Page images
PDF
EPUB

Beresford was for upwards of two hours a prisoner in the hands of the French. We are loth to suppose that this omission was intentional, because the suppression of facts in any narrative is as improper as the introduction of events that never took place. Other circumstances connected with that engagement are deserving of notice, which our limits will not permit us to specify: but we cannot avoid remarking that the greatest mistake, which the Marshal appears to have committed on that occasion, was the posting of the Spaniards in the right of his line on the height which commanded all the rest of it: because, that being the key to his position and the ground, which the enemy would naturally exert their utmost efforts to obtain, it should have been occupied by the very best and steadiest of the troops, with a strong subsidiary body at hand to support them. Had such an arrangement been made, a great effusion of blood and the loss of many brave men might have been avoided, as well as the relief of Badajos prevented.

It is with pain that we advert to the oversight committed twice, in the course of a few days, at the attack of Fort St. Christoval, by sending men to mount the breach with scaling ladders which were much too short; thus throwing away many lives unnecessarily. Could neither the commanding engineer nor any person under him ascertain the height of the escarp-wall, sufficiently near to prevent such a mistake? Were no Spaniards with the allied army, who had ever seen a section of the fort, or could tell the height of its revêtement? Captain Eliot informs us (p. 333.) that the second attempt failed in like manner as the first, and for the same reasons:* but he does not assign these reasons, and only touches slightly on the subject.

At the end of this narrative is added a table of Portuguese coins, weights, and measures, as also of the principal routes. As a first essay, the work is certainly far from being unworthy of praise. The author appears to possess classical information, and to have received a much better education than is common but his language is in many places neither chaste

nor correct.

ART. X. Travels in various Countries of Europe, Asia and Africa, by Edward Daniel Clarke, LL.D. Part the first-Russia, Tartary, and Turkey. Second Edition. 4to. pp. 800. (with Plates.) 51. 5s. Boards. Cadell and Davies. 1811.

THE situation of Russia, as an object of interest to the inquiring part of the public, is in some respects peculiar. Sufficiently

Sufficiently powerful in a political point of view to excite the eager attention of our countrymen, her interior has hitherto been too seldom traversed by enlightened and impartial observers, to enable persons at a distance to make up their minds on the state of society and civil government throughout her territory. The consequence of ignorance, in this as in other things, has been to magnify and over-rate. Accustomed to hear of the terror of the Russian arms, of the splendor of the court and capital, and struck particularly by the gigantic figure which she makes on the map, the public, both here and on the continent, have formed the most mighty conceptions of the extent of her power. Lord Grey, when in office, a few years ago, spoke in parliament of the superiority of the Russian pecuniary resources, compared with the Austrians, as a matter in course; and Bonaparte is believed to be within bounds for once when he styles his brother Alexander, par excellence, “le puissant Empereur du Nord." Now, while we admit that. Russia, when well governed, is a very formidable empire, it is easy to shew that she is much less potent than many among us are apt to imagine. As far as knowlege constitutes power, she must be pronounced to be greatly behind her rivals in the cen tre and west of Europe; and, as she has emerged but lately from barbarism, that efficiency in public servants which results from education must be, in a great measure, wanting both in her civil and her military departments. No infantry in Europe is so badly officered as the Russian; no plan of taxation is more absurd or pernicious; no system of expenditure is more irregular or wasteful; no court is more misled by the influence of favou ritism in both sexes; and none exposes itself so much to ridicule by sudden transitions to the most opposite extremes. If we add to these considerations the vast impediments to exertion which result from a thinly scattered population, as well as the general apathy which is inseparable from a state of slavery, we shall have no cause to wonder that the Russian armies should be so much less numerous than those of France and Austria. In truth, when we come to enter on an examination of the grounds of the reputation of Russia, we shall find that they have consisted, in a great measure, in the ability of leading individuals, and in the peculiar character rather than in the magnitude of her force.

