POET. Oh! golden, golden summer, Thou hast chased each vernal roamer Glad was the cuckoo's hail,- Spring woke her tribes to bloom, And on the green sward dance; As if joy might not be borne. SUMMER. And dost thou of me complain? Praising my silvery skies? The shrill cicada's tune, When the odours of the pine Gushed through the woods at noon? I have run my fervid race, I have wrought my task once more; I have filled each fruitful place With a plenty that runs o'er. There is treasure in the garner, There is honey with the bee; And oh! thou thankless scorner, There's a parting boon for thee! Soon as in misty sadness, Sere Autumn yields her reign, Winter with stormy madness Shall chase thee from the plain. Then shall these scenes elysian THE BIBLE.—In the year 1274, the price of a small Bible, neatly written, was about £30, equal to about £200 of our money. ON RUSSIA. No. II. BY REV. B. F. BURNS, KINGSTON. At To render more complete the view presented, in last article, of the military resources of Russia, it will be necessary to say something regarding the Cossacks, of whose valour she boasts, and on whose assistance in times of need she specially depends. Their origin dates from the period of the Tartar invasion, about the beginning of the thirteenth century. The barbarous retainers of Genghis Khan rushed down, like an avalanche, from the cold regions of the North, on the plains which Ruric had conquered and colonized. Though their rule ultimately did not prove as oppressive as was feared, for a considerable time devastation and death tracked their footsteps. The sky was reddened with the glare of blazing villages. The soil was saturated with the blood, and whitened with the bones, of countless victims. They resembled an army of locusts, with a garden in front and a desert behind them. Many of the settlers in the vicinity of Kiow and part of the extensive region known as Little, or Southern Russia, fled from their homes, and found shelter in an unfrequented strip of country bordering on the Don and stretching towards the banks of the Dneiper and the shores of the Black Sea. intervals they were joined by malcontents from different tribes. Together they formed a motley mass, united in the love of that liberty they claimed for themselves, and in the lawless incursions they made on others. They partook of the character of the brigand or freebooter, rather than of the soldier or civilian. In boats, little better than our Indian canoes, they pursued on the Black Sea a course similar to that which their Varangian ancestors had done upon the Baltic, and performed deeds worthy the palmy days of Rob Roy or Robin Hood. The modern Cossacks possess the general features which marked their predatory sires. War is their native ele. ment. They leave to women and serfs the culture of the land and the practice of the industrial arts. In periods of peace they may fish or hunt, look after their horses, or loiter about, decked out in a blue jacket, lined with silk and edged with gold lace, silk vest and girdle, ample white trousers and a large cap of black wool with a red bag floating behind. But they are never truly contented, save when brandishing their ponderous spear, or coursing with lightning rapidity on their faithful steeds over the fertile steppes of the Ukraine, or beneath forty-six miles; their height in some points is the frowning shadow of the Caucasus. close on 18,000 feet, exceeding the loftiest of There are two leading classes-those of the the Alpine peaks. "By this chain of heights Ukraine; and those of the Don. The Ukraine is a the passage between the Euxine and the Casdistrict where the soil is rich and loamy and pian Seas is guarded as by a sleepless host of the sky is bright and clear. The Cossacks here invincible sentries, and its verdant vales and have a government of their own, thoroughly in- rugged ridges form the natural fastnesses for a dependant; military law prevails and is admin-race of mountaineers, where they may maintain istered with great strictness. In cases of mur- the character for indomitable endurance which der for example-the murderer is buried alive has marked the highlander of every age and with his victim. In the matter of love they country." The territory scooped out between reverse the customary order, establishing a per- these two seas and fenced in on one side by this petual leap year, by leaving it to the female to gigantic wall of nature's construction embraces undertake the delicate task of popping the ques- an area of 100,000 square miles. In this “land tion, a privilege which some modest swains of the mountain and the flood" the Circassians would willingly concede to her. Whenever a were cradled-a people who, for a quarter of a young woman falls in love with a young man, century, have held the Russians at bay, and who, she undertakes a pilgrimage to the house of his in their bold strugglings for liberty, have proved parents, and sitting down on the ground makes themselves not unworthy of being placed near this pathetic and irresistible appeal: "Ivan, those who fought beneath the banner of the pathe goodness I see written in your countenance triot Tell and the Bruce of Bannockburn. is a sufficient assurance to me that you are To the influences that are associated with capable of ruling and loving a wife, and your highland scenery the Circassian is peculiarly excellent qualities encourage me to hope that open. Reared in a region where the sublime you will make a good gospodar (husband or and beautiful in nature are exquisitely blended, master). It is in this belief that I have taken his choicest affections gather round it. Breaththe resolution to come and beg you, with all ing the air of liberty as it sweeps fresh and keen due humility, to accept