SPECTATOR'S LIBRARY.

TAITEra,

Travels In the Steppes of the Caspian Sea, the Crimea, the Caucasus, etc. By Xavier Hommaire de Hell, Civil Engineer Member of the Societe Geologique of France, and Knight of the Order of St. Vladimir of Russia. With Additions from various sources Chapman and Nall. ElenaArror,

Lives of the Queens of England, from the Norman Conquest ; with Anecdotes of their Courts, now first published from official Records and other authentic Documents,

private as well as public. By Agnes Strickland. Vol. I Colburn. norms, Jeremiah Parkes; a Novel. By Mrs. Mackenzie Daniel, Author of "The Poor Cousin." In three volumes Newby. Castles in the Air; a Novel. By Mrs. Gore. In three volumes Bentley.

DE HELL'S TRAVELS IN SOUTHERN RUSSIA.

M. XAVIER Homatentz DE HELL is a French geologist and civil en- gineer, who spent several years in Southern Russia with professional ob- jeots, accompanied by his wife. Daring this period, his avocation gave the travellers many facilities of observation, not only in towns but in the country-houses of the nobility. M. de Hell's pursuits also carried him- self and his wife over a large range of country, extending from the Dnieper to the Caspian Sea, and thence to the Caucasian mountains. The result of their opportunities is a full, various, and interesting work, in which the graver subjects of commerce, government, official economy, with historical and ethnological notices, are treated by M. de Hell; whilst descriptions of society, adventures en route, and much of what is usually

considered travels, are contributed by Madame. •

Although the facts, opinions, and narrative of our travellers are not absolutely new upon any point, unless perhaps upon the destructive effects of the Russian protective system, they are valuable for the fulness of their matter, and as confirmatory of previous writers. The hollow civi- lization, the selfishness and-corruption pervading every part of society, the striking contrasts of squalid barbarism with Oriental splendour, and the made-up theatrical character of Russian greatness, are distinctly exhi- bited. Sometimes this is done directly, in the searching exposures of M. de Hell, sometimes indirectly, in the remarks and descriptions of his wife. The apparent desire for truth, and the national good-nature of both parties, give a trustworthy character to their representations, which cannot al- ways be ascribed to the assertions of mere partisans. De Hell himself; indeed, appears to entertain a higher opinion of the Imperial Government, or at least of the Emperor, than his facts support. He thinks that there is a desire at head-quarters to do justice, advance improvements, and contribute to the prosperity of the country; but this is partly shackled by the inherent difficulties of the subjects with which Russian reformers must deal—such as serfdom, and partly by the mendacity and corruption of the ,Government agents, who suppress the truth, systematically colour their reports, or put forward absolute falsehoods, and sometimes take upon themselves to reduce the Imperial decrees to a dead letter, running the chance of detection and the fearful punishment which follows it. All this, however, applies to administration ; and though the intentions of part of the Cabinet of St. Petersburg and its head may be good, the whole system of the Government seems radically wrong. In politics, if not personally, the Emperor, whether Alexander or Nicholas, is as false as the falsest of his slaves. Nothing is natural : all is trick, or force, or folly--alloyed, we infer, with no small portion of selfish vanity. The Autocrat conceives that the laws of Nature may be set aside by an Imperial ukase. Caffa, the colony of the Genoese in the Crimea, was exceedingly well adapted to commerce, by its port and its situation ; but its trade was destroyed and the city abandoned, for motives, our author conceives, of the most absurd vanity. " The ostensible reasons were sanatory measures, the necessity of having a general quarantine at the entrance of the Sea of Azof, encouragement of coasters and lighters, and the utility of a vast emporium opened to the productions of all Russia. - We believe, however, that an these arguments were in reality of very secondary weight, and that the downfall of Theodosia is to be ascribed to nothing else than an absurd vanity. To resuscitate the ancient name of Odessus• to found a town called Ovidiopol in a country where Ovid never resided; to lead geographers into error by giving the name of Tiraspol to a mean village on the Dmestr, in the front of Bender; to substitute the name of Theodosia for that of Calti; all these innovations might have pleased certain ardueologists, but how was it possible to resist the thought of rebuilding the celebrated capital of the kingdom of the Bosphorus ? How irresistible the temptation to raise a new and great city at the foot of Mithridates' rock l The memory of the Milesians had therefore to fade before that of the illustrious sovereign of Pontes; Theodosia was despoiled of its privileges and its revenues, its tribunal of commerce was trans- ferred to Kertch, and double harbour-dues were imposed on vessels touching there before arriving at the latter port"