Aware, however, as we are of the prevalence of exaggeration with regard to this empire, we by no means incline to go, on the negative side, so great a length as the traveller whose work we are now reporting. He saw Russia at a very unfavourable epoch; and exposure to personal indignity may have contributed to add poignancy to his sarcasms. His book con

Dd 4

tains

tains a variety of observations on other topics, such as the manners of the Cossacks, the character of the Circassians, and the condition of the Crimea, on all of which we shall, in due course, bestow attention: but, as the animadversions on the Russian character have excited a controversy between some of our countrymen who have been in the habit of censuring our political connection with Russia, and the much more numerous class who put a high value on it, we shall give to that part of the volume our earliest consideration. The counter-publication of Sir Robert Wilson shall receive a speedy notice; while a life of Prince Potemkin, also lying on our table, shall be brought forwards in the third place, and may serve as a practical commentary on the reasoning contained in the previous disquisitions.

Dr. Clarke begins his narrative by mentioning that, after having visited Sweden and Lapland in company with Mr. Cripps of Jesus College, Cambridge, whom he terms the cause and companion of his travels, he found himself at Petersburgh in the spring of 1800. This was the unfortunate period at which Paul, flying, like a true barbarian, from one extreme to another, had subjected our countrymen in Russia to repeated indignities. His madness and malevolence diffused a general gloom over the metropolis, and it seemed as if half the nobles in the empire were to be exiled to Siberia. In regard to dress, the most ridiculous observances were prescribed, and enforced with inflexible rigour. Such was the tyranny and caprice of this despot, that, in the course of the few years of his reign, 30,000 persons were put out of the public service; 18,000 having been dismissed by order, while 12,000 had voluntarily resigned. We cannot wonder that Dr. Clarke and his companion were impatient to withdraw from such scenes, and adopted with alacrity the advice of our ambassador Lord Whitworth to retire to Moscow. Their journey was performed in the early part of April; and the travellers had barely time to bring it to a close when the thaw, which occurs regularly in the second week of that month, made the roads nearly impassable.

Setting out,' says Dr. Clarke, from Petersburg for the south of Russia, the traveller bids adieu to all thoughts of inns, or even houses with the common necessaries of bread and water. He will not even find clean straw, if he should speculate upon the chance of a bed. Every thing he may want must therefore be taken with him. A pewter teapot will prove of more importance than a chest of plate. To this he will add, a kettle, a saucepan, the top of which may be used for a dish, tea, sugar, and a large cheese, with several loaves of bread made into rusks, and as much fresh bread as he thinks will keep till he has a

chance

chance of procuring more. Then, while the frost continues, he may carry frozen food, such as game, or fish, which, being congealed, and as hard as flint, may jolt about among his kettles in the well of the carriage without any chance of injury. Wine may be used in a cold country; but never in a hot, or even in a temperate climate, while upon the road. In hot countries, if a cask of good vinegar can be procured, the traveller will often bless the means by which it was obtained. When, with a parched tongue, a dry and feverish skin, they bring him bad or good water to assuage his burning thirst, the addition of a little vinegar will make the draught delicious. Care must be taken not to use it to excess, for it is sometimes so tempting a remedy against somnolency, that it is hardly possible to resist using the vinegar without any mixture of water.'

I do not know what first gave rise to a notion, very prevalent, that the road from Petersburg to Moscow is a straight line through forests, except that it was the intention of Peter the Great to have it so made. The country is generally open, a wide and fearful pros pect of hopeless sterility, where the fir and the dwarf birch, which cover even Arctic regions, scarcely find existence. The soil is for the most part sandy, and apparently of a nature to set agriculture at defiance. Towards the latter part of the journey, corn-fields appeared, of considerable extent.

The male peasants of Russia are universally habited, in winter, in a jacket made of a sheep's hide, with the wool inwards, a square crowned red cap, with a circular edge of black wool round the rim. These, with a long black beard, sandals made of the bark of the birch-tree, and legs bandaged in woollen, complete the dress.

