Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1876-02-09


Dor strictlYsso,cslled, instead of a crowd
Of merchant yesaels lying at anchor you
see only two English steamers being re.
paired upon the slips. The landing
place itself seems to sum up the history
Of the town. A fine broad flight Of
steps leading down 10 the waters edge,
surmouated oy Dofic colonpsde, with
the date 1876, marks the era of hope
and growth; while the pillars themselves,
SCARED here and there with shot, con.
trasting strangely with the mean, ruin.
GUS buildings about them, mark the
downfall Of the hopes and the cessation
Of the growth. Sevastopol, indeed is
only iust beginning to emerge from the
despondeneY of the last twenty years.
The docks ore stitl wilderness, over
grown With grass and weeds, with old
.gunsand anchors imbedded in the earth,
showing that the work of destruction
was veil carried out by the allies. Fresh
docks and arsensls, meanwhile, have
been erected at Kertch and Nikolaieff; /;
and no attempt has until quite lately
been made to develop the commercial
resources Of SeyastOpols In many
places yol may pass through streets
silent aud desolste as the streets Of Pom
peii; houses shattered partly by bonn
bardment, partly by the destruction
wrought by the Russians when abandon
ing the place, principally perhaps by
the want OF gre.wood felt by the allies
during the occupation Of the winter
1866. Add to this that the sun beats
down upon the arid rock with frightful
force, that there are scarcsly any trees
to relieve the eye, and that the dust is at
least ankle.deep 10 all the streets and
squares; and il follows that Sevsstopol
is scarcely, more desirable as a place Of
residence in the summer than ina the
winter. There are, however, not want
ing signs Of life and Improvement.
The old barracks ct the head OF the
harbor, between that aud the Dockyard
creek, still stand up against the skyline
q ghastly row Of empty windows, and
rooGesG walls four stories high; butthere
are new barracks, further north, between
the old docks and the road-steaai where
large garrison is now accommodated
A railway station is now open at the
head Of the harbor, from which you can
90 direct in tbeee days and two nights to
Moscow. Fresh hoHses have been built
during the last two years. spd more are
building. Churches are springiug up
again with all Che glittering ornament
that marks the Russian style Of archi-
tecture. The high ridge in the center of
the town, from whence, according to
Kinglake, the Russians frst marked the
English de6ling across the nights of
Mackenzie's farm, is now laid out Rs a
boulevard, with cafe and olubroom.
On Sundays this club-room is devoted to
dancing; aud the sight OF this boulevard,
thronged with people, while the darkness
conceals the ruins round about, makes
you fancy that you are in the miast Of a
thriving and populous town. The most
thickly Inhabited part has indeed strayed
down from the eastern to the western
side Of the ridge away from the Man-of-
War Hsrbor toward the creeks which
Kinglake calls Artillery Bay and the
Quarantine Harbsr, so that traveller on
first landing is more, perhaps, struck by
the appearance of desolation than is
strictly fair. The great sea forts how.
ever-FoRt Nicholas, Fort Alexander,
aud the Quarantine Sea Fort-Which
guarded the entrance 10 the roadstead
on this side, are an indistinguishable
heap OF ruins, and their site was marked
only by some surveying posts recently
set up The two chief hotels Of the
town are both near tho landing place,
and though neither of them very ump
tuous, will supply all that you can fairly
ask