Upon this point it may also be observed, that the occupation of the Danubian principalities by the Austrians is daily assuming more and more the character of a first step in the way of "partition." There are circumstances so peculiar in the position of Turkey, that all the eloquence of a Lamartine, all the efforts of diplomacy, and all the gallantry of the Western Powers, will not, without the holding of material guarantees, be able to avert the fate that awaits her. The superiority in numbers, intelligence, industry, and wealth, of the Christians in Turkey in Europe, would alone satisfy any unbiassed mind as to the future of the tyrannical Mussulman in Europe at least; but at the present moment the Russian is our political enemy, the Muhammadan our political ally but natural enemy. It will be well to consider deeply, as events proceed and facts develop themselves, how far such a country and such a people can ever be so far civilised as to be made to take rank among European nations, or to constitute a bulwark against Russian ambition and aggrandisement. We hold such policy, as advocated by Lamartine, to be a mere chimera; and that either a totally different state of things must be brought about, or material guarantees, such as the possession of the Crimea affords, must be held to preserve the peace of the world.

Shortly after the funeral of the unfortunate Captain Giffard, the first lieutenant was ordered to proceed to St. Petersburg-a long journey to be performed under such circumstances; but the details being pretty similar to what we read in most other Russian books of travel, they need not detain us here. We pass on to the interview of Mr. Royer with the Tsar, a brief but effective imperial coup de théâtre.

The emperor was standing in the middle of the room, dressed in the plain dark-blue uniform of a general-in-chief, and wore a simple white enamelled cross at the button-hole on his chest. This, I believe, was the cross of the Order of St. George, an honour conferred only upon persons who have rendered important services to their country. I imagine that his Imperial Majesty has not yet assumed the decoration of the highest class of the Order, which is worn by such men as Paskiewitch, Woronzoff, &c., and which was described to me as different in size from that worn by the emperor. I expected to see a fine tall man, but was not prepared to find his Imperial Majesty so much superior to the generality of men in height and appearance. He certainly did not look more than fifty; nor were there any particular signs of care on his countenance, at least not more than one sees in every man of his age. His features were fine and regular, his head bald in the centre, and his eye expressive of mildness, quite in accordance with his words.

I was aware that his majesty spoke both English and French, and hoped that he would address me in my native tongue. As I bowed and stepped forward, he addressed me as "Monsieur le Lieutenant,” and inquired after my health, whether I had got rid of my fever, and how and where I had caught it. He asked me about the loss of the Tiger, and inquired why we had not anchored, being so near the land. I replied that the fog was very thick, and that by our reckoning we were some distance from land when the vessel struck. He asked if I was married, made some kind inquiries respecting the family of my late captain, and informed me that Mrs. Giffard was gone to Odessa, to join her husband, not having heard of his death.

His Imperial Majesty then said that it had been his intention to grant the captain his liberty; but as that was now impossible, he would extend that grace to me as the next in command, and asked me how I should like to go home.

I was quite taken aback by this announcement, as although I had been told at Odessa that I should have my liberty, still I did not anticipate that it would be granted so soon and so freely. I was therefore unprepared to

answer the question as to my intended route, and said that I really had not thought of it; upon which his Imperial Majesty burst into a fit of laughter, much amused at my surprise and embarrassment, and said, "Allez donc, pensez-y (Go and think about it), and let me know this evening, through the minister of war, what road you would like to take." He then bowed me out of the room, turning to the prince, to whom he made some remark in Russian, and the latter followed me.

The successful landing of the allied army upon the coast of the Crimea may be considered as the first earnest step taken to revenge the invasion of Turkey by the Russians, the catastrophe of Sinope, the loss of the Tiger, and the deaths of many brave men and gallant officers. The details are not at this moment before us, but the whole extent of the great bay of Kalamita, from Cape Baba to Cape Loukul, has probably been the scene of these stupendous operations, compared with which the previous landing of hostile forces on countries about to be invaded will bear no comparison.

The preparations for a great maritime invasion were, indeed, never before upon so gigantic a scale, nor so complete as in the present instance. The result shows more than anything else what can now be done by steam used for transports and men-of-war. The preparations for the voyage had been made with consummate ability. In Baltschik Bay the British transports and steamers, to the number of one hundred large vessels, exclusive of the fleet, lay in five lines, corresponding to the five divisions of the army. Each of the steamers took two transports in tow. The infantry were principally embarked in the steam vessels; the artillery filled thirty-two transports; and the rest conveyed the stores of the army. In this order the flotilla proceeded from Baltschik, coasting along the Bulgarian shore till it reached the place of rendezvous at Fidonisi, the Isle of Serpents. From this spot to Cape Tarkan, the extreme western promontory of the Crimea, the distance is about 150 miles due east, so that in some twenty-four hours from the time of sailing the fleet must have been within sight of the enemy's coast; and before such an armada, the first available port that presented itselfEupatoria struck, with almost the minimum amount of resistance that could be presented by a fortified and, according to all accounts, a garrisoned town.

