render them to each other faithless allies. Nothing can be done, from deposing a king to slaughtering a hen, without a palaver, and its accompaniment, a present; no plan can be formed, no injury redressed, no visit made, no journey performed, without a palaver and a present; and when dealing with Europeans, the Africans possess a singular facility of making a considerable profit upon the presents they generously bestow upon their white friends; they will give a fowl, or a small bag of rice, or some trifling article of dress, a sprat to catch a salmon, a white bait for a John Dory, but expect in return, a premium of one hundred per cent., in the shape of baft cloth, gunpowder, tobacco, pistols, beads, in fact any European commodity ten times the value of their paltry gift. On expressing to my Foulah visitors a surprise at their writing and reading Arabic so fluently, they told me that in Foulah, children were sent to a priest or Mollah, who received a slave and two bullocks for their instruction, and "when their heads were filled with knowledge," and they could read the Koran and write, four slaves and eight bullocks were sometimes given to their tutor, for a reward, so that the office of the schoolmaster abroad becomes a flourishing trade; the value of a slave, being equal to two bullocks, may be put down at about 17. 13s. 4d., considerably more than a human being costs in the Bight of Benin or at the Calabars. (To be continued.) PRAYER DURING BATTLE*. (FROM THE GERMAN BY HEINRICH fick.) Shrouded by clouds from the cannons' fell roaring, Father, oh, lead Thou me! Father, oh, lead Thou me! Lead me to victory, lead me to death; Lord, to Thy bidding I yield up my breath; God, I acknowledge Thee! As in autumn's blasts o'er life-sear'd shore, Source of mercy, acknowledge I Thee! Father, oh, bless Thou me! Into Thy hand now my life I commend ; Thou mayst well take it, for Thou didst it lend; Father, I praise now Thee! Goods of this earth are not prize of this strife; To Thee, God, submit I me! When by the Thunders of death I'm laid low, The original German poem is by Theodor Körner. THE RUSSIAN TROOPS AT WOSNESENSK. IT has of late amounted almost to a mania with travellers and others, (excepting Decker and Kohl) professing to give an accurate insight into the organization of the Russian empire, to exert their utmost ability in the exaggeration of the defects of its administration and social condition; but in the "disclosures" which have been indited, with no little assumption of the most intimate knowledge of the matters detailed, from the "Russia" of the Marquis de Custine down to other Revelations, the discerning and unbiassed reader cannot fail to detect the narrow spirit of national enmity and jealousy which colours almost every picture, and which, despite the assumption of liberality of sentiment universally professed, are perhaps more than ever the dominant feelings of civilized nations. Since 1812, these sentiments towards Russia have progressively increased with the increase of the political influence of that Power in the several cabinets of Europe, and with the growing importance of that empire. In many instances, particularly in the periodical effusions of German, French, and English journals, this tone is remarkable, but, like all emanations from the same source of feeling, they betray an evident desire to disparage at the expense of truth, without reflecting that the real probability of the thing related becomes dubious from the mode of relation, and the evident malignity of wish, which betrays itself as father to the expression. Where defects exist in the political and social economy of Russia (and where do they not?) they have been greedily snatched at to extenuate to a degree that defeats the intention, while a merit has been either advertently overlooked, or intentionally garbled or detracted from, in utter forgetfulness of the faults and anomalies existing in the political and social condition of the countries of the writers themselves. All sensible men, however, who consider that Power, under every point of view, cannot but doubt the fast-decaying and debilitated condition which is already assigned to its institutions, on account of the mere difference of their spirit from those of Western Europe, and must allow that no nation in modern times has actually exhibited an equal rapidity of development, arguing rather strength than weakness; and such, indeed, considered historically and geographically, is the increased magnitude of its importance, that since the progression of human society, no nation has furnished so vast an example of power in the aggregation of countries beneath its sway, separated no less by difference of climate than extent of distance. The monarchy of the Macedonian conqueror embraced not half the like continuous superficies of territory, nor did the proud Senate of Rome ever speak from such a distance to its conquered nations as the Emperor Nicholas, whose voice is obeyed from the banks of the Niemen to the eastern shores of America, from the palace of St. Petersburg to the foot of Mount Ararat, and to the Frozen Ocean. Indeed, whatever may be the negations of those who would deny the power of Russia, and insist upon its weakness, they are answered by the