The Sun.
London, England, 1846-05-08 00:00:00

There are coal mine in Erzgebirge, in the valleys of the
Eger and the Biela. and at the foot of the Riesengeberg,
from Sehatzlar to Landekron.

The principal mines of Moravia are in the district of
Brunr, near Rossitz and Oflovan, and the coal near the
mouth of the Oler is of a superior quality. In the
Archduchy there are mines near Wiener, Neustadt,
Klingenfurt, Grunbach, and Gloggnitz; in Styria, near
Leoben, and Fohnsdorf; in Carinthia in the valley of the
Lavan, and in the neighbourhood of Prevali; in Dal-
matia in Lombardy, in the districts of Como and Pa►ia;
in Tyrol, near Haring, and in Hungary, in the Carpa-
thian Mountains.

In 1844, Austria exported 773,065 cwt., of which
703,262 cwt. were sent from Bohemia by the Elbe to
Saxony, 25,433 cwt. to Turkey, 23,210 cwt. to Sotithus
Germany, and 20,542 cwt. to Prussia.
Prussia possesses 540 coal mines, giving employment
to 25,000 workmen. The produce, in 1844, amounted
to 53,000,000 cwt., or a value of fOur and a half million
dollars (675,0001.) In 1841, Prussia imported 3,865,944
ewt , principally from England. Her exportation was
6,903,473 cwt. to Holland, France, and Poland.
In Bavaria the produce is not what it might be; there
are 40 extensive coal mines, principally in her Rhenish
provinces; the produce is about 1,200,000 cwt.
In Saxony the mines are worked with zeal; the pro-
duce amounts to about 4,000,000 cwt.
There are extensive mines near the the forest of
Thuringen. _

The 'brand Ducy of Baden possesses some valuable
coal mines.

In the Duchy of Brunswick there is scarcely a mine.
In the kingdom of Hanover there are coal mines which
occupy more than 1,000 workmen.
Wurtemburg is poor in this respect. The Grand
Duchy of Hesse, the Duchy of Nassau, the Grand Duchies
of Mecklembourg and Olembourg do not possess coal
mines. In the Electorate of Hesse there are some valu-
able mines, producing annually about 900,000 cwt.
Generally speaking, the production of coals in Europe
is susceptible of being greatly developed, especially in
some parts of the Austrian dominions. It is true that
during the last few years much has been done, but there
is still much more to do.

The produce of coal in Europe amounts annually, on
a rough calculation, to 120,000,000 florins, or 12,000,0001.
sterling.—Lloyd's Austzan Gazette.

STATEMENT OF THE ABBESS
MIECZISLAWSKA.

The Journal de Debuts inserts the following answer from
the Polish priests at Rome to the second denial by the Rus-
sian Government of the truth of the recital of the Abbess
Igieczislawska, which we have published. The answer to
it is transmitted to the Le-Gals by the Count de Monte-
'em bert :