It is a kindred spirit that aims at turning the most opposite tribes and peoples into Russians, by a paper decree ; and which may suc- ceed in destroying towns, marring prosperity, checking population, and exasperating men, but fails ridiculously in its immediate object. The forcible attempts at converting Jews and Roman Catholics to the Greek Church have a similar origin, with a similar result. The German colonists introduced by Caroline into the Southern Steppes are an orderly, industrious, and prosperous race, of use not only in themselves but as an example. Some freak takes possession of the Imperial mind ; a colony is broken up, and transported elsewhere without the slightest sympathy with human feeling, or the least consideration of the laws of the human mind. These instances are traceable to the ignorance and vanity of power. In the following, trick predominates. In 1803 Odessa was made a bonded port, where goods could be deposited for eighteen months befoie the duties were payable ; the duties were reduced One fourth ; and transit was permitted free of duty. In 1817 the duties were raised, but Odessa was made a free port; and a time of great pros- perity ensued : upon which the Russians set about killing the goose.

"The commerce of Southern Russia had then reached its apogee. After the long wars of the French Empire the agriculture of Europe was in a very de- pressed condition, and it was necessary to have recourse to Russia for the corn which other countries could not raise in sufficient quantity for their own subsist- ence. Odessa thus became, under the wise administration of the Duo de Richelieu, one of the most active commercial cities of Eastern Europe; its population in- creased prodigiously; the habits induced by prosperity gave a new stimulus to its import trade; and every year hundreds of vessels entered its port to take in agri- tarsi freights of all kinds. "Dazzled by this commercial prosperity, till then unexampled in Russia, and doubtless believing it unalterably established, the Government then chase to return to its prohibitive sysiem; and, whether through ignorance or incapacity, the Mi- nistry deliberately ruined with their own hands the commercial wealth of Southern Russia. In 1822, at the moment when it was least expected, an ukase suppressed the freedom of the port of Odessa, and made it obligatory on the merchants to pay the duties on all goods then in the warehouses."

The result of these and some kindred measures, partly of a "protec- tive" description, ruined the prosperity of Odessa, without accom- plishing either the financial or protective objects of the Government. Trebisond became the emporium of the transit trade; extensive failures took place at Odessa, commerce decreased, the duties fell off, and a smug- gling trade began in Southern Russia with the connivance of the officials.

The same "sic volo sic jubeo" spirit, without regard to the thing to be done, reigns throughout. In the protective system, indeed, the Auto- crat has examples enough in civilized communities; but there is a great distinction between gradual growth and arbitrary creation. In the states of Western Europe, the system was formed by the people; a trade was set up, and then protection, or privilege, was granted. In the then state of the commercial world, too, the system was less mischievous than it is now. But in Russia manufactures do not grow up naturally, or spring from in- dividual enterprise : they are the results of Government interference. We have formerly had occasion to note the mushroom character of the Russian buildings, especially .in St. Petersburg ; edifices designed for show, not use—where regard is had to the effect upon the passer-by, not to the real business to be done. The same thing takes place in the pro- vinces, only in a cheaper and more showmanlike manner; and plas- ter being substituted for stone, and left in a state of begarly pomp ; the extent and design magnificent, but the colour peeling off and the plaster crumbling. The same sort of system takes place with towns ; which in Russia are not the growth of circumstances, but the creations of power, unless in the case of Moscow and other old places ; though these are sometimes shifted by ukase.

A MADE CAPITAL.

At the extremity of a plateau, on the verge of a wide and deep valley, the town of Novo Tcherkask suddenly appeared to us, rising in an amphitheatre, and embracing in its huge extent several hills, the broad slopes of which descend to the bottom of the valley. All the towns we had previously seen, and which. had shocked us by the extravagant breadth of their streets and their dearth of houses, were nothing in comparison with what now met our eyes. Seen from the, point where we then stood, the whole town was like an enormous chess-board, with the lines formed by avenues broader than the Place du Carousel in Paris. These lines, bordered at intervals by a few shabby dwellings, and separated from each other by open spaces in which whole regiments might manceuvre quite at their ease, some churches, and a triumphal arch erected in 1815 in honour of Alexander, are the only salient points of this desert which they call a capital, and the superficial dimensions of which are, without exaggeration, as great as those of Paris.

