(A.)
LIST OF THE RUSSIAN NAVAL FORCE IN THE BLACK SEA IN JANUARY, 1853.

Steamers.

Gun-Boats.

Twenty-eight gun-boats built between 1841 and 1852 for service in the Danube.

Transports.

Thirty vessels, measuring 10,627 tons, built from 1837 to 1852.

The Empress Maria, 84 guns, was launched on the 21st of May, but will not be rigged for some months.

The Bosphorus, 120 guns, has not been advanced since the day her keel was laid down, nor are the slips made for the two other three-deckers that are to be commenced this year.

There is no timber grown near Nicolaief; it comes down the Dniepr, and is employed in its green state.

(B.)
FIELD MARSHAL COUNT ALEXANDER VASSILIAVITCH SUVÓROF’S DISCOURSE UNDER THE TRIGGER.⁠[294]

BEING

A SERIES OF INSTRUCTIONS DRAWN BY HIMSELF, FOR THE USE OF THE ARMY UNDER HIS COMMAND, AFTER THE TURKISH WAR; AND SINCE TRANSMITTED BY ORDER OF THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT TO EVERY REGIMENT IN THE SERVICE. IT IS COMMONLY CALLED SUVÓROF’S CATECHISM.

(The General is supposed to be inspecting the Line and addressing the Troops.)

Heels close! Knees straight! A soldier must stand like a dart! I see the fourth—the fifth I don’t see. A soldier’s step is an archine⁠[295]—in wheeling, an archine and a half. Keep your distance well!

Soldiers, join elbows in front! First rank three steps from the second—in marching, two!

Give the drum room!

Keep your ball three days: it may happen for a whole campaign when lead⁠[296] cannot be had!

Fire seldom—but fire sure!

Push hard with the bayonet! The ball will lose its way—the bayonet never! The ball is a fool—the bayonet a hero! Stab once: and off with the Turk from the bayonet! Even when he’s dead you may get a scratch from his sabre.

If the sabre is near your neck, dodge back one step, and push on again. Stab the second! Stab the third! A hero will stab half-a-dozen.

Be sure your ball’s in your gun! If three attack you, stab the first, fire on the second, and bayonet the third! This seldom happens.

In the attack there is no time to load again. When you fire, take aim at their guts; and fire about twenty balls. Buy lead from your economy⁠[297]—it costs little! We fire sure—we lose not one ball in thirty; in the light artillery and heavy artillery not one in ten.

If you see the match upon a gun, run up to it instantly—the ball will fly over your head—the guns are yours—the people are yours! Down with ’em upon the spot! pursue ’em, stab ’em! To the remainder give quarter—it’s a sin to kill without reason; they are men like you. Die for the honour of the Virgin Mary—for your mother⁠[298]—for all the royal family! The Church prays for those that die; and those who survive have honour and reward. Offend not the peaceable inhabitant! he gives us meat and drink—the soldier is not a robber. Booty is a holy thing! If you take a camp, it is all yours! If you take a fortress, it is all yours! At Ismael, besides other things, the soldiers shared gold and silver by handsful, and so in other places; but, without order, never go to booty!

A battle on the field has three modes of attack.

1st. On the Wing

Which is weakest. If a wing is covered by wood, it is nothing; a soldier will get through. Through a morass, it is more difficult. Through a river you cannot run. All kind of intrenchment you may jump over.

2nd. The Attack in the Centre

Is not profitable—except for cavalry, to cut them in pieces—or else they’ll crush you.

3rd. The Attack behind

Is very good, only for a small corps to get round. Heavy battle in the field, against regular troops. In squares, against Turks, and not in columns. It may happen against Turks, that a square of 500 men will be compelled to force its way through a troop of 6000 or 7000, with the help of small squares on the flank. In such a case, it will extend in a column. But till now we had no need of it. There are the God-forgetting, windy, light-headed Frenchmen—if it should ever happen to us to march against them, we must beat them in columns.

The Battle, upon Intrenchments in the Field.

The ditch is not deep—the rampart is not high—Down in the ditch! Jump over the wall! Work with your bayonet! Stab! Drive! Take them prisoners! Be sure to cut off the cavalry, if any are at hand! At Prague the infantry cut off the cavalry; and there were three-fold, and more, intrenchments, and a whole fortress; therefore, we attacked in columns.

