The Sun.
London, England, 1854-09-13 00:00:00

ENGLISH TREATMENT OF RUSSIAN

PRISONERS.

The Journal de St. Petersburg of the sth contains
an article imputing the greatest inhumanity and
ingratitude to the English in their treatment of
Russian prisoners. It is singular that to sustain
this charge the Russian court journalist should bo
compelled to resort to the testimony of a Greek.
The Journal says :
The acts of brutality which the English had not
blushed to commit during the present war precluded all
misapprehension with respect to the deplorable lot of the
prisoners who should be so unfortunate as to fall into
their hands. Our painful forebodings on this head have
been but too fully realised in the accounts supplied by
the prisoners recently exchanged at Odessa.
We have now before us the statement of Mr. _Nicolas
Lazaro, the Greek master of a vessel captured on the
28th of April, by the squadro❑ under Admiral Lyons,
with the crew and a portion of the regiment of Bala-
clava, which was at the time on board. The master's
narrative contains some interesting details concerning
the behaviour of the English to their prisoners.
The captured vessel has been placed under the com-
mand of an English officer. While preparing to weigh
anchor the captain of the English frigate Highflyer on
board of which Mr. Lazaro and Major Vassilieff had
been conveyed, summoned the two prisoners, and di-
rected them to go on board their awn vessel, and fetch
their property. Mr. Lazaro, on proceeding there found
the cabin strewed with fragments of boxes. His own,
which among other effects, had contained 351. sterling,
and 28 gold five-ruble pieces, had been as unceremoni-
ously treated as the others. The property of Major
Vassilieff had also disappeared. Among the remains
of broken trunks lay images also broken and stripped of
their silver mounting. Ou returning to the English ship,
the senior officer inquired if they had secured their
property, to which they replied that they had not
found anything but broken boxes and images de-
spoiled of their mounting. This answer seemed vastly
amusing to the English officer, who laughed, and turned
away.

The prisoner; who had at first been distributed
among the various vessels of the fleet, were afterwards
transferred to the English steam-ship Sidon, and
despatched to Constantinople. Mr. Lazaro then
learned from the accounts of his fellow-captives, that
those among them who had enjoyed the good fortune
to find themselves on board French ships were loud
in their commendations respecting their treatment. The
Russian officers had been admitted to the table of the
French officers, the soldiers had been well fed, and even
treated with wine and rum. Seeing the prisoners for
the most part without shoes, and completely ragged, the
French manifested their astonishment, and when they
heard that they had been entirely plundered by the Eng-
lish, they expressed themselves concerning their allies in
very uncomplimentary terms, saying that the latter had
behaved on the occasion in a :shameful and insufferable
manner.
On the other band, the prisoners on board the English
ships complained that they had been treated with harsh-
ness, and very inadequately fed. At first they had only
received a pound of bread, and a small portion of salt
meat, scarcely eatable, and even this scanty ration was
afterwards reduced one-half! As for Mr. Lazaro, he
declined to receive his share, contenting himself with
some biscuits which some f his sailors had managed
to secure.

Some days after their arrival at Constantinople the,
prisoners were again transferred to the English screw
steamer Bangor, whose commander gave them a sorry
welcome, and treated them very rigorously. The
Russian officers were not admitted to the English
officers' table. One day some of the Turks came
to see the prisoners, and a young officer, who in-
troduced himself as the son of Osmar Pacha, an-
nounced that he had orders to prepare for them an old
vessel which happened to be at the Admiralty, and that
if they were placed there he would endeavour to treat
them well, because his father, who was a prisoner in
Russia, had written to him that he had himself experi-
enced the best of treatment.

Thus we see that while a Turk cherished the disposi-
tion to discharge a debt of gratitude, the English trample
under foot the must sacred rights of humanity, and
ignore even the obligations which reciprocity commands.
English prisoners have been treated in Russia in a man-
ner which has left them nothing to desire. Even the
English newspapers, most bitterly hostile to us, have
felt it a duty to admit this. Yet no compunctious voice
has been heard by their companions in arms, convincing
them how scandalous it is to plunder the Russian cap-
tives, to leave them shoeless and in tatters, and even to
deny them sufficient nourishment.

On the 7th of June, the prisoners were placed—not in
the old vessel of which mention was made above—but
in a Turkish barrack situated in the admiralty depart-
ment. Here they remained seventeen days, the provi-
sions supplied by the English being of bad quality.
When the benevolence of the Greek merchants at Con-
st4ntinople, among whom also were certain Russian sub-
jects, came to their relief, that assistance was harshly
prohibited by the English authorities.
The Turkish admiral, Mustapha Pacha, came oqe day
to this barrack, in company with an English officer, de-
signated Captain of the Port. The admiral made inquiry
of the prisoners respecting their condition, and they com-
plained to him of their rigorous treatment, and very in-
ferior rations.

