contact with European ideas, and who reply to suggestions for the improvement of the races under their sway with the pithy saying, "We came into Europe with the sword, and we will go out of it with the knife." as the almost impenetrable defiles of the Caucasus were occupied and defended by a hundred thousand such soldiers as the Circassians, the Russians never could have advanced in great force into the Turkish provinces. The giant, of the North was Let those who expect improvement under chained like Prometheus to a rock, where the Turkish rule, or such modification of the the eagle of war fed on his vitals, but his rule as will render its continuance over milfetters are now broken, and the way is clear. lions of Christians possible in these days, exaInto the localities deserted by the Circassians mine well the character of the Mohammedan will pour a stream of Cossacks, and the religion, and see whether it be reasonable to great army of 200,000 men, which has been expect the desired changes while Islam conhitherto engaged in Caucasia, will now be tinues the religion of the State, supported by able to detach two-thirds of its number to a priesthood constituted as is that of Turkey. invade Turkey or Persia. In the meantime, A very slight investigation of the principles Turkey is likely to derive little benefit from of Islam will show that though they may, as the immigration of hordes of turbulent and Mohammedans boast, breathe freedom to the semi-barbarous mountaineers. The author of true believer, they absolutely enjoin restraint the Rambles in Syria thus speaks of those and degradation as the lot of all others. Were who had immigrated into Turkey in 1860* it not logically demonstrable, it is at least "Robbery seems to be their present pursuit, practically proved by the history of eleven while preparing to form agricultural settle- hundred years, that Mohammedanism and ments. It would surely have been wise to civilisation are incompatible. The utmost reflect whether or not the authorities under that can be achieved with Islam as the reliwhose rule they are intended to establish gion of the State, is a strong government themselves, are in a position to preserve under an absolute monarch. With such a order, before thus adding to the number of a government there may be considerable devedisorderly population." On the whole, there-lopment of national resources, a magnificent fore, Russia is now in a better position for an attack on Turkey, and Turkey in a worse for resisting that attack than before the Crimean War; and to expect more forbearance from Russia now than formerly appears to be simply an absurdity, and the same reasoning applies, though in a less degree, to other European nations. The second fallacy, which seems to pervade the arguments of all those who maintain that the integrity of the Turkish Empire can be preserved, is, the supposition that the Turks are willing to be assisted in the way their European allies think best. This is to take from the Turk all that distinguishes him from other sects and races, and to suppose him wholly uninfluenced by the religion which makes of him at one moment a moody bigot, at another a fanatical zealot. It is to ignore the testimony of all the most reliable witnesses, who assure us that the Turk is still what he was four centuries ago," that he retains "the characteristics of his savage intractable ancestors," that "he is utterly unimprovable, that he hates change, and therefore hates civilisation, hates Europeans, and hates and fears all that they propose." It is to deny the saying which is now in the mouths of even those Turks who have been most in Rambles in the Deserts of Syria, p. 295. + Rambles in the Deserts of Syria, pp. 44, 98. A Journal kept in Turkey and Greece in 1857 and 1858, p. 28. court, and much splendour of living in the families of the chiefs or nobles, but the state of the people will be such as it was under Mohammed Ali, Pacha of Egypt. The se curity of the subject under such a ruler is well illustrated by the story of the jaded courier who had brought a letter of importance to the Pacha. As this unfortunate had been told that the errand was urgent he had exerted himself to the utmost to arrive in time, and, sinking with fatigue, expected his reward. The Pacha, on the other hand, was anxious that the communication should remain a secret, and as one means to this end, the courier, half an hour after his arrival, was at the bottom of the Nile with a heavy stone round his neck. A simple tale this, and but one example of myriads of how the life of a subject is valued by a Mohammedan ruler. In point of fact, the ablest rulers in all Mohammedan dynasties have shown their impatience of Islam by becoming heretics. They have felt it impossible to inaugurate those reforms, which their genius or their good feelings prompted, without breaking through the shackles of their religion. So early as the first centuries of Islam the most renowned Khalifs, as Vathek and Mamún, had become heretics and had adopted the principles of the Motazelah, among whom were sects inclining to Christianity. The greatest of the Mogul