New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1854-10-31


rsbia, "a, OOO in the Crimea, or marching toward
it, and 46, 900 in the Caucasus. On the Baltic
there were, up to the end Of August:
In Finland the reserve of the 9th Corps. 800
The Finnish Corps. $4,000
The Guards and their reserves. 90 500
OF the Grenadier Corps at ReveL ........... 5000
Total. .lO5 900
There were in Poland, or marching for it:
Men.
The remainder of the Grenadiers and their re-
serves 0o,VJo
The LIST and I'd Corps and their 900
Cossacks and cavalry Of different corps... 80 600
Various reserves. .........''......-... 2o,oOJ
Total. 23O, 900
Making all together about SIS, 900 men, which,
with the Oren,urs Corps, (at Astrachan) the
Reserve Cavalry Corps, and the detachments of the
White Sea and others, comes up to the number
stated before of the grand total. Of the troops
in Poland about 80, 600 were on the march, about
10000 gsrrifOned Warsaw, about 100000 &C.
cupied the right bank of the Vistula, in the late
Kingdom Of Poland, and about $4,000 remained
as a reserve in YOlhynia and Podolia, on the Bug
and DDester. Thus the main bulk of the Rus
sian army, and among them the crack regiments
of Guards and Grenadiers, WAS concentrated on
line from st. Petersburg to Chotyn, or along the
eastern frontier of the Empire. But these posi-.
tions did not appear significant enough. The
Grenadiers left Revel to be replaced by divi,
ion of Guards, and with the other two divisions
of Guards marched off to Poland, the latter four
battalion, or regiments strong, leaving only the
5th and 9th battalions in Petersburg. Thus the
army of the West was increased to above $40, 900
men, and the greater portion of the three Reserve
Cavalry Corps, mhieh hare as get not been engaged
at all, are marched off to join them; this will bring
the army of the West to some 100000 men.
Now the positions are changed. The 100, 900
men, occupying the south eastern portion of the
Kingdom OF Poland, have crossed the Vistula
and taken up position along the Austrian from
tier. The $4,000 men have advanced from Vol
hynia into Poland and continue the line along that
frontier. Guards, grenadiers-possibly the cav
airy corps, when they srriye-take central po-
sition to the rear. During the winter more
troops can be spared from the ce-bound Baltic.
By May the new levies, forming the 9TH and Sth
or neg battalions of the different regiments,
or 1872 battalons in all, 100000 to 10000
men, will be 80 far drilled as to replace
them. There is no doubt then, that Mich
olas cares comparatively little what happens
to the south of his Empire, so long as
he can concentrate above 10000 men in the
splendid strategcal position of Poland. And
splendid position it is. Driven in like wedge
between Prussia and Austria, it outfanks both,
while it is protected by the strongest means of
resistance which art and nature combined can
produce. Napoleon knew the military import
ance Of the country inclose1 by the Vistula and
its affluents. He made it his base of operations
for the campaign of r507, until he took Dantzic.
But he neglected permanently to fortify it, and
paid dearly for it after the retreat of 1912. The
Russians, especially since 1881, have done what
their predecessors in power omitted to do.
Modlin, (NovO GeoTgievsk,) Warsaw, Ivangorod,
Brzesc Litewski form system of Notifications
stronger, in its strstegcal combination, than any
other in the world. This system offers position
in which beaten army may defy double its num-
beers as long as it has plenty to eat; and, to cut
off whole country from all communications is
whole complex system OF fortresses, says a Ger.
man military writer who knows the country, in
dicates even more an aggressive than defensive
spirit. 1t is planned not so much to maintain the
ground on which it stands as to serve as base
for offensive attacks toward the west.
And there are people who believe that Nicholas
will cue for peace if Sevastopol be taken! Why
Russia has lot played one third of her trumps yet,
and the monetary loss of Sevastopol and of the
feet is hardly felt at all by the giant to whom Sc
vastopol and the fleet were but plsything. Rus
STA knows full well that her decisive action does
lot lie along the sea shores or within reach of de-
barking troops; but on the contrary, on the broad
interior of the Continent, where massive armies
can be brought to act concentrated on one spot,
without iritterng away their forces in fruitless
coast defense against evsnescent enemies. Rus
sia may lose the Crimea, the Caucasus, Finland.
St. Petersburg and all such appendages: but as
long as her body, with Moscow for its heart, aad
fortified Poland for its sword-arm. i. untouched.
she need not give in an iota.
The grand actions of le5i are. we dare say. but
the petty preludes Of the battles of nation. which
will mark the snnss Of 1855. 1t is no. until the
great Russian army Of the west. and the Austrian
amy come into plsy, no matter whether against
each other or with each other, that we shall see
real war on large scale something like the grand
wars Of Napoleon. And, perhaps, these battle.