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TAMTNER:

NAL OF POLITICS, LITERATURE AND NEWS.

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Literature. A POET'S HOME.

A poet’s home! On earth what spot is that where lodge the Muses ?

A tropie isle, a warm south piot Round whieh fresh suulight cruises.

Walks which a sleeping ocean bounds With hints of worlds hereafter ;

Rare scents of wild flowers, and the sounds Of Bacchant girlish laughter.

A hill that hides a drowsy town, A great cloud sauntering by it;

A streamlet poured in sunshine down In almost visible quiet.

Ah me! I fear Greek tales are lies; We live a life too real

To dally ’neath Arcadian skies, And list to sounds ideal.

A poet's home! flis eye—what sighis Elysian?

A rough highway, a dusty path Where brick-kilns blur the vision

V hat prospect hath '

A want of fight, a want of air, A want of poet-neighbour: A wooing of all wishes fair, A winning but of labour.

Sing on, O poet! Time is just, Sing, "mid the city shadows: A flower that beautifies the dust Shames blooms that droop in meadows.

Better than poct-friend to thee. And dearer, is employment ; Thy duty is an Arcady More ylorious than enjoyment.

Where common eyes nought rare can scam Thou findest ange! faces, And in each highway trod by man Greetest holy places. —(Household Words for July, 18995. i Alen ila

(From Blackwood'’s Magazine for August, 1855.)

INTERN AL SUFFERINGS OF RUSSIA FROM TUE WAR. (Concluded .) Siuce the beginning of the present year there has been a great scarcity of gold and gilver coin ia the southern provin- he empire

cs of 1 . though gold was very plentiful last sum- mer. ‘ivis scarcity may be accounted for by the merchants W.indraw og their capital from trade. As few of them have

any conlidence in the paner circulation, they availed them- selves of the guld, then very pleatiful, which all disappeared ta this way in a very few weeks, A frieud of mine, who was in Simpheropol in February, wishing to change a hundred- rouble note into notes of one, three and five roubles each, was obliged to pay ten per cent. for the exchange ; and he assur- ed me that, ii’ avy stall article was purchased, the value of which did not amvunt to a roub!e, the merehant would rather lose the sale than give coin in exchange, though he was per- haps making a profit of a hundred per cent. upon the article. Tais state of things is gradually travelling northwards. In Lxaterinoslay it wasthe same in April; andin Kharkoff, jr May, there was a great difficulty in procuring coin, especially voll and the smaller silver money. Knharkotf isa Jarge ! town, and the eapital of tue Ukraine. The

commercial! issue oF notes haus :ecently been very great. Ail this tends

g t0 prove that every sinew is now strained to bursting to carry

ou jue War.

Many persons have expressed surprise at the smallness of the returns of killed on the part of the Russians after an en- fazement; but, to any one who understands the Russian tystem, this will not appear strange at all. Tue practice is f9 seud in returas of only a small proportion of the killed, while the remainder are supposed to be in the field, and re- ceive pay and rations, to the benefit of the colonels. As a great personage, to whom | related this in England, remarked, “the colonels eat the dead men’s rations!” Nor is there any danger of detection, for the greater part of the generals have done the same thing before, and are practising something similar at all times, while the subalterns hope some day to become colonels themselves. I know an instance of a jan commanding a regiment, who, from the time of his regimeat taking the field in the sammer of last year up to the end of last November, was in the habit of sending two or three thousand roubles every week to his family, while he is known to possess 0 private fortune. All this money was of course squeezed out of the soldiers’ rations and forage, for it is a cavalry regiment. The life of a Russian soldier is so mise- rable, that L think half of them would prefer to be killed to dragging on such a wretched existence, They are torn from their homes by the arbitrary hand of despotism, and made to form part of an immense machine called a regiment which again forms part of another ealled a division; but they have not the remotest idea wiy they are made to excente eertain movements, ‘lhe Huglish officers who were taken prisoners at different times admired the severe discipline of the Russian urmy, little thinking that it was purchased at the expense of

every moral feeling; for the soldier is brutalised by the

treatment he receives, every officer having the right to buffet |

and cuff him as he may think proper. An old cavalry officer once told me, that, if a horse died, there was a rigid inquiry into the cause of his death ; and if the least thing appeared to show that it had been neglected, the subaltern in command of the squadr other hand, a man died, on his death being reported to the colonel he would say, “ Poor fellow! I hope he is in hea. ven! ‘This may be accounted for easily enough. The colos nel receives an annual sum to provide horses for his regiment, so that every loss affects directly his pocket; whereas te men cost him wothing! ‘The men are allowed meat by the prromnes three days a-week, except during the fasts, and

ndy ou Sandays and great holidays, ‘The officers gone-

i . TANY propose to the men to accept, instead of meat, the money, | and two men offered to fetch water for the whole party, if support this monster of injustice. So be it!

