ART. IV.-1. Etudes sur la Situation Intérieure, la Vie Nationale, et les Institutions Rurales de la Russie. Par le Baron Auguste de Haxthausen. 3rd volume. Berlin, 1853. 2. The Shores of the Black Sea. Edinburgh, 1853.

By Lawrence Oliphant, Esq.

3. The Russians of the South. (Traveller's Library.) By Shirley Brooks, Esq. London, 1854.

4. La Russie Contemporaine. Par L. Leouzon le Duc. Paris, 1853.

5. Der Russisch-Türkische Feldzug in der Europäischen Turkei 1828 und 1829. Dargestellt durch Freiherrn von Moltke. Berlin, 1845.

6. The Speech of the Earl of Shaftesbury in the House of Lords on Friday, March 10th, on the Manifesto of the Emperor of Russia. London, 1854.

THE

HE present aspect of affairs in Europe gives the British public a strong interest in measuring the forces and the energy of the great antagonist, whose duplicity and aggression call forth the fleets and armies of England to battle after an unbroken peace of forty years. Supported by the unanimous opinion of the country, and by the assent of the most conservative states of Europe-by the court of Vienna, as well as by that of Paris-England presents herself once more in arms, and at the head of a combination scarcely less formidable than that which established the peace of Europe on a firm and lasting basis in 1815. Yet it has seldom happened to any nation to engage in hostilities with a foreign power whose real strength and resources are so imperfectly known. No other empire but that of Russia ever succeeded in keeping so vast a portion of the globe a secret and a mystery from the rest of mankind. We know that she possesses territories wider than the realms of Tamerlane; we are told that the troops under her banners are as countless as the hosts that followed Napoleon when he was the master of Europe. But so little can be added with certainty to these facts, that we alternately hear the power of Russia described as the scourge and terror of Europe, or as a public imposture, to be crumpled up by the mountebanks of the hustings. The events of the coming year will determine with greater accuracy the truth of these conflicting statements. Already we have seen that in diplomatic warfare the boasted influence of Russia even over her nearest allies is no match for the straightforward vigilance and honest resolution of England in a just and legal cause. Nor do we anticipate greater success for the military and naval power

of

of the Russian empire. The true source of national greatness, in a contest like that in which we are about to engage, lies in the social condition and political institutions of an empire, since they supply that vigour and bottom by which the efforts of military power can alone be sustained.

It is, therefore, to these questions that we propose at this time to direct our attention; and we have placed at the head of the works now before us the third volume of Baron von Haxthausen's elaborate survey of the social condition of Russia, although the former volumes of this publication have already been noticed at some length in this Journal. But, upon the whole, this book is, in spite of its partiality and its defects, the most complete account we have met with of the condition and resources of the Russian empire, and more especially of the peculiar institutions and character of the Russian people. Although the Baron more than once expresses surprise in the course of his labours that no natural born Russian should have attempted the task which he has executed, he supplies this deficiency by a warmth of Russian feeling which is not common to the west of the Vistula. He assures us that he spent his time in Moscow, with the cream of Muscovites, and drank his notions of Russian policy and administration from the well of Russia undefiled. His work is, in fact, an elaborate panegyric on the empire and the people of Russia; and though we are not displeased to learn all that can be said on this subject by so favourable a witness, we are not very powerfully affected by the picture he attempts to draw of the strength of the Imperial Government. It is evident, however, that the broad propositions for which our author contends are regarded in Russia as fundamental truths, and are supposed to establish a sort of superiority and ascendancy in the political relations of the empire over other nations. No such propositions can, in our judgment, be consistently maintained. They are unsupported by facts, and they will not sustain argument. They are the offspring of a state of society in which public discussion is unknown; and whenever Russian institutions are brought into more direct contrast or commexion with those of Europe, we have very little doubt that the superstitious veneration of their admirers, and the exaggerated appre hensions of many of their antagonists, will be alike dispelled.

According to Baron von Haxthausen, 'the historical mission of the Russians is to serve as mediators between Europe and Asia, and to transmit to the East the civilisation of the West.' He compares the position of the Russian empire to that of the Roman empire in the early ages of the Christian era, when the propagation of Christianity was assisted by the universal domi

nion of the imperial power of Constantine and Justinian. He contends that it is impossible to deny that, in the present state of Europe, the Russian empire does really represent the Empire of the East, and the Russian Church the Church of the East. And he attempts to show that the political and military organization of the empire are precisely the conditions requisite for the maintenance of this position, and the accomplishment of these designs. We shall examine, with the assistance of this author and of one or two other witnesses, the accuracy of these startling propositions; and we think it may be shown that Russia is as ill prepared to transmit to the East the civilisation of Europe as she is to crush the liberties of Europe by the barbaric hordes of the East. Her distinguishing characteristics are still Asiatic, and the efforts she has made to engraft her influence on the ancient states of Europe have borne only crude and imperfect fruit.

