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Charlottetown, Prince Edward lsland,i Wednesday, January 3, 1855.

New Series. No. 202.

irrsronrcar. auxin! OF THE RUSSIAN W R.

F”! rrs coitirnnciririmr T0 was

‘PIKE.

irrnsuars -mums BY mam» Annraiscr.

vi On the l2th of March, 1854. the Emperor

Nicholas vouchsafed to the terms proposui by the Western Powers this memorable 1'°PlY: "Mal "3039 terms required notfivc minules’ COIl.9u18I‘al(;)7l-” He» In fact, I-ejec[ed [hen] COIHBHIPE; an announ- ced to his own Ministers and great oflters that. before he submitted to such C°"dill°l1-‘ii 58 W011” sacrifice his last soldier. and sP°“d his 18“ 1'°“bl°- .While this haughty doCl9l°""‘h° Selle"! P“"P°" of which me eiecu-ic wires sent flashing at once through all Enropeawas _me to London and Paris by the ovei-ignd couriers, the French and English troops began._th9ug|1 very gradually. to muster in force at Gallipoli. It was a considerable time’ before ihey {ad assembled on the little In- sup, ,0 the wesiut the Dardanelles about 4,000 French and abmii 7,000 English troops. The French had a shorter wage to make; but then they had more soldier.’ more materials of war, and more p,.0V;,;0ns, mzransport. They arrived. the first; and they diueubarked and oucamped with greater ease’ pmmpgtude, and order, than our soldiers. They had, porcover, come so much better fiirnisli- ed, mm’ iu several instances, after their_own de- b(ll'l{a.ll0ll,' hey helped, and greatly expedited, with me hours if their meii-of-war, the landing of a much smzller body of English troops. Once on sham, in same almost iinp-like agility of our ga[|a_ntff8ndS—ll1el|' tact, readiness, self-possessed assui-uue, and good-liiimoured audacity, gave them sun ihtadvautage. The services which we could scui-get. induce the Turks to render, after days, and sumeines weeks, of discussion, the French very ‘evevy, and very properly, exerted on the spot. iieiwere, moreover, accompanied by the whole fihir tools; while at least a portion of ours was ' different conveyance from that of its The French camp speedily resembled a collllal settlement; while Gallipoli and all the neilll)Olll‘h0Od were Gallicised as if by magic, both inianie and in ecd. “Office of the French Qartcr-iuastor-(ieueral,” “Office of the French C.umissary—Geiieral,” “ French Hospital,” “ Yous- street,” “Street of the Posts and Mails,” “r‘rench Light Infantry-strce ” “Head uarters- - i,” “General Engineer 0 ce-street,” “Army blice-oflicc Q,uarter”——such,or similar and equiva- fut designations, couched in the French language, ad iucribed on conspicuous sign-boards, routed may and replaced the old Mahometan styles and 1 indications, and introduced European method, and ilumiiious, simple, and couvenieiit clue into the iitricatc obscurity of the place. rench names were established everywhere; and, what is more instructive, French prices. A market tariff for every article ofiiecessary was immediately fixed, and it was rigidly enforced. It was impossible not tobe strugk, at every step, by the characteristic proceedings of our vivid-miiided and active allies; by..tlieir adaptability to circuinstanccs—tlieir reso- ltite and instantaneous effort to master these-their great faculty of acting together without confusion, —:ind their really wonderful idea of military self- administratiou. The rapid measures we have enumerated are merely a part of those which both amused and instructed our own troops, down to the very privates. Fiiriiistaiice, the landing had hardly hc_cu forty-ciglit liotirs effected, when, not 0 y all f t \vc have detailed, was accomplished, rtaperiiizt system of French lice was in as full actioxamong themselves and occasionally among the ‘urks) as if they had been in Marseilles or Algiers; and, at the same time, it was stated, that our rcgimcntal surgeons had to borrow what they at first happened to want from the medicine- chestso iese alert confederates; though we are bound t add that, if this necessity existed, it lasted - y few days. at so‘ close an association, and so intimate an

