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62 g T ?E£W X. B A pram, [Saturday,
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L ETTER S OF SYD N EY SMITH . Memoir of ...
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Danby Seymour's Russia On The Black Sea....
j Mr Seyinour has also kept closely to his subject , never venturing beyond its limits into larger surveys of Russia , except where it is needed to bring out the full importance of the Russian possessions under consideration , or to Ahrow some light upon the deadly struggle now actually waging in the very countries that came under our author ' s ken . Thus we have a condensed > ixut full account of the military force of Russia , acceptable , although rendered patent to some degree by the -work of Haxthausen ; a glance at her -financial system , including an approximate estimate of the relation between her revenue and war expenditure ; and some interesting speculations on the designs of Russia . Mr . Seymour has not . failed to give us his estimate , rather a favourable one , of the Russian character ; and on this subject his words are remarkable : — I have lived among the Russians , and I have , learnt to respect them as a strong , earnest , unprejudiced people , with a great principle of growth in them , and who will work out the defects of their character and become some day an honour 4 o civilisation . They were the only nation in the world , I believe , with whom we ¦ had never been at war . None can regret more deeply than I do that we have been
obliged now to try their mettle . Indeed , Mr . Seymour considers that the Russians are naturally a peaceful commercial people ; by no means a martial people , loving war for its own sake . But at the same time he admits that they are capable of military exertions for given objects—that , in fact , " theirs is the patient , enduring , indomitable courage which will face any dangers to compass certain ends . In another part of his volume he points out that the cardinal point m the politics of Russia is to advance , in due time , her empire to Constantinople and Athens . Whence are derived the men who , with their swords , are to perform this great achievement ?—The army , the great instrument of Euflsian aggression , draws the main body of its recruits from the thirty-four millions of Great Russians who form a compact body round Moscow . This population is of pure Slave blood , and forms the heart and core of the Russian Empire . They give the tone to all the other populations , are superior to them in energy and grandeur of character , as well as numbers , and stand with relation to Russia much as the inhabitants of Britain do to the other nations of the
British Empire . And what do the Slaves believe ? If we may take Mr . Seymour s word as evidence of their national belief , which agrees wonderfully with some speculators of our own country , " the whole nation , from the highest to the lowest , have a vague but deep-seated notion , that some future glories are in store for the Slavonic name , and they will always approve their Czar when they think that he is following out the destiny of the nation . " We may guess from this the effect of those appeals to Holy Russia , made so solemnly and constantly by the late and present Emperor . Indeed , the mighty designs of Peter the Great , who raised up and fostered with such care a new nation , have all the characteristics of youth , when ambition is boundless , when territorial extension , by the aid of the sword , presents irresistible fascinations , and when the founder of a new empire is insensible to all other glories . Peter ' s descendants have succeeded in filling the heart of the people with the passions of their kings , and Europe has been called to arms to de
arrest the progress of the hordes of the modern Atillas , and to carry - struction into their strongholds . The question , indeed , recurs to the philosophic-minded speculators who believe in the advent of Slavism , Is it not too late ? Has not Russia made too much progress towards the Sound in the Baltic ; towards Germany by turning Poland into a fortress ; towards India by the Caspian ; towards Asia Minor by the passes of Mount Ararat ; towards Athens and Constantinople by the Crimea V For our parts , frankly admitting the extremity of the danger , we think it is late , but not too late . Russia is weak in men , weak in money , vulnerable in various parts of her huge body , and in no place more vulnerable than in the Crimea and the Caucasus . Strong in Poland , strong in Finland , strong beyond the Niemen and the Dnieper , she is weak in that precise part where it has been decreed that her preponderance must cease—the shores of the Black Sea ; and no one can contend that her dominion south of the Caucasus could endure any determined assault from the Western Powers . It is for us , then , to persevere ; and reap the harvest we have so painfully sowed .