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‘Manoel CHARLOTTETOWN, PI

ou was placed under arrest; but if, on the!

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RINCE EDWARD ISLAND, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 1855.

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! : r i . a . 7 sand to provide themselves. To this, of course, the poor fel-|a soldier would show them where to procureit. The soldier,

, lows agree, as a proposal from an officer is tantamount to an order; but they never sce more than one-fourth of the money, | which is disposed of as follows : The colonel takes one-fourth, the majors commanding battalions another, and the captains of companies a third, while the other goes to the soldiers | themselves! bread in the knapsacks of the killed and wounded. I have _givon these examples in order to show the system under which ; ‘aese men fight so desperately, and which prevails through- j out the whole empire,—oue vast system of fraud, peculation fand pillage. | Notwithstanding the immense establishment for the educa- ttion of military men that exists in Russia, great difficulties } are experienced in obtaining officers for the new levies. All the officers must be nobles, and undergo an examination in various branches of science. A colonel, sent to obtain offi- | cers to a certain towa in the south, persueded a number of jcopying clerks from the government officers to enter the jarmy. ‘These men, though of noble birth, only knew how to read and write. As they were earning a miserable pittance, they were glad to embrace the offer, which opened to (hem a prospect of advancement; but they expressed their fears of not being able to pass the required examination. They were, however, reassured by the colonel, who said that he would examine them himself. This he did in the following man- ner :—Col. “ What is geography?” Azs. “ I don’t know; { have never heard of it before.” Col. “ Nonsense! you must know! On which bank of what great river is situated the town of E?’ (the town they were in). Ans. “On the right bank of the river D.” Col. “ There, I was sure you knew all about geography !—you are passed.” Another time the subject was mathematics. Col. “ What ave mathema- tics?” Ans. “I never saw them.” Col. “Add two to two.” Ans, “Four.” Col. « There, that will do—you are passed!’ Ofcourse I was not present at either of these examinations, but 1 had the fucts upon good authority. These are the men who are to replace those polished gentle- men, whose knowledze of the Huropean languages and suave manners lave been the admiration of all who have met them.

The militia is chiefly officered by those who have been in the army before and are retired ; but ifin any of the govern- ments there should not be enough of these, the nobles choose them from their own body. ‘uere is in general a great re-

luctance to enter this service, as well as military service gene- |rally, for the majority of the Russian pecple is anything but

| warlike, notwith-tanding their boasted martial prowess.

| The want of proper medical aid is much felt in the army |now. The students of medicine from all the universities 'are foreed to eater the army before they have completed their | course of study, whick ordinarily occupies five years, but is | new curtailed to three and a half years. It may be objected that I use the term forced, when they are only invited to join the army; but, with few exceptions, the invjtation, if | not accepted, will speedily be followed by an order, surgeons have lately arrived from America an] Prussia, who are ai once despatched to the seat of war. In Simpheropol nearly all the wounded Eaglish prisoners were attended by Americans,

As illustrative of the difficulty experienced in Russia in | transporting their armies, may be mentioned the journey of the Sisters of Merey from St. Peters'yurg to the Crimea last year. They left the capital about the middle of November, and as far as the chaussee extended, tnavelled without any mishap ; but from Koursk—where the chaussee finishes—to Kharkoff, they met with great difficulties, as they travelled in large diligences like those of France. _ It was on leaving the latter town that they experienced all the pleasures of a Xussian autumnal road. They left the town with fifteen horses to cach carriage, and reached in safety the first station, situa- ted in a valley, about ten miles from the town; but on attempting to axcend the mountain, the wheels stuck fast in the mud, and the 15 horses could not stir it; the number Was increased to thirty, bat without moving the vehicle. Eventually oxen were procured that dragged them out, and in this manner they proceeded on their way to the Crimea, to attend the sick and wounded, at the rate of two miles an hour! This was a case of the most urgent necessity. With such a state of things, would it not be better and wiser for Russia to employ those means in improving the internal state of the country, which she is now wasting on a ruinous war ?