jlentiy 11

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iiliglitcnment on both Sl(.l8l,t|Ilyl)Udy can see. There are many points in which we excel those gallant troops; and they have studied us with attention, and doubtless not without profit. On our parts, pcrcliancc, there was also soincthing to learn. But, independently of this reciprocal Mivantage, and far above it in value, is the amity which has thus been established. This expedition has been ti greater destroyer of prejudice tliiiu centuries of passive frkudliuess in less contiguous iiitercouruc could ossibly have been. 'l‘lietwo nations bavelitcrally shaken hands and embraced; aiul their love is on both sides the waruier for former conflicts, in wtuuii they witnessed, each in his antagonist, per§0}\al 0 qualities of heroic valoiiraiid boundless gencrogity, which have excited a reciprocal and eternal admi- riition—a reciprocal and indestructible esteem. t was th ‘it warriors who represented the _two ' in the quarrels of o ier days; Mid 1‘ !5 their warriors who now re t=Iit_1ll9fl1ll1 lh‘°“' emhugiastic and profound . onciliatioii. The chief: and offlccrs of the English expedition‘ had» in Paris, met the chiefs and officers of the 1‘ tench ggpgdition and had been received with transports of py, grid the most prodigal hospitality; the coin- mon soldiers, and the common sailors also, \Vhe|'0V°|‘

3+; gulps Ipproecbed each other on their way to 9-

,1,

mutual war against the enemy of both, testified their feelings, and exchanged a cordial resting, in rapturous cheers and shouts, which awo e to their martial noise the echoes of many ii. strange and classic shore. And, at last, when, on the strand of G_allipoI,[they met to con net or to die, side by side—to share their hards ips, their battles, and their glory together—the French and English troops -—sailors and soldiers aliko—a.lmet threw them- selves into each other’: arm. Irideed, their reci- procal good-will we often testified in a ludicrous manner; nor was it always strictly observant of the proper bounds of discipline. The poor fellows, not content witli contrivghg, out of the little they pos- sessed, to exchange presents, would sometimes, when these failed, exchange, in moments which were only too convivial, their very dresser and, one morning at parade, a French Colonel of Zon- avel was exceedingly perplexed to see among his men a soldier, whose corps he knew not; but who resembled, he thought, by his cap and feather, in Highlander of the ritish army. At recisely the same moment, the Colonel of the Highland reg. merit was astonished tobehold on one of his gall men the yellow letghgin and some of the ot accoutrements of e gzouaves. The respecti commanding officers soon found, that the a pa Highlanderispoke French, and the apparent tench» man, English. Inftheir fraternal compotations, the night before, each soldier, vexed that he could not speak a word that was understood by his comrade, had resorted to this extraordinary method of de- monstrating their sentiments.

This incident in itself, doubtless, is trivial; but, historicall , nothing ought to be considered trivial which bot illustrates and proves far more authen- tically than could whole pages of dissertation—and, of course, with much livelier effect-some vast revolution of national sentiment, or the passions prevailing at a great crisis, and not slightly niflueiicing great events. At home, the popularity of the war and the public enthusiasm in its favour, were sometimes illustrated by incidents quite as amusing as those which marked the brotherly cordiality subsisting between the French and Eng- lish soldiers at Gallipoli. The remembrance of our readers will bear us out in this observation; but we will put one little occurrence of the kind on record. A gallant private, under orders for the war, spent his last night in a. farewell feast with some dear friends, who induced him to drink more than was advisable. He parted from them so late, that he had to march fast, if he would’te-enter his barracks in time, and he thought he could give himself fresh strength and add wings to his speed, if, near London bridge, he took a pint of porter on the wa . Entering a public-house he demanded this re reshmeiit, placin the price on the counter. The publican saw that 9 had already drunk too inticli, and refused to serve him; whereu n the soldier seized a pint belonging tosome one e se, and, holding the owner away at arm’s length, drank it, saying that this was “Roossian treatment,” and that he would have his money’s worth by force, ' not by favour.,,A scufile ensued, the gallant soldier slept that night in a police-cell; next morning he was brought before a magistrate, and fined five shillings. He declared he had not such a sum in the whole world. He was told he must go to prison till it was forthcoming. But he simply rejoined, looking round the court, that he was under im- mediate orders for the East—a fact confirmed by his sergeant, who, besides, praised the maii’s geiie- ral cliaractcr. Immediately, a good-humoured contest arose among the spectators, who should be the first to pay the fine. The soldier, with many thanks to his deliverers, “ whom he did not know,” said they might rely upon his doing his humble dirty; and he hoped that, with the help of his comrades, he shoud “thrash the Russians.” Our readers will pardon these short anecdotes, for the sake of what they serve to commemorate so graphi-

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ally.

