The National Register.
London, England, 1817-09-29 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL REGISTER

Much stress is laid by Sir Robert upon the numeri-
cal strength of the Russian armies.

" Itutsia,"says he, "after pmtilig thirty thousand men of
appropriate force, with artillery, *c. in Finland, eighty
thousand un the frontier of Gallic* slaty thousand in Mol-
davia, thirty thousand ou the frontier of Armenia, as many
in Persia, and leaving a reserve of one hundred thousand
men to sustain these armies, possesses still a disposable fore..
of above two• hundred thousand infantry, eighty thousand
cavalry and one thunsand two himilred guns better horsed
for service than any artillery or cavalry in the world ;—an
army, than which, there is cone more brave, and with wh;rti
no other cau march, starve, or suffer physical privations nil
natural inclemencies. She has moreover a population eqiidi
to the needed supply, and to a great portion of whom tbr
habits and sufferings of war ate familliar ; while no power
is Europe can raise, evil?, or maintain their lot ce3, with
such disJaiii of the price of blood."
And by way of confirming this latter statement, he
tells us in a note that, " the actual pay of a Rus-
sian soldier is not much above half a crown a
month." Does this prove a disdain of the price of
blood ?

But let not this display of thirty thousand here, and
eighty thousand there, snake us forget the causes which
have led to the creation of such a force. If ever a
eousttry is to display its energies, it is when menaced
with invasion, or when feeling the evils of it. Look
at the number of men under arms in Great Britain
at the time of Buonaparte's threatened descent ; the
number was greater than even the present force of
Russia, yes when the danger passed away, when the
necessity no longer existed, this immense force gra-
dually sunk almost to naught. It is not meant to be in-
sinuated that the same thing will happen in Russia to
the same extent, but it may fairly be asserted that
Russia would never had so many men on ibot, had
Buonaparte not invaded her dominions ; and if Europe
remain tranquil, Alexander will find, that every man
kept in arms, beyond what is necessary for the ordinary
purposes of the state will be a positive evil, and a hin-
drance in the way of effecting the internal improvements
of his empire, and the amelioration of its inhabi-
tants.

There is besides another point which ought to be
adverted to—if we are to judge by what has twice
taken place lately, a military government and warlike
pursuits, do not seem congenial to the great body of
the Russian people; In both cases, when' the Emperor
was absent for a considerable time from his Capital, (we
have Sir Robert Wilson's own words forit) discontent be-
gan to manifest itself; murmurs were rising at the Em-
peror's absence, notwithstanding that, the whole course
of that absence, was marked with triumphs for the Rus-
sian arms

The contiguity of the South Eastern dominions of
Russia with Ladle, has furnished the author of the
"sketch" with arguments to prove the possibility and
probability of her success in. that quarter of the world.
We are not, however, amongst those who think so meanly
of our strength there, as to allow, that the attempt need
only be made to be successful. The preparations for
such an enterprise, cannot be made in a corner, the
danger cannot come upon us like the .shadow of
night ; it can only take place when we are engaged
in war with Russia, and that event would awaken at-
tention and watchfulness in the quarter likely to bc
menaced. * But, has great Britain deserved so little
at the hands of the natives under her mild sway ;—has
she so little hold upon their affections, that they will
quit her dominion in a moment to rally rounathe
standards of unknown foreigners, whose only aim
i would bc personal aggrandisment and extention of
power. On this subject, and our power in the East,
we will cite the following beautiful and eloquesit pas-
sage from the lust number of the Quarleri.y Review.
" Whatever doubts, or differences of opinion, the
contemplation of Indian affitirs may awaken, whatever
sadness in the retrospect, or alarni in the anticipation ;
the view has one spot too bright, not to be observed
with a feeling of general and mingled satisfaction.
Oar past , and our still increasing efforts
,for the hap-
piness 4 thelndian people, these constitute at once, our
hope and triumph. These are our real glory in the
present season of our brightness and prosperity; and
should the monsoon break up, and the hurricane arise,
these Will elven our strongest and most abiding anchor."
• • The Morning Chronicle, of Thursday lavt, contained •• a plan
of the protected extiedLion to India, as digested by Buonaparte."
finnal in the port-tolio of the Mini-ter at War at Paris. We will
1 c.ilnlitlly ccr rev. that if ever there was a man likely to attempt to
lead an army trout i i.llOl/e to die borders of India, it was flume-
parte, hat the probable event of such an attempt and observations,
on this pojetted plan will be given in our next number.