The Express.
London, England, 1853-12-28 00:00:00

LETTER FROM TILE BLACK SEi.

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OXON OCR SPICIAL CO

VARNA, Dec. 8.
I arrived here on Wednesday, by one of the
Austrian Lloyds' steamers, after a most tedious and
vexatious passage of nearly five days from Constan-
tinople. The distance is about 172 miles (English),
Ind F boat of 'ordinary powers ought to be able

to accomplish it in eighteen hours. Previous to the
outbreak of the war there were Turkish boats on
this line, which ran two or three times a week both
ways ; and, owing to their regularity, and, above all,
to the civility and attention with which the passen-
gers on board of them were treated, they left the
Lloyds' boats with very little to do. They have,
however, ceased running within the last three or
four weeks, as one of them was captured not long
ago by a Russian frigate. The Austrians now have
the route all to themselves; and, accordingly,
manage matters in a manner quite charac-
teristic of the nation. I had made arrangements
to leave Constantinople for the Danube on the 29th
ult., in company with an English officer, who is
about to pass the winter at Schumla en amateur, by
the boat which is advertised to sail regularly every
Tuesday. To make sere, we called at the office to
inquire, and were told by the agent that the steamer
would start as usual. The day arrived, and brimful
of blissful confidence we put ourselves in marching
order, and proceeded to the Custom-house with our
baggage, to have it examined previous to embarka-
tion, various articles of home manufacture, inch as
chibouks, saddlery, &c., being in Turkey liable to a
small export duty. This troublesome ceremonial
over, we got into • boat, and commenced to cruise
about the harbour in search of the steam-
boat for Varna. There were plenty of Aus-
trim ones at anchor, but neither flag nor
smoke gave sign that any of them had the smallest
intention of going anywhere. We hailed them all,
but the crews not only denied that they were about
to sail for Varna, bat seemed rather doubtful whe-
ther there was such a place at all, and whether we
were not a couple of eccentric Englishmen whom
" the natives " were galling. There was nothing for
it but to return to the office, where we gave vent to
our indignation, rather to take the load off our hearts
than in the hope of producing any effect upon the
obdurate official, who heard us with a face calm and
impassible as that of a Sphinx. As soon as we had
done, he informed us that they had two
beats missing on the Danube, which was
the cause of our disappointment, but that
if neither of them arrived that day (Tuesday), they
would send an extraordinary boat on the Thursday
following. We waited accordingly, and on Wednes-
day evening went down to inquire once more re-
garding the " extraordinary boat," but then learned,
to our astonishment, that the despatch of such a beat
was not one of the measures contemplated by the
"administration," and we were moreover unable to
ascertain whether the Steam Navigation Company of
the Austrian Lloyds would ever again send another
vessel to Varna in the whole course of that distin-
guished body's existence. We started off directly to
the Porte, and applied for firmans to enable us to
travel overland on horseback by Adrianople—a
ride of at least ten days—no very plea-
sant prospect in the present state of the
roads, and with heavy snow in the Balkan,
and the thermometer down very near zero in Con-
stantinople. We were promised them at the same
hour on the following day. Thence we proceeded to
the post-office, and arranged for horses, a Tatar, and
a Swindji or postilion, all necessary but expensive
items in our equipment, reserving to ourselves the
right of countermanding the order within 24 hours if
we thought proper. On the Thursday, when welk-
in over for the firmans, we called in at the Austrian
Lloyds' office—mor3 from curiosity than any other
motive, as rumours were afloat that they had re-
solved a hint from their government, in the interest
of Russia, to break off the co"— '-'lion by sea