prodigious influence which its cabinet exercises, since the last days of Alexander, upon the most potent courts of Europe; and there must be some strength, and some merit, in the system of government which can preserve its authority, and a reverence, nay, even an attachment to its institutions, over the ninth part of the Continent, and the fifteenth part of the human race. No better proof of this can be adduced, than that the Government of Great Britain itself seeks more than ever, in the alliance of Russia, the most powerful auxiliary in support of the principles which it considers as the basis of its own existence, and against the future influence of the phrenetic republican spirit of France, should it eventually, under favour of the change in the maritime means of aggression, assume the shape of an armed invader upon our hitherto unassailable shores; and this, too, in the teeth even of our jealousy of the long-cherished and known desire of the Russian Government to extend its influence into Central Asia, and participate in the commercial benefits accruing to us from those countries which obey unwillingly our sceptre, and amid a continuous diplomatic struggle to oppose her sure and stealthy inroads upon the integrity of the expiring Ottoman empire. Russia has, nevertheless, exemplified in modern times the justness of the maxim, upon the steady pursuit of which Polybius indicates the reason of the success of the Romans in the subjection of the nations around them, and of the progressive extension of their power. This, also, has been effected on the part of Russia by the same uniform direction of the talents and energy of its Government to the attainment of one allengrossing object, in the pursuit of which system of vigorous policy, nations, like individuals, must eventually succeed. With respect, however, to the erroneous impressions sought to be effected by the writers alluded to, upon no one subject are the details, and the information attempted to be communicated, so incorrect, from evident want of intimate knowledge upon the subject, or professional incapacity to judge of it, than upon that of the technical organization of the military service, and of its constituent elements in that empire; and whatever may be the inductions of those who argue from the disasters which have of late years overtaken the Russian arms, in the expedition to Khiva, and in the gorges of the Caucasus, or who recur to the temporary check sustained during the Polish efforts in 1831, they will surely prove as false and vain as those which were built upon the insurmountable character of the Balkan, in 1828 and 1829, and as have proved the efforts of the once mighty Turkish power to resist the slow but continuous aggrandizement of the Slavonic race under the sceptre of the Czars. The following details from the notes of an Austrian officer, an individual, therefore, less likely to be suspected of partiality, when the relative interests of the two Powers are duly considered, may be deemed a more accurate index to the real status of the military organization of that empire, and of the quality of its elements, than has hitherto been furnished, and cannot fail in interesting the military reader desirous of accurate and unbiassed information. It is well known that the concentration of large bodies of troops for autumnal camps of exercise has been some time the commendable practice with all the Continental states, great and small, and that even with the latter it has not been a mere playing at soldiers with a single regiment for two or four hours, but a protracted reunion of all the disposable forces of the three arms, within a given, and often a very extensive circle. For magnitude, the Prussian concentration of 1843, and that of the French troops in the late operations at Metz, may be cited as grand combinations of parts of the military power of those states, and as evidences of what may be calculated upon from troops, maintained so indefatigably, and without all parsimonious consideration, in an efficient condition to take the field; but even these fall far short of the colossal reviews which have of late years taken place, under the eye of the Emperor Nicholas, in different parts of his extensive empire, of which none more than that witnessed in the autumn of 1837, in the wide steppes round Wosnesensk, by the officer alluded to, more deeply impressed the spectator with the real merits of the system of military education and training, as well as with the true character of the different troops of that Power, which it has been the fashion to treat disparagingly; his account may therefore be adduced as evidence of no mean resources, whether as to numerical power, organization, or the individual characteristics of the Russian soldier. About three miles from the Bug, on the little river Mertwon, situated in the vast and treeless steppes which extend between the Dniester and Dnieper, from Balta and Uman, down to the shores of the Black Sea, stands the village and staff-cantonment of Wosnesensk, distant about one hundred and thirty-five wersts from Odessa*. The place contains about eight hundred houses, but has now greatly improved since the magnificent Field of Arms and Military Festival, of which we are about to give