The Sun.
London, England, 1854-03-16 00:00:00

THE RUSSIAN SOLDIERS.

The following is from the special correspondent
of the Morning Chronicle :

" WIDDIN, Feb. 26.—1 n the dearth of news that exists
in the neighbourhood of Kalafat, where a reconnais-
sance on the part of the Russians is no longer imagined
to be a prelude to an attack, and those on the part of
the Turks are confined to little expeditions to Czupertzin
and back, no more interesting matter is procurable than
some scraps of information as to the condition, &c., of
the Russian soldier. All agree that his life is one of
the hardest and dreariest in the world. In garrison or
cantonments he is harassed with the most incessant
drills, parades, and inspections. He is cuffed and beaten
by his officers. He is robbed by all his superiors, from
the corporal to the general. He is ill-fed and wretchedly
paid. He has no prospect of advancement beyond the
grade of sergeant or sergeant-major. His very thoughts
are under control. He dare not express them even to a
comrade on the prospect of a campaign or a residence
in garrison, lest they should be repeated to his officers,
and thus bring down most terrible punishment on him-
self. Anything of a public nature, the success or other-
wise of an expedition, the conduct of a regiment or other
force, are subjects upon which he must not presume to
think. His social position is one of abject slavery.
" The regiments of infantry are divided into four bat-
talions (active), one reserve battalion, and a depot bat-
talion. The latter remains always at one of the large
head-quarter stations ; and here the recruits are in-
structed. The other five battalions move with the army,
the sth supplying the other four with men to replace
casualties. Four battalions are thus brought into the
battle-field. Each is divided into four companies, which
are twice as strong as those of an English regiment,
viz., 200 men and 21 non-commissioned officers. The
regiment parades by subdivisions—that is, half com-
panies—and it is in this order that they appeared at
Oltenitza and Csitate. Each regiment has two bat-
talions of jagers and two of fusiliers. They are all
equipped in the same way, with the exception of some
distinguishing ornaments about their accroutrements.
For instance, the cartridge-pouches of the former regi-
ments have a single grenade on them • those of the latter,
a grenade having three flames—what an artilleryman
would call a " carcass." The leading and last subdivi-
sions of each battalion furnish the tirailieurs. In the
jagers the leading subdivision is called carbineers—for
about the same /ucu3 a 71.072, lucendo reason that one of
our heavy cavalry regiments is called by that name, par
excellence, though they carry carbines in common with
the rest of our cavalry. The leading subdivision of the
fusiliers is called grenadiers. The rear subdivisions are
called " streuki," or light infantry.
" Each soldier carries 60 rounds of ball ammunition
in pouch, which weighs, with the pouch and belt, about
81bs. His pack, with kit, weighs about 231bs. or
241bs. He likewise carries 71bs. of bread in a cylin,
drical bag, and • lb. of salt. His firelock weighs,
with bayonet, 11 lbs. ; the sword and its belt, 3 lbs. ;
total 5311b5. His dress is a green coatee, with short
tails and red facings. The buttons carry the number of
the regiment. On each shoulder is a shoulder-strap,
some three inches wide, which bears the number of his
division in Roman characters. The pantaloons are black
or invisible green, with a red piping down the seam.
His head-dress, en grandc tenue, is a varnished leather
helmet, with a grenade and flames on the top. It is
ornamented with the Russian eagle in brass, with the
number of the regiment in silver, and a Russian word on
a scroll above it, signifying " For my country." Two
brass side-straps and one back-strap serve to strengthen
the helmet. A chin-strap of brass scales completes the
head-dress.

