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1828.] [ 509 J 
AFFAIRS IN .GENERAL. 
Tue Russians are either in actual retreat for the Danube, or on the point 
of it. So much, then, for the anticipations of those political reasoners, who 
already beheld the Russian eagles flapping their wings upon the towers 
of the Seraglio! “ What,” was the ery—* what is to resist the autocrat, 
who commands a million of men in arms, and can, at any time, bring half 
of that number to bear upon any given subject ?”” Nothing on earth like 
round numbers and big words for dazzling and deluding. The 
unbounded resources of Russia have been talked of till we come to believe 
the states of Europe even exist but upon her gentle sufferance. How has 
this come about? Overgrown extent of dominions was wont to be 
regarded rather as enfeebling resources than invigorating them ; but 
Russia has the luck to have her power measured solely by her size. The 
conquest of Alexander is alleged as an irrefragable proof of her might ; 
but Alexander, be it remembered, was only one of Napoleon’s many 
conquerors. The glory of following up an advantage, and of prosecuting 
it to a successful conclusion, was wholly his ; but the means by which 
this was achieved were his in common only with many others. Singly, 
he would never have made head against Napoleon, even crippled by the 
disasters of Moscow ;—it was the flocking to his standard of the whole 
of exasperated Europe, that enabled him to enter the gates of Paris, and 
inflict a just but general revenge. He was, indeed, the ostensible hero 
of the day ; but the exclusive credit of the achievement was gratefully, 
yet too hastily assigned him: the very sharers in the enterprise blindly 
succumbed before him, and honoured as their saviour the man who would 
have been nothing without their aid. Precedence once yielded, is not 
readily abandoned ; and Russia has grown arrogant and presumptuous. 
The dupe of others’ compliances and her own delusions, she has rushed 
upon a favourite enterprise, the cost of which she discovers, too late, she 
has ill-caleulated. Prodigious as is the ‘extent of her dominion, the 
population is thinly spread over its surface—its productions, natural and 
artificial, comparatively inconsiderable—and any extraordinary demand 
must soon drain them to the dregs. Though easy to assemble numbers, 
it is not easy to keep them together. Two or three hundred thousands 
marching over countries imperfectly cultivated, soon sweep off all super- 
abundance. The bulk of provisions must be carried with them; and 
expense of carriage of this kind rapidly exhausts a scanty treasury. The 
wear and tear, again, upon men and material, of marches of two, three, 
and four months’ continuance, is astounding, and, at such immense dis- 
tances, scarcely possible, in any degree, to be replaced or repaired. 
Jaded and harassed, on invading the enemy’s country, they have to 
encounter troops fresh and within reach of their resources ; and, in the 
ease of the Turks, a people inflamed by repeated insults, by the protec- 
tion or the seduction of their rebellious subjects, and by attempts to 
force conciliation upon them, and roused to madness and the most deter- 
mined resistance by the anticipated designs of the enemy to strip them 
of their native soil. Weighing these matters, we shall be the less sur- 
prised by the failure ; but the loss of men, and means, and credit, will 
be to the Russians immense and irreparable. We shall hear little more 
of them for the next half century. Of their entire defeat we shall be 
heartily glad, and trust not a remnant may be suffered to re-cross the 
