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LITTELL'S LIVING AGE.-No. 305.-23 MARCH, 1850.

From the United Service Magazine. RUSSIAN AGGRESSION IN THE EAST.

WHEN attacks are made by the press on the system of Russian policy they often fail in producing any effect on the public mind, from the obvious ignorance of the writers respecting the true state of the case. Impelled by their feelings into a hostile sentiment against the great depotism of the North, they forget that, in order to carry others along with them, it is not enough to scatter the figures of rhetoric over the subject. The people of this country require facts; they will not suffer themselves to be hurried away by declamation, but before they can be moved on the all-important question of war or peace, will insist upon being thoroughly informed. What has Russia done to justify our resentment? What has been the course of her aggressive policy? Whom has it stricken? What empires or kingdoms has she stripped of their territories?

That the reader may agree with us at once on the subject of the portentous growth of the Russian empire, we will just set down, on the best possible authority, the principal of its recent acquisitions. No mistake is here possible. We have but to compare an ancient map of the Russian empire with a modern map, to be convinced of the enormous strides it has made within the reigns of a few czars; and, as these have tended almost exclusively in one direction, we think the reader cannot fail to comprehend how it happens that the extension of Russia is in the highest degree dangerous to England.

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Greater attention would, however, be paid to political warnings and predictions, were those who make them to exhibit a little more caution. far back as the time of Peter the First, it was believed that Turkey would speedily crumble away at the touch of the Russian arms; and this persuasion led to the campaign of 1711, which proved so disastrous to the northern power. It has ever since been repeated that Russia has but to march into the Ottoman empire to subdue and annex it But although Turkey has been long declining, its decline has been gradual, and when, by arousing the fanaticism of the people, or appealing to their military instincts, they have been brought to face the common enemy, it has been found that the time has not come for trampling them finally under foot. In all half-civilized nations, there exists a certain martial energy which discipline might render irresistible were it seconded

POPULATION OF THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE AT DIFFERENT by the political institutions of the country. In

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At the Accession of Peter I., in 1689

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Turkey there has been some reformation of abuses, and the people, thus made more attached to their "Catharine II., in 1762 ... 25,000,000. government, have along with this feeling recovered 36,000,000. in some degree their warlike ardor; so that at 1825 .. 58,000,000. the present moment Russia would be likely to encounter from Turkey a more determined resistance than ever.

At her death, in
At the death of Alexander, in.

The acquisitions of Russia from Sweden are greater than what remains of that kingdom. Her acquisitions from Poland are nearly equal to the Austrian empire. Her acquisitions from Turkey in Europe are of greater extent than the Prussian dominions, exclusive of the Rhenish provinces. Her acquisitions from Turkey in Asia are nearly equal in dimension to the whole of the smaller states of Germany. Her acquisitions from Persia are equal in extent to England. Her acquisitions in Tartary have an area not inferior to that of Turkey in Europe, Greece, Italy, and Spain; and the acquisitions she has made within the last eighty years are equal in extent and importance to the whole empire she had in Europe before that time. The Russian frontier has been advanced towards

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Let us, however, survey rapidly the course of her progress in the East, reminding the reader that we make no pretension to present him with anything more than an outline, to fill up which would be inconsistent with the exigencies of our space. Had the battle of Pultava terminated in the victory of the Swedes, the whole current of European history would probably have been different. Charles the Twelfth was not unfavorable to civilization; whilst his rival, notwithstanding all that has been written in his praise, was by habit and practice favorable to barbarism, though he labored to mitigate the ignorance of those subjected to his sway, for the purposes of policy and ambition. Eleven years after that

battle, Peter established a line of forts between | wealthy province, for which he ostentatiously the Volga and the Don for the purpose of protect- triumphed on his return to Moscow.