" ANSWER TO THE ADDITIONAL NOTE DATED FROM ST.
PICTERSBURGIL MARCH, 1846.
"The venerable nun, whom it pleases the author of the ad-
ditional note to eel 'the woman Mieczislawski,' never as-
sumed the title of Abbess of the convent of Kowno. We defy
thepe
rs oßnuss Rs
whoa n
havedipl o ms
eaetni s sn
dt o
coeintve efrms emd waintr hge rthe
since enumerous
rival within the Prussian territories, a single witness worthy
of credit who heard her tike this quality. In the first decla-
ration made before the Archbishop of Posen, two months
before the publication of the article of the journal the Third
of May, she took her true title of Abbess of Minsk.
The error into which the journal, the Third of may, had
fallen, was rectified in the next day by that journal and by
the Univers. Thus vanishes the first part of addition num-
ber 1. Remains the title of Abbess of Minsk. The author
of this second note is forced to confess that, in the first note,
it was carefully concealed that in the said town of Minsk there
did exist a convent of Basilian nuns, and to acknowledge
that the mother Makrena did not arrogate to herself an im-
aginary title. Thus is confirmed by the admissions of Russia
herself the existence of this convent, the reality of which,
has been wilfully denied :—thus is confirmed the testimony
iof the old inhabitants of Lithuania, and particularly that of
the Sisters of Charity at Wilna, as well as that of the Marquis
de Narp, an officer who was in the service of the French army
in 1812, now resident at Rome; all of whom attest the fact
from having been eye-witnesses of it, Driven to speak of the
convent of Basilian nuns at Minsk, the note gives its history
from 1834, and pretends that at that period it was converted
into a hospital. This assertion is completely false. In
1835, the convent still belonged to the Basilian nuns, and
by the fire which in that year reduced Minsk to ashes, the
convent suffered severely. 'All the wealthy inhabitants of
the town witnessed the' mother Makrena, with the sisters
Wawrzecka and Conorska, demanding and receiving contri-
butions towards the reparation of the damages then convent
had sustained. It was not until 1838 that it was suppressed
'by the violent expulsion of the nuns. As to the augmenta-
tion of revenue and other advantages of which the note
speaks, favours still enjoyed by the superior of the convent
transferred from Minsk, there is the same sophistry, the same
falsehood as was inserted in the first note. If it be true that:
the revenues of some convents have been increased by fresh
grants, it has been most assuredly only for the benefit ofsuch
nuns as have embraced the schism, and not of those who
have refused to do so ; since these last have been treated as
servitors and prisoners, and as no longer forming a legal
community. Besides it is literally false to assert that any
new revenues have been conferred upon religious establish-
ments since the Russian Government, after having seized
their estates and property, has replaced the ample incomes
derived from them by very small pensions. Consequently
there is an evident falsity in this second part of the first ad-
dition. No person canoe made to believe that the Russian
Government, which had seized the property of the convents,
can have augmented revenues no longer in existence, that
they can have been augmented in favour of nuns considered
to be rebellions heretics, and that these grants have been
continued up to the present 'day. The fact referred to in
the addition No. 5 has never been disputed. It has not
I been denied that some nuns may, on account of the state of
• their health, have been allowed to return to their Catholic
families ;:but it is affirmed that these permissions have all
been anterior to the cruel persecutions of 1838. Addition
12.—The note affects to give the names of the superiors of
the convents existing in" 1839. Here, again, it falls into vo-
luntary error. Thus, the superior of Grodno was not Bai-
kowna, but Maliszweska ; that of Witebsk was not Kasi-
merska, but Kublika; that of Polock was not Kuleszawka,
but Kostrewna. From this let the confidence merited by the
writers of the note be judged, when they say that Ma-
krena Mieczislawska was not Abbess of Minsk. It may be
that in 1839 there were only nine convents of Basilian nuns
in Russia, for at that period persecution was already old.
It must be concluded that persecution had already brTrne its
fruits ; for previously there were at least fifteen of these con-
vents in Russia, viz., those of Wilna, Grodno, Pinsk, Orza,
Minsk, Polofock, Witebsk, Novogrodesk, Zyrovice, Slonim,
Boruny, Beresweez, Czaswiki, Biala, and Foczajow. These
Convents were inhabited by 245 nuns, as is proved by the
Calendars of the order printed before the persecution." The
convent of Minsk alone reckoned 35. If, therefore, there
were no more than 55 nuns in all, there would remain only
20 for the other 14 convents, or one and a half for each.
It is added that no change has heen made in the interior dis-
cipline of the convents. Nothing, certainly, beyond the re-
ligious faith and the persons of their inhabitants—the old
faith has been made to give place to a schism, and the inha-
bitants have Become Greco-Russians, or have been martyr-
ised for remaining faithful to their creed.- With these ex-
ceptions, it is true that there has been very little change.
The note concludes with two allegations—the first of which
is founded on a slight mistake, which it vainly endeavours
to exaggerate ; and the second of which is branded with
flagrant bad faith. It is true that the Governor of Minsk
was not named Uzakoff. The mistake arose from the
similitude between the two names Suzkoff and Uzakoft,
and not Usrakoff or Souchkoff, as the note, with a view to
delude, wishes to represent. It was in truth General Suszkofi
who was Governor of Minsk at the time of the persecution.
It may be easily imagined that the ear of the Abbess, or of
those who took down her testimony, may have misappre-
hended the sound, It will be easy to appreciate the declara-
tion which the note attributes to General Suszkoff, when it
is known that this personage is a man of cruel and despotic
character, sent at that period to Minsk precisely to be the
executor of those pitiless orders against the Catholics, whom
it was determined to force by whatever means to apostatise.
In the second place, the note joins irony to falsehood,
in affirming that the Princess Euphrosnia Giedyinin, who
is brought to life in 1838, died at Rome more than six
hundred years ago. We inform the learned author of
the note, that Christina Clara Giedyrnin, who took the
name of Euphrosina on becoming a nun, was visitress gene-
ral of the . order of Basilian nuns; that she is the person
designated under the name of mother-general—a title which
wag givea to her according to custom—and that she it was
who perished miserably when she was being conveyed to
Siberia. It will be seen that the author of the note is
little versed in genealogies, although he pretends to have
consulted them. It will not be out of place to make him
acquainted with that of the nun whom he persists in calling
the woman Mieczislawska. Makrena Mieczislawska be-
longs to a distinguished family of Poland, allied to the
princely family of Wistgenstein. She is the daughter of
Joseph Mieczislawski and Anna Jagiello, daughter of Casi-
mir and Hedwige. She was born at Stokliszki, the estate of
her parents, in the ancient palatinate of Troki, in 1784. She
is not the only member of her family who has suffered for'
religion. One of her brothers, Calixt Mieczislawski, who
took the name of Onuphrus on entering the order of St.
Basil, was, on his refusal to forsake his religion, put into a
cart, and so tightly bound, that he perished on the way to
Smolensko. Two of
.his companions, Szozerbwiski and,

