f the provinces, where the clergy of the
Greek Church, and the leading officials also of that communion, gave
them public welcome. _Te Deum_ was sung in the churches, and the Russian
armies acted as if on conquered territory. It was on the 3rd of July
that the Pruth was crossed; on the 8th Prince Gortschakoff assisted in
the ceremonies of the Church of St. Spiridion, at Jassy; on the 29th he
received the compliments of the assembled bishops of the Greek Church of
the provinces at Bucharest, 150 miles nearer to the Danube. By this date
the Russian army had greatly increased; Gortschakoff, Dannenberg,
and Luders had at their disposal nearly 20,000 cavalry, 144 pieces of
cannon, of a larger calibre than had ever before been brought into the
field by any army, and a force of infantry not so large in proportion
to these arms of the service, but the precise number of which it is
impossible, amidst so many conflicting statements, to verify. General
Osten-Sacken remained within the Russian frontier with powerful
reserves, and reinforcements were pouring along in unbroken streams from
the great centres of Russian military power. The fierce Cossack from the
Don and the Dneister, the Tartar from the Ukraine, the beetle-browed and
predatory Baschkir, with all their variety of wild uniform, and "helm
and blade" glancing in the summer's sun, crowded on the great military
thoroughfares, while fresh supplies of well-appointed and formidable
artillery were carefully transmitted. The foundries of Russia were
blazing in the manufacture of warlike weapons; and the workshops of
Belgium were ransacked for the musket and rifle. The shores of the
Sea of Azoff and of the Black Sea were alive with craft of every size,
bearing military resources to the points destined to receive them. By
shore and river in the occupied cities of the provinces, and far off
in the cities of imperial Russia, the din of ceaseless preparation
was heard; and it was evident to all men--still only excepting our
government and the diplomatists--that Russia was preparing for a
struggle against whatever forces might be brought against her, and was
resolved to peril her empire upon one desperate effort to humble Europe,
and grasp from Turkey some of her richest provinces, or compel the
formal admission of her vassalage.

The Russian armies crowded down to the sweeps of the Danube, occupying
every strategical position, and fortifying themselves by entrenchments
and other defe