The Sun.
London, England, 1855-08-23 00:00:00

THE WHITE SEA.

The Inv (elide Russe publishes the following re-
port of the. Archimandrite Alexander, Of " the Mo-
nastery of Solovetz, to Admiral Kroustchoff, mili-
tary governor of Archangel, dated the 25th of June
(July 7) :
"To complete my report of the 18th inst., relative to
the appearance of the English near the Monastery of
Solovetz, I have the honour co submit respectfully the
following facts to your Excellency :
" On the 21st of June (July 3) the English screw-ves-
sel returned to the island of Zaiatsky at 5 in the after-
noon, and was soon followed by a French steamer • both
cast anchor at about five versts' distance from the mo-
nastery, and sent some of their crew to the abovemen-
tioned island, where the commander of,the English ves-
sel asked brother Memnon, the guardian of the church,
what reply the Archimandrite had made to the request
to send them oxen. 'None,' replied the old man. After
consulting among themselves, the English took him on
board their boat and brought him to our island of Solo-
vets, and ordered him to deelare to me that if I did not
present myself in person on the following day (June
22—July 4), on board their ships; or if I did not
send them what they wanted, they would come them-
selves and take away the oxen and cows. I kept
old Memnon at the monastery, and on the following
.day I sent him to tell the English to seitdme an inter-
preter in a boat with four rowers only, while I. would
go to meet them at 100 se-genes' distance from the
shore to confer with him, and I took this resolution with
a view of saving the monastery, or, at least, of doing
My duty, that my conscience might be tranquil in the
future. Taking 'my sub-prior with me, that he might
he present at the negotiations, I left at .8 a.m. in a
boat pulled by seven excellent boatmen, and carrying a
white flag. On arriving at the island I stopped at a dis-
tance of 100 sagenes, and saw a boat of the enemy's
approach bearing a white flag and manned by 15 men.
I thereupon landed on the island with the sub-prior, and
sent my boat to meet the English to tell them to send
me an interpreter, with four rowers, and that I should
not confer with them except on that condition. In con-
sequence of this declaration one of the Englishmen got
into my boat and the others landed on a neighbouring
island. The Englishman who came to me said that he
was not an interpreter, but an English officer who knew
a little Russian, and that his name was Anthony. The
conversation turned upon their demand for oxen. I
"Iplied, have no' oxen—l have only cows, whose rei.k
provides food for the monks, who are prohibited by our
religion from eating meat, and if you attempt to take
away these cows by force I will have them killed and
thrown into the sea before you can effect a landing.' I
then represented to him that in 1854 his compatriots ha I
bombarded the monastery, which had been, and was to
be for the future, a refuge for the navigators of their
nation and of ether hostile nations in the course of their
commercial voyages.
"The Englishman said, in reply, The commander of
the squadron was doubly wrong—first, for having bad
the 'dee of opening fire, although he excuses himself by
saying you fired upon him first ; and, secondly, for not
having taken the monastery after firing upon it. His
conduct cannot be praised.' And he concluded with
some gross expressions againstthe officer whacommanded
the squadron last year. I took the opportunity of tell-
ing him that, trusting in the intercession of our holy
patrons, we were firmly convinced that no human force
could ever take the sacred asylum. I persuaded him to
intercede with his commander that he should not insist
upon demanding oxen and cows and he promised to do
so. On quitting he added, We now leave this, but in
three weeks' time a considerable fleet will come, in
which our Commander-in-Chief will be on board a vessel,
the very sight alone of which will fill you with fear : you
must then wait upon him with a white flag, and ask him
to spare the monastery.' My boatmen then took him
back. The two vessels mentioned above having remained
at anchor near the monastery on the 21st, 22d, and 23d
of June (3d, 4th, and sth of July) weighed anchor, and
paid a visit to the islands, hunting down and despoiling
the poor inhabitants. On the 24th of June (July 6) I
again visited the Wand of Zaiatsky, to ascertain what
the English and French had done there, and I found my
twofold men in good health. On leaving, the French
had robbed them of a cock and one year's provisions of
wood for burning, brought there from the monastery.
" When, during the course of the conversation, I
spoke to the English officer respecting the sheep be.
longing to the monastery which had been taken away,
he replied, ' We offered to pay for them to your old meu,
but they refused the money ; we are at war, and we
pillage.' I then requested him to restore a boat, laden
with herrings, which had been captured within sight of
the monastery, and which was the property of a poor
peasant who was weeping bitterly. The officer promised
to do so, but did not ; a few barrels of herrings only
were left on shore with the recommendation to give them
to the peasant, and the boat with the remainder, was
taken away.
" We nnw see steamers pass daily in front of the mo-
nastery, which is strictly blockaded ; on our side, we
offer up prayers and place our trust in the Holy Mother
of God, who consoles the afflicted."