The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1858-10-28
The Present Condition Of sebastopoi

A correspondent Of The Scotsman, in a
letter dated /" Constantinople, Aug. 2Oth,"
thus describes the present state Of Sebas.
topol:
We have accomplished an excursion to
the Crimea, and we're much gratliied with
it. Sebastopol was our headquarters for q
weck, 80 we had plenty Of time TO examine
the various places Of interest in connection
with the war. Everything at present re-.
mains in very much the same state az at the
conclusion Of the war. The town, which
has been very fine one, il now but q scene
Of ruin and desolation. The present popu-
lation (rcduced from forty thousand to six
thousaBd) mostly live in the wooden huts
left by the British and French armies !;
some few stone houses have been re built,
but very few and Of common sort. The
magnificent docks remain in the state Of to-
tai ruin to which they were reduced during
the occupation OF the town by the allies
and heap, OF stone ARE the only Indications
Of the forts on the south side Of the harbOr
But on the north side the forts are 10 as ef.
fcient state az ever il being perfectly u-
dicrous TO observe how little damage they
have received from the bombardmont given
them by Lord Lyons. The trenches bat.
teries and other outwofks remain as they
were during the war, with merely the slight
alterations caused by wind and weather,
and, even at this distance Of time, cannon
balls, shot, powder cans, broken pieces Of
shells, &c, are found lying on the ground
Especially in the neishborhood Of the bat
teries) in such quantities us to keep men at
work collecting them for their value as old
iron and taking them away by cart loads.
Even whole unexploded shells are yet occa.
sionally to be met with We fell in with
one the very day Of our arrival but they
are not pleasant things to NEEDLE with, US
they at times explode, with no very appa-
rent good reason ; and an unfortunate En-.
gsh sailor was blown all to pieceS few
months ago by an accident Of this sort. !
remember seeing, some months ago, 10 the
Times, some sta ement to the effect that the
graves in the Crimca were not taken proper
care Of, but must say, came TO u very
different conclusion. ! visited most Of the
TiIpiisu CtuNttIpb VI buIuhaNu, IuhctiudUt
and the Alma, US well ar those near Sebas.
topol, and, with one exception, did not see
single monument injured or defaced. The
one and only exception is in the case Of the
obelisk erected by the British army in front
Of the Re,lan, which is mutated by divers
visitors having cut their names in the stone !:
and the inscription on it also partly defaced,
very probably, | think, in some drunken
irolic. During our short residence among
the Russians, we found them all whether
rich or poos, most civil and DESTROYS Of
obliging ug and apparently bearing us no
i'll will on account Of our country. 10 the
harbor Of Sebastopol they are very busily
employed, under the direction Of an Ameri-
can. in working with the suDken ships. They
have relipquished all hope OF getting up the
large meu Of war entire, and are now blow
ing them. up piecemeal; but with some OF
the smaller craft they are more successful,
and We saw one small steamer that had just
been raised when we left there. 1t certain
ly looked queer affair; but they said the
wood was sound, and few repairs would
make the engines all right. The steamer
that took US from Constannople to Odessa,o on
our way to the Crimea, had been submerg-
cd for about year and according to the
captain, whose statement | received with
doubt, the engines RECOMMENDED working
without any repairs being required,