The Storm.⁠[299]

Break down the fence! Throw wattles over the holes! Run as fast as you can! Jump over the palisades! Cast your faggots (into the ditch)! Leap into the ditch! Lay on your ladders! Scour the columns! Fire at their heads! Fly over the walls! Stab them on the ramparts! Draw out your line! Put a guard on the powder-cellars! Open one of the gates! The cavalry will enter on the enemy! Turn his guns against him! Fire down the streets! Fire briskly! There’s no time to run after them! When the order is given, enter the town! Kill every enemy in the streets! Let the cavalry hack them! Enter no houses! Storm them in the open places where they are gathering! Take possession of the open places! Put a capital guard! Instantly put picquets to the gates, to the powder-cellars, and to the magazines! When the enemy has surrendered, give him quarter! When the inner wall is occupied, go to plunder!

There are three military talents.

1st. The Coup d’Œil.

How to place a camp. How to march. Where to attack, to chase, and to beat the enemy.

2nd. Swiftness.

The field-artillery must march half or a whole verst in front, on the rising ground, that it may not impede the march of the columns. When the column arrives, it will find its place again. Down hill, and on even ground, let it go in a trot. Soldiers march in files, or four abreast, on account of narrow roads, streets, narrow bridges, and narrow passes, through marshy and swampy places; and only when ready for attack draw up in platoons, to shorten the rear. When you march four abreast, leave a space between the companies. Never slacken your pace! Walk on! Play! Sing your songs! Beat the drum! When you have broken off ten versts⁠[300] the first company cast off their load, and lie down. After them the second company; and so forth, one after the other. But the first never wait for the rest! A line in columns will, on the march, always draw out. At four abreast, it will draw out one and a half more than its length. At two abreast, it will draw out double. A line one verst in length will draw out two. Two versts will draw out four; so the first companies would have to wait for the others half-an-hour, to no purpose. After the first ten versts, an hour’s rest. The first division that arrived (upon the coming of the second) takes up its baggage, and moves forward ten or fifteen paces; and if it passes through defiles on the march, fifteen or twenty paces. And in this manner division after division, that the hindmost may get rest. The second ten versts, another hour’s rest, or more. If the third distance is less than ten versts, halve it, and rest three-quarters, half, or a quarter of an hour, that the children⁠[301] may soon get to their kettles. So much for infantry.

The cavalry marches before. They alight from their horses and rest a short time, and march more than ten versts in one stage, that the horses may rest in the camp. The kettle-waggons and the tent-waggons go on before. When the brothers⁠[301] arrive the kettle is ready. The master of the mess instantly serves out the kettle. For breakfast four hours’ rest, and six or eight hours at night, according as the road proves. When you draw near the enemy, the kettle-waggons remain with the tent-waggons, and wood must be prepared beforehand.

By this manner of marching soldiers suffer no fatigue. The enemy does not expect us; he reckons us at least a hundred versts distance, and when we come from far, two hundred, or three hundred, or more. We fall all at once upon him, like snow on the head. His head turns. Attack instantly with whatever arrives,⁠[302]—with what God sends. The cavalry instantly fall to work, hack and slash! Stab and drive! Cut them off! Don’t give them a moment’s rest!

3rd. Energy.

One leg strengthens the other! One hand fortifies the other! By firing many men are killed! The enemy has also hands, but he knows not the Russian bayonet (alluding to the Turks)! Draw out the line immediately; and instantly attack with cold arms (the bayonet). If there is not time to draw out in line, attack, from the defile, the infantry with the bayonet; and the cavalry will be at hand. If there be a defile for a verst, and cartridges over your head, the guns will be yours! Commonly the cavalry makes the first attack, and the infantry follows. In general, cavalry must attack like infantry, except in swampy ground; and there they must lead their horses by the bridle. Cossacks will go through anything. When the battle is gained, the cavalry pursue and hack the enemy, and the infantry are not to remain behind. In two files there is strength: in three files, strength and a half.⁠[303] The first tears, the second throws down, and the third perfects the work.

Rules for Diet.