emperors, Akbar, did his best to found a new religion, as did Hallun, the most remarkable of the Egyptian sultans. The present state of the Turkish Government, based on the miserable doctrines of the Koran, and yet coquetting with European improvements, is altogether forced and unnatural. To be strong, Mohammedanism must go back to what it was at its commencement, stern, uncompromising, and aggressive, such as it has become again among the Wahabis, or it will lose its vitality and succumb to a more enlightened faith. It is not, indeed, to be expected that Mohammedans would be converted in great numbers if the sceptre departed from among them, but the Turks, at least, with their peculiar habits, would melt away and disappear among the increasing masses of Greeks, Armenians, and other Christians. The disciples of Islam would, no doubt, ever continue such as they have been from the first, such as they recently showed themselves in the Indian Mutiny; after years of intercourse with Englishmen, unchangeable in their bigotry and hatred and contempt of other sects. But a creed, the essential part of which is to trample on all other creeds, if it came to be despised in its turn, could not survive-it would die out. There is a foreshadowing of this in Persia and in Baghdad, where the aspirations after freedom of some ardent spirits have led to the development of a new sect, the Bábís, who show "no antipathy to Christians, or to the followers of any other creed except the Mohammedans." "* The Bábís are converted Mohammedans, and if their numbers should increase they would extirpate Islam. On the whole, then, it would appear that the Turks are 66 an unimprovable race," and that no efforts can bolster up their Government long. What policy is to be adopted, then, in lieu of that struggle to avoid the inevitable which has already cost us such sacrifices? We cannot here accept the counsels of the author of the Rambles in Syria, who, after vivid sketches of the decadence of Turkey, still returns to that impossible scheme of interested physicians treating disinterestedly a patient that rejects all medicine. Common sense, on the other hand, would say, "If the dying must die, let care be taken of those who are to survive." As the Turkish power decays, life begins to reanimate the nationalities that have lain so long in a death-like trance beneath it. Greece, for example, begins to revive, and though the new State of the Hellenes may have to pass through a long season of troublous energy, it cannot be doubted that a prosperous future is in store for it. Why should there be less hope for the Principalities, the Servians, the Bulgarians, the Armenians, Syrians, Egyptians, and *Life and Manners in Persia, p. 179. Arabs? As the ship founders, let raft after raft be cut adrift, and by the success of these several ventures all will be saved. This seems to be the view adopted by the author of "Chaos,"* though his thoughts are somewhat indistinctly shadowed forth, and his suggestions are rather for being prepared to act than for action. He speaks of "England that preserves Turkish rule not for the sake of Turkish rule, but for the sake of sheltering the immature growth of future free nations against the destroying blight of despotisms far more dangerous, if not worse, than Turkey." Further on he refers to the policy of England towards Turkey as dual, "Liberal in one sense and direction,”—that is, we suppose, as regards the nationalities; and "Conservative in another," that is, in supporting the Turkish Government. Again he says, "But we must also look to see that, after putting the sick man in his coffin when much breath is still in his body, we may have something better to take his place than a nursery full of fractious and rickety children." Viewing it in this light, many will be disposed to regard our imperial policy as " both expedient for all parties and right in itself." But, is it quite the case that protection of "the immature growth" of the nationalities under Turkish rule is recognised by us as of such paramount importance? If so, what becomes of the guarantee that the Turkish territories shall remain as they are? It must be explained to mean, Turkey to the Turks, in reversion to their subject nationalities when ripe for self-government. But who is to decide when "the immature growth of these future free nations" reaches maturity? For this "we want our country," says Lord Strangford, “to be served in Turkey by the most perfect and highest type of English manhood;" we must have Englishmen, not Levantines; and the best Englishmen we can get, instructed by "travel in Turkey and intercourse with the people," and comprehending the rising nationalities. But it may be asked, is even this limited and temporary support of the Turkish power, this trusteeship for immature nations possible? Are there not too many suitors for these tender wards, not to make us fear they may be wedded to undeserving strangers under our very eyes? Perhaps not, for there is a potent influence at work, which might fight on our side," nationality is taking its place as a new power among us;" and it may be added, that the