The Sun.
London, England, 1856-12-30 00:00:00

?VOTES OF A TOM:. FROM NTOSCO VP TO

THE CHIMEA AND ODESSA.

The following, from the Times Special correspon-
dent, is in continuation of what appeared in The
Sim of Dec. 2v_

OCT. 5. Tice only thing which occurred to annoy us last
night, in addition to the behaviour of the tarantasso, was
the constant interruptions occasioned by the trains of coun-
try carts on the road, with sleepy or careless drivers and
erratic propensities. Here we are really on a highway,
a❑d there ought to be a right and a left hand side, but the
disanction is only to be established by the imminent dan-
ger of collision, or by the application of the whip to the
population generally. The wild yells, the strange objur-
g

and the savage dialogue which arose as our yam-
schik trundled down on a string of those carts, were quite
enough to banish sleep for the time. By the dim light of
our lamps as the tarantasse jolted past them we could just
catch a glimpse of the half-awakened carrier through the
driving rain, and see him tugging manfully at his horses,
to drag them out of our line of fire. The lot of the poor
creatures who conduct the internal carrying trade of Rus-
sia is scarcely to be borne by even the most resigned
of serfs, and it may be considered that they are the
most miserable class of all the miserables whose
fate it is to live under the wing of the double-
headed eagle. It is, nevertheless, true that many serfs
envy the carriers, for their life is free. That is, it
frequently happens that the man who is a sort of fluctuat-
ing, uncertain property, always on the move, and shifting
his position from place to place, is practically out of the
reach of the superintendent, and is sometimes liberated
from serfdom altogether in consideration of a certain sum
paid down to his master. Through the summer heats and
in the winter's colds the carrier drives on night and day,
and accomplishes by the endurance of every privation and
by the most stolid, ox-like persistence the most enormous
distances. The frozen lake, the great inland sea, the turbid
mountain torrent, the pathless steppe, the dull, dead,
straight high-road—he plods over or along them all with
equal indifference, prepared for so many copecks per pood,
to carry a load as far round the world as Russia extends.
Clad in a high-smelling sheepskin coat, with the skin
turned outwards and " the wooly side in," a sheepskin
cap, a snrcoat of cotton, a red shirt, loose linen trousers,
drawn over a wonderful series of cloth cuisses, and
great jack-boots, made of most unmistakeable Russian
leather, with his own little particular saint fastened
round his neck, a loaf of black bread somewhere in his
cart, a copeck or two for the purchase of corn whisky in
his pocket, and a store of onions and cabbages for his hum-
ble meal, the carrier will start from Moscow to Tartary,
Odessa, or Teflis, with equal indifference. The cart is a
light framework of wood, with sides of birch bark, and a
tilt roof of coarse canvas or oilcloth stretched over hoops.
The wheels are not always provided with iron tires—in-
deed never in the south of Russia, and the rim is com-
posed of pieces which form eery imperfect circles, and seem
very slightly connected with each other. The axles project
far beyond the naves, and curious gye ropes and stays of
rope springing out of these parts are connected with the
shafts, and aid in holding the fabric together. The harness
is of leather and rope, the horses are hardy and hairy, and
will make an honest, and ample livelihood by pickings
of bits of wood-shavings, thistles, and weeds, along the
borders of the highway or on the stony steppe. The load
of a cart rarely exceeds 4c wt., and the cost of the carriage
is so much increased by the greatness of the distances to be
traversed that, notwithstanding the absolute cheapness of
transport considered per se, as so much per pood per verst,
the prices are very much affected as the traveller ap-
proaches or recedes from the sea. Thus the transport of a
bottle of wine from Odessa to Kharitoff adds a shilling to

its price, and the rate increases in proportion with the
weight rather than with the bulk of the article to be car-
ried. These men suffered most dreadfully during the war.
They were pressed for service wherever they could be
found, and forced at the point of the lance to carry loads
which often proved destructive to the carts and fatal
to the horses, if, indeed, the proprietors survived to
witness the loss. In snowdrifts and in lakes of mud
these wretched men sank to rise no more, or staggered on,
fever-stricken, over the parched steppe till they law down
to die in the blazing sunshine. The number of men and
animals used up in this way exceeds belief, and although,
after my personal experience of the route which they foi-
-1 lowed, I can believe what was stated to me, I dare not tax
the credulity of your readers by repeating the figures to
them.

