Southern shield., 1853-11-12
The European War.

| l he New ! Ork OOurler ~ Enqu ulr- CT has the following remarks upon the ability of the two respective Flu ropean combatants:
 Turkey maintained a hard contest with Russia twenty-five years ago; she will maintain far harder one now. Then she had a revenue of twenty millions of dollars,-an army of but thirtv-two thousand men, un- organised.%and without tried gener- als-no fleet, for her fleet had been destroyed at Navarino, all her great Christian population in state of subordination on account of the re- cent war with Greece, Egypt her enemy, and Syria and Arabia under the control of Mehemet Ali. Now she has twice the revenue-an army six times as large, thoroughly equip ped, well disciplined, ably officered "a powerful feet-almost the en- tire Christian population enthusiasti- callv in her favor-all the Mahom- etan races of north Africa and Wes- tern Asia making common cause with her. Russia is hardly more powerful now than then. Her fleet has not materially increased. She then laid a hundred thousand Poles and thirty thousand Cicassians in her army; now every Pole in her army, and sixty thousand men are required to keep these Circassians in check. If she had no wealth then, she has but little now, and but limited credit. A spirit of desertion pervades the Russian troops in the Municipalities, so that there has already been a ne- cessity of withdrawing the regular cavalry two marches from the Dan ube ,and replacing themwith Cossacks. The cholera is making sad havoc in the Southern army; and as far as re- lates to commissariat and hospital accommodations; Russia is now in much the same condition as in the last war, when she lost 150,00O men and 50,000 horses by disease and hunger alone. Besides ali this the Russian forces, on the ground, are absolutely inferior in numbers 10 the Turkish, and the season is too far advanced to allow material reinforce ment.
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 A PIcTURE.-The following DOT trait of the New York "Softs," or "Puttyheads," is drawn by ex-Sen- ator Daniel $. Dickinson, of New York. in a late speech. He is de- scribing theirConvention atSyracuse, and the character ofits members:
 "In addition" said he, "to nu- merous corps of public officers, State and national, with the bribery of office, and the threats of expulsion, there were there, by Freesoil pro- curements, to take part in the pro- ceedings of the Convention, the spawn of a general jail delivery from the city of New York-the black vomit of the tombs of BlackwelPs Island-the hair-lips, slittled ears, broken noses blear eyes, and on an average, only about two whole ones to thlee men; creatures about as rag ged as Lazarus, and murderouS as Cain, mottled with disease, foul with stench, creeping with vermln. shaggy with drunken ferocity, and armed with the implement of their trade-slung shot and bowie knives were there, under the control of public officers, to force respectable Democrats and peaceful citizens in- to harmonious concert with those who brought them there"
 1
 It is said they have in Marseilles' France, bank, in which commodi- ties are made the medium of trade instead of cash. They exchange butter for boots, and boots for butter, candles for chickens and chickens for candles, &c. This is going back to first principles.
 
 Over three hundred witnesses have been subpened in the Martha Wash ington case now on trial at Columbus, Ohio.