the particulars. General Count Witt, then commanding the military colonies of the cavalry of the South, had, in an incredibly short space of time, completed the most astonishing preparations for the reception of the Emperor Nicholas and his distinguished guests. A palace, surrounded by a tastefully-disposed park, a neat theatre, baths, and a parade, had arisen, as if by magic, in the immediate vicinity of the heretofore humble and scarcely known village of the waste; alleys, planted with poplar trees, temples, fountains, and hedges, with everything that an elevated and tasteful mind could suggest, had been planned and carried out. Two hundred and twenty of the newly-erected houses of the colonists had been prepared for the reception of strangers alone. Each of these small houses contained an apartment, sleeping cabinet, cookery, and entry, and was neatly furnished. To each house, a General, Colonel, or Lieut.-Colonel of the troops in camp, acted as host, who was punctiliously attentive to every desire of his guests. The foreign officers received their breakfast at their own residence, but dined daily at the imperial table, which the Monarch, with his amiable consort, together with the other members of the imperial family, and the foreign princes, frequently honoured with their presence. The dining-room was in a separate building in the garden, surrounded by parterres of the most beautiful plants and flowers of a southern * The wild and trackless territory between the Bug and Dnieper was the scene of frequent contest in the wars between the Russians and Turks, from whom it was at length wrested in 1774, when the former compelled them to resign the sovereignty of all the provinces on this side of the Black Sea, and to declare the Crimea independent, the first step to the incorporation of that fine country with the growing Russian empire. climate; two horse-shoe shaped dining-tables afforded room for nearly three hundred guests, and were frequently completely filled. The tableservice was new; the attendants, respectable colonists, under the superintendence of two stewards of the imperial household. The dishes and wines were perhaps of too luxurious a character for a camp, and their variety too great, if such, on the present occasion, could be deemed a fault. During dinner, the band of one of the regiments entertained the company with select foreign and national music. On rising from table, the court repaired to the garden, where the guests usually formed a circle round the Sovereigns, who conversed with those about them in the most urbane and condescending manner. Many important matters were here discussed by officers of every grade, many opinions broached, and many professional views and doubts advanced and rectified. The evening was usually passed either at the residence of Count Witt or at the theatre, where performances took place, alternately Russian and French, every evening. The companies were not firstrate, but they did their best to give satisfaction. A peculiar arrangement had been adopted for the saddle-horses for strangers; from each of the three hundred and fifty squadrons of cavalry in the camp a horse was furnished, and for the care of these several regimental servants appointed. A Colonel, fluent with the German language, superintended the whole. At each day's manoeuvres, these horses were on the review-ground, to which the guests drove in drosckis. The men appointed to the horses were selected from the depôt squadrons of the Uhlan Division colonized in the neighbourhood of Wosnesensk; each man wore the number of the stranger's house in his forage cap. Those who objected to their horses, or whose horses were tired, could be changed. After the termination of the manœuvres, the guests usually drove home, but those who preferred to ride, could do so, and the horses were brought back by the attendants. Such were the regulations as far as concerned entertainment and convenience. We will now give some further detail as relates to the terrain, or physical character of the locality itself. The table land of the steppe, which is wholly treeless and without water, is an undulating terrain, with valleys here and there, in some places steeply indented; the soil consists of a pure sea-sand upon a firm basis of shell-chalk and granite, the latter of which, in many places, shews itself above the soil. On the surface alone, to the depth of about two feet, a black and fruitful vegetable earth furnishes a soil peculiarly favourable for the culture of every description of grain. The range of hilly ground which runs parallel with the Bug, may be of the height of from 300 to 400 feet. The ground is everywhere passable, practicable for each arm, and the few hollows and elevations of the soil present nowhere an impediment to manœuvres, not even to those of the largest masses. The view is nowhere obstructed, for neither tree nor shrub lifts itself in the desert steppe, and a single horseman may be seen at the distance of miles. The soil of the valley of the Bug between Wosnesensk and Alexandrowka is wholly composed of sand, and without a vestige of vegetation. His Majesty, the Emperor Nicholas, had assembled, near Wosnesensk, a mass of troops, of 350 squadrons of cavalry of the line, 28 battalions |