Of the military service M. de Hell says little, except of its hardships; but we know from other sources that the same mixture of unnatural force in the conception and of corruption in the execution pervades the army, save in the crack regiments under the Imperial eye. Even in the forti- fications of the modern school a somewhat similar ostentation without, substance would appear to obtain. This is part of the account of the naval arsenal at Sevastopol, the great harbour of the Black Sea. " In 1831, when the July Revolution was theatening to upset the whole datar quo of Burope, a London journal stated in an article on the Black Sea and South- ern Russia, that nothing could be easier than for a few well-appointed vessels to set fire to the Imperial fleet in the port of Sevastopol. The article alarmed the Emperor's Connell to the highest degree; and orders were immediately issued for the construction of immense defensive works.

" Four new forts were constructed, making a total of eleven batteries. Forte Constantine and Alexander were erected for the defence of the great harbour, the one on the North, the other on the West side on Artillery Bay; and the Admiralty and the Paul batteries were to play on vessels attempting to enter South Bay or Ship'sf Bay. These four forts, consisting each of three tiers of batteries, and each mount- ing from 250 to 300 pieces of artillery, constitute the chief defences of the place; and appear, at first sight, truly formidable. But here, again, the reality does not

with the outer appearance; and we are of opinion that all these costly

batteries are more fitted to astonish the vulgar in time of peace than to awe the enemy in war. In the first place, their position at some height above the level of the sea, and their three stories, appear to us radically bad; and practical men will agree with us, that a hostile squadron might make very light of the three tiers of guns, which, when pointed horizontally, could at most only hit the rig- ging of the ships. The internal arrangements struck us as equally at variance with all the rules of military architecture: each story consists of a suite of rooms opening one upon the other, and communicating by a small door, with an outer gallery that runs the whole length of the building. All these rooms in which thee guns are worked are so narrow, and the ventilation is so ill-contrived, that we are warranted by our own observation in asserting that a few discharges would make it extremely difficult for the artillerymen to do their duty. But a still morn serious defect than those we have named, and one which endangers the whole ex- istence of the works, consists in the general system adopted for their construction. " Here the improvidence of the Government has been quite as great as with re- gard to the dock basins; for the Imperial engineers have thought proper to em-, ploy small pieces of coarse limestone in the masonry of three-storied batteries, mounting from 250 to 300 guns. The works, too, have been constructed with so little care, and the dimensions of the walls and arches are so insufficient, that it-

is easy to see at a glance that all these batteries must inevitably be shaken to pieces whenever their numerous artillery shall be brought into play. The trials. that have been made in Fort Constantine have already demonstrated the correct- ness of this opinion, wide rents having been there occasioned in the walls by a few' discharges.

" Finally all the forts labour under the disadvantage of being utterly defence- less on the land side. Thinking only of attacks by sea, the Government has quite overlooked the great facility with which an enemy may land on any part of the coast of the Khersonese. So, besides that the batteries are totally destitute of artillery and ditches on the land side, the town itself is open on all points, and is not defended by a single redoubt We know not what works have been planned or executed sinoe 1841; but at the period of our visit, a force of some tho

men, aided by a maritime demonstration, would have had no sort of fleet and forcing their way into the interior of an place, and setting fire to the fleet and Mei arsenals." .

- The same ostentation is visible in the social system : an Oriental po- Terty in the mass is opposed to an Oriental splendour and luxury in the wealthy ; the European refinements in show, furniture, and service,

contrasting strongly with the want of common accommodations. In the capital, and with the greater nobles, there must be exceptions ; but thia is the picture of provincial splendour.

