NEWS OF THE WEEK.
THE great strike in St. Petersburg has ended in a great catastrophe. The workmen who "went out" agreed to make a petition to the Czar, and resolved to present it to the Emperor in the Winter Palace on the Neva. The Czar, though his personal safety was .guaranteed, was too nervous to receive it, and, under the influence of the Grand Dukes, empowered one of them, the Grand Duke Vladimir, a soldier who believes only in force, to deal with the agitation as he deemed expedient. Soldiers were therefore summoned to St. Petersburg as reinforcements ; every dangerous point was garrisoned ; and the Prefect informed the people that no procession, even of unarmed men, would be allowed. Nevertheless, the leaders resolved to present the petition and see - their Sovereign face to face. Last Sunday immense crowds, perhaps sixty thousand in number poured into the streets, all unarmed, and all, it would seem, sincerely expecting that the autocrat would at least. listen to their complaints. The bridges, however, the square in front of the Palace, and the great streets were strongly guarded, and as the people ref used to disperse, the troops, after a discharge with blank cartridge, were ordered to fire with balL Hundreds fell ; but though the strikers were flying, the cavalry and Cossacks charged, and by the testimony of all eyeAitnesses the slaughter did not cease for some hours. An official account represents the killed as seventy-six; all other accounts, English, French, and American, give the number as two thousand, with probably several thousands wounded. It was a massacre of unarmed petitioners, mostly men, but with many women and children among them.
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