The Sun.
London, England, 1846-03-09 00:00:00

THE BASILIAN NUNS OF 111IN&K.
The following note has been presented to the Pope by M.
de Boutenieff, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipo-
tentiary of Russia at the Court of Rome:—
" A polish journal published at Paris, under the title of
The Third of May, has disseminated the strangest narratives
relative to certain persecutions which the Archbishop of
Lithuania, Joseph Siemaszko, designated as having formerly
filled the office of confessor in the convent of the Basilian
Nuns at Kowno, is alleged to have instituted against the
women, in order to force them to embrace the Greek reli-
gion. According to this journal, the nuns in question, to
the number of forty-seven were seized in the night time by
Cossacks; forced to walk to Witepsk (a town which, it is
protended is twenty miles from Kowno); shut up in an or-
thodox convent, and reduced to act as servants to the Rus-
sian nuns, who every Friday administered to each fifty blows
of a cane. It is next declared that the Archbishop threw them
into irons, condemning them to such hard labour as is as-
signed to felons; that they were made to suffer hunger and
thirst, and, to render the privation of drink more severe, they
were fed on salt herrings. It is added that some were obliged
to take part in the construction of the episcopal palace, often
remaining in the water up to their necks; that others were
employed in the mines ; that eight had their eyes forced out ;
that thirty fell victims to this odious persecution, and that
only three had succeeded in effecting their escape into
Austria; as to the superior, she had arrived in Paris. These
calumnies were eagerly reproduced in the Univers, and in
most of the French journale, they are represented as based
on the depositions of the superior, who figures in the matter
under the name of Mieczyslawska. In the recitals of this
woman, the number of nuns is no longer confined to 47, they
are at once quintupled, reaching the number of 240, of whom
120 are stated to have been exiled to Siberia: out of that
number upwards of one-half are alleged to have miserably
perished on the road, and the rest are represented as about
~
in all probability to speedily share the same fate. The
names of Wawrzecha, Konarska, and Poniawnocka, are those
by which the three nuns who took refuge in Austria are
designated. It is also stated, that :346 monks of the order
of St. Basil were likewise exiled to Siberia; that three of
their heads, mined Berinski, Zilinski, and Yeleniez, expired
at Polotzk under the torture that they were forced to
endues, from iced water being poured on their bodies,
and that the fourth, named Zaniecki, was killed with a
blow of a hatchet. Finally, it is rretended, that all the
populations of these countries are, without ceasing, cruelly
beaten and exposed to all kinds of atrocities; that even chil-
dren are not spared, and that 17 of these latter were whipped
io death in the town of Minsk. In dilating on this theme,
the periodical prints have been careful to add other dia-
tribes, and, as a wind-up, state that the soi-disant Mieczys-
lawska, to whom all these recitals are attributed, has pro-
ceeded to Marseilles and thence to Rome, receiving on her
passage the livliest marks of sympathy, and a large amount of
money in alms. Without entering into any discussion on
the subject of these assertions, which are as absurd as they
are malevolent, it is intended in the present note to point
out what, from the nature of things, is necessarily false in
the alleged facts. First of all, in order that a persecution
could be instituted against the convent of Basilian nuns at
Kowno, it would be requisite :that such a convent should
exist; and in this respect, the authors of the imposture
ought to have taken the pains of obtaining some information.
But it is certain that no convent of Basilian nuns ever did
exist in the town of Kowno, nor in the whole extent of the
province of that name. The present Bishop of Lithuania,
Joseph Siemaszko, has never been confessor of any con- .
vent of Basilian nuns. No prelate in Russia, whatever
may be his grade in the ecclesiastical hierarchy, has Cos.
sacks at his order or dispocal. Kovno happens not to be
twenty miles from Witepsk, but doable that distance,
about 300 verstes. No Brazilian nun has been transferred to
a Russian monastery ; they have all remained in their own
convents, except such as, having a desire to go and live with
their relations of the Roman Catholic religion, obtained per-
mission from the Archbishop alluded to above. Undoubtedly
if this prelate had to upbraid himself with such revolting
conduct as that imputed to him, he would not new have con-
sented to this last-named arrangement, which offered his
victims so much facility for spreading through the country
their accusations and their complaints. The means of exist-
ence of the Basilian nuns have not been reduced, but, on the
contrary. have been augmented by new grants which con-
vents of this order have of late years been accorded ha Rus-
sia.