ing his slaves from the incursions of the free tribes At that period, the Sultan of Constantinople of the south. Those tribes themselves have now comprehended the design of Russia far better than been deprived of their liberty, and the frontier has the European powers. Between Turkey and been advanced upwards of a thousand miles south-Persia there had been war from time to time, as wards. there always must be between conterminous History is full of flattery to those whose brows states; but this did not prevent the sultan from are crowned by success, and we are stunned perceiving that the downfall of the shah would by the eulogium of Peter the First's virtues, be the signal for his own. He therefore prewhen his perfidy is passed over almost without pared to make war upon Russia; but Austria and notice. It received, however, one chastisement France, wholly ignorant of what they were doing, at the time. Assailing Turkey merely because he interposed, to prevent the Turks from executing thought it weak, he was defeated, driven north- their politic project. Sorely have both powers ward, and compelled to sign a dishonorable treaty, since regretted their interference. By threatenwhich, however, he never meant to fulfil. The ing to unite with the czar in case of hostilities, events of the day compelled him. He was con- they restrained the indignation of the sultan, and strained to deliver up Taganrog and Azoph to thus gave Russia an opportunity of pushing still the Turks, and at that point to defer to some future further her schemes of self-aggrandizement. day the gratification of Russian ambition. His disappointment in this quarter only induced him to select a more helpless prey, which he did by invading the territories of the Khan of Khiva, under the pretence of sending a peaceful mission to his court. The large force attending the ambassador excited the suspicion of the Khivans, who, insisting on its being dispersed, in order the more easily to supply it with provisions, cut off the majority of the troops, and condemned the remainder to slavery for life. The attempt has been renewed with equal infamy in our own days, and with a denouement not very dissimilar.

The rest of Peter's history in connection with Persia is full of infamy. Treachery marked its every step, and the consummation of the guilty proceeding was accomplished by the treaty of Ismael Beg, who, proceeding for the shah into Russia, there sold himself to the czar, and made over in his master's name all the provinces of which he was at that moment in possession. Of course the shah immediately repudiated the treaty concluded by this traitor. But that signified nothing in the eyes of Russia, which up to this hour has prosecuted its design upon those provinces, the title to which it purchased from a despicable adventurer.

Peter did not live to consummate his wickedness, but bequeathed the darling project to his successors, who have trodden in his footsteps with a perseverance worthy of so nefarious a cause.

It is probable that Peter the First, though he may have dreamt of the conquest of India, did not believe it could be easily or soon accomplished. What he aimed at securing to himself in the first instance, was a portion of its trade, which he sought to direct into his dominions through Aff- It is not, of course, to be expected that in exghanistan and Persia. To further this design, he amining the political career of Turkey we should sent an embassy to the court of Ispahan, where a find it free from the stains of ambition and prince of the Sefi dynasty still reigned in indo- perfidy. On the death of Peter, his successor, lent imbecility; and, by adroit intrigue and the Catharine, applied to the Porte, and wheedled it distribution of lavish presents among the grandees into a treaty, by which they divided a large porof the court, concluded a treaty, by which it was tion of Persia between them; after which, Russia agreed that all the silk of Persia should pass proceeded to act in her own characteristic way. directly into Russia. Nor was this all. At the By her stipulations with the traitor, Ismael Beg, town of Shammakia a number of Russian mer- she had agreed to lend Persia assistance against chants were pillaged and killed by the Lesghis, the Affghans, as a consideration for which she nominal subjects of Persia, and reparation for this was to obtain the provinces which had been ceded injury was demanded of the shah. But the to her. Instead of this, she entered into negotiamount was calculated at upwards of four mil-ations with the Affghan rebels, thus setting all lions of silver rubles, a sum impossible to be wrung from the Persian treasury, and therefore Peter seized upon it as a good pretext for annexing a large province to his dominions. He sounded the Caspian Sea; he launched ships upon it, and, calling Heaven to witness that he only designed to benefit his "dear friend, the shah," prepared vigorously to dethrone him, and take possession of his territory. The expedition was undertaken; and, though the success to which it led was not quite so brilliant, the czar was sufficiently fortunate to strip his dear friend of a

the dictates of political morality at defiance, and inviting the scorn and contempt of history. Her wickedness was without fruit. The meteoric ascent of Kûli Khan to the Persian throne, paralyzed the designs of Russia, and forced back her ambition within its natural limits. But his strong hand once removed, the tide of Russian aggression resumed its ancient course, and flowed impetuously towards Teheran.

Checked for a while in its designs upon Persia, Russia directed the whole force of her arms and intrigue against the independent tribes on her

southern border, the Circassians, the Nogais, and the Kalmuks, with parts of whom she has carried on a deadly struggle till the present hour. Most persons are acquainted with the atrocities committed against the Kalmuks, half a million of whom were compelled to expatriate themselves during an inclement season of the year, by which means numbers were cut off, while the Russians remained masters of the deserted country. The Nogais were, in their turn, subdued, and then the tide of Russian invasion rolled unimpeded against the mountains of Circassia. In the whole history of the world, perhaps, the annals of no war are more strange or bloody than those which commemorate the contest between the Circassians and Russians, which, still continuing, illustrates the all but impossibility of subduing a hardy race of mountaineers, attached to their freedom and their fastnesses, and resolved to perish rather than be enslaved.

should not have more than one ship of war in the seas of Constantinople-acquired the long-coveted Azoph and Taganrog, with Kerch and Kinburn, advanced her frontier to the Bogue, prepared the way for the subjugation of the Krimea by establishing her independence, and obtained the sovereignty of the two Kabardass."

