The Express.
London, England, 1853-03-25 00:00:00

RUSSIA.

The Army Gazette of Berlin has lately contained
a number of letters on the military force of Russia,
and the extent to which it may be brought to bear
upon neighbouring countries. The last of these
letters contains the following Palsaffe
The construction of the great, railway lines connecting
Moscow, Petersburg, Odessa, and Warsaw, in changing the
conditions under which a military force may be trans-
ported, changes the principles upon which Husaia has
hitherto conducted her preparations for war. If we cut a
glance at the present distribution of the Russia& army av•
cording to its great groups, we shall find these to be the
Deistwujutschsja Annie, or active army, consisting of Los
infantry corp,, united in a compact camp in Poland, Li-
thuania, Volhynia, and Podolia. Between this and
Petersburg steads the Grenadier Corps, at Novgorod,
and at Petersburg itself the Guard. In the south west
stands the 6th army corps, with its most advanced garrison
on the Pruth. The 6th army corps is in Moscow and its
neighbourhood. Supposing • war to threaten from the
west, we may assume that the active army would not move
until Poland had been occupied either by the bth or 6th
infantry corps or the guards from Novgorod and Peters-
burg. Hitherto this operation must have consumed
months. But let the railroad from Petersburg to Warsaw
be finished, and • week will suffice for the purpose. Before
the first rail of the line is laid down, the futon military
use his been a matter of study, and with especial reference
to the transport of large muses of troops. Thousands
of military transport waggons are already made or
making, and their construction is truly artistic. The
packing or eu pending of arms, knapsacks, cavalry saddles,
and all the appurtenances of a battalion is abundantly cued
for. In three days the half, or in a week the whole, kuerd
and grenadier corps may stand in Poland while the reserves
are coming up to St. Petersburg, by the Moscow and
Petersburg Railway, followed, if necessary, by the 6th in-
fantry corp. Whether the 6th corps would move west-
ward would depend mainly upon the state of relations with
Turkey. In any case the compact mass of the active army
would be emancipated from the immobility it has hitherto
suffered, and could be brought immediately into play. The
whole political significance of the new railways lies in the
fact that the guard and grenadier corps may in future be
brought to Poland in a week instead of in months. Let
that great artery be connected with Odessa, and with a rail-
road from Moscow to Warsaw, as well as with another from
Warsaw to Odessa, and it cannot thin be denied that Rus-
sia will have effected a revolution in her military relations
to Europe.

PORTUGAL.

LISBON, MARCH 19.

Although the opposition in the Chamber of De-
puties strongly censures ministers for many of the decrees o
the dictatorship, there is scarcely a doubt that Baldanha
will triumph over every obstacle, and be enabled to carry
his measures. As the commission appointed to inquire into
the acts of the dictatorship have approved them all, they
i will have the validity of law. There is, therefore, no hope
for those who desire to see rescinded, or even msdilled, the
decree of capitalisation of the 3rd of December, 1311, or the
decree of August, 18.52, reducing the interest of the public
debt ; and the country will be placed upon its own resources
and as Mr. Barry could not, in consequence of the discredit
of the government, obtain any assistance In England,
France, or Belgium, to carry tho railway project into effect,
the government, if it desire to lave one, must itself furnish
resources for that purpose.
My last letter, explaining some points relative to the
railroad, will have informed your readers that the company
was virtually defunct. Mr. Hislop has since arrived here
from London, and although it is blazoned forth that be has
brought the affair to a point to pay the deposit, and com-
mence the works, and that the directors will arrive by the
forthcoming packet, yet, from what is passing, I have
'mien for saying that not only is the last view I took of it
confirmed, bat that in fact the progress of the affair is an
impossibility. It is admitted that Mr. Barry and others
have seceded—have, in truth, abandoned the concern; but
Mr. Hislop seems so confident of his own skill to carry out
that which cannot he carried out under existing circum-
stances, that he fancies he has accomplished the desired
point. That gentleman is merely an agent in the matter,
and having gone to London under the forlorn hope of being
able to renovate the provisional, or form a new company,
he has done what just amounts to nothing. The forty days
given the company to make the deposit have passed away,
and, instead of the money, a proposal comes, that if the
decree of August, 1852, which reduces the interest of the
debt to 3 per cent., be so far revoked or modified that
the minister will capitalise the difference of interest
between the 3 per cent. and that which his
decree deprives and spoils the creditors of, giving
titmice for it to be paid in any given number
of years, that then and in such ease the bondholders will
nut only assist the government in carrying out the railroad,
but the leading ones will take it upon themselves ! Here
would be another immense augmentation of the capital of