TWO RUSSIAN NOVELS.*
• (1.) In the Name of the Tier: a Novel. By J. Belford Bayne.. Edinburgh and London : William Blackwood and Bons.—(2.) $04110.; or, the Great. C,onapiracy of 1881. By Princess Olga. London : Ohatto and Windns. ALTHOUGH we have denominated both these books Russian novels, .Radna only is in. strict justice entitled to come under this designation. The action takes place exclusively in Russia, the characters are Russian, and the authoress, who calls her- self Princess Olga, is evidently well acquainted with the country which she describes and the people whose characters she portrays. We may object to some of her theories, and to the occasional grandiloquence of her literary style; but even the censorious must admit that she speaks with knowledge* and that she has written a powerful and dramatic story. Mr. (or is it Mrs.?) J. Belford Dayne, on the other hand, seems to have developed his ideas of Russia and things Russian from his inner consciousness. He calls his book a "novel." He should have called it an impossible romance, or still better, a burlesque, for anything more wildly grotesque than the story which he tells, it were difficult to conceive. We are introduced at the outset to the inevitable secret society, the leading members of which are Mauret, a Frenchman ; Schultz, a German ; Olerowski, a Russian ; and Redford, a soi-disant Englishman. These men are the chiefs of the European revolution, and hold in their hands the threads of a vast conspiracy whose ramifications extend over Russia, Germany, and France; but the heart and soul of it is Redford, who, in American phrase, " bosses " the entire job. His colleagues are little more than his "obedient servants." Redford, it need hardly be observed, is a man of great courage and resource, handsome appearance, and refined manners, moves in the highest society, and seems to have unlimited command of money. He can detect a traitor at a glance, destroy him by a word, and wins the hearts of beautiful women, and breaks the bank at Monaco with equal facility. Yet nobody knows any- thing of his family ; and albeit he bears an English name, and speaks the language like a native, both his political associates and the people with whom he comes casually in contact doubt greatly whether he is English-born. This mysterious per- sonage, though he is often on the wing, spends most of his time on the Riviera, and at Monte Carlo makes the ac- quaintance of Beatrice Amherst, a charming English girl. Beatrice, of course, falls in love with him ; but she has, unfor- tunately, a rival in the person of Princess V6deroff (sic), a beautiful and fascinating Russian lady of high lineage and vast wealth. Redford has, nevertheless, the good taste to prefer Beatrice ; and though the course of their true love does not ran smooth at the first, all comes right in the end. In the meanwhile, however, some very startling events come to pass. The conspiracy in which Redford is engaged, as we have already observed, has its ramifications all over Europe ; but the immediate object of the conspirators is the emancipation of Russia from the yoke of bureaucratic tyranny by means of a general insurrection. In pursuance of this scheme, Redford • makes a visit to Moscow, where he presides at a meeting of the revolutionary council, held in a house which has once been a monastery. Particular attention must be called to the fact that the house has a tall tower, surmounted by a big metal dome. The proceedings have hardly begun when the doors of the council- chamber "fly open," and there enters "with fearless tread" a tall and handsome man, "wrapped in a mantle," whereupon the conspirators stand up in token of respect, and Redford humbly kisses his hand, for the new-comer is none other than the Autocrat of all the Russias, and honorary president of the secret society. He announces in set phrase that, finding himself unable to free his subjects from the power of those who misgovern and oppress them, he has thrown in his lot with the revolution, which he desires may be made "in the name of the Czar," and when the time for action comes, he will be found fighting on the popular side. This said, his Majesty marches off, and shortly afterwards the conspirators disperse, all save four,—Redford, Olerowski, a leading member of the Third Section, and the " Baron " to whom the house belongs. This gentleman is in the act of explaining to his guests an ingenious contrivance for evading the police, when two servants rash excitedly into the room with the news that the gendarmes have surrounded the house, and are on the point of making a domiciliary visit, and so putting his contrivance to the test. Whereupon, the Baron raises a curtain which covers a massive door. This, by touching a hidden spring, he opens, and himself and his three friends vanish. When
the police appear a few minutes later, they find the door easily, but being ignorant of the secret of the spring, are compelled to open it by force. But beyond the first door is a second, and beyond the second a third, the forcing of which occupies the police half-an-hour. At length they gain admittance to the tower, only, however, to find that the birds have flown,— literally, for looking skyward they see a great balloon sailing swiftly southward. The police are furious but powerless,
and the next evening Redford and his companions, while en- joying a recherchg supper in the Archduke Karl Hotel at
Vienna, read in the Austrian papers an account of their wonderful escape. In the end, the wiles of the wicked Princess are defeated, the revolution is accomplished, and Redford, who turns out to be a Prince of the Blood, becomes the husband of Beatrice Amherst.
