THE RUSSIAN SOLDIER.

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 2788, 21 January 1878, Page 3

THE RUSSIAN SOLDIER.

The special correspondent of Iho Times with the Russian army, in tho following, controverts the popular notion of the habits.and characteristics of tho Hussion soldier :—

Never in my life have I seen so quiet, so gentle, so well conducted an army. In 200,000 men I have not come across one drunken man. It is a popular 'idea in England that the Russian is a hard-drink, ing, noisy, violent, brutal boor. Never was there a greater fallacy, lie is sober to a degree ; nerer have I heard n violent word or seen a blow; he pays scrupulously for all he buys, smd lets himself be cheated and fleeced uncomplainingly by the uninteresting Bulgarian whom hois fighting for. His principal drink is lea, which is substituted four times a week foftth© authorised daily ration of vodki v (Cwrtso brandy). The allowance of tea is practically unlimited. Under the private soldier's lowly tentc d abri, as under the comfortable marquee of the General Officer, the samovar, the everlasting tea urn is always dtnoking; and no one who has not experienced the luxury of a tumbler of tea—cups are unknown, though the glass •tands always on a saucer—hot, fr|grant, of a. rich golden color, with plenty of anganj and a slice of lemon, perhaps a soum>n of rum—no one who has not gratefully blessed this glorious drink after long miles of a dusty road, or when the water is running in streams dowu.lbe f nape of your neck, or squelching in yout^ boots at every step—no one, I say, wlitf has not drunk " ochai" in a Russian camp know* what tea is. As different from the miserable stuff we discolour and spoil with London chalk and watery as champagne is from small beer. This is the universal drink, and right good liquor it i» to serve a campaign upon. But this is a digression from the Kussian soldier to his drink. May I say that he partakes of the nature of his drink? Always patient, always cheery, his principal amusement is singing in chorus. Hound the fire at night, or from an early hour :in the afternoon, this singing goes on ; always standing, never seated ; one man gives the words, and the whole join in the refrain—l cannot call it melody—in fact, it might be called the least bit discordant. But it makes up for that by being incessant, and apparently affords tlte greatest delight to the performers, who repeat the same notes, and, apparently, the same words, for hours and hours together in a series of abrupt and long-drawn howls. Whenever a company or a battalion moves, the singers are called to the front. They shuffle out of their places and form up in a loose group of fours at the, head, and away goes the column, the'time being occasionally varied by a few tips on the drum. Another popular fallacy in England is that the Russian,* soldier lives in an atmosphere of blows—that the knout and the stick are his only ruling motives. The fact is .that nowhere, not even among the Germans, is thefaoldier managed more entirely by moral means. A word, or even a look, from his jEcer suffices. He seems to feel a reproof—and it is rarely deserved— as much as an Englishman would a blow. The bulk of the Bussian privates are themselves small landowners, and have an interest and a stake in the country accordingly. I never saw more ready orimplicit obedience, or more cheerful compliance ; and this is not official only, but apparently based on genuino mutual liking and goodwill. Perhaps the officer sometimes forgets in planning operations that his men are no longer serfs. I have heard the apparent recklessness of human life thus accounted for; but in all else the relations between officer and soldier could not be happier, even in bur own favoured, service. 3Sten in time of war the Bussian soldier isnot liable to corpornV punishment for any offence whatever, unless he has by previous bad conduct and by judgment of a \ court beerfplaced in a degraded or inferior class, one of whose special disadvantages is this liability, l'his factj which, I confess, to me was almost incredible at first,' bo much had preconceived notions got hold of me, I have carefully established,. b> repeated conversations with officers of all ranks. •' '■■'■•- ■-■■ '■ ;.-: •-■■•■ ' '.' Nfj\l