The Sun.
London, England, 1853-10-05 00:00:00

PRINCE M_ENSCHIKOFF.

"This great-grandson of Peter the Great's favourite
is about seventy years of age, of middle stature, has
close cut, milk-white hair, a high, open forehead, sharply-
defined features, and a bright, sparkling eye. His gait
is haughtly but slightly limping, from a wound that he
received in a singular manner at the siege of Varna, in
1828. It is affirmed that one evening, having given
some orders that he wished to see implicitely obeyed, he
strolled through the camp ; and as he was leisurely re-
turning to his quarters, he stopped and remained with
his legs wide apart whilst he enjoyed a pinch of snuff.
Suddenly the report of a heavy gun was heard, and the
Prince fell headlong to the ground ; but, on being taken
up, it was found that a cannon ball had passed between
his legs, and wounded him severely in one thigh."

The following are the titles of this singular per-
sonage, precisely as they are given in the archives
of the appanage of Finland :
" Prince of the Empire, Governor-General of Finland,
Aide-de-camp, General, Admiral, Member of the Impe-
rial Council, Commandant of the Regiment of Ingria,
Chief of the Naval Staff, Commander-in-Chief of all the
Troops in Finland, Knight of the Imperial Order of
Saint Andrew, with the diamond jewels, Knight of the
Order of Saint Alexander Newsky, also in diamonds—
of Saint Vladimir of the first class, of Saint Anne of the
first diamond class, of Saint George of the third class,
Saint Stanislaus of the first class, of the Prussian Orders
of the Black Eagle, the Red Eagle, and of Merit, the
Order of Saint Leopold of Austria, of the Swedish Order
of the Seraphim, Grand Cross Commander of the Order
of the Sword, of the Royal Order of Saint Louis of
France, of Saint Hubert of Bavaria, of the Royal Greek
Order of the Holy Saviour, of Saint Maurice and Saint
Lazarus of Sardinia, of the Lion of Baden of the first
class, of the Military Order of Hesse Cassel—and wear-
ing a sword bearing the inscription, For bravery,' and
several medals for action in the campaigns of 1812 and
1814, and for services against the Persians and the
Turks."

At this critical time it may be interesting to our
readers to glance at the subjoined account of the
Russian Ministry of Marine—a Ministry answer-
ing to what we call in England the Board of Ad-
miralty. In Russia it consists of the following
officials :

" First, a Minister-in-Chief, with eight ordinary and
six extraordiary aides-de-camp ; secondly, the Board of
Admiralty, forming the councillors and advisers of the
Minister ; thirdly, resident and visiting directors ;
fourthly, a general staff of clerks and other officers ;
fifthly, the hydrographers ; sixthly, the Inspector-Gene-
ral of the Fleets and his subordinates ; seventhly, the
Board of Marine Ordnance, and the inspectors of the
imperial woods and forests, charged with the selection
of timber for naval purposes ; eighthly, the Victualling
Department • ninthly, the Auditor-General's Depart-
ment ; tenthly, the Medical Staff ; eleventh, the two
scientific bodies, one for the construction of buildings on
the sea shore, and the other to superintend the building
of ships of war; twelfth, the naval engineers ; and thir-
teenth, the Board of Economy, having the principal care
of the fleet in the Black Sea."

Talking of another of the Ministerial departments
in the dominions of the Autocrat, that of the Cen-
sorship of the Press, M. Leouzon Le Duc observes
'The words Liberty and Freedom,, with all the adjec-
tives and adverbs derived therefrom, are prescribed and
expunged from the Russian vocabulary ; and the fol-
lowing ludicrous anecdote will show the manner in which
the censors act upon this prescription. Some time
since, a professor of mathematics sent in the manuscript
of a work on mechanics for the inspection of the board,
soliciting permission to publish it. Now, it happened
that in describing the action of some mechanical appara-
tus, the author stated that the wheels, springs, &c.,
worked freely; and further on he wrote that a straight
line could be elongated into infinite space without the
slightest limit; whereupon the censors struck . out both
words—the first without any comment, the second on
the ground that the Russian Emperor's authority was
the only thing without limit in this world."

Of this, of course, we may believe just as much as
we please. And we may likewise read cum grano
salis, the next paragraph
"One man, indeed, determining to be on the safe side,
and avoid being reprimanded from high quarters, deter-
mined not to suffer any new work to be published. It is
affirmed that, when he was asked whether the Lord's Prayer
would receive the favourable consideration of his tribu-
nal, he replied, I cannot precisely say just now ; there
are some words that must be looked into—possibly the
publication of them may be dangerous. Give us this
day our daily bread' savours singularly of Socialism ;
and the words, Thy kingdom come' may be construed
into meaning that the subjects are not content with that
of the good emperor with whom they are blessed."
The description of the Russo-Greek Church, as here
given, is something absolutely deplorable—that
Church being shown to be the veriest travestie upon
Christianity. Upon this head, M. Lbouzon. Le
Due takes occasion to remark
"The onward march of the Protestant and Roman
Catholic Churches has been characterised by the most
extended civilisation, by the emancipation of thought, and
the amelioration of the political and social condition of
communities, because there is a vivifying principle
within them ; but the Russian Church is virtually a
dead letter, for all is dark and cold within it ; its cere-
monies are marked by numerous prostrations, genu-
flexions, and other external signs but by nothing that
springs from a high order of intelligence. In fact, the
Russian Churoh may serve as a useful lever to promote
the objects of despotic power, but it can never be a useful
instrument wherewith to advance the liberties, the hap-
piness, and welfare of mankind."