"The great coat, over which the belts are frequently,
worn, as at Oltenitza, is light brown, and made appa-
rently of undyed wool. It is like a blanket in texture,
but closer. It likewise bears the shoulder-strap, with
the divisional number. The firelock, manufactured at
Tula, is made on a French model ; it was altered from
fl'nt to percussion in 1848, the alteration being effected
precisely in, a similar manner to that adopted in France,
viz., closing the vent with a screw with a flat head,
welding on to the breach a, small round mass of metal
sufficiently large to carry the nipple, adding a nipple and
percussion hammer, closing up the necessary holes in the
lock-plate. Taking off the feather spring, the pan still
remains, the head of the screw above mentioned just fitting
it. The &dock further has this difference from the
old French model, namely, that the sight is brazed on
to the barrel, and not on to the capueine, the advantage
of this being that in the former case it is immoveable, in
the latter that it is subject to getting moved to one side
by accident. This improvement has been adopted in all
the new French muskets manufactured during the past
few years. The calibre is the same as the French firelock,
smaller than the English. The cartridges are made with
the greatest neatness ; the weight of the powder, from
want of means of weighing, it has been impossible to as-
certain. The cartridge-box has no internal divisions, the
cartridges being packed into a stout cardboard case with
cover, which fits the pouch accurately. This is an excel-
lent system. The cartridges can begot at with equal fa-
cility—they can be alltaken out at once without injuring
them from the pouch, which may be necessary in wading
across a deep ford, or for placing them temporarily in
store.

• " The system of corporal punishment is one utterly abo-
minable. A court-martial may sentence a man to suffer
2,00 b blows with a stick. The method of it is in this
wise ;—The prisoner is dressed in a pair of short drawers,
boots, a leather stock, and bandages on his arms. A fire-
lock is then tied to each arm. The battalion forms in
double ranks, facing inwards, each soldier being armed
with a stick The fifes and drums play a slow march.
Two non-commissioned officers, holding the firelocks,
lead the prisoner within the ranks, keeping step with
the music, and preventing the, prisoner by means of the
firelocks from marching quicker. The soldiers each
deliver a blow, those on the right backhanded, those
on the left forwards. As soon as he has passed
through the battalion, the surgeon feels his pulse,
and pronounces whether he is capable of under-
going the rest of hiapunislnent.
"The condition 'of the officer, as regards discipline,
bears the most marked contrast to that of the soldier.
He is seldom if ever punished ; an extra guard is ad-
ministered ' • or, if the offence be of a more grave cast
than could be expiated by passing twenty-four hours on
extra duty, his name is published in the public papers
as having incurred the displeasure of his commanding
officer-. 'lf this be not sufficient he is imprisoned ; but
usually the opposite door to that at which he enters is
left open, in order that he may solace his idle hours by
making visits to the cafe, &c. On the other hand, a
general who does not carry out the orders of his master
the Emperor of all the Russias, or is unfortunate
enough to lose a battle or gain a doubtful viotory,• has
a fair chance of seeing Siberia. And, by the way, it
does not say much for his Majesty's belief in. Prince
Gortschakoff's bulletins, that an officer of gendarmie
arrived at the head-quarters of,the Russian troops ob-
serving Kalafat, and made a prisoner of General Aurep,
the officer who commanded the force that fought in
the action (Csitate) which his excellency pronounced to
have been a glorious victory.

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fe.7*OP'
We regret to find that the hopes which have been of
late entertained, that we should now have aluiit treaty
on international copyright between this country and the
United States, are about to be disappointed. The claims
of writers, in this country, to the protection of their in-
tellectual property; from the piracy to which it has been
subjected, are too just to be denied, and we had hoped
that " the great; pirate party " were about to sustain a
singular defeat.
It is a gross outrage on all justice between man and
man that authors should be robbed of the proper
rewards of their intellectual toil by men who can turn
the intellectual commodities of writers into the mer-
chandise on which they trade to their great advantage,
and for which they have never given any consideration.
The American Union, for all literary purposes, is like
Great Britain ; both countries are members of the same
Anglo-Saxon family, and the reading people, whether
under the British Crown or the President of the
Union, not only speak the same language, but read the
same books. It would be the interest of writers, on
both sides of the Atlantic, that they should regard the
Anglo-Saxons and the Anglo-Americans as the one pub-
lic for whom they write, and to whom they could look
for their common support. Nothing less than this would
meet the requirements of justice, and nothing less, come
when it may, will meet the demands of those who are
labouring in the fields of literature, and producing, by
sweat of the brain, the intellectual food by which minds
arc entertained and nourished.

