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    the letters of Captain Thompson are introduced , and these -will be read ¦ with deep sympathy , as well as with the interest inseparable from a vivid daily record of personal observation and adventure within the lines ' of a beleaguei'ed city . As early as July , 1855 , Captain Thompson anticipated the starving of the garrison , and made up his mind to eat cat and dog ' s flesh . It is a painful study—this journal of suffering and Gallantry , kept by a man of hearty and cordial spirit , who , we remember , died from the effects of the privations to which he so laughingly alludes . At last , however , come entries such as this : — " Oh , to labour and ht

    for some bread-iind-cheese ! I find it hard day nig when I don't get enough to eat . " In how many private diaries of the Kussian war do passages like this occur ? An old cabbage was enough to put Captain Thompson in good spirits , yet no hunger could induce him to relish the e ^ gs , assafoetida , and onions of the Turks , though he offered ten guineas for two pounds of pork , and five guineas for two bottles of beer . Every now and then , however , his letters represent the garrison as bountifully supplied with provisions , and able to hold out for months upon full rations . These assertions , of course , were intended to deceive the enemy in the event of the correspondence being intercepted .

    General Williams ' s letters are of a different stamp . They are more firm , vigorous , and practical . The first , dated from Kara in September , 1854 , is full of complaints against the Turks—Pachas skilled only in embezzlement , infantry that could not form square , and cavalry that would not approach the enemy . The latter part of the correspondence tells a different tale , except as regards the majority of Pachas , incurable in pusillanimity and corruption . Lake ' s own letters , and those , of Major Teesdale , also contribute touches to the graphic story , which , with that of the siege of Silislria , forms the romantic episode of the Russian war . After the surrender , Teesdale

    • wrote : — We were left to perish ; the poor men getting weaker and more wretched day by day , until at last the state of the troops was so fearful , that they would not haye had the strength to march for au hour , and any attempt to march out would positively have been utterly useless , and would , probably , have resulted in a massacre of those brave men , who have watched and fought their strength away ; and who , betrayed and abandoned , are now lying about in heaps , dying and disgraced , —prisoners to those whom they conquered—the property , so to say , of the power they have so long defied . Still , even in our degradation , I cannot help feeling that the disgrace lies with those whose dutv it was to help us : and not with us , who , I believe in my

    heart , have done what men could do . But it matters little as to causes , now we have only the result to occupy us ; so do not be surprised at any bitterness on . my part : it m&y have been from the policy of governments , or from the passions of one bad man , or from bad generalship without the town ; it little matters now : Kars has fallen . $ uch was the opinion of the defenders of Kars . But the first comfort of their captivity was to find General Mouravieff " a perfect old gentleman . " The dejected Turks , eighteen thousand in number , were paraded before their enemies , and it was a melancholy scene . Two hundred and thirty had died of hunger on the day before the capitulation . The rest were so weak that eighteen perished during the short march to the Russian camp . Others were killed by their first full meal—of bread and soup ; but the British officers found their position changed as if by enchantment . They were in the midst of cordial friends , who entertained them sumptuously ; though even the general ' s banquet had its saddening influence , for outside the pavilion waved the captured banners of Kars . Says Colonel Lake : —

    My feelings on retiring to bed I shall not easily forget . I was pervaded by a calm sense of security , —an absence of the trying responsibility which had , for months , become a habit of mind . The thought that there were no longer any risks or terrors to be endured—and that night , even in the camp of an enemy , might bring reposethat I should no longer be aroused from my short sleep b y the uncertain sounds of an attack , the roar of cannon , or the rattle of musketry , —this pleasant vacuity from fear and care hilled all my senses like a gentle opiate—and I soon fell asleep . These sensations , however , soon proved to be very deceptive . AVliat had become almost a normal state of mind and body was not to be shaken off in a day . I cannot say that I experienced the crgri somnia , for I never was in better health in my life ; but every alight sound awoke me , and what sleep I had was disturbed .