In France, the same feelings everywhere pre- vailed ; and the unanimity of the pie strengthen- ed and expedited the measures 0 the Government. The recruits for the new “conscription” came, their own accord, to be enrolled; and the public sentiments were even more strikingly evinced, in coiiucction with perhaps the most wonderful and original of the many wonderful and original measures of State by which Napoleon III. has signalized his reign. We alluded to the French Loan, issued to the community at large, on the 10th of March, 1854. He addressed himself not to speculators, bankers, and capitalists, but to his people themselves. He was convinced he could thus obtain a larger sum, raise it in a shorter time, and receive it on better terms for the State; but, above all, he saw an op rtunity of forwarding, by this bold appeal, one 0 his most cherished designs. He would give to France what En laud long pos- sessed, a new class directly intereste in the general

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stability: he would have thousands of public und- lioldcrs all over the country; and whenhe ha thus Nd his people to yield hostages to order, he would he made one step more towards the accomplish- Illellt of his great mission, “the mission (we quote his °_Vn words) of closing for ever the era of re- VOW" in his native land.” ll! 0 3l!gle week 310,000,000 francs were sub- l° is novel loan, and in an utriiordinarily was all at the disposal of the French

G - -4 2‘

Govcrum . It was in t

_ same week, on the llth March, that our Baltic gmiga

from Spithead, in the

presence of the Queen, who led it out to sea in her yacht, the Fairy, offering the most _heart-stirring spectacle, which the resent generation had ever beheld. The Royal gear e moved the first, fol- lowed rapidly by the St. can d’Acre and Tribune, under sin le-reefed topsails. Then in quick suc- cession, o yiiig the signal “to weigh” of the Admiral—who stood, glass in hand, on the quarter- deck of the Duke of Wellington—came the Im- pemcuse, Blenheim, Ampliion, Princess Ra al, Edinburgh, Ajax, Arrogant, and Hague. lie file-ships, Leopard, Valorous, and Dragon, White the next ;and these com leted the firstdivisioii of l§ngland’s Baltic Fleet. he Admiral himself led it, or rather followed it, in that stupendous fioafiig fortress of 131 guns of the largest calibre, the Duke of Wellin ton, which throws a. ton of metal at every broadside, to ‘a distance unparalleled by any batteries on land or sea. Auotlicr great divilion was preparing to follow this noble fleet of sixteen war-steamers, of which eight were liiie-of- battle—two being three—deckers, and three carrying Admirals’ flags: Admiral Chads, in the Edinburgh, and Admiral Plumridge “in the Leopard, acting under Sir Charles Napier. Of these sixteen war- steamers, all but four were built on the screw principle. The only fault to be found with the fleet, is that it was too fine, and that the vessels were too large and massy, and of a draught too deep for the seas in which they were to act. About the time of these operations of the allies in widely separated scenes, the sympathies manifested towards Russia by a large part of the population in the kingdom of Greece, began to excite uneasiness and indignation. Indeed, it was found necessary, not very long afterwards to drop, while on their way to a worthier scene 0 action, a portion. of the French coiitiiigeiits; and some six thousand of these troops landed accordingly near Athens, in order to bring a petty but troublesome kingdom to its senses. They landed the greater part of that number at the Pirreus on the 15th of May. We mention this to save or abridge future digression from the more important events which will occupy the reader's notice. It was on the 27th of March that the formal rupture between Turkey and Greece occur- red. The Greek Envoy, General Metaxas, receiv- ing on that day, his puss orts at Constantinople. The Sultan had sent: wiatevcr troops he could spare to the frontier of Thessaly, under Aohmet Pacha, to oppose the inroads of the Greeks who were epdeavourliiig to organize a general jpsurrection of ttiei co-religionists a over the Turk h Empiic, the foreign Greeks thus abetting a aiiist the Divan its Greek subjects, to the profit of ussia; and no doubt, suboriied by Russia gold, and urged on by Russian instigatioiis. On the 1st of April, the Turkish troops, near Janina, in Albania, obtained a small advantage over these maratidiiig enemies, who, according to the laws of war and of nations, were little better than freebooters. A step taken by our Ambassador, about the time when the intel- ligeiice of this victory reaclied (Joiistaiitiiiople, coni- biued with that intelligence to clatc the spirits of the Divan. Lord Stratford de Radcliffe issued a circular to all our tlonsuls on the lith of April, denouncing the Greek iiistirrection, and calling on them to disowii its abcttors, wherever the were found. 