SCENE IN A RUSSIAN GARRISON.

Wellington Independent, Volume III, Issue 163, 5 May 1847, Page 4

SCENE IN A RUSSIAN GARRISON.

On the 22nd of May IS4I, one of the battalions

pnrt of the military colony recently estii.lisheJ by the Russian government at Novgorod, anJ which, iv the of its organisation, resembles the Prussian landwebr, was diawn up in live on the parade-gruuud, attached tj the immense barracks constructed a few years since on the moat jo'itary and ancient part of the town, not far from the church of St. Sophia. I.i frant of the line, formed with that mechanical regularity and precision which have made the Russian foot-soldiers such admirable automatons, strode General L—eff. He was a man fihy years of age, remarkable for his rigid deportment, his leanness, his tawny complexion, and his large grey restless eyes. Ha was distinguished in ths army for his bravery—daring proofs of which he had given during the campaigns in Persia and Turkey. But whether, as was generally thought, domestic unhappiness had been the msans of souring a temper naturally energetic, or that his heart had been hardened by the frequent application of the inexorable necessity of a discipline degrading in its principle, and too often monatrom in its effects, General L—eff" was looked on as an object of terror by the soldiers; for not a day passed unsigoalised by one or more of those acts of severity which might justly undergo the imputation of ferocity. It was known, however, that this man had an attachment for the daughter of one of his ancisnt comrades, killed in the late war with Poland. Having adopted her, no parent ever showed more solicitude for his offspring than he evinced for the young orphan, and they were seldom separate. Although grateful for the kindness of the geseral. the young girl— to whom the soldiers had given the name of Solowoiva, (Nightingale) from the sweetness with which she sang the old and melancholy slave romances—could never overcome in his presence the unconquerable constraint which his brief address, iaiperious couatenance, and cold and distant manners, imposed on those who approached him.

On the day when the following events took place Solowoiva, who to please the general, regularly attended all the exercises and parades, was seated before one of the barrack windows on a level with the parade-ground, looking quietly at the movement! of the soldiers. A blush suffused her countenance as ber eyes encountered those of a young military surgeon named Iran Polovci, dressed on this occasion with marked elegance in the simple uniform of hie r*nk.

Already General L—eff had passed several times before the front of the battalion without speakingbut his bushy eyebrows contracted, aDd passion bet,an to be-visible in hia countenance, when he found that a number of men were absent. His attention at this moment was arrested by a party of soldiers advancing towards him from the other end of the parade-ground, each carrying a long rod. used in the application of an abominable punishment which has not yet ceased in the Russian army. Turning towards one of his aides-de-camp, he demanded, in a voice of thunder, from whom the eider emanated, and who was to be punished. A sergeant, remarkable for his livid and scarred appearance, rushed towards the genera!, snatched his sword from his hand, and struck him in the face with it, exclaiming, ' Yourself.' Ths action had a Q effecc like an electric shock on •the ranks of the battalion, and the usually immovable countenances of the soldiers seemed to brighteo with an impulse of hatred. A spontaneous movement was madi by the officers along the Hue to the asshtance of their chief; but they were instantly seized, thrown to the ground, and a bayonet pointed against the breast of each. Ivan the surgeon had alone been left untouched j for, by his humanity and kindness, he had conciliated the good will of the troops. A grenadier, however, was stationed before him to act as a guard, who whispered in hi* ear, in a mysterious voice, ' Whether the Nightingale singe or not, remain quiet: not a gesture nor a cry, or you are a dead man!' Recovering from his surprise, the general seized with both hands the bayonets presented to his breast; snd haviog by a violent effort struck them aside, shouted, as his eye flashed along the battalion — 'Down on your knees, vile brutes'. Down on your knees and ask pardon—your heads in the dust, or you hare not flesh enough on your backs to expiate your rebellion !' Hie words were received with a shout of serage laughter, and the sergeant, with that peculiar tranquillity which distinguishes unshaken resolution, retorted-' We each atd all of us know that our lives will be the penalty of what we now do. When the sentence passed on you shall be executed, we shall seek General Suroff, governor of Novgorod ; we shall give up to him your sword, you* decorations, and whatever may remain of your body, and say to him, " General L-eff was a tiger, and we Lave killed him; here are our arms; we look for our punishment 1" ' The sergeant, while speaking, tore the epaulettes from the general's shoulders, and trampled them under his feet. ' These don't become you.; the knout is fitter for an executioner. Remember the soldier BetsakofF, with rods for having bitn too slow in carry.' inj arms; rcinsmber the old ians.offi.cier whom you reduced to the ranks (or having a stain on his uni-

form, aod whona you struck with your cane until the blood streamed from his forehead, his cheeks, and his lips; and because the unhappy old mun, pale wiih shame, repulsed the hand .vhich inflicted the indignity, he was condemned, flogged, and tent muiihted aud dying; to Siberia.' The sergeant continued with a terrible coolness this degrading scene, dragging off the general's belt aud coat, and luscly his shirt.

