The Sun.
London, England, 1808-09-05 00:00:00

i7-It;Shr_lN .17111 oen AT, r.

The followik; account of the atrit.itie's comrnitted
by. the Russians 'in Finland, h i been. published by
'the Lord Lirufen.int of the County of Wa,,a

4' It is alreadY.,kll6,:cm, that grigadier-Gentral
tERGENSTRATE laride(l on the 25!it Rule last in
-the vicinity of WaSai with a divisiob of the brigade
he brotfght with. him - .froM Wessbathoreai and at-
tacked,that part, of the 4uSsiari army yt high had
talen post here, in \Vasa, and adjacent villa es ;
also, that this attack was unsuccessful,' and that the
enemy afterwar`dS retreated from this tOwn 'on the
30th of the same month ; but,it-interests the feelings
of the humane, and instruas the world is general, to
describe the enemy's conducl during this interval,
in as. inuch as it determines th,i;ir national' charaaer ;
and determines also, with historic truth, that with
barbarian,slaves the latter remains onchanged,not-
withstanding the varnish put on by a sort of external
humanizing prodUced by intercourse with civilized
nations, while.cuitivation of the moral principle'
utterly, negle6te4, and the man remains as before,
a slave, suitable to. the posposes of faithless despots.
. .

As soon as the Swedish troops were known- „to
approach \Vasa, the-Civil Governor, Ernint, and the
1, Commandant of the Town, Major-General Kniper,
as well as his Deputy, Major Stegemani decamped,
so that Major-Gen. Demidoif had . the corriniand •
there during the engagement : when this 'was over
and,„ the Swedish corps had retreated; theinhabitan is,
who had been exposed to all the horrors and mischief
I of a constant fire of musquetry and cannon, which
I killed and wounded many in their houseS,expesded
1 some respite.;bOtalmOst immediately after, General
1 Dernidoif gave orders to Plunder the to .vn, whiCh
.gas done in the 'most cruel and diabolical manner,
• under his personal dire6tion and presence; and that
lof the Civil Govei nor Emine, and Ocu. Kniper, who ,
had returned, when they found that their army had
retained ' possession of the place. ' These scenes of
murder, wanton cruelty; andAevastation, continued
1 until the 30th.of the same month, without the least
' intermission, except for a few hours, 'while Lieut.-
;Gt •
en. RajeweSkyhappened to stop in his way through .
the town, Whb 'expressed his utmost detestation at
i their conduCh and gave orders that the sacking and
plundering of the town should cease ; but he had
lib Sooner left' the town than these murderous'pro-,
Lceedings' reeoiNatnerreed; And the soldierS divided
themselves into larger and smaller bodies; and thus
occupied. the Whore town. Their usual mode of
1 pthceedltig was to -fire a volley 'of musquetry
( through the,,windows• of the. houses, and then to
1. rush in, ;:and, with the bayonet destroy whoever was
-to be found that had not tittle or could 'not hide
'themselves in the cellars; under straw or rubbish in
the -barns, 'outhouses, lofts or garrets, and afterwards
to plunder and 'carry away whatever was-of any va-
lue.—All windows, furniture, china, glassware, and
every article that could not be removed to answer
any of their purpoSes, were broken and utterly de-
stroyed, and all this under the eyeand presence of
the Officers, who went about and encouraged thensi,
calling out cbtra (bravo), raraschro (eharrni6g). No
distindioni whatever ivas' made as to churches or a
'hovel, bet;':e'en the highest or lowest of the people;
ladies of distinaim, women and children of all Sorts,
.
the sick rind-wounded, the aged and prisoners of war,
t till:wed talikoi allAvre. treated io. the most in hum aq,
- cruel, atict detestable. manner, and all plundereo.l'The
supplications, upon their knees, with tears and
entreaties of•many of the most respedtable Ladies '
in the . town, to obtain safe guards, was treat-
ied:by that worse than` wild tiger General Derni- '
daft', and: that complete monster in human form,
'Gbvernor Etnine, who were gallopping throtigh the
'streets to give vigour and aelivity to the havbc and
dc-vastations carried on by the, soldiers, with a broad
g:in. of contempt, or the most brutal'cundu'a, and
at best with unmanly thtentenings,'That if they. yen-
'tared 'to say a word' the 'town should 'be burnt "and
levelled with the earth. in' order to 'enable the public.,
to form a 'more just notion' Of 'what' their brutality
'would prompt them to do towardS the • Middle and
'lower classes, it, will suffiee •to •describeithir Con-
dad to some of decided tank and consequence, 'At
.thefime when they attacked the 'mansion, !inhabited
bytaron Reulerhohn, President of the highest Tri;',
bu:.al of Appeals', a saldierrushed upon`' the BaiOn
with ••ked bayonet, the Baroness went 'down on
her knees 'betWeen the point of the baymiet and
bar. husband,. 'and with tears ititreated, 'that- he
would spare' his life ; the soldier withdrew his triur; 1
derons . weapon, but seized' on- the Baron and tore
front his coat the great sfu'rof the Order he wore,
and then they. proceeded to' empty the' house of:
every . thing 'they could lay their hands Uporhs--
Tkir next operatioit was; to fire 1),7 .musket balls'
through the windows of the mansion .of the 'Lord
Lieutenant of the county,-ini&the very room this:
'respeelable mail, and • his farniiiihad taken refuge,'
and stove in all the doors-, by ' t he' butt-ens-of their'
fire-arms.; one soldier was 'going 'to 'dispatch the
Lord Lieutenant, Mr.' Wanberg, Knight, and' his'
life was saved only by the' presence-of mind,- niter-
, position, and tears of his lady ;- but the houselVas
. pluudeted. Their attack' was' then Made • updtv the
- houie of Mr. Krabre, Knight, late Lord Lieutenant,
which they sacked throughout, and a Itbsiians6l7
diet- bad the temerity to advance pp to this vener- '
able old 'man, who is 'paralytic; and npward of iia-
.
years of age, and was quietly smoaking his pipe, in
bit arm-chair; he' phlled the pipe out of his mobth,•
ordered it to be filled with fresh tobaCco, and-von-
Crrsned sthoOking it before him, shewing at the
same time the most disgusting and contemptitous.
condutt. He a; terwards took -away his plunder
and left the house. M. Hoffren, a merchant, was
run through-by • three bayonets, and murdered
at the side of his wife, and his' house was .plun-
dered. This was generally their conduct in•witat
ever house they ' entered, and ' thus Were' many
.worthy men, women, and children murdered' iin •
cold' Blood---whereat last they evacuated the town,
these ruffians carried with them many of „ its
.respectable 'inhabitants, among which was 'ant old
lame man. They dragged the prisoners whh them
a distance of 12 Swedish wiles (72 English),
'to a place called Ruorfarne, where they made all of
them run the gauntlet between two lines of soldiers, .
and flog:ging them as they passed along, according
to their 'barbarous Russian custom ; they then left
them there in their misery and pain, to shift for
thernselves, and get backlo their plundered families
and houses the best way they could. Brigadier
liergenstrade was stripped to the shirt, and every
thing taken from him ; Lieutenant Stoffstedt, Of the