The Archbishop of Lithuania, Joseph Siemaszko, has
never exercised any authority over the convents in Witepsk
and Polotzk, inasmuch as they belong to another diocese.
Throughout the whole extent of the empire of Russia the
criminal jurisdiction and the infliction of corporal punish-
ment fell to the lot, not of the ecclesiastical authorities, but
exclusively of the secular power. Never are women em-
ployed in Russia in works relating to building, and never
has f the Archbishop, Joseph Siemaszko, ei acted a palace.
He, for the most part, lives at St. Petersburgh, and pos-
sesses no house of his own. The archiepiscopal palace at
Wilna, destined to his use, was purchased by the Crown in
1843 from Count Mostowski, marshal of the nobility of that
Government. No person in modern times has ever heard of
any criminal whatever, and still less of any poor women,
being forced to undergo the torture of hunger and thirst ;
of their being wetted with iced water, or plunged into it ; or
of having their eyes put out. There are no mines in Russia.
except in Siberia and in the Government of Olodetz. No
Basilian could have been employed in the mines, inasmuch
as none were transported from the western provinces of the
empire, where there are no mines. Previously to 1839 there
were in Russia nine convents of Basilian nuns, inhabited not
by 240 women, but by only 55, of whom 35 belonged to the
diocese of Lithuania. No one of these ever fled from the
cloister, and no mention has been as yet made in any report
of any one of those who went to live with their relations
haying fled to a foreign country. It is an indisputable fact
that in Russia there have never been Basilian nuns known
by the names of Miecyzslawska, Wawrzecha, Konarska, and
I'omawnocka, attributed by the periodical press to these
pretended martyrs. It is also a fact, that no monk has been
transported to Siberia from the number of the Basilians. It
is certain, that in the Basilian monasteries of the empire
there never have been either superiors or simple monks of
the names of Brinski, Zilineki, Zeleniez, or Zaneicki, who
are alleged to have expired in horrible tortures. Before
1839 there were in Russia fourteen 13azilian monasteries, con-
taining 267 monks, and not 347, as the journals allege, and
in the diocese of Lithuania there were only 165 monks of
this miler. It would be superfluous to carry further the
examination of the other erroneous assertions propagated on
this occasion by the periodical press. The facts which have
been just cited are sufficient to assign to them their real
value, and to show what credit ought to be attached to the
existence of the 47 martyrs, who obtained in the church of
St. Iloch the honour of funeral service, celebrated with so
much solemnity. As to the pretended Abbess Mieczyslaw-
ska, the Russian Government is completely ignorant of wise
she is. It belongs to the authorities of the country where
she happens to be to discover who and what she is, in order
to unmask those odious manoeuvres conceived in hatred of
Russia, as well as to lay bare an imposture, carried on with a
view to excite the sympathy of the compassionate, and to draw
from them important sums of money as alms. The Impe-
rial Government, notwithstanding the censorship to which
it subjects foreign journals, has authorised the free circula-
tion of the articls is question throughout the whole extent
of Russia, without excepting the provinces that are said bo
have served as the theatre of the persecutions in question.
The inhabitants of these countries, ocular witnesses of what.
has passed there, will thus he able to appreciate at their just
value the errors, at. the same time clumsy and calumnious.
which are published in other kingdoms on the internal state
of their country."

WILFUL MURDER AT NEWARK.
On the morning of the 4th inst. the body of a young girl
was found iu the canal adjoining the river Trent, close to the
lock-gates is this town, and owing to the manner in which
the head was found, enveloped in a shawl, suspicion was
raised that the deceased had fallen the victim of violence.
