320 Russia in 1832. [MARCH, 



continues to shew an imposing and resolute front. The number and 

 composition of their armies may awe the timorous, unacquainted with 

 the exhausted state of their finances, which renders these formidable 

 military machines utterly powerless still the unsettled state of France, 

 the intrigues of the Carlist party the financial distress and commercial 

 stagnation of England the possible defeat of the ministry on the 

 question of Reform the alarming state of Ireland all these may pow- 

 erfully contribute to bring them to a warlike decision. But if allur- 

 ed by the equivocal state of France, and the difficulties of England, 

 they insensibly kindle that fearful war of principles foretold by Napo- 

 leon, on the ocean rock of St. Helena, they will raise up a storm that 

 will not cease its fury, till it has swept away the tottering thrones of 

 every antient dynasty that has so long polluted the fair face of Eu- 

 rope. The principle of freedom is rising in every soil, and though 

 they cannot but feel that sooner or later it must sap the foundations 

 of the worn-out institutions over which they preside, still will they 

 dare not openly rush into a crusade against the cause of freedom the 

 peace of Europe will not for the present be disturbed ; but their ma- 

 chinations will not slumber, intrigue will be resorted to, till some 

 event in the chapter of accidents may favour the open manifestation 

 of their dark designs. 



In the event of a war betAveen Russia and this country, the only 

 point of contact for the belligerents would be India. The conquest of 

 our East India possessions has long been one of the favourite projects 

 of Russian Ambition and we are led to the consideration of this in- 

 teresting question, by the arrogant boast that so recently appeared in 

 the Moscow Gazette, " of signing a treaty with the English in Cal- 

 cutta," and which, if we consider the servile state of the press in 

 Russia, we may consider to have emanated from the government itself. 

 There are only two routes by which an European army could invade 

 India ; the first by following the beaten track of Alexander, and Nadir 

 Shah the second by crossing the Caspian and sailing up the Oxus to 

 Bochara the last is by far the most eligible, and the one the invading 

 army of Russia would follow, since by their late treaty with Persia, 

 they have acquired the entire navigation of the Caspian. At Orenburg, 

 a strong fortified post, ninety miles north of the Caspian, they have a 

 corps of 10,000 men. This corps reinforced by others, might descend 

 the Oural to the Caspian, and sail across to the Bay of Mertvoi ; while 

 the corps marching from the centre of Russia, would advance by the 

 plain of the Wolga to Astraccan, from whence they would be trans- 

 ported across the sea to the Bay of Balkan. To Khiva, a large town 

 on the Oxus, and which would be the first place of rendezvous for the 

 invading columns, the distance from these two points of disembarkation 

 is twenty-five to thirty marches ; the nature of the country, from the 

 sea to the river, is one continued desert ; the army would have, there- 

 fore, to transport with it every necessary for its subsistence, even to 

 water. From Khiva to Bochara the distance is five hundred and twenty 

 miles ; the Oxus is navigable to within two days march of the latter 

 place but the current is rapid, and should the Russian general ascend 

 the stream, the boats for the transport of the army must be equally con- 

 veyed from the Caspian, for there exist no materials for their construc- 

 tion on its banks. The banks of this river are further inhabited by a 

 fierce and warlike people, skilled in predatory warfare : these must be 



