THE

MONTHLY REVIEW.

APRIL, 1839.

ART. I.

1.-Excursions in the Interior of Russia, &c. &c. By ROBERT BREMNER, Esq. 2 Vols. London: Colburn. 1839.

2.-A Winter Journey through Russia, the Caucasian Alps, and Georgia; thence across Mount Zagros, &c. into Koordistan. By CAPTAIN R. MIGNAN, of the Bombay Army. London; Bentley. 1839. THERE cannot be a surer sign of an extraordinary interest being felt, or anxious speculation indulged in at any time and relative to any part of the earth, than that travellers thither from the most civilized countries are numerous and ever increasing according to a rapidly multiplying ratio. The best evidence which we can obtain of the journeyings and proceedings of all such adventurers must be the journals which they keep and publish; and the best proof of the public at home sympathizing in all the curiosity which influenced the travellers is, that such journals are anxiously sought after and greedily read Indeed, the mere fact, for example, of almost every Englishman, who has lately had the means and opportunity of making a tour in Russia or in any region of the East, having on his return published the results of his inquiries and observations, is, of itself, demonstrative of the extreme and universal concern which these parts of the world have excited and do at this moment preserve alive in an unwonted manner. Our readers will therefore hold us excused for so soon again returning to the fields mentioned, as delineated in the works named at the head of this article.

The first of these works puts forward the strongest claims to public attention; not merely because Russia is the formidable rival to which British eyes are now directed, but because Mr. Bremner's Excursions penetrated provinces not usually travelled by our tourists; and because the information which he presents, or at least the topics. and branches over and concerning which his observations extend, are more numerous and varied than what any of our countrymen have recently supplied respecting that country. At the same time his details are more minute and ample, and his deductions more VOL. I. (1839.) no. iv.

K K

positive, be he right or wrong, than we have before met with in relation to the huge and overgrown empire of the Autocrat.

It is necessary, however, before proceeding to select such parts of the work as appear to us calculated to excite most interest, to warn the reader that Mr. Bremner's statements in regard to matters of fact, and consequently the conclusions that follow, must not always be implicitly relied upon. True, he is a man who seems to have travelled extensively, to have made constantly a good use of his time and his eyes, while, as respects sagacity, sound sense, and the ability to make himself clearly understood, he offers a striking contrast to many who undertake to enlighten the sedentary and the homebound portion of the community about strange and foreign parts. But what is the reader to think, after learning that our author spent but a very short time in Russia, and being led over a vast extent of ground, to an immense multitude of places and topics, widely sundered in every respect, when he has found an unhesitating tone of feeling and authority pervading the work and on all that is touched? Nay, the dubiety will be ready to increase when it is further understood, that Mr. B. was utterly ignorant of the language of the people among whom he travelled; and of whom he has much to tell. Nothing in public or private seems to escape him whatever the rank may have been, whatever the province, and whether in city, in landward quarters, or among the wilds of untamed nature. Church and state, emperor, ministers, governors, nobles, and serfs; the army and the navy, educational and charitable institutions; manufactures, commerce, festivities, &c. &c., all and each come in for a share of precise writing; so that the wonder, at least, need not be that he has contrived to fill up two large volumes, though gathered in a single autumn excursion.

But in fairness we must allow the author to give what he seems to have intended as some explanation of apparent impossibilities. He says, that to all "who know what Russia really is, it is unnecessary to say, that it is not in Russia that the true state of opinion among the higher classes of that country can be best learned." It is also to be borne in mind that there are very many well informed, highly educated, and far-travelled Russians; and that a great proportion of these cherish the most liberal opinions, at the same time that they are communicative of them. We are to suppose, therefore, that Mr. B. has been indebted in no slight degree to communications thus obtained; while, to extend no further our prefatory remarks, it will be for each reader to bring his own tests as furnished by previous information, and by cool reflection, to bear upon the matter set before him,-we, for ourselves, having no hesitation to express general satisfaction with its internal as well as external features of accuracy.

On his passage from Stockholm to St. Petersburg, Mr. Bremner had a sight of the Russian fleet, which was about to be visited by

Nicholas, according to his annual practice, and had also an opportunity of hastily examining some of the exterior features of Cronstadt. But we hurry forward to the capital, in order to cull some of those sketches and observations, that appear to us to be at present most interesting or most novel in regard to this oft-described and visited city. And here the man of all others most talked of in the world, speculated and written about, even the Autocrat himself, is still deserving of our chief attention; especially as our author has been at more pains to delineate the character of the emperor, and to fathom his policy as guided by a multiplicity of facts, or anxiously pursued inquiries, than any former tourist that we have met with.

Mr. B. confesses that, like most of his countrymen, he repaired to Russia with strong prejudices against Nicholas. But he appears to have been soon led to modify his opinion; and, while repelling the vague charges of tyranny and relentless cruelty, to have proved by a precision of detail and a great variety of illustrations, that he is, in the capacity of a man or a private individual, a person nowise extraordinary; and in that of a despotic monarch, the slave of circumstances to no small extent. The worst excesses he has yet been guilty of, are alleged to have arisen from an ungovernable temper, which, by nature sufficiently strong, has been further strengthened to such a degree by the long exercise of unchecked, uncontrolled authority, that now it bursts out in the most fatal ebullitions. Thus it appears that the ruler of many, many millions of rational creatures, is mastered by an irrational power. And yet the peace and welfare of the world are more dependent on him than they ever before were on a single individual. Says our author, "the emperor of Russia has but to say the word, and the flames of war shall burn more universally than they have ever done even in our warlike day-in Europe, in Asia, in America-wherever there is a right to acquire, or a heart to defend. In all parts of the earth, the elements of discord are lying prepared, with a profusion only too unsparing and too ominous; nothing is wanting but the reckless hand to place the torch to the pile, and in one short month the blaze would be as wide and as fierce as the fellest enemy of our race could desire." Now, though we by no means go this length, believing that Nicholas is not such a fool, merely viewing his own interests, as hastily to risk a war, nor that all the nations of Europe are so silly as in a moment to begin quarrelling with one another at his instigation, it is nevertheless true that, as an instrument which may at will be wielded, for the preservation of peace or the kindling of strife, his power is most formidable, and considering his disposition and passions most menacing.