The same evening an inquest was held before T. F. A. Bur-
naby, Esq., which continued by adjournment till Friday
afternoon, at a qnarter before four o'clock, when a verdict of
"wilful murder" was returned against two individuals, who
had been arrested on suspicion. The following evidence was
produced before the jury ,
Samuel Hibbert, who resides at the lock-house, near the
lock, in the Newark branch of the river Trent navigation, at
half.past ,six o'clock on the morning in question discovered
and dragged out of the water the body of a young girl, having
a. bonnet and shawl upon her head ; the shawl appeared
wrapped very tight round her neck; he believed three or
four times. While in bed on the previous night, and a little
after eleven o'clock, lie heard a noise, apparently of persous
running over the lock-gates, and he was confident he heard
a woman's voice. lie looked out of his window, but not see-
ing any one he returned to bed. In five minutes he got up
again, and on opening the window he distinctly saw a man
named William Horner run across the lock gates and up a
passage, which leads into the town streets. Ha appeared
hurried and confused, and shouted, «_— it, look sharp."
All was then quiet.
The Coroner having emceed Horner, a young man of very
w sa
as rtooutghhet hbefore
arg
e
likely to be made against him, and cautioned, he denied all
rroe hpeenridyed, apprised he
knowledge of the deceased, and said he was not near the
tilTheeruir;,r hanabdiths'avtiong bbeeeanPPp
Jock gates, but was in bed at a quarter before eleven o'clock,
and had witnesses to prove the truth of this assertion. lie
did not know that he had ever seen the deceased in his life.
Charles Percy Croft, surgeon, stated that he bad assisted
in a post mortein examination of the body, and he was quite
convinced that the deceased had died from drowning, and she
had struggled after being in the water. He did not observe
any recent marks of violence.
Ann Clarke said that Horner had lodged at her house
nearly a fortnight. She went to bed about eleven o'clock
on the night in question, and Homer had not then come
home.
Jane Greaves said she had lived in the same house with
the deceased, and on Tuesday evening they went out to-
gether. Deceased was in excellent spirits. They met a
man in Stodman-street, about half•past ten o'clock, who
stopped and spoke to them. He was a short man, dressed
in dark trousers, and a short coat. Deceased went with him,
and witness never saw her again.
The prisoner Horner here read a statement, materially
varying from his former assertion. He acknowledged hav-
ing known the deceased, and that he met her on the tight
of her death, but accused a companion, a young man of the
name of Heselby, of having pushed the deceased into the
canal.

In consequence of this statement a warrant was issued for
the apprehension of lieselby, who is about seventeen years
of age, and had lived as boots at the Swan and Salmon
in Newark about six months, but had bees discharged on the
dal previous.
The youth was apprehended, and the investigation was
proceeded with in the presence of the two prisoners.
Ftsbert Dale, policeman, of Newark, who apprehended
Heselby, said that he slept in the same room with hint
(lleselby) on Thursday night, when the prisoner appeared
very restless, and frequently talked in his sleep. Among
other things he said, " You know,`Bill, you threw her in the
water." Witness called to him, and told him he was talking
in his sleep. Spoke to him more than once before he awoke
him.

William Pegmore, labourer, of Newark, saw the body taken
out of the water, and spoke to the shawl being twisted MG
or three times round the head and neck.
The prisoner Heselby, after being cautioned in the USW
way, said he was innocent, but that he and Horner were to-
gether at the Coach and Horses public-house on Tuesday
night, and they left there about a quarter past ten o'clock.
They met a girl whom he did not know, in Stodman-street.
Horner accosted her, and he left bins with the woman; after
which he never saw her agcin.
Horner reiterated his charge against his fellow-primer,
and declared that after Heselby had pushed deceased in the
water he ran away, and that he (Horner) called after him to
assist in getting her out, but he never turned back.
hjallidYbo l astrn;
Ann Yeomans, of Leicester, said—The name of the de.
heard and e
fl left
r her
since. home msehien
ceased was Mary Ann Perkins, and she was the daughter of
the witness by a former husband, named Matthew Perkins.
Witness
nwesa
ss
hadsixteen
v
yereasiese n or farge
a good character in Leicester, and witness could not imagine
the cause of her leaving home. She went in
with two girls. away company
The jury returned a rerdiet of" WV i al Murd •
I er against
both the prisoners, Wm. Horner and W
m. leselby."
The remains of the unfortunate •
girl were interred in the
church-yard at Newark on Friday
Theey evening, in the presence o
many hundreds of spectators.
of C°l=oll9ll krill the whole town was in a slit
g course of the inquiry.