Iα spite of his remarkable firmness, L—eff shuddered while he listened to the accusing voice, so eloquent in its simplicity, so calm and sd measured even in its passion. As for Solowoiva, she s<t for some time without bfing able to comprehend the strange scene passing before her eyes ; but when the truth at length flashed on her, that her adopted father was about to undergo the odious chastisment which he had so often inflicted on others, she was seized with horror, and gave utterance to the most heart-rending cries. Ivan the surgeon, who till then had stood neuler, could not remain insensible to the despair of the young gir], and forgetting the warning he had received, and the ferocious exasperation of the soldiers, he advanced towards her. He had not gone many paces when a shot was fired, and the unfortunate young surgeon fell to the ground a corpse. There is in most Russian regiments a kind of buffoon, who fills a situation somewhat resembling that held in the ancient German armies, to whom the soldiers applied the significant appellation of Lustig. One of these men, attached to the battalion, seeing the surgeon fall, approached the corpse, danciogand gesticulating, and, raising it in his robust arms, carried it towards where Solowoiva still sat, and depositing it immediately before her, exclaimed— 1 Hare, my little sinking bird, this is yours.' Pale with terror, the girl recognised the body as it rolled at her feet, and uttering a faint cry, sunk by its side. While this scene was being enacted, General L—eff had beea laid on a car, drawn along the ranks, and had received the baguettes—a. terrible torture ; which, however, was only the commencement of his sufferings. He had scarcely reached the extremity of the line when a voice exclaimed, ' Take him to the ovens i . The general whose spirit was 'already crushedi heard the words, and too well comprehending the meaning, threw around him a look of supplication and terror. * To the ovens V shouted a bundred voices. The countenance of the general became livid, and his body shook with terroi : hi* pride had fled, and, groaning in egony, be asked for pardon. But the shouts of the battalion drowned his voice; and the sergeant, approaching his victim, naid in a stern tone —' I also besought pity when my brother fell expiring under the baguettes. . We shall not go into the details of the horrible scene which followed, unfortunately but too true. Suffice it to say, that the general and the superior officers of the battalion, shut up in the ovens, under which a slow fire was carefully renewed by the soldiers, were literally roasted alive. Certainly the execution of the sentence had a terrible originality ; yet the punishment was fully proportionate to the vengeance. A mounted jager carried to the emperor the account of the fearful drama which had beea enacted in Novgorod, and eight days afterwards several batteries of artillery entered the decayed capital of ancient Russia, preceeded by a major-general, who. during the late war in Poland, had been known to the army under the title of the ' Butcher of Warsaw.' One of his aides-de-cimp was cent to the quarters of the mutineers, with an order to assemble the next day, without arms, on a small parade-ground at the eastern extremity of the town, and called the Tartar Camp. The soldiers replied to this mysterious injunction by the customary shout {I.arocho ) The following day they dressed themselves, and arranged their mustaches, a< if preparing for a simple parade; then pale, silent, their lips white with emotion, but still keeping their ranks, they traveleed the town through a triple row of Cossacks, fol. lowed by the mournful looks of the populaca Ar rived upon the ground, they silently formed into square. At the same moment the drums beat the belfries of the numerous Greek churches i n Novgorod pealed, and the several batteries established at the entrances of the five long avenues leadmg into the field were suddenly unmasked, and the grape shot began the work of extermination. Horrid" shout* followed each discbarge, and a heavy groaning, mingled with the interrupted songs of some of the dying sobers. f.,r three hours the discharge continued ; and when the executioners of tlm bloody duty entered the place of punishment, they found it literally a lake of blood, and covered with mangled hmbs. Five soldiers alone, who had been mmL lously preserve 1 .were found alive, and they expired under the knout. Among this latter number wa , the sergeant, who to thehst moment manifested an ex traodiuary degree of fortitude in the midet of hi. suflv rings. Solowoiva, the adopted daughter of General L,—ett, was taken under the protection of the em press, and placed in the society of noble Russian ladies at Smoluctf, It may be necessary to add that the preceedine details are not exaggerated in any resp.ct We prefcent them as described by a reepectable corres pendent of a French newspaper, who mentions that be was an eye-witness of the scenes to which he alludes. From what is being daily disclosed of the savage character of Russian institutions, there seems uo reason to doubt their accuracy.