FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80  
81   82   83   84   85   86   >>  
ton, during a visit to him in May. George West was then head-plowman to a neighboring farmer, one of the cleanest, best behaved, and moat respected laborers in the parish. * * * * * FROM FRASER'S MAGAZINE. THE GREAT MARSHAL SUWARROW. The Russian is eminently fitted for a soldier's life; his education is almost as martial as if he had been brought up in a camp; for his relatives and neighbors hold their lands by military tenure, and love to talk together of the days when they served in the wars. All, from the highest order to the lowest, look to the fulfillment of their ancient prophecy, that "_All the world is to be conquered by the arms of Russia_." Should some man of resplendent genius, like Suwarrow, chance to command, there is no calculating on the position to which the Russian army might attain. Suwarrow was not alone fitted to lead an army, but was exactly the general to form one: his frankness and generosity, and the manner in which his habits identified him with his soldiers, endeared him to the army; while his religious feelings and exercises, and the habit of participating in some of their superstitions, sanctified him in the eyes of the men, and gave him unbounded influence. Some of the anecdotes with which we have met exhibit feelings for which we were but little inclined to give the devoted warrior credit, for most certainly we should never have sought in rude camps, and among wild Cossacks, for gentle affections and tender emotions; and yet even there they may be found; and we see that he whose whole existence was nearly an uninterrupted series of military exploits, was by no means devoid of those congenial sympathies which make up the charm of domestic life.... This is the more worthy of observation, as he has been regarded by many as something not far removed from an ogre--an impression which the barbarous warfare carried on between the Turks and Cossacks, in which he took such a prominent part, seemed to justify; coupled as it has been, too, with the story of his having packed up in a sack the heads of the Janissaries who had fallen by his hand, for the purpose of laying them at the feet of his general. The spirit of the times, and of those with whom his lot was cast, must be looked to as some palliation for the savage conflicts in which he was engaged. That they had not hardened his heart against all tender emotions is surprising. Pierre Alexis Wasiltowitch, Co
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80  
81   82   83   84   85   86   >>  



Top keywords:

Cossacks

 

tender

 
general
 

feelings

 

emotions

 

military

 

Suwarrow

 
fitted
 

Russian

 

exploits


series

 

Alexis

 

uninterrupted

 
domestic
 
Pierre
 

surprising

 

sympathies

 
devoid
 

congenial

 

sought


devoted
 

warrior

 
credit
 

existence

 

Wasiltowitch

 

gentle

 

affections

 

palliation

 

Janissaries

 
looked

packed

 

savage

 

engaged

 
conflicts
 

fallen

 
spirit
 
laying
 

purpose

 

coupled

 
removed

impression

 
barbarous
 
worthy
 

observation

 

regarded

 

warfare

 

carried

 
hardened
 
justify
 

prominent