The Sun.
London, England, 1855-09-24 00:00:00

RESOURCES OF RUSSIA.

(Front the Tiltlen ©f this doll.)
In such a contest as that between Russia and the
allies, it is, of course, natural to exercise some specula-
tion upor. the resources of our antagonist, and to at-
tempt an estimate of the effects which exhaustion may
be producing upon the power of the enemy. In these
calculations, however, peculiar difficulties are occasioned
by the secrecy which, in a country like Russia, envelopes
all public affairs. At home we know exactly what
amount of force we are exerting-, and the charge which
that exertion entails. The numbers of men voted for
land and sea service form matter of public record ; and
we are all very well aware that, whereas the Army,
Navy, and Ordnance used to cost us some 16.000.0001.,
they are this year expected to cost some 50,000,000/.—
the difference of 34,000.000/ being due to the war.
More curious or careful inquirers can ascertain with
little trouble the actual or relative magnitude of particu-
lar items in the accounts—the charge for this or that
force, or the cost of this or that description of stores.
Our own readers have been familiarised with the dissec-
tion of the various estimates, and have had repeat .d op-
portunities of observing and comprehending the distri-
bution and propertions of the de-ails from which the
aggregate is made up. Everything is publicly and ac-
curately stated and open to plain calculation. But in
Russia no such facilities of ieformation exist, and in ap-
plying to the statements occasionally set forth by the
agents or partisans of that country the corrections which
they obviously demand, we can argue only from such
facts as have come under our observation, or from the
probabilities of the case itself. In these, however, we
find the materials for tolerably decisive conclusions.
At the outbreak of the war Russia had certainly the
reputation of possessing a large military force already pre-
pared. We, it must be remembered, were upon a
peace establishment, whereas the Russian armies bad
long been maintained at an enormous numerical strength
and in a state calculated for action. War, though not,
perhaps, expected quite so soon, was the very contin-
gency for which preparations had been so assiduously
made. We .bad to arm ourselves, whereas Russia was
already armed. Against this consideration, however,
we may set the fact that the drain of war fell upon
Russia earlier than upon ourselves. In the contests upon
the Danube the Russians had lost a vast number of
troops beforei the French and English expeditions tailed
for the East, and we have seen that notwithstanding the
prodigious array of legions represented ns constituting
the permanent force of the Czars, levies of men have
succeeded each ether with ominous rapidity. These
levies are, no doubt, very different things from the Eng-
lish recruiting system. When serfs are captured by
thousands and driven into the ranks of the army without
any expenditure in the shape of bounty, and when they
are maintained at the lowest possible rate, the cost of
military augmentations would, of course, be lighter than
it is with ourselves. Bnt, on the other hand, these
troops are expended as rudely as they are raised. They
are brought into action in immense macros, and have
been sacrificed in prodigious numbers. In the same
manner, although we may presume that the Russians
bad accumulated large warlike stores in Sebastopol and
other arsenals, so as to support for a time, perhaps, the
demands of.war without much immediate necessity for
new supplies, yet we have seen that the consumption of
this material was prodigial in the extreme. It should
be observed, too, that great pains had evidently been ex-
pended upon those departments of their array which, as
they evince excellence in military art, involve also in-
creased military charges. Even if men are cheap in
Russia, guns and gunners must be dear, especially when
the artillery is maintained on a scale unknown before.
When, therefore, we are told, as we haie recently been,
that whereas .the public revenue of Russia was some
35,000,000/., or, by the highest estimates, 45,000,000/.
sterling, the expenses of her army absorbed only some
14,000,0001. or 15,000,0001. of this amount, the utter
improbability of such a statement is discernible at a
glance. On our own army and ordnance we are expend
ing this year between 27,000,0001. and 28,000,0001.; and
to suppose that an army of 800,000 or 900,000 men,
comprising an extraordinary force of artillery, could be
supported for about half the sum required for our esta-
blishments is a presumption so palpably absurd as to
require no comment. it is, indeed, by no means im-
probable that the charges of the Russian army and of the
war itself in that country may be defrayed, to some ex-
tent, by means less direct and visible than simple pay-
ments from the Exchequer, but this hypothesis only
serves to augment the presumptive weight of the bur-
dens imposed upon the population. If the funds of the
wealthier classes are drained by exactions under the
name of voluntary contributions—if the operations of
the agriculturist are deranged by
and his waggons—and if the stocks even of the peasants
demands
ieoffimawscynsuu:tmwif or his horses
are exhausted for the supply of troops, it is evident that
the energies and resources of the country must suffer
even more'than they would if the necessary funds were
raised by the ordinary system of taxation.
We think, therefore, there must be good reason for
believing in the exhaustion of the enemy under the pres-
sure of the war ; nor do we see, indeed, how such a con-
clusion could be easily contested after an impartial con-
sideration of facts. It has been said that the strength of
Russia for defensive war is immense, but this presump-
tion referred not merely to the numbers of her popula-
tion, but to the enormous extent of her territory and
the rigours of her climate, in reliance upon which she
could, even in the last extremities, retire before au in-
vader, and leave him with only the alternatives of pene-
trating a boundless desert or retreating under conditions
almost
into eg
equal
the plunged
o
difficulties would, no doubt, have made themselves
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felt, but by directing our attack upon the Crimea
and Sebastopol we have pat the Russians in such
respects upon a level with ourselves, or, as we
may more correctly say, we have even secured
the advantage. Instead of permitting the enemy to take
post upon his own ground, and to allure our armies to
lists on a spot to which he has been forced to repair by a
line of operations more difficult than our own. We
whatever spot he pleased, we have ourselves opened the
have landed our troops fresh from their depots within a
mile or two of the scene of action, whereas the Russians
have been compelled to toil over leagues upon leagues of
establishedeihnsletththheareteftobrieenl,
savage and desolate territory. They have not been re-
sisting an invading army in the centre of their empire,
but have been compelled to march to a remote corner of
theirswwtstrength
er
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our own,
must have been great, and, as their financial resources
pres-
sure of a rigorous blockade has crippled their commerce,
cannot have maintained without exhaustion so tremen-
dous and desperate a struggle.

