The Sun.
London, England, 1853-09-07 00:00:00

THE RUSSIAN SQUADRON FOR JAPAN.

The naval force of his Imperial Majesty the Emperor
of Russia now in the Chinese waters with the intention
of proceeding to Japan to watch the movements of the
American squadron under orders for that destination,
consists of the Pallas, 52 guns ; the Dwina, 10 guns ;
and the Vostock, 4 guns. After remaining at Hong
Kong for about a week, the Pallas and Vostock are to
proceed in search of the American fleet, supposed to be
about the Loochoo Islands, waiting for the Powhattan,
hourly expected. The editor of the Friend of China
was favoured with an invitation to go on board the
Pallas, and gives some interesting particulars relative to
that fine vessel and the Russian naval service :—" She
was built at St. Petersburg in 1838, and, as a specimen
of her sailing qualities, made the passage from the Cape
of Good Hope to Java Head in 32 days. Her armament
is composed of 4 68-pounders and 48 24-pounders, with
a beautiful stand of the newly-invented rifles, carryingl
at blank-point range, a distance of 400 paces. Her
crew numbers altogether 400, including a brass band of
20. There are no marines—indeed every seaman is en-
listed in Russia, and has to do military as well as naval
duty if required of him. The period of service is in
some instances 18 years, in others 22 years, at the ex-
piration of which they retire on a pension, but at any
time during the first five years afterwards they are liable
to be called on to do duty should any emergency arise.
For this service they receive, besides food and clothing,
an annual payment, the average rate of which will asto-
nish the seamen of other navies—one guinea per annum ;
1 for foreign service two guineas. Of course everything
is found them ; and, according to their appearance, they
do not want for food or clothing. Besides this, the fa-
milies of those who are married are maintained in bar-
racks, for every son an extra ration being allowed (for
daughters none), on the express condition, however, that
when of sufficient age—say 16 years—the male youth
does duty as a seaman or soldier. (The soldier's period
of service is, for cavalry 10 years, infantry 15 years.)
Children born during the five years after period are to-
tally exempt. A guinea per annum we have mentioned
as the average rate of pay. There are, however, seve-
ral classes of seamen-Ist, helmsmen ; 2d, topmen ; 3d,
able seamen ; and then ordinaries, as in the English
navy, with various grades of petty officers, as boatswains
and their mates. Among the list of principal officers
to be found below it will be seen that there is no pay-
master or purser. The duty devolving on that officer
in an English ship, in the Russian navy is attended to
by ono of the lieutenants, the actual working of the
business being done by officers of the second grade. The
following are the officers of his Imperial Majesty's ship
Pallas :—Vice-Admiral, Putiatin ; Post-Captain, Un-
kofski ; Flag-Captain, Possiet ; Admiral's Secretary,
Goncharoff; Secretary of Legation, Goschkavitch ;
Chaplain (Archimandrite), Awvakoom ; First-Lieute-
nant, Tihmanoff ; second, the Baron Crudmer, aide-de-
camp to his Imperial Majesty the Grand Duke Con-
stantine ; third, Saevick ' • fourth, Balavinetz ; fifth,
Schwartz ; first surgeon, Arefieff ; first master, Galle-
zoff ; second, Porfoff; gunner, Lasseff. There are three
passed midshipmen, four midshipmen, and one naval
cadet, the last mentioned a son of Admiral Lazereff,
who commanded one of the Russian ships of the line at
Navarino, and who at his death was commodore of the
Russian squadron in the Black Sea. We found the
Pallas in first-rate order, the decks and every part of
her as clean as we might expect to find, and cleaner than
we have found English frigates just from sea, and a
credit to any service. The squadron sent to the seas of
China and Japan by the Emperor of Russia is not with
any view of interrupting the squadron sent by America
to Japan, but with instructions to co-operate with Ame-
rica, if necessary, and secure to Russia a share of the
advantages expected to be derived by opening a com-
mercial intercourse with that country. The Russians
say their Emperor thought of sending an embassy to
Japan long before the Americans did. Between Rus-
sian America and the most northern ports of Japan
there is still, and for a long time has been, some trade,
and it is in no way unreasonable to find his Imperial
Majesty desirous of improving and regulating it on such
terms as may be obtained by other Governments,"

THE NEW ACT To REGULATE PROFESSORSHIPS IN
SCOTLAND.—The new act to regulate the admission of
professors to the lay chairs in the Universities
Scotland, which attracted a good deal of attention in
f
its progress through Parliament, is now in force.
From and after the passing of the act on the 20th ult.,
it is declared not to be necessary for any person who
shall have been or shall be elected, presented, or pro-
vided r
office
eethien
tohffieceunoivferpsritoifeea or colleges
regent, master, or
in Scotland,
such office not being that of principal or a chair of
theology, to make and subscribe the acknowledgment
or declaration mentioned in
,an act passed by her Ma-
jesty Queen Anne, entitled An Act for securing the
Protestant Religion and Presbyterian Church Govern-
ment." The declaration substituted is to the effect
that the person will never
endaenavoour,indioirnecotly
opposed
in-
directly,to to teach or inculcatethe divine authority of the Hoiry. pScripturPePs, or to
the Westminster Confession of Faith as ratified by
law in the year 1690, and that he will not exercise
the functions of the office to the' prejudice or subver-
sion of the Church of Scotland as by law established,
or the doctrines or privileges thereof. In case any
professor, at the time of passing the act, should be
sued for not having complied with the statute of
Anne, it will be 'sufficient to plead that he is pre
pared to take the declaration now provided. The
Lord Advocate may present a complaint for violating
the declaration, and her Majesty may issue a commis-
sion.
EXTRAORDINARY AcciDENT.—On Sunday night, be-
tween 10 and 11 o'clock, a very singular accident oc-
curred on the road between Watford and Rickmans-
worth, which resulted in the drowning of a valuable
horse, and imperilled the life of the driver of a licensed
carriage belonging to an innkeeper at Watford. It
appears that the vehicle, a handsome dog-cart, was
being driven home, after having been discharged by a
party of Waltonians, who had gone to Rickmansworth.
It is supposed that the driver (who could give no ex-
planation of the cause of the accident, himself) was
drunk at the time, and had fallen asleep on his box while
driving home. He allowed the hurse to diverge from
the proper course, and to ialte the carriage down a pre-
cipitous hill, into the bed of the canal, about two miles
from Rickmansworth, where the turn-out was found
oa nt
tive o'clock the next morning, by a bargeman pa
the tow-path. The vehicle, horse, and driver, when
discovered, were all immersed in the water. The horse
was drowned, but the dog-cart had suffered no material
injury, and had not been turned over. Extraordinary
as it may appear, when the bargeman hailed the driver,
lie remained fast asleep on his box in the canal, a situa-
tion in which he must have remained five or six hours,
during a rather cold night. It is surprising that the
struggle of the horse in the canal had not caused the de-
struction of the carriage, or awakened the driver in
time to have extricated himself and his vehicle.