations on human life. Tbe short chapter, for instance, in which Mr. Oliphant describes the sudden change which the whole aspect of nature seemed to undergo when he quitted Sebastopol, the modern city of barracks and dockyards, and almost immediately afterward* entered Bagtcl.e Serai, the ancient capital of Crim Tartary, is full of interest of the roost welcome kind. Nothing, it would appear, is altered on this spot. The Tartar population is the same that it ever was : no sign exists of the great change that has taken place in the condition of tbe Tartar, or of the presence of that barbaric power to which the Tartar has succumbed. The town itself is embosomed in luxurious vege-

tation, Minarets rise like a forest from the soil, and the stamp of the East dwells emphatically upon everything. " But for the Cossack," says our writer, " who stands sentinel in the archway of the Palace of the Khans, those deserted halls might yet be filled with the turbaned retinue of former years, and the empty harem still occupied by dark-eyed houris." It was alow state of Eastern civilization that the traveller beheld, and at Sebastopol, just before, be had been face to face with the most advanced condition of a great European Power ; his sympathies, nevertheless, were with the fading past, not with the fierce and savage present. The streets were thoroughly Oriental ; tbe display of goods in the open shops was, as usual, wonderful. The owner of the shop sat in his accustomed fashion, cross-legged upon his counter, and tbe main street, as narrow as it could be, though a, mile long, was crowded with Tartars, Jews, and Gipsies. For tbe first time in Russia, Mr. Oliphant called for his dinner in a Tartar cookshop. It was a corner house, and a cloud of fragrant steam arose from it. A number of people vrere standing there, " diving into hugs projecting cauldrons of soup, whence they extracted square pieces of fat, which they devoured with a great relish while strolling about among ths crowd.'* The Englishman, preferring his ease at bis inn to such public feasting, entered tbe Caling-bouoe, and took his place' on a narrow bench •' behind a very fijthy plank, intended to serve a3 a fesiire board." His place exposed him to the street, and great mutual satisfaction was derived by the Tartars who from the outside stared at bira, and by him, who ,from the inside ttared upon the Tartan. Tbe meal was brought. It was in charge of tbe cook, who carried a boiled sheep's head in one hand, while the other hand tried hard to catch tbe gravy that trickled through bis fingers upon a loaf of black bread. Tbe sbeep'o bead, the gravy, and tbe bread were all deposited on the filthy plank, and the functionary then retired. "We forthwith proceeded with our penknives," says Mr. Oliphant, "to diocuss the oheep's head, which seems to have been previously stripped of everything bat the eyes ; and, with the addition of some kibaubs (square piecea of fat strung upon a reed) succeeded in accomplishing a meal which sustained us for the rest of the day." ! Coarse as the Tartar fare might be, Mr. Oliphant avers that be found far more solid comfort at all tiroes in the enjoyment of rude Tartar hospitality than in the beet Russian houses of entertainment in the Crimea. " Nothing bears looking into in Russia f" When on board the steamer that took our traveller to Odessa, he was informed that Odessa combined in itself all tbe appliances, conveniences, a«d charms of all the capitals in Europe. Arriving at the town, he discovered, to his disgust, that, although the place contains 100,000 inhabitants, it could not boast one public conveyance to take him out of it ! In other respects he suffered equal disappointment. When he visited Yalta, a rapidly rising and glaring watering-place on the south of ths Crimea, mod frequented by the inhabitants of Sebastopol and Odessa, be put up at " Tbe Grand Hotel," and his reception there contrasted singularly with the fine-sounding title of the house. Upon arriving, he walked through an archway and up s stair, but saw nobody. At last he discovered a alovenly-lookiug fellow, whose attention be called indignantly to the baggage below. The slovenly fellow answered politely, expressed sympathy, and insinuated that he was tbe Prince Galitzin. (There are, says Mr. Oliphant, 300 Prince Galatzins in Russia.) at his own rndeness, the traveller apologised, ran »p and down stairs, and at length came upon a man *ah a cigar in his mouth. Profiting by experience, he was now very polite, and respectfully intimated a wish to see the master of the hoaso. The man walked off — evidently offended — he was tbe man himself — and shouted down the long passages for his subordinates. When these