158

LIF O07 COBLEN,

foHAP

1847. an ‘invasion,’ which had taken place in the North America?
Hr, 43. territory of the Russian empire by an armed force,
sisting of from eighty to one hundred men, commanded by
an American, and having three pieces of artillery. It wa?
the Yankee fur-trader, who had taken French leave and
squatted himself upon the most favourable situation in th?
Czar’s dominions for carrying on his hunting operatio?®
The question arose how he was to be ejected. There was
no Russian armed force or authority of any kind withi?
many hundreds, perhaps thousand, miles of the invading
army. The expense of fitting out an armament for the
purpose was then calculated, but the distance and the diffi
culty of approaching the Yankee headquarters were uch
formidable obstacles, that it was thought better to leave the
enemy in possession of - his conquered territory, and there
he remains now, carrying on his operations against the
bears and the beavers of the Czar without molestatio™
This gives an idea of the weakness of a government whose
dominions extend to upwards of a twelvemonth’s journey
from its capital”
“St. Petersburgh, Sept. 11th—.... Dined ab the
English club, and met a party of Russians; they rise fron
table as soon as they have swallowed their dinner, and
proceed to the card-table, billiards, or skittles. Ther?
is no intellectual society, no topic of general interest 3°
discussed—an un-idea’d party. My table companions the
English merchants, were of opinion that extensive smug”
gling is carried on, particularly in sugar; they spoke freely
of the corruption of the employés, and the general P*’
pensity to live beyond their means. One of them mentioned
an anecdote of the corruption of the government employ é
He had a contract with one of the departments for a quantit)
of lignum vite at eight roubles a pood; upon its beis®