Liberal party throughout Europe would support it, while one great Despotism at least could hardly now disown it. The danger is that we chill and alienate * The Eastern Shores of the Adriatic in 1863. this power, these budding nationalities, by joining hands too long with the effete government of the Turk. For guidance in so difficult a policy, the best ambassador, the best attachés, the best consuls, the best Englishmen not Levantines, are, as Lord Strangford justly says, required to do England's work in Turkey. Thus far as regards the "dual policy" and its adroit manipulation by the ablest men that can be selected. Something more, however, is required, something practical, to meet the sharp practice of physicians not so unselfish as England in their attendance on the sick man. On three different sides of the Turkish Empire three great powers are preparing vantage-ground to spring_forward when the last scene of all arrives. France advances by the line of Africa and Egypt, where the completion of the Lesseps canal would give her overwhelming influence. Russia is peopling Circassia with Cossacks, and sits now in terrible strength before the open portal which leads into the centre of Asiatic Turkey. Austrian troops are being massed upon the frontier of the Principalities, and in that direction, and towards Bosnia, the German power is pre-potent. The strength of England lies in linking herself with India by the nearest bridge across Turkish territory. As England acted on India in putting down its mutinies, so might she draw support from India in a great struggle in Syria, Mesopotamia, or Egypt. For every Sepoy regiment that landed with Baird in Egypt, ten reg ments of Sikhs, little, if at all, inferior to Russian or French regiments, could now be drawn from India. But the way must be prepared. It will not do to alienate Persia by coldness and indifference, and to leave her to be bribed by France with offers of the coveted shrines of Kerbela and Najuf and Kázimain. It is but shallow policy that surrenders the Shah's army to be officered by Frenchmen and Germans, that would let Persian ships of war, manned or at least officered by Frenchmen, make their appearance in the Persian Gulf. It would be little creditable were a French company to get the start of English enterprise, not only with a Suez canal, but also with a Syrian, Mesopotamian, and Persian railroad. To sum up in few words, safe and rapid communication with India, implying and including a commanding influence throughout the line, is what will give England strength to resist her rivals when the Turkish Empire breaks up. India, in fact, is at once a beacon and a support. The past history of India shows the Empire of the Moguls, resembling in many respects that of the Turks, dissolv ing at length from internal weakness, and leaving a few Mohammedan states, the Nizam's kingdom, for example, as the only traces of its existence. The present history of India displays to us a development of resources, and an increasing revenue, that would give England surprising strength in any new contest. To obtain paramount influence in Persia, the English Government has only to will the acquisition. English instructors would be readily received for the Shah's army, and would be what Lindsay, Hart, Sheil, and Rawlinson were before. The Persian Gulf is still completely under our control. We have treaties with all the petty states there, and it will be our own fault if we suffer the French to supersede us. A double line of telegraph will soon be complete to India. A railway from Jokenderna to Mepps and Baghdad, and from Baghdad to Jehran, worked by an English company, is the next great want. We must have an iron bridge from sea to sea between England and India. Iron links must rivet the communication. It is calculated that the new Overland Route from Ostend to Brindisi will be quicker by two days than that by Paris and Marseilles. It will be, too, on safer ground. From Brindisi to Alexandretta, and thence by rail to Baghdad, and so by the Persian Gulf to Bombay, would be a gain of five days on the route by Egypt. A railroad from Baghdad to the Mediterranean would carry off from the present route by Egypt all the passengers and much of the traffic between India and England. It would enrich the country it passed through. The Arab tribes, unmanageable by the Turks, would be peaceable with us, and in return would be enriched and civilized. Above all, England and India would be brought by this railroad en rapport, and their weight as regards Turkey would be, if not irresistible, at least many times greater than it now is. ART. IX-Sporting Books. INSTINCTS are curious things. The hunting instinct is one which seems to be common to men and carnivora, but the omnivorous intellectual biped which hunts instinctively is often driven by the better half of his human nature to write a book. The book is worthy or worthless as intellect or instinct prevails in the hunter who writes. "Poeta nascitur non fit." All men are hunters, but all hunters are not poets, though some are. As an uneducated kitten, just able to toddle, pounces on mice, and a young otter