The Sun.
London, England, 1855-03-23 00:00:00

RUSSIA.

The Invalide Russe gives an account of an en-
counter which took place on the 30th Jan. between
the Russian and Turkish troops on the Transcau-
casian frontiers, near the bridge of Tcholok, in
which the former are declared to have had the ad-
vantage, having expelled the Turks from an en-
trenched camp and destroyed it.
An imperial ukase of the 7th appoints the Grand
Duke Constantine to the head of the Ministry of
Marine and at the same time to the command of the
fleet, as Grand Admiral. He is to preserve all his
other functions.

A letter from St. Petersburg, 12th, says:—
' The funeral of the Emperor took place yesterday.
At daybreak an extraordinary movement was observable
in the capital—people hastening to secure places to wit-
ness the procession. In some houses, which were well
situated, windows were let fer as much as 100 roubles
(the rouble is something over 4f.) At 9 o'clock in the
morning, the first salvo of artillery, fired.from the cita-
del of St. Petersburg, intimated to the public that the
ceremony was about to commence. At ten o'clock, a
second salvo was fired to announce that the cortege was
to form itself in the order fixed by Count Gurjew, Pre-
sident of the Commission for the funeral ' • and at eleven
o'clock a third salvo announcel that the funeral cort:ge
had commenced its march. I cannot describe to you
the anxiety of the people to render the last homage to
him whcm they, were accustomed to consider as a demi-
god, and as, at a later period, charged by the Divinity
to combat for the holy orthodox religion and holy Russia.
Everywhere, as the body passed, the spectators made
the sign of the cross, and most of them, when they knelt
down, touched the earth with their forehead, weeping
bitterly. At the different churches the procession baited,
and the various ranks of the clergy paid homa,ge to the
ashes of the chief of the Orthdox Russian Church.
Prayers for Divine mercy to the soul of the deceased
were offered up in every place of worship, and Nicholas
himself was called on as the chief of the church to address
prayers to God to give force to Russia to combat with
success for her rights and her territory. Cannon continued
to fire until the coffin reached the cathedral of Paul and
Peter. The service for the dead of the Greco-Russian
Church was then celebrated, and salvos, fired by the
troops, announced the end of the ceremony. The evening
era; far advanced before the crowds of people who had
assembled to witness the ceremony, ceased to fill the
streets. " In addition to the thunder of artillery, the roli
of the muffled drums, and the sound of military music
playing funeral marches, was to be heard. The death of
the Czar has produced a certain degree of agitation,
which our Government, autocratic a 3 it is, has not been
able to prevent. The ceremony displayed a character
of magnificence and grandeur worthy of the deceased
Czar. Everything passed off in good order. The Em-
peror Alexander afterwards addressed this letter to the
military governor of the capital :—' Profoundly moved
at the circumstance of all classes of our capital of St.
Petersburg having taken such a sincere part in our com-
mon sorrow, in the funeral cortdge of the remains of
our father and benefactor, for ever memorable, from the
Winter Palace to the cathedral of Peter and Paul, I
charge you to testify to the inhabitants of the capital our
lively gratitude both of ourselves and of our beloved
wife. May the remembrance of the father of all of us,
the Emperor Nicholas 1., be for ever preserved in our I
hearts.' " ALEXANDER "

A grave event has just occurred at Moscow.
The large bell of the tower Ivan-Velik, in the
Kremlin, fell to the ground at the moment when
the ceremony of swearing allegiance and fidelity to
the new Emperor was going on, and by its fall
crushed nearly a hundred persons. For a people
so superstitious as the Russians this disaster has

appeared a most sinister omen, and the letter which
give 1:11 of 41,', fn-^Pt.

vuLiic to:

116te.r-

nation.