The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1856-08-21
THE DAILY DISPATCH
The Russian Grown Dlamerds.

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The Russfan Grown Diamonds.
The crown treasury Of the Gears at Moscow
contains precious stones Of considerable amount
The two most considerable ara diamonds, one the
sizs OF . pigeons egg cut in rose. The Russians
have given Il the name Of Orloff TIE other has
the form of An irregular prism and IL Of the size
and almost the length Of = little finger; It bears
the name OF tho Shah, and its history s a. follows
1t formerly belonged TO the Sophis, and va, one
OF the two enormous diamonds which ornamented
the throne Of Nadyr Shah, and which were dasis
mated by the Persians by The names of sSun OF
sne Sea and Moon OF the Mountaina" When
Nadyr was assassinated, his .treasurers were pil.
lagea. and bis precious stones divided among a
few soldiers, who carefully concealed them An
Armenian, Of the name of Shafras resided atithst
period At Bassora with his two brothers One
day an afghan came to him and offered for sal o
the large diamond, the moon Of the Mountains. /"
as well as an emerald, ruby of fabulous size
q sapphire OF the finest water (called by the Per.
SLAMS THE eye OF Allah, . and . number of 9TH
or stones for the whole Of which he asked such
moderate price that Shafras suspected that they
had not been honestly came by, and told him to
call again, as he had not the money in the house.
The Aff6han fearing that Shafras was roing to act
with treachery towards him, left the place and
could not again be found, although the three bro
thers made every search for him.
Some years Afterwards the elder brother met
the man at Bagdad. who told him that he had lust
sold all his precious stones for 1000 piastres and
q pair of valuable horses, Shafras had the resi-
dencs of the purchaser, who was Jew pointed
out to him, and he went to him and offered him
double the price he had given for thsm, but was
refused The three brothers then agreed to muir.
der the Jew and rob him of his purchase which
they did, and on the following day poisoned the
afghan, and threw both the bodies into the river
dispute soon after arose between the brothers as
10 the division of the spoil, which terminated in
Shafras getting rid Of his too brothers by poison
After which ha fad In at pf tb,
to Holland, where he made known the riches he
possessed and offered them for sale to the different
courts of Europe Catherine II proposed to buy
the Moon of the Mountains only. Shafras was re-
quested to come to Russia, and he was introduced
to the court jeweller. The terms demanded by
Shafras were, letters OF nobility, life annuity of
10000 roubes. and 100000 roables, payable by
equal instalments in ten years. Count Panin, who
was then Minister; delayed the settlement of the
bargain as long as possible, and in the meantime
had the Armenian lead into such extravagances
that he fell into debt and when the Minister found
that he had no means of paying what he owed he
abruptly broke off the negotiation. Shafras, ac-
cording to the laws of the country could not leave
until his debts should be paid and the court jew.
eller prepared to take advantage of his embarrass
ments, and intended that the diamond should fall
into his hands for q fourth part of its value. Sha
fras, however, discovered the trap that had been
laid for him. and disposng of some Of the less
valuable stones among his eountrymen paid his
debts and disappeared.
Agents were sent after him, who had even orders
to assassinate and rob him, but he escaped them
Ten years after while he was at Astrakan removed
offers were made to him. but he refused to enter into
any negotiations unless the bargain should be set
tied at Smyrna. Catharine accepted, and became
possessor of the diamond for letters of nobility,
600 roubes and 10000 paper roubles. Sha-
fras not being able to return home, where he would
have had to give an account Of two homicides and
two fratricidss xsd himself at Astrakan, where
he married countryuoman of his, and had seven
daughters One OF his sons in law poisoned him
for the sake of possessing his share of his property
The immense fortune which the murderer had
acquired WAS divided, and soon spent by his sue
cessors, and several Of the grandchildren of Sha
fras are now living at Astrakan in abjscs misery.
AMERICAN SURGEONS AT AN INTERVIEW WITH
THE CARA letter in the Ohio State Journal
from st. Petersburg, dated the 18th July, gives an
account of the visit of some of the American Sur
geons in the Russian corps to tie Gear. They were
awaiting his arrival In the anteroom, when the
writer says:
First came some tall digniied General, very
soldisr-like in manner, bowling Ia miisare to all
in the room, and shaking warmly by the hand his
intimate frisnds;then sous old officer with one Leg
the other amputatsd and spEcsd with wood in .
manner which, cut of Russia would be . disgrace
to the art Of surgery; then some younger men,
with sunburnt face or one arm resting in q sling,
q souvenir. Ipsrhaps, of Sebassopol, rthsn some
homely weman in white robes, with handsome
QeT UalT, SIlued lnIC IQ0 room, unRl0vDG
a. she enters precious dark spot on the back Of
her white hand, upon which q few Of the favored
ones allowed to press their lips; then was whis
psred the Grand Duke Constansine, aadNooking
saw entering behind fine looking lady and some
children, a little delicate looking, ight.hared
lightcomplexioned man, wearing quzzically in
one eye round piece of glass, and ia manner not
unlike some Broadway swell, as he enters some
place Of familiar resort. Such Is Russias High
Admiral In appearance. Different, very different
from fho nj IN T had msd in ind of
the spirited representative Of the old Muscovite
blood he Is represented to be. Then came the EN-
press, tall, dignified, but not handsome woman
dressed in simple white with few natural flowers
in her hair. inclining her head gracefully to all
she enters whilst the older officers press around
| to kiss her ungloyed hand
Then at last comes the Czar. Due notice of his
arrival Is given, and all is silent as death As he
| enters every head is bowed, and he returns the
greeting with graceful bow and a good natured
| smile Having done this he turns to an aide and
| asks where the American doctors are I" Being
pointed out, and without waiting for us to be for.
| maiy presented by the Minister, he approached
| us with the easy freedom of manner peculiar to
| kind hearted men, and without any of the impe-
riousness OF the Gear, spoke to in our own Ian
guags, asking u.s. among other things, how long
we hao oeen Ia his service, the place and nature
| OF our service, when we were going home to-
| gether with other questions to all of which he
heard our answers. When through with these he
| moved back step or two, and in an earnest,
| kiQOly touc, auu oalu 10 tn2t for
vices and the good will which prompted them, /
sincerely thank you, and through you your coun-
| trymen," Again he repeated his thanks, and
| then, bowling, he left us
| A moment afterwards he sent us an aide to con-
duct us to the Chapel, whittier he was going for the
| purpose Of hearing mass. We went into the long
passage way leading from the Palace to the Chapel
| and there mingng among his suite, awaited the
entrance of their Imperial Majestes into the Cha.
pei and their return to the Palace, after which we
left, pleased with our visit.
| As we came cut the water works, including
many large fountains were in full play, and
had never seen Peterhoff half 80 beautiful as on
| that day.
Thus ended our interview with the Emperor Of
| all the Russias-an account Of which Is given sim
ply because thought it might prove interesting to
some to hear little of the appearance OF this dis
| tant but magnificent court.
THE UNITED STATES WAR BRIG BAIsBkIDGE
Some of the newspapers having intimated fears
of the loss Of this ship we have great pleasure In
| announcing her return to Montevideo on the l2th
of June last, from her cruise to the Straits OF Ma
geIlan, on which she set out in March last Hei
| errand was to relieve the crew OF the American
ship Manchester, wrecked in those Straits. On ar
irving at the scene of her disaster, It was found
II Af<