RUSSIA. 



687 



TUB KREMLIN, MOSCOW. 



SACKED GATE OP TUB KREMLIN. 



3,412 ; of letters sent, 63,244,156; postal-cards, 

 1,419,094; wrappers, 3,630,508; registered let- 

 ters, 2,984,787; valuable letters, 5,658,297; 

 packages, 1,771,295; and newspapers, printed 

 matter, etc., 42,808,698. The money sent 

 through the mail amounted to 1,488,187,542 

 rubles, and the value of the packages sent waa 

 49,509,105 rubles. 



The telegraph statistics, according to a report 

 of the American Secretary of Legation in .St. 

 Petersburg, are as follows : 



Length of lines on January 1 , 1 87fi ( English mile*) . . M.1 

 ' r wire* " 1, 187( " " ).. t4tt 



Government, railroad, and private autiona l,tOt 



Inland dispatched m-nt In 17S 8. 1 



Foreign dispatches sent and received i.179,819 



The military preparations, begun in 1870, 

 continued unabated in 1877. In the early part 

 of January, the railroad companies throughout 

 the empire received orders to have all trans- 

 portation of freight cease by January 27th, so 

 that the roads could be used exclusively fur 

 military purposes. The Grand-duke Nicholas, 

 the commander-in-chief of the Russian fora*, 

 was afflicted during the early part of tho year 

 with a serious disease (it was termed by iiic 

 inflammation of the bowels), so that he wa* 

 forced for a time to leave the army, nnd on 

 February 6th arrived in Odessa, In the be- 

 ginning of March he was so fur reston-d that 

 he could again attend to his duties Although a 

 strong party in Russia wns in favor f JK-WO 

 and disarmament, the moblUation of tho urmr 

 continued as vigorously as ever. On March 

 8d, the Emperor ordered that the divisions 

 stationed in tho military districts of St. IVtor- 

 burg, Vilna, Moscow, and Warsaw Iw forrm-d 

 into nine army corps. This meawre tender 

 to increase tho war cxcitomont, uthougn 

 Minister of War declared in his official organ, 

 the InralUle, that it was only a neccwwy rtcp 



