THE CRIMEA AND TRANSCAUCASIA.*

THE impression which one can hardly help having at first of this work is that it is suspiciously well "got-up." The beauty of the type, the gloss of the paper, the number and almost photographic appearance of the illustrations seem to stamp it as belonging to the second order in the hierarchy of books de luxe, known as "volumes suited for the library-table," and as holding a middle place between volumes of the Baedeker and Murray class and vivacious works of travel like Mr. Evanti's Through Bosnia and Herzegovina. Nor will this impression be altogether removed by a perusal of its contents. Mr. Teller has not as yet got much beyond the gazetteer and guide-book diction,—a careful attention to latitudes, altitudes, and topography, spiced, where "space permits," with a lengthy poetical quotation, or a quaint anec- dote, or a mildly gushing description. It were to be wished that on all occasions he had, as in one passage in the second volume he proposes to do, left it to some modern Theocritus to de- scribe certain scenery, instead of doing it himself. Occasionally, indeed, by his sheer accuracy in photography, he becomes genu- inely descriptive, much as Hobbes in his translation of Homer becomes poetical, by his earnest efforts to reproduce the literal meaning of his original, but such a sentence as this may be taken as characteristic of Mr. Teller in his most ecstatic condition :— " It was a glorious night, of which we took full advantage, for we never tired of looking at the hill-topped Kasbeck, towering

The Crimea and Transcaucasia; being a Narrative of a Journey in the Kouban, in Gouria, Georgia, Armenia, Ossety, Imeritia, &tamely, and Mingrelia, and in the Tauric Range. By Commander 3. Buchan Teller, R.N., F.E.G.B. 2 vole. London : Henry B. King and Co. 1876.

towards the star-lit sky in its chilly covering, not mightily, scarcely majestically, but with a proud individuality most inter- esting to behold.-10.30 p.m. ; ther. 370 (March).". Mr. Teller, looking at his watch and thermometer, and making a correct distinction between might, majesty, and interesting individuality, is perhaps not a positively sublime spectacle, but it is Mr. Telfer all over. We have one other fault to find with these volumes, and happily only one. They have a somewhat fragmentary. appearance, which Mr. Teller himself adequately explains in his preface, by saying that during a three years' residence in the South of Russia, he made two visits to the Crimea and 'Transcaucasia, and that he has thrown these two journeys into one long one of ninety-two days. We think, however, Mr. Teller's book would have gained in fidelity to artistic truth, had he either simply given the narrative of one of his journeys, or given the two in succession, even at the risk of going over the same ground twice, and so repeating himself.

The work has, however, many and solid excellences. Com- mander Teller is as "honest a chronicler as Griffith" himself. He has stuck faithfully to his motto from Quintilian, Scribitur ad narrandum, non ad probandum ; he describes what he sees, with-

out moralisation or hasty inference. Above all, he is thoroughly impartial. Almost the only definite expression which he gives is one regarding the Czar, and it is nothing more than that "in Alexander IL we see a Sovereign whose personal efforts for the advancement of his people are paralysed by an ancient and subtle system." To Mr. Teller, Turk and Russian, Osset and Swanny, bond and free, are alike ; he gives facts and figures, description and picture, with the impartiality of a photo- grapher, who sees, immortalises, and is callous to, life at a fashion- able watering-place. Mr. Teller, moreover, fulfils the promise of his preface ; he seeks to "excite interest in localities, by inserting such brief historical and archmolcgical notices as could be gleaned in a limited space of time, and to demonstrate the feasibility of travelling with safety and tolerable comfort in regions rarely visited, yet second to none in their fascinations, in their antiquarian and ethnological attractions ; where also the botanist, the geologist, artist, mountaineer, and sportsman will find scope and every incentive in the pursuit of their avocations and pleasure." Indeed, had Mr. Teller possessed a pen like that of Mr. Green, his historical narratives in particular would have been almost as interesting as his statements regarding the facts that came within his own knowledge.

It may be almost inferred from what we have said as to the character of these volumes, that they do not lead up to any political conclusion ; they give us but few data upon which to base any calculation as to the future of Russia, in the so-called inevitable struggle of the future. At the same time, one can gather a few facts, especially in ethnology, from this work which may be of interest, and may even throw some light on the Russian future. Mr. Teller confirms the tolerably general impression that Russia at the present moment owes a great deal more to the non- Slavonian than to the Slavonian races which inhabit it. Unless, indeed, the Russian awakes from the charmed sleep of centuries of ignorance, and becomes something more than a machine in the hands of autocracy—in which case, woe to autocracy—the destinies of his country will be placed definitely, if they are not so placed already, at the mercy of four non-Russian races,—the Jews, the Greeks, the Germans, and—particularly in Transcaucasia—the Armenians. The Jews and the Greeks, Mr. Teller points out, really govern Odessa, which may be destined, in spite of the over- powering American competition that recently all but ruined it, to be the chief port in Russia. Of the Jews alone there are 65,000 in Odessa, and they have it all their own way. The poor Russian labourer has three feast-days to one of the Jew ; drinks his earn- ings at the vodka (spirit) counters, which are chiefly kept by Jews, abstemious, devoted to their sabbaths and fifteen holy-days ; and if he does not sink into an early grave, relapses into drink, and that debt which follows in the wake of drink, cursing, not alto- gether reasonably, the Jew who supplies him with the means of drowning his sorrows. The Greek is almost as ubiquitous, and pos- sesses almost as much behind-the-scenes influence in Russia as he