The Pacha told them he would cause them to be better
treated, and, turning to the English officer, he said :
" If you wish to maintain these prisoners, maintain them
properly. If not, let me know, and I will maintain them
in such manner as we maintain prisoners of war." Then
pointing. cut Captain Davydoff, commander of the Rus-
sian transport Aloupka, who had been made prisoner by
the Turks, he asked him if he and his men were ade-
quately provided for. They all replied in the affirmative ;
only M. Davydoff mentioned that he was destitute of
wearing apparel and a bed. The Pacha hereon expressed
his dissatisfaction to the party in charge of the prisoners,
who the next day provided all that was necessary.
This well-merited reproof which the English officer
had the mortification to receive from the Turkish admi-
ral on the subject of the prisoners makes any comment
of our own on the matter superfluous.
It suffices for us to bring to the knowledge of the
people of Europe that the English have carried their
harsh treatment of prisoners even to that degree which
excites the indignation of the Turks. It is time for all
to understand the true practical value of those fine phi-
lanthropic principles of which the English delight to
make so pompous a profession.

DESTRUCTION OF THE FORTIFICA-
TIONS AT ALAND.

Lrnstrlcu, Sept. s.—The fortresses that stood upon
the Aland islands are amongst the things that were.
Mines were sprung beneath them on the 30th and 31st
August, and 2d September. The fort of Izee, after it
had fallen into the hands of the French, as I already in-
formed you, was shelled from the Russian mainwork. It
took fire, and blew up on the morning of the 15th ult.
Prasto was fired on the 30th ; its destruction was com-
plete. Three explosions took place in quick succession ;
on the third the entire fort seemed to open out and then
went upwards amidst a thick volume of smoke. All the
hewn granite which formed the outer casing of its walls
slipped over the tongue of land upon which it was built
into the sea, leaving a heap of bricks and rubble on its
site. Nottick was destroyed on the following day. The
first explosion was like a clap of the loudest thunder,
followed by four or five successive discharges not unlike
a salute from heavy guns. Its walls visibly started on
the first report, and these shot upwards, enveloped in a
cloud of the heaviest and densest smoke, which floated
heavily away over the ruins of Prasto. Stones and
splinters came down in a shower upon the surrounding
rocks, and when the curtain of smoke had withdrawn
itself from ove: the debris, two shaken portions of the
circular tower were still standing, like solitary sentinels,
over the fallen fort, and served only to render the pic-
ture of ruin more striking and impressive. The main
work, or semicircular fort, was destroyed on Saturday
evening. It was riven asunder by several grand explo-
sions. The whole appearance of the place from the ships
now presents a melancholy picture of desolation, and
has lost all its distinguishing marks. The forts, so lately
models of strength and beauty, are effaced from the
landscape. The village, which formed so conspicuous
an object in my sketch, has disappeared by fire, and the
beautiful trees, so lately umbrageous, but now scorched
and shorn, stand like dismal spectres casting off flashes
of soot from every breeze.
With the view of examining the interior for myself, I
travelled through the island and was kindly received
everywhere with marked respect by the kind and simple
peasantry, whose houses of wood, generally one storey
high, are emblems of purity and cleanliness. The thick
woods afford them lots of timber to supply all their
wants, and every farmer appears to be by nature a car-
penter and cooper. Every farm yard shows its heap of
white chips and carpentry workshop. All their arrange-
ments, though rudely, are ingeniously fashioned, and
wood is made to serve many of their wants for which
iron would be more suitable. The interstices, between
the solid beams of which their houses are built, are
filled with moss, and the windows are generally double
(an inside and an outside one) to defend them against
the severity of the winter. Every room has its sepa-
rate stove, and the beds are generally grouped together
in one room, where they are built in tiers, close to the
large fire-place. The cultivation of the land is most
creditable to them, and seems to have arrived at great
perfection. Corn, rye, hemp, and potatoes were the
principal crops we passed. Their domestic animals are
of a small breed—the horses are remarkable for their
beauty as well as their speed. The face of the country
is beautifully diversified with wooded and mountain
ridges. The sea, studded with innumerable islands,
exuberantly covered with pines and silver birch, appears
from the main road like a chain of lakes. The fields,
covered with fine pasturage, aro enclosed by railed
fences, and quiet little Lutheran churches show their
spires now and then in sylvan scenes. The main road
more resembles a private avenue through park lands
than a common thoroughfare. The villages are merely
a few farm-houses squatted together.
For the last few days steamers have been running
constantly up and down between Lea and Bomar
bounds, towing doWri obis and getting the