on fish as soon as it can swim, so every boy | up. At last the wild whoo-whoop of the delights to chase and catch and slay mice, best sportsman in all wide Scotland, and the cats, fish, and otters. If girls be less blood- worry, worry, worry of the terriers proclaims thirsty, they too make early prey of embryo- the death-of a mouse! hunters, and women run each other down, and write novels to describe their sport. The last new sporting book* which has passed from the publishers' shelves to the editor's box is not a mere record of slaughter. It is full of pictures of animate and inanimate nature, of scenes and events which have an interest for men and women with minds. The author has seen much of the world, and he has taken notes; he has published them, and he has produced an amusing and instructive book. As one of its chief merits it suggests pictures to other minds. Who that has ever been a boy can read the first picture of country life without feeling the truth of it stirring within him to make him young again? The boy joins the other old boy, and runs back with him to the hills. The garden fades, and in its place a stackyard grows. On the top of a stack is a farmservant unbinding thatch, and round about the yellow fortress stand a grinning army of boys. The grieve's son and the blacksmith's boys, and the keeper's boy with a game-bag, and the gardener's boy with a big shinny, and the rest of the boys, all armed with sticks. Down. comes the thatch, and down come nests of young mice and rats, and all that come die. Down comes the stack, sheaf by sheaf, to be carted away to the barn, and the garrison of grown rats begin to stir. A sharp nose, long whiskers, and a pair of bead-like eyes peep out, and draw back in dismay. "Look out, lads," shouts the man with the pitchfork, and with the next toss he bolts the quarry, and off go the pack at score. him!" "smash him?" "that's it, Spotty;" "weel dune!" "that yin's deid;" "'od man, ye're a real slunge;" "that yin's awa;" and so on till the last stone in the foundation of the stack is turned over, and the last mouse escapes, or finds a grave in the maw of pet eagles, ravens, falcons, hawks, and hoodiecrows. "Hit With the woodcut of Skipness, in Colonel Campbell's pleasant volume, a flat Highland strand rises up as if in a magic mirror; the bright flickering sunlight of a hot summer's day makes the air quiver; the blue sea is crisped by a gentle breeze; the warm yellow sand gleams like gold; a herd of cows stand in the water, switching their tails to Stacks and stackyard, pets and boys have drive away the summer flies, and drowsily vanished and scattered, as the chaff was scatchamp their jaws, while gulls and terns chattered by the wind, but the "old forest-ranter and scream over the tiny silver fish that make their prey. A gay troop come scampering down the road and scatter over the sand. Two ladies come driving a trotting A river of amber, with pools of creamy team of Shetland ponies in a phaeton, and froth sweeping through a brown moor, glowthree young savages, half naked, their kilts ing with the bright purple of heather-bells in and flannel shirts streaming in the wind, gal- autumn, water and heather dancing and wavlop through water and over wet sand, splash-ing gladly in the bright sunlight of a suming and screeching, while fish and birds flee in dismay. They are the Skipness boys as they used to be, and as one of them describes himself. On a quiet Sunday afternoon, a stately lady and her brother, a young imp of a boy, and some terriers, pace gravely through a garden amongst the flowers. Of a sudden a terrier's tail is seized with convulsions, and his nose is into a bed of violets. The infection spreads, the hunter's instinct is roused; the boy runs after the terrier, and beats the coverts; the grown man follows helterskelter; the lady cheers them on. From violet-bed to rose-bed, from wild hyacinth to grass-tuft, dogs and men rush, barking, cheering, and shouting with glee, for the hunt is ger's" picture of the life of a bare-legged kilted savage, gathers the grain once more, and it grows green again in autumn. mer's noon, wells up. Two lanky boys, naked as they were born, followed by a keeper, and armed with rods, wade through the shallows. swim through the pools, peer into holes and under banks, and grope under stones. There is a sudden commotion: a salmon has been found, and at it they go again with heart and soul, as if they were born otters. They pelt the fish, they chase him, they drive him into the pool, and dive till they drive him out on the shallow, with the water flying from his back-fin and broad silver tail. At last with a wild yell of triumph the mouse-hunter pounces on nobler prey, grips a ten-pounder by the gills, and carries him to land writhing and struggling. It was a fair fight and the naked bipeds won. The river swells till it grows a sea. A Highland shore comes next. It is a maze of rocky islands and points, green birch woods and heather, a calin glassy ground-swell is That was the kind of life which the author of this journal describes in his first chapter, and it was good training for boy or man. The