The Press.
London, England, 1854-09-30 00:00:00

THE RUSSIAN PRISONERS IN FRANCE.
THE treatment and demeanour of the Russian pri-
soners who were allotted to French keeping is thu,
described in a letterfrom the Isle &Aix given in the
Courrier de l'Eure

" The detachment consists of twenty-nine officers, 969
privates, and sixteen women, each of the latter with two
or three young children. There are amongst the prisoners
many Finlanders, two or three line soldiers of the Imperial
Guard, and some Cossacks of the Don and the Dneister.
The soldiers of the Imperial Guard form a striking con-
trast with the other Russian soldiers, who are all of middle
height, with dark skins, and are exceedingly ugly. They
appear robust, and accustomed to fatigue ; several have sore
eyes : they are more clean in their persons than is gene-
rally supposed; they wear moustaches, like our soldiers, and
some have them turned up with a certain coquetry. Several
of the officers speak good French, and have excellent
manners. By order of Marshal Baraguay d'Hilliers they
are allowed to wear their swords. Their uniform is a blue
frock with red collar and wrists, and a small blue cap with
red edging; their epaulettes are silver, and vary according to
the rank of the wearer. I have conversed with several of
the officers, and, in particular, with an old captain of
French origin, who is my neighbour, and they all agree in
speaking highly of the ardour anti impf tuosity of our
troops at Bomarsund, and blame their Emperor in severe
terms for causing so much misery by his obstinacy. The
officers are well lodged in the town, and treated with much
consideration ; the privates are lodged in the fort of the
island, and are treated like our soldiers. Their uniform is
of a gross description, consisting of a long lightish brown
outside coat, a dark green coat with red facings, blue
trousers, and a small dark flat cap. Most of them are well
pleased to be in France, and they are delighted with their
rations, which are precisely the same as those of our men.
They evidently enjoy their meals, and utter cries of ' Bona
Francais' as they eat : they would not certainly wish to re-
turn to Russia. Hitherto they have been allowed to
remain unoccupied, but they will soon be employed on the
fortifications. I think they will turn out good workmen ;
they are very respectful towards their superiors and the
French officers ; it is easy to see that a severe discipline has
been used towards them. Many of the prisoners have
money, which they were allowed to bring with them ; they
smoke in silence their long pipes and drink large quantities
of brandy. Lately some of them indulged so much that
the commandant has been obliged to take measures to pre-
vent a recurrence of the past. The women are very plain,
but clean, although very simply dressed ; all wear a silk
handkerchief wound round their head. One of them ex-
cites interest from having lost her husband during the
passage, and being now left alone with three children ; and
another from being separated by mistake from her husband,
who has been taken to England. An hospital has been estab-
lished to receive such prisoners as may be ill, and a military
surgeon and attendants are attached to it. The Isle of
Aix is rather a stupid place, having about eighty houses. I
intend turning my time to account by conversing with the
Russians and by studying them in a military point of view.
I have already had some long conversations with the Colonel