Have a dread of the hospital! German physic stinks from afar, is good for nothing, and rather hurtful. A Russian soldier is not used to it. Messmates know where to find roots, herbs, and pismires. A soldier is inestimable. Take care of your health! Scour the stomach when it is foul! Hunger is the best medicine! He who neglects his men—if an officer, arrest; if a sub-officer, lashes;⁠[304] and to the private, lashes, if he neglects himself. If loose bowels want food, at sunset a little gruel and bread. For costive bowels, some purging plant in warm water, or the liquorice-root. Remember, gentlemen, the field physic of Doctor Bellypotski.⁠[305] In hot fevers eat nothing, even for twelve days,⁠[306] and drink your soldier’s quas⁠[307]—that’s a soldier’s physic. In intermitting fevers neither eat nor drink. It’s only a punishment for neglect if death ensues. In hospitals, the first day the bed seems soft; the second comes French soup; and the third the brother is laid in his coffin, and they draw him away! One dies, and ten companions around him inhale his expiring breath. In camp, the sick and feeble are kept in huts, and not in villages: there the air is purer. Even without an hospital you must not stint your money for medicine, if it can be bought; nor even for other necessaries. But all this is frivolous: we know how to preserve ourselves. Where one dies in a hundred with others, we lose not one in five hundred in the course of a month. For the healthy, drink, air, and food; for the sick, air, drink, and food. Brothers, the enemy trembles for you! But there is another enemy, greater than the hospital,—the damned “I don’t know.”⁠[308] From the half-confessing, the guessing, lying, deceitful, the palavering, equivocation, squeamishness, and nonsense of “Don’t know,” many disasters originate. Stammering, hackering,⁠[309] and so forth; it’s shameful to relate! A soldier should be sound, brave, firm, decisive, true, honourable! Pray to God! from Him come victory and miracles! God conducts us! God is our general! For the “I don’t know” an officer is put in the guard; a staff-officer is served with an arrest at home. Instruction is light! Not instruction is darkness! The work fears its master.⁠[310] If a peasant knows not how to plough, the corn will not grow! One wise man is worth three fools! and even three are little, give six! and even six are little, give ten!⁠[311] One clever fellow will beat them all, overthrow them, and take them prisoners!

In the last campaign the enemy lost 75,000 well counted men—perhaps not much less than 100,000. He fought desperately and artfully, and we lost not a full thousand.⁠[312] There, brethren, you behold the effect of military instruction.

Gentlemen, officers, what a triumph!

N.B. This translation has been rendered perfectly literal, so that effect is often sacrificed to a strict attention to the real signification of the words, instead of introducing parallel phrases.

(C.)
ON THE TIMBER TRADE OF NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN RUSSIA.⁠[313]

Most people will acknowledge it to be a matter of some difficulty to turn the habitual course of trade into any new channel. For a century the forests of Lithuania exported by the Duna from Riga timber, and more especially masts; supplying thereby all the dockyards of Europe. The value of this branch of commerce amounted to about 2,000,000 roubles per annum. Each piece of timber passed through the hands of two sorters, who are an incorporated body, and are responsible, by their oath, for the quality of the article. These qualities varying in different countries, the merchants are in the habit of sending their orders to the principal sorters, naming the quantity and the quality which they require. These men then despatch a cutter to the spot, to select and appropriate the timber according to the orders which they receive; and the timber so selected is inspected afresh at Riga previous to shipment. This sorting or surveying is a joint-stock affair, the profits upon which go to a general fund, and are divided at the end of the year. There are two modes of bargaining with the wood-growers: either by purchasing of them a certain number of trees, chosen by a competent judge, or by taking an entire wood on lease, with the right of felling such trees as may from time to time suit the lessee; in which latter case the price is regulated according to the quantity of timber removed, charging so much for masts and so much for planks. The time for felling the trees is in the months of October and November; and although it would be better to postpone it until the sap shall have left the trees, yet, at a further period of the season, the snow would render the woods almost inaccessible: and it is necessary to avail one’s self of the drawing or sledging, just in time to bring away the timber already cut. Nevertheless, the felling sometimes continues until the month of January, or even February. Despite the care of the surveyor, 10 per cent. may reasonably be deducted from the original cost of timber on account of the occasional felling of trees that are objectionable; which are left on the land. It is commonly understood that masts of this description shall be left to the land-owner, and that no more shall be paid for than are taken away. The timber intended for Riga is all lopped and trimmed on the spot; and upon the breaking up of the ice in the Dniepr or in the Beresina (near to which rivers the greater part of the woods are situated) the timber is launched, in order afterwards that it may be sent down the Duna to Riga. It is only from the nearest forests that timber can be delivered at Riga in the same year in which it is felled; for with reference to the more distant, a second land-carriage betwixt the Dniepr and the Duna becomes indispensable. It often happens that, the time to complete the squaring of the timber during the first winter being insufficient, advantage is taken of the delay caused by the frost, in the breaking up of the ice of the Duna, to complete it. By this means the timber arrives at Riga in the fine season, and is fit for immediate shipment.

