The Sun.
London, England, 1856-09-30 00:00:00

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down and put lit litn stutly„ .ovhsrs lire 0 ',.3° 14 it ' '-"-,' ,--,-
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look very well ; saying, at the same time, that t, : we ese
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lights for his rooms had been thought good enough CIL a
by two Empresses and two Emperors on their visits
to Moscow, and that therefore they ought to satisfy
his present guests. This is the on dit. At first invitas
lions were tent out for petite t enue, but in the course
of the dayit was notified that the guests were to come
in full dress, which to military men signified that the
Emperor was coming. Full dress means to Russian
officers a plume in their helmets and epaulettes
instead of shoulder straps in cases where epaulettes
are still worn, and the display of ;their medals,
ribands, crosses, and variou%decorations. The Czar,
although he likes keeping until() dignity and state of
the Imperial office, is not ostentatioes or extravagant
in his tastes, and rather affects the simplicity and
freedom of the late Emperor. - He has been seen
driving about Ow streets in a one-horse drosky
without an escorL or >ingle attendant of any kind,
and the other day the Russian hall-porter at Lord
Granvillo's was terribly alarmed at the apparition
of a quiet gentlemanly-looking officer in the hall,
who stepped out of a drosky at the deor, arid
simply asked, "Is the Ambassador at home 'I" It
was the Emperor, who had driven up to pay a
friendly visit en, passant. His Majesty and the
rest of the Imperial family, the Priuees and
Foreign Ambassadors and Attaches were present
at Prince Galitzin's, and the ball was very splendid,
many of the officers being in excellent humour and
high'spirits after their dinner.
There was a ball on Wednesday night at Lord
Granville's, which was honoured by the presence
of the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess Constan-
tine and Grand Duchess Marie. •
The Grand Duke Constantine is rather below
the middle height, being about 5 feet 6 inches
in height ; his figure is slight, but compact and
well built, his face is oval, his hair light,
moustache and whiskers small and fair, his eye,
notwithstanding the shortness of his sight, is keen
and very intelligent, and his mouth, jaw and
forehead indicate great firmness and decision of
character. He speaks English perfectly well,
and to the knowledge of that, language he joins
of course the usual acquirements of Russians of
rank, French, German, &c. His air is' not so
sombre as that of the Emperor ; he speaks with
quickness and energy, and is rapid in his move-
ments, and altogether has a gayer aed brisker look
than his imperial brother. Night and day lie
worked at Cronstadt while our fleet was before it,
and he is now with the. utmost determination and
perseverance creating for Russia a very formidable
force of steam gunboats; of which there are nor less
than 75 in the Baltic, all built within the lasl 20
months ; some of them are worked by the locomo-
tive engines of the railway, fitted for that purpose;
.others are provided with engines:made at thet Go-
vernment factories, but these have given the. Grand
'Duke some trouble, 'as theyare liable to aberra:lons
and to execute mechanieal,manosuvres not designed
by their . manufacturers. .Sir- Charles- Napierr, in
the account of his extraordinary experiences of
CronStadt, forgot ono important fact L---he talked
much of, the difficulties, and insinuatiad the im-
possibilities of
.an attack .on the place, and men-
tioned especially the impediments created, by, the
genius of Todtleben in the paSs'age.at the north
of the forts, but Sir Charles 'did. 'not tell his
countrymen what the Grand Duke.is at no pains
to conceal—that the passage was quite practicable
when the allied fleet first came off Cronstadt,
and that the impediments to the passage of large
ships were not formed till the winter of the
second year of the war. The Russians were per-
fectly aware that the northern side could be forced,
and that it was quite possible for a . determined
enemy to run past the forts, most of which are con-
structed .on acres of spheres, hate their maximum
amount of fire directed in front, and have only, part
of their guns available for an enemy passing their
right flank. 'They had eversuch a casualty iu view,
and the most desperate resolves were spoken of in
case the fleets forced the Neva and St. Petersburg
was at, their mercy. The opportunity was lost, and
the Grand Duke and Todtlebpn took care it never
should occur again. The moment the allies retired
before the grip of winter thousands of men were
eat to workfwho sunk stones all along the northern
channel, ,or
.heaped, piles of hundreds of tons of
blocks of granite on the, ice, which went'through
to the: bottom as it melted and formed a line of ar-
tificial rocks across the passage. On some' Of these
rocks batteries 'wets) erected, guns were placed to
' cover; the approach, and the place was indeed ren-
dered unassailable by large vessels. Why did not Sir
C. Napier tell us when this was done ? Surely no-
thing of the kind-took place till after his abortive -de •
monStratioti in the summer of 184. But now to re •
turn to the ball. M.lde Morny and most of the
foreign Ministers were .present, and it would have
passed off charthingly but for a sudden e.-tialt.t"
9R`eftsiforde'rSirprplerY,
JoiallDituAlliqh.exci excited k ':
who plays with great taste and dignity, was intro-
duced into the passage, and produced a prodigious
sensation, but there were few indeed of the Russian
ladle* who were bold or enthusiastic enough to say
they liked it.

TIUxSDAY.
The day is threatening, the sky grey and cold.
in Russia there still exist the practices of the
old chase, and all the mysteries of falconry are
studied and understood by the grand signors, who
keep up the traditions of their ancestors. The
chasse to-day I cannot attend, for the very suffi-
cient reason that a horse is not to be had; and that
walking is out of the question ; but I believe it will
only be the turning out of a bagged wolf, who will
be pursued by dogs. The last time there was a
hunt of this kind the wolf, who was possibly of a
philosophic turn of mind, thought it better to be
eaten without making a fuss about it and running
himself to death, quietly walked a few yards to a
little hillock, and there sat down and surveyed the
hounds with all the calmness imaginable. To-day
foxes and wolves will be attacked by dog, bird,
and man, and it is to be hoped they will not follow
the exemplar of the departed last year, but that
they will afford great sport by running for and not
saving their lives.

,7"

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