The Sun.
London, England, 1857-09-02 00:00:00

SUICIDE OF PRINCE GREGORY GSM

The Courrier de Paris publishes the following
letter, addressed to it by M. Vaillant :
Chateau du Mee, Aug. 29.
As your estimable journal was the first to an-
nounce the sad end of Prince 0-. Ghika, I venture

to beg of 'you to publish the entire document en-
closed, which explains its causes, and gives the de-

;ails.

J. A. VAILLANT.

"As a witness of the frightful misfortune that
has just taken place at the Castle of the Mee, I feel
it my duty to transmit to you the facts, and to
point out to you the causes that drove hiS lighness
Prince Gregory Ghika, ex-Hospodar of Moldavia,
to this act of. despair.
" As being the soul of the national party that
demands the union and a foreign prince, Prince
Gregory Ghika bad all honest men for bis friend 4,
and for his enemies those few ambitious persons in
high and low life who contend for power and the
favours of fortune. As these latter persons had
succeeded him in power, it was natural for them to
persecute him in his property and honour.
" A committee had already been appointed by
the Kaimacan Balche, to demand from him an ac-
couut of the public money. The proceeding caused
him the more pain, because, owing to the inade-
quacy of the state revenues to supply the charities
of every kind which he took pleasure in distributing
throughout Moldavia, he had added to them 2-3ds
of his private fortune, and because in contradiction
to all his predecessors for the last 150 years, instead
of enriching, he had impoverished himself ; he
therefore easily, by the intervention of Redchid
Puha, backed by M. de Thouvenel, procured the
dissolution of this committee, and the cessation of
all proceedings against him.
"Some time after this, a libel appeared which
dragged to the bar of public opinion Prince Gbika,
for having touched the arrears of the civil list, not
in virtue of the authorisation that reached him later,
but of the quasi-official letter in which he was
authorised previously, by his agent at Constanti-
nople, Prince Vogorides, father of the present
Kaimacan of Moldavia.

"This perfidious libel, added to the deep wounds
he had already received within, less than a year, in-
flicted the death-blow upon t'.e prince. He couldnot
conceive how a man whom he had loadedwith bene-
fits, whose sisters he had pensioned, and whose bro-
ther he had raised to the bishopric 'of' Houche—how
Istrati, the author of the libel, could have been cap-
able of carrying to such a length his ingratitude to-
wards the benefactor of his family.
" In the evening, about 9 o'clock, having by pro-

longing my conversation with the:prince plisse- &the
train that started at forty minutes Past eight, I
returned and sat down with him in the drawing-
room, where the princess, exhausted with fatigue,
was reclining on a couch. The prince having made
a movement as if about to retire, the princess said
to him, 'My dear, M. Vaillant is going to leave, I
hear his carriage ; remain a moment longer with us,
and we will go upstairs together.'
" Notwithstanding these words the prince rose,
went up stairs, kissed his children, and a minute
after the report of some fire-arms was heard. The
servants rushed bewildered to the spot ; I ascended
and found only his dead body in an arm-chair de-
luged with blood—Prince Ghika had blown out his
brains. He had taken the precaution to detach from
his neck and hang upon the crucifix of his oratory
his gold cross, which he was unwilling to profane,
and he had wished me to be there iu order that
she whom he was about to make a widow might
not be left alone.—Accept, &c.,
"Saturday, Aug. 26. "J. A. VijaliNT."
I extract from his will two documents by which
it is prefaced :
"Chateau du Mee, Aug. 24, 1857.
" I am the victim of an abominable plot, and
cannot live, innocent though I be. The truth will
one day appear. I await my enemies before the tri-
bunal of God. (Signed) "G. GIIIKA."
" Chateau du Mee, Aug. 24, 1857.
" Dearly beloved wife, whom I aeore,--Kiss my
little angels for me. You know what I have suffered
during my reign ; and, even wh -n I thought to
live happily in the bosom of my family, my enemies
followed me, and would not let me have peace.
The monsters would make me a forger and dishon-
ourable ! God will some day unravel the vile plot,
and the wretches will be unmasked.
(Signed) " G. G.IIIKA. "
These document?, which are written in a clear
and firm baud, on the same sheet of paper, evince
great presence of mind and calmness on the part of
the prince.

THE ALLEGED SUICIDE THROUGH REFUSAL
OF RELIEF IN ST. PANCRAS.