The English prisoners of war will be able to give a good account of the evils of Russian travelling. I saw them all, poor fellows! as they passed through the town I was then re- siding in, and can say that their sufferings were more iutens than those of their comrades who were left behind. Tinse who were taken first, and who arrived at their destination before the severe colds get in, suffered comparatively little. | Then they were stili a novelty, ard excited a great deal of \curiosity, which in a Russian is never without compassion. | Of this the first parties who passed reaped the benefit. Be- | sides, they were all fine men, taken at Balaklava and Inker- mann, about which battles every one was eager to get what | information he could from persons who bad assisted at them. ou these suffered severely from deprivation of all the com-

forts they had been accustomed to, and which they were unahte to procure in the villages they passed through, ever When they had the means; for tea and coffee are unknown jluxuries to the Russian peasant, but would have been very acceptable to the prisoners afier their long march of fifieea or tweaty miles through the mud reaching to their knees, with the prospect of a miserable billet ina mad-hut, in which |} so many were placed that there was scareély room to lie down, and a piece of black bread washed down with a little brackish water, or kras (a sour liquor, much used in Russia). But those who left Simpheropol in December and January under- went hardships that were heart-rending to listen to, for then they experienced all the severity of a Russian winter during (a marchof about six hundred miles to Voronege, the depot. Thoy were about seveuty days upon the journey through the snow, aud frequently subject to the most vile treatment at | the hands of those to whose care they were committed. | They are allowed by the government 20 copecks a-day, (about 8d.) This would be amply suflicient to supply all their wants, for provisions are very cheap,—the best meat 3 aud 4 copecks per pound, bread about 1 or 14 copeck per pound; but the soldiers who served as their guard usually set the prices in the villages at about three times the ordiuary rate, out of which they made their own profit; wile our poor fellows, not understanding the language or toe prices, were obliged to pay whatever was demanded of them, or go hungry to bed. They were even made to pay ae the very water theydrank, ‘This happened always in the prisons of small towns. Once they refused to pay for it,

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This may account for the finding only black |

Many |

not wishing to lose his perquisites, took them to a distance

| prison.

After this they al¥ays preferred paying to fetching it themselves. In the large towns they are generally well- | treated, and allowed a certain liberty. ‘the market to buy themselves provisions, alone if they know | the way; or if not, one soldier is sent with them as a guide. They are even allowed to sleep out of the prison, if some Hiahabitente of the town will become responsible for them, | £ have had several staying with me; and two, who were iJ], \lived with me three months till their health was perfectly

established, and the warm weather rendered travelling no}

; Hlonger difficult. One circumstance I cannot help mention- |ing, if only that it might be known to the Russian govern- /ment by this means. ‘all nations, numbering either seventy-three or seventy-five—

[ am not quite sure which—le!t Simpheropol in charge of a

| Captain, a Greek, with the usual escort. | man, proposed, through my informant, an English soldier, 'who spoke a little Greek, to provide the whole party with | provisions, alleging that the country they were about to pass through was nearly exhausted, so that, with their ignorance \of the lancuage, it would be next to impossible for them to | procure anything. ‘To this proposal they a!l agreed without | hesitation. Lnstead of giving them good food, he gave them little more than blac: bread; so that out of the entire num- ber only nineteen reached Kkaterinoslav! a distance of about 270 miies from Simpheropol, the remainder being left sick at the different hospitals, or perishing miserably on the road! I do not vouch for the truth of this; but the man, who was one of the sufferers, appeared to be intelligent, and told his stgry clearly, and without hesitation. I know that this ean be possible, for there are such men, who, in order to gain a few roubles, will inflat any amount of aisery on their fellow- creatures. The LKoglish inhabitants of Moscow and St. Pecersburg have nobly come forward to assist their poor fellow-countrymen ; and Mr. Grey, the English clergyman at Moscow, has exerted himself greatly on their behalf; but unfortunately there are few English on the line of mageh, so i that it is very difficult to render them assistance where most it is wanted, although all is done that humanity could dietate by those who are able to see them. I cannot. omit this o-cas.on of spexking of the kindness shown by the authorities of the town of Kharkoff to all the prisoners. They never sefused any prayer of which they saw the justice, and tried all they eould to help the poor fellows; and had the same spirit been showa by all parties, there would be little to com- plain of in the treatment with which these unfortunates met. Many ef the Rassian families received them into their houses, and at their own tables. When remonstrated with by the would-be patriots, they re; lied, —‘* Theso men are no ,longer to be looked upon as enemies: they have forght for theircountry, aud by the foriuue of war are our prisoners, only that we may treat them as our guests.” To sum up all, the prisoners are well-treated by all the higher classes, and sufier only from the cupidity of those who have an opportunity of making a few copecks by them, and from the natural evils imposed upon them by their ignorance of the language, manners and customs. I do not speak of the treatment the oficers have met with, as they will be able to speak for themselves when they recover their liberty.