has in Turkey. The hostility of the Russian peasant to the well- educated German of the almost literally German provinces, who

becomes a successful farmer, and even a small landowner, while

he is starving and almost in rags, was shown some time ago in connection with the proposal to lower education in these pro-

vinces to the Slav instead of raising it to the German level, and Mr. Teller confirms what was previously said. As for the Armenians, persecution has rendered them at once as " pawky " and as observant of religious services as Jews or Scotch Presby- terians—in fact, there is a proverb that it takes two Greeks to outwit a Jew, and three Jews to outwit an Armenian—and as there are two millions and a half of them tinder Turkish and one million and a half under Russian domination, they may be de- stined to have a great influence over both empires. The follow- ing, although not in essentials original, may be interesting, as a summary of what can be said about the Armenians of the present day, looked at from the point of view of the past :— " An Armenian nobleman observed to me one day, 'My countrymen may assimilate the Jews, but they are wiser than the Jews, and there- fore superior to them ; for the Armenians are sensible of the advan- tages of a good education, and they avail themselves of opportunities for having their children brought up in conformity with the exigencies of the times, whereas our Jews quite ignore the necessity for education? That of twenty-four successful candidates at the University of Moscow for official appointments in 1873 thirteen were Armenians, is a feet that reflects no small credit on their proportion of the population of the Russian Empire. The Armenians are a good-looking people, of fair complexion, with dark eyes and an abundance of black hair; they are in general of short stature, and disposed to obesity at a comparatively early age, the result, in all probability, of their inactive habits ; it is said, however, that the mountaineers are a tall and robust race. The Armenians wear a dress in many respects similar to that of the Georgians, viz., the high and tapering fur hat, garments of bleak material with loose sleeves, and the leather belt at the waist. Their national appellation, according to the traditions of the country, is of the greatest antiquity, having descended to them from Aram, 1827 B.O., who was the fourth king ; but Strabo relates that the country was so called after Armenus, a Thessalian, and one of the companions of Jason. The following is the distribution of this industrious and thriving people

Turkish Dominions Russia ... Persia ... Austria... England ; India and Roumania ... Egypt Other countries

••• • •

•• • -• • other British possessions ... 2,500,000 ... 1,500,000 ... 34,000 ... 15,000 8,000 8,000 120,000 4,200,000

There are good reasons for believing that a few Armenians, but only a few, are Jacobite; a community so named after an obscure monk, hat an earnest man, named Jacob Albardai, surnamed Baradams or Zan- zalus, who revived the sect of the Monophysites, and died Bishop of Edessus in 588. Now, who were the Monophysites? They were also termed Entychians, after Eutyches, the abbot of a convent at Constan- tinople in 448, and pretended author of the doctrine which teaches that the divine nature of Christ had absorbed the human, and that there- fore there was but one nature in Him,—viz., the divine. The Arme- nian Church, however, accepts the doctrine of Christ's manhood, and rejects with horror the doctrine of the Nestorians, by which Mary is termed the mother of Christ; for in the Armenian Church, Mary is Deipara the mother of God; and Mary, whose lowly spirit rejoiced in God her Saviour,' is made to take precedence of all saints. The Armenian Church is completely independent of every other, and has been so ever since the fourth General Council, at Chalcedon in 451, when the absence of its bishops, who were prevented from attending, produced an alienation that developed itself a century later into open rupture with other Christian Churches. No people are more deeply attached to their national Church than the Armenians, whose zeal under the rod of oppression is fervent and intrepid, and who have often preferred the crown of martyrdom to the white turban of Mahommed ;' but this remark- able race has never succeeded in attaining a prominent position among nations, in consequence of the warlike incursions and foreign occupa- tions by which it has been troubled. It is the tenacity with which the Armenians have clung to their ancient traditions, that has enabled them to preserve their nationality and language through centuries of terrible persecution and suffering without a parallel in history. During the Persian wars, Armenia was invariably subject to Persia, until it was conquered by the Macedonians, 328 B.O. After the defeat of Antiochrur, Armenia, which for a time became independent, was broken up into two kingdoms, those of Minor and Major Armenia, and when Armenia Minor became subject to Rome, Armenia Major was the theatre of wer between the Romans and Parthians. Then came the oppression of the kings of the Sassanide dynasty, succeeded by the cruelty of the Ouligans, governors imposed on the Armenians by the Khalifs of Bagdad and Damascus and in later times their unhappy country became the battlefield of the Turks and Peraiana, and they themselves the victims of the fanaticism and misrule of those Powers. Since the final destruction of the city of Ani and the mi.erable termination to • their attempt to form an independent kingdom under the house of Lu.signan, both of which events occurred in the fourteenth century, the Armenians have not hesitated to quit their country for foreign lands in the peaceful pursuit of commerce, and they a, now distributed in many parts of the globe. In leaving their homes they have carried with them their literature, of which they are justly proud, for it dates from the fourth century, and they have thus never lost sight of their mother-tongue, even when colonising in small numbers. Their com- munities in various parts of Turkey, in Poland, at Amsterdam, Lfreirde, Marseilles, and in British India, all have printing-presses, and at Jerusalem the Armenians were the first to introduce printing."