Chryanowski, died with him in the same cart; and a fourth,
Zolkowski, expired on arriving at Smolensk°. We will add
that mother Makrena entered the order of St. Basil at

the age of twenty-thiee,-i7lVe convent of Biala, of which'
her maternal aunt, Isabella Jagiello, was Abbess. Several
Months afterwards she went to the convent of-Minsk, where
she remained, and performed almost all the duties of the
establishment until the moment when the abbess Kulesza;
having become infirm, Mikrena took her charge for three
years, and succeeded her as abbess at her death in 1823. In
her quality of abbess, she was present at the elections of the
abbesses of Wilna and Bereswecz. We have destroyed one
by one the allegations of the additional note, and we deliver
the new errors with which it is filled, as its most cruel con-
demnation, to the indignation and contempt of all upright
and impartial minds.—Kome, Apri1,1846."

MELANCHOLY DEATH OF CAPTAIN DUFF, ILK
The painful duty has devolved upon us of recording the
death of Captain Duff, Resident Magistrate of Roscommon,
which took place on Saturday last, the 2d instant, under the
following melancholy circumstances :—He was proceeding
with some friends through the lawn of Hermitage, in the
county of Longford. lately the residence of his deceased
brother, George Duff, Esq., when he received a kick on the
right side from a horse, led by one of the party, which caused
instant death. What renders the circumstance peculiarly
distressing is the fact, that he had gone there from Roscom-
mon, for the purpose of arranging the affairs of his only
brother, above alluded to, whose death took place only five
weeks since.--Dublin Evening Post.
THE CHOLERA.—In a late number we stated that the
Asiatic cholera had spread through several of the provinces of Persia,
and had given rise to great mortality in some of the principal towns.
It is reported to have extended from Bokhara across the Persian
frontier to Herat and Meshid, thence south of the Caspian to Tehe-
ran, and still further south to Ispahan. Recent accounts from Odessa
state that it has crossed the Russian boundary, and has appeared at
Tiflis, taking a course northward between the Caspian and Black
Seas;
while, according to the latest intelligence from Riga, it has
broken out at Orenburg in the Uralian mining district, crossed the
Volga, and appeared ort the European side at Kasan, about 12,000
miles front St. Petersburgh. If these accounts are to be trusted, the
disease has taken a somewhat Irregular course, in a direction west by
north; and it does, not appear to have followed the banks of great
rivers as in the former irruption of 1828-30. the disease which
reached England in 1831, prevailed in Persia for seven years, from
1823 to 1830, It appeared at Orenburg for the first time in 1823; and
was eonfined to this quarter fora riod of five ears. It reappeared
at Orenburg in 1829, and its prevalence and fatyality in this province
were so great, that upwards of one-tenth part of the inhabitants
bwreorkeesne zoeudt,Nvtiitilei It,oarntdaloi
tnye-ffromrththoefftohnnoseerwho were attacked died.
It reached St. Petersburgh in July, 1831 ; and England on the 26th
of October of that year. At Tiflis where it is again reported to have
epidemic was so great,
that three-fourths of those who were attacked perished. We shall
take care to report any further information which may reach tut
MP•cting the Programa of the ease*.