" Two days afterwards, we left 'thereon for the country seat of the Marshal of the Nobles, where a large party was already assembled. The manner in which hospitality is exercised in Russia is very convenient, and entails no great outlay in the matter of upholstery. Those who receive visiters give themselves very little concern as to whether their guests are well or ill lodged, provided they can offer them a good table: it never occurs to them that a good bed, and a room provided with some articles of furniture, are to some persons quite as acceptable as a good dinner. Whatever has no reference to the comfort of the stomach lies beyond the range of Russian politeness, and the stranger must make up i his account accord- ingly. As we were the last comers, we fared very queerly n point of lodging; being thrust four or five of us into one room, with no other furniture than two miserable bedsteads; and there we were left to shift for ourselves as we could. The house is very handsome in appearance; but, for all its portico, its terrace, and its grand halls, it only contains two or three rooms for reception, and a few garrets, graced with the name of bedrooms. Ostentation is inherent in the Russian cha- racter; but it abounds especially among the petty nobles, who lavish away their whole income in outward show. They must have equipages with four horses, billiard-rooms, grand drawingrooms, pianos, &c. And if they can procure all

these superfluities, i they are quite content to live on mujik's fare, and to sleep in beds without anything in the shape of sheets.

" Articles of furniture the most indispensable are totally unknown in the dwel- lings of most of the second-rate nobles. Notwithstanding the vaunted progress of Russian civilization, it is almost impossible to find a basin and ewer in a bed- room. Bedsteads are almost as great rarities, and almost invariably you have nothing but a divan on which you may pass the night. You may deem yourself singularly fortunate if the mistress of the mansion thinks of sending you a blanket and a pillow; but this is so unusual a piece of good luck that you must never reckon upon it. In their own persons the Russians set an example of truly Spartan habits, as I had many opportunities of perceiving during my stay in the Marshal's house. No one, the Marshal himself not excepted, has a private chamber: his eldest daughter, though a very elegant and charming young lady, lay on the floor, wrapped up in a cloak like an old veteran; his wife, with three or four young children, passed the night in a closet that served as boudoir by day; and he himself made his bed on one of the divans of the grand saloon. As for the visiters, some slept on the billiard-table; others, like ourselves, scrambled for a few paltry stump bedsteads; whilst the most philosophical wore away the night in drinking and gambling."

More pictures of society tempt us, as well as the appearance of the country, the condition of the people, the state of the roads, and the real powerlessness of Russia for foreign war : but we must put them aside for a brief notice or two of the conduct and character of the Government employes; which certainly goes far to excuse all faults of detail on the part of the Government. Their corruption, and their insolence to inferiors, are not, indeed, new • but the facts are so illustrative that some of them are worth quoting. The following is from a subject on which M. de Hell was professionally skilful, and which has a connexion between transport and corn.

" The only goods conveyed down the Dniestr consist at present of some rafts of timber and lire-wood from the mountains of Austrian Galhcia. The Russian Go- vernment has repeatedly been desirous of improving the navigation of the river, in compliance with the desire of the inhabitants of its banks. A survey was made in 1827, and again in 1840. Unfortunately, all these investigations being made by men of no capacity, led to nothing. An engineer was commissioned in 1829 to make a report on the works necessary for rendering the river practicable at Jam- pal, where it is obstructed by a small chain of granite. He estimated the expense at 18b,000 francs; whereas it was secretlyascertained that 10,000 would be more than enough. The project was then abandoned. Thus, with the beat and most laudable intentions, the Government is constantly crippled in its plans of amelior- ation, whether by the incapacity or by the bad faith and cupidity of its function- aries. Last year the subject of the navigation of the Dniestr was again taken up; and it is even alleged that the Russian Government has given orders for two steam-vessels destined to ply on that river. " The works on the Dnepr are scarcely in a more forward state than those of the Dniestr. It is known that below Iekaterinoslaf the course of the river is traversed by a granite chain, which extends between that town and Alexandrof, a distance of more than fifteen leagues. At the time of the conquest of the Crimea and the shores of the Black Sea, it was proposed to render navigable the thirteen rapids that form what has been improperly denominated the cataracts of the Dniepr. Works were begun at various times, but always abandoned. They were resumed tinder Nicholas with new ardour; but the Government was soon dis- couraged by the enormous cost, and, above all, by the peculation of its servants. The whole amount of work done up to the present time is a wretched canal 300 yards long, more dangerous for barges to pass through than the rapids themselves. The canal was finished in 1838. The works had not yet been resumed when we left Russia in 1841. The rapids of the Dniepr are therefore still as impracticable as ever; and it is only daring the spring-floods a period of a month or six weeks, that barges venture to pass them; and even then it rarely. happens that they es- cape without accident. More than eighty men were lost in them in 1839, and a multitude of barges and rafts were knocked to pieces on the rocks. The goods that thus descend the Dniepr consist almost exclusively of timber and fire-wood, and Siberian iron. Corn never makes any part of the cargo, because in case of accident it would be lost beyond recovery. But what will really seem incredible is, that the German colonists settled below the rapids are obliged to convey their produce to the Sea of Azov in order to find any market for it: hence the greater part of the government of Iekaterinoslaf, and those of Poltava and Tehernikof, watered by the Dniepr, are in a perpetual state of distress, though they have wheat in abundance; and the peasants, sunk into the deepest wretchedness, are compelled every year to make journies of 300 miles, and often more, to earn from six to seven francs a month in the service of the landowners on the border of the Black Sea."