MEETING OF THE GUARDIANS. & CHARGE

AGAINST THE CORONER.
Yesterday, at the meeting of the directors of the poor
of St. Pancras, Mr. Wright in the chair,
Mr. CooK, the vestry clerk and solicitor of the parish,
presented the verdictof the coroner's jury in the case of
the sailor who was found drowned in a pond in the Agar
Town-fields, after being refused admission at the gate of
St. Pancras workhouse, and in which the jury expressed
their opinion that the deceased had committed suicide
through such refusal of relief, and calling upon the autho-
rities iu future to adopt better regulations for relieving
the wants of the casual poor, in order to prevent the re-
currence of such a lamentable case. Mr. Cook stated
that the coroner went out of his way to examine wit-
nesses, and induce evidence to be given which was
wholly and entirely irrelevant to the object for which
the jury had been sworn, and tending to lead away the
jury from the right course. He allowed letters to be
read from H. J. Stowell and other paupers, who had
lived for years upon the ratepayers ; and because he
(Mr. Cook) complained of the coroner's course, and in
the jury relying on such evidence, or upon that of the
woman Hewitt, from Marylebone, whose evidence was
completely refuted by Mr. Tubbs, the relieving officer
of that j arisb, he was personally attacked by the
coroner. Indeed, the coroner throughout showed his
anima,' against the authorities of the parish, and made
his remarks for the purpose of gaining popular ap-
plause, which he received from Mr. Brien, the leader
of the " Inoperatives," and others in the court. As to
his personalities to him, he (Mr. Cook) treated them
with contempt.
Mr. PAATT—Then it was the verdict of the coroner,
and not of the jury ?
Mr. COOK considered the course taken by the coroner
tended to wake it so. _

Mr. CAMERON admitted that there was evidence to
show that this poor sailor had been refused relief, and
that he was destitute, but there was no evidence to prove
that he committed suicide from such refusal of relief. It
appeared that the night porter delegated his duties to a
pauper called a watchman, who took upon himself to
refuse admission. He considered it necessary that an
inquiry should teke place, and he moved that it be re-
ferred to the Officers' Duties Committee to report
whether the rules and regulations fur the management
ef the workhouse were duly observed ; and also whether
the prescribed duties of the various officers were properly
performed ; and whether any, and what, alterations
should be made in the printed rules or duties ; and par-
ticularly to inqu!re and report whether the duties of the
night porter, with reference to the admission r f appli•
cants to the workhouse, are observed ; and also to report
whether destitution is acted upon and considered a
ground for a linission.
Mr. STOCKTON seconded the resolution. During this
inquest the directors heard, for the first time, that there
was a pauper who acted as night watchman at the gate,
receiving Is. 6d. per week, while the night poser was in
the sunggr ry, and he took upon himself to refuse appli•
cants or relief.
Mr, CLARKE thought it better that the committee
.should report on this specific case at once, as to go into
the whole question would take three months.
Mr. ORR condemned the ccinduct of the gate porters,
and said that in nine cases out of ten the workhouse
gate was opened by a pauper.
Mr. TURNER considered the vestry clerk had no right
to go to the inquest to defend the board or officers
against the poor. An honest balance ought to be drawn,
and he contended that the third rule for the guidance of
the porter at the gate left the man no discretionary
power for the admission of destitute persons, and that
the board, in whom the responsibility rested, had no
right to shift that responsibility on to the shoulders of
the officers.
Mr. YOUNG could not allow it to go forth that no
destitute persons could find admission at the doors of
St. Pancras workhouse. It was the duty of the porter
tei send for the master or matron, and they had autho-
rity to admit persons at once into the separation wards.
After a few obserrations from Mr. Fisher,
Mr. CAMERON, in reply, said he wanted a perfect and
comprehensive inquiry.
Toe resolution was then carried ; and the board, after
some other business, separated.

INLAND NAVIGATION OF INDIA.—An influential
meeting of merchants and others was held yesterday
afternoon, in the Manchester Town Hall, to receive if,
brrnation in reference to the intended operations of the
newly formed (Mental Inland Steam Company. The
meeting was addressed by Mr. J. A. Turner, M.P., who
presided, and by Captain Hall (of the Nemesis). Mr.
Bourne, and Lieutenant Wood, of the Indian navy ;
these three gentlemen being a deputation from the com-
pany. It was stated the c,,inpany were about to com-
mence the steam navigation of the Indus, by means ef
flat-bottomed boats of 24 inches draught, trains of which
would be towed by steamboats of 200 horse power ; and
under terms of a concession from the East India Cum
parry which was tantamount to a guarantee of 10 per
cent. on the outlay. Manchester enterprise was invited
to co-operate for the extension of the scheme to the Go•
davery and other rivers, with the view of increasing the
supply of cotton. Several gentlemen expressed their
conviction of the importance of extending the inland
navigation of India, and the chairman commented em-
phatically on the urgency of the cotton supply question
and the apparent neglect of it byand
nt
aa
plaprogiepinogrtaionninfiofutehn.e
trade. Resolutions were paFsed unanimously recognising
the importance of the scheme, d-
tial committee for the diffusion of information on the
subject, and aiding the London board in the prompt
execution of the enterprise.