The Sun.
London, England, 1837-12-07 00:00:00

The Gazette des Tribunaux contains the account of a trial
and sentence by a Council of War in Russia, which will give
some idea of the character of those military tribunals, and
the nature of the delinquency which, according to Russian no-
tions, should be pursued with all the vengeance of her barba-
rous code. It is contained in a letter from a correspondent,
who dates from Lukow, Volhynia ; he was an eye-witness of
the whole process, and describes it in a letter for the editor.
The Council of War assembled in the little town of Trainow,
under the presidency of Baron Unger, Colonel of the regi-
ment of Hussars of Alexandi ia. Beside him were seated
Lieutenant- Colonel Demidow, Major Goloskv, Captain
Stowen, Adjutant Henrich, Lieutenant Jemitchin, Cornet
Marianoff, a subaltern officer, and a soldier of the 3d divi-
sion of Hussars. In the middle of the audience-hall was
a table covered with green cloth, on which stood a crucifix
and an image of the Emperor. This image, which is
often symbolical, is supposed to represent his personal
presence in the Council. The Judges having seated them-
selves round the table, the Secretary took his place in front
of the President, while two Hussars, with their swords
drawn, and immovable as statutes, guarded the entrance
door. By order of the President, the Secretary then
commenced proceedings by reading the indictment against
the offender, which was couched in the following terms :
" George Frederick Anguel, a native of Dresden, in Saxony,
of a noble family, aged twenty-two, entered the service
of Russia in 1828, holding rank as a Cornet in the regiment
of Hugets. In recompense for his good conduct and in con-
sequence of his nobility, he was shortly promoted to the
rank of Ensign, and in a few days was about to be promoted
to that of Captain. Before obtaining his discharge, Captain
Tchingueri commanded the squadron in which Ensign Anguel
performed the duty of Quartermaster. One day the Captain
had a dispute with the Ensign on the subject of the per-
formance of some duty, when the latter showed signs of in-
subordination, and the Captain, using the authority apper-
taining to him, ordered that the Ensign should receive a hun-
dred lashes. There was nothing new in this sentence ;it
was an ordinary occurrence, and the Ensign bore it as became
a Russian soldier. But some months afterwards, when the
Captain had obtained his discharge, Anguel went to his house
and challenged him to fight a duel with him. The Captain
ordered him to quit his presence, and the Ensign withdrew
with a threat that he would shoot him. Tchingueri in-
stantly caused him to be arrested, and Anguel was taken
with a pistol concealed under his cloak. The Ensign con-
fesses his attempt to force the Captain to fight a duel with
him, and in case of his refusal to blow out his brains. Anguel,
moreover, confesses that he was educated at the University of
Erfurt, in Germany, and talks of honour, the rights of man,
and all those doctrines which like pestilence have been transmit-
ted by foreigners to the disturbance qf the peace of our happy
empire. My lords and judges, it remains with you to punish the
criminal, and to give an example to the army." After the
reading of this indictment, the President made the accused
enter the Hall of Justice. He presented himself loaded
with fetters, and guarded by soldiers with their swoids drawn.
The Secretary having read the indictment a second time, the
President inquired of the accused whether be had anything
to say ? Anguel replied he had much to say, and in the midst
of continual interruptions from the President, he made the
following statement :—" That in 1813 all the property of his
family had been plundered by Russian soldiers, but in con-
sequence of his father having formerly served in the etat
major of the Emperor Alexander, he obtained a commission
in the Russian army." After being stopped by the Presi-
dent, who told him he was going from the point, he pro-
ceeded—" While our squadron was quartered at Solve-
tine, Captain Tchingueri and I visited at the house of
the Curate, who had a beautiful daughter, named Eudosia
The Captain had an attachment for her, and fearing that I
should become his rival, as I occasionally conversed with
the young lady, he forbad me to go to the house, which order
I obeyed. A few days afterwards be ordered me to fetch
some horses which were at pasture a few leagues from Sol-
vatina. When I came back, he ordered me to receive a
hundred lashes, without stating any cause. The order
was executed, and the agony and shame I endured
caused me to faint on the spot. On recovering I
had a violent attack of fever, and was obliged to go
to the hospital, from which I came out when the Cap-
tain had quitted the service. My hononr had been cruelly
blasted, and the man who had inflicted the wanton injury
having quitted the army, was no longer my superior officer,
but had become my equal by all laws divine and human.
I went to his house to demand satisfaction ; this the
cx-Captain refused to give me, and grossly insulted me ;
driven to desperation, I then threatened to shoot him, and
was directly afterwards captured by his order. The Presi-
dent—" Where were you educated ?" Anguel—" At the
University of Erfurt." The President—" No doubt it was
there you learned these new ideas, and to talk about honour."
Anguel—" My Lord and Colonel, I am persuaded that every
man entertains the same idea in defence of his honour." After
this brief interrogatory, the accused was by order of the Pre-
sident conducted out of the audience hall, guarded by soldiers
as before. The President then, turning to the other members
of the Council of War, thus addressed them :—" Gentlemen,
you have heard the indictment read by the secretary, and the
replies of the accused. It is now your duty to pass sentence.