came, a room was found for the traveller — a small unearpeted chamber, with a very dirty floor, containing a hard couch, a harder stretcher, (meant for a bed), a table, and a chair. Three, and fourpence a-nigbt vrere asked for the accommodation. The traveller complained, wrangled, and then a basin and jug were thrown into the bargain. As an extra favour, one well-used sheet w»3 spread upon the hard mattress of the stretcbir — so well used, in fact, that tbe mattress and stretcher were all tbe more desirable without the luxury. " Milk and butter were quite unknown at tbe Grand Hotel at Yalta, and eggs wore only procurable at an enormous price, while vegetables were unheard of accompaniments to dinner. There were no means of calling the servant, except by wandering through the passages shouting ' Chelaviek.' Of course, the 'cbelaviek' was always in a distant part of the establishment when he was wanted ; indeed, considering that there was owly one, this was not extraordinary." And this is a description of a first-class hotel in a fashionable watering-place, patronized by the civilised inhabitants of Odessa and Sebastopol — a type, we are given to understand, of hotels throughout the Russian empire. An interesting chapter is devoted to the character and country of the Don (Jossacks. It is well known that a great proportion of the army i engaged in the Caucasus consists of these warlike people, who inhabit the adjoining province*, the Don Cossack being regarded by tbe Russians as sent into the world for the express purpose of fighting their battles. The Don Cossacks are the most compound beings in existence; they are a mixture of half-a-dozen races, but ethnologists have not been able to decide their origin any more than etymologists have succeeded in fixing the true derivation of their name. It is certain that they are bigoted adherents of the Greek Church, and have been Christians from the earliest periods at which they appear as a distinct people. It is also certain that the Cossacks bear an unmitigated hatred towards the Russians. They have been deprived by their masters of nearly all their privileges. Formerly they belonged to a free republic, and were responsiblo to none hut their Hetman or President ; now they are the merest slaves, like tbe rest of their fellow subjects in the other Russian provinces. Formerly, too, the distinction of rank was unknown, and there was a community in landed property. /*Now there is a Don Cossack aristocracy ; the whole district has been divided into estates, and serfdom is established. Every ! Cossack is destined to become a solJier from bis birth, and as soon as he can bear arms is employ- | ed as a target for Circassian riflemen, or exposed ! to the onslaughts of Kirghese robbers upon the

Thibet frontier. The effect of this system of using op the life-blood of an entire province in the prosecution of war is to depopulate one of the noblest portions of the empire and to throw avray the useful energies of its most enterprising people. By a reference to Government reports, Mr. Oliphant ascertained that the whole population of the province amounted to 700,000, spread over an extent of 3,000 square German miles, " thus allowing an exceedingly low average of about 240 inhabitants to the square mile, which gives forty acres of excellent pasture-land to each individual. When we divide the soil under cultivation by the population, it appears that each inhabitant cultivates about 8 acres, or an extent of nearly two acres more than the inhabitants of any other province. When we consider," continues the writer, " the interruptions to their labours caused by their liability to serve as soldiers, and tbedecrease of the popula tion by the absence of nearly 100,000 already so engaged, we are fairly entitled to conclude that the Don Cossacks are amongst the most energetic of His Imperial Majesty's subjects." Of all the ill-used provinces of Russia, Me country of the Don Cossacks fares the worst. Its soil is fertile, its herds of cattle are countless, its peasantry are hardy, and still possessed of the activity of which serfdom will ultimately rob them ; and yet all the advantages are sacrificed to that lust of war, which, even while we write is hurrying the Russian ruler blindly to his ruin. Should that lust seek its gratification at all costs, Mr. Oliphant takes some pains to show bow deeply all the nations of the West will be involved in the disastrous events to which it wilt give rise, and how vain it will be for Austria, or any other Power seeking neutrality or attempting a double part, to escape the inevitable consequences of a general conflagration. He also points out, to the great comfort of his readers, that should the