'l‘heimmensc expenses to which rke was subjected by all these emergencies had induced the Sultan to adopt a very violent, and we believe, in Moslem countries, an unprecedented expedient, which equalled in audacity, though not in bloodi- ncss, his predecessor i\luliuioud's iiiussacrc of the Jaiiissaries. The Slicikliul lsluui, or High Poiitifl‘ ofthc Mussulniuus, was deposed, and all the reve- nues of the mosques xvero. appropriated to the State. It was—to compare Christians with Pagan—not merely like a suppression of . monasteries and a seizure of all their effects, but it was a confiscation of ecclesiastical property in general throughout the Empire. This also affected, be it observed, an immense ainouut of lay property, assigned, for the sake of stability, in turbulent but fanatical lands, to the ecclesiastical protection of titular owners, sacred in the eyes of State and people. It was not, there- fore, a time for the ‘Porto to make needless domestic enemies. But, transportt-d b the roiture of his high struggle, and encourage by Lord Stratford's recent circular, the Sultan struck on both sides, and with both hands. He decreed that all Greeks, within a brief delay named, should quite Con. stantinople, under liability of the seizure and escheat to the Crown of their possessions, with the penalty of personal arrest added. But here the veteran soldier, General Baraguay d’lIilliers, Ani- bassador of France, interposed. He besought the Grand Signor to make a distinction. 'I‘liere were disaffected Greeks, and there were faithful Greeks. The tie between the disaffected Greeks and Russia was exclusively a religious tie; it never had been national, audit never could, in any one respect, be so regarded. Now, the religious tie was impnuible between the Latinist or Roman Catholic G;-ceks and Russia, the religion of which was known to be disavowod and detcsted by such Greeks. Their loyalty to the Sultan was, besides, both proverbial of old, and manifest now. If these were expelled from their homes and occupations, and in so un- discriminating, tiiinierited, and arbitrary a manner coiifotiiidcd—iiiiioceiit with the guilty, patriotic with the traitors~mid thus driven suddenly from Guiistautiuople, l e must reluctantly take his own departure also froiu that city. No iuore was re. quired; and the sultan observed the distinction which had been thus laid before his attention.

-5 R.

we have seen that, as our soldiers went to the

'East, so our fleet went to the Baltic, before either

this country or France had yet formally declared war_ The marvellous stand made by Omer Pacha. upon iii. Danube was not, and could not be, fore- seen. This will account for the choice at first of Gallipoli as a great landingxoint. it was the shortest way to inter se_ at drianople between the capital and the ussians, should these force Mount I-laimus, and burst into Rounielia. Powerful works were even constructed from the Gulf of Sure to the Sea of Marmara, to render, in case of neces- sity, the lstliniiis of Gallipoli a. safe retreat behind a new Torres Vedras of the East; and this was the first serious occupation which the _English and French soldiers undertook in companionship. But affaii-s changed in their aspect; and manyof the regiments were sent up to Scuturi; and some even beyond this, to Buyukdere, on the European shore, above Constantinople. After it was known that war had been actually declared by France and England, the troops were gradually collected ni stillinore advanced positions—at Bour as, and then at Vienna. When the insolent remar upon the last offer: made to Russia.(rather than answer to them) was known in Paris and London, all the forbearaiice of the Western Powers was fairly exhausted; and,_on the 28th of March, war was oflicially proclaimed. _ ‘Russia followed up the rejection of our couditioiis by some untenable proposals of her own, based on the same wild claims with which she had started originally. These last proposals werg pronounced, on the 7th of the ensuing month, quite «figdniissible by Eng- land and ‘France. 0 $2” fir FINANCIAL CONDITION .0! RUSSIA.