Taking the outline given by Mr. Bremner as an index, when he, according to his means of coming to a distinct estimate, represents that the Emperor is the slave, as regards his government, naval, military, and civil, of a vicious system, and though the sub

ject of sudden excesses of temper, that, as soon as the madness has subsided, he is the first to regret, and to atone for what he has done, let us follow some of the details as to his mental qualities, his habits, &c.

Mr. B. says, that there is nothing either in the attainments or measures of the Czar to justify his admirers in holding him up as a man of extraordinary, nay, almost superhuman talent :

"That he possesses restless activity of mind and body-and in a degree which in a monarch may be not unnaturally mistaken for genius-no one will deny; but we have never discovered in him any other qualities that entitle him to be considered as much above the ordinary average of human character, and certainly none that can entitle him to be pronounced, as he has sometimes been, the greatest genius, the master spirit, of our age. His most prominent qualities, we should say, are decision and firmness; quickness in devising expedients to meet the unforeseen emergencies of the moment, and steadiness in enforcing them. Next to these is the excess of his passion for reducing every thing to military uniformity. This propensity degenerates almost to a weakness: it is his great aim to give the whole empire the appearance of an encampment. This passion is so well known, that the very children in the streets are made to affect the air military, strutting about in a white cap with red band, à l'empereur. On entering a school, the boys and girls rise in files, to salute you after the military fashion, and march out as if wheeling to the sound of fife and drum. In the very prisons a dash of the corporal's discipline is visible; and, even in the hospitals, you would say the old nurses are the imperial guard. The emperor's private habits and general style of living are extremely simple; and the delight which he takes in the society of his children is boundless. Those who have seen the imperial family in their private moments, when free from the constraint of pomp and ceremony to which princes are slaves before the world, speak of them in terms of rapture. An English gentleman who was honoured with many opportunities of entering the august circle, says, that more happiness, more affection, more simplicity, it would be impossible to conceive. The unconstrained and innocent amusements of their evenings, contrasted delightfully with the notions usually formed of imperial family scenes. In short, from all that he beheld, it appeared that a kinder husband or a better father than Nicholas does not exist. The emperor, too quick not to perceive what was passing in the mind of his guest as he mused on the scene before him, said one evening, stamping his foot and grinding his teeth, as the unpleasant thought rose to his mind, I know that I am unpopular in England. They hate me, because they think me a tyrant; but if they knew me, they would not call me so. They should see me in the bosom of my family!'i

This anecdote adds one to many other evidences that the Emperor, with all his power and cherished despotism, is solicitous to have the good will of England and the English people. There have been as strange occurrences within the last half century as that he and his family may yet be glad to obtain an asylum amongst the " shopkeepers;" for the republicanism of the nobles is threatening. We insert several other characteristics :

"Few men of his height (six feet two inches) display such grace and freedom of carriage. In fact, his appearance is so superior, that many have bestowed upon him the wide and not easily disputed compliment of being 'the handsomest man in Europe.' Being one of the best horsemen of the time, he is never seen to more advantage than when mounted on his favourite steed. Accustomed to command, and to see his commands obeyed with crouching submission, he has acquired the air and mien of majesty more completely than any sovereign of the age. His eye has a singular power; its fierce glance can awe the turbulent, and, it is said, has disarmed the assassin. His manners, however, are far from those of the despot; nothing can be more winning than his attentions, where he wishes to please. No man ever seemed to possess more strongly the power of removing, from those who have access to him, the prejudices which may have been previously entertained against him. The Russians, it is said, see little of his fascinating powers: towards them he dare not be familiar without exciting jealousies which would be fatal to the empire. It is on strangers, passing visitors, that he lavishes his amiability, for with them it can be done without danger, and he is too anxious to stand well with the rest of Europe to allow a foreigner to leave him under an unfavourable impression. Never was even imperial flattery more successful in attaining its aim the raptures with which his condescension, his frankness, his courtesy, are spoken of by all who come near him, would indicate that it is not merely the emperor but the man who triumphs.”

Mr. Bremner, the Marquis of Londonderry cannot hold a candle to you! You convey to us a far higher as well as a far more precise idea of Nicholas than that slipslop, tawdry, and extravagant eulogist can or ever did produce of his idol. As to the Emperor's popularity at home, we read,

"With the common soldiers he is highly popular; but it is, above all, among the mooziks, the good-hearted fellows with the beards and sheepskins; in other words, it is by the great body of the people that he is most beloved. He never appears in public without being greeted by rapturous welcome as soon as he is discovered: until our fair queen ascended the throne, there was no sovereign in Europe whose appearance was hailed with such joy by the people. Individual cases of oppression are overlooked in his general kindness. His anxiety to find out, and generosity in rewarding, humble merit, go far in reconciling the poor to his political measures. He is also kind and familiar with them on all public occasions: at the great summer fête of Peterhof, where thousands of the people are assembled, he dances and capers amongst them, as merry and free as any goat of them all.”

It is true, that, comparatively speaking, few of the Autocrat's subjects can ever have an opportunity of testifying to him personally their affection; still, we have not a doubt, were he to make his appearance in almost any part of his vast dominions, the same exhibition would be made; for poor human nature, especially when the mind has been habitually enslaved, is easily and suddenly me