THE AEMY AND NAVY. 479 



Some of the Hussian fortresses are amongst the strongest ia Europe. 

 Kronstadt, Sveâborg, and Viborg, in the Gulf of Finland, seem to have been rendered 

 impregnable from the sea, while Modlin, or Novo-Georgiyevsk, and Warsaw in the 

 Polish quadrilateral, may serve as entrenched camps for large armies. In the Black 

 Sea, Sebastopol, rising stronger than ever from its ruins, and Kertch no less for- 

 midable, serve as the advanced bulwarks of Nikolayev, the "Russian Portsmouth," 



Russia lacks the advantage enjoyed by England of being able to unite her 

 fleets. The two squadrons maintained in the Baltic and Euxine have no access 

 to the open sea except through narrow straits held by foreign powers ; still both 

 combined would form a first-class navy, both for the number of ships and the 

 strength of their armaments. About two-thirds of the most formidable are 

 concentrated in the Baltic, where they cover St. Petersburg and Kronstadt, 

 while menacing the coasts of Sweden, Denmark, and Germany. The European 

 fleet consists altogether of 28 ironclads and 304 steamers, including two so-called 

 popovka in the Euxine, which sail with circular motion, but which proved of little 

 service during the last war. The naval forces, numbering about 29,000, are recruited, 

 like the army, by conscription, but the length of service, formerly twenty-two years, 

 has been reduced to nine, of which seven are in the active and two in the reserve. 



These formidable armaments, together with the land forces and the interest on 

 the national debt, absorb nearly two-thirds of the imperial revenue, althouo'h 

 this has been considerably increased since the middle of the century. The first 

 regular Budgets date only from 1866, but notwithstanding fictitious balances, the 

 expenditure seems to have exceeded the income every year since 1832, except 

 in 1871 and 1875. The chief sources of income are the indirect taxes, and of 

 these the most willingly paid is that on alcoholic drinks, the national vice guaran- 

 teeing over one-third of the State expenditure. The taverns are daily crowded with 

 copious consumers of coarse brandies mixed with extract of belladonna and other 

 baneful ingredients, and since the financial reforms of 1865 yielding an annual 

 addition to the revenue of about £1,280,000. In 1876 the Budget received from 

 this source about £30,000,000, while the salt and tobacco duties figured for 

 £1,432,000 and £1,683,000 respectively. 



The spirit excise is about sufficient to meet the army expenditure in time of 

 peace. In 1876 the Minister of War demanded over £30,000,000, and in the 

 same year the cost of the navy was over £4,300,000. In ordinary times the 

 army and navy together involve an outlay of about £32,000,000, but this sum 

 has been doubled and even trebled during the great wars. The last campaign in 

 the Balkans cost, down to November 13th, 1878, £142,000,000. In 1876 the 

 interest of the national debt exceeded £17,000,000, a burden which has since 

 been considerably increased. The expenses of the imperial family are relatively 

 greater than in any other sovereign European state, except in Turkey and 

 Montenegro. But it is difficult to ascertain the actual sum, as the Czar has no 

 civil list in the ordinary sense. However, the total income drawn from the 

 imperial domain — forests, mines, and arable lands — is known to exceed 

 £2,000,000, and the Minister of the Imperial Household expends from £1,850,000 