We think it must be evident 'to.all our readers, from the complicated and wide-spread transactions of arms and negotiation which we have w related, that Russia was, from the-, outsegbent upon war—bcut u u some despera e Cort o achieve a new and p omiiiate position in the comity of na- tions. She had been, in truth, for aconsidcrable time liusbandiug her resources and preparing her means for some uiuisual exertion. in 1853, she had freed herself from the annual interest of certain old loans, by paying up the principal. She then withdrew the sums placed in the public Stock of France and England; issued Treasury Bills to meet the current expenses, and prohibited the export of the med no metalsfi her own territory. Still, her fiiianldhtfsiitiatt a general war, such as that which she has so waiitoiily provoked, can never be sound. The ordinary revenue of Russia. would perhaps be £32,0Utl,0Uti; but, allow.iiig for the inevitable abatement causctl by war in the ro- cccds of the Customs'and hxcisc, it can scar ly amount to $24,000,001) at present; while the ex- pcnditurc is eiioimously and concurrently increased. No doubt the sums obtained just after the Hunga- rian war, under the plea of finishing the Moscow Railway, were not yet exhausted when this vast conflict commenced. But the stress ofit is evident‘ from the financial expedients to which the Czar’ presently resorted. He appropriated at once five millions sterling of the bullion which forms the basis of the paper money; and, at the same time he issued four millions sterling of Treasury Bills: He also invited loans and accepted gifts (praising :‘l:led;)tll.‘l;‘l()llSmh ofclthe latter) from various public

1 I . Oi ~ - Trusfs of llietel:pit:;.§lsffdt::llCiir?‘lllidlf)u?(Elfl failed, liC levied a forced loan, amounting to ciuht millions sit-rliug, from his own subjects iiidiscriiiii- natcly, and called it a voluntary contribution. B these mciuis he realised, in a year and a half nearly thirty millions sterling. But all the rcsouiccs on which he drew feel the pressure of the war which renders much of the agricultural producc,uusale- able, while it impoverishcs the Boyard or laiid- owning class by the inordinate and unpaid drain of ‘he "1033 Valuable part of their live stock, the poor serfs—s\\'cptoff in conscriptions. efore the war, the metatlic iserve of the Russian Government was worth . ueiity-6iit.- iuillioiis sterling; but the notes in circulation amounted to 5.'.50,tl0U,0U0; and while the blllllvvll has since incessantly diminislicd, the issues of paper have iucessaiitly augmented. If we add to these grave facts three others lst, that there is an immense Land and Banking Company guaranteed by the State, which company (it is called “the Lombards") holds five millions of the serfs in pawn; 2udly, that the deposits of money lent by all $3505 to (iovcrnmeut, mid rcsumalzle on

, w , on the lst of January, 1853, accord- ing to the o cial return of the Russian Minister of Finance, not under .L'l28,UUti,titiU; and 3llly, that the funded debt of Russia amounts to £ti0,UUU,U00 more, we shall be able to form some idea of the solidity of Russia's financial condition under the Weight of u vast struggle like the present. The financial duty, which we have used in this sketch Will befound iui\l. Leon l-‘auchcr'slatcly-published calculations of tlic iuouicntiiry resources on which the Russian State can (lt‘pCll(l.

Very diifei-em was the financial situation of the two Maritime l’owei’s. I-lnglund required neither a loan nor any very criisliiug addition to theweiyit Of hot‘ taxou; and the loan of the Frciicli l:.n>pcror wag no; om). a brilliantly siicccssstul fiscal_expcdi- eat; but; yusi political iiivasiirc wliich is likely to form an e ll in the social lustory of Fraiicc. Nor was the Eli-ziicli Govt-riiniciit forced to resort to op- pmguiy. .x,,uuu to meet the interest which the