Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Vol. 66, No 409, November 1849Various
History
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Vol. 66, No 409, November 1849
Various
England -- Periodicals; Scotland -- Periodicals
of themselves, the privileges of a petty sovereign, and denying to all
besides the meanest rights of human beings; and, scorning all pursuits
as degrading, except that of the sword, they engaged in incessant wars
with neighbouring states, or plunged their own country into all the
horrors of anarchy, for the purpose of giving employment to themselves
and their dependants." And the same writer, after remarking upon the
character and conduct of the privileged class in Poland, in language
which is just as applicable to those of the Hungarian nobles, thus
accounts for the insurrection in 1830. The Italics are his own. "_We
hesitate not emphatically to assert, that it was wholly, and solely,
and exclusively, at the instigation, and for the selfish benefit,
of this aristocratic faction of the people, that the Polish nation
suffered for twelve months the horrors of civil war, was thrown back
in her career of improvement, and has since had to endure the rigours
of a conqueror's vengeance._ The Russian government was aware of this;
and its severity has since been chiefly directed towards the nobility."
And in a note appended to the above paragraph he says, "The peasants
joined, to a considerable extent, the standard of revolt; but this was
to be expected, in consequence of the influence necessarily exercised
over them by the superior classes. Besides, patriotism or nationality
is an instinctive virtue, that sometimes burns the brightest in the
rudest and least reasoning minds; and its manifestation bears no
proportion to the value of the possessions defended, or the object to
be gained. The Russian serfs at Borodino, the Turkish slaves at Ismail,
and the lazzaroni of Naples, fought for their masters and oppressors
more obstinately than the free citizens of Paris or Washington did, at
a subsequent period, in defence of those capitals."
And who was the author of these very lucid and really excellent
remarks? We reply, RICHARD COBDEN, ESQ. The curious in such matters
will find these, and many similar passages, in a pamphlet entitled
_Russia, by a Manchester Manufacturer_, which was published in 1836,
for the purpose of showing that, on the whole, it would be an advantage
to British commerce if Russia were to lay violent hands on Turkey, and
possess herself of Constantinople!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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