Washington sentinel. [volume] (City of Washington [D.C.]) 1853-1856, 1855-04-10

Mahmoud. He always declared that the latter
was the better of the two, as he had paid the
highest price for him, of which he always re-
minded him when they met
/ Affairs in the Crimea remain in statu quo.
Everything has now devolyed upon the French,
the English finding themselves in the novel
position of having field marshal and nume-
| rous and brilliant staff, with scarcely the apol-
ogy of an army to command. Should no rein
forcements shortly arrive, Lord Raglan will
find himself, with his aids, alone in their glory
What few English soldiers that remain fit for
duty are usefully but certainly not glorohsly
employed in carrying up shot and shell for the
French. That it should have come to thisl
instead of being the victors of Sebastopol, 10
find themselves in three little months the hum
bio a~adses Of tAeir esSaico, THO Esensh- fri-ia
certainly is singular position for an empire
upon which the sun never sits, to find herself at
the very commencement OF q war which she
provoked, unable to keep in the field an army
which can be of the least service in carrying it
on.
Ifyour readers will examine map of South
ern Russia, they find in the province of Khers-
Boug, about twenty miles above their influx
into the waters of the Black Sea, the city of
Nicholas, founded in 1856 by Potempkin, un-
der the reign of Catherine, the I'd. Built upon
a commanding eminence, its position is i'm
pregnable, whilst the mouth Of the river being
defended by two immense fortresses, Kilbou-
roun on the southern, and Otchakof on the
northern side, and fine military road for the
easy conveyance of artillery running along the
top of its high and precpitous banks, and the
stationary batteries placed along them, render
an attack from the sea impossible. The exten-
sive dock-yards are filled with the finest ship
ts. L.. H. a
and Dneiper, from the Polish provinces. The
magazines and arsenals contain every material
for constructing vessels of war, and completely
fitting them out, and the entrance Of the Boug
being without the delta of the Dneiper, the
water is of sufficient depth to float those of the
largest size.
In ordinary times about six thousand me-
chancs are employed in the different depart
ments of ship-building, but now the number
has swelled to the enormous amount of $4,000,
many being busily employed in constructing
bomb proof boats to engage those which Eng
land and France intend sending out in the
spring With the immense means always thus
securely placed at his disposal, the Gear, even
should the feet of Sebastopol be destroyed,
would, in a few years, be enabled to replace
it with a larger and more efficient one of
steamers. With this immenae and impregna-
BILE naval arsenal in its possession, the Allies,
should they succeed in this present enterprise,
will have accomplished but little in destroying
the power of Russia in the Black Sea. AS long
as Nicholaef remains, it must ever be para
mount. This must add double poignancy to
their grief and modification, when they reflect
upon their already severe losses, and look for
ward to the still greater ones, they must inevi-
tably incur before they can leave the inhospi-
table shores of the Crimea, either as victors or
vanquished.
Nothing can be more supremely ridiculous
than the attempts that some Turkish artists
have lately made to commemorate the victories
of their favorite General Omer, Pasha. l saw
one not long since representing the battle Of
Oltinitza, and though the Prophet denies the
bliss of Paradise to any one of his followers who
shall represent on paper any thing in air above,
the earth beneath or in the waters under the
earth, am sure that if this effort had been
produced in Judgment against him the artist
ought not to be excluded. The print was about
two feet by one and a half Omer Pasha, at
least the peculiar looking figure that was in
tended for him, covered nearly twothirds of
the whole paper, and like the Olympian Jove
his head pierces the skies, if the streak OF in
digo drawn across the top of the picture was
ment for the celestial regions. His horse was
in such a distorted position that he looked as
III
acute rheumatism, and in his agony was sweep.
ing away two little conical mounds intended
for the Balkan mountains in the distance. Tho
Danube, supposed to flow near the scene of
action, resembled big black snake which the
courageous general was endeavoring to cut into
with his sword as it crawled before his eyes.
The artist, to show his unmitigated contempt
for the Russians, and their great disparity of
size to that of the doughty Pasha, covered what
little space he could with number of small
green figures, that would have passed any
where for bull frogs dressed in soldiers clothes,
whilst the smallest imaginable spot, reserved
for the battle, was filled with the queerest look
ing objects, which it was impossible to recog-
nize. A lively imagination might have given
them the forms of Turks, horses, artillery and
every other thing requisite for a field Of battle.
must confess, though | have seen many,
pictures never before beheld such produc.
ton. 1t was, however, refreshing to witness
the undisguised admiration with which the turks
gazed upon this wonderful effort of native
genius. $.