    Dreaming , he woke amid the fancied uproar of the siege , and felt that ho must rush once more to defend Fort Lake or Yuksek Tahiti ; but , in a day or two , the chief prisoners of war were sent from the scene of their heroic efforts , on their inarch to Alexandropol , where , instead of pounding with round shot at the heads of advancing columns , they clashed large crystal cups with the Russian officers , and drank claret at discretion . Poor Thompson sighed no longer for bread-and-cheese and bitter ale . Moreover , they were entertained by a princess , and felt like champions in Fairyland . In the midst of these hospitalities Colonel Lake remembered thnt he had a military eye : —

    I viBited the fort , which seemed strong , but with more than even English honesty , not to abuse the confidence reposed in me , examined it "with only half an eye . My professional brethren , who know what the temptation of an ofiicer of engineers in an enemy ' s fortification ia , will appreciate the immensity of the struggle between curiosity and honour . When , however , I looked at . the heavy sie ^ o guns , I could not refrain from a grateful reflection that they had not been brought to bear upon our avo ^ s at Kara , where our want of ammunition would have rendered us utterly helpless . General Mouravioff" will be sorry to hear that he might have taken Kara at the cannon ' s mouth , instead of starving it into surrender . The entry into Tiflis was triumphal . The British ofliceru were superbly accommodated in an hotel , for which the Imperial Government paid KiO / . u month , rent : — Hotel prices were enormous . One item I remember , and fho rest were in proportion . They charged uh one Hhilling and cightnenco for every cup of ten , which , even with the addition of a hHcc of lemon , imint bo admitted to be more than ample remuneration for tho luxur ) ' in question . The- keep of horsow , alno , was expensive , onu rouble , or three shillings and fourpenecs per day each .

    In tho price-current supplied in thia diary , wo find , also , that Colonel Lake ' s fur coat cost 24 / ., mid was a gift from tho emperor . At tho Tiflis theatre , tho colonel " gazed admiringly on tho manytwinkling feet of Mosdomoisellca Sankoffkky , Gregoriovn , and Ivanovna , " and saw tho actress Petrova perform in her favourite characters . Ho does not , however , fall into Lieut . Royern ' s mistake , and , because ho wns , upon tho whole , hospitably treated , think it necessary to praise every

    person and everything in Russia . On the contrary , a certain Prince Karsbek , of Kirshelt , is described as an inhospitable barbarian , arrogant , uncouth , and ridiculous . At Karshowar , Colonel Lake made a brief stay under different auspices : — The fact is that the whole village was drunk . Every man was distinctly and unmistakably intoxicated ; and it is to be hoped , and ia indeed strongly suspected , that the men had not been so ungallant and selfish as to exclude the women and children from their share in the excitement . There were no teetotallers in Karshowar . Indeed , though not myself a member of that respected body , I nevertheless should now have preferred the most whining apostle of temperance to " the rude disciple of beer " or raki , if he had combined with his abstinence from inebriating beverage some skill ia the science of coach-building . Our spacious and respectable , but clumsy britska had received an injury , and there was not a Karshowarian sufficiently sober to mend it . Two or three drunken fellows staggered up to us , seemed to gain some slight insight into our meaning , and after a futile attempt to grasp it , abandoned themselves entirely to sleeping stupidity or comic gesticulation .

    We are afraid somebody has assisted Colonel Lake in the composition of bis hook , certain allusions and forms of speech being forced in at times with a facility that , besides conventionalizing the page , is unmistakably that of the bookmaker . This sketch of a Transcaucasian landscape is scarcely that of the bluff" soldier who pointed the guns in Lake Battery : — Around us , spreading far away , leagues and leagues before and behind us , lay a wilderness of snow , in its vague and almost terrible immensity . Our figures , and the shapes of our cattle and conveyance , seemed to stand out from the white landscape in such bold and conspicuous relief , that we could fancy that hundreds of miles off we might be plainly seen . Near us the snow glared almost fiercely in our faces with dazzling brightness . Farther away its lustre seemed to soften down , and catch the shadow of some flitting wreath of cloud or vapour . Jutting out from this frothy sea of snow , at wide intervals , perchance a clump , but oftener a solitary fir-tree , towered in Hack and fearful distinctness , as if keeping watch over the lifeless and silent solitude . _ _ _ _

