The Press.
London, England, 1856-05-31 00:00:00

FOREIGN MISCELLANEA.

GENERAL WILLIAMS, it appears, was warmly re-
ceived in St. Petersburg, and made quite a lion of.
A letter in the Indipendance Belie alludes to the
circumstance, and the writer would seem to be
amazed at the attention paid to the gallant general :
A brave and valiant Russian warrior like General
Williams (says the writer) would doubtless be well re-
ceived in England, but we may be permitted to doubt
whether the first ladies of the English aristocracy would
hasten, as I observed ours do at the Princess Youssowpotcs
ball the other night, to present themselves to the stranger,
in order that he might feel as much at home as possible,
and receive the tribute which was his due.

THE PREPARATIONS FOR THE BAPTISM OF THE
FRENCH IMPERIAL PRINCE IN NOTRE DA NE are
proceeding rapidly. The ceremony is fixed for the
14th of June. The church will be richly redecorated
for the occasion. The Emperor, Empress, and the
Imperial Family will be seated in the centre of the
church. The altar will be placed at the extreme of
the choir, and the vase of St. Louis used to hold the
water. The diplomatic corps, Senate, and all the
officers of State will be present on the occasion.
COUNT ORLOFF, who is about to leave Paris On his
return to St. Petersburg, has been presented by the
Emperor Napoleon with a diamond cross of the
Legion of Honour, an unusual mark of favour.
A JOURNAL similar to the Nord of Brussrls it is
said will be shortly established in London by the
Russian Government.
THE KING OF NAPLES, it is said, when lately
granting an audience to some newly-appointed " In-
tendants," remarked to them that of course they had
seen the Minister of the Interior :

I know (continued his Majesty) that Bianchini has ad
vised you to be mild and just, but you must recollect that,
although Bianchini is a good man, he knows nothing about
the Administration, and that you ate called to govern a
country which is only to he ruled by the slick.
The " Intendants" made a bow and departed for
their provinces with the firm resolution to carry into
effect the policy suggested by their Sovere gn.
THE VISIT OF THE EMPRESS DOWAGER OF RUSSIA
TO BERLIN has of course recalled malty anecdotes
connected with her early life. A letter from Berlin
gives the following account of the young princess's
engagement to the Grand Duke Nicholas in 1816.
The Princess Charlotte was given to understand by
her parents that if the Grand Duke (luring his stay
at Berlin should take a fancy to her they would have
no obje 'Lion to her returning the penchant :
The time originally fixed for the expiration of the Grand
Duke's stay had come, and he was seated at slipper on his
last evening next to the Princess Charlotte, when he
abruptly told her that he must leave Berlin the next day.
He hoped to surprise her into some demonstration of feel-
ing on the occasion, but her maidenly pride withheld her
from making more than some ver, say-nothing remark in
acknowledgment. The Grand Duke thereupon soon
assumed another plan of operations; knowing that., how-
ever little the eyes of the company might he actually fixed
on him and his feir neighbour, they were, nevertheless,
the ol ject of general observation, he commenced telling
her, but in an apparently unembarrassed manner, and
playing with a ring of his the while, that he had devoted
himself during his short stay there to making himself ac•
quainted with her character and disposition, &c., and that
he had found in her every quality that he believed best
calculated to make him happy in wedded life, &a.; but, as
they two were at that moment the object of scrutiny to
many present, he would not press her for any reply to his
overtures, but if it were agreeable to her that he should
prolong his stay at her father's court, she would, perhaps,
have the goodness to take up the ring he had in his hand.
This ring I.e then, apparently while playing with the two
objects, thrust into the roll of bread lying on the table
before him, and went on, seemingly in all sangfroid, with
his supper. With an equal appearance of unconcern, the
Princess presently put out her hand, and took up the roll,
as if mistaking it for her own bread, and, unnoticed by the
company, withdrew the ring, and put it on her own band.
The rest requires no narration.