The National Intelligencer And Washington Advertiser

From a London Paper.

RUSSIAN ARMIES.

As the Cossacks form so considerable a part of the Russian army, and particularly in the new raised militia, it cannot but be interesting to our readers, to learn the character and strength of this component part of an army and a nation on which the hopes of the confederated powers must now, in a considerable degree, rest. The name of Cossacks in general, are applied to all those tribes, which follow the same irregular and almost optional method of warfare. The particular bodies of the Cossacks are distinguished from each other, not by the different nations which compose them, but by the places they respectively inhabit. Thus the Don Cossacks take their name from the river Don : the Uralian Cossacks from the Uralian mountains; the Cossacks of the Ukraine form the name of the country ; and the Zaporavian Cossacks from the cataracts of the Dneister, as the word Zaporavian, or more properly, Zaporogtzi, signifies in the Russian language, "people living beyond the cataracts." The two former are chiefly the colonists of Great Russia, and the two latter are formed of Little Russians these wear no beards.--The Zaporavians shave even their heads, and leave only a small piece of hair upon the crown, long enough to reach the nose, and pride themselves upon every thing that is opposite civilization, and to the common feelings of man !! There was a time when no woman whatever was permitted to live in their society, and though they began lately to have more intercourse with the sex, still they retain strongly the marks of their former ferocity. They may be called, with great propriety, a gang of desperate outlaws, of robbers, and all sorts of public offenders, who are suffered to exist merely on account of the mischief they do to an enemy..

The Cossacks of the Ukraine and the Don Cossacks, are more advanced in civilization ; the latter are seen sometimes with and sometimes without beards; but the former exist now merely in name. applied indiscriminately to all the inhabitants. Excepting the Cossacks of the Ukraine, and the Zaporavians, the Tartars and Calmucks are so interpersed with all other Cossacks that they form the most conspicuous and prominent feature in them. The Calmucks seem to be the real descendants of the ancient Scythians, who dwelt on the borders of the Don (Danube )--Their features are broad and fat, with a pair of small, fiery, piercing eyes. They are of small stature, very robust and active, and expert in the use of the bow and arrow, which they still use. They are extremely skilful in managing unruly horses, and are hired expressly for the purpose by horse contractors for the army, who have to chuse these animals out of the wild studs bred chiefly by the land proprietors in Little Russia. A Calmuck rides straight into the midst of these ungovernable creatures, and after the horse is singled out which is to betaken, he throws a loop round his neck, with such dexterity, that, though the distance is considerable, as the ferocious animal will not suffer any one to approach near him, he seldom misses his aim. No sooner does the loop fall upon the horse's neck, than the Calmuck fastens with amazing rapidity the other end of the rope to the saddle he sits upon, in such a manner as to prevent all possibility of the horse's escaping. The unruly savage, thus apprised, struggles hard, but the horse which the Calmuck rides, takes such a position, by the direction of the rider, that the strength of the captive is exhausted, and he, at length, suffers himself to be led away, and is soon tamed. The Tartars, who are like Calmucks in their persons, are so intermixed with them as to be seen every where together. They devour raw, whatever animal food comes in their way, or, as they eat their spare horse Carcases, without any other preparation of the flesh than warming it under the saddle of the horse they ride upon. They have generally several horses with them, so that their provisions, and the means of travelling, proceed with them without any incumbrance. Both these nations or tribes are extremely numerous among the Don Cossacks, and altogether form those terrible warriors, whose aspect alone is sufficient to dismay an enemy not accustomed to the sight of such hordes of savages.

The Cossacks are a necessary appendage to the Russian regular army ; they are its guides and satellites, It is their particular business to obtain intelligence from the enemy, which they do sometimes in the manner that a Calmuck takes a wild horse. As soon as a Cossack comes near enough to the object of his search, he throws a loop round his waist, fastens it to his saddle and gallops off with the prisoner. In this way also they transport their prisoners, and drag them through the rivers they have to cross. All the outposts are formed chiefly of the Cossacks. They are constantly upon the look out, and cut a conspicuous figure in the skirmishes. Their delight in blood and love of booty form the main-spring of all their actions, and the Cossack seldom hesitates to attack friend or foe, if he sees the probability of plunder. They are armed with a long lance, a gun, a brace of pistols, and a sword, something in the shape of a Turkish sabre Tho in their military appearance they preserve a certain degree of uniformity, still as their dress is according to their fancy or means, the scene, whenever they march in a body, is truly grotesque and variegated. Their horses which are so diminutive and apparently weak that they seem more calculated to be carried than to carry, are a race altogether anomalous, for whether fed luxuriously or sparingly, they maintain invariably the same niggardly appearance, and, like the Russian soldier, can exist almost upon nothing. The Cossacks are allowed to preserve their own government, and they in return stipulate to furnish the emperor at their own expence, with whatever number of men he may require, on the condition of being allowed to make booty ! Such is their thirst for war as the means of plunder, that when the number required is inconsiderable, so that they must cast lots who should go, a serious quarrel is generally the consequence of not being included in the number. He that returns home without booty, or has not been in action, is viewed by the women in a despicable light ; so that their manners and mode of living all tend to make them a terror to the Peaceful and the helpless, and the most destructive warriors that can be let loose upon a civilized people, as death and desolation follow in their train, and every thing that is valuable they remove or destroy. They even think it charity to kill their comrades, when wounded past recovery, or likely to fall into the hands of the enemy. They disperse in such small parties that it is almost impossible to stop their incursions, and for this reason they are the most dangerous set of men that can enter a hostile country. Nor are they less so to a routed enemy; for, though they do not fight in the line, they are the first in pursuit of him, and the last in desisting from it, Their feats in Poland, in Turkey, and in Italy, under the command of Suwarrow, will not soon be forgotten.