THE LAND OF THE CZAR.*

THE first thing one learns from Mr. Wahl's book is how very little one knows about Russia. A popular notion of the big empire whose extent comprises one-sixth of the whole earth has been obtained from popular literature and special correspondents, but it is confined to vague pictorial sketches of St. Petersburg and Moscow, of Nijni Novgorod and Sevastopol, of moujiks and droskies, of the Nevsky Prospect, and a multitude of people mostly called Ivan ; of a political system in which personal loyalty to the sovereign is a tenet of national religion, and a social system in which splendour and squalor come into even closer contact than in our own, and civilisation is found side by side with absolute bar- barism. We have representations of the mission and the purposes of Russia from politicians of a certain school among ourselves, restricted in number and strong in fancy, to whom they are per- petual bugbears ; and we have the French and German views, respectively, of the great power whose alliance is a prize to be eagerly contested. But of the enormous space included in " All the Russias," and of the races, kindreds, tongues, and manner of life of the scattered and strangely various populations which now extend over 500,000 square miles of territory, we know less than of the savage tribes of Central Africa.

From this condition of ignorance Mr. Wahl's book affords us an opportunity of issuing into a considerable amount of knowledge, administered after a compressed fashion, on most of the leading subjects of interest and importance connected with the land of the Czar. The author has resided for many years in Russia ; he has travelled extensively in the remote provinces which he de- scribes, and he has studied his subject from all the highest native authorities in Russian literature. If his work errs a little in its form, if it has too much the effect of a hand-book, it must be borne in mind that no insignificant difficulty has attended the task of compressing within a single volume the really immense amount of information which it conveys upon the -geographical, geological, agricultural, and industrial statistics of the Russian Empire, upon its populations, their character, their domestic life, and their religions ; upon the Church of Russia, the Russian and Caucasian languages and literature, and in addition to these, a summary of the history of the Empire from Rurik to Alexander • The Land of the Czar. By 0. W. Wahl. London: Chapman and Hall. II., a record of the Khivan expedition, and an opergu of the actual political position of the country.

Within our space it is only possible to indicate the sources of information which this valuable work opens to readers of many varieties of taste, and to recommend them to do what we have

done,—that is, to read it all through, and then try back on special passages which give us pictures of the Russians in the

great towns, according to their several ranks in life, and of the wild tribes, their fellow-subjects, who people the mysterious distances, until recent times little better known than when " Homer sung of a Kymmerian nation and a city covered by everlasting clouds and darkness."

The contrasts of national character among the civilised races who dwell in Russia is brought out very strongly, if we take several of these brief but impressive descriptions, and compare them together, as, for instance, the " Great Russian" and the "Siberian," among the civilised races ; while the Armenians, Caucasians, Cossacks, Tartars, Little Russians, Finns, Lapps, and numerous barbarous tribes whom the author classifies and describes, some with minuteness, others by broad, telling strokes of definition, have remarkable points of contrast with each other. The author likes the Great Russians, and declares that no man who does not sympathise with their char- acter can hope to understand and define it. As he defines it, it is evident that the absolute monarchy under which the people live is the best, indeed the only good form of govern- ment for them ; for their good qualities are not of the kind which would render them capable of self-government ; and "public life," as we understand it, has no charm for them. On their sociability, charitableness, and hospitality, Mr. Wahl com- ments with enthusiasm ; on the untiring sympathy, manifested in the innumerable institutions for the poor, the aged, and the infirm, and on the gentle kindness and respect with which their inmates are treated. He sketches the households of the Russian nobles as quite patriarchal in their profuse hospitality, and the general delight in having the house full of kinsmen, which, he justly remarks, is becoming extremely rare in Western Europe,—and in the large and lavish fashion of their expenditure. Nobody saves money, and " everything is sacrificed to the moment ; an hour passed in pleasurable excitement is never considered too dearly paid for." The result is, ?dr. Wahl gravely informs us, after he has also acknowledged that the Russians spoil

their children, detest bodily exercise, and sleep more than any other nation, " a repugnance to serious business, and the tedious performance of a difficult duty. Floating amidst a thousand different interests, the Russian is alternately indulgent and pre- tentious, indifferent and zealous, vacillating and resolute. He is highly intelligent and of quick comprehension, but interested only by fits and starts ; he likes change and variety, and blindly submits to the caprices of fashion." Liking rather than respect is inspired by the description of the civilised Russian national character, -which seems totally uncalculated to secure true national greatness

in the future. The strange depression of spirits on which the author dwells strongly, as characterising all classes and pervading their amusements, may be an effect of the climate, and therefore incurable,—it must be detrimental to political and public life. Low- spirited people will not interest themselves in large and specula- tive matters. Such a statement as the following makes us regard the great Russian Empire as a giant of the limp and flabby kind, feeble-kneed :-

"In the case of the civilised part of the nation, all games have made room for the cards. These have become the object not only of amuse- ment, but of veritable passion, often strongly developed in the young men, who seem to know no other pleasure besides, except that of smoking papiros or cigarettes. The quantity of cards annually trans- ported by the St. Petersburg-Moscow Railway alone (110 tons !) will furnish the best illustration of the strength of this habit. The principal and almost only sport of the Russian gentleman consists in driving at the highest possible speed. In order to excel in this, he pays enormous prices for fast-trotting horses, and puts up with the most wretched con- veyance, provided it is whirled along the ground at a break-neck pace. Few Russians know anything about hunting, shooting, swimming, boating, gymnastic and other exercises requiring strength and agility. For such they have neither taste nor the necessary agility of mind and muscle."

