resolved to confine themselves to the defensive. They also endeavoured to cut off supplies of salt and other necessaries from the mountaineers. The effort was fruitless. Shamyl triumphed over all difficulties. Still more, he continued to gain advantages over the enemies of his country. General after general suffered defeat. Very heavy was the blow which Grabbe received, when, in 1842, he attempted to carry the village of Dargo.

At length the Czar, weary of loss and dishonour, changed his servants. The commanders Sass, Grabbe, and Golowin were superseded by Gurko, Neidhardt, and Besobrasow. It was at the same time announced that offensive operations were to be discontinued, and that Daghestan was to be shut in by a military cordon, in order to compel submission. When the spring brought the season for active operations, it also brought another disappointment. The attempt ended in nothing. The Russians, indeed, almost made Shamyl captive by surprise, but as aforetime so now, it was only almost. Continued disaster called forth new efforts from the Russian Court. In the year 1845, the Emperor's Adjutant-general, Prince Woronzow, was appointed commanderin-chief of the forces in the Caucasus, with extraordinary civil, as well as full military powers. The army was raised to 160,000— a sufficient proof in itself of the magnitude of the enterprise, and a clear confession of the success and prowess of Shamyl. The aim was the capture of Dargo. That village was Shamyl's nest. There was his magazine of arms and powder. There, too, he had built a mosque, and thither repaired pilgrims of the new religion, partly to offer up their prayers in the prophet's home, and partly to convey to the general such information as they had severally obtained regarding the Russians. The army advanced. Little was the opposition they encountered. The natives seemed to flee in fear before them. Only at two passes was any stand made. When, however, they had thus been encouraged to penetrate into the interior, and when at length they were involved in the thick forests, through which they must pass to reach Dargo, then they were attacked on all sides by the most deadly fire. With great loss they forced their way to Dargo. It lay in ashes. Shamyl, with 6000 men, held an eminence in the immediate vicinity, whence he fired at his pleasure into the Russian camp. The hill was attempted several times to no purpose. At last it was carried— but it was bare. Shamyl had gone to seize a Russian convoy, which was bringing provisions to the needy troops. Meanwhile, the Caucasian fanaticism blazed out most fiercely. Fire-arms were thrown aside, and raging men rushed into the Russian lines, with dirk and sabre, taking lives in every direction. Hunger and thirst, too, assailed the defeated and disheartened subjects of the

SHAMYL BECOMES THE ASSAILANT.

Czar. Thirteen hundred men and two generals perished. Retreat became imperative. The retreat was degenerating into flight, when relief came in a force of 6000 men, led by General Freitag. Thus reinforced, Woronzow found himself able to restore the line of his operations. And thus ended, in no positive result, this very bold and very bloody campaign. Shamyl found a hundred other places of abode, and enjoyed all the advantage which could ensue from a most favourable moral impression.

The next year (1846) saw the prince in the field again with all the good he could gain from experience, the ripening of his plans, and the gathering of his forces. In three columns, he directed the army against Daghestan, when, unexpectedly, an alarming rumour reached his ears, and spread abroad, to the effect, that Shamyl, at the head of 20,000 men, had descended into Kabardah, the tribes of which, long subject to Russia, had despised his appeals and proclamations. Sixty Tartar villages were destroyed, and twenty Cossack towns lay in ashes, while cities far north, including Stawropol, the seat of the staff of the Russian army, were threatened. Alarm prevailed everywhere. Was Russia then When the amazement caused by to be invaded? So it seemed. this unequalled daring began to subside, the Russian generals mustered their forces and took every possible step to cut off Shamyl in his retrocession. Meanwhile, effects from this successful incursion displayed themselves on the south, the west, the east, the north. Scarcely was there a corner of the whole isthmus but rang favourably with the hero's name. The exploit was lauded in song, related with admiration to children, discussed in the councils of the aged. The local priest had become a national prophet, and the prophet was hailed as a divinely-commissioned deliverer. Returning from his foray, Shamyl eluded the Russians, punished some treacherous tribes, and spread his power and his fame to the Transcaucasian provinces which lie beyond the territories of Russia. The next year, 1847, Prince Woronzow appeared in the field after redoubled exertions to secure success. His operations necessitated the siege of the stronghold Gerghebil. There he was again met by Shamyl. After storming the place three consecutive days, the commander-in-chief broke up his camp, convinced,' as he said, that the citadel could not be 'taken without very considerable losses, and that there was only 'one means for its reduction, namely, its complete destruction by

'force.'

In the end of this year or the beginning of 1848, Woronzow contested with Shamyl the possession of the fortress of Saltem. In vain did the Russian cannon bombard the mountainous walls. As a last expedient, the prince turned the stream which supplied

the place with water. Reduced to extremities, the garrison cut their way through the Russians, and effected their escape to the mountains which rose beyond their lines.

