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    November 12, 1853.] THE LEADER, 1097

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    RUSSIAN SHORES OF THE BLACK SEA. The Rti...

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    Books On Otjll Table. J'Yasrr's Magazine...

    Paul Peabody . 6 d . W . S . Orr and Co The Portrait Gallery . 2 s . 6 d . W . S . Orr and Co The Poultry Book . 2 s . Qd . W . S . Orr and Co The Cossack and , the TitrJe . By A . J . Joyce . Is . H . VizeteUy ' The Biographical Magazine . 6 d . . „ Partridge and Oakey ' The A B O , or Alphabetical Railway Ghiide . 6 d . . ' W . Tweedie ' The . Last Leaf from Sunny Side . By H . Trusta . Is , Clarke , Bccton , and Co * Twelve Months of Matrimony . By E . Carlen . Is . Qd . " Clarke , Beeton , and Co * Poems . By Anna Blackwell . John Chapman . Phrenology , Psychology , and Pneumatology ; or , the Importance of Training the Whole Being . By an Introviser . John Chapman .

    November 12, 1853.] The Leader, 1097

    November 12 , 1853 . ] THE LEADER , 1097

    Russian Shores Of The Black Sea. The Rti...

    RUSSIAN SHORES OF THE BLACK SEA . The Rtissian Shores of the JBlacTc Sea in the Antumn of 1852 . With a Voyage down the Volga , and a Tour through the Country of the Don Cossacks . By Laurence Oliphant . Price 14 * . Blackwood . This is a book of travels distinguished from the majority of such books by the freshness of its matter , the importance of its political information , especially at this time , and the unusual simplicity and trustworthiness of its treatment . Mr . Olrphant has not only travelled where fewEuropean travellers have been before him , but he has wandered amid scenes of which every one is anxious to hear . He writes in a direct , unaffected style ; the graphic style of one who has an eye for the picturesque , without the rhapsodical disposition which so frequently makes us fervently wish there were no such tiling as the picturesque , since it produces such hysterics . His drawings and clear , rapid descriptions , set objects before our eyes with unpretending vividness ; and the notes he jots down are always worth attending to . From Cronstadt to Orsova is a tour of sufficient extent and interest for a work

    twice the size of the present , as the reader , on turning to the map , will perceive ; including , as it does , St . Petersburgh , Moscow , Novgorod , Kazan , Simbirsk , Saratov , the Don , Crimea , Sevastopol , Ismael , & c . Mr . Oliphant galloped through the country ; but he observed well , as this volume shows . Very curious is it to wander with him through this barbarous and corrupt empire , more radically and viciously barbarian than any other empire we have to deal with :- * - " Nothing bears looking into in Russia , from a metropolis to a police-office : in either case , a slight acquaintanceship is sufficient ; and first impressions should

    never be dispelled by a too minute inspection . No . statement should be questioned , however preposterous , where the credit of the country , is involved ;• and no assertion relied upon , even though it be a gratuitous piece of information—such as , that there is a diligence to the next town , or an inn in the next street . There is a singular difficulty in getting at the truth , probably originating with subordinate officials , whose duty it seems to be to deceive you , and whose support is derived from bribes which you give them for their information . Whatever may be the cause , the effect certainly is , that a most mysterious secresy pervades everything ; and an anxious desire is always visible to produce an impression totally at variance with the real state of the case . "

    Mr . Oliphant furnishes abundant evidence ; we shall borrow a passage or two from Mm . Here , for example , is something for the teetotallers ' : — " Men , while in a state of intoxication , have , in tins country , an especial claim upon the protection of the government , since the sums drawn from the monopoly of Vodka form an important item of the revenue . That there was a due appreciation of the obligation conferred by either party , I learned from a Russian gentleman , who told me that the police had strict orders not to take up any person found drunk in the streets . The numbers of tipsy men who reeled unnoticed about the large towns seemed living testimonies to the accuracy of this statement . " While tolerant of drunkards , Russia is severe on smokers : —

    " But while every encouragement is given to an extensive and public consumption of the juice of the grape , the fragrant weed enjoys no such immunity ; far from it—a most determined war is waged against all smokers . A policeman will regard with complacency the besotted mujik , stumbling up against every passenger ho meets ; but if perchance he detect the aroma of tobacco , or see the end of a cigar li ghting up some dark dismal street , ho pounces down upon the lucklcHH wayfare r , who has trusted to tho shadows of night to conceal his unlawful act , and barbarously demands from him the sum of three rubles . "Tho mujikfl certainly show themselves sensible of the consideration which prompts this exception in favour of their besetting vice , by behaving in a most inoffensive manner while under the influence of their potations ; nor , after they become sober , do they seem possessed with any other feelings than those of gratitude and self-satisfaction . " This again is worth notice : —

