Thanks to the fact that nowadays more and more books are digitized we are able to read books that are some times for decades no longer available for the public for several reasons. That's quite a pity while these books contains useful information while the archives are destroyed, incomplete or nor accessible. In this specific magazine was an article titled “The National Defence Madness” published in which the British navy was compared with several other navies and the results were presented in the British Parliament.
P. 360: “Russia is powerful within, but in every respect feeble beyond the countries which immediately adjoin her frontiers. Her fleet in ] 840 consisted of fifty-six ships of the line (of which thirty-one in the Gulf of Finland, and twenty-five in the Black Sea) and forty-eight frigates (thirty of which in the Baltic and eighteen in the Black Sea), with a few steam-vessels, the latter built chiefly in England. In 1851 the number of ships of the line were reduced to twenty-four in the Baltic and twenty-four in the Black Sea; and the frigates to twenty-five in the Baltic and twenty in the Black Sea. The number of steam-ships have been increased to about thirty-two, the best and largest of which have been constructed and fitted with engines in Great Britain. All the Russian sailing-ships have been ill constructed, ill officered, badly manned, and worse disciplined. But the fact that the ships of Russia for several months of the year remain frozen in the cul de sac of one sea, and for a considerable period in that of another, may of itself dissipate any dread which may be entertained on the part of any Western European power in regard to the fleets of the Czar. Nor can we join in the many calumnies against the Emperor Nicholas. To judge rightly of his government, we would require to be well acquainted with the state of his empire and the ignorance of his subjects. In England he would readily be a liberal and constitutional king; it is doubtful if he could be more so than he is, and reign in Russia. “With respect to the Russian navy,” says M. Custine, “the present emperor seems endeavouring to realise the favourite object of Peter I. But however powerful the man may be, he has, sooner or later, to acknowledge that nature is more powerful still. As long as Russia keeps within her natural limits, the Russian navy will continue the mere hobby of the emperor; and, in our mind, the view of the naval power of Russia gathered together at the cul de sac of the Gulf for the amusement of the Czar, at the gate of his capital, had caused only a painful impression.” “The vessels,” says M. Custine, “ which will inevitably be lost in a few winters, without having rendered any service, suggested to my mind images, not of the power of a great country, but of the useless toils of the poor unfortunate people condemned to labour. The ice is a more terrible enemy to this navy than a foreign power; for a time the pupil returns to his prison, the plaything to its owner, when the ice begins to wage its more serious war upon the imperial finances. Lord Durham once remarked, that the Russian ships of war were but the playthings of the Russian Sovereign. During three months’ naval exercise, the young pupils remain performing evolutions in the neighbourhood of Cronstadt, the more advanced extend their voyage of discovery to Riga, and some few ships go as far as Copenhagen, and a solitary ship, now and then, strays into the Atlantic. To admire Russia in approaching it by water, it is necessary to forget the approach to England by the Thames: the first is the image of death, the last of life. The thoughts of the navy being destined to perish without ever having been in action, appeared to me like a dream. If the sight of such an armament impressed me with any sentiment, it was not the fear of war, but the curse of tyranny. The maxim of Peter the Great was, ‘The sea at any cost’ and he founded the maritime capital of the Selavonians in a marsh among the Finns, and in the vicinity of the Swedes. But the outlet to the sea is closed during eight months of the year.” Upon the whole naval list of Russia there are sixty-three admirals, three-fourths of whom have never been to sea, many of whom, being civilians, hold commissions merely to give them rank; seventy-two captains of the first class, eighty of the second, and 211 lieutenants The number of men decreed by ukase for the service of the fleet is fixed at r>6,000 ; but at least 40,000 of these have not been brought up to the sea, and, according to a report which we have received, the officers have little scientific skill and less nautical experience ; and even sailors on board of the Russian ships are considered as destitute of maritime knowledge and activity, and without practice in the art of gunnery.
Source
William Tait. “The National Defence Madness: in: Tait’s Edingburgh magazine, January-December 1852.
P. 360: “Russia is powerful within, but in every respect feeble beyond the countries which immediately adjoin her frontiers. Her fleet in ] 840 consisted of fifty-six ships of the line (of which thirty-one in the Gulf of Finland, and twenty-five in the Black Sea) and forty-eight frigates (thirty of which in the Baltic and eighteen in the Black Sea), with a few steam-vessels, the latter built chiefly in England. In 1851 the number of ships of the line were reduced to twenty-four in the Baltic and twenty-four in the Black Sea; and the frigates to twenty-five in the Baltic and twenty in the Black Sea. The number of steam-ships have been increased to about thirty-two, the best and largest of which have been constructed and fitted with engines in Great Britain. All the Russian sailing-ships have been ill constructed, ill officered, badly manned, and worse disciplined. But the fact that the ships of Russia for several months of the year remain frozen in the cul de sac of one sea, and for a considerable period in that of another, may of itself dissipate any dread which may be entertained on the part of any Western European power in regard to the fleets of the Czar. Nor can we join in the many calumnies against the Emperor Nicholas. To judge rightly of his government, we would require to be well acquainted with the state of his empire and the ignorance of his subjects. In England he would readily be a liberal and constitutional king; it is doubtful if he could be more so than he is, and reign in Russia. “With respect to the Russian navy,” says M. Custine, “the present emperor seems endeavouring to realise the favourite object of Peter I. But however powerful the man may be, he has, sooner or later, to acknowledge that nature is more powerful still. As long as Russia keeps within her natural limits, the Russian navy will continue the mere hobby of the emperor; and, in our mind, the view of the naval power of Russia gathered together at the cul de sac of the Gulf for the amusement of the Czar, at the gate of his capital, had caused only a painful impression.” “The vessels,” says M. Custine, “ which will inevitably be lost in a few winters, without having rendered any service, suggested to my mind images, not of the power of a great country, but of the useless toils of the poor unfortunate people condemned to labour. The ice is a more terrible enemy to this navy than a foreign power; for a time the pupil returns to his prison, the plaything to its owner, when the ice begins to wage its more serious war upon the imperial finances. Lord Durham once remarked, that the Russian ships of war were but the playthings of the Russian Sovereign. During three months’ naval exercise, the young pupils remain performing evolutions in the neighbourhood of Cronstadt, the more advanced extend their voyage of discovery to Riga, and some few ships go as far as Copenhagen, and a solitary ship, now and then, strays into the Atlantic. To admire Russia in approaching it by water, it is necessary to forget the approach to England by the Thames: the first is the image of death, the last of life. The thoughts of the navy being destined to perish without ever having been in action, appeared to me like a dream. If the sight of such an armament impressed me with any sentiment, it was not the fear of war, but the curse of tyranny. The maxim of Peter the Great was, ‘The sea at any cost’ and he founded the maritime capital of the Selavonians in a marsh among the Finns, and in the vicinity of the Swedes. But the outlet to the sea is closed during eight months of the year.” Upon the whole naval list of Russia there are sixty-three admirals, three-fourths of whom have never been to sea, many of whom, being civilians, hold commissions merely to give them rank; seventy-two captains of the first class, eighty of the second, and 211 lieutenants The number of men decreed by ukase for the service of the fleet is fixed at r>6,000 ; but at least 40,000 of these have not been brought up to the sea, and, according to a report which we have received, the officers have little scientific skill and less nautical experience ; and even sailors on board of the Russian ships are considered as destitute of maritime knowledge and activity, and without practice in the art of gunnery.
Source
William Tait. “The National Defence Madness: in: Tait’s Edingburgh magazine, January-December 1852.