The thinning of the forests of Lithuania has compelled the fellers to move gradually farther and farther southward. Even now but few maiden forests are to be found near the river in the government of Minsk; and the supplies of timber are now chiefly furnished by the government of Tchérnigof and of Kief. The timber trade must, therefore, necessarily be driven into the hands of the Southern Russians. In lieu of transporting the timber, as before, against the current of the Dniepr, and of a long journey over land, it is now abandoned to the stream, and thus floats rapidly down to Kherson, where it arrives between May 15 and July 1.

The masts and bulks are commonly fastened together in rafts of 100 pieces each, and are managed by four or five men. Planks and staves are conveyed by means of large barks, manned with fifteen or sixteen men. The expense of water-carriage is about 25 roubles each for large masts. The vessels that are without decks cost as much as 1200 roubles; those that are decked are worth double this sum; but owing to their inability to reascend the river, are usually sold at Kherson for a few hundred roubles each. The merchants of Odessa have not as yet directed much of their attention to the timber trade; either because grain chiefly occupies their attention, or because of the want of proper experience on the part of the speculators; the first purchases of masts at Kherson, for the arsenals at Toulon and at Carthagena, proved disastrous in their results. Nevertheless, as Odessa possesses some very rich houses, with whom it is become almost a point of duty to open fresh outlets to the commerce of the country, and since bad harvests have obliged other houses to direct their capital to articles till then almost unknown, the timber trade at Kherson has progressed very rapidly. In 1833 the value of the timber and wood exported from that place amounted to 1,000,000 roubles, or nearly 180,000l. In 1834 many ships loaded with masts and staves for France and Spain. The great saving effected in the charges of transportation to ports of shipment, as well as on freights, will render it impossible for the trade of Riga, henceforward, to compete with that of the Black Sea, in supplying the south of Europe, where the consumption (of staves more particularly) is very great. Kherson is able to obtain timber from the very same forests which supply Riga, at from 20 to 30 per cent. cheaper, owing to the loss of interest on the capital employed, six months being the intermediate time of its arrival at Kherson, whilst the passage to Riga occupies at least twenty months. Besides, on landing the timber from the Dniepr, it remains a long time exposed to the air before being again launched in the Duna, which cannot fail to injure it. A sorter, or surveyor, from Riga, is already established at Kherson, for the purpose of placing the timber trade on the same footing as in the former city. He is accompanied by twelve Lithuanian labourers, practised in the trimming of masts, which are prepared on the spot where they are felled. A skilful workman will not be able to trim a large mast in less than a week. Excepting pine planks, which are sawn in the town, all other sorts of timber are sent to Kherson ready trimmed. The largest masts shipped hence are not more than about 20 palms in diameter, and about 85 feet in length. Those of larger dimensions, being purchased chiefly for Holland, are sent of course to Riga, but there is no doubt of the possibility of conveying them to Kherson with as much facility as to the former place. Even the smaller masts, which are all very cheap, are very superior in quality to, and much more durable than, those of Moldavia, Tuscany, and the Adriatic. The Oak, on the contrary, like that of Moldavia, is too soft for ship-building; nevertheless for staves it is certainly superior to that of the Romagna. These staves are cut from six to eight feet in length, and six inches broad, by two and a half to three inches thick. They are sold in lots of sixty, called shocks, the cost of one of which shocks, at Kherson, of six feet, was, in 1834, about 37 roubles. They can, however, be had of all dimensions, by apprising the seller beforehand in the months of August and September.

