The Express.
London, England, 1868-06-25 00:00:00

A RUSSIAN CIVIL GOVERNOR.

A letter from Lithuania, in the ...Vorth-Eastei.a.
Correspondence, says :
The new Governor-General, Potapoff, i. becoming a
regular apostle of Russian orthodoxy. Not content with
closing churches and dispersing the clergy, he seems
anxiou-, to found a new faith by a fusion of the Greek
schism with the Roman catholic religion. There is only
one remaining catholic bishop in the whole province, Mgr.
Woloncecwski, of Kowno, and ho cannot leave his epis-
copal residence without a special authorisation. All at
once ho received, unexpectedly, permission to go to
Wilna for the Witsuntale fetes Hardly had
he arrived in that city than he was summoned before
the Governor-General, who immediately commenced a
theological discussion. He pointed out to the venerable
prelate that the two creeds at bottom form only ono re-
ligion, separated solely by differences of pure form; and
how desirable a thing it would be to reunite them, giving,
be it well understood, the precedence to the most ancient
—the orthodox. As a means of realising this object, the
general proposed to commence by introducing the com-
munions into the catholic church, and requesting the
bishop to initiate the innovation, promising the support
of the military. The prelate's astonishment may
be imagined. Hs protested and tried to reason
with the general, but all to no use. The latter,
getting irritated, exclaimed, " I have begged you to in-
troduce this reform ; what will you do if I, Governor-
General, order you to do so 'r" "In that case," replied
Mgr. Wolonczewski, " I should see myself forced to dis-
obey you." The general flew into a passion. The
bishop, in order to calm him, added, " I could only obey
such an order in case it should be given me by the Pope."
The Holy Father's name drove him frantic; he so far
forgot himself as to replace his theological arguments by
a frightful series of oaths, in which the Russian language
is especially rich, and he finished by driving the prelate
from his presence, ordering him to quit Wilna instantly,
and return to Kowno.

Madame Cabel, the prima donna of the Opira-
Comique, sprained her foot three nights back in alighting
from the carriage which carried her home after the per-
formance. Her part in the Premier Jour de Bonhew has
since been played by Mdlle. Cico.

The celebrated cantatrice Pauline Lucca (Ba-
roness Randen) has just passed through Paris on her way
to Switzerland for a short period of repose, necessitated
by the state of her health.

The Courtier de Lyon was played two nights
past in Paris for the 500th time, and with as great effect
as ever.

The Kursaal of Wiesbaden, taking advantage of
the visit of Mme. Carvalho at Baden for the concerti of
the month of July, has just engaged her for a series of
representations.

A Naples paper hears that an action is about to
be brought against the Italian government by a gentleman
who, having been captured by brigands and compelled to
pay a large sum for his ransom, considers that he has a
right to be indemnified by the State, since it was unable
to protect in his person the safety of the public. Should
the tribunals decide in his favour, the paper exclaims, it is
all up with the finances of Italy.
The Chinese Embassy, on the 9th of June, visited
the hallo/ the House of Representatives at Washington, in
response to an invitation by that body. After complimen-
tary speeches by Speaker Colfax and Mr. Burlingame, the
Celeetials, eight in number, were introduced to the mem-
bers, and a general hand-shaking occurred, during which
the younger members of the embassy kept up a vigorous
fanning. no attire of the Celestials gave • " fancy
dress " appearanos to the scene, and their visit agreeably
enlivened the proceedings. On retiring, they were con-
ducted through the capitol buildings, and shown what-
ever was interesting there. In the evening they ►ttended
a state dinner given by the President

Aecordingto the Russian Correspondence, the
ens appearance of the crops has caused the price of grain
to tall to nearly all the market& In exerteguenoe, own
dogma WM ban Mr *mks at Mad Nubia pied law.