With regard to the finances of Russia in relation to her army , Mr-Seymour ' s remarks , founded chiefly on the calculations of MM . Tegoborski and Le " on Faucher , may be acceptable . After remarking that since 1840 1 , 350 , 000 men have disappeared through the agency of the Russian army , he continues : — This enormous sacrifice of men to the military system is very severely felt , and must have gone far to neutralise any increase of the population of late years . Haxthausen says , " These oukases for levying the conscriptions always spread mourning and consternation . The nobility suffers great losses . The Scheremeteff , the Demidoff , and the Orloffa , are often obliged to furnish sovcral hundred recruits . Families lose their best workmen , and their fathers and their brothers ; for the number of bad characters , who possess the physical qualities necessary to enter the service , is not enough to realise the number of troops demanded by the Emperor . "
Now as to the expense of the Russian soldier to the state . It will be seen from the following passage that M . Tegoborski , the mouthpiece of the Russian Government on statistical subjects , estimates it at a very low figure . He says , " the military budget of Russia for 1854 , for an effective of from 800 , 000 to 900 , 000 men , was estimated at 84 , 200 , 000 silver roubles , and that of the navy at 14 , 400 , 000 silver roubles , or nearly 16 , 000 , 000 / . altogether , which would give an average of 100 rotiblea , or 16 / . per head per annum , for the maintenance of the troops . Admitting that the effective of the army was carried to 1 , 260 , 000 men in the year 1865 , which would suppose an augmentation of 460 , 000 men , or 50 por cent ., and adding to the military budget of 84 , 200 , 000 silver roubles , in a round sum 60 , 000 , 000 silver roubles , or 8 , 000 , 000 / ., the whole military budget of Russia for the year 1855 would then only amount to about 24 , 000 , 000 / . "
; In . calculating the means of Russia to pay this sum , wo do not know the exact . amount of the Russian revenue beyond the year 1868 , when , according to M . Togoborski , it amounted to 87 , 884 , 060 / . But the Russian revenue in the year 1809 , which ]« the only other year he gives , is stated to be upwards of ono-third less , so that in th 9 last fifteen years there is stated to have been the enormous increase of 86 per cent . without the levying of any new taxes . As the accounts of the Russian revenue arc not published , we cannot place implicit reliance on a mere statement of results by an interested party . But we all know that estimates are generally much below the real expense and it is probable that the military budget , considering- the enormous expenses of the transport of stores and materials , and the movement of troops , and the losses which have been sustained , must bo nearly the double of M . Tegoborekj ' fl
calculation , or , let us say at least 40 , 000 , 000 ^ . instead 24 , 000 , 000 / . On the other hand , considering the great injury to the peasants from the increased number of recruits and their own forced services for transport , and an acknowledged diminution of 20 per cent , in the exports and imports , which will be much greater next year if an efficient blockade be kept up , shall we be wrong in considering the Russian realised revenue of 1854 as very much below that of 1853 ? M . Tegoborski calculates the diminution of the revenue in 1854 at about 2 , 000 000 / from the falling off of the customs duties alone . It is probable , therefore , that the revenue of the country , during the past year , will not have even sufficed by several millions to pay the expenses of the army and navy alone , while , besides these expenses , there is the interest of the debt and the expenditure of the civil government to be met , which is reckoned at about 8 , 000 , 000 / . Thus it may be fairly supposed that Russia will want at least 48 , 000 , 000 ? . to cover the expenses of the year 1854 which is eleven millions more than the total amount of her revenue during the last
year of peace , 1853 . HeT credit in Europe is indeed , pretty good , but it is notorious that she depends upon foreign capital for the cultivation of her soil . The precious metals have almost disappeared from the empire : paper alone is seen there ; and if we press her hard during the next six months she must be reduced to very great straits When we look at the Russian forces now assembled in the Caucasus , the Crimea , and the German and Baltic frontiers , we see the whole of the Russian army , including its reserves , which cannot be easily augmented . Each man that falls now becomes of great importance to the Emperor ; for the conscription is becoming more and more difficult , and bearing with increased severity upon all the interests of the empire . The age at which conscripts are taken is now raised to thirty-seven ; and the sons of aged or widowed parents , who have hitherto been exempted , are to serve , and be formed into separate corps . I believe that in the manufacturing establishments in Russia as many as 25 per cent , of the workmen have lately been carried off for the conscription .
