SUKHUM KALEH.

Globe, Volume VIII, Issue 916, 1 June 1877, Page 3

SUKHUM KALEH.

Sukhum Kaleh, wliich is being bombarded by the Turks, is a seaport town, about sixty miles north of Poti, on the coast of Circassia. it is strongly fortified—on the land side, in order to overawe the mountaineers, whose disaffection to Russian rule is so great that, at the time of the Crimean War, not a single soldier durst venture beyond the fortifications without being accompanied by artillery ; and the Circassians were at once so stealthy and so daring in their assaults upon the garrison, that the officers were obliged to' train dogs to act as sentinels in more exposed situations. Like Poti, the place is wretchedly unhealthy, owing to the prevalence of marsh fever ; while the unwholesomencss of the food and the bad quality of the water, increase the mortality of the troops stationed there. When Captain Spencer was at Sukhum Kaleh, in company with Prince Woronzow, lie witnessed a review of the garrison ; and he says that, without exaggeration, not more than fifty out of the three hundred soldiers who were paraded could be considered healthy, while certainly not more than half were capable of handling a musket. In the summer months the heat by day is almost tropical, and at night the winds sweep down from the icy summits of the Caucasus with chilly keenness. It is not improbable that these bombarding operations are being carried on with a view to excite the Circassians to insurrection ; for not only arc these intensely disaffected to their conquerors, but as Mr Oliphant lias remarked, between the Sea of Azov and the Caspian there are half a million of Calmucks and Nogays, who are " a continual source of suspicion and uneasiness to the Government, which has plundered them of all their ancient rights, and reduced them to a state of degradation ;" and behind these lies the country of the Don Cossacks, containing, according to the same authority, a malcontent population of 800,000 inhabitants, " bound to an onerous military service, which, while it adds to their discontent, furnishes the Russian Government with a powerful engine for enforcing their submission." Thus, while it would be folly to be little the military power of the Czar, it would be equally unwise to overlook or depreciate the dangers to wliich he is exposed by the breaking out of rebellions among the loosely compacted constituents of his heterogeneous empire.