REVIEW.

Evening Star, Issue 7623, 28 May 1888, Page 2

REVIEW.

The Russia's Hope; or, Britannia no longer rules the waves showing how the Russian Bear got at the British Whale. Translated from the original Russian by Charles James Cooke, with a preface by William Beatty-Kingston. London: Chapman and Hall (Limited), 188 S.

This is a remarkable production, whether it be really, as alleged, of Russian origin, or, which is equally probable, the work of a British alarmist—one of the BeresfordWolseley type, who have of late been inviting foreign attack by declaring that Britain is practically defenceless both by sea and land. The preface is sufficiently startling. We are assured that " the very name of England nowadays has a flavor that is offensively unsavory to the nostrils of Frenchmen and Germans, whilst in Russia it is an object of bitter abhorrence. Throughout the largest and most numerously populated of European countriesone, moreover, whose Asiatic possessions extend to within a day's march of our own —we are sternly and steadfastly hated by men of every degree, class, and career ; by none more implacably than by the officers and men of the Imperial Russian Navy, in whose memory the losses and humiliations inflicted upon their fleets during the years 1854-55 still rankle with undiminished pain." This strain of language has a familiar sound, and if we have not heard exactly the same phrases before, we have noted some of which they arc remarkably distinct echoes. "Russia's Hope" is avowedly constructed on similar lines to "The Battle of Dorking," which, some years ago, professed to expose Britain's weakness at home. This work professes to have been written "with the manifest purpose of stimulating the Czar's Government to strengthen the Imperial Navy in a particular direction, by the construction and armament of swift steel cruisers, fitted out with the newest appliances of torpedo warfare formidable engineers of destruction, enabled by their speed to outstearn, and therefore easily capture, the vast majority of British merchant vessels, and to avoid encounter with huge and heavily-armed ironclads." These are the "wasps of the sea," so highly commended by Lord Charles Beresford; and the effect of the book is rather to stimulate the Imperial authorities of Britain to be ready for attack than to urge such attack on the Czar's Government. The story told is of a cruiser named Russia's Hope, which, with a picked crew of officers and men, was despatched from the port of Nikolaev with sealed instructions, to be opened in latitude 44deg N. and longitude 31deg E.—at Toulon, in fact. "The Native politicians were extremely surprised at the measure so unexpectedly taken, for, according to the newspapers, all was qniet in Europe ; the rate of exchange foreshadowed a calm and peaceful summer; yet the cruiser was specially designed for attacking a hostile commercial fleet in time of war." The cruiser wa3 provided with a complete stock of naval stores, provisions, coals, artillery, and torpedo appurtenances. On arriving in Toulon roads it turned out that the whole Mediterranean squadron had been concentrated there for more than a week, and all in the same state of preparation as the Russia's Hope. Soon the French papers are full of telegrams announcing serious disputes with England. A courier arrives from St. Petersburg, and the Admiral of the Fleet hurriedly proceeds to Paris. On his return the Russia's Hope is ordered to "prepare for sea," and her commander " to repair to the Admiral." On his return the commander maintains strict reticence as to his orders, but at midnight the engineer is ordered to get up steam, and at 4 a.m. the cruiser steams at full speed out of Toulon Bay. Within a couple of weeks the lights of Pernambuco are sighted, the engines are stopped five miles off the lighthouse, and a lieutenant is ordered to go ashore and find a mysterious individual, who will deliver into his hands important instructions. This individual is a Russian agent—himself a Russian—for the Czar's Government have replaced foreign agents and consuls by subjects of Russia at every port.

Befoie proceeding with the narrative, we have a disquisition on the Declaration of Paris of 185 G. By way of preamble it is remarked that the circumstances attending the operations of the Sumter and Alabama proved to our (the Russian) Admiralty—firstly, " /he terrible j'Oicer of cruUe.ru in a war with a naval and commercial nation ; and, secondly, forced us to make the necessary preparations for availing ourselves at any time of this ruinous and awful engine of war." (The italics are in the translation.) The Declaration of Pari?, it is admitted, paralysed to a great extent the movements, " and deprived them of half their prey, by recognising the inviolability of neutral cargoes under tiie enemy's flag." This immunity, it $3 argued, is very unprofitable for Russia, " she having no commercial fleet worth speaking of, and receivingalmostall her foreign cargoes in neutral vessels, On the contrary, it was very profitable for England, who owned about 70 per cent, of the world's ocean trade." Consequently, Russia repudiates the Declaration, and the word goes forth to burn, sink, and destroy all merchant ships when war with England breaks out. This, by the way, is an illustration of Russia's readiness to repudiate treaties when they cease to be profitable to her, which a genuine Muscovite would scarcely be ready or willing to parade—in a time of peace, at any rate.

