426 RUSSIA IN 1833. 



The possession of the Bosphorus is indispensable to the welfare, 

 riches, and strength of the Russian empire : it is a course that comes 

 down recommended by the sanction of every great name that she has 

 ever produced; and further, from the conviction that there exists at 

 this moment no barrier to its execution. From what quarter is any 

 serious opposition to be looked for? Is it from Austria, with her 

 worn out maxims and tesselated population ? From Prussia chained 

 for years past in the political wake of her colossal ally ? From Great 

 Britain or France, so excentrisecs by their position, that ere a com- 

 bined squadron had passed the Gut of Gibraltar, the Russian eagles 

 would be floating on the walls of old Stambol ? Or, lastly, is it from 

 Turkey herself, whom we now behold sinking beneath the victorious 

 arms of Mohamed Ali, and her Sultan, to shield himself from the 

 vengeance of the rebel Pacha, reduced to the humiliating alternative 

 of throwing himself into the arms of a treacherous ally. 



From the moment that a Russian soldier places his foot on the 

 classic shores of the Bosphorus, or the fertile plains of Syria, the 

 Ichabod of the Mohammedan reign will have begun. By the mass 

 of the political world, this event, we are aware, would be looked 

 upon as fatal to the liberty of Europe ; for our part, paradoxical as it 

 may appear, we view it not through so dreary a medium, but, on the 

 contrary, as one calculated to extend civilization and intelligence, and 

 to raise to their pristine state of prosperity those lovely regions so 

 long immersed in Turkish barbarism. 



To this view of the subject it may be objected, that between the 

 despotism of Russia and that of Turkey there is not a shadow of dif- 

 ference. But it is by such exaggerations that the judgments of man- 

 kind are perverted. The despotism of Russia is certainly not the 

 form of government that we should desire to see extended ; but, on 

 the other hand, it is infinitely preferable to that of the Sultan, which 

 sports with the life of man with a cold blooded ferocity, to which no 

 other tyranny approaches : one that condemns the upper ranks of 

 society to ignorance, to fear, and to prejudice; the lower classes to 

 abject misery ; and the female sex to corruption and slavery. This 

 despotism exercises its baneful influence over the finest regions of the 

 ancient world, once the happy abode of liberty and civilization ; and 

 such has been its demoralizing operations, that for centuries past, 

 from a population of upwards of twenty-one millions, there has not 

 sprung up one individual who has made a single step in arts, science, 

 or moral improvement. A parallel between the two governments, 

 after the exposition we have given, we think cannot for a moment be 

 maintained. 



But another point of view occurs. It is natural for the human 

 mind to look with anxiety on the future, and to endeavour as far as 

 possible to calculate the course which events may take, especially in 

 cases of extraordinary interest and importance ; arrogant, therefore, 

 as our prediction may be deemed, we venture to advance that the 

 conquest of the Turkish empire by Russia, would lead to her dis- 

 memberment, and consequeutly to the annihilation of her political 

 greatness. This is no delusive vision. On her immense extent of 

 territory there would exist such a diversity of interests, utterlyimpos- 



