THE EMBASSY TO RUSSIA.

THE Morning Herald has given, from the pen of a correspondent, a gossiping account of the conduct of the Emperor Nicholas towards the officers of the Talavera, which carried out Lord Durham amid his suite. The writer seems to be of the penny-a-line school, from the minuteness of his painting and from his maudlin affectation of sentiment ; but his anecdotes are amusing.

The Emperor, who happened, opportunely, to be in the neighbour- hood, came on board the Talavera the day after her arrival at Cronstadt.

" On reaching the quarter-deck, he shook hands with Captain Brown very cordially, and sold, in English, Will you let me see your ship ? I speak very bad English.' He appears to understand English very- well, but, from want of

habit, expresses himself imperfectly. The fact is, that to foreigners he usually speaks French or German; but as Captain Brown understands neither of those languages, his Majesty was obliged to speak to him in English, and got on very

well. He was conducted over every part of the ship; lie examined most minutely, and asked such questions as evinced a nowledge of naval affairs which is quite surprising, particularly his acquaintance with the state of the British navy. He inquired by name for Mr. Blake, the builder in the dock-,yard at Portsmouth, and made some remarks on his proposed improvement in ships' bows. He also mentioned the mune of time builder of Devonport. There is on board the Talavera a 68-pounder, which he examined most minutely, and caused it to be run in and out, and traiued. He seemed pleased at the facility with which this heavy gun was handled by so few men; and taking the hand- spike in his hand, he tried the weight of the gun himself, and said,-' Oh ! it is quite easy. ' Whilst the Emperor was below, examining the store-rooms, it struck eight bells (twelve o'cloek). Now it is the custom, throughout the Bri- tish 'Navy, for the sailors to dine at twelve o'clock, and never but in cases of urgent necessity are they made to wait a minute for their mlinner; this custom was chserved on board of us, notwithstanding the presence at the Emperor. Accordingly, when his Majesty returned to the lower deck, the people were at dinner. He appeared to he mooch ',leased at this, and tasted the scup and beef; and stud], It is very good ; now have you some rum or whisky?' Tide Captain said, ' Your :dajesty shall have some refreshment in the cabin.' Ile said, No, no, I don't mean that,—I mean that I would drink with the people.' Accord- ingly, a glass of grog was presented to him; of which he drank, saying, drink to time health of King William the Fourth, and all the people.' In the store-roorn, some of the carpenters' stores are so arranged along one of the beams as to form the words God bless the King.' Timis was pointed out to him ; and, on readinf2; the words, he said, 'Aim! God bless the King ! so I say, God bless him ; he is a very good friend to Inc.' " Of course, there was no withstanding so tender a T.-P.- Coolish speech as this. " From that moment," says the writer, " Captain Brown trePted the Emperor as one honest sailor would treat another, who loved his king and his country as well as himself." The E: nue, rer, on taking leave, insisted on Captain Drown and his 0Cficers paying him a visit, in order to witness a show in their turn, at

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" The Imperial Guards encamped at this place amount, we are informed, to `30,000. On this day, his Majesty reviewed time first division, consisting of 16,000, with 52 pieces of ordnance. There was a sham fight, and various evo- lutions ; to describe which I am utterly at a loss. I wish most sincerely that I could do justice to this splendid military spectacle; but feel it to be quite impos- sible,—in the first place, because I am altogether unacquainted with military phraseology; and, in the next place, because I never before saw so many soldiers collected together. The movements were conducted with a degree of rapidity and precision that to me appeared truly astonishing! The artillery was in excellent order, and the ordnance served in masterly style. Equally at a less am I for language in which to describe the extraordinary attention which we received from his Imperial Majesty. Nothing could be more complimentary- to the British nation, than the attention paid to the officers of one of her ships, by the Emperor of Russia, in the presence of all the Foreign Ambassadors at his own court, and in the face of the elite of his army. His Majesty did not lose sight of us for an instant during the review; and whenever, by a sudden movement of

the troops, we were thrown into an unfavourable situation, he instantly des- patched an Aid-de-camp to conduct us to the most advantageous position; and at last, Count Orloff himself was sent by the Emperor to direct our postillions to

keep close behind his Majesty wherever he went. We accordingly followed him to a commanding position, which he took up, in order to address the troops as

they filed past him, on their way to their respective quarters in the camp. Each

.regiment marched by in solid square ; and to each he said something kind—such as.' How are ye?' , or Well done, my children !' and they all shouted Very well, thank you, father; we • will live and die for you;' and each gave two .diteers. Thus the whole brigade retired to the camp, chanting a peculiarly wild melody; which, to our unaccustomed ears, had a remarkably singular

effect." .

