The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1853-01-06
RICHMOND, VAT
THE LITERARY MESSENGER.

very amusing, and IS drawn, we nave no oouo''
with considerable fidelity. though as it relates
10 q subject with which We are not familiar.
we are unable TO state how far il is truth and
how far caricature. The best likenesses, by
the way. are very often found in the latter.
The article on the Destiny OF Russia, con-
tains, we think, much sound reflection, though
~e 10 not entirely agree with all the writer 8
specula,ions. The power of Russia is grea',
no doubt, and is established upon busis
which allows of a very great increase. 1t is
entirely free of debt, and possesses currency
of unimpeachable excellence, every rouble OF
paper being represented in the Treasury al
ST. Petersburg by a rouble Of specie. The
whole Of this vast machine is in the hands OF
the Emperor, and its movements are governed
by his pleasure. OF course there is no posi-
bilty of deranging the currency, unless such
arrangement should proceed from the act OF the
government ITSELF Against all foreign attempts
IT is absolutely impregnable. Its territories are
peopled, in great part by what are called Little
Russians, the most thriving and most pro-
life race on earth. 1t has always under arms,
force variously estimated at 7, 8, and 9d0,00O
men. The doctrine Of the entire population is
implicit obedience to the will Of the Emperor,
and the policy of that monarch, derived through
all his Successors, from Peter the Great, has
been conquest. OF such formidable proper
,ions, with such formidable means, aud with
such formidable end in view, it is not won
derful that Russia should be a source OF dis
Quiet to all Southern and Western Europe
Napoleon, with the sagacity which SO emf
nently distinguished him from all the states
men of bis day, foresaw the danger which
threatened Europe from this source, and sought
10 avert it. He always maintained that France
and England should have entered into an ALI
ance TO curb the progress Oft this ambitious and
aggressive power. The little statesman who
ruled that Great Kingdom, the poetaster Can
ming, the plHce-hunter Percival, and the abso.
lutist Castelreagh were unable TO comprehend
him, and received his overtures with insult
While at ST. Helena he said, in fifty years Eu.
rope will be either Republican or Cossac, and
hen he said so, he doubtless considered rath-
CT L 10 uCdpaSity Vi huiopo W ioSi6', 'ioai hiS
power Of Russia to enforce.
Whatever Allison, whose blind admiration Ct
absolute governments would better become the
latitude of St. Petersburg than that OF Edin-
burg, may say to the c ontrary, the military
exploits of Russia, considering that she is al
ways 1t war somewhere, and has been ever
since the battle Of Narva, have not been ex-
uaordinary. She has pretty generally beaten
the Turks, it is true, and has conquered so
many tribes, that there are said to be no less
than forty thrones kept for show at Moscow
for at St. Petersburg, we forget which;) but
with the single exception of Souvaroff's Italian
campaign, which has been grossly exaggera-
ted, she has never conducted any enterprise
against Western Europe successfully unless
by dint ofsuperior numbers. All that Allison
land Segur, from whom he copies, in spite of
the absolute demonstration of his entire I'm.
worthiness of credit by Gourgaud, Partou-
neaux and others,) can say, cannot alter facts.
So far from its having been proved in the con-
test with France, that "the Russians are the
best soldiers in the world" that contest
proved that they were far from being entitled
10 the credit which they had hitherto received
upon that score. They were shamefully rout
ed at Austerlitz, where their own force, ex.
elusive of 10000 Austrians, was superior 10
the French, and laid down their arms by bril-
gades. At Etlau they had every advantage
in their favor. They had $4,000 men on strong
ground. supported by more than 500 pieces of
artillery, 800 being in their first line, and the
remainder with the reserve. The greater part
ofthese guns v ere siege pieces of the heaviest
metal. They were, besides, in a climate to
which they were enured, and which was fatal
TO the French. They had the farther advan.
lage ola tremendous snow -storm, which was
at their backs, and drove directly in the faces
of the French, one of whose corps was so
blinded by it, that it lost its direction, and
stood exposed for an hour to the fire of ghty
pieces OF heavy artillery loaded with grape, at
point blank distance, without being able to re-
turn the fire. The French had but "a 900 men,
and less than 900 pieces of artillery. Two
hours before the battle ended, the Prusslan
General Lestocq, with 5000 men, arrived and
took part in the engagement, so that IN all they
had 50, 900 against $4,000. 1t is true that Mar
shall Ney followed close at Lestccq's heels with
5000 men, but when he got up the Russians
had already been engaged an hour, and their
attack had failed. Beningsen retreated in the
night, carving off with him large portion OF
his wounded but he left $1,000 killed and
wounded on the field, and the French found
$4,000 more of the latter in the villages, where
he had left them. They took, besides, 1000
prisoners. and 10.006 Russians left their CO.
lors SO that he had lost, besides 10000 in
resr-suard actions before the battle, 40, 600
men out of 10000 on that day. He did not
halt, but literally fed TO Konigsberg, whittier
he was pursued by the French cavalry. He
failed, utterly, in his object, which had been
TO relieve Dantzig. That city, with its large
garrison and enormous resources, fell, shortly
after, into the hands of the French. The ad
vantages gained in this battle, it is true, were
not so greata those which had been obtained
al AusterIitz and Jena. Still they were enor.
nous, and had they been obtained by anybody
but Naboleon-who had so accustomed the
world to expect the enemy's destruction wher-
ever he commanded, that anything less was
scarcely regarded as vic,ory-~ould have
IN oauc;darsd Nom ,ha