Russia in 1839 -Empire of the Czar: A Journey Through Eternal Russia

THE RUSSIAN MARINE.113

THE RUSSIAN MARINE. REMARK OF LORD DURHAM'S. — GREAT

EFFORTS FOR SMALL RESULTS. — THE AMUSEMENTS OF DESPOTISM.

KRONSTADT. RUSSIAN CUSTOM-HOUSE. GLOOMY ASPECT

OF NATURE. RECOLLECTIONS OF ROME. ENGLISH POETICAL

NAME FOR SHIPS OF WAR. OBJECT OF PETER THE GREAT. —

THE FINNS. BATTERIES OF KRONSTADT. ABJECT CHARACTER

OF THE LOAYER CLASSES OF RUSSIAN EMPLOYES.INQUISITIONS

OF THE POLICE, AND THE CUSTOM-HOUSE. SUDDEN CHANGE

IN THE MANNERS OF FELLOAV-TRAVELLERS, FICKLENESS OF

NORTHERN PEOPLE.

As we approached Kronstadt, — a sub-marine fortress of which the Russians are justly proud,—the Gulf of Finland suddenly assumed an animated appearance. The imperial fleet was in motion and surrounded us on all sides. It remains in port, ice-locked during more than six months of the year; but during the three months of summer the marine cadets are exercised in nautical manoeuvres, between St. Petersburg and the Baltic. After passing the fleet we again sailed on an almost desert sea; now and then, only, enlivened by the distant apparition of some merchant vessel, or the yet more infrequent smoke of a pi/roscaph, as steam-boats are learnedly called in the nautical language of some parts of Europe.

The Baltic sea, by the dull hues of its unfrecµiented waters, proclaims the vicinity of a continent depopulated under the rigours of the climate. The barren