    " Whatever may bo tho morals of the poasantry in remote districts , those living in tho tows and villages on tho Volga are more degraded in their habits than ; my other people amongst whom I have travelled ; and they can hardly bo said to disregard , nineo they have never boon acquainted with , tho ordinary decencies of life . What hotter result can indeed ho expected from a system by which tho upper filaNBcH arc wealthy in proportion to tho number of Hurls posscmed by each proprietor ? Tho rapid increase of the population in no loHsan object with tho privates serf-owner , than tho extensive consumption of ardent spirits is desired by the government . Thus each vice is privileged with especial patronage . Marriages , in tho Russian House of tho tonu , aro consummated at an early ago , and are arranged i , y tho steward , without consulting thu parties-- tho lord's approval alono being necessary . Tho pricoofa family ranges from 2 Fd . to 4 \ U . Our captain had fcalton his wifo on a lease of h ' vo yearn , tho rout for that term amounting to fifty rubles , with tho privilege of renewal at tho expiration of it . "

    Turning from tlio moral to tho " comfort" side of civilization , we select , on I ,, ofa . foarn . il . array , the following graphic account , of TJlAVisIililNO- . IN Tilli COHHA . 0 K HVlOIM'ICS . "Anil now , for tho following nijrht and day , our journey prosentH one unwearied monotony ; ono undulation iH as liko another a . s aro tho post-statioiiH : generally , on arriving at , ono of l , hene , not , a soul is to he seen- -a solitary chicken , jiorohed on the whnel of a broken-down cart , is tho only visible sign of life . At J ynglh , after sundry ineffectual attempts to open tho door of the wooden cabin , a h ovonly woman looks out , followed by three or four ragged brats . Ono of tho ululdroii immediately disappears upon the steppe , returning in about half an hour with a hoarded sullen-looking man , who , without deigning a remark , mounts one <> 1 the last team , and gallops away as if he never meant to oomo hack : presently , However , half-a-dozon horses are seen rattling at full Hpeed down a distant slopo , followed by two men—our sullen friend and his sullen friend , whom ho seems to have piokod up somewhere with tho horses . By this time our yaniHchik , or driver , Horn tho last nlnoo , him succeeded in loosening the rope , which nor von aa a

    polostrap , and which has hitherto been continuall y breaking on the side of every hil just when it was most wanted ; upon the last occasion , however , he had apparentlysucceeded in getting it into a most permanent knot . Meantime three horses are selected from those which , have just been driven into a sort of kraal—the work of harnessing begins , and occupies another half-hour . Notwithstanding all the experience which the driver brings to bear upon the subject of the pole-ropes , they prove a dreadful puzzle , and are evidently quite a modern and hitherto unseen

    invention . "At length everything is ready , The last driver is thrown into ecstasies at receiving a vodka of fourpence , after having driven us fifteen miles ; the new driver is no less enchanted at the prospect of a similar magnificent remuneration while the original sullen-looking man , who has been engaged inspecting and writing on our padaroshna , emerges with a grim smile on his countenance , and charges a ruble , by way of a good round sum , for the nexffifteen miles , instead of the proper price , which is only eighty copeks ( 2 s . 8 d . ) Theyainschik then mounts the box in high spirits , and after haring thus wasted an hour or two we are off again venire a terre , down one pitch and up another , regardless of the ditch at the bottom , over which the carriage and horses take a sort of flying leap , much to our discomfiture . Our delays , however , are too long and numerous to admit of any remonstrance affecting our speed , and the yamschik con tinues to earn his vodk a bv

    undergoing the most tremendous exertion . He shouts , arid curses , and applauds , and whistles , and yells without ceasing , flourishing his whip over his head / by way of a hint that the lash may come down , which , however , it very seldom does ; for the horses , being without blinkers , invariably take the hint , and seem not to require much pressing . He is a picturesque figure altogether , this Don Cossack yamschik , with his huge red mustache , the ends of which are visible protruding on both sides of his head , as we sit behind him . He wears a grey fur cap , and a blue tunic reaching halfway to the knee , bound round the waist with a red sash . A huge pair of jack-boots , into which his loose trousers are thrust , complete a costume which , though not altogether unlike that of the ordinary Russian peasant , somehow invests the wearer with a greater degree of independence . In an hour and a half he has jolted us to the end of our stage , where the same delay occurs , and the same scene is re-enacted . "