me for your spouse," from snowclad heights, accessible only to the A similar appeal is then addressed to the pa- eagle or the chamois, he spurns the chains of the rents. Should a refusal be given, she is nothing oppressor; he dares to be free. daunted, but simply states that she will not "Dear is that shed to which his soul conforms leave the house till she have secured the object And dear that hill which lifts him to the storms, And as a child, when scareing sounds molest, of her attachment. In the generality of cases, Clings close and closer to the mother's breast. So the loud torrent and the whirwind's roar, these strong-minded women carry their point. But bind him to his native mountains more." While they are thus assiduous at the shrine of By the treaty of Adrianople in 1829, which Venus, the men are equally devoted to the in- terminated the last general war between Turkey terests of Mars. Their delight is in the din of and Russia, Circassia, which had a nominal conbattle and the shock of arms. This holds espe- nexion with the former, was ceded to the latter. cially true with regard to the Cossacks of the The high spirited Circassians however regarded Don, who, for a lengthened succession of years the treaty as a piece of waste paper, and therehave been constantly on duty. In consequence fore Russia directed her entire energies to the of their proximity to the great Caucasian range task of compelling their obedience, First an they have been the principal actors in that pro- army of 100,000 was dispatched; then another tracted contest with the brave Circassians, which of 150,000 in addition to the Cossack Cavalry; has done not a little to wound the pride of forts were built, roads constructed, every conRussia and take from the prestige of her power. ceivable engine of destruction was put in requiA glance at this contest may not be un-sition. The most able and accomplished Russian interesting, while it will serve to exhibit the Generals were employed. Proclamations similar character of the Cossacks, and to establish our to those with which we are familiar, were issued. former position that the military strength of But all in vain. The Caucasus teems with TherRussia is by no means so formidable as has mopylees and the invincible Schamyl has proved been represented. another Leonidas. The Cossack has been no The Caucasian mountains separate Russia match for the Circassian. The flower of the from Turkey on the one hand, and Persia on Russian army has fallen beneath the unerring the other. Their length is six hundred and rifles of these invisible marksmen. With 80 deter mined followers Schamyl cut his way through A word on the naval resources of Russia the serried ranks of the entire Russian host, and may be a fitting sequel to what has been brandishing the blade that was bathed in the advanced on the military. Here, however, we blood of multitudes, flew like a bird to his nest need not delay or enlarge, as even the warmest in the mountains. And now he has lent his partizans of Russia have been constrained to sword to the Sultan, and on a wider field will confess her deficiency. "Tis true that she has face his former foe. If for twenty years he, several large ships-of-the-line and powerful single handed, faced him so successfully, what frigates, and that in the practice of gunnery may we expect when Russia removed from all some of her seamen are tolerably skilled. But extraneous sympathy and support, and left to cope with the combined navies of the two alone in her shame, has to face an indignant greatest maritime powers in the world is beyond universe. her ability, notwithstanding all the bustle in And the flower of her brave for the combat combin'd Not a sea-boy that fights in this cause but mankind Owes a garland to honor his brow. This Circassian campaign strikingly reveals the dockyards of Cronstadt. The defeat at Sithe inherent weakness of Russia; and when we nope will be returned with interest at Sebasconsider that during its entire course the Cos-topol. Who can tell but that another mail may sacks have been Russia's most effective instru- bring us the news of another Navarino ?-with ments, we need not fear the result in connection this difference, that whereas in 1827 England with the present struggle. But, in point of fact, and France joined with Russia to destroy the even on them she cannot fully rely. So inde- Turkish navy, England and France now join pendent are they in spirit, and so jealous with Turkey, to destroy the Russian. of their rights, that it would not take much to "Prouder scene never hallowed war's pomp to the mind, make them desert their colours. They have Than when Christendom's pennons wooed social the wind, done so repeatedly already. We find them allied successively with Poles, Swedes, and Tartars. Peter the Great and Catharine II. felt that their fidelity could not be trusted, and had recourse to various expedients in order to the warrior and the garments rolled in blood, overawe them. The terms and mode of their to those peaceful fields where industry and inservice were both wont to be peculiar. It was telligence win their bloodless trophies. Since voluntary, not compulsory. Hence the very the period of Peter, Russia has made no incorname Cossack, which is identical with freeman. siderable progress in those useful arts which lie When they made a charge, it was not like the at the foundation of a country's material prosregular army, in a united phalanx, but in a perity. Catharine II., by inviting to her court loose and separate form. They advanced not men of literary distinction, and holding out with the measured step and unbroken line of premiums to superior merit in the different dethe ordinary troops, but like our own High-partments of