For a victorious enemy, the concessions thus gained were supposed to be moderate. But to the Russian policy true moderation is a stranger. The reason of its proceeding as it did on that occasion, was the internal condition of the country, impoverished, desolated by pestilence, and agitated from one end to the other by the precursors of civil war. The protraction of the Turkish campaign for six months longer, would have shattered the Russian empire to pieces. But Catharine's triumphs abroad enabled her immediately to quench disaffection at home; and when this had been effected, she proceeded with her system of Great success was obtained in other parts of plunder and devastation against Turkey, as if no the Caucasus, chiefly by means of Russian mis- stipulations had ever been entered into with that sionaries, who, going among the Ossetians, a tribe country; seized her territories, sowed dissension in whose country there was said to be an im- amongst her feudatory princes, corrupted her mense quantity of gold, persuaded them to declare nobles, and sought, by all practicable means, howthemselves Russian subjects, and with their as-ever base or dishonorable, to accomplish her oversistance proceeded to wrest Georgia from the throw. This was preeminently the case in the Persian empire. Every step in the history of Krimea, and in all the petty principalities in the these proceedings is marked by treachery and eastern extremities of the Black Sea. Precisely blood. The missionaries were impostors; the power that employed them treacherous, and the object to be attained the most nefarious that can be conceived. Yet the project was successful, and the wedge of Russian power effectually introduced into Persia, which will ultimately be shattered to pieces, and become the prey of the czar, unless Great Britain interferes to prevent it.

the same scheme was pursued in Ossetia, Georgia, Immaretia, Mingrelia, while the most nefarious arts and machinations were employed to seduce the dependent princes from their sovereign, whether sultan or shah.

Could we enter into the details of these transactions, we feel assured that we should astonish the reader by the display of persevering perfidy on the part of Russia, which the Persians often met and counteracted by similar perfidy. One single instance may be given as a sample of the rest. Having been foiled in all her attempts to acquire by force the southern shores of the Caspian, Russia resolved to gain her point by stratagem. Voinovitch, a naval officer, was dispatched

Immediately after these events, the ambition of Russia developed itself in a new field. The real subjugation of Poland gave umbrage to Turkey, which discovered in it the most imminent danger to itself, and therefore the sultan demanded its evacuation by the Russian troops, and, being met by a peremptory refusal, declared war. An ambassador in the East, who had very carefully with considerable force from Astrachan with orstudied the movements of Russia, thus describes these hostilities and their consequences :

"In the war which ensued, Russia put forth an energy and power for which even those who had witnessed her former efforts, and justly estimated the character of the empress, were not sufficiently prepared. Her navy collected from the White Sea and the Baltic, scoured the Mediterranean, aided by British officers, destroyed the Turkish fleet, lighted the flames of civil war in Greece, fanned them in Egypt and Syria, and rehearsed almost every scene of the drama which she has acted with such tragic effect within the last few years.

ders to obtain possession of some commanding point on the Persian shore by violence or fraud. He landed in Mazanderan, about fifty miles from Astrabad, and easily obtained permission to erect a counting-house, for the purpose of facilitating the trade between the two countries. As might have been expected, the Russians built a fortress, which they mounted with eighteen guns, and were thus enabled to command the whole coast, and set all the native authorities at defiance. Aga Mohammed, the sovereign of that part of Persia, came to see the Russian fortifications, which he greatly admired and praised. He was a master of that dissimulation in which the Ori

"This war, disastrous to the Turks, was ter-entals excel, and was so warm in his eulogiums minated by the treaty of Kuchuck Kainarji, (1774,) that the Russian officers, quite thrown off their by which Russia secured the free navigation of the guard, invited him to dine with them on board Euxine, and all the Ottoman Sea, and with the Aga Mohammed cheerfully accepted the invitapassage of the Dardanelles, on condition that she❘tion, and when he went thoroughly enjoyed their

office of corrupting the governors of provinces, the magistrates, generals, and other officers in the service of neighboring states. The Memlook Beys in Egypt were allured into rebellion by the promise of independence; the princes of Wallachia and Moldavia were bought over by the same means, and in Greece, Macedonia, and the provinces on the Black Sea, similar machinations were put in practice. When alarmed for our