The difficulties of Russia are increasing eveiy day ; and it is hardly possible for her to carry on the war for another six months , if with our change of Ministry we likewise have a change of system , and if at home and in the Crimea our superior officials , both military and civil , have anything like that intelligence , activity , intrepidity , and single-minded love of their country displayed by the common soldiers and regimental officers of our army , who have hitherto been the only bulwarks to save us from national disgrace . The reader will find two chapters at the end of this volume of peculiar interest , one on the Sea of xlzof , the other on its commerce . They show pretty conclusively two things , that the troops in the Crimea did largely depend for supplies on this important waterway ; and that the Russians have a natural aptitude for commerce and a natural tendency to Freetrade . It is the jealous policy of the Government , jealous of Western ideas , that restricts Russian commerce , and the military organisation of the whole empire that enables the Czar to pervert the tendency of his people from the paths of trade and industrial development into the bloody career of aggression .
62 G T ?E£W X. B A Pram, [Saturday,
62 T ? E £ W X . B A pram , [ Saturday ,
L Etter S Of Syd N Ey Smith . Memoir Of ...
L ETTER S OF SYD N EY SMITH . Memoir of the Rev . Sydney Smith . With a Selection frovi his Letters . Edited by Mrs . Austin . 2 vols . Longman and Co . The second volume of this entertaining work is devoted to a selection from Sydney Smith ' s letters , edited , we regret to say , in the most careless , donothing style imaginable , by Mrs . Austin . As there is every probability of a second edition being called for , let us not omit some of the remonstrance which the editing , or no editing , of the Letters , wrings from us . Mrs . Austin has confined her labours apparently to selection , and to striking out names ( often with , most superfluous fastidiousness , but the fault is on has had to
the right side ) . As many of the letters are undated , the editor guess at the dates , and such rough guess-work , such precipitation in deciding , we do not remember elsewhere ; the most careless reader , instructed solely by the contents of the letters , is painfully aware of the want of attention which has presided over the distribution . Still more provoking is the want of elucidative notes . To mention an example : Sydney Smith writes about " Scott ' s new novel , " gives his opinion , or the opinion of Holland House , thereon . If this opinion be of any interest , it is necessai-y we should know what novel is spoken of . Mrs . Austin never takes the trouble of referring to Lockhart ' Life to ascertain by dates the novels in question ; yet surely this , not a laborious , is a very necessary part of editorial cure . leasure
Having thus discharged our duty , let us turn now to our p , namely , the selection of some charming extracts from these Letters , which complete , by confirming , the character of the man given in the Memoir . They are of no worth except as throwing light on his character , and sis containing some delightful pleasantry thrown oflf in his easy sportive style . They show him to bo a perfect gentleman : candid , high-minded , truthful , independent , loving ; a man whose friends are mostly aristocratic , but whose commerce with the aristocracy , unlike that of Moore and other favourites , is never purchased by the slightest sacrifice of manly dignity . H « gives earls , barons , and countesses their due social recognition , but he treats them as an equal , and they treat him as such . The early letters are inainly about the Edinburgh Jte ' viev ) and Reviewers—pleasant glimpses of that circle , with characteristic touches thrown in , such as that about Ilorncr " So extremely serious about the human race , that I am forced to compose my face half a street off before I meet him . " Or this : —
I have let my houso at Thames Ditton very well , and sold the gentleman wy wine and ^ poultry . I attribute my success in tlieno matters to having rend half a volume of Adam Smith early in the Hummer , and to hints that have dropped from Humor , in his playful moods , upon the subject of salo anil barter . Or this : — Homer is a very happy man ; his worth and talontH aro acknowledged by the "world at a more early period than those of any independent and upright man I ?' i r r . ° " member . Ho verifies an observation I havo ol ' ton made , that thu world do not tl ' r ? originality , liberality , and independence ho much an the inauftin < trrot / rwc (> v > 'ti \\ w l » cu they aro almost always accompanied . Now , llornor plcones tho beat judges , niiduooa not offend tho worst . And thia beautiful tribute to his friend removed by death : — I say nothing of tho great and miHorablo Iuhh we lmvo nil Butitainwl . H « w » always live in our recollection ; and it will bo useful to uh all , in tho groat <> w : / isioi of life , to reflect how llornor would not »\ nd think in them , if Uod had prolong ma life . Thifii » 3 capital ; - _ ,
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), June 30, 1855, page 16, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_30061855/page/16/
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