The Sun.
London, England, 1861-11-13 00:00:00

DISTURBANCES'IN RUSSIA.

A letter from St. Petersburg, dated Nov. 5, says:
—The day after the Emperor's arrival in St. Peters-
burg, when no one knew what his Majesty would
do in the affair of the University, and when many
persons thought, and every one hoped, that he
would take some decisive step on behalf of the stu-
dents, a good story was circulated about the instruc-
tions sent from the Crimea, by telegraph, to Gen.
Tgnatieff, and of the manner in which that func-
tionary interpreted them. The following is said
to have been the first despatch forwarded by the
general
Great disturbances at the University. The students
will listen to no one; neither to the Rector nor the Curator,
nor even to me. What is to be done ?"

To which the Emperor is reported to have an-
swered :

" Make every effort to calm the students. Treat them
like a father."

General Ignatieff telegraphed :
g, I have obeyed your Majesty's commands. The students
are in the fortress."

" What do you mean ? You have committed some dread •
ful blunder,"
was, according to popular rumour, the Emperor's
reply,

When General Ignatieff went to meet his Sove-
reign at the first station on the St. Petersburg and
Moscow Railway he was very coldly received, and,
finding that his conduct in connection with the
"demonstrations" at the University
was highly
disapproved, is said to have observed in self-de-
fence :

" I endeavoured, Sire, to execute your orders. I arrested
283 students last Thursday, and many of them are badly
wounded. Your lamented father could scarcely have done

more."

The explanation of poor General Ignatieff's
supposed mistake is to be found in the fact
that there are no articles in the Russian language,
and that in such phrases as " like my father," or
" as my father" (would have done), the possessive
pronoun is usually omitted.
On Thursday the Council of State assembled, the
Emperor presiding. Count Putiatin read a report
on the disturbances at the University, and in doing
so is said to have been repeatedly interrupted and
corrected by other Ministers. The Minister of In-
struction having concluded his narrative, the Em-
peror asked him what he proposed to do with the
students. The gallant admiral replied, more in the
spirit of a courtier than of ,a statesman, that that
must depend on the will of his Majesty.
Count Schouvaloff, the head of the secret police,
suggested that a general amnesty should be pro-
claimed: The beauty of this suggestion lies in its
proceeding from the very man under whose special
instructions General Patktai and his subordinates
have lately been acting.
General Ignatieff recommended that the students
now under arrest should, for the sake of their
"moral sobriety," be sent to serve for a certain
time in the army. However well this
piece of ad-
vice might have been received seven years ago, I
need scarcely remark that there is not the remotest
probability of its being acted upon now.
Finally the Council broke up without any decision
being come to in respect to the students actually
imprisoned, and without any alteration in the new
University regulations being proposed.
On Saturday there was a grand parade, at which
the Emperor bestowed especial commendation on
the Preobrajensky Regiment and the Regiment of
Finland. He also thanked the assembled generals
in a very marked manner for the devotion testified
by them under all circumstances, and added, " I
did not believe what was told me about the army;
now I am more than ever sure it was untrue!"
The officer commanding the battalion which in-
cludes the two companies of the Pt eobrajenski Re-
giment, present the Thursday before last in front
of the University, has been made one of the Em-
peror's aides-de-camp. The regiment in question,
which was formed by Peter the Great in his youth,
and which was recruited from among the children
of the village of Preobrajenski, near Moscow, is the
ooltdheesrt
niignhtthetoßguivsseiathne aorfameye
.r s
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ft t
hwea
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en the
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Regiment a charivari at the Italian Opera. The
Italian Opera, however, is not suited for such per-
formances, and the projected manifestation Wagl