War has been doolwed on the 6th May, and away goes the Russia's Hopa on her mission of destruction. British vessels, not having been protected by similar precautions, are consequently taken at a disadvantage. On the 7th May the Elbe, from Monte Video, laden with leather aud preserved meat for Messrs Bashwood and Co., Londou, is the first " lawful prize," and her crew being taken off, she is sent to the bottom \vith p-11 the cargo, The British steamer fradio, vviih a cargo of coffee, cocoa, and sugar, from Eio Janeiro, suffers a similar fate. The Moor, belonging to the Union Steam Ship Company, freighted by the British Government with coal for the Falkland Islands and ammunition for the fleet at the Cape of Good Hopp, is next captured. This vessel, it was intended, should be armed and transformed into a cruiser at the Cape. She had on board two 6-inoh guns and four Nordendeldt's with their carriages, two small torpedo boats for Simon's Town, with a great quantity of mines, torpedoes, and all sorts of infernal machines ; and " Messieurs lea Anglais never dreamed of being attacked so soon after the declaration of war " —that is the next day. " It would have been a pily lo sink such a prize," So|the guns are fitted in their places, the torpedoes are transferred to the Russia's Hope, and the Moor ia re-christened "under the name of the Little Son " by the tender-hearted Russians, and sails thereafter under the Russian flag. tioon after the Earl of Chester, a steamer of 2,GGi» t.ons, with a cargo of wool, is seized. " As "in tfcp previous cases — there being no difficulties or titiuUs raked—the crew were taken off, and Messrs frown's wool went to the bottom of the sea, together with the steamer." " The following day a couple of whalers were taken and burned." Then a British barque, with a neutral cargo of guano for Hamburg, is captured, but is allowed to go on agreeing to sign documents for the payment of 28,000 roubles, ke estimated value of the vessel. After these feats, Stasia's Hope steers for the Indian Ocean, and titer; ahe falls in with vast numbers of "lawful pruea"— lawful, that is, to the Russian mind, which repudiates treaties as waste paper when occasion serves. " Vast quantities of hemp, cigars, sugar, coffee, tea, gutta-percha, cotton, camphor, etc., instead of finding their way to the London docks, were burnt or sent to the bottom." On board oue of the captured vessels some lato Shanghai newspapej-a \ver,e found,' "According to theße papers the .cruisers expLiia on the Soutli American coast, as well ap those of Vfacheslar and Gladiator (!) in the China Sea had caused a panic in the British commercial fleet, and the Lords of the Admiralty, almost to a man, were charged with thorough innompetency." (The italics are ours, for the worcL; have a strong Beresford smack about tiicm.l The Little been equally successful in violating the Deol&v&fcion .q£ Paris, having "sunk three steamers and five sailing shins.' (This is the vessel which, when manned by English sailors, could not hold her own against Russia's Hope.) Messrs Jardine,

" opium dealers at Singapore," lose two valuable vessels. In the Gulf of Martaban •' Lord Davenport's steam yacht falls into the hands of the Russian marauders ; and then comes an account of an attack on Singapore, and the Agamemnon and Briton, men-of war, with a multitude of other vessels, are destroyed by many arts of devilish ingenuity, aided by the most fatuous carelessness on the part of the British officers. British ignorance is further displayed by The Ranger, drawing 13ft, attempting to go over shoal water only 12ft deep in the Strait of Sunda whilst in pursuit of " Lord Davenport's" stolen steam yacht, Always the Russian is brave, intelligent, and wellinformed ; always the Briton is cowardly, stupid, and ignorant. Such at least is the drift of this book. In the attack on Kurrachee this notion is remarkably displayed. We may remark in passing that Kurrachee, at the mouth of the Indus, is described by the latest authorities as only affording accommodation for vessels of moderate tonnage. But the wonderful commander of Russia's Hope found several large British men-of-war in the harbor, as also "ten huge transports." The wily Russians plant six "Hertz mines" in each of the Manora and Kiamari roads, which afford ingress and egress; and, of course, these explode at the proper moment and destroy men-of-war and transports alike. And "the neighboring Indian population, agitated and dissatisfied, now saw with their own eyes, and were convinced of the force of this unknown power, of which, up to the present, vague rumors and whispers only had reached them from the sources of the Indus."

But the most barbaric episode has yet to come. The Little Son comes up with an English wooden ship—the Collingwood, of 1,800 tons—in the Gulf of Cambay, with a cargo consisting of naphtha, in barrels, addressed to Messrs Max field and Co., Bombay. An ingenious lieutenant devises a plot, the performance of which shall be told in the narrator's own words :

Having taken a pilot on board, the Collingwood, under topsails only, quietly entered the Bombay itoada. A sharp and knowing sea-wolf, a native of the province of Saratov, was at the helm, and to each command of the pilot he boldly and loudly responded "Aye, aye, sir!" no worse than a thorough-bred liiiton. . . . Lieutenant Lidin, who had lived three years in London and spoke English perfectly, was appointed commander of the prize. . . . Most of the crew consisted of negroes and Arab 3. As it was mid-day already, and there were many ships ahead, the fixing of the Oollingwood's exact position at the Naphtha wharf was deferred till the next day at Lidin's request, and they were allowed to anchor at a spot shown them by the harbor-master. . . . Whilst quietly sipping his sherry, Lidin conversed with the representative of the firm of Maxfield and Co., and made himself out to be a native of Canada, having first ascerta'ned that his visitor was a Scotchman.

