The Press.
London, England, 1855-04-14 00:00:00

THE BALTIC FLEET.

Several ships of the advanced squadron of the
Baltic fleet had anived at Nyborg on Monday, and
others were reported off Carlserona. Much ice still
remained along the coast, and in the harbours near
the Belt and Sound. The main body of the fleet
weighed anchor from the Downs on Monday after-
noon and proceeded to sea, steering eastward.
The French squadron destined for service in the
Baltic, and consisting of three line-of-battle ships,
with the proper complement of frigates, corvettes,
and smaller craft, will leave Cherbourg in two or
three days to join the British fleet.. Rear-Admiral
Penaud has been appointed to the command of the
squadron. He is a little over fifty-four years of age,
having been born in December, 1800. He entered
the navy in 1814.

DEPARTURE OF GUARDS FOR THE CRIME A.—On
Thursday morning, at half-past seven o'clock, the
detachments of the Household Infantry under orders
to join their brothers in arms at the seat of war,
were mustered and paraded at the various barracks,
and it is gratifying to state that not a single man
was absent. The drafts consisted of 5 officers, 420
Grenadier Guards, for the 3rd battalion; 5 officers,
307 Coldstreams, for the Ist battalion ; 5 officers,
399 Scots Fusiliers, for the Ist battalion. The men
were greeted with the most energetic cheers on their
road, the band playing at intervals " Welcome Royal
Charlie," " Red, White, and Blue," " Over the Hills
and far away," " The Girl I left behind me," " Cheer,
Boys, cheer," " Hey, Johnny Cope," " Blue Bonnets
over the Border," &c., &c. On their arrival at the
terminus of the South-Western Railway, a prolonged
cheer was given by those outside. The embarkation
took place on board the Peninsular and Oriental
new steam-ship Alma, yesterday afternoon, at Ports-
mouth, under the command of Captain Evans, and
accompanied by a large detachment of the Royal
Sappers and Miners. This splendid vessel will im-
mediately proceed to Balaklava, leaving 130 non-
commissioned officers and men at Malta.

The following further notice relative to the admis-
sion of officers into the royal navy, from the mer-
cantile marine, has been issued by the Admiralty,
under date of the 10th inst. :—With reference to the
circular order of the 14th of March, 1855, inviting
officers from the mercantile marine to offer them-
selves for the appointment of acting second master
in the royal navy, the Lords Commissioners of the
Admiralty are pleased to direct that such candidates
as do not possess the full qualifications prescribed
by the Admiralty circular of the 17th of November,
1849, shall undergo a preliminary examination
before the hydrographer of the Admiralty, and two
masters, previous to receiving an acting appoint-
ment : such preliminary examination to be subject
to the final examination that would be required
before confirmation to the rank of second master.

Majors Stanley and Brett have just passed through
Paris on their way to the Crimea. These officers
belong to the Bombay Army, and have seen seven-
teen years' rough service in India. Major Stanley,
who is well known for his gallant conduct in India,
was formerly on the staff of the late Sir C. Napier,
and served for some time as assistant political agent
under Colonel Outram in Scinde, and has just relin-
quished a lucrative appointment on the Scinde fron-
tier to take the command of a regiment of cavalry in
the Crimea.

A detachment of twelve firework-makers, under the
direction of M. Melvil, formerly a pupil of the Poly-
technic School, who has long devoted himself to the
study of the pyrotechnic art, has embarked at Lyons,
on board one of the Rhone steamers for Marseilles,
on their way to the Crimea. These workmen, who
are all remarkable for their superior ability in their
art, have been specially engaged to keep in order and
repair the vast quantity of bombs, shells, and other
incendiary articles sent out to the army of occupa
tion. Although civil workmen, they are to be placed
under military orders.

SATURDAY,

THE BALTIC FLEET.
(From a Correspondent.)
Portsmouth, Thursday.
THE Duke of Wellington is at Spithead, making
good her damages. The authorities, whose word is
law, say she must be ready on Saturday; but the
shipwrights, who know something of these matters,
say Monday. Large parties of the latter work night
and day, and certainly get through a great deal of la-
bour. The fleet having sailed from the Downs, the Duke
of Wellington will follow them as quickly as possible to
Wingo Sound, in Norway (the first rendezvous). If
they should have left that place, she will pass through
the Great Belt, and join them at Kiel (the second
rendezvous), where they will probably remain some
ten days or a fortnight, to enable the vessels left be-
hind, such as the Cornwallis (60), Hawke (00), Rus-
sell (60), Orion (90), Hastings (60), Pembroke (60),
with several steamers, gun-boats, &c., to join them,
so that the admiral may have at his command a suf-
ficient force to thoroughly and efficiently blockade
the whole Gulf of Finland. The batteries will hardly
be ready for a month at soonest, nor, indeed, will
they be required before that time, as active opera-
tions (such as an attack on any of the Russian
strongholds) can hardly be commenced before the
Ist of June. Much anxiety is felt by naval men as
to the passage of these vessels across the North Sea
and lower part of the Baltic. Once in the Gulf of
Finland, after the Ist of June, and the Thames near
Richmond could not be smoother than the water
there during the months of June, July, and August;
after that time the bad weather again sets in, and
great care must be taken that vessels not good sea-
boats are sent home before it. commences. The
Driver started from Spithead today with the Pelter
gun-boat in tow. She is to pick up some others at.
the eastern ports, and conduct them to Elsinore.
The fleet are (as far as the large ships go) fully
manned. In fact, the Baltic fleet will only require
about seven hundred men to complete the crews of
the batteries and gun-boats, and these men are al-
ready forthcoming.
It is a matter of surprise to many that three of
the batteries are not yet commissioned, their captains
not even having been nominated, except by rumour.
The Times is wrong about the captain of the fleet
flag business. No flags, unless one be the royal
standard, can fly together, or at different mastheads,
in the same ship. Admiral Seymour's flag as an
admiral was hoisted in the Princess Royal last year,
in which ship he came home.
A court-martial is being held to-day on board the
Victory by the officers and crew of the Tiger for the
loss of their vessel. Much interest is taken by naval
circles in this t.ial.
On Friday an inquiry of a private nature will be held
on board the Duke of Wellington concerningher colli-
sion, more as a matter of form than with any other
object, as there is only one opinion on the matter,
which is, that the merchant vessel was entirely in the
wrong, and that no blame could be attached to tile
officers of the watch in the Duke.
The Ajax was left behind in the Downs on account
of her machinery being defective. The fleet were
hurried off on account of despatches arriving from.
the Baltic.

