The Press.
London, England, 1855-03-17 00:00:00

THE PATRIOTIC FUND.

THE fund now reaches above the sum of 1,000,0001.
The last return from the Royal Commissioners was
nearly 000,0001., in which list of contributions were
the following sums :-10,0001. from Leeds, (first in •
stalment),s,ooo/. from Bombay (ditto), and 5,0001.
from Calcutta (ditto). To this fund has yet to be
added the City subscriptions from the different wards,
dm., which at present exceed 90,0001. Several metro-
politan parishes also have not yet forwarded their
lists of contributions. The Cape Town Mail of the
27th of January says that the treasurer of the
Patiiotio Fund had already in hand 1,4001., the first
fruits of Cape Town alone, and that collections were
still going on.
The committee of the fund established in 1803, and
know as Lloyd's Patriotic Fund, have notified that,
in consequence of the subscriptions under the Royal
Patriotic Fund being limited to the relief of widows
and orphans of those dying on active service during
the present war, they have resolved to apply the
means remaining in their hands to other classes of
sufferers. They will therefore give gratuities to
soldiers, seamen, and marines disabled from wounds,
and discharged the service in consequence, and also
to such relatives (not widows or orphans) as depended
for support on those killed in action. The total held
by the committee is valued at about 88,0001., subject
to the payment of some annuities amounting to
1,0001. per annum. They have also certain rights
of nomination to the Royal Naval Asylum and
Schools.
It has been proposed to form a collection of works
of art by artists and amateurs, to be given for the
purposes of sale and exhibition, the whole proceeds
to be applied to the relief of widows and orphans of
British officers who may fall in the war with Russia.
The plan has been taken up with great spirit in aris-
tocratic circles.

MISS STANLEY AT KULLELI.
WE take the following letter from the Chester Courant.
The writer is Miss Stanley, daughter of the Bishop
of Norwich, and the letter was addressed to the sister
of a poor soldier, by name Astle, who came from
Macclesfield :

Kalelli Hospital, Feb. 7, 1855.

Ellen Astle,--I came out here with a great many nurses
and ladies, to help to nurse the sick and wounded soldiers
of our army, and I came to this new hospital about a week

ago.
On Monday last, the sth, T was going round the wards
to feed those who could not feed themselves. There was
one poor man who looked very bad indeed. I went up to
his bedstead ; I asked if I could write to his friends at
home. He said he should be grateful, and then he told me
he came from Macclesfield. It was your brother; he gave
me your direction, and asked me to write to you, and you
would tell the rest of his family that he was very ill, but he
hoped to get better soon. I told him how my name was
St alley, and that my native place was Alderley, and that I
felt we were like neighbours. He begged I would tell you
of my being here and seeing him, and he said "if it was
only a cat from the place you loved, you would be pleased
to see it." He seemed much pleased to talk with me
over the places he and I knew so well—Prestliry, Broken
Cross, Ablerley Edge, the Black Greyhound, Wilmslow. I
hoped to be able to see him often, and be a comfort to him.
I sent the clergyman to see him in the evening, and he
found him very grateful to have words spoken to him about
his immortal soul.
What the impression left by those words was, none will
ever know: but we humbly hope they were blessed. When
I went the next morning, your dear brother was at peace.
He breathed his last in his sleep, without pain. I felt
thankful to have seen him, and so to be able to give you
this short account. He is laid with his gallant comrades
in a newly-made burying-ground on the side of the hill
which rises above the hospital. It is a beautiful, peaceful
spot, and it may be a comfort to you to know that his last
hour was not on the battle-field, or in the cold trenches.
I would say to you what the good chaplain here said to
a poor soldier's widow as she took her last sorrowing glance
into her husband's grave this afternoon when the service
was ended. He bid her not mourn, as those who have no
hope, for that her husband had died in the faith of Christ.
He bid her carry away in her heart the blessed words he
had just read over the grave :—" I am the Resurrection
and the Life, saith the Lord. He that believeth in me
though he were dead, yet shall he live." He bid her follow
on to know Christ, and through Him to be enabled to join
her husband in glory hereafter. I f•el I can give you no
words more comforting than these, May God bless them
to you, and eoinfort you in this par great agigtioia,

