The Shasta courier., 1854-09-23
incidents of the War.

NARROW ESCAPE oF THE CZAR.-The London
TuHeS ol the 5th August, contains the follow ing:
" man gets up in the morning OH his own
premises, but little knows where lie may sleep
at night" The Gar of all the Russias has lately
been within an ace OF offering in his own per-
son practical confirmation of this well known
saying. What would the British public have
thoug ught,-what would Europe have thought
what would the King of Prussia in his cups have
thought,-what would Omer Pasha in his fez
cap have though ht,-what would the allied troops
have thought-and, finally, what would the
Three per Gents. have thought, it, about this
time, the Gear of all the Russias the Archduke
Constantine, and the Archduchess, and The Rus
sian Admiral IN command of CronStadt, had
been sent home by Sir Charles Napier in the
mail steamer which had captured them? In
probable as the tale may appear-impossible the
catastrophe, it was fairly upon the cards within
the last few weeks.
The faoss are these. a short while back
while the allied fleets were lying before Cron-
stadt an English yacht belonging 10 Lords Litch-
field and Enston, with Lord Clarence Puget ON
board, verured somewhat too near the guns of
the place. Suddenly puff of steam was seen
on the Russian side, and small Russian steam
er put out to sea, with the evident intention of
cutting off the English yatch On board of that
steamer were Czar Nicholas, his son the Arch
duke Constantine, the Archduchess his wife.
and the Russian Admiral, who all went forth to
enjoy the satisfaction OF an easy triumph over
the poor little yacht. She is, in point Of fact
stated to have been in the most imminent dan
ger of capture.
The Car, however, was destined to be foiled
In his anticipated little triumph, as he has al
ready been III his hopes OF many great one
An English war steamer, seeing the danger to
which the yacht was exposed, advanced with all
speed to her relief. Shortly she obtained such
a position that the English yacht was safe; and
the only question that remained for discussion
was one between the two small war steamers
the one under English. the other under Russian
colors. Could the English but have known the
valuable freight which that little steamer con-
tained-could the captain but have known that
by capturing her, or by sending her to The bot
tom, peace would have been restored to Europe.
and probably million Of lives, first and last be
saved, we have no doubt that he would have
carried one or other of the alternatives into ef-
feet, even though his own destruction that of
his ship, and of every soul on board of her had
been the inevitable consequence.
AS ii was, he nothing before him but
little trumpery steamer--he had carried his pur-
pose of relieving the English yatch into effect
and remembered orders which certainly had
been issued, to the effect that no English ship.
upon the mere heroic impulse of her comnan-
der, should be thrust into the lions mouth We
have no doubt that this was so, and that when
the English captain gave his orders for putting
the head OF his steamer round, he did so with
the feeling that he had very satisfactorily dis
charged the duty with which he had been in
trusted Little did he suppose, at the moment,
that he had lost probably the greatest opportu-
nifty for obtaining personal distinction. which
had ever been thrown in the way of single
man.
The British nation venerates the name Of Lord
Nelson, for the sake of certain little affairs in
which he engaged off Cape st. Vincent, at
the Nile, at Copenhagen, at Trafalgar and else
where; but not all of these wonderful, import
ant, and heroic achievements combined. would
have had such an important influence upon the
history of the world as the capture of that little
Russian ship. ltwas given to the captain of
small steamer to change the face of Europe in
ten minutes well employed, but in pure inno-
Genoa he missed the chance.