Democrat and sentinel. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1853-1866, 1855-03-29


news of his death, smiled, and said, - She
was rejoieed TO hear it, as he had died for the
emperor" Imperial muni6cence rewarded
her with a splendid dowry, and the assurance
that her future fortune should be cared for
There is need now TO encourage q show OF
patriotism. The Englishwoman who, on her
return, found London streets as full of peace
as when she quilted them had left st. Pc
tersburg wearing far different aspect. Long
lines of cannon and ammunifion-w wagons drawn
up hero and there; parks of artillery contin-
ually dragged about outworks being construc-
ted !, regiments marching in and out; whole
armies submitting to inspection and departing
on their mission, told of the deadly struggle
to which the Cars ambition had committed
him There was no hour IN which wretched
recruits might not be seen tramping in weari-
w. BY hundreds and by thousands, to receive
the emperor's approval 1t is hard for us in
this country to conceive the misery attending
the terrible conceptions which plague the sub
jects of the Russian empire. Except recruits
hardly young. man is to be seen in any of
the villages the post roads are being all
mended by women and girls. Men taken
from their homes and families, leave behind,
among the women, broken ties and the foun-
dation of a dreadful mass of vice and immoral
ity.- Il is fearful enough under ordinary cir
cumstances 'sTrue communism" !" said a
Russian noble, g is to be found only in Rus
sia." ssaa Ssd as-z-Is6
One morning poor woman went crying
bitterly to the Englishwoman, saying that her
two nephews had just been forced from her
house to 60 into the army. tried'-we
leave the relator of these things to speak in
her own impressive words - l tried to con-
sole her, saying that they would return when
the war was over; but this only made her
more distressed - No. no !" exclaimed she,
in the deepest sorrow, g they4will never come
back any more the Russians are beaten in
every place." Until lately the lower classes
were always convinced that the emperor's
troops were inyincible; but it.seems, by what
she said, that even they have got to know
something of the truth. A foreigner in St.
Petersburg informed me that he had s.gone to
see the recruits that morning, but there did
not seem to be much patriotism among them !:
there was nothing but sobs and tears to be
seen among those who were pronounced fit for
service, whilst the rejected ones were frantic
with delight, and bowed and crossed them
selves with the greatest gratitude Reviews
were being held almost daily when the Eng
lishwoman left, and she was told that, on one
occasion, when reviewing troops destined for
the South the Emperor was struck with the
forlorn and detected air of the poor sheep whom
lie was sending to the slaughter.
:. Hold your heads upw he exclaimed an
grily- g Why do you look SO miserable p
There is nothing to cause you 10 be so p
There is something to cause HIN TO be SO, we
are very much disposed to think.
But we did not mean to tell about the war.
The vast empire over which the Czar has rule
is in a half-civilized- would be almost more
correct to say-in an uncivilized state. Great
navigable rivers roll useless through extensive
wilds Except the excellent roads that com
meet st. Petersburg with Moscow and Yith
Warsaw, and few fragments of road serving
as drives in the immediate vicinity of these
towns, there are no roads at all In Russia that
are roads in any civilized sense. The post
roads of the empire are ciear;ngs through
wood, with boughs of trees laid here and there,
tracks over steppes and through morasses -
There is everywhere the grandeur of nature !;
but it is the grandeur of its solitudes. A few
huts surround government post stations, and
small brick houses at intervals of fifteen or
twenty miles along the routes are the halting
places of gangs destined for Siberia A few
log huts, many of them no better than the
wigwams of Red Indians. some of them ader-
ned with elegant wood tracery. a line of such
dwellings,, and commonly also row of willows
by the w&yside, Indicate Russian village
A number of churches and monasteries with
domes and cupolas, green. gilt, or dark blue,
studded with golden stars, and surmounted
each by cross standing on a crescent; bar
racks, a government school and a post Office !;
a few good houses, and great number of
huts-constitute q Russion provincial town,
and the surrounding wastes or forests shut it
in The rapid traveller who follows one Of the
two good lines of road. and sees only the show
places of Russian civilization, may be very
much deceived. Yet even here he is deceived
only by show. The great buildings that
appear so massive are of stuccoed brick, and
evsn the massive grandeur of the .quays, like
that OF infinitely greater works. the Pyramids,
Is allied closely to the barbarous. They were
constructed at enormous sacrifice of life. The
foundations of St. Petersburg were laid by
ieyles OF men who persisted ky hundreds of
thousands IN the work. One hundred thous-
and died of famine only. S q, IS
The civilization of the Russian capital is
not more than skin deep. One may see this
any day in the streets. The payements are
abominable. Only twoor three streets are
lighted with gas in the rest oil glimmers -
The oil lamps are the DINNER for being sub
jeet to the pecuiation of officials. Three wicks
are charged for, and two only are burnt the
difference is pocketed by the police. All the
best shops are kept by foreigners. the native
Russian shops being mostly collected in CEN
trai bazaar, Gostinoi Dwor. The shopkeepers
appeal TO the ignorance Of Q half barbarous
na'.on by putting pictures of their trades over
:. .nelI doors and in his shop Russian strives
20 cheat with oxsou<.l N.