The great event of the year 1849, was another attack on Achulgo, respecting which only Russian accounts have been made known to the public. How disastrous it was, appears clearly enough even from so suspicious a source. The first assault cost the Russians 25 officers and 397 soldiers; the second, 52 officers, and 823 soldiers. A third assault proved nugatory. Then an attempt was made to come to terms with Shamyl. It was fruitless. Finally, an attack-the fourth-began on the 21st of August, and lasted to the 29th, when, after incredible bravery and frightful loss, the Russians became masters of the place. Its defenders lay dead; Shamyl had escaped. The year 1850 is remarkable by the presence in the Caucasus of the heir apparent, who came in the hope of encouraging the forces and giving to the war a more satisfactory train. The Russian accounts of this year are more scanty than ever, giving reason to conclude that the results of the campaign were anything but satisfactory. They speak only of two inconsiderable fights, one of which took place before the eyes of the Czarowitch. Such an event was trumpeted forth as if it had been an act of most eminent heroism. As a reward to the prince for his thus having actually smelt powder, the commander-in-chief asked from the emperor the cross of Saint George. Our authority significantly adds, 'You may well suppose the honour was not refused.' Yet the visit of the prince was made the occasion of the highest exultation, and set forth as the star of a new day. His progress was one continued festival, and his reception was surrounded with all the éclat that Russian authority and Russian treasures could call forth and bestow. Surely it wanted only the contrast of this ludicrous episode, to make the epic glory of Shamyl complete.

The year 1851 opened with a general movement on the part of the mountaineers, which, breathing the most intense bitterness, and conducted by one mind, inflicted loss on the Russians almost everywhere. The reverses called forth renewed efforts. Failure ensued. On the west, in the centre, and at the east of the chain of mountains, Shamyl and his generals were victorious; they repelled attacks, they made advances, they captured forts, they gained territory, defeating some of the first commanders of the Russian army, and establishing the authority of the Caucasian people from sea to sea, on the north, and beyond the mountains to the vicinity of the Russian capital of Tiflis.

Our space compels us to confine our report to these general

SHAMYL'S LATEST VICTORY.

437

results. The extension of them to the present hour would be little else than repetition.

The Aachener Zeitung of the 24th of June last, gives us news from Tredizond, that Shamyl has beaten a Russian army, and taken twenty-three pieces of cannon, and an enormous amount of munitions of war. Five battalions of Poles and irregular troops went over to the Circassians, and Shamyl has issued a proclamation offering protection to all deserters.

The narrative we have given is full of instruction. A large nation is not necessarily a great nation. The colossal Russia gives way before a few disorganized mountain tribes. Goliah is in peril before David. Such is the weakness of mercenary service, and such the power of patriotic heroism. The force of the religious element must not be lost sight of. Until Shamyl appeared, and until he assumed the prophetic character, disunion prevailed, with weakness as a consequence. The banner of a new faith brought numbers, and gave success. How far that banner may be borne time only can disclose. What if Shamyl become the founder of a new dynasty? He has the genius as well as the ambition of an Alexander. It is true he is advanced in years, but great things have been accomplished even in old age. The period in which bodily energy was of most consequence, has passed by in his glorious struggle; and his mind, for which, now at least, there is chief need and great scope, is more vigorous as well as more wise than ever. It is not easy to think of Shamyl playing a secondary part. Whatever may be his future position, he will be found on the side of liberty, according to such notions of liberty as are possible to his countrymen. Happy should we be could we see reason to anticipate that he would also be found on the side of Christianity. Not that we wish for aid from secular power; but the aid of such a mind as that of the Caucasian legislator is by no means to be despised. The result is in God's hands, and there we leave it, rejoicing, however, in the thought, that a stone has been cut out without hands,' which has effectually smitten the 'terrible image' upon his feet, part of iron and part of clay.' (Dan. iv. 33, 34.)

438

ART. V.-Theological Essays. By FREDERICK DENISON MAURICE, M.A. Foolscap. pp. 449. Macmillan & Co. 1853.

THIS is a volume that will be read, and about which there will be some talk. But this distinction will belong to it not so much on account of what it contains, as on account of the quarter from which it comes. Its doctrine is opposed on some material points to the doctrine commonly regarded as set forth in the articles and rubric of our Established Church. It comes, nevertheless, from a clergyman well known as chaplain of Lincoln's-inn, and as Professor of Divinity in King's College, London. What the preaching of such a man will be, at least as to its great substance, may be certain, it will be thought, before any preachment is made. But Mr. Maurice is not to be so pre-judged. His manner of explaining the Bible, and his manner of explaining the articles and rubric of his own church, is not of the usual description. He assures us that the feeling is widely diffused, which denounces the ethical element underlying our popular theology, as strongly at variance with the moral consciousness of all intelligent men. He has persuaded himself that the aspects of the Christian doctrine to which this exception is taken, admit of being softened, or explained away, so as to leave all such exception without foundation. Such, in reality, is the design of this volume. It is an attempt to expound the doctrine of the gospel so as to present it in forms less offensive to the scientific and sceptical spirit of the age. An effort of this kind, as made by an able man, would be entitled to attention in any circumstances. In the present case, our interest is deepened by the fact, that Mr. Maurice is one of an influential school or number of clergymen, who appear to have reached the conclusion, that the time has come in which our theological speculations must undergo some material change, if Christianity is to retain its hold on the middle and upper classes among us indeed upon any class.

We have spoken of Mr. Maurice's manner as an expositor of opinion, as diverging considerably from the ordinary. We wish we could number distinctness of perception, and clearness of statement, among his characteristics as an author. But this we may not do. His sentences and his paragraphs often float before you like the clouds that glide in long succession round the mountain side; each seeming to promise that the light shall follow, but so promising only to deceive. He writes earnestly, eloquently, powerfully-but his mastery of thought, for a man of so much general ability, is singularly wanting in definiteness, and the obscurity of his conceptions spreads itself like a constant haze over