DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.62355#0024
xii
INTRODUCTION.
Russians. It is situated in a gorge between two rocks, on the lower of which
stands a castle; which, being commanded by the opposite height where the
enemy threw up fortifications, under whose cover they maintained an incessant
fire upon the town and the fort, the gallant little garrison, seeing their strong-
hold crumble about them, were compelled to yield. Their resolute resistance is,
however, still testified by the scores of balls which are embedded in the bank of
the river, and along the shore.
Hence, until the Danube empties itself into the Black Sea, and even beyond
that point, the whole shore is one continuous marsh scattered over with lakes, of
which the most considerable is that of Rassein ; while, far as the eye can reach,
the same great flat, formed by the plains of Bessarabia, to the north of the river,
blends with the horizon.
The forts of Matschin, Isatchi, and Toultcha, near the mouths of the Danube,
are rather outposts than fortresses; the two great strongholds of Ismail and
Brahilof, on the opposite shore, having been, as already stated, wrested from the
Turks by the enforced Treaty of Adrianople; a most important loss to that power,
as, during all the preceding wars, they had universally served to arrest invasion,
and had sustained the most obstinate sieges. At Ismail, in 1790, Souvarof lost
15,000 men, and massacred 35,000 souls, without distinction of age or sex; while
Brahilof has records of gallant endurance and suffering to boast, of little less mark.
Below Toultcha the Danube forms a delta, and throws itself into the Black
Sea by three great embouchures—those of Kilia, Souline (or Sunne-Baghatzi),
and St. George; the second being the only one navigable for vessels of heavy
tonnage, and belonging, by virtue of the same treaty, to Russia ; by which the Czar
commands the commerce and navigation of the mightiest river-way in Europe.
Of the Bosphorus, the object of ambition to the Autocrat, there remains
nothing for me to say beyond what may be gathered from the admirable sketches
of Mr. Bartlett, and the verbal descriptions appended to them. God be thanked
that social progression is enabling the lawful lords of the soil to estimate at their
true value the natural advantages by which they are surrounded; and to hold out
a hope that the blessings of Christianity may not be long disregarded by a people
whose moral virtues and intuitive charity have already raised them above the
level of so questionable and idolatrous a creed as that of the so-called Greek
Orthodox Church.
JULIA PARDOE.
Wyndham-place, Bryanston-square.
INTRODUCTION.
Russians. It is situated in a gorge between two rocks, on the lower of which
stands a castle; which, being commanded by the opposite height where the
enemy threw up fortifications, under whose cover they maintained an incessant
fire upon the town and the fort, the gallant little garrison, seeing their strong-
hold crumble about them, were compelled to yield. Their resolute resistance is,
however, still testified by the scores of balls which are embedded in the bank of
the river, and along the shore.
Hence, until the Danube empties itself into the Black Sea, and even beyond
that point, the whole shore is one continuous marsh scattered over with lakes, of
which the most considerable is that of Rassein ; while, far as the eye can reach,
the same great flat, formed by the plains of Bessarabia, to the north of the river,
blends with the horizon.
The forts of Matschin, Isatchi, and Toultcha, near the mouths of the Danube,
are rather outposts than fortresses; the two great strongholds of Ismail and
Brahilof, on the opposite shore, having been, as already stated, wrested from the
Turks by the enforced Treaty of Adrianople; a most important loss to that power,
as, during all the preceding wars, they had universally served to arrest invasion,
and had sustained the most obstinate sieges. At Ismail, in 1790, Souvarof lost
15,000 men, and massacred 35,000 souls, without distinction of age or sex; while
Brahilof has records of gallant endurance and suffering to boast, of little less mark.
Below Toultcha the Danube forms a delta, and throws itself into the Black
Sea by three great embouchures—those of Kilia, Souline (or Sunne-Baghatzi),
and St. George; the second being the only one navigable for vessels of heavy
tonnage, and belonging, by virtue of the same treaty, to Russia ; by which the Czar
commands the commerce and navigation of the mightiest river-way in Europe.
Of the Bosphorus, the object of ambition to the Autocrat, there remains
nothing for me to say beyond what may be gathered from the admirable sketches
of Mr. Bartlett, and the verbal descriptions appended to them. God be thanked
that social progression is enabling the lawful lords of the soil to estimate at their
true value the natural advantages by which they are surrounded; and to hold out
a hope that the blessings of Christianity may not be long disregarded by a people
whose moral virtues and intuitive charity have already raised them above the
level of so questionable and idolatrous a creed as that of the so-called Greek
Orthodox Church.
JULIA PARDOE.
Wyndham-place, Bryanston-square.