Russian Autocrat proceed to extremities at the eleventh hour for the support of his most audacious claims, he will play the most desperate game ever ventured upon by a gambler at the crisis of his fate. The position of Russia at this moment with respect io the civilized world we already know. She has isolated herself from, the nations of Europe, and attempted to elevate burglary to the dignity of a State virtue. She has sooght to confound men's notions of right and wroDg, and placed every country anxious for liberty and justice in the attitude of self-defence. To suppose that a solitary marauder, however mighty, haa power to defeat a world in arms for the vindication of justice is to argue against all •probability and experience. But the danger that threatens the Autocrat from without is as nothing, if we are to credit impartial observers, compared with the perils that environ him within. Mr. Oliphant reminds us that an extent of territory comprising one-half of what is called Russia in Europe has been annexed within the last 60 years — "That, consequently, more than half of the European inhabitants of the empire, having heen recently subjugated, are more or less disaffected; thai, of these, sixteen millions, or about one-fourth of the entire population of Russia, do not profess the Greek faith; that his Mahomedan subjects alone amount to two trillions and a half ; and that tho protection of the Greek religion has been proclaimed as the ground upon which the present antiMahomedan crusade was commenced." In looking at the several nationalities of which the errpire is composed, it is impossible to conclude that the master of them all can at any time, and especially in the hour of danger, Tely npon their united zeal or honest co-operation. Wlnt, asks Mr. Oliphani, will be the temper of the Lutheran nnd Roman Catholic inhabitants of the Baltic provinces, should it become necessary to blockade and harass the shores of the Baltic ? Will they welcome ruin in the cause of a religion they despise, and to gratify »he ambition of a despot whom they do not love ? Is it difficult to suppose that at such a tim- sympathy with Poland will be expressed from the Baltic, and have we at this day to learn what a bitter yell of triumph such sympathy would evoke from Polish breasts ? For two thousand miles along the shores of the Black Sea stretches a vast tract of corn-growing coun'ry. That tract is made up of provinces torn from Turkish rule. As the conflict progresses, will these provinces grow more loyal in their attachment to the yoke under which they have murmured ? Bessarabia o^ves no love to the Muscovite, and the republican country of the Don Cossacks contains a disaffected population of 700,000 inhabitants, bound to a military service which drags them from the cultivation of their soil, from their homes and natural ties. Again — " Over all that country, from the more western province of Taurida, and the fertile shores of the Sea of Azoff to the salt deserts of the Caspian, restlessly wander half a million of Calirmcks and Nogays, who, hovering upon the northern frontier of the Caucasus, are a continual source of uneasiness and suspicion *-o the Government, which has plundered thetn of all their ancient rights, and reduced lo a state of degradation the miserable remnant of a tribe that has escaped from the yoke of the Czar to find a refuge under the milder sway of his Celestial Majesty." We have already seen that in the Crimea 3 settled Tartar population still exists, and, should Ottoman troops, during a time of war, land upon the coasts, it is not too much to suppose that the ancient spirit may awaken, and thousands take courage to rise in defence of the old faith. We believe with Mr. Oliphant, that from the Baltic to the Black Sea, from the shores of the Danube to the banks of the Phasis, there exists an indissoluble bond of common sympathy, and that the bond is not affection for the despotic ruler who has trampled the liberties of one and all under foot. It may well be that, without opportunity, the widely separated provinces and the wholly distinct races might never take counsel together, or act upon a common impulse, or rise with one united purpose. It is more, than possible that the great military system under which the whole empire is kept in check is, T fn'time of peace, sufficiently strong and active to prevent organization and to stifle conspiracy. But when the flame of universal war shall once burst f ort h — when the great Autocrat himself shall give the word to loofen the mighty though cumbrous machinery of his overgrown empire, who shall fix the point where disaffection shall stop — where anarchy cease — where the work of destruction finally rest ?