. . . As soon as darkness came on (the last of the authorities having left the vessel) the Russian ordered the hatchway to be opened, and then set the crew to work broaching the barrels and throwing them on deck when empty. The work went on rapidly. . . . Lidin then, for safety's sake, collected all the negroeß in the cabin and locked them in, whilst holes were being made through both sides close to the water-line. The Collingwood began to fill and Bink deeper and deeper in the water. The naphtha, thus driven from the hold, began to float up on deck and run into the sea through the upper wales. Nitikin (a sub-lieu-tenant) watched from a boat at a distance the naphtha stream, and thus made quite sure that it was all floating towards tho harbor. Midnight had now struck, and the Collingwood was gradually sinking. . . . All the Arabs werp set free and ordered to take to their boats and row for life against tho current to the nearest lighthouse. ... A bucket thrown over the side was found to contain about half as much naphtha as water, there being now over a thousand tons of the former floating on the suiface in and among the vessel* moored together in the harbor,

Lidin and hi 3 Russians escape from the sinking vessel in the long-boat and row seawards. Then Nitikin, first making sure of his own safety and that of his associates, " took a few pieces of potassium and threw them as far as he could ahead of him. Two of the sailors did the same. Bluish streams of fire, like tiny snakes, began to run and dance over the calm mirror-like surface of the sea in the direction of the sleeping harbor." At the eame dead midnight hour the Little Son steamed quietly to within sight of the Bombay lights An hour passed thus. Then about 1.30 am. the captain noticed from the bridge a sort of unnatural light on the water close to the town. At first this light flared up, then went out, but soon a vast extent of sea seemed to be radiant all at once with a brilliant red glare. With incredible rapidity this glare changed into a llame, mounting high above the water, and growing both longer and broader. A sound of voices, hushed and restrained, but nut without merriment, was now heard on the deck. All understood that it was the naphtha burning in Bombay harbor. The captain gave the order to steam slowly ahead, and the nearer they came to the town the higher and fiercer did the flames grow. Shouts and discordant sounds, like the distant roaring of breakers, now reached the ears of the captain and his crew. Meanwhile, a vast sea of fire was rolling and raging ahe<vi. The heavens seemed ablaze from the huge reflection above Bombay, and the air was full of shouts, cries, and curse?, as though Hell itself were lot loose. . . . All felt that there in the harbor colossal wealth and immense fortunes were falling a prey to the devouring flames, bringing ruin and wretchedness tj many a London merchant; but thoy felt, too, that numbers of innocent people were perishing who considered themselves perfeotly Becuro in the closed and well-defended Bombay harbor. It was difficult, even impossible, for them to save themselves from the burning vessels in the burning waters

The justification offered for this abominable act is :—" We are bound to destroy anything that may do us harm and the enemy good. The more British subjects we ruin the Booner will the means of carrying on the war be exhausted, and the sooner will peace be concluded." "War is God's tribunal, and cannot be unjust," explains the pious Admiral when fjiiestioned as to these matters. If this logic be correct, how excessively unjust the wars made by Russia against Turkey must have been—oruelly un just. Yet it is for England's intervention in the Crimea that the Muscovite, according to the writer of this story, is now breathing hatred and cherishing hostility. Strange to say, there is no mention of any descent upon any of these colonies, excepting a brief record to the effect that Melbourne, "the capital of the Australasian colonies," was blockaded, and "suffered a loss of some millions of roubles "—which is hjird on Melbourne. The end of all is that Russia, having destroyed the commercial navy of Great Britain, concludes " a glorious peace " with that humbled and evermore crippled Power. Thereafter there is no moro singing of 'Rule, Britannia.' The entire Pacific is dominated by St. Andrew's cross the Russian flag—and India is freed from the tyrannical government which has so long held it in thraldom. That this brochure is written by a sailor is abundantly evident in every page. As a literary production it is of very considerable merit." From the first page to the last it is a work of graphic detail almoßt worthy the pen of a Defoe. We hold to our previously expressed opinion that it is written as a warning to Britain rather than a stimulant to Russia; but while it is of a dangerous character, as teaching the enemy what may be done if only she is sufficiently unscrupulous and barbarous, it may be useful in teaching us in self-defence to hoist an enemy with his own petard.