Jedrova.-The whole journey from Petersburg to Moscow offers nothing that will strike a traveller more than the town or village of Jedrova. It consists of one wide street, formed by the gable ends of wooden huts, whose roofs project far over their bases, and terminated by its church. The view of one of these towns will afford the reader a very correct idea of all the rest, as there is seldom any difference in the mode of constructing the poorer towns of Russia. A window in such places is a mark of distinction, and seldom noticed. The houses in general have only small holes, through which, as you drive by, you see a head stuck, as in a pillory.

The forests, for the most part, consist of poor stunted trees; and the road, in summer, is described as the most abominable that can be passed. It is then formed by whole trunks of trees, laid across, parallel to each other, which occasion such violent jolting, as the wheels move from one to the other, that it cannot be borne without beds placed for the traveller to sit or lie upon.

We had a very interesting peep into the manners of the peasantry. For this we were indebted to the breaking of our sledge at Poschol. The woman of the house was preparing a dinner for her family, who were gone to church. It consisted of soup only. Presently her hus band, a boor, came in, attended by his daughters, with some small loaves of white bread, not larger than a pigeon's egg: these I sup pose the priest had consecrated, for they placed them with great care before the Bogh. Then the bowing and crossing began, and they

went

went to dinner, all eating out of the same bowl. Dinner ended, they went regularly to bed, as if to pass the night there, crossing and bowing as before. Having slept about an hour, one of the young women, according to an etiquette constantly observed, called her father, and presented him with a pot of vinegar, or Quass, the Russian beverage. The man then rose, and a complete fit of crossing and bowing seemed to seize him, with interludes so inexpressibly cha racteristic and ludicrous, that it was very difficult to preserve gravity. The pauses of scratching and grunting; the apostrophes to his wife, to himself, and to his God; were such as drunken Barnaby might have put into Latin, but need not be expressed in English.'

The accommodation for travellers is beyond description bad, both in Petersburg and Moscow. In the latter, nothing but necessity would render them sufferable. They demand three roubles a day for a single room, or kennel, in which an Englishman would blush to keep his dogs. The dirt on the floor may be removed only with an iron hoe, or a shovel. These places are entirely destitute of beds, They consist of bare walls, with two or three old stuffed chairs, ragged, rickety, and full of vermin. The walls themselves are still more disgusting, as the Russians load them with the most abominable filth.'

Moscow is in every thing extraordinary; as well in disappointing expectation, as in surpassing it; in causing wonder and derision, pleasure and regret. Let me conduct the reader back with me again to the gate by which we entered, and thence through the streets, Numerous spires, glittering with gold, amidst burnished domes and painted palaces, appear in the midst of an open plain, for several versts before you reach this gate. Having passed, you look about, and wonder what is become of the city, or where you are; and are ready to ask, once more, How far is it to Moscow? They will tell you, "This is Moscow !" and you behold nothing but a wide and scat. tered suburb, huts, gardens, pig-sties, brick walls, churches, dung, hills, palaces, timber-yards, warehouses, and a refuse, as it were, of materials sufficient to stock an empire with miserable towns and miserable villages. One might imagine all the States of Europe and Asia had sent a building, by way of representative, to Moscow: and under this impression the eye is presented with deputies from all countries, holding congress: timber-huts from regions beyond the Arctic; plastered palaces from Sweden and Denmark, not white, washed since their arrival; painted walls from the Tirol; mosques from Constantinople; Tartar temples from Bucharia; pagodas, pavilions, and virandas, from China; cabarets from Spain; dungeons, prisons, and public offices, from France; architectural ruins from

*It is made by mixing flour and water together, and leaving it till the acetous fermentation has taken place. The flavour is like that of vinegar and water. It looks thick, and is very unpleasing to strangers; but, by use, we became fond of it; and in the houses of the nobles, where attention is paid to its brewing, it is esteemed a delicacy, particularly in summer.'

« PreviousContinue »