It was feared that Mr. Everett would he the instru-
ment made use of for the purpose of rendering the in-
ternational copyright treaty a mockery and a delusion
and we think he must have done his work to the perfect
contentment of the piratical party whose bidding he
seems willing to execute. Mr. Everett proposes, as an
amendment, that the right of property, or copyright,
shall be enjoyed in the United States, only in case of
such works of British authors as shall be stereotyped or
printed and published in the United States ; and that it
shall be enjoyed in Great Britain only in case of such
works of United States authors as shall be stereotyped,
or printed and published in Great Britain.
According to this plan, when a work is first published
in the country of the author, no right of property in the
same is to be enjoyed in the other country, unless
the re-publication takes place within three months from
the time of the first publication. The design of this
arrangement is obviously to play into the hands of pira-
tical booksellers, to render the treaty the means of con-
veying the least possible advantage to authors, and to
deprive of their gains to the smallest possible extent
those who have been accustomed to prey on the literary
toils of other people.
It is very easy to see that the object. of the amend-
ment is to shut out from any benefit of the treaty all
those writers who are not already independent of
that treaty. All rising authors—the many who are de-
serving of name and fame, for which they are toiling,
but whose names have not yet acquired a commercial
value—are to be left without any benefit whatever by
the concessions which are to be made. Every oue
knows, that among the multitude of English writers,
there are very few who would undertake to publish
in America a book within three months of its publication
in this country, or at that early period venture to have
a work stereotyped. All these persons are to be com-
pletely shut out from any benefit which is to he given by
the contemptible thing which is called an International
Copyright Treaty. We wonder that a man of Mr. Eve-
rett's standing as a literary man, should have consented
to act as he is doing in favour of the system which he
ought to be the foremost to denounce and bring to
nought.
. _

The only portion of our authors on whom the treaty
as modified professes to confer any advantage, are
those who are altogether independent of it. Our po-
pular writers, it is well known, can assign their works
to American publishers on their own terms, and secure.
for themselves the substantial rewards to which tley
are entitled, without having recourse to the treaty
with which it is proposed to favour them. It is to
the credit of those gentlemen, that if they take any
trouble in this matter, it is purely for the purpose of
establishing a just principle, and securing some ad-
vantages for others, their fellow-labourers, who do not
' enjoy the honours to which they have attained.
We suppose that writers of this stamp will spurn
with becoming indignation the hollow pretence which
it is now attempted to palm on this country, and that,
rather than be hoodwinked by Mr. Everett, and the
privateers for whom he is acting, they will employ
their influence to let matters remain as they were in
all their patent injustice. We earnestly hope, that if
the treaty is sent to this country in the shape it is
likely to assume, it will be sent back by •ur Govern-
ment as it came ; and that the great pirate party on the
other side will find that, however successful they may-
be in living on the brains of other people, they cannot
succeed in concealing from us their true character, or in
throwing over their practices the shield of inter-national
law.

To illustrate the absurdity of the tendering Mr. Eve-
rett's amendment as a measure of justice to the authors
either of this country or of the United States, it is
quite enough, as has been suggested, to refer to the
case of Mrs. Stowe. No bookseller would have given
Mrs. Stowe a price for her unrivalled " Uncle Tom"
within the first three months of its completion ; and the
treaty which is under consideration would have been
entirely useless to that most popular writer, until she
had acquired the fame which would make her completely
independent of such a treaty. We perfectly agree with
the statement, that "America will no longer rob a.
Macaulay, a Dickens, a Jerrold, and a Thackeray, be-
cause it cannot, but that it will continue to appropriate
the labours of younger men, because it can."
It would have been most gratifying if this great ques-
tion had been treated with an honest purpose, and if a
a measure had been framed which would have properly
adjusted the claims of the literary men of the two coun-
tries. Such a measure we should have hailed with
satisfaction, and we should have done all honour to the
men by whom it was carried. We are now satisfied
that the intellectual men of the United States are to
be left in a state of bondage to the buccaneers who
are growing rich on the pillage of other men's labours,
and we hope that this country will, with one loud voice
of honest indignation, resent to the effort made to
impose on its credulity by a most dishonest and con-
temptible sbam.—illorning Advertiser.