Eupatoria, which thus constitutes the extreme left of the invading army, is little noticed in ancient history, although it occurs under that name in Ptolemy and Cellarius. In the middle ages it took the barbarous name of Koslov, but the Russians restored to it its old classical name. Being out of the way of travellers, it has been seldom visited. Dr. Goodenough lay off it in the Blonde, and says Bishop Heber visited it, "but could remember nothing interesting that he had found there." Oliphant says, "We touched at Eupatoria, an uninteresting town, situated upon the low steppe, but considered the most thriving port in the Crimea. owes its prosperity to the great number of Karaïte Jews resident here. These successful traders compose the greater part of the population, and the handsomest synagogue of which the sect can boast adorns the town." Mr. Scott also touched at this port on his way from Sebastopol to Odessa. "The town (he says) has nothing remarkable about it. inhabitants are composed of Karaïtes and Tartars, the former carrying on a successful trade. We visited the synagogue, one of the best pos

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sessed by the sect in Russia, and found it, like that of Tchuful Kalah, remarkably clean, and in other respects worthy of inspection. Here much wheat from the steppe of the Taurida is shipped, and salt from the saline lakes, which abound on the coast."

The town of Eupatoria was, in the time of the Genoese, one of the principal mercantile stations of the Crimea, and is said still to contain from 10,000 to 12,000 inhabitants. Three forts have lately been erected to defend the place, in addition to the old Genoese wall, and the garrison has been loosely stated at 15,000 men. The Russians, it appears, were not, however, in a condition to resist the armada which appeared before its walls on the 13th of September.

One of the principal roads in the Crimea connects Eupatoria with Simferopol, the capital of the country, and from which the port is fortyfive miles distant; roads of a very inferior description connect the port with Baktchi Sarai, the "garden-palace" of the khans, also forty miles distant, and with Sebastopol, from forty-five to fifty miles distant. On the latter road are four rivers, the Boulganak, the Alma, the Katcha, and the Belbek or Kubarba, which, while they form lines of resistance for the defence of a country, so they are also advantageous in many points of view to an invading army. This line of coast between Eupatoria and Sebastopol is said to be defended at unequal distances by batteries consisting of six howitzers.

Marshal Munich, in the campaign of 1736, having advanced from Perecop to Eupatoria, the Russian general advanced thence by the coastroad to Baktchi Sarai, and the historian of the war adds, that since the troops had entered the Crimea they had nowhere found such abundance of victuals and provisions as by this route. In six days' march the Russian army reached the gorges of the mountains which crown the flat ground in the environs of Baktchi Sarai, which was then the residence of the Khan of Crim Tartary, and there a decisive battle was fought.

It was at first supposed that, from this military antecedent, the allies would also have followed the coast line; but after the capture of Eupatoria, on the 13th of September, and the probable advance along the line of coast westward of part of the troops landed at so favourable a position, it appears that on the 14th and subsequent days, the different fleets were engaged in landing troops at various points of the bay of Kalamita-the chief station selected by the English being a place called the "Old Fort," about twenty miles south of Eupatoria, and thirty north of Sebastopol.

Once the landing effected, it is scarcely to be anticipated that the Russians will act precisely in the same way that they did on the occasion of the French invasion in 1812, and keep retiring before the invaders without striking a blow. All the troops that have been dispersed along the coast, at Balaclava, Aloupka, Yalta, Aloutsha, and at Theodosia or Kaffa, will, with the garrisons of Karasu Bazar and other inland towns, be concentrated with all possible expedition at Simferopol, and will probably be disposed along the glens and slopes which descend from the uplands of Baktchi Sarai, or may even be advanced to the banks of the Alma, which lies between the place of landing and Sebastopol.

The defeat of an army so disposed, unless it retires of its own good will,

is essential to a successful siege of Sebastopol; and with such a defeat, and the consequent reduction of Simferopol and Baktchi Sarai, Sebastopol (the sea being held by the allies) falls as a matter of course. A great deal too much has been made of the fortifications of Sebastopol. Constructed as they are, of a very friable tertiary limestone, it is most probable that they would soon tumble to pieces before a few heavy guns.

Even the number of pieces of artillery which could be brought to bear upon one point in the defence of Sebastopol in its maritime aspect has been exaggerated. Mr. Oliphant estimated these at twelve hundred, but Mr. Scott, a later traveller, says:

At the period of our visit there were certainly not more than eight hundred and fifty pieces of artillery defending the port towards the sea, and of these about three hundred and fifty could be concentrated on a ship entering the bay. Other batteries, however, are said to have been since built. We took some trouble to ascertain these facts by counting the guns of the various forts; not always an easy matter where any suspicion of our object might have subjected us to grave inconveniences. Sebastopol is admirably adapted by nature for a strong position towards the sea, and it will be seen from what we have stated above that this has been fully taken advantage of to render it one of the most formidably fortified places in that direction which could be imagined.