The " rough " is apparently unknown in Russia, and savagery keeps within the borders of savagedom, which are wide. The frivolity of Russian life is no more gay than our own, but for a different reason. Mr. Wahl gives a funny account of a dance popular in country places, called " tchijick," during the per- formance of which a ludicrously impassive countenance is sedulously preserved :—

"Dressed in their long kaftans, their heads covered, and the hands in the pockets, the gentlemen dance in a circle before the ladies, who follow them all the time singing. On certain chords of the music being

struck, the gentlemen at once turn round, take off their caps, make a little bow, and kiss their partners with a tranquillity of soul and counten- ance almost incredible. The towns know, of course, only French dances. Nothing approaching riotous conduct is ever witnessed on festival occasions, but also no true gaiety. On groat holidays all the world and his wife will turn out to walk up and down the boulevards or promenade, where people pass and repass each other with silent indifference. A foreign visitor, struck by this want of animation, once put the following characteristic question to a person near him :—' For what great personage's funeral are all these people assembled ?' "

A chapter brimful of facts is devoted to the Russian of the manufacturing districts and the workman. This chapter, in par- ticular, is a marvel of compression, considering its material, and sets forth the system on which the various industries are con- ducted in an admirable light. Association prevails in the rural districts, and is found to work very well, Every enterprise is carried out by " Artels," or associations of workmen, who work independently in small or large gangs, or under a contractor. The rules are simple and satisfactory. "They fix the wage before- hand, as well as the duration of their work, and choose from among their number a delegate, or " artelshtchik," who is charged with the economical affairs of the " artel." For the defrayal of the necessary expenses they remit to him every week a part (equal for each) of their earnings, and at the end of the season they return to their villages with the surplus saved." These " artels " are most excellent institutions, and the conduct of their delegates so exemplary that bankers constantly employ the latter as bill- brokers, so that they have the handling of very large sums of money. The Burlaks, whose arduous avocation is that of boat- towing on the Volga, adopt a similar system, with the addition of severe, but wholesome penal provisions :—" The lazy or ill- behaved amongst them is, in the first instance, soundly flogged by his own comrades, and if that punishment avail not, he is ex-

pelled the " Whole districts are devoted to special in- dustries, for instance, in Vologda every one is a carpenter, and also in the north-eastern forest lands. Mr. Wahl tells us that these carpenters, who work in every possible fashion in wood, hardly ever use their saws, but manufacture the most delicate as well as the rudest articles with the hatchet only, and that " their skill and cunning workmanship are qualities not to be met with in any foreign carpenters, and must excite the admiration of all beholders." The trade of the shoemaker seems to have similar characteristics everywhere, and its members to be " kittle-cattle" all the world over. The province of Vladimir is the centre of the shoemaking industry, but the men pass the summer in the towns, where they work in various capacities, and usually expend the greater part of their earnings in indulging their sociability. "In winter they return to their shoemakers' benches, and that they may not be tempted to sell the shoes elsewhere, the master gives them but one kind of boot (either right or left) to make according to a particular pattern."

The chapters on Siberia and the Siberians are singularly in- interesting. Mr. Wahl is a prosaic and unpicturesque writer, but he does perceive the strong and suggestive contrast between the images of terror and suffering evoked by the mere name of the terrible province, and his description of the life of the "civilised class," which is composed almost exclusively of civil and military officers. According to him, South Siberia must be a delightful place, for he dwells upon "the exhilarating influence of the beautiful South-Siberian climate, the splendour of gigantic nature," the refined manners and bon ton of society, the luxurious- ness of the houses, and the constant gaiety and pleasure which reign there. There is plenty of vitality among the Siberians, and none of the dislike to bodily exertion which characterises their European countrymen. "A ball in Siberia," says the author, "sometimes brings together people from distances of 80 to 100 and more miles, across rivers, hills, precipices, and over roads and bridges which would terrify a European." In every respect the Siberians are a superior race. " Although the greatest part of the population has sprung from criminals, their habits are pure and simple, and their general probity is such as to render locks a superfluity. They are strictly truth-telling, and very religious, and of a poetical temperament. Folk-lore, fables, and legends

are rife in Siberia." . .. • The arrangement of this teeming volume is lucid and compre- hensive, and the index is admirably done. The second section ought to be reprinted separately, as a class-book of Russian history.