Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Critical Notices Of The Literature Of The Last Three Months,
stance , and wholly disproportioned to the apparent strength and vastness of the empire . As to the Cossacks , of whose courage , and excellence as soldiers , we have heard so much , our author scouts the very notion of it . Ho says , that so far from being brave , they make cowardly warriors , and are in fact an emasculated people—their province the worst treated in the empire , and themselves thoroughly disaffected . The valour of the Don Cossacks is then , apparentlyone of those popular delusions which the
, Government is most anxious to encourage , inasmuch as it ansAvers , Mr . Oliphant observes , the double purpose of flattering the vanity of a discontented race , who are thereby rendered more easily subservient to their designs , and of inspiring a wholesome dread into other nations , who have been hitherto accustomed to regard them with mysterious awe , and to conjure up monsters of appalling ferocity , and of a terrific aspect , as representations ofthe hih-sounding title by Avhich they are distinguished .
g One thing , however , is certain , that if the Cossack is a coward , he is not the less grossly brutal when let loose upon an unarmed and unoffending people . Leaving Russia , let us now glance over the pages of Dr . Michelson ' s work on the Ottoman Empire , * and calculate its resources , from the reliable data with which the author has furnished us . " Absurd , " as Dr . Michelson thinks it is , " for any one to suppose that Turkey could ,
single-handed , dislodge the Northern Power from the Principalities , " we have already seen w * hat Turkish arms and Ottoman " pluck " can accomplish ; and when , therefore , statistics show us that the Sultan can command an effective army , consisting of 136 , 680 men , well armed and disciplined , and an equal number of reserve , besides 61 , 000 irregular troops , and 110 , 000 contingencies from tributary provinces , we may be excused in withholding our opinion as to what Turkey can and can not do . The army , too , is better paidbetter fedand better quartered than our own ,
, , and in so far as hospital attendance is concerned , the military surgeons assert that the men become effeminate by the too tender care of the nurse . However plain , therefore , it may be to the eyes of some travellers , that Turkey is in her decline , Dr . Michelson assures us that the whole reign of the present Sultan , Abdul Medjid , under the fostering care of Rescind Pasha , a man of enlarged views , and thoroughly well acquainted with our Western institutions , has been devoted to the work of reform , and to
bringing the government of the country to a level with the best European systems . That a perfect success has not crowned the young Sultan ' s efforts , is perhaps true ; but as Rome was not built in a day , so neither can Turkish abuses and Turkish institutions be uprooted or remodelled in the short space of a few years . We heartily recommend the book to those of our readers who are really anxious to become well informed on matters connected with the prospects of the present struggle in the regions of the Dardanelles . "Home Life in Germany , "*} - is the production of an American travel-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Critical Notices Of The Literature Of The Last Three Months,
stance , and wholly disproportioned to the apparent strength and vastness of the empire . As to the Cossacks , of whose courage , and excellence as soldiers , we have heard so much , our author scouts the very notion of it . Ho says , that so far from being brave , they make cowardly warriors , and are in fact an emasculated people—their province the worst treated in the empire , and themselves thoroughly disaffected . The valour of the Don Cossacks is then , apparentlyone of those popular delusions which the
, Government is most anxious to encourage , inasmuch as it ansAvers , Mr . Oliphant observes , the double purpose of flattering the vanity of a discontented race , who are thereby rendered more easily subservient to their designs , and of inspiring a wholesome dread into other nations , who have been hitherto accustomed to regard them with mysterious awe , and to conjure up monsters of appalling ferocity , and of a terrific aspect , as representations ofthe hih-sounding title by Avhich they are distinguished .
g One thing , however , is certain , that if the Cossack is a coward , he is not the less grossly brutal when let loose upon an unarmed and unoffending people . Leaving Russia , let us now glance over the pages of Dr . Michelson ' s work on the Ottoman Empire , * and calculate its resources , from the reliable data with which the author has furnished us . " Absurd , " as Dr . Michelson thinks it is , " for any one to suppose that Turkey could ,
single-handed , dislodge the Northern Power from the Principalities , " we have already seen w * hat Turkish arms and Ottoman " pluck " can accomplish ; and when , therefore , statistics show us that the Sultan can command an effective army , consisting of 136 , 680 men , well armed and disciplined , and an equal number of reserve , besides 61 , 000 irregular troops , and 110 , 000 contingencies from tributary provinces , we may be excused in withholding our opinion as to what Turkey can and can not do . The army , too , is better paidbetter fedand better quartered than our own ,
, , and in so far as hospital attendance is concerned , the military surgeons assert that the men become effeminate by the too tender care of the nurse . However plain , therefore , it may be to the eyes of some travellers , that Turkey is in her decline , Dr . Michelson assures us that the whole reign of the present Sultan , Abdul Medjid , under the fostering care of Rescind Pasha , a man of enlarged views , and thoroughly well acquainted with our Western institutions , has been devoted to the work of reform , and to
bringing the government of the country to a level with the best European systems . That a perfect success has not crowned the young Sultan ' s efforts , is perhaps true ; but as Rome was not built in a day , so neither can Turkish abuses and Turkish institutions be uprooted or remodelled in the short space of a few years . We heartily recommend the book to those of our readers who are really anxious to become well informed on matters connected with the prospects of the present struggle in the regions of the Dardanelles . "Home Life in Germany , "*} - is the production of an American travel-