The Press.
London, England, 1856-08-09 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

Petersburg, dated the 28th ult., says :—Sir Charles
Napier intends leaving St. Petersburg shortly, but in
the meantime he is the object of a curiosity which
proves rather annoying to him sometimes. The
other day the old seaman went to Pavlousk to hear
Strauss' music and see the company, but he must
soon have perceived that in proposing to himself to
enjoy the rural scene in tranquillity he had reckoned
without his host. No sooner had he arrived than ha
found himself surrounded with a crowd of gazers,
who never left him for one instant; if he began to
walk, on walked the crowd ; if he sat down in any
nook of the garden where he fancied he could be
alone, the nook became in a twinkling the most
thronged part, and groups gathered thick and dense.
Sir Charles tried frequently to escape by changing
the locality, but he did not succeed. Dodged from
alley to alley by this curiosity so flattering to his
vanity, but so annoying to him in his stroll, he fairly
fled from the garden, and did not breathe freely
again till he found himself a short time after in the
train, which rapidly bore him away to St. Peters.
burg. Even celebrity has its drawbacks, and Sir
Charles Napier has experimentally convinced him-
self of the fact in a letter from St. Petersburg.

THE LAST ENGLISHMAN IN THE CRIMEA is said to
have been one of the Land Transport Corps, who,
long after the Crimea was given up and all had em-
barked, was found lying very drunk in one of the
ditches. He was carried to the beach by six Cos-
sacks, and pullel off to the last ship quitting the
port. So tipsy was he that he had to be hoisted on
board.
A Roma= MURDER has been committed in
Paris. The resident office-porter of the Societe
d'Emigration Frarco-Americaine, in the Faubcurg
St. Martin, some months since was deserted by a
girl he loved and lived with. Last Saturday even-
ing he brought her home with him, and in the
middle of the night was met by the concierge
coming down stairs, and dragging with him the
naked headless body of the poor girl. He had lite-
rally cut her head off while she was sleeping. The
concierge, horror-struck at the sight, rushed into his
room for a sword. Poirier, the porter, cried out,
" Arrest me if you like ; I have been revenged on a
woman who has made me suffer a good deal, and I
have no wish to escape." He, however, ran up
stairs, jumped out of the second-floor window, and
made off. The concierge hastened to summon the
police. They arrived, and discovered in the bedroom
a frightful scene of blood and horror. Poirier had
evidently first stunned the poor girl while in bed
and asleep with a blow from an iron balance, and
then, holding her over a pail, with a blunt knife
hacked and jagged her head off. In carrying the
body out, his object was evidently to lay it in the
street, though how he could have hoped to escape
detection it is impossible to conceive. The police
are in active search, but have as yet failed to secure
him.

THE PROJECT FOR COLONISING THE ISLE OF SAR
DINIA is engaging the attention of those who devote
their time to economic studies, and investigations are
being made into the capabilities of the island. The
soil of Sardinia (says the Correspondance Italienne)
is adapted to every kind of culture ; the island pos-
sesses some good natural harbours that only require
deepening; the plains are magnificent, and which
only require draining to render them highly fertile.
The area amounts to 2,409,606 hectares, 511,000 of
which belong to the public domain. The Govern-
ment is busy making roads and founding schools.
The island could receive a million and a half of im-
migrants without the slightest detriment to the oIJ
inhabitants.

THE RUSSIANS IN THE CRIMEA.—The last arrival
from the Crimea gives the following items :—As
there were a number of wooden huts in the Crimea
without owners, the first person who arrived took
possession of that which suited his purpose. Colonel
Stamati, the Commandant of Balaklava, has issued
an order prohibiting any one from touching them,
unless he can prove himself to be the legitimate
owner. A second order prohibits any one from
touching the funeral monuments of the allied armies;
and a third requests all the families of Balaklava
and Kamiesch to come and prove their right to pro-
perty, and to proceed with the construction of botkes
according to a new plan, which is to be drawn out
by a committee of civil and military engineers sent
from Odessa for that purpose. An order has also
been published fixing the price of articles for con-
sumpion--a measure which bad been rendered
necessary by the exorbitant demands of the foreign
dealers, who are now much embarrassed by the sur-
veillance of the local police re established on all
points. The posts placed on the roads constructed
by the allies, and bearing the names of the engineers,
have been all removed. The Russian clergy have
just celebrated a grand mass at Balaklava, at which
every one walked barefoot in sign of moitification,
after which holy water was sprinkled in every direc
lion. The camp of 6,000 men, which has been
formed on the heights of Inkermann, will be the only
military force in that part of the Crimea.

S ATURLAY,

MARSHAL PELISSIER AT MARSEIILES,
MARSHAL PELISSIER, at the graud banquet Biven tv
him at Marseilles on Sunday,it, returning, Iliaiik•lfor
his health, said, with reference to the Frqnch array
and the war :

Never, in fact, did an army give a ft ner xatnple of
courage, constancy, self-denial, and devotion under such
severe trials. It is to these soldiers, uniteel with our brave
and faithful allies, and guided by the Emperor, whose
sagacious preparations insured the success, that Franco
and Europe are indebted for a glorious peeace.