It will be seen, by a careful perusal of the foregoing statement of fucts, that all classes in Russia must ardently desire peace, as the only means of preserving them from ruin, to which the serf-owners are more exposed than any other class, from the continual drain upon their resources, already much ditainished by debts. They are an improvident race. Many of the lower orders hoped for a great improve- ment in their position from the success of the allied armies ; but they are disheartened by the length of time they are obliged to wait. They cannot define what they expect; but that they hoped for great advantages, I have no doubt, from several conversations [ have had with intelligent men in the peasant class—men who can neither read nor write, but who, by the foree of their natural shrewdness, can understand that a change must and will come, _ They looked upon the French and English as the heralds of this change. Mad the war been pushed with sufficient vigour from the beginning, there is no doubt but that the power of Russia would have been humbled effectually by defeats on the frontiers and internal dissensions ; for all the south would have risen had the Allies taken possession of the Crimea when they first landed, which might easily have been done,—at least this is the , Opinion of all the Russian officers whom I met, and who

were there at the time. But this is no place for the dis- _cussion of the merits of military plans. There have been | great faults, of which price is now being paid in the blood of our brave countrymen on the heights of Sebastopol. Nothieg remains but to push the war with all the vigour that the Alhes, with their mighty resoureea, are able to do, and to let no “ pewny wise and pound foolish” policy interfere ‘with what they have inhand, ven what has been done has causc | great sufforing to orr enemies, and what is undertaken will cause yet greater, till Russia, humbled and conquered, is brought to sue for peace at the feet of the British lion and the Gallic eagle. The time is gone by to hope for any co- operation in the interior of the country. As I said before, the people are disheartened by the length of timo they have had to wait,‘ and are excite! by the reporis spread so assiduously of the barbarity of ihe Eaglish to their prison- ers, and the taking of the monasiery of Solovetzki. The Russian government is never slow to improve its advantages ; this has been proved in the manner the fortifications of Se- bastopol have been thrown up, and it has improved the breathing-time given by the long duration of this too celebrated siege. There is now telegraphic communications from Odessa to the capital, through Kief, so that news from the seat of war arrives in two days. When the news of the descent first reached us, everybody was filled with con- sternation, and said we have now lost our Italy, as they call the Crimea; but when it became known that, after the battle of Alma, Sebastopol did not fall, and that it with- stood successfully the bombardment of the 17th October, hope again revived, and, by are-action of popular feeling, everybody expected to see the invaders driven out of the country, which the brilliant victory (‘) of Liprandi seemed to prognosticate. What is more feared by the Government, though less spoken of, than the war itself, is its results upon

that will destroy the whole fabric of despotism erected by the Czir and his subalterns, and that in its fall must crash, ‘and bury beneath its ruins, all those who helped to erect or

‘of about three miles, to a well of brackish water, while | there was plenty to be bade two hundred yards of the.

They may go out to |

In December a party of prisoners, of |

He, kind, iumane | stroyed by fire yesterday morning.

the population, us ideas of liberty und civilisation may be| introduced with covic balls, and at the point of the bayonet,

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[EDITOR axp PUBLISHER

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Gleanings from tate Papers.

UNITED STATES.

Bartmmorr, August 20.— Yellow Fever.—Intelligence received via Pittsburg, from Norfolk and Portsmouth, down to Sunday evening, states there is no deerease of the yellow fevey in those cities. Twenty new cases had occurred at Portsmouth on Saturday.

The collection in Baltimore for the cufferers now reaches &9 OOO.

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Mriiwavnie, August 20.—Sympathy with the J cuisvills Sufferers.—A large Democratic meeting was held here on Saturday, to sympathise with the sufferers by the Louisville riot. Hon. A. J. Upham presided. Resolutions reflecting severely on the Know-Nothings were psssed.

Urrca, August 20.—The Kirkland Cotton Mille »¢ Man- chester Village, nine miles from this city, were totally ¢c- Loss $30,609. Tusored about two-thirds, They were owned by E. 5. bravton of this city.

Purtapetpnra, August 19.—Riot in Philadel y)i<.- sanguinary riot occurred here on Saturday night, bet« n Newmarket and Mount Vernon fire companies. ™ 20+ o: tiie rioters were shot, two of whom are not expected to live.