I have a kind of sleepy consciousness that we changed
horses several times during the night, and that an immense
deal of time was generally lost in getting out the quadru-
peds, waking up the yamschiks, and fighting the postmas-
ters, and a good deal of grumbling took place whenever the

purse-bearer was roused up to pay for greasing the wheels,
or to give the drivers their na vodka or na tchai (literally
" for brandy" or "for tea")—drink money. With the morn-
ing light came no very pleasant prospect ; rain still fell at
intervals, the country smoked with a kind of misty dew,

and the poor villages of wooden houses by the roadside
looked ultra uncomfortable in their environs of thick black
mud. The country, however, seemed fertile, and was not
destitute of marks of cultivation. The surface lay on
either side of us in a series of easy undulations, studded
with clumps of trees or patches of forest, and marked out
into fields by hedges which were preparing themselves by
looking as dry, as spiky, and as rough as possible, to do
battle with the coming winter. As the day drew on the
mujiks issued forth from their huts, and rubbed their eyes
as the tarantasac drove past, or with the calm dignity of
command superintended the operations of their wives and
daughters, who were busied in driving forth the pigs and
cattle, drawing water from the wells, or beating up maize
and rye in small mortars for the morning meal. Every one
has described the mujik, whom we call " serf," but whom
the polite and euphemistic Russian —in order not to hurt
one's feelings, possibly—always speaks of a " paysan," and
who is, according to his master's account of him, possessed
of many most admirable qualities —to wit, faith and charity
(but, alas ! no hope), patience, courage, submissiveness,
loyalty, and patriotism. Eat they dare not for their lives
say that he is honest, intelligent, sober, industrious, truth-
ful, or moral. The Russian soldiers and " peasants" have
a saying, which is to this effect, " That he who sees
drink, food, money, or clothes unguarded, and does not
take them, is a fool who ought never to get the chance
again ;" and I believe they act very much on that prin-
ciple. Their faith, indeed, is great, but it would be diffi-
cult to draw the line which separates it from gross super-
stition and ignorant fanaticism ; their charity is undoubted,
and each may well say, " Miser ego miseris succurere

disco." As to patience, it is sometimes a forced virtue,
imposed on us by the inutility and danger of impatience,

and in the Russian it is closely allied to an Oriental fatal-
inn. His courage is undoubted ; it is connected with his

patience, religions faith, and habits of submission, and is
quite destitute of brilliancy or dash, In doggedness and
indifference to suffering, in the mute endurance of pain,
and in fearlessness of death the Russian is coura-
geous, but in the higher qualities of bravery he is
deficient. On his submissiveness rests the whole

structure of Russian Government and Russian society,
but I much doubt whether he is loyal, as among no peopl:,

have there been more plots against the Throne, more re-
volts, more resistance to the Sovereign till the cannon
came in to decide the controversy, ou the revival of which
he has since kept his eye steadily fixed and very wide
open. Granting that he is possessed of patriotism, we
shall find, nevertheless, that it is rarely ever,strong enough
to resist the voice of avarice, and that his dishonesty is

stronger than his love of country. Thus, one universal
system of plunder and robbery of the national property
took place during the late war. None too great—none too
small to share in it, and the commission which is now
spread over the empire inquiring into the thefts and
peculations of public servants, civil and military,
is said to be appalled by the disclosures which
have been made, and to hesitate in continuing its
labours. In spite of all that reason urges against
the Russian and his morals, one cannot help pity-
ing the poor follow and magnifying the virtues
which he undoubtedly possesses. How much or how many
of his vices may arise from his profound ignorance, his
hopeless mental darkness, the degradation of his position,
and the form of governnwat under which he lives, it is im-
possible for me to say, but their masters claim for them the
possession of a spaniel's " good qualities," and too often
give them a spaniel's treatment. Where is the peasant in
all broad Russia who dare resent a kick, a knock-nown
blow, a bleeding mouth, or a black eye, received at the
hands of the meatiest official with a Government button
•n his cap ? A complaint to a local magistrate for such
an offence would, I am assured, be regarded as a proof
of some dangerous conspiracy, and a demonstration of
stupendous audacity which would expose the mujik to
suspicion or punishment. However, we shall see and talk
more of him as we get on. It is now a quarter to 8 o'clock
in the morning, and we are entering the town of Serpu-
choff, a town of about 7,000 inhabitants, 93 versts, or
62 miles south of Moscow. The natives are obviously
influenced by their proximity to the ancient capital,
and have run up an infinity of little churches, with the
usual cupolas and spires, all over the town, so that from a
distancesual
edifices of the kind, the clean white steeples and green and
gilt cupolas of which presented a marked contrast to the
filth profound of the streets. We lumbered along in a foot
deep of mud, through straggling wooden houses, now and
then interspersed with larger mansions of stone, and, pass-
ing a small beloe gorod, or white city, a sort of little
Kremlin, surrounded with white walls, with battlemented
inn in a square of some 300 yards
tborposa,d7wllehdicu at the
hp
was like a lake of liquid mud, with
dunghills rising island-like above the surface. Through
this delectable slough there tumbled about, like porpoises
in a tideway, shoals of the wildest looking pigs, the very
aspect of which was enough to drive into a state of men-
tal aberration the strongest-mindedmember of the
Smithfield Club. Very tall, long in the leg, and thin
in the flank as greyhounds, with huge heads armed with
great tusks and garnished with ponderous ears, these ani-
mals seemed utterly unsuited for the Puipose of the ham
or bacon producer, and to be valuable only for their brie.
ties, of which a mane ran down their sharp backs,
and a
plentiful, flock depended from their scraggy sides. There
was nothing very pleasant to regale any of the 3011805 on at