Other toasts having been drunti, and the list
exhausted, Marshal Peli4sier, fiuding that no allu-
sion had been made to the allies, rose and said :
Gentlemen,—l did expect that. somebody would have
proposed a toast to our brave alt.ies, but nothing to that
effect having been offered, I mu.at say that we have acted
like egotists. Your silence corsrpels me to recal to your
recollection the firmness and the valour of the Bi,tish
arwy, which showed us how to conquer or to die, the con•
stant spitit of concord and confraternity of which it gave
us so many proofs, as well as the eagerness with which the
Sardinian army, but recently created, joined our ranks, and
the noble courage with which it fought. I am confident,
gentlemen, that these observations will find an echo in
your hearts, and I consequently propose to you " The
health of the gracious Queen of Great Britain,' and another
toast, " The King of Sardinia."

The toasts having been enthusiastically honoured,
the Marshal shortly after retired.

MAJOR GENERAL WINDHAM ON THE
OPERATIONS IN THE CRIMEA.

MAJOR-GENERAL WINDHAX, daring his ♦isit to Nor-
wich, made some interesting remarks on the spirit
manifested by our allies in the Crimea, and the con-
duct of Marshal Pelissier on the occasion of the
assault on the Mamelon

As chief of the staff (observed the gallant officer), and
having landed early and served without intermission through,
the whole campaign, I think I know the tone, the feelings.
the discipline, and the habits of the French soldiers &s-
-well as any individual in the British army. I know no-
thing whatever of their navy, but I know that my Mend,.
Harry Keppel, one of the best and kindest little fellows in.
the British navy—a man who served faithfully with me in
the trenches, and was never absent on any occasion when
he thought he had a chance of getting his head knocked
off with a round•shot—has always told me that he had na
fault %hatever to find in his communications with the
French navy, and therefore I can find none. As far as
regards the French army, I really believe that they behaved
as well as any men could possibly behave to us. lam not
going to say that there never was je►lousy, either on their
side or on ours, but I say that when we were in difficulties
they would always come to the rescue, and they welt Itnew,
and honestly acknowledged, that if they had any difficulties
to encounter they were very glad to see a battalion of red.
coats come up to their support. I knew all the superior
officers, many of them with considerable intimacy, and N.
may say the same of the great Marshal, who in fact, towNsia
the latter end of the war, commanded the two armies.
Throughout the whole of the war their conduct was such,
that I must say I never served with a body of men with
whom I was more delighted.
General Windham here related a characteristic
anecdote of Marshal Felissier

I well remember when it became a question that the
Mamelon should be captured—that was upon the Bth of
June, 1855, and it was the first real advance that we meal-
towards the town, because previously to the Bth of Junewo.
were in reality the besieged party, and not the besirom.
I very well remember it being reported to me that narwhal
Pell abler called a council of war, and told his own officers
that he came there to ask their opinions, but not so follow
them. When that distinguished officer heard all that they
had got to say, and many of them said a great deal against
an attack upon the lila:melon, he asked our General of
Engineers, Sir Harry Jones, for his opinion.. Sir Harry
Jones' reply was simply this—" Lord Raglan, orders me tai
say that when you are ready to attack the Mamelon, he it
ready to attack the Quarries." The answer of General
Pelissier to that was—" Voila ce que j'appelle parler." I
think, therefore, that we may fairly assume that he was
not inclined to prop up his officers against oars.
With respect to their opinion of the result of the
Redan failures, General Windham said :
I have never heard any officer of their service reproach
us; on the contrary, I have always beard them speak to
military terms of our assault just as they talked of their.
assaults, they knowing perfectly well it was a critical opt-
ration. Their minds were bent upon the Malakoff. and.
they looked to that alone. I think I can say with great
truth that I have never beard from the mouth of any
single officer of standing in the French service one solitary
disrespectful remark relative to our own army, and I think.
we may fairly say that they have not shown any disrespect:
whatever towards us.

Al ENORMOUS NIMBLE OF FORGED FRENCH NOTES
FOR 100 f. are now in circulation. The discovevy was
made in Paris on Monday in a parcel of eighty eight
notes, eighty-seven of which were found to be forged.
The forgeries were so ingeniously executed that
several of the most experienced clerks in the Bank
were unable to detect them. The affair is so serious
that orders have been given at the Government
offices not to receive notes in payment at all unless
hey are first marked as good by the Bank.

AUGUST 9, 1856.

tuurt aut jastion.

Her Majesty the Queen and the Royal Family
still continue at Osborne. The departure of the
Court for Balmoral is fixed for the 28th inst.
Prince Alfred spent his birthday on Wednesday at
Osborne•house. The Prince returned to the Lodge
pt Windsor on Thursday.
The Duchess of Kent returned to town from Os-
borne on Wednesday.
The Duchess of Gloucester has been ill during
the week. Her Royal Highness was better yes-
terday.
Her Serene Highness the Princess Amelie of
Hohenlohe arrived at Clarence•house, St. James's,
on Thursday, from the Continent, on a visit to her
Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent.

Viscount Palmerston has left town, accompanied
by Viscountess Palmerston, to pass a few weeks at
her ladyship'. seat, Brocket•hall, Herts.
The Earl of Westmorland, who went to Brussels
on a mission from her Majesty, to congratulate the
King of the Belgians on the twenty-fifth anniversary
of his ascension of the throne of Belgium, returned
to town on Saturday, accompanied by Mr. H. D.
Wolff, of the Foreign office.
The Right Hon. B. Disraeli, and Mrs. Disraeli,
have left Grosvenor-gate for the Continent.
The Earl of Derby has been detained in town from
a severe attack of gout.