The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1872-07-05

with pretended roughness, How dare
YOU disobey me, when | forbade you to
show yourself on Russian ground 2
81 haven't disobeyed YOU" answered
Balakireff. coolly "I'm not or Russian
ground now y
" Not on Russian ground p
"No: this cart-load OF earth that I'm
sitting on is Swedish soil. | dug 1t up
in Finland only the other day
Peter, who had doubtless begun al
ready to regret the loss OF his Jester,
| laughed at the evasion, and restored
| him to favor. Some Russian writer's EN-
bellisheel this story Ca German version
of which figures in the adventures of
Tyll Eulenspiegel) with the addition
that Peter, on hearing the excuse, an
swered, f." If Finland be Swedish soil now,
it shall be Russian before long threat
| which he was not slow TO fulfill.
The stories told of Marshal Suvorofi
are of a different order, and display,
better than whole pages of description,
the wonderful way in which he con-
trived to adapt himself to the rude
spirits with whom he had to deal, with
out losing one jot OF his authority.
What Napoleon was to the French
army, Suvoroff was to that of Russia ;
now testing with q soldier, and now re-
buking a General; one day sharing a
ration of black bread beside a bivouac
fire. and the next speaking as an equal
to princes and potentates. In fact, the
two great sponsors OF Russian wit form
most picturesque contrast. Balakiretf
has very much the character of a spaniel
in lions cage-admiring even, while
hooking his formidable patron-behav-
ing toward him with "A halt-waggish,
halfaffectionate familiarity-perpetual-
ly offending, perpetually forgiven. Su.
vorotf comes before us as an uncrowned
king, one whose authority needed no
symbol an autocrat of Natures MAX
ing, full of rough, hearty familiarity,
that was in no danger of breeding
contempt, and surrounded by men who
enioyed the bonhomie, while they dread
ed the displeasure of the little, pug
| nosed, grimy man, who was in their
ewes the incarnation of earthly power
and grandeur.
1t must be owned, however, that in
his own peculiar vein of pleasantly, the
old Marshal more than once met his
match. One of his favorite Jokes was
to confuse a man by asking him uneX.
pectedly, How many stars are there
in the sky p
On one occasion he put this question
to one of his sentries on a bitter Jan
uary night, such as only Russia can
produce. The soldier, not whit dis
turbed, answered coolly, Wait little,
and III tell YOU and he deliberately
began to count. "One, two, three" etc.
In this way he went gravely on to a
hsndred, at which point Suvoroff, who
was already half frozen, thought it high
time to ride off, not, however, without
inquiring the name of his ready reck-
oner. The next day the latter found
1 himself promoted, and the story (which
Suvoroff told with great glee to his
staff speedily made its way through
the whole army.
On another occasion one of his Gen.
erals of division sent his sergeant with
dispatches, at the same time recon-
mending the bearer to Suvorotf's notice
The Marshal, as usual, proceeded to
test him by series of whimsical ques
tons, but the catechuman was equal to
the occasion. 'How far is il TO the
moon?" asked Suvorotf.
1.-TWO of your excellency's forced
marches" answered the sergeant.
"If your men began to give way in
battle, what would you do p
I'D tell them that just behind the
enemy's line there was wagon-load OF
corn brandy"
"Suppose you were blockaded, and
had no provisions left, how would you
supply yourselfY'
"From the enemy y
"How many fish are there in the
sea ?"
" As many as have not been caught. "
And so the examination went on, till
Suvoroff, finding his new acquaintance
armed at all points, at length asked
him, as a final poser, " What is the diff.
ference between your colonel and my
self?"
"The difference is this" replied the
soldier, cody; "my colonel cannot
make me captain, but your excellen-
CIV has only TO say the word p
Suvoroff, struck by his shrewdness,
kept his eye upon the man, and in no
long time after actually gave him the
specified promotion.
Suvorotf always affected the utmost
brevity both in speaking and writing,
the terseness of his dispatches being
almost unrivalled. The correspondence
with Prince Potemkin, rel ative to the
assault of Ismail, is unique in military
history. Potemkin, copying the brew.
ty of his General, wrote to him thus
Marshal, you will take Ismail within
three days, at whatever cost-Potem'
kim" The day after the letter arrived
Suvorof carried the town by storm,
with the loss of fifteen thousand men
to himself, and thirty-eight thousand
to the enemy-summing up the fearful
tragedy in one doggrel couplet, which,
literally translated, runs as follows
| Praise to God and praise to thee
| IsmaiPs ts'en, and there be-"
The anecdotes of the great Marshal's
eccentricities-his habit of wandering OF
about the camp in disguise, his within
giving the signal for assault by Growing
like cock, his astounding endurance
of heat and cold, his savage disregard
of personal comfort and neatness-are
beyond calculation but perhaps the