A &fran .. followed this exhibition. Of course, where the Emperor was so complaisant, it was not to be expected that the Emperor's Meal would fail in courtesy. At the breakfast, Count Orloff "He could never forget the kindness and hospitality which he had so recently eaperieneed in England r ' but you must see,' added be, 'that it is sufficient here to be Englishmen, to insure respect and attention without reference to poli- tica or rank."

In the evening, the English were treated to a different exhibition— "At a signal given by a rocket, the soldiers all appeared in their evening dress in front of their tents, which extended as far as the eye could reach. The even- ing was remarkably serene' and the most profound silence *igned throughout

the host. The Emperor alighted from his carriage with his head uncovered, and the priest stood forward and offered up to God the evening prayer ; which was responded by the assembled thousands. Need a British sailor blush to ac- knowledge, that he was affected, even to tears, at such a scene ? No! I saw the tears glistening in the eyes of more than one of my brother-officers ; and I

gloried to see, that though they could not join in the language, yet they joined in spirit in the worship of the King of kings, the one God and Father of us all. I assure you that the effect was so grand, so awful! so sublime ! that it beggars . description."

No doubt, there was something very grand, awful, and sublime, in prayers offered up by signal to the Seer of Hearts ! The rockets, un-

fortunately, were not so well trained as the soldiers. One of them ex- ploded before its time, and wounded two men ; and, what was much more to be lamented, chagrined the pious Emperor exceedingly. There was a second review, of cavalry, the next day- " This spectacle was even more splendid than the one we had seen the day before ; but it is equally beyond my powers to describe. The Emperor himself gave the word of command, and manceuvered the troops in a style that showed him to be perfectly in his clement: he appeared really to enjoy it. He said Captain, I cannot manceuvre a ship with you, but this I understand.' Some Cossacks and Circassians were put through their peculiar exercise ; which was

exceedingly curious. The Circassians, I believe, were the body-guard of the young Grand Duke t their appearance was very remarkable, as they wore chain armour of steel : their dexterity at shooting at a mark when their horses were at their utmost speed, was more astonishing than any thing of the kind I have seen. His Majesty treated us with the same flattering attention as before ; and, when the review was over, be embraced Captain Brown, and said, Captain, I am glad to have made your acquaintance ; God bless you. When you see your Xing, assure him of my highest regard, and tell him that I pray fur him every night.' [Now, did the Emperor Nicholas really say this?] Then, riding up

to us, he said, Gentlemen, I am delighted that you have been pleased ; I shall always be happy to see you : adieu. The Empress also, shook hands very cordially with Captain Brown, and said, Captain, I shall be glad to see you again.'

"Oh words of cheer !

So pleasing to a subject's ear ! "

It may be asked, where were the dearly loving mid beloved people of the melodramatic Monarch while he was thus tickling the ears of the groundings? Were they enjoying the raree shows, as well as those unadulterated mariners, whose eyes dropped tears like trees their medi- cinal gums, at the sight of ten thousand beards wagging in accord with . the whiz of the ascending rocket ?— " The ships [when the Emperor visited the Talavera] were dressed with their colours as on gala-days, and continued so for the next day. During the Empe- ror's visit, all the small craft were got under weigh, and kept manomvering. The . spectacle was truly magnificent, and as a naval review, the aunt complete I ever saw ; but there was one circumstance rather striking, and, to English eves,

• somewhat extraordinary,'which was, the total absence of spectators ! Were our own beloved King to review his fleet at Spithead, there would be so many yachts, so many vessels and boats of all descriptions, crammed with spectators, as to cover the whole space between Portsmouth and the Isla of Wight, and it would require the utmost skill on the part of the different steersmen to keep from running fold of each other; but here, at Cronstadt, we did not see a single boat of any description ; and, of course, there were no spectators but those en- • gaged in the business!"