The chapter relating to the position of Russia, with
regard to the Great Powers, is really masterly, and
will repay a very careful examination. As to the
Appendix relating to the First Prince Menschikoff,
it reads like a romance, and might vie in interest
with an effusion of the most ingenious and skilful
of novelists.

INCREASE IN THE PRICE OF GAEL—Meetings of the
gas companies, it is understood, have been held, with
the view of increasing the price of gas, consequent on
the increased price of coals and the strikes of colliers in
the north.

on the
CONVERSlONheContinentareOvE ENGLAND.—The
NDuLsAyi
R oPmRiAs EcEl e rEgOyR TH
—n
their
attempts to convert this country to the blessings of
Popery. Prayers for this purpose have been printed in
all languages, and the following is a translation of one
published at Pesth, in German. The original is in the
form of a small hand-bill, ornamented with a picture of
the Virgin Mary, who is represented standing upon a
serpent, crowned with glory, and with rays of light
streaming from all her fingers :—" Almighty and ever-
lasting God, who halt ordained in thine unfathomable
wisdom that men shall only be happy by means of the
true faith, look down in pity upon England, once the
island of the blessed, but which for a lung while past,
being caught in the errors of heresy, has fallen from the
true belief, drive away from it all the ignorance, and de-
stroy the vain, dark, false teaching which keeps it from
Incline all their hearts to
the knowledge of truth.
listen with pleasure to the true faith, so that they may
joyfully return to the bosom of Holy Mother Church,
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. lelyMarya
Mother of God, pray for England. Holy Peter
England's Crhaan
Paul, pray for England. Holy George,
ni
Gregory, Cham-
pion, pray for this land. Holy Thomas
of
Father Canterbury,of
pray for this land. Holy Pope
England, pray for this land. Holy Augustin, England's
Apostle, pray for this land. Holy Bomface,
who came
out of England an apostle to the Germans, pray
for Eng-
land. Oh, Lord, make thy people happy and bless thine
heritage ; let not their souls perish, which thy
beloved
Son has ransomed *
with his precious blood, who, with
thee and the Holy Ghost, liveth and reigneth for ever.
Amen."
SHIREIIAMPTON.—SINGULAR AND FATAL ACCIDENT.
—Last week Mr. Power, of Bristol, with another gen-
tleman, went down to Shirehampton to dine with a
friend, when the phaeton in which they drove was left
in front of the house with the shafts turned up, the
horse having been taken off. The carriage having at-
tracted the attention of a child between two and three
years old, theson of Mr. Heaven, mason, of that place,
the little fellow proceeded unobserved to play with it,
when by some means he drew down the shafts, when
the semi-circular iron which attaches them together,
near the carriage, wheeling round, caught the child by
the neck as if in a mousetrap, between it and theforecar-
riage. Here the little fellow was suspended, and actually
strangled to death before he was discovered. No blame
can be attached to any one, as no one could apprehend
such an accident.—Bristol Paper.
DEATH OF LIETJT. J. DII CANE.—It iS our painful
duty, says the Essex Herald, to have to record the loss,
at sea, of Lieut. John Du Cane, of the 60th Royal Rifles,
third son of the late Capt. Du Cane, R.N., and brother
to Charles Du Cane, Esq., of Braxted Park, in this
county. Lieut. Du Cane sailed from East London for
Capo Town, on the 22nd of June last, in a small vessel
called the Espiegle, with the intention of taking his pas-
sage from Cape Town to England. The Espiegle has
never since been heard of, and is supposed to have been
lost with all hands on board in a tremenduous gale that
she encountered shortly after leaving East London. Lieut.
Du Cane was in his 25th year and a young officer of
great promise, having been mentioned in terms of the
highest praise in the last dispatch of Sir Harry Smith,
for his gallantry in the action fought against the Kafirs
in the Waterkloof immediately before the return of that
General to England.

FATAL ACCIDENT ON A RAILWAY. —On Monday an in-
quest was held at Manchester, before Mr. Herford, the
coroner for that city, on the body of Ann Davis, aged
61, wife of a labourer in a chemical work. The deceased
was travelling in a third-class carriage of the train which
left Crewe for Manchester at 7.48 p.m. on Saturday,
evening, and when the train reached the Longsight sta-
tion, about two miles from the Manchester terminus, she
opened the door of the carriage, and attempted to get
out before the train had come to a stand. The guard
bad just seen that all the carriage doors were fast, when
he heard a scream, and saw the deceased lying under
the centre of his van, where she bad fallen in attempting
to descend. She was disengaged from this perilous po-
sition, when it was found that both her legs had been
cut off at the thigh by the wheels of the van, and she
died in the course of a few minutes. One of her fellow-
passengers had told her when she rose from her seat that
the guard would open the door, and deceased replied
that she knew that, and then opened it herself. The
jury found that her death was accidental.