The Press.
London, England, 1854-09-09 00:00:00

RUSSIA.

A curious piece of information is said to have
reached Vienna, where, it is added, much surprise
has been excited at the active diplomatic correspon-
dence carrying on between St. Petersburg and Rome.
The subject of these negotiations is stated to be now
discovered. The Emperor Nicholas holds out a
prospect of some change of system towards the Ro-
man Catholics in Poland, and of concessions to the
Latins at Jerusalem. He is also intriguing against
the French. The Czar entertains an idea of making
his third son, Nicholas, King of Poland , and, as the
Grand Duke is a member of the Greek Church, it
was necessary to give his Holiness some tran-
quillising assurances respecting the Polish Catholics.
The vice-admiral of the Turkish fleet, Osman
Pacha, Captains Osson Bey and Ali Bey, and the
midshipman Chali Effendi, who were taken prisoners
at Sinope, are now at St. Petersburg.
Letters from the south of Russia mention that the
Russians have thrown a bridge of boats across the
Dneiper, with the view apparently of facilitating the

THE PRESS.

transfer of masses of troops withdrawn from the Da-
nubian principalities to the Crimea, now threatened
by the allies. This bridge of boats has caused the
accumulation of a large number of craft laden with
linseed and other produce, which are prevented from
pursuing their voyage down the river to the Russian
ports on the Black Sea.

A letter of the 29th ult. from the Polish frontier.
in the Preset of Vienna, says
" It is evident that Russia intends to repeat her act of
1812 on a large scale. This year, in the month of May,
when the state of war was proclaimed, all criminals, with
the exception of assassins and political prisoners, were
completely amnestied. Their only duty is to stay in cer-
tain places under the vigilance of the military authorities,
and to set fire to the place they live in as soon as the enemy
shall make his appearance."
The two Paixhans guns taken from the Tiger were
tried on the 24th of August at Odessa, in the pre-
sence of the General Governor Annenkoff. At the
fourth shot one of the guns burst, killed one can-
nonier, and wounded several others. Fortunately,
the pieces of metal did not take a horizontal direc-
tion, or many lives must have been lost, as there was
a great crowd assembled.
The Indicator of Elbing, of the 30th ult., says :

"'Two Jewish merchants left this place some months
since, with Prussian passports for Poland. At Warsaw
their business turned out very profitable, but, thinking they
might do still better in the interior of Russia, they ex-
changed their Prussian passports for Russian ones, and
entered that country. Nothing has been since heard of
them until the last few days, when news was received that
they had been taken up as spies, and, not being able to
prove that they were Prussian subjects, one of them is
said to have been sentenced to be hanged, and the other
to be incorporated in a disciplinary regiment."
With respect to the rejection by Russia of the last
propositions, the Paris Pays has the following :

" There are unfortunately now only two courses open for
the Emperor Nicholas—to go on, or abdicate. Now, we
never hoped that a sudden return to more equitable senti-
ments would induce the Czar to accept the conditions of
Europe. He has already staked, in the terrible game
which he has entered into against European right, his
reputation of a Conservative Government, and he has lost;
his diplomatic preponderance, and he has lost; his prestige
as a military force, and he has lost—and yet, in spite of all
that, he has not given way. There still remains to him his
pride, or, if any one likes it better, his national honour, as
his last stake, and he will play it, we have not the slightest
doubt. He will likewise lose it, we trust ; but it will be
only at the last moment of defeat and disaster that the
bandage will fall from his e)es, and that he will submit to
a peace which it is ridiculous to suppose he would agree to
at present. To submit to Europe before he has been van-
quished on the field of battle is neither in accordance with
the character of the Czar, nor with the vital conditions of
his policy."
The Stockholm Aftonbladet reports that the Nor-
wegian Storthing has lately held several protracted
sittings respecting an appeal to be made to the Exe-
cutive for getting the common frontier of Russia and
Norway fixed and settled. It has been complained
that for years past Russia has been quietly encroach-
ing on the Norwegian territory, and the Storthing
demands that an end should be put to this style of
invasion.