    Of these Cossacks Mr . Oliphant has no lofty opinion , and regards even their bravery as somewhat mythical . — " One thing is certain , that , whether springing from the same stock or not , the Cossacks cherish a most unmitigated hatred toward the Russians . They have been insidiously deprived of almost every privilege which they once possessed , and from being a free republic , responsible to no one but their own Hetmaii or President , they have sunk into the same condition of slavery as the inhabitants of the neighbouring provinces . In former days the distinction of rank was unknown—now , there is a Don Cossack aristocracy ; then , there was a community in landed property—now , the whole district has been divided into estates , and serfdom established ; and those who , as crown peasants , would be comparatively free in other districts , are here subject at any moment to be pressed into the army . Indeed , it is a most unfortunate thing for these poor Don Cossacks , that they have obtained that character for bravery which the Russians are at the greatest pains to attribute to them . In the course of my later travels I fell in with a Hungarian officer who

    had been present at many of the skirmishes in the Caucasus , and who assured me that the valour of tho Don Cossacks wan one of those popular delusions which tho government is most anxious to encourage ; for it answers the double purpose of flattering the vanity of a discontented race , who are thereby rendered more easily subservient to their designs , and of inspiring-a wholesome dread into other nations , who have hitherto been accustomed to regard them with a mysterious awe , and to conjure up monsters of appalling ferocity , and of a terrific aspect , as representatives of the high-sounding title by which they are distinguished . The Circassians have , by dint of frequent contact , learnt to estimate these formidable warriors at their true value , and hold them in almost as great contempt as they do the ordinary Russian soldier . It must he remembered that , in those campaigns in which the Cossacks have distinguished themselves , it was only by contrast with other Ruatiian troops ; and it is rather for their barbarity and cruelty in harassing a retreating army that they are celebrated , than for any . satisfactory displays of real valour . "

    Mr . Oliphant accomplished tho oxciting , but perilous feat of entering Sevastopol , and getting out again without being detected . His inspection oi the ltussian navy did not insrjire him with terror . Indeed , like all wellinformed persons , he declines to accept the bugbear idea of Kussiau power .- — " The wages of the seamen are so low—jibout sixteen rubles a year—that it is not unnatural they should desire to increase so miserable a pittance by any means in their power . Tho consequence is , that from the members of tho naval board to tho boys that blow the smiths' bellows in the dockyard , everybody shares tho spoils obtained by an elaborately devised system of plunder carried on somewhat in this way : —A certain quantity of well-seasoned oak being required , government issues tenders for the supply of the requisite amount . A number of contractors submit their tenders to a board appointed for the purpose of receiving

    them , who are regulated in their choice of a , contractor , not by the amount of his tender , but of his bribe . Tho fortunate individual selected immediately Hub-contracts upon a somewhat similar principle . Arranging to be supplied with tho timber for half the amount of his tender , tho sub-contractor carrioH on the game , and perhapu the eighth link in this contracting- chain i . s tho man who , for an absurdly low figure , undertakes to produce the seasoned wood . " llis agents in the central provinces , accordingly , float a quantity of green pines and firs down the Dnieper and I 5 og to Niohoiaftfl ) which are duly handed up to the head contractor , eaeh man pocketing the difference between his contract and that of bin neighbour . "When the wood in produced before the board appointed to inspect it , another bribe Heanons it , and tho government , after paying tho price of well-seasoned oak , is surprised that the J . ! iO gun-ship , of which it ban boon built , is unfit for Horvico in five years .

    " The rich harvest that in reaped by those employed in building and fitting her up is as easily obtained ; ami to sueh an extent did the dockyard workmen trado in government stores , & e ., th ; tt merchant . vesHisls were for a long time prohibited from entering the harbour . I was not surpririod , after obtaining thin interesting description of Russian ingenuity , to learn thai , out of the imposing array before us , there wens only two ships in a condition to undertake a voyage round tho Cape . "If , therefore , in estimating tho strength of the Russian navy , we deduct tho shi ps which , for all practical purposes , are ini . seaworthy , it will appear that tho lllauk Hea fleet , that standing bugbear of the unfortunate forte , will dwindle into a force more in proportion to its limited sphere of action , and to the enemy which in the absence of any other European power , it would encounter . There m no reason to suppose that the navy forms an exception to the rule , that all the groat national institutions of Russia are artificial . The . Emperor and the army are not to bo regarded in that light ; , though tho latter ivill doubtless bo glad of an early

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 12, 1853, page 17, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_12111853/page/17/