The Sun.
London, England, 1856-08-13 00:00:00

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1 ingtly crowded, that even the commonest
dation,woukl become exorbitantly dear.
some reasonableness in this fear. Londe
I Great Exhibition tolerably well, but London h.
six or seven times the room ; and, moreover, the
crush was spread over many months during the
London Exhibition, and will be crowded into two
or three weeks at itloseow. Paris when tried suf-
fered a much more perceptible stroke of fulness in
: fibA head.
I During summer, as I have said, a good choice of
roads is offered to the intending visitor of Russia.
The French generally go right through Europe,
which is now so covered in all directions with rail.
ways, until you reach the Russian frontier. There,
the little shaggy, wiry, spirited, ill-looking, inde-
fatigable horses of the country—the terriers of the
equine family—still convey the coaches, diligences
(or netNigetices), mails, and telegas from Warsaw-
onwards, either to St. Petersburg, as the case may
be, or to Moscow. From England, you can go at
present by a still shprter and more direct route
than that through Hamburg and Lubeck, which
was itself intended as a short cut upon the ‘, all-
sea passage." But, as sometimes occurs; especially
in newly-opened communications, the " shortest'

a s

way occasionally proves to be the longest. The-
new line to which I refer, is that which the North
of Europe Steam Company have this season opened.
They book their passengers according as these may
choose-Lthe whole journey to St. Petersburg or to
either of the intermediate stations of Tonning and
of Flensburg. The entire distance is charged seven
guineas by boat and railway first class—each tra-
veller spending what he thinks fit for his living.
There are also to be added to the cost certain delays
at hotels. From St. Katherine's-wharf to Tonning,
on the west coast of Schleswig, the distance across
the north sea is 320 miles ; the run up the Elbe to
Hamburg is saved. At Tonning the new railway
takes you on to Flensburg, the capital of Schles-
wig, on its eastern coast. This rail journey occu-
pies two hours and a half, through a country of
alternate moor, pasture, and tillage, and spares you
300 miles of sea round the north of Denmark. Here
occurs the first and only defect of the route. Were
the boats which at Flensburg take up the passengers
engaged to start within a couple of hours of their
arrival, I venture to assert that this line would be
quickly preferred to all others by travellers pro-
ceeding from London to St. Petersburg. But the
sn amer waits at Flensburg for the cargo (often
very heavy) from Tonning. The consequence is that,
for extimi le, I arrived in Flensburg at halt-past .2
on Monday afternoon, and the steamer did not
weigh anchor till 8 o'clock on the following Thurs-
day morning. It is but fair to add that this delay
was greater than usual. The steamer for St. Pe-
tersburg generally starts the next day but one after
the arrival of the passengers. The remainder of the
distance Up the Baltic and Gulf of Finland, from
the Fiord of Flensburg to Cronstadt, is exactly
811. miles. The whole journey by this route ought
to occupy, and will, I have no doubt, occupy, just
6 days on the average, sometimes only 5 ; at pre-
sent, with th 3 delay is the capital of Schleswig, it
is above 7, and no time is gained over the long sea
passage. Why should not the travellers go on at
once by the first steamer, and the freight always by
the next Thus the passengers would each time
take with them the priv;oui journey's cargo, which
must be thus delayed in any case.
I would strongly recommend this route in sum-
mer in preference to the scramble from railway to
railway across the whole breadth of Europe; and
while it is capable of being made, as I have shown,
the quickest which the nature of things will admit
it is also full of charms both for the eye which de-
lights in beautiful scenery, and for the mind which
can muse with pleasure on the theatre of great
events, and of great conditions and beginnings of
change, which are a little less hackneyed and less
vulgarised than most others by the profaning
ecstacies of tourists and the pumped-up raptures of
diary-writers.