251

Let me hear if you receive this letter, and direct your
answer to Miss Stanley, (I, Grosvenor crescent, London,
from whence it will be forwarded to me.—Your sincere

friend,
To Miss Ellen Artie,

M. STANLEY.
Macclesfield.

LAST HOURS OF THE EMPEROR NICHOLAS.
[From the St. Petersburg journals, and from many letters from
that capital, we are ptaoed in possession of full particulars
of the illness and death of the late Czar. The following it
sent us by a correspondent in °mum.)
THE Emperor Nicholas had been ailing since the
14th of February, and, notwithstanding the repeated
caution of his plijsicians, took so little care of him-
self that he was present at a review, remaining sta-
tionary, on a piercing cold day, for three hours, and
from which he returned shivering and with fever.
The attack gradually increased. On the 24th he
was unable to participate in the religious rites of
the Greek Church, with the different members of the
Imperial family, according to his usual practice.
From this time he grew rapidly worse; on the let
of March he became delirious—with an incessant
cough that totally prevented sleep. The Empress,
who never quitted him, earnestly desired to sit up
the night. This the Emperor would not permit, ou
account of her weak state of health, but said, " Lot
us pray together for the last time in the words com-
manded by Christ." When the Empress repeated,
" Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven,'
the Emperor lifted up his joined hands, exclaiming
firmly," Yea, ever—ever and ever." On Friday, the 2nd,
at three in the morning, he confessed, and received
the sacrament in the presence of th.lmperial family.
At the conclusion lie prayed, " May God receive my
soul "—" In to domine speravi." The Empress was
much affected, and, although weak and sinking, the
Emperor consoled her in calm yet tender language,
that evidenced his firm composure and the command
he had over himself at this trying moment. He de-
sired his most intimate friends to be introduced—
spoke to them affectionately, and took leave of Count
Orloff, Count Adlenburg, and Prince Dolgorouki.
The servants of the household were then summoned,
and the old grenadiers of the body guard—to all of
whom he spoke kindly, and with thanks for their
fidelity and attachment. To Madame ltourbeck,
first lady of the bedchamber to the Empress, he ex-
pressed his gratitude for her unremitting attention
to the Empress during her last illness—" Soyez
pour elle a l'avenir ce que vous avez ate demon
vivant, et saluez mon beau l'eterhof la premiere fois
que vous y irez avec elle."
The ceremonies to be observed at his funeral were
then minutely ordered, and he himself dictated the
telegraphic dispatch to Moscow and Wat saw an-
nouncing the fact of his being at the point of death.
Whilst he was giving these directions the son of
Prince Menschikoff arrived from Sebastopol with
letters. The Czar declined to receive them, adding—
"Ce la pourrait it me rattacher a la terra?" At
eleven his voice became indistinct, and his breathing
difficult; at twelve his articulation was plainer. The
last words to the Cesarewitch were to convey !Us
thanks to the army before Sebastopol; and then,
turning to the Empress, he enjoined her to urge his
dying request to the King of Prussia, her brother,
to be the protector of the Imperial family, to he
faithful in the continuance of a friendly policy to-
wards Russia, and to bear in mind constantly and
reverentially the testamentary words of his father,
Frederick William III.—" Puissent la Prusse, la
Russia et I'Autriche ne jamais se separer, leur union
est la sauve garde de la pail Europeenne." In a,
quarter of an hour afterwards be breathed his last,
calmly, and without pain. The body was placed on
a camp bed, and covered with a military cloak.
In his domestic circle the late Emperor was most
affectionate. None of his children or grandchildren
ever addressed him by the title of " Sire" or" your
Majesty ;" all etiquette was banished, sod he lived
with his family on terms of the most simple and na-
tural familiarity. The Grand Duchess Marie of
Lenctenberg appeared to be, and was, no doubt, his
favorite child. For her he bad few reservations, and
when most harassed by official business or unfa-
vorable intelligence, generally repaired to her apart-
ments for relief and consultation. When in the
palace, he never missed being present at her chil-
dren's dinner—a mark of regard that was not he-
stowed upon any other member of the Imperial
family.
The body of the Emperor was placed " k fare
decouverte" in the Chapelle Ardente, where it will
remain until the day of the funeral. The report of
a rapid decomposition is utterly without foundation.

THE FOUR VACANT COLONELCIEs have been filled np
by the transfer of Sir George Brown from the 7th
Fusiliers to his old corps, the Rifle Brigade; of
Lieutenant- General Auchmuty, from the 05th to the
7th Fusiliers, with whom he served in the Peninsula ;
and of Lieutenant-General the Hon. H. E. Butler,
from the 94th to the 55th, the regiment in which his
gallant son, who was /tilled et Inkertnann, cotutnanclial
eonspasp