    Aa we commenced our descent , an infinite space lay stretched before us—a very Universe of Snow , upon whose dim horizon hung heavily large fleecy masses of cloud , fitfully changing into forms more and more fantastic—picturesque palaces of fanciful device—battlements of " kingliest masonry , " flaming with the crimson splendours o the setting sun . JSTo unpractised pen has been at work here . Having listened in a Cossack village to airs from Norma , played by a Lieut , of Engineers , and to passages from Byron recited by a Russian lady , Colonel Lake saw , at Stavropol , the celebrated Lesghian dance , eat " roast beef "—which is antelope flesh—and took a survey of manners on the estate of a great nobleman . Thence hurrying to his destination at Penza , he was once more compelled to record a protest against Russian prices—one pound sterling for a bottle of champagne , thirteen shillings and sixpence for a bottle of bitter ale . Nevertheless , he remarks : — My diary at Penza is such a repetition of pleasant parties , kind attentions , and all that is agreeable to remember , that I fear I shall shock the minds of well-regulated people who probably think that a prisoner should have been consistently miserable , or that an Englishman should never admire , or , if he does , should not laud , the graces of

    Foreign Society . Colonel Lake's slight , but interesting narration , though it describes no new aspects of Russian society , will be eagerly read . But the important portions of the volumes are the letters of General Williams and Captain Thompson , which must be perused in full ; they would not be fairly represented by extracts . We do not dwell further on them because they relate to familiar details , and are chiefly interesting for the corroborative testimony they supply on the historical points connected with that memorable episode —the blockade and capitulation of Kars .

    Untitled Article

    SIGHT-SEEING IN GERMANY . SUiht-seeing in Germany and the Tyrol , in the Autumn of 1855 . By Sir John Forbes . J u Smith , Elder , and Co . Sir JonN Forbes ' * first volume of continental travelling sketches—The rhmidaiCs Holiday—was a thoroughly successful book . Many an excursionist in Switzerland has given it room in his carpet-bag , and what is a still greater testimony to its value , has not repented that he gave it room . In its practical hints it was a good supplement to the guide-books , and there

    was a certain holiday zest in its descriptions which made them agreeable to rend . The companionship of a keen-sighted professional man , who was giving himself a brief repose from hard work , was a pleasant contrast to that of lnn « uid lady travellers , and vaguely " intellectual" men . This new volume of Sight-seeing is far from being as readable as its predecessor . Indeed , on first running through it Ave were inclined to think that , as some men , when they happen to have made one successful speech , start " on their legs" again on the slig htest pretext , so Sir John Lorbes luvl book

    been prompted to produce this volume rather by the success of his old than by the pressure of new material . For , seated comfortably in our armchair ut home , wo saw extremely little charm in the ordinary details of a well-trodden route and in tho common-place record of superficial impressions not . in the least distinguished from those of the average English traveller , who niny , or rather -must , be met with any summer ' s day on a continental railway . But we remembered that if we had been setting out on a first trip to Germany the slightest practical hints would bo acceptable to us , and that though wo should assuredly not put Sight-seeing in Germany in . our carpethu . r we should bo glad to learn the author ' s routo , and experience as toimiH

    and modes of progress . Tho very title of the book is enough to warn oil all readers except those who have the special object of getting guide-book information , over and above what is to bo found in the guide-book proper . Continental sightseeing" is wo belitivo , often recommended on hygienic principles , because it is the occupation which allowa the least possible amount of consecutivo thought or depth of impression , and in fact tends more than anything clsu to transform dyspeptic intelligence into peptic stupidity . In every other light we suppose , most persons arc agreed thnt to rush from a cathedral to an arsenal , from an arsenal to a museum , from a museum to a picturegallery and from n picturo-gallery to a zoolog ical collection in the compass

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    August 2 , 1856 . ] T H _ E _ . _ L . jBAgjj ^_ 737

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 2, 1856, page 737, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2152/page/17/