the fine arts, did not a little to landers, in the days of old, they bore down polish the rugged surface of her country, and promiscuously on the foe with the impetuosity to produce amongst her subjects a taste for eleof the whirling tornado, or the sweeping gant accomplishments. The settlement of foblast. For several years their tactics have been reign artisans and artists has been encouraged. completely changed. Nicholas has been doing To such the highest rate of wages is given. As all in his power to introduce among them his generally the most enterprising are most ready favourite idea of uniformity. They are now to emigrate, captivated by such golden baits, it regularly distributed into upwards of 160 regi- is not surprising to find articles manufactured ments, and differ little, if at all, from those in the industrial establishments of St. Petersburg which are enlisted by compulsion, and advance not inferior to the best that Paris or London in concert. There is strong ground for suspect- can supply. Cabinet-work, for example, has ing that these changes have not been palat-been carried to a high state of perfection. In able to the Cossacks, who are jealous of innova- the Academy of Science there is a writing-desk, tions, and sensitive in regard to their ancient which is a perfect gem of its kind. distinction. Who knows but that advantage ing is the most exquisite that can be conceived. may be taken of the present war for bursting It is partitioned off into a variety of compartthe bonds wherewith they have been girt round, ments, and can be applied to a variety of purand that Russia may find them a source of weak-poses. On opening it you are met by a beautiness rather than of strength? ful group of figures in bronze, superbly gilt. The carv the cash in hand, while the imports are given in return to them, generally on credit. Gently pressing a secret spring they vanish in a moment, and the place for writing, with the receptacles for writing materials, appear. Im- The leading Russian ports are Cronstadt on mediately over this is a row of drawers for the Baltic, and Odessa on the Black Sea. Cronvaluable papers, none of which can be opened stadt lies on the eastern extremity of the Gulf without the flowing forth of a stream of melody of Finland, a few miles from the great metrofrom an invisible musical apparatus-melody so polis. It is difficult and dangerous of access, loud as would be sure to lay an arrest on any the channel being shallow and confined. Vessels bold intruder. The ingenious mechanic received drawing more than eight feet of water have to ́ upwards of 20,000 dollars from his sovereign, stop and unload. Here congregate crafts of and his elaborate piece of work was honoured every description from every nation under with a place in the great National Museum. Heaven: while the goods, transferred into light The Russians possess amazing powers of pinnaces, creep slowly up the Neva, in opposiimitation. Birmingham used to be famed for tion to the mighty current that constantly sets in from the mighty Ladoga. its imitations of jewellery and precious metals; Odessa, sixty years since, was an obscure but it must yield the palm to Moscow. Give Tartar village. It is now a populous and wealthy the Russian only the copy, and it will be reproduced to the minutest particular. This fa- city, rivalling the metropolis itself. Many preculty for imitating is shown in almost every de- fer it on account of living being so much cheaper. partment. There have proceeded from the hands The magnificent esplanade that lines its harbor of a single Russian workman copies, whose ori- often presents a spectacle as gay as the parks ginals required the combined efforts of the most A Russian expert mechanics in the world. peasant produced a portrait of the Emperor worthy of a high place in any collection. In low cellars slaves have been detected painting Eleven years after being founded we find 530 in enamel, in a style that would do no disgrace to a Rubens or a Wilkie. In manufactures ships at its wharves. In 1795, the exports and Russia is advancing. There are factories, go-imports together did not exceed 68,000 rubles vernmental and private. The materials are a year. In 1835, or forty years after, we find such as cotton, silk, wool, leather, paper, glass, them rising to upwards of forty-one millions. The In this latter year the number of merchants, gold and silver, tobacco, clay, and wax. tapestry, porcelain, wool, and leather establish- divided into three guilds, throughout the counments have a high reputation. The trading try generally, exceeded 32,000. The peasants spirit is carried to a great extent. Even the having permission to trade were about 5000. serfs often obtain passports, or tickets of leave There were upwards of 6000 manufacturing confrom their masters, and by a course of peddling cerns, and the workmen in connection with them amass a small fortune, on which a tax is levied. nearly 200,000. The exports and imports exThe common way for a man who aims at being ceeded 300,000,000 rubles. of London or the Boulevards of Paris. The genius of Catharine II. selected it as being near the centre of the empire, and having the command of the recently acquired provinces in the neighbourhood of the Black Sea. There has, of a merchant is to begin as a rasnoschik, or street course, been a considerable increase since the hawker. Then, when a little is collected above period, but not by any means on a scale a lavka, or small store, is taken. By dint commensurate with the extent of the country of parsimony and perseverance he gets up the or the resources it contains. ladder step by step, till he becomes a man of Commerce and agriculture are twin sisconsiderable consequence, and dies, like Sava