between Constantinople and Varna—to inquire whe-
ther they had received any news of their missing
boats. No, they had not, but had made up
their minds in any case to send one on
the Saturday. Seeing an incredulous smile on our
tiers the functionary waxed warm, became slightly
imperious, and swore and protested in the most solemn
manner that the boat would positively sail on the day
he mentioned. Thinking there might be some truth
in his statement, and being unwilling to impute deli-
berate perjury to a man of whom we knew nothing,
we determined to wait once more, and accordingly
countermanded the horses. On the Saturday we
started from the hotel with our baggage again, but
this time took the precaution to call again at the office
on oar way down. No boat till the morrow ; the
weather on the previous day was really so stormy,
and the "mer ss groue," that it was impossible to put
the cargo on board. As all this was undenia-
ble, we remained silent and patient, and meekly
took oar places at the table-d'hiite once more in the
evening, to the great amusement of those of our
fellow-travellers who were aware of oar two abortive
attempts at getting away.
On the Sunday we made a third and last trial, and
this time were partially successful. I say " par-
tially," because, though we got on board, and were
made certain, humanly speaking, of reaching to the
mouth of the Bosphorus that night, we heard such
terrible moaning and groaning amongst the captain
and officers over the horrors of Black Flea navigation,
that getting out of the Bosphorus seemed: to be a
feat which we could only hope to accomplish
after many efforts and great and sustained exer-
tion. We resigned ourselves to our fate, and to
the contemplation of the glories of the scenery
around us, as we slowly passed up the strait. lam
not about to describe it, or attempt to describe it,
lest it should be found that I was the one hundred
thousandth individual who had done so; but I may
remark that, in gazing on Constantinople, it was
not hard to -understand why a rapacious and ambi-
tious man, like the Czar, backed up by a sensual and
luxury-loving nobility, should be ready to fling away
the lives of a few thousands of serfs, if only in the
hope of advancing one day's march nearer to so
splendid a prize. The imagriation of the elegant
barbarians who shiver in their palaces on the Neva,
ender the cold and cloudy skies of the north, may
well kindle, when they hear or read of the sunny
slopes, the pleasant glades, the balmy breezes,
the calm eternal blue of the waters, which
sake the sail from the Sea of Marmora to
Tbsrapia a sucoession of delights. But let us hope
that no plots against human liberty and peace will
ever again be hatched in scenes eo blessed by nature,
and that the fleets and armies of tyrants will never
again issue from the Hellespont on a crusade against
the dearest interests of mankind.
We found the fleets moored in Beikos Bay, the
English squadron close to the southern shore and the
French farther out. The Turkish ships lay on the
other side of the strait. The coupd'ail was magnifi-
cent ; but the sight of such tremendous might slum-
bering there, when so much wrong and mischief was
being enacted a few miles away, was to me anything
but a pleasing one. The Russians are carrying
their ravages to the very mouth of the Bos-
phorus' when two English first-rates would make
their flag invisible for long enough to come, at least
in those waters.
Our anticipations regarding the Black Sea proved
only too well founded. After getting out a few
miles we found the sea running very high, the sky
black enough in all conscience to keep the sea in
countenance, and our captain's face very long indeed.
So, as we expected, we put about, and, running back
into the strait, came to anchor under one of the forts.
We had no sooner done so than the Fury steamer
us at full speed, followed by a French one,
and, as we have since learned, for Varna. We
did not proceed on our way until noon on the fol-
lowing day, and on Monday, about noon, after a deal
to do, reached Burgas, a small village, possessing a
very good harbour, and a small trade with
Constantinople. At the entrance to the port
on a narrow rock, some distance from the shore,
stands a Greek convent. A more lonely and desolate
abode can hardly be imagined—lonely and desolate
enough, one would imagine, to satisfy the most
thoroughgoing anchorite. I have been struck by
the total want amongst the Greek monks of that eye
for the picturesque, that love for pleasant, shady, or
romantic abodes, for which the holy men of western
Europe were in old times so remarkable. Barren
rocks, difficult of access, trackless wastes, or lonely
dens of various kinds, in which no delights for the
senses were to be found, are the places in which the
Greek recluses mostly sought to expiate their offences.
There are no MelrOses or Mucrosees amongst the
abbejs and convents of the east. Even Mount
Atli& hei little to recommend it in the way of