In reviewing the work of M. Ivan Golovine on Russia, we mentioned that the lowest grade of the nobility, the fourteenth, was open to the lower class of persons in the employ of Government,—as actors of a cer- tain grade, officers in the army below a sub-lieutenant, and civilians. As there are but two classes in Russia, privileged and nonprivileged, the Imperial livery is sought by freemen as a means of protection against the tyranny of others : thus vast numbers of free persons are attracted into a sphere of life where their pay cannot support them ; peculation becomes a necessity in order to live; and their character injures the re- pute of the service in the eyes of the gentry. M. de Hell's proposition to remedy this great evil is the most practical we have seen, and appears to strike at the root of the system. The plan is to allow merchants 'and

traders, under certain regulations, admission into the classes of nobility.

" To obtain admission into the fourteenth class, and become a noble, is the sole ambition of a priest's or merchant's soli; an ambition fully justified by the RA- happy condition of all but the privileged orders. There is no country in which persons engaged in trade are held in lower esteem than in Russia. They. are daily subjected to the insults of the lowest clerks; and it is only by dint of bribery they can obtain the smallest act of justice. How often have I seen in the post stations unfortunate merchants, who had been waiting for forty-eight hours and more for the good pleasure of the clerk, without daring to complain. It mattered nothing that their papers were quite regular,—the noble of the fourteenth class did not care for that; nor would he give them homes until he bad squeezed a good sum out of the particalarnii tchelovieks, as he called them in his aristocratic pride. The same annoyances await the foreigner, who, on the strength of his passport, under- takes a journey without a decoration at his button-hole or any title to give him importance. I speak from experience: for more than two years spent in travers- ing Russia ass private individual enabled me fully to appretiate the obliging dis- position of the fourteenth-class nobles. At a later period, being employed on a scientific mission by the Government, I held successively the rank of Major, Lieu- tenant-Colonel, and Colonel; and then I had nothing to complain of: the posting- clerks, and the other employes, received me with all the politeness imaginable. I never had to wait for horses; and as the title with which. I was decked au- thorized me to distribute a few cuts of the whip with impunity, my orders were fulfilled with quite magical promptitude. " The Emperor Nicholas has sought of late years to raise their body [mer- chants and burghers] in public estimation, by'granting them many prerogatives of nobility; but his efforts have hitherto not very successful. The only means of giving outward respectability to this important class, would be to afford it ad- mission into the body of the nobles without compelling it to enter the Government service. And surely, an individual who contributes to develop the trade and com- merce of the land has as strong claims to honorary distinctions as a petty clerk, whose whole life is passed in cheating his superiors and robbing those who are so unfortunate as to have any dealings with him. Should the Emperor ever adopt such a coarse, there would follow from it another advantage still more important; namely, that it would gradually extinguish the abuses of the present nobility sys- tem, and would immediately rid the public departments of all those useless un- derlings who now encumber the various offices solely with a view to acquire a footing among the privileged orders."

This volume, we believe, forms part of the Foreign Library of Messrs. Chapman and Hall, and furnishes a great quantity of reading at a low price. The translator has frequently added matter from other travellers, in support of the views of Monsieur and Madame de Hell ; and altogether the book forms a valuable and entertaining picture of Southern Russia.