ters. They must either mutually assist or reYacovlof, worth several million rubles. The tard each other. In a country marked here commerce of the country is carried on princi-and there, as we have seen Russia to be, pally through the agency of foreigners resident by extensive and fertile plains, we naturally in the metropolis. The business of commission look for agricultural as well as commercial agent is therefore a lucrative and important progress. Nor are we altogether disappointed one. The English, Dutch, Danish, French, and The crops correspond very much with our Germans are the principal parties in connection own. Rye prevails in the north, wheat in with this branch. To them the country mer- the middle and south, and this, as with us, chants dispose of their goods, receiving generally is the staple produce. The Russian wheat has challenged competition with the world. The pickaxes, or conveyances, and had to carry only specimen, we understand, that divided the stones, sand, and other materials in bags or the honor with it in the Crystal Palace, was that skirts of their garments. Fully 100,000 in all from Mr. Christie's farm, near Brantford. fell victims to the climate. Despite such diffiThey also resemble us in having spring culties, which would have shaken the resolution and fall crops. Potatoes yield from thirty of any ordinary man, the indomitable Peter to fifty-fold in the chilly region of Arch- pushed on till, in an incredibly short time, angel, where other crops fail. Flax, hemp, there rose, as if by magic, from the marsh, a and silk are also assiduously cultivated, and magnificent metropolis. The public works, gosince 1763 tobacco has been introduced. In the vernment buildings, and private residences of gardens cabbages abound, which are consumed the nobility are composed of massive material, principally in the production of that familiar and marked by the most costly and elabodish "sour kraut." The orchards of the south rate architectural adornments. The immense are stocked with some of the finest fruits of the wharves of solid granite, the gorgeous imperial tropics, which grow in rich luxuriance in the palaces, the imposing facade of the Admiralty, open air, and with hardly the necessity of cul- the towering colonnade of the Church of Cajan, ture. The green pastures in both the north and and the glittering dome of the great cathedral south are covered with flocks, whose wool is of St. Isaac, with its stately pillars, upwards of highly prized, and forms an important article two hundred in number, below and above-atof commerce. The implements of husbandry tract the attention and extort the admiration of are in general somewhat primitive in their con- every spectator. Nor, when speaking of the struction. And it cannot be said that the pea- new, can we altogether lose sight of the old sants are models of diligence. But the native capital, which has twice risen like the Phoenix richness of the soil compensates for all defici- from its own ashes, and in its present form encies. has lost none of its ancient splendour. Here St. Petersburgh is a standing evidence Europe and Asia seem to meet, though the that in regard to architecture Russia falls not manners of the population and the general aspect behind. It is a wonder in itself, and illustrates of the buildings partake more of the East than most strikingly the indomitable perseverance of the West. Moscow is the pride of the old noits founder. Between Lake Ladoga and the bles, who, in many instances, have been comBaltic, where the Neva divides itself into four pelled to surrender to a race of upstarts the branches, forming as many small swampy sunshine of the Court and the smiles of the islands, lay a marsh, on which, little more than Czar. They exchange without regret the musha century and a half ago, squatted a few room metropolis, for that which they have wretched cotters, and from which issued a pes- ceased not to regard as the only true one; tilential miasma. As if to show what an iron around which cluster their most cherished assowill and a pure despotism could accomplish in ciations, and within which they can keep up, in the face of the most formidable physical ob- semi-barbaric magnificence, without risk of imstacles, the eccentric Peter selected this as the perial intrusion, the time-honored customs of site of his future capital. Preparations are their ancestral halls. made on the most gigantic scale. Thousands The facilities of communication in Russia are of workmen are assembled, Russians, Cossacks, rapidly on the increase. At the commencement Calmucks, Tartars, Finlanders. There was of the present century a miserable corduroy not a stone to be had in the whole country road stretched over the dreary interval of 500 round. Peter decrees that every large vessel miles that separated these two cities from each should bring thirty stones every voyage it made, other. Now there is a splendid macadamized those of smaller dimensions ten, and every cart road, with comfortable resting-places at conveor waggon three. Upwards of three hundred nient stages. This has been recently superseded nobles were commanded to leave Moscow, the by a railway, for which Russia is indebted to old capital, and to erect as many palaces of English and American enterprise, so that now solid masonry, in this unpropitious atmosphere the distance can be described in as many hours and on this treacherous soil. The erection of as it was wont to require weeks. The old Russtone houses in any other section of the empire sian travelling carriage is most comfortable and was strictly forbidden, till the new city got a commodious. It is a moving house, and one fair start. The workmen had no shovels, or may live in it during the most protracted jour |