We have sworn to do so according to law. The penalties of
insubordination, according to Peter the Great's regulations,
are the application of the knout and the chibata (flogging
by the whole army) ; degradation of rank (temporary or
entire); labour in the mines ; and death. By the same regu-
lations, it is prescribed that the lowest in the rank is to have
the option of passing sentence. The President then called on
one of the common soldiers to give his judgment. The sol-
dier pleaded ignorance of the matter, and added, " punish
him according to his desert." Another inferior officer being
appealed to, added, " he left the punishment to the discretion
of the Court." Cornet Marianoff and Lieutenant Jemowitch,
voted not guilty, and for the discharge of the prisoner. Ad-
jutant Itenrich voted for the punishment of the chibata, li-
mited to one application. Captain Ho wen voted t'cr two ap-
plications of the chibata, accompanied with degradation of
rank, and with this decision the Major and the Lieut.-Colonel
concurred. The President then expressed a similar con-
currence, adding, in his capacity of President, the following
note to the subscription of his nama, " I look on Anguel
as a dangerous man to the peace of the country." The de-
cisions of this Council of War thus detailed having been re-
ported by one of the Secretaries of the Court, was remitted
to the permanent Council of War at St. Petersburg, where
it comes under the actual cognizance of the Emperor
himself, who in such cases is invested with the right to
annul, modify, or augment the amount of the penalty.
The courier who carried the report returned immedi-
ately from St. Petersburgh to Salvatina with the imperial
confirmation of his sentence. In confirming it the Em-
peror Nicholas had written these words beneath the sen-
tence with his own hand :—" I confirm the sentence, but it is
my will that the criminal shall suffer the penalty of the
chibata three times instead of twice, through two squadrons
instead of one. That he shall be permanently degraded from
his rank, and rendered incompetent qf quitting the service,
or of being promoted in any case whatever. The sentence
is to be immediately carried into execution—signed, NI-
CHOLA S." The execution was accordingly fixed for the fol-
lowing morning, and I was an eye-witness to the harrowing
spectacle. Three hundred and sixty hussars were furnished
with thick horse-hide thongs; the criminal was conducted
to the spot by a detachment of soldiers. He was a tail
youth, of a somewhat handsome person ; but pale with con-
templation of his disgrace, rather than through suffering.
The Secretary having again read the sentence, the unfortunate
Anguel was stripped to the waist, two hussars preceding him,
and two following him, with their swords drawn, and with
points directed at his body in order to prevent his hurrying or
delaying his fatal passage through the squadrons out of the
stipulated time. The Colonel then gave the signal—" flog,"
and the unhappy ensign commenced his fatal march, each sul-
trier as he passed striking him with his deadly thong ; and in
order that there might be no favour shown by any mitigation
of the blows, officers marched down the line in order to secure
the full efficacy of their cruel application. One soldier,
whose humanity prompted him to spare the patient, was imme-
diately marched out of the files in order to be subjected to
the chibata himself. Anguel, who at first bore his tortures
without uttering a sound, could no longer repress his groans.
Fragments of his flesh flew from his back—his ribs and shoul-
ders were entirely laid bare—his blood ran in torrents—and as
Set he had only passed through one of the three fatal careers.
In his second course, it was found necessary for one of the
soldiers to support him in his march ; and at the commence-
ment of the third, having fallen to the ground through weak-
ness and agony, he was corded with his belly downwards on a
moveable truck, and in this manner dragged through the ranks
of the soldiers, till the frightful punishment was complete. As
soon as this horrible torture was complete, the unhappy victim
was transported to the hospital, where it was pronounced by
the medical attendants that it was impossible for him to sur-
vive ; and that he would in a day or two forget in death the
dreadful recollection of his wrongs, his sufferings, and his dis-
Trace.

Letters from Odessa, dated the middle of November,
are full of accounts of the movements of the Russian army of
Caucasus. This army, which is entirely distinct from that of
Georgia, is to be raised to 50,000 m,n, and commanded by
General Yermoloff. The division which crossed the Kuban
under the orders of General \Villiaminoff was .12,000 strong.
It was supported besides by a brigade of 4,000 men, and 2,500
Cossacks of the Black Sea. Troops bad been marched from
Tauris towards Anapa, Ekaterinoslav, &c. to replace the gar-
risons of those towns which had been incorporated into the ac-
tive army. 3,000 fo-,t Chasseurs and 1,500 Cavalry had left
Novo Tcherkash. Finally the divisions quartered in the Go-
vernment of Ekaterinoslav, were approaching the Don, in or-
to be at hand to make up for the losses the army of Caucasus
alight sustain.
SNOW.—There has been a heavy fall of snow this
day (Tuesday) with every appearance of its continuing what
is termed a " feeding storm." The roads, both north and
south, are covered deep, and the Perth Ma.l was about two
hours behind its time,--Inverness courier.