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to R
THE RUSSIAN PRISONERS AT LEwii"—The whole of I
the war prisoners stationed here—both officers ar.d men
—are in a state of great delight, as they have been in-
and that in the course of a fortnight or three weeks they
will tau
aks
iea p; ace
and,
to
the Russian priest, who visits them weekly and adminis-
ters to them the sacrament and other rites of the Greek
Church, has authorised all the officers on parole, 20 in
number, to purchase any little necessaries they may re-
quire to the amount of one sovereign each, the accounts
to be sent to the Governor of the War Prison, to whom
the priest has undertaken to pay the money for their
liquidation. Some of the officers have already commenced
Packing up their luggage in anticipation of their speedy
departure, and others are making preparations. Six of
the Finnish officers who were taken at Bomarsund last
year have obtained leave to spend a week in London, and
are are now in the metropolis. The autumn appears as prev-
dicial to tbe health of the Finns as the spring, for there
is a large number in the prison hospital, and it has
been found necessary to obtain the services of an assist-
ant•surgeon to relieve Dr. Burton of a portion of 1 s;
duties. Tiro of the men confined within the prison has e
died within the last fortnight, making altogether 15 since
their arrival in Lewes. The diseme from which they
suffered was pthisis pulmonaris which is a very preva-
lent complaint among them, and is attributable to their
weak constitutions, and in some measure to the nature
of their diet, which is very different to what they were
previously accustomed to. Large numbers of persons
continue to visit the prison and purchase the toys made
by the men ; indeed, on fine days the streets of tbe town
are quite thronged with people with toys in their bands.
According to the register of visitors, no less than 9,000
portions have been admittei within the prison walls dur-
' ing the past month, and the men have devoted the pro-
ceeds of their industry to the purchase of various com-
L forto, and they have nearly all provided themselves with
watohee sine they have hem here,