MARCH EDITION OF THE LONDON
POST-OFFICE DIRECTORY.

Formerly the March edition of this elaborate and use-
ful work differed from the Christmas one only in the
addition of supplemental names, and in the reprinting
of the " Postal' and " Parliamentary" directories, with
corrections up to the end of February. This year, how-
ever, a different course has been pursued by Messrs.
Kelly, the proprietors. The whole copies of the first
edition, although greater in number than those of any
preceding year, having been disposed of, it became
necessary to reprint the entire book, and 42 doing this
advantage has been taken of the opportunity afforded of
' recompiling and correcting a considerable portion of the
contents. Of course the time was too limited to allow
all to undergo the same operation, but w• may mention
that the revision extends over some of the most impor-
tant departments of the Directory. The preface states:—
"As compared with the March edition for 1853 the
' Street Directory,' in the present volume, has been in-
creased by upwards of SIXTEEN THOUSAND names, all
carried into the various classifications—Commercial Direc-
tory—Trades' Directory—Law Directory and Court Direc-
tory—all of which have been proportionately increased.
The effect of this great addition to the number of names,
and of the other improvements introduced, is to increase
the work by no less than TWO HUNDRED AND EIGHT of
its imperial octavo pages."

A novel and very excellent improvement has been intro-
duced into the present issue, which will no doubt be
duly appreciated, by the commercial community. Each
division of the book is distinguished by a. different co-
lour on the outer surface of the pages, and on these (*-
lours is printed the name applying to such division. An
arrangement of this kind will considerably assist refer-
ence to the pages of this monstrous tome, for you have
only to place it on its back, and at a glance you
.CAII
pick out any one of the numerous guides of which it is
made up. As regards typography, the March edition
is infinitely superior to any of its predecessors.

PROVISION FOR THE WIVES AND FAB:MINS OF THE
COAST-GUARD VOLUNTEERS.—The Lords of the Trea-
sury having been pleased to approve of arrangements
made by the Lords of the Admiralty to enable the men
lately belonging to the Coast-guard, who have been re-
quired to serve on board her Majesty's ships to make
one month's allotment of pay in advance to their wives
and families, the Commissioners of Customs have
directed the collectors and comptrollers of the revenue at
the several ports throughout the United Kingdom to
pay to the inspecting commander of the Coast.guard, at
their respective ports, such sums as hill enable him to
distribute amongst the wives and families of the men who
may have been withdrawn from stations within their
ports, the amount allotted to them not exceeding two
shillings or less than one shilling and sixpence per day,
for one month, from the date of each man's discharge,
observing that the respective sums demanded are to be
treated a- advances,' to be afterwards accounted for by
the inspecting commander of the district.
THE NAVY ORDNANCE.—A somewhat invidions com-
parison between the comforts provided for the army at
sea, and those of " Jack" who has to live thereon,
appeared last week. If, however, Jack in the absence
of marine soap Budd ,liffimfity t keep his muzzle clean,
it would seem that the gnus are better cared ter, the
deck and other guns of the flag-ships St. Jean D'Acre,
the Amphion, and the Highflyer having the appearance
of highly-wrought burnished steel, this being effected by
a patent black-lead, the discovery of a Mr. Nixey, of
Soho, and which bas been found impervious to all
weathers. Who knows but that there may arise some
association in the mb'd of till! British tar between the
great exploits to be won by these highly polished " fire-
irons" on board, and his sweetheart's brilliant deeds with
the same black-lead upon the grate at home.
THE ELECTRIC POWER LIGHT AND COLOUR COMPANY.
—This company held their first general meeting of share-
holders on the Bth instant, at the offices of the company,
T3ricklershury, at which a dividend at the rate of 15 per
cent. per annum was declared and paid out of the profits
arising from the working of Dr. Watson's patents for elec-
tric colours, (luring the two mouths prior to the present
constitution of the company under the Joint-stock Act.
It was aunonuced that in consequence of the success now
attending the operations of the company, especially in the
sale of colours, and the arrangements now completed for
illuminating some of the principal metropolitan railway
tatious with the electric light, a further dividend of a
higher rate per cent. per annum would be paid in June.
—Daily Nemi.