THE RUSSIAN SCARE IN MELBOURNE.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume X, Issue 1063, 20 April 1882, Page 4

THE RUSSIAN SCARE IN MELBOURNE.

Bryants story of Russian designs upon the Colony in the Melbourne Age was so circumstantially told, with names and dates, that it excited belief in the minds of many; but a close inspection of Bryant’s cypher despatches ■showed an extraordinary resemblance to the fictitious despatches not long since published as a hoax in the Age. Lieut. Fredricks, first flag lieutenant of the Africa, had been left behind sick, and he was naturally appealed to. His statement and that of M. Darnyon, Russian Consular Agent, elicited the fact that Bryant had not, as he alleged, been sent out by the Russian Government, but had been living in Melbourne for the past nine weeks; that lie only saw the Admiral five days before tie departure of the .squadron ; that he then submitted to him an invention of his own for a subaqueous torpedo, which the Admiral submitted to the Russian Government by a telegraphic despatch, and received a reply, on his arrival at Adelaide, that the Government declined to entertain the proposal. This was communicated to Bryant by the Russian Consul, and he thereupon expressed his disappointment. Bit by bit the cypher despatches and statements were ascertained to be purely fictitious, and then it appeared that the Age had been most egregiously hoaxed. This view was taken by the entire press of Australia, merely upon the face of the documents as they appeared, and without evidence. The Age, however, still has faith'll the genuineness of Bryant’s story Apropos of the Russian scare in Melbourne, it may be interesting to know that an English exchange states that one of the Russian officers on board the ironclad Peter the Great, at Glasgow, has been paying a visit along the coast of Ireland, presumedly with the object of acquiring that information which would be valuable to Russian cruiser officers if their country went to war with England and endeavored to stimulate an Irish rising—an idea which has been often favored by Russian political writers. The officer in question, Sub-Lieutenant Zimmerman, has reserved his report specially for his Government.— Nelson Colonist.