hospitality. But the affair could not stop here. I development of Russian ambition, which for a time The Russians having splendidly entertained him, was checked and prevented by the jealousy of he could do no other than give them an entertain-Western Europe. Apprehensions began at length ment in return. He accordingly invited them to to be entertained of the gigantic power of the dine with him in his palace in the mountains, czarina, and Sweden, Prussia, England, France, where he promised to give them a true taste of the and, ultimately, Austria itself, began to think of hospitality of Persia. Voinovitch and his com- their own danger. Nothing could excel in audacrades eagerly accepted the invitation, and pro-ity the projects of the Russian court, which kept ceeded as to a party of pleasure, but had no soon-in pay an army of emissaries charged with the er arrived, than they were surrounded by Aga Mohammed's guards, placed in strict confinement, and informed by the prince himself that unless the fortress they had built were immediately razed to the ground, he would strike off their heads, and proceed at once to assail it. The crafty Russians now saw themselves overreached, since it was clear that Aga Mohammed would not hesitate to put his threat into execution. Voinovitch, therefore, wrote a letter to the commandant of the fort-commerce and our naval supremacy, and influenced ress to embark the guns, and level the walls with the ground, which was accordingly done. Aga Mohammed then collected the Russian officers into a body, and having ordered his guards to inflict on them the last indignities, scourged them like the vilest of slaves to the shore, and sent them to give an account to their empress of the results of her infamous policy.

also it is to be presumed by loftier views, England now threw herself into the struggle, and the force of Russia was paralyzed. Our country was rising at that time into greater and greater importance, so that the empress of the north trembled at the contemplation of our fleets, and signed a treaty with Turkey, which, though sufficiently advantageous in itself, was infinitely less so than it might have been but for us. Had we understood the weakness of Russia we might have forced her back to the conditions of the treaty of Kainarji.

If Catharine, however, was unsuccessful in her attempts upon Mazanderan, she was not so further west. No doubt her projects were then of the most colossal dimensions, and included the total It was at this period that the first formal project subjugation of Turkey and the possession of Con- for the invasion of India was entertained by the stantinople. But these designs could not be real- Russian court. Drawn up originally by a French ized without the cooperation of the powerful officer, it was presented to Catharine by the Prince European powers, and the aid of Prussia and Nassau Sieger, and, although ridiculed by PotemAustria was purchased with the spoils of Poland. kin, was viewed with much favor by Catharine and Unfortunately the German Emperor has for nearly her courtiers. The plan was to send an army by a century been content to be little better than a way of Bokhara and Kashmér to Bengal, to restore satellite of Russia; especially in its attempts the Great Mogul, and to rally round the Russian upon Turkey, the consummation of which would standard all the discontented spirits in India, which be the inevitable signal for the downfall of Austria it must be acknowledged were not a few. Of herself, but this the statesmen of that country can-course the Great Mogul was to be a shadow, behind not be made to comprehend. Bribed partly and partly overreached, they have directed all the powers and resources of their country to the advantage of its worst enemy.

which the power of Russia was to be executed with iron sternness. The design then formed has never been since laid aside, and every step eastward taken by Russia may be regarded as a step towards the Indus. At first sight the idea of penetrating into India across the lofty plateaus of central Asia, and the tremendous solitudes of the Hindoo Kûsh, may be regarded as in the highest degree extravagant; but commerce passes constantly through the defiles of the Himmalaya, traverses Ladak and Kashmér, and over the pass of Bember descends into the Punjab. Ambition may follow in the footsteps of commercial enterprise, and it may be regarded as an undoubted truth that India is protected neither by mountains nor deserts, but by the good swords and resolute courage of those who hold it.

All the southern provinces of Russia now swarmed with troops, while the Danubian frontier was overrun by the imperial forces; Catharine felt that this was the moment for striking the meditated blow. Her object was the annexation of the Krimea, and her general, Potemkin, having entered it with an army ostensibly for the purpose of aiding its khan against the Turks, the mask was immediately thrown off, the authority of the native prince destroyed, several leading men driven into exile, and all the Tartars that could be seized upon, men, women, and children, to the number of thirty thousand, were remorselessly massacred in one day. Such are the acts of Russia! Such From the reign of Catharine to the present hour her mode of acquiring territory! Such the polit-Russia has pursued precisely the same policy, both ical morality which it is her mission to inculcate towards Turkey and Persia. Every war has been into mankind! a war of aggression, every treaty has been a victory A few years later the world witnessed a further greater than any gained in the field, and every

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