We are well aware that the casemated fortresses are very badly constructed, and though having an imposing exterior, that the walls are filled in with rubble. The work was carried on under Russian engineers, whose object was to make as much money as possible out of it. They were, moreover, found to be defective in ventilation, to remedy which some alterations were subsequently made; but admitting all their defects, they are still strong enough to inflict some amount of injury on an attacking fleet before their guns could be silenced. And when that is accomplished, supposing there are now nine hundred and fifty pieces, there would still remain five hundred guns of large calibre, in strong open batteries, half of them throwing shells and red-hot shot, independent of mortars. This is a force of armament against which no fleets have been tried, not only with regard to the number of guns and weight of metal, but the nature of the projectiles; any single shell fired point-blank, and striking between wind and water, being sufficient to sink a ship.

If Sebastopol can be so easily taken by the allied fleets alone, and without land forces, as some people appear to imagine, it would be very satisfactory to know what amount of resistance it is expected that Portsmouth could offer to an enemy, with her seventy or eighty guns, not above five-and-twenty of which are heavier than thirty-two pounders.

We do not mean to assert that it is impossible to destroy Sebastopol from the sea alone, but we believe that it could only be accomplished by an unnecessary sacrifice of life and ships with our present means, and that it would be nothing short of madness to attempt it, unless we had a reserve fleet on the spot, sufficiently strong to ensure the command of the Black Sea in case of failure.

Mr. Scott, speaking of the port of Sebastopol generally, says :

The port of Sebastopol consists of a bay running in a south-easterly direction, about four miles long, and a mile wide at the entrance, diminishing to four hundred yards at the end, where the "Tchernaia Retchka," or Black River, empties itself. The average depth is about eight fathoms, the bottom being composed of mud in the centre, and gravel at the sides. On the southern coast of this bay are the commercial, military, and careening harbours, the quarantine harbour being outside the entrance; all these taking a southerly direction and having deep water.

The military harbour is the largest, being about a mile and a half long by four hundred yards wide, and is completely land-locked on every side. Here it is that the Black Sea fleet is moored in the winter, the largest ships being able to lie with all their stores on board close to the quays. The small harbour, which contains the naval arsenal and docks, is on the eastern side of the military harbour, near the entrance.

The port is defended to the south by six principal batteries and fortresses, each mounting from fifty to a hundred and ninety guns; and the north by four, having from eighteen to a hundred and twenty pieces each; and besides these are many smaller batteries.

The fortresses are built on the casemate principle, three of them having three tiers of guns, and a fourth two tiers. Fort St. Nicholas is the largest, and mounts about a hundred and nine guns on carefully counting them, we made a hundred and eighty-six. By great interest we obtained permission to enter this fortress. It is built of white limestone, a fine sound`stone, which becomes hard, and is very durable, the same material being used for all the other forts. Between every two casemates are furnaces for heating shot red hot: we measured the calibre of the guns, and found it to be eight inches, capable of throwing shells or sixty-eight pound solid shot.

Whether all the guns in the fortress were of the same size, it is impossible to say, but my belief is that most of the fortifications of Sebastopol are heavily armed. We entered Fort St. Nicholas through the elegantly-furnished apartments of the military commandant, situated at its south-western end.

And further on he adds:

In speaking of the means of defence at Sebastopol, we have left the Russian fleet out of the question. This, however, is not to be treated either with indifference or contempt; for while we are ready to admit that neither in the strength of the ships, in the quality of the sailors, nor in any other respect, can it be compared for an instant to those of England and France; yet there can be no doubt of the Russian seamen being well trained in gunnery, nor of their being endowed with a kind of passive courage, which would lead them to stick to their work, when not called upon to exercise their seamanship, in which they are very deficient.

It must be kept in mind, that whatever military operations attend upon the first steps in the invasion of the Crimea, and however much French and English may vie in their gallantry before Sebastopol, that whether the main army of the interior is defeated, retires before the army of invasion, or is sent to reinforce the garrison of Sebastopol-that there is no permanent safety to an army of occupation until the lines of Perecop are duly held by the forces of the allies. That fortress is the key of the country, and if left in the hands of the Tsar, he will be continually pouring down vast bodies of Cossacks and other troops-even the Guard is said to be on the move to the south, and there is railway accommodation as far as Moscow-to harass, if not ultimately exterminate the allies; but if, on the other hand, the allies strengthen and man these lines sufficiently to resist the whole power of Russia, the Crimea, as a natural sequence, falls into their hands. After the defeat of the army, said to be under the command of Prince Menschikoff, the occupation of Simferopol, the reduction of Sebastopol, and the capture or flight of the Russian fleet, the allies will still be forced, as a matter of stern necessity, to assail the division under Osten Sacken at the lines of Perecop, and those lines once held-the Crimea, from Yeni Kalak to Tarkan, and from Perecop to Aloupka, becomes a material pledge of peace, and a hostage for the safety of Europe and the Orient alike.

Oct.-VOL. CII. NO. CCCCVI.

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