The primary condition of the political and social institutions of Russia is the doctrine of passive obedience which pervades all the relations of the people to the state, in domestic life, and even in the avocations of daily business. Military organization is the form in which this passive obedience of the nation has been armed for the purposes of aggression or of defence. To this principle every institution or usage of the country seems to be referred or resolved.

The feeling of the Russians is not so much one of deep attachment to their country as of ardent patriotism. Their country, the country of their ancestors, the Holy Russia, the people fraternally united under the sceptre of the Czar, the communion of faith, the ancient and sacred monuments of the realm, the tombs of their forefathers-all form a whole which excites and enraptures the mind of the Russians. They consider their country as a sort of kinsmanship to which they address the terms of familiar endearment. God, the Czar, and the priest, are all called "Father," the Church is their "Mother," and the empire is always called "Holy Mother Russia." The capital of the empire is "Holy Mother Moscow," and the Volga "Mother Volga." Even the high road from Moscow to Vladimir is called "Our dear mother the high road to Vladimir." But above all, Moscow, the holy mother of the land, is the centre of Russian history and tradition, to which all the inhabitants of the empire devote their love and veneration. Every Russian entertains all his life long the desire to visit one day the great city, to see the towers of its holy churches, and to pray on the tombs of the patron saints of Russia. "Mother Moscow" has always suffered and given her blood for Russia, as all the Russian people are ready to do for her.'-p. 151.

Such is the national sentiment of the Russians, but their social unity must be described in greater detail. We insert, in a

note,

note, a correct table* of the population and extent of the empire, which may serve to elucidate the Baron's remarks :

* Area and Population of the Russian Empire.

• More

In respect to Race, the population of the Russian Empire may be classed approximatively, as follows:

"More than a hundred peoples, speaking a hundred different idioms, inhabit the surface of the Russian Empire. But almost all these peoples are scattered along its frontiers. The whole interior is inhabited by one sole race, that of the Russians proper. The Russian race alone consists of about 50 million souls, whilst all the other tribes of the empire put together do not exceed 15 millions.

'No other state in Europe possesses so numerous a population belonging to one nation. Even France contains but 32 millions of Frenchmen out of 35 or 36 millions of inhabitants; and Great Britain about 19 millions of Englishmen out of 30 millions of inhabitants. The German nation only, if we reckon in it the Dutch and Flemings, approaches the numbers of the Russian people; but Germany is far from having any organized political union, and is more divided into petty states than any other nation. Russia presents a different aspect; it has all the signs of compact nationality. The 36 million inhabitants of Great Russia speak identically the same language, from the highest classes to the lowest, from the Emperor to the peasant. The dialects of the White Russians and of 7 millions of Little Russians is slightly different, but still comprehensible. To this complete unity of language must be added, among the Great Russians, the most surprising uniformity of manners and customs. Whilst Germany presents on this score an infinite variety of local distinctions, the uniformity of the whole of Great Russia is absolute; and, though this monotony is not poetical, it greatly increases the political strength of the country (?).

Another still more important element of political strength is the unity of the Russian Church. This unity is complete amongst the Little Russians and Ruthenians, a few of the latter only being in communion with the Church of Rome. The Great Russians are divided by a schism, but the Staroverzi (or members of the old faith) have seceded from the Established Church, not on the grounds of doctrine, but of ceremonial usages.

Although the first Russian empire, which was governed by Rurik, was founded by Normans (the Varangians), who must have introduced into Russia the fundamental Germanic institutions and the principles of the feudal system, this system never took root amongst the Sclavonian population. On the contrary, all the popular institutions of Russia assumed the patriarchal character, which is peculiarly adapted to the Sclavonian race, and especially to the Russian people, which in this respect closely resembles the ancient nations of the East. The social organization of Russia forms in all its relations and degrees an uninterrupted scale of hierarchy, every step of which rests on some patriarchal power. The father is the absolute sovereign of the family, which can

In respect to religion, there are probably in the Russian Empire 50,000,000 belonging to the so-called Greek Church (i.e. Byzantine Catholics); about 7,000,000 Roman Catholics (chiefly Poles); and upwards of 3,000,000 Protestants (Germans and Tshuds).

Relative proportion of the dominant race to the other races in the Russian dominions :-Slávs to Non-Slávs, as 29 to 6, or 4.8 to 1; Russians to Non-Russians, as 7 to 3, or 2.3 to 1.

not