The Sun.
London, England, 1866-04-24 00:00:00

LATEST PARTICULARS.

The fire on board the Havre is now extinguished,
but the ship has sustained much damage below and
in the fore saloon. No further casualties have
occurred on board, but Captain Wight, of the
Company's steamer " Atalanta, while running to
his own ship for assistance, dropped down dead from
excitement.

The Attempt to Assassinate the Czar.

ST. PETERSBURG, April 19.

The author of the attempt upon the life of the
Emperor is a young man of about 20 years of age,
named Olchewsky, such at least being the name he
gave to the police a few hours after his arrest. A
thousand conjectures are afloat respecting the
motive which impelled him to attempt so great a
crime. It is asserted that Olchewsky is a Russian
gentleman ruined by emancipation, while some
represent him to be a radical of the .Nihilist sect.
According to others, he belongs to the bourgeois
class of Podolia (an old Polish province), and is
only the instrument of a vast conspiracy against
the Emperor's life. The accused declares himself
to belong to the lower classes, and he speaks the
dialect of the common people. Externally, his
dress bore out this statement, but it was found
upon searching him that he wore fine under linen.
His hands also are soft, and his language, in the
course of a long examination, becomes refined,
evidently from forgetfulness. Je pretends not to
understand any foreign language; but when Prinee
Suwarrow, in the course of the first hearing, made
a few remarks in French to Prince Dolgorouky,
chief of the Secret Police, of great importance to
the prisoner, it was evident that the latter per-
fectly comprehended what was said.
At 1 p.m. to-day the Emperor gave audience at
the Winter Palace to the representatives of the
nobility and inhabitants of the metropolis, who had
asked permission to present an address congratu-
lating his Majesty upon his providential escape.
The address was read by Count Orloff-Davydoff,
marshal of the nobility. It said :

" Sire,—Under the present distressing, yet, at the same
time, consolatory circumstances, we, the marshals, de-
puties, and nobles of St. Petersburg, only fail to address
your Majesty in the name of all the nobility of Russia,
because every assembly of nobles will be jealous
of the right of expressing its sentiments in per-
son. But we come before your Majesty to-day, in the
name of the nobles and inhabitants of St. Peters-
burg, to express our profound affliction that a criminal
or insensate hand should have dared to attack your
Majesty's august and sacred person, so justly dear to us—
(loud and enthusiastic cheers)—and we offer up our fervent
thanks to the Almighty who has preserved Russia from
misfortune in saving your valuable life. Sire, permit us to
remind you at this moment that, three days after your
accession to the throne, when receiving in this same palace
the deputies of St. Petersburg, you told them you hoped
always to see the Russian nobility at the head of all good
bnd useful undertakings. With God's help, the happy as-
piration of your Majesty shall be realised through many
years, to the satisfaction of your Majesty's paternal heart."

Renewed cheers succeeded Count Davydoff's
words. The Emperor replied :
" Gentlemen,—l thank you from the bottom of my heart
for' the expression of your feelings upon this melancholy
occasion. Last year, at the same period, all classes testified
their sincere sympathy with me. If, after my trust in God,
anything sustains me in my difficult task, it is in especial
that devotion and those sentiments which are constantly
expressed towards me with so much unanimity under all
difficult circumstances, both by you, gentlemen of the no-
bility, end by all other classes. Again 1 thank you all from
the bottom of my heart." Turning then towards the repre-
sentatives of the nobility, his Majesty added—" I reckon,
gentlemen, upon your cordially receiving among you the
peasant who saved my life yesterday, and who has been
raised by me to the rank of a noble. I think he has well
deserved the honour of being a Russian gentleman:,
Long and prolonged cheers greeted
t the noi-
the Emperor's speech. His Majesty cordiallyofleclose
of
shook
hands with and embraced the marshal
lity, mho kissed his Sovereign's
obcrowdeded
ball amid
jesties walked to the end of the crowded
the most enthusiastic applausetd to their private
of attachment, and then reireand o Their Ma-
apartments.