In addition to the timber destined for ship-building, wood of almost every shape is brought from the greatest part of Southern Russia for building, and for other purposes. This trade is in the hands of speculators from Kherson, and is carried on at places where the timber is felled; it is only the timber intended for foreign shipment, and certain sorts, that would find but a very limited sale at home, that are ordered beforehand. Igren and Kakhóvka, the one above, the other below, the cataracts of the Dniepr, are important places for the trade in wood. At these places, the carmen of the environs, who fetch fish and salt from the ports of the Sea of Azof, load the wood that has come down the Dniepr; in this manner it comes to the same price as that which is brought down the Volga and the Don in small quantities. But it is probable that, in time, the oak of Kasan, which now supplies the shipyards of the North, will be obtainable by this last-mentioned route. The forests, with which the mountains of the Crimea are covered, furnish to the shipyard of Sevastopol excellent building timber and much firewood; Odessa, in particular, which procures it from the north of Bessarabia, likewise consumes a great deal of it; still, as a great part of this latter province is entirely stripped of wood, it is under the necessity of supplying itself from Moldavia, especially from the district of Kiatra, which is very woody, and which exports wood also to Constantinople. Bessarabia derives from thence only firewood; but building-timber, masts, planks, and staves, are sent down the Seret (a river which separates Moldavia from Wallachia), and find a vent at Galatz, whence they are sent off in great rafts to Constantinople; and, before the Sultan prohibited it, these articles were sent from thence into Egypt. In 1832 the value of these exports amounted to more than 500,000 francs. The masts of Moldavia are of a very inferior quality compared with those of Russia; but many vessels buy them at Constantinople, because they are so very cheap. Neither is the oak for ship-building so hard as that of Bulgaria, which, on this account, is generally preferred. In general, a great quantity of timber is imported from Bulgaria into Ismail and into Reni, as, for the last five years, that article has not been burthened with any duty, and it forms one of the most important branches of commerce at both places. Roumelia likewise exports a considerable quantity of timber, especially staves, from the port of Bourgas.

(D.)
COMMERCE OF PORTS OF CRIMEA, 1852.⁠[314]

I. Port of Eupatoria.

There was imported into this port in 1852—

Exports—

and no coin.

31 foreign vessels entered the port of Eupatoria.

The coasting trade presented the following numbers:—Arrivals, 189—of which, 1 from Petersburg. Departures, 188—of which, 5 for Petersburg.

II. Akméshed.—III. Sevastopol.—IV. Balaclava.—V. Yalta.

These four ports have only a coasting trade.

Besides, steamers anchored 49 times in the port of Yalta.

The coasters brought and discharged in these four ports, besides provisions for the state, goods of the following value:—

VI. Theodosia.

The imports into the port of Theodosia in 1852 were—

Exports—

The coasters brought goods, 150,823 S. R.; and loaded to a value of 96,862 S. R.

VII. Kertch.

and no coin.

113 foreign vessels arrived, and 73 left: of these 113 arrivals, 52, after passing quarantine at Kertch, entered the Sea of Azof. The coasting trade had 1111 arrivals, and 1094 departures.

The coasters brought, in 1852—goods, 834,671 S. R., besides stores to the account of the state. They loaded goods 359,418 S. R.; of salt from the Lakes of Kertch, 1,464,140 poods were sent from the Lakes of Kertch to the ports of the Sea of Azof; 91,435 poods to the Black Sea; and 74,775 poods to Petersburg:—total, 1,630,360 poods; which makes 911,445 poods more than in 1851, and 576,020 poods more than in 1850. This is the largest exportation of salt that has ever been made; for even in 1837 the exports only reached 1,431,975 poods.

The reduction of the excise, and the permission to pay for it in the ports of the Sea of Azof, are the causes of this increase in the export of salt to the interior of the empire.

Résumé.

It results, from the accounts given above, that the commerce of the Crimea was more important in 1852 than in 1851. The reason was the good harvest of 1852. The export of its production was on a larger scale, and consequently the import was larger; more cottons and mixed Turkish silks were imported into Theodosia; more fruits and tobacco to Eupatoria; more coal to Kertch. The export of wheat and other grains was also larger; also of walnut-wood from Theodosia, and more linseed and wool, and tallow and butter, from Eupatoria. The increase in commercial affairs, of course, occasioned activity in the shipping.

The coasting trade, always more important in the Crimean ports than foreign commerce, has continued slowly to improve, as may be seen from the following tables for 1851 and 1852.

I. Foreign Commerce.

Less coin was imported in 1852 than in 1851; it was 15,981 S. R. More was exported.

II. Coasting Trade.

(E.)
ADVANTAGES LIKELY TO ACCRUE TO THE TRADE OF THE DANUBE FROM THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A FREE PORT AT THE ST. GEORGE’S MOUTH OF THE RIVER.