We have described this precious novel at this length, because it is a sample of the rubbish that is just now being written about Russia. The "Empire of the Night," with its Nihilists, its secret police, and its mighty and mysterious Czar, is a tempting theme for the novelist ; but the writer who would effectively deal with it must possess special know- ledge : unless he be either a Russian born or has lived in the country and studied its institutions, he is sure to betray his ignorance by making ludicrous mistakes. Mr. Dayne does not even know that " Vederoff " in the
feminine becomes " Veder- ova," and that a Princess Vederoff is therefore an impossibility; and he commits the crowning
absurdity of making a Russian Emperor plot against his own Government, and lead insurgents in a street-fight against his own troops.
Radna is a book of another sort. The authoress who adopts the nom de guerre of Princess Olga is thoroughly conversant with her theme, and though she has a weakness for fine-writing,
and, as touching construction, her story leaves something to be desired, it is a very good story, and will abundantly repay perusal. " Radna " is a historic Polish castle, inhabited by the Countess Stetzka and her daughter, Wanda. Count Stetzki is under the ban of the Russian Government, and supposed to be in Siberia, and the son, Casimir, has com- promised himself to an extent which renders his temporary absence from home desirable. So mother and daughter are quite alone, and a prey to cruel anxiety, for they receive fre- quent domiciliary visits from the police, whom they are com- pelled to propitiate by-heavy bribes, the payment of which has brought them to the verge of poverty. In these circumstances, the Countess and her daughter hear of the arrival of a strong body of soldiers, and a number of civil officers, who have taken up their quarters in the neighbourhood. These functionaries have searched several houses, and are evidently on the quest,— after whom, Countess Stetzka knows only too well, for the Count, who has escaped from Siberia, is hidden in the castle. But this secret she shares with none, not even with her children. Meanwhile, Casimir returns to the neighbourhood in disguise, and Wanda, while walking in the woods, accidentally makes the acquaintance of a stranger who calls himself Leris Starzi.
After they have met several times, he offers her his love, which Wanda, under the impression that he is a Hungarian, accepts; but on learning that he is a Russian, repels hi]; with loathing and contempt. This scene is highly dramatic and well described :—
"He seized her hands and kissed them passionately. His upturned face showed the intensity of his feelings, but the touch of his hand seemed to rouse the bitterness she had been taught from her infancy for his race. With a cry almost of loathing she sprang back. How dare you ?' she said, her lips trembling with rage. 'How dare you touch me—me, Michael Stetzki's daughter ? Prejudice you say ! Is it prejudice which makes us fear and hate the wild beast that would devour us ? Is it pre- judice which makes my mother hate those who have bound her husband in chains and conveyed him to a living grave, who have murdered her friends and robbed her children, who have wrung from us every pleasure, every privilege of freedom, and who torture our poor peasants at their pleasure ? It was like one of your race to steal into the confidence of a poor unsuspecting Pole. It is your trade, the profession you glory in, which men of all other countries despise, and to which they give the infamous name of spy.'"
This and other passages prove that the authoress, if not of Polish birth, has strong Polish sympathies ; nevertheless, she always speaks of the Czar with bated breath, and protests her loyalty as loudly as Madame de Novikoff herself. Like the typical Itussian peasant, she believes all that is good of her Sovereign and all that is evil of his advisers. He is only
hindered from reforming abuses and freeing his people by the opposition of the bureaucracy, whose evil machinations are continually thwarting his benevolent intentions. Wanda's lover, designated as Prince C—, is a man of high integrity and the purest motives, and when he discovers how vilely she and her family have been used, and how cruelly the Poles are oppressed, he determines to lay the whole matter before his master, and demand punishment for the guilty and protection for their victims. Then begin his difficulties, the narration of which forms the most interesting part of the novel. He is powerfully supported at Court, for his mother is beloved by the Czar, whose morganatic wife she subsequently becomes. But the Prince confides his design to a brother-officer and intimate friend who is in the pay of the police, and his project becoming thus known, every effort is made to bar his access to the Emperor. The account of his arrival at Court and of the contest between Heritoff, the Minister of Police, and the Princess, who favours the party of reform, and knows that her son is hated by its enemies, is highly exciting. In the end he obtains an audience, convinces the Czar of the guilt of his agents, and obtains a free pardon for Count Stetzki and Casimir. The Emperor marries the Princess, her son marries Wanda, and a general amnesty and the granting of a Constitution are only prevented., by the assassination of the monarch, a crime which our authoress ascribes less to the malignity of the Nihilists than to the machinations of the police, her theory being that the party of reaction, seeing their predominance in danger, allowed Alexander to be murdered, if they did not actually compass his death. In other words, the Nihilists are the instruments of the police, permitted to exist merely that they may do their bidding, and, enable them to keep the Czar on the paths of absolutism. This is a theory which, we need hardly say, we do not accept. Yet there can be no question that the Autocrat of all the Russias, so powerful in appearance, is in great measure little more than a puppet in the hands of advisers whose very existence is contingent on the maintenance of the present system, and it is quite possible that a Czar really bent on reform would sooner or later meet with the fate which is said to befall Turkish Pashas who try to rule justly and reform abuses.
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