The Sun.
London, England, 1867-09-04 00:00:00

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

Sru,-A newspaper paragraph (originating, I
have no doubt, in some innocent mistake), to the
effect that I am much out of health, has become
widely circulated, both in England and abroad, and
has brought many inquiries upon me. Will you
allow me to state in your columns that the state-
ment is wholly destitute of foundation, and that I
never was better in my life.—Faithfully yours,

CHARLES DICKENS.
Gad's hill Place, Iligham-by-Rochester,
Kent, September 2.

THE RUSSIAN ARMY.

Mr. Consul Michell states in his June report that
the Budget for 1866, with a supplementary esti-
nihte, puts the expenditure of the Russian army at
118,792,289 roubles, or about £18,800,000, a saving
of above 9,000,000 roubles as compared with the
previous year's Budget. But the St. Petersburg
Gazette represents that although the Budget of 1865
only provided for the expenditure of 128,000,000
roubles upon the army the expenditure in that year
amounted to 150,000,000 roubles. The Gazette

says that each Russian soldier costs the State 200
roubles (£3l 135.), and that this sum, though less
than the cost in France, is more than that of
Prussia or Austria. Senator Hagemeister, in his
exhaustive work on the Budget of 1866, in which
he estimates the expenditure on the army as 70 per
cent. higher than it was in 1845, reckons the pre-
sent strength of the Russian army, rank and file, at
above 800,000. A statistical work recently published
by the Ministry of the Interior estimated the
strength of the Russian army as follows :—•Regular
troops.—Ordinary peace establishment, 902,56 t
officers and men, and 69,590 horses ; strengthened
establishment, 1,016,641 officers and men, and
93,502 horses ; war establishment, 1,242,182 offi-
cers and men, and 151,341 horses. The irregular

troops are estimated to amount to 229,225 officers
and men, and 213,826 horses ; the number enrolled

in 1866 was 81,088 officers and men, and 67,225
horses. The Consul remarks that the Russian army

is drawn from a male population of 25,000,000 in
Russia proper, and from not more than 2,000,000
in the Kingdom of Poland. Irrespective, therefore,
of the 45,000 men serving in the Imperial navy, the
800,000 rank and file of the army are supplied by
a population of about 55,000,000 male and female,
and the army thus constituted 1 4-10 per cent. of
that portion of the population which is liable to
conscription. The numerical relation of the army
to the population of the empire (70,000,000) exceeds
that of France and Prussia by one-third. At the
same time the number of young men eligible n Rus-
sia for service is comparatively far smaller than in
other countries of Europe, where about 1 per cent.
of the population yearly reaches the age of 20
years, and 40 per cent. of these are fit for military
service. In Russia, owing to the mortality among
children, it takes 50,000,000 of population to pro-
duce the number of young men of 20 years that
France can command with a population of
38,000,000. The number of men of the class liable
to military service, who reach the age of 20 in
Russia, is, according to this calculation, about
400,000 per annum; of these perhaps not more
than 160,000 are fitted for the army, and 100,000
are actually taken yearly, and only return to their
families after eight years' service. The figures shoal
the onerous nature of the conscription in Russia,
apart even from the heavy expenditure it involves,
amounting in the estimates (always exceeded) to
one-third of the gross anticipated revenue. Nor,
is this the whole charge to the country. The annual
expense to the male taxable population of furnish'
ing a contingent of 100,000 recruits cannot be less
than 3,500,000 roubles (£554,000), while their
liability to transport and quarter troops is estimated
at 15,000,000 (£2,375,000), the two together con-
stituting a tax of 60 to 70 copecks (23d. to 27d.)
per male. At the same time, in order to possess
irregular troops, 3,000,000 of a population occupy'
ing the most fertile provinces of the empire are
exempted from all taxes and contributions.

MR. BRIGHT AND THE AMERICAN WAR.—SoIn°

time ago Mr. Bright received from the American ladies
managing the National Association for the Relief of
Destitute Coloured Women and Children an Afghan
which had belonged to President Lincoln, but which Mrs'
Lincoln had contributed to the National Fair for Orphans'
In acknowledging the receipt of this present, Mr. Brig"
says :—" I have great satisfaction in viewing the course
I took in reference to your great struggle, and of t`T,
lament that it was not taken by all my countrymen.
all the influential men of this country had looked with a
generous eye upon your late contest, I believe the two
i
nations would have been united in a solid friendship whic,
nothing hereafter would have been able to disturb•
hope good men and women in both countries will do. sll
they can to wipe out the remembrance of all that is 0111°
the past. This is needful for the good of the two couutriet
and for the good of all the world."