16 MAY 1891, Page 2

The strict watch kept up over the safety of the

Cesarewitch has failed to protect him. It is so unceasing and so visible,. that it affects his nerve; but nevertheless, on the 11th inst., while the Prince was visiting some temples near Kioto, in Japan, a man sprang on him with a sword, and inflicted two wounds, one of them rather serious. It was at first believed that the man was a Nihilist, who had followed the Emperor's. son ; but it is more probable that be was a Japanese, irritated by the success of the Greek Church in proselytising, and by a• grand church which is being built for Orthodox devotees.. Curiously enough, the fate of the assassin is not telegraphed, but the presumption is that the gentlemen in attendance on the Cesarewitch seized him on the spot. The tension under which the Imperial family of Russia live is shown in the fact that the Empress, on hearing of the event, fainted away, being. convinced that the courtiers were breaking to her the news of her son's death. It is fortunate that the incident did not occur in British India, where the Prince was watched like a shrine• menaced by infidels, or the Russians would have believed that the attempt had the sanction of Lord Lansdowne.