E ' ?" Some accounts of the Russian prisoners' in 'France,
their conversations and amusements, find a place-in the papers. A Paris letter in the Saint Public of Lyons gives a glimpse of General BOdifICO- • "In a trip which I recently-made to Havre, a friend had the kindness me to the Russian General Bodisco. I led the conversation to lisiesia and Bomarsund. Amopg other things, the General.said, I wish that Prince paskiewitsch had been foilmicOit4 ,ini.45.0-..tfie (fortress of Bomarsund : I am certain that, like me, bb sboldd notldiveafidught of prolonging a useless resietsi- Tou know the courage of the Russian soldier, but in this case courage went.fer nothing. It was impossible to stand against the excellent firing of the English; and especially of ' the Chasseurs de Vineennes. As soon as we showed ourselves at an embrasure; balls arrived with such pre- cision, and in such profusion, that it was impossible for us to take aim.' One of the persons present having referred to the disembarkation, I asked General Bodisco if he did not believe the strength of Sebastopol exaggerated by the newspapers? No,' he replied ; Sebastopol is towards the sea truly formidable; but if the fleets can approach it as they did Bomarsund, and if bie land the Masseurs de Vincennes can get the walls of Sebastopol within reaCh of their rifles, resistance will be no more possible to its garrison than to that of Bomaraund.' " • The French Government is making great exertions to construct a num- ber of gun-boats for service in the Baltic next spring. They are to carry heavy metal, yet to draw only about two metres or one fathom of water; and their bows and bulwark' are to be eased with iron plates of. consi- derable. thickness. Some experiments were lately tried at -Vincennes upon the degree of resistance which these defences would offer to shot. The result was, that it required seventeen cannon-balls to strike the same spot before the iron was penetrated; and as this is a feat beyond the skill of the best artillerists directed against a floating body, the boats are consi- dered to-be proof.
Fuad Effendi has been appointed one of the members of the new Turkish' Reform Commission. He recently visited Vole and laid the foundation-stone of a Greek church, the construction of which -had, , at his request, been authorized by the Porte. For this service the in- -habitants presented him with a complimentary address.
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