people with whom he consorted are not commonly found in their old haunts now, as he tells us. The few that remain are going fast. The Highland hunter has been hunted out by his own sheep and deer, and the farmer has been ploughed out of his ground, and improved off the face of the earth. rolling in from the wide Atlantic, the horizon | urchin is wearily striding after a troop of is studded with white sails of big ships be- grown men; he is determined not to be beat, calmed, the foreground is brown seaweed but is very near it. They reach the hill-top, moving in the green sea, a round-eyed bullet- and the leader crawls to the brink of a cliff, headed seal, with the sunlight glittering like and peers warily over. A shot and a loud a star on his wet brow, lifts his blunt nose to shout celebrate the death of an eagle. A stare at a gull; the gull hangs his legs and grinning savage is tied to the end of a rope, his head and stares and screams in return. and down he goes dangling to the nest. The Both are hunting. A boat with four oars young birds, with tufts of white down on comes sweeping round the point with a steady their brown feathers, raise their hooked beaks even strong pull, the water foaming under and scream feebly, fight and flap their half her bows. The gull wheels off, the seal goes fledged wings, and strive to strike with their down stern foremost, and the boat stops at a talons, but all in vain. They are caught and cairn. As she touches the first stone the bound up in a plaid, and carried home, and silence is broken by a chorus of discords chained by the leg, and fed on rats and dead made by a dozen open canine throats, all cats, and reared; and many a sad and weary barking and screaming at once with keenness. hour these captive eagles spent, because the The pack scrambles forward, falling over the hunters were upon them, and harried them. thwarts, plumping into the sea, scrambling over the oars, slipping on the wet sea-weed, and in they all go with a rush. There is a pause, and then the breathless silence of expectation is broken by a muffled Yaff! yaff! yaff! far away down. "She's in;" they have her, hurrah! and out go men and boys, as the dogs went, helter skelter to join the otter-hunt. With the patience of a cat, the sportsman sits watching the hole from which the otter is to bolt. This battle is not to be won by brute force alone. Men have sent dogs to go where they cannot follow, and they are armed with weapons which they have learned to use. It is a trial of skill outside, and a furious brute battle under the stones. The collieshangie grows-hot and furious, the dogs get hoarse with barking, and breathless with fruitless efforts to cram themselves into chinks. The yaff yaff is varied by shrill yells of pain, and angry growls, and mingled with the sputtering and blowing of the angry otter who is fighting for dear life. "Ob, she's cuttin' them terrible," "Bee sas," shouts the keeper; and as he shouts, a stone, which a giant would think twice about lifting, is lifted and hurled down on the cairn with a crash that shakes the rock. The thunder over head stills the row below, and the vexed otter thinks it time to move; a mass of brown fur seems to flash through the air, but the flash of the gun is swifter still, and the otter rolls over on the slippery sea ware. From every hole and cranny the pack spring, yelling, and fasten on the prey, and then it is worry, worry, worry, "bee sas;" and men and dogs growl and roar till their mouths foam. The master of the salmon has been mastered; the otter is slain by hunter's instinct and man's intelligence combined. The screen of the magic lantern is blurred for a moment, and out of the sea there rises a broad strath and a wide hillside,-a long stretch of weary moor, over which a tired-out Chapter the first of the Indian Journal shows the hunting instinct growing naturally, as it grows in every country house in England, where there is an English boy. Surely it is a healthy growth. Is this hunting instinct a thing to be eradicated from civilized men? The only way to solve the mystery is to look to those who are sportsmen, to see what they are good for, and what they do. The biggest town in the world is London, and near London there is little sport, but the best tackle and the best shots and fishermen in the world are to be found near the blackest capital in it. On the south coast are certain rivers, and each river has its club. At Christ Church men catch salmon occasionally, and fish for them perpetually; at Stockbridge the weathercock is a trout, and Chantrey made it. One cast in the river is Chantrey's corner, another is dedicated to some other well-known worthy who was a member of this famous fishingclub. The Test is the test of anglers' skill. Day after day men angle with patience and labour, cunning and craft, and two trout make an ample reward for many hours of weary toil. What waste and what wealth of time! Nay. A senator with a weary brain, a sculptor worn with mental toil, a fat alderman, a half-choked citizen, a man who has a whole State department on his head for months, here throws off his load. He drinks |