THE RUSSIAN HABIT OF FALSEHOOD.
Belfast, 31st December 1855. Sea—Every one has by this time been amused at Colonel Shaffner's trans- parent falsehoods about Russia. It appears uncertain whether his statements proceed from a really Russian source ; but it is probable that they do, and that he is more of a dupe than an intentional liar. The Russians habitually deceive ignorant foreigners with gasconade. I conversed, in 1851, with an American acquaintance who had just returned from a visit to Russia. His admiration of everything Russian was intense, especially the drill of the soldiers. He told me the Russians like the Americans, in consequence of the latter not interfering in the affairs of other countries. This must have alluded to Mexico : an ex- ample which the Russians have improved on in their intercourse with Turkey. My American friend mentioned a circumstance that he learned in Russia, which unaccountably never appeared in the money article in the Times. The expenses of the Hungarian campaign were defrayed by sending a few thousand more men than usual to work at the Ural gold-mines. The most extraordinary part of this story is, that the Yankee, a sufficiently " smart man," believed it. Yours respectfully, J. J. M.
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