The Express.
London, England, 1853-12-28 00:00:00

TELEGRAPHIC CURIOSITIES.

The Patrie, of Monday evening, publishes the fol-
owing respecting a despatch from Trieste, which ap-
peared in the Morning Chronicle and several other papers
on Monday last, Dec. 26 :
" A telegraphic despatch from Trieste, of the 24th inst.,
mentions the entry of the Russians into Khiva. This news
appears inexact. It is very true t►at for a year put Persia
Mid Affghanistan have been the object of Rumba atten-
tions. An envoy extraordinary left Astrachan at the com-
mencement of the summer, charged with an extraordinary
mission to the Khan of Shin ; but his efforts were not
succusful. It wu on this account that a military expedi-
tion left ',Orenburg. The commander of this expedition
having encountered extraordinary difficulties, has demanded
reinforcements, which could not have reached him till very
lately. It is not then probable that he proceeded on his
march before their arrival, or that he was able so easily to
seise Khiva, from which the Russians, from the time of
Peter the Great to the present day, have often been re-
pulsed."
' Such is the explanation of the Patric. A much simpler
one, however, is close at hand.
The Chronicle's despatch of Monday lust was thus framed :
" PARIS, SUNDRY MORNING.
" The following despatch has been received from
Trieste :

" ' Trieste, Dec. 24.
" ' News has bee* received from Bombay to the 26th of
November.

0 . According to these accounts, the Shah of Persia we'
touching towards the north with an army of 40,000 ma
and 100 cannon.

... The English were, on the other hand, marching to-
wards Afghanistan, to bar the defile of Cohat by means of
• fort.

The Russians, it is added, have entered Khiva, and
destroyed Ackmetzen, in Independent Tartary.' "
On the 7th of October last the advance of the Shah and
hit army to the north was reported with considerable cir-
cumstantiality in the Daily News, on the authority of
letters from Tabriz. Four days afterwards the following
was given in the Daily News :—" A letter of the 26th ult.,
in the Dresden Gazette, says—' Important intelligence has
arrived relative to the advantages obtained by the Russian
troops on the Asiatic frontier of the empire. The capture of
the fortress of Akmetsb, situated on the Sudaria, in Turkic
tan, can only contribute to augment the influence of Russia
in Central Asia. The Kergbises, established beyond the
Sudaria, have recognised the supremacy of Russia since the
Emperor Alexander's time. The inhabitaats of the steppes
of Sauthern Turkistan have made several incursions on the
aortheru districts. The Khan of Khiva hastened to draw
closer to Russia as soon es he heard of the capture of
A kmetsh. Russia has some idea of uniting by a canal the
Caspian Sea to Lake Aral.'"
. . . .

Subsequently, all the facts mentioned in the Trieste
despatch were fully discussed, the reported presence by the
Russians at Khiva forming the subject of a letter by our
correspondent, "Anglo-Indian," and it was reasonable to
suppose that we should advance with eveats, when to! at
the expiration of ten weeks, the old story meets us again
as latest intelligence." The trunk is, that the news of the
taking of Ahmetzek was transmitted from Europe to Delhi
and Bombay, and is acknowledged by the Indian papers
themselves. The Bombay Tinsel is the authority upon
which this newest alarm was raised, but the Bombay paper
acknowledges that its authority is the Agra Intelligencer,
find it supports its summary by the following extract from
that joarnal :—" The Delhi Gazette some time ago an-
nwoced the advance of a Russian army towards Khiva;
and now the Caksdia Morning Chronicle has got letters—
whence is not stated—declaring that this force has reached

Klima, while a London correspondent of the Delhi Gazette
states that the Russians having taken the fortress of Ah-
metsek, the road to Khiva was open to them."
Thus it is shown that the details of an event in Penia are
published in London in October, and then at the end of
December, fragments of the same news reach London by
1 Electric Telegraph from Trieste.

DEATII or PROFESSOR

IE, DEC.

26.--Dr. Wm. Hodge Mill, Regina Professor of Hebrew,
canon of Ely, and rector of Brasted, died at Ely on
Christmas-day at 9.30 p.m., after lees than a week's illness,
On Monday week he went up to London to attend a meet-
ing of the Foreign Translation Committee of the Society
fur Promoting Christian Knowledge. The extreme cold of
the day brought on an obstruction which no medical skill
could counteract, and he died, without pain, and with all
such consolations as his friend/ could wish, on Sunday
night. Dr. Mill took a very high degree in 1813, and was
elected Fellow of Trinity College. In 1820 he went
out as first principal of Bishop's Coilege, Calcutta, the
noble foundation of Bishop Middleton. On his return, in
lb3B, he received the honourable and important appoint-
ment of domestic and examining chaplain to the late Arch-
bi-hop Howley. Subsequently he was appointed Christian
Advocate. In 1843 his patron and friend, Archbishop
Howley, presented him to the living of Brasted, Kent ;
and in 1848 he was elected Regius Professor of Hebrew, to
which a canonry at Ely is attached. Dr. Mill's acquire-
ments in Sanacrit have won him a European reputation ;
and, as a classical production in that language, his " Christal
Sangrita" is a work unparalleled in modern literature.
MASSEtts AND CUSTOMS or THE NATIVES OF
COILVE CAsTLII.—At Corfe Castle, in Dirsetshire, a curious ;
cuamm prevails at Christmas time. A man is dreassd up
in the skin of a bull, head, horny, and all. A ring is
placed through the nostril of the bull's akin, to which is
fastened a chain, and another man leads the one that is so
disguised about. They enter every holm, and collect
money. The man disguised bellows like a bull. This
I custom is a very ancient one.