New Orrrans, Angust 20.— Yeilao Fever.—The yeliow fever is rapidly increasing here. The deaths for the last week were 517; of which 394 were from fever.

Hlornizte Rior and Monprr at Lovisvittz.—At the election cn Monday a riot commenced in the first ward, and extended to the 8th. Twelve buildings were burned by the Know-Nothings ; about twenty persons were killed, and many were wounded. One Irishman was hanged by the Know-Nothing mob, and several were killed; and the telegraph says the Irish fired from the windows and killed three Americans. The mob d'spersed in the evening after violent demonstrations in front of the “ Times’ office. Oa Tueday, parts of human bod'es were dug from the burnt ruins and catried to the Court House, where a large crowd collected. All this is the legitimate frnit of secret mid- night polities and religious proseription.— Boston / ost,

The LDoston papers announce the death of the Ton. Abbott Lawrence, one of the wealthiest and most enterprising mer- chants in the United States. His worth may be gathered from tle fet that on his death kecoming known, the shipping in the port displayed their flags at half-inast, and at many of the publig buildings were similar demonstrations, A mesting, of the citizens was held to determine upon a prtoner testi- monial of appreciation af the distinguished charecter and services of the deceased.

A Case or atirerd Fravp.—QOnce in a while there appears in the papers an advertisement for agents to whom a good chance will begiven. In answer to such an adver- tisement a few days since a young man from the country applied, and found that the advertiser was about establishing a store, and wanted a clerk, A money guarantee for honesty was demanded, however, and finally the applicant put into the hands of his employer one hundred dollars, bis little stock, receiving anote for the same. He was placed in the store, which was partially filled with bottles containing s liquid for exterminating bed-bugs, flies, cockroaches, &c., &c. His employer soon afier announced that he was going to New York, and should in a short time send for him there; but the new clerk, growing suspicious that the whole thing was a cheat, got out a writ for debt, and attached al! the property in the store, which will probably cover a portion of his claim. It turns out, however, that there are several other young men who have given similar guarantecs for their honesty, and who, from present appearances, are minus the money which they have deposited. The respectable owner of the bed-bug exterminator had, it seems, two pames--one for his store and one for his boarding-house ; at one he was single, at the other married. Just at present he is “ not at home,” but is supposed to be somewhere about the city.— Boston Traveller.

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Batlle

Tne Fisnerres at tre Noutn.—A correspondent of the Miremicki Gleaner, writing from Bathurst under date of the 15th August, says :—

Although the Salmon Fishery proved sadly deficient, the Cod Vishery has proved abundant and highly remunerative. The quantity caught in the parishes of Caraquet and Shippegan up to the 5th of August, exceeds that of any year since 1848 and 1849. Since that date bad weather has mach interrupted the labors of the fishermen. Mackercl has been tolerably abundant, and herring are now striking in thickly. Altogether the inhabitants bave reason to rejoice at the abundance of their harvest both by sea and land.

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The business of shipping coal has been proceeding briskly during the past week at South Pictou. Ov Monday, 1,029 chaidrous were sbipped, being the largest amouat ever shipped in one day. ‘The whole amount shipped during the week is 4,630 chaldrons. There is now a larger number of vessels in port than at any previous date the present ceason, about one hundred of all sizes having arrived within the past eight days.—LEastern Chronicle.

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A Moysrer Exetisn Sxaxr.—The most extraordfnary example of the snake species ever discovered in this country was found dead on a farm in the suburbs of Colchester by a labourer named Willis, in the employ of Mr. Folkard, on Tuesday morning last. It appears that Willis was going to work across the fields about five o’elock on Tucsday morning, when, coming to a gate at the end of Clay-Lane, adjoining Highwoods, his attention was arrested by an cnormous suake, lying quite motionless with his head and neck crushed, and firmly fixed underneath the gate. Willis carried the reptile to his master, and on its being measured it was found to be 9 feet 5 inches long, 11 inches in girth at the thickest part, and was found to weigh 14 or 15 pounds. Its back was a kind of dark brown colour, with large black spots, its belly of a yellowish cast and beautifully speckled. The head of the reptile is fat—its formidable jaws, armed with two rows of very sharp teeth, which fully distended, would certainly be capable of swallowing 2 good sized young rabbit. Willis sold the snake to Mr. Ambrose, naturalist, of Colchester, who has since flayed it, preserving its skin and head entire, for the purpose of stuffing. —Chelmsfofd Chronicle,

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