Mr. Teller's account of the Crimea and its inhabitants is more interesting from the antiquarian and the historical than from the political point of view, and the same to a lesser extent holds good of his account of Transcaucasia. The names of the various peoples he revisited may be gathered from the title-page, and from the elaborate table of contents which is given at the

beginning of his book. On the whole, it would seem from what Mr. Teller tells us that, in all other respects beside the political ens, the Armenians are the most interesting people in this region, although both the Onset and the Swanny, particularly the variety known as the independent Swanny, are worth knowing, as links between the ancient and the modern Transcaucasian. We do not remember to have come across so full an account as this of the Douhobortey (" Wrestlers with the spirit "), who were at one time hated and even feared by the St. Petersburg authorities, but who seem to be a perfectly harmless people, dwelling on the frontiers of Transcaucasia :— 4 Among the villagers at Raieffsky are many of the sect known as that of the Douhobortsy, who resemble the Malakany in some respects; the Douhobortsy, Malakany, and other sectarians are now permitted to move from place to place without molestation, but when banished in the reign.of Alexander L, they were deported to certain districts in Transcaucasia and to other distant parts of the empire, their most per- nicious doctrine in the sight of the Government of Russia being the re- jection of monarchy ; for, they say, that as all men are fallen, so are all men equal and without distinction, and as Christ himself said that he and his were not of this world, therefore there can be no earthly power. The Douhobortsy fully believe the Scriptures to be the revelation of God, and as such to be alone accepted, to the exclusion of all traditions and acts of councils, which are of no avail, for nothing holy can proceed from men ; on these grounds they are opposed to the Orthodox Church, believing the real Church to be constituted only of such people as are chosen by God to dwell in light and life, admitting the right of Ma- hommedans and Jews to enter into that community, if they work to do good by inward spiritual light. The priest of the visible Church, having no inward eonviction, performs its ordinances mechanically, and speaks the words of his imagination only ; he cannot lift up the inner curtain, is therefore not competent to preach the Word, and leaves his hearers to trust to visible forms; thus is it that priests of the visible Church, being themselves sinners, cannot lead others to salvation. Christ alone is the Word ; He is the bishop and priest to whom we Look for the salvation of our souls; His priests can only be they who feel the power of His word in their hearts, which word does not remain unfruitful. Christ is God and man, and the regenerator of the human race. He is spiritually incarnate in our souls, having been borne into the world like the rest of mankind. It is by inward faith in Him alone that we can be saved, and by receiving light from Him we shall rise again, though not in the same body. In the Trinity, Christie life, the Holy Ghost is peace, in one with the Father who is light ; for God is the spirit of strength, of wisdom, and of will. There can be no out- ward forms in the true Church, where all is measured by the inner workings of Christ ; the Sacraments must therefore be understood spiritually. The Douhobortsy maintain that baptism, such as we are in the habit of seeing performed, is fruitless, for of what avail can it be with infants that do not feel, and cannot comprehend, or indeed with adults even, if they be not baptised by the spirit and with fire? The Church has no power to loose and to bind sins, true confession being that of a contrite heart before God; the ceremonial of marriage they consider superfluous, if the union be contracted at a reasonable age in mutual love and esteem, and with a firm purpose ; but the sanction of parents is imperative. The Donhobortsy do not recognise the sanctity of a church, for it is a building made with hands, whereas the Saviour taught, saying, Thou, when thou praye,st, go into thy chamber, ecc.; they condemn the practice of raising images or idols, for God com- manded Moses, saying, Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven image, leo.; and they refuse to make the sign of the cross, because prayer must be offered in the spirit and by the word; nor do they fast, there being no command to do so in the Scriptures. These are the people who, be- cause they would not turn away from their errors, were persecuted, and exiled by command of the Emperor Paul to the mines at Yekateryn- bourg. The origin of this sect is not known, and when a commission sat in 1802 at the Alexander-Nevsky Monastery, St. Petersburg, for the purpose of inquiring into its history, and qualifying its tenets, the more prominent members, summoned to give their evidence, were only ably to state that their teaching had come to them from the Ukraine. The Douhobortsy are good agriculturists, steady in their habits, and trustworthy in business; the majority are able to read, and many can write ; the humane treatment of their horses and cattle is in striking contrast to the barbarous cruelties practised by other people in the Canoe/nu' and the Crimea."

The general conclusion which we come to regarding the tribes of Transcaucasia is that, with the exceptions already mentioned, they are not likely to give much trouble to the Russians, not being braver or more intelligent than the ordinary Cossacks, and being at least as capable of being crushed by Slavonic power and Slavonic civilisation, unless these two come into collision.