1830.] [ 589 ] 



MONTHLY REVIEW OF LITERATURE, DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN, 



Travels to the Seat of War in the East, 

 throuyh Russia and the Crimea, in 182J), 

 by Captain I. E. Alexander, late of the \6th 

 Lancers. Captain Alexander served with 

 the 16th Lancers in India, Avhen quite a 

 boy ; and on his return three or four 

 years ago published his Travels' history 

 in Ava, Persia, and Turkey. Eager for 

 professional knowledge still young and 

 active he resolved last year, if possible, 

 to reach the seat of war in Turkey, and 

 was not a man to be daunted by com- 

 mon obstacles. The Emperor's permis- 

 sion was of course indispensable, and a 

 journey to Petersburg!! to obtain it 

 equally so. Arrived at the capital, the 

 Emperor was, unluckily, gone to War- 

 saw to be crowned : but Sir James Wy- 

 lie, the emperor's Scotch physician, and 

 the common patron of all his Scottish 

 countrymen, undertook to get his peti- 

 tion presented to the emperor ; and in 

 the meanwhile the captain had nothing 

 to do but survey the imperial city at 

 leisure. Within a few wersts is a mili- 

 tary establishment, called the Camp of 

 Instruction, which naturally drew his 

 attention, and, upon a close scrutiny, 

 his admiration, and as a Briton, his envy. 

 After Granville's ample description of 

 the capital, any further account for the 

 next twenty or thirty years must be 

 superfluous. Captain Alexander him- 

 self felt this, but, nevertheless, favours 

 us with numerous sketches of the prin- 

 cipal buildings. The emperor's permis- 

 sion at last arrived, and the captain lost 

 no time in setting off for the still dis- 

 tant scene of action ; but at Moscow he 

 encountered new delays, which again, 

 however, enabled him to look close and 

 minutely at what he would otherwise 

 have but glanced at the ancient seat of 

 the empire; and, moreover, to see the 

 Persian Embassy, which came while he 

 was there to apologize for the massacre 

 of the Russian ambassador and his suite. 

 With many of the members Captain 

 Alexander he had served in Persia it 

 will be remembered was personally ac- 

 quainted, and from them he obtained 

 the details of the massacre, which he 

 communicates at some length, and ac- 

 ceptably enough, for but little was 

 known before of the matter. Of course 

 the statement is an ex-parte one, and the 

 Persians throw the blame of wanton pro- 

 vocation upon the Russians themselves. 



All impediments at Moscow being 

 finally removed, the captain hastened 

 to Nicolaef, from whence he proposed to 

 go to Odessa and join Admiral Greig's 

 tieet, to whom he had especial introduc- 

 tions, and so get landed at once on the 

 Roumelia coast. At Odessa, however, 

 the plague had broken out, and he was 



obliged to cross the steppes to the Cri- 

 mea, and, from one obstacle or another, 

 did not finally reach the army till the 

 Russians were in possession of Adrianople, 

 and the campaign at an end. Of the cam- 

 paign, however, he had abundant op- 

 portunities of learning particulars, and 

 especially with respect to the co-opera- 

 tion of the fleet, which is just the part 

 least understood at home. From the 

 captain's account, it appears Varna did 

 not surrender till it became completely 

 untenable, and of course Yoosof Pacha 

 was not the traitor, he was on all sides 

 represented to be. At head-quarters 

 Captain Alexander dined with Diebitch, 

 who was the only person that talked. 

 At this general silence on the part of the 

 guests the captain expresses some sur- 

 prise, but surely he must have found 

 out at home, that subalterns must do 

 nothing but listen when the commander 

 speaks. 



Diebitch is a Silesian by birth, and 

 distinguished himself in the service of 

 Russia, in the division of Wittgenstein, 

 during the campaign of 1812. He sub- 

 sequently became the head of the etat- 

 major, or staff, and succeeded to the 

 command of the second army, at the 

 commencement of the campaign of 1829. 

 His rewards last year have been promo- 

 tion to the rank of field-marshal, of which 

 there are only four or five in Russia; 

 the title of count ; the orders of St. An- 

 drew and St. George ; a million of rubles, 

 or about 40,000 sterling; six cannon 

 taken from the enemy ; a regiment called 

 after his name ; the appellation of Za- 

 balkan-sky, or Passer of the Balkan, &c. 

 He was received at dinner with prodi- 

 gious respect. He is a little man, with 

 an aquiline nose and florid complexion ; 

 his hair was dishevelled, and streamed 

 from his head like a meteor. He was 

 dressed in a green uniform, with the 

 cross and riband of his orders. He 

 talked with Captain Alexander touching 

 the pay of officers in India, and scarcely 

 credited the amount : for a Russian colo- 

 nel in command of a regiment receives 

 only 150. per annum, whereas many 

 subalterns on the staff in the East re- 

 ceive from 600. to 800. Diebitch 

 considered the Russian military system 

 one of the most perfect in the world, &c. 



As peace was now made, Captain 

 Alexander prepared to quit the camp 

 meaning to return home by Constanti- 

 nople, Egypt, and Italy ; but having 

 to go first to Odessa, he was detained 

 there by some quarantine orders. When 

 the delay thus created was over, he was 

 arrested as a spy, from the officiousness 

 of an officer, desirous of shewing his ex- 

 traordinary zeal for the emperor's ser- 



