The Press.
London, England, 1855-09-22 00:00:00

COMMERCIAL DISTRESS IN ODESSA.

A letter from Odessa, of the 20th, in the Constitu-
tionnel, says :

The winding up of the affairs of houses of commerce,
warehouses, and shops goes on without interuption. Doors
are closed in quick succession, and the inhabitants emi-
grate. Merchandise becomes exhausted by degrees and
begins to fail every day for the wants of that part of the
richer population which is forced to remain here, and who
have been accustomed to a luxury equal to that of the capital.
In a word, the greatest ruin and desolation exists. The
authorities, however, pretend to perceive nothing of this, and
endeavour to assume an air of comfort and security which
must be very far from their real feelings. The last affair
on the Tschernaya caused the greatest consternation here,
and the bombardment of Sweaborg produced a complete
panic. Odessa may well fear the same fate, for no one has
been the dupe of the fable circulated here, that we have re•
pulsed a landing of the enemy. It is not our earthworks and
our few batteries in wretched masonry, and armed wi th twen ty-
two or twenty-five guns, that could prevent the allies from
taking our town, which is open on every point. General
Enders and Governor Strogonoff, although putting on the ap-
pearance of feeling perfectly secure, have warned us to hold
ourselves in readiness to evacuate the town at the first notice.
It is impossible, however, to suppose that they can expect
that a population of from fifteen thousand to twenty thou-
sand souls, and composed for the most part of the hetero-
geneous and foreign elements of Holy Russia, can encamp
in the real desert which surrounds Odessa. Will you be-
lieve that there are still here some very respectable Eng-
lish merchants who have been refused permission to leave,
on the pretext that they pay to the Crown the duty for
exercising the profession of a merchant, and that that con-
stitutes an engagement from which they cannot be released.
Since the last disaster in the Crimea, by which, in the
opinion of well-informed persons, we had ten thousand
men put hors de combat, and eight generals killed or since
dead of their wounds, workmen have been busily employed
in erecting batteries on several points of the shore round
our roadstead. 1, however, think that this is more a pre-
tended than a real defence, for we have not guns enough
to arm all these works, or artillerymen enough to serve
them. At Nicolaieff things are going on more seriously;
from thirty thousand to thirty-five thousand men, most
being part of the reserve, labour actively in throwing up
fortifications and intrenchments, and, as the allied fleets
do not disturb them, everything goes on well. It is really
colossal, and also very imprudent, the agglomeration which
has taken place at Nicolaieff of warlike stores of all kinds
and provisions ; a flotilla of boats established at Wozne-
sensk brings all the provisions which are brought to that
place from the interior of the country, and another flotilla
on the Dnieper brings to the same point the military stores
drawn from the fortresses of Bobrouisk and Kieff. It is
only, therefore, from Kherson that the carriages, collected
by the aid of requisitions in the Governments of Kherson,
Charkow, and in the Taurida, convey the provisions into
the Crimea. When we see all this, and think of Kertch,
we feel what a dangerous game we play.