Thursday evening.

This morning, at daylight, the Neptune,
Powerful, and Calcutta, liners, with the Centaur and
Pylades, steamers, dropped down off St. Helens; and.
this evening, or to-morrow morning, Sir Thomas•
Cockrane will join them, and, hoisting his flag in the,
Neptune, proceed off Dover to do honour to the Em-
peror of the French on his landing in England. 450'
of the Grenadier Guards have embarked on board
the Alma to-day, and sail immediately to the East..
The court martial on the Tiger is likely to last some'
days.

DR. MANDT, the physician who attended the Czar
Nicholas in his last illness, has published a circum-
stantial account of the closing scenes of the
monarch's life. "At ten minutes past three," says
the doctor," he asked me, after I had mentioned the-
name of his father confessor, Must I then die?' I
answered, ' Yes, sire.' Not a muscle of his face
moved, not the least quickening of pulsation. How,"
said he, can you find the courage thus to doom me
to death ;to tell me so to my face ? 'First,' said I,
by so doing I fulfil a promise made to you a year
and a half ago; the moment of which you then spcks
to me, alas! has come ; moreover, I thus fulfil a duty
to the Emperor. You have several hours to live ;
you are in full possession of your faculties, and can
direct them at your will—at least I believe so.
Lally, sire, I love yon, and this is not the moment
to conceal the truth, which I am sure you can bear
to hear.' His countenance became serene, an' he
stretched out bis hand, saying I thank you!' Sucb
was the Emperor."

APRIL 14, 1855.

POLAND.
( Continued from our last.)

The old duchy of Novorogod, founded by Rurik,
and conquered by the Mongol Tartars in the thirteenth
century, was restored by Ivan Basiiowitz in 1533,
and the Tartars were expelled. The race of Bunk
became extinct in 1598. His immediate descendants
were Dukes of Kiov, A.D. 878, Grand Dukes of Wla-
dimir, A.D. 1157, Grand Dukes of Moscow, A.D. 1328,
and Czars of Moscovy, ♦.D. 1533. In 1813 the house
of Romanoff succeeded to the throne in the person
of Michael Fedorowitz, and his descendant, Peter 1.,
elevated the Schlavo-Russian dominions into an
empire.
The dukedom of East Prussia had been converted
into an hereditary fief, tributary to Poland in the
Hohenzollern family, and these princes were made
electors of Brandenburg by the Emperor Sigismund,
in 1411. Frederick, called the Great Elector, wrested
the vassalage of the dukedom from Poland, and his
son, Frederick William, crowned himself and consort
King and Queen of Prussia, manually and with the
consent of the Emperor, in 1701.
Sweden, under Margaret of Denmark, the Semi-
ramis of the North, had been united with Norway to
Denmark, and formed into a Scandinavian kingdom
by the union of Calmar, A.D. 1397. Christian IL, or
the Wicked, by a series of excessive cruelties, disaf•
fected the Swedish nobles, and Gustavus Vasa, the
son of one of the murdered chieftains, at the head of
a successful insurrection of nobles, severed the Danish
yoke, and was called upon by the popular voice to
place himself on the vacant throne. Gustavus Adol-
phus and Christina Vasa added to the fame and
power of the country, and Charles XlL—madman
and conqueror—by big eccentric yet splendid career
won the sympathies of the chivalrous and the con-
damnation of the wise.

By war, by intrigue, by plunder, and by inheritance,
the greedy house of. Hapsburg had moulded together
a formidable empire. Rodolph, Count of Hapsburg,
seized Austria from Bohemia in ]273, and usurped
the dukedom. Mary, the daughter and heiress of
Lewis the Great of Hungary, married Sigismund,
King of Bohemia and Emperor of Germany, and
Albert of Hapsburg and Austria, by allying himself
with their daughter and heiress, succeeded to the
thrones of Bohemia, Hungary, and Germany, A.D.
1437. The Holy Roman Empire, destroyed by Na-
poleon, reached the summit of its power under
Charles V. At the death of Charles VI., Emperor of
Germany, his daughter, Maria Theresa,after a severe
conflict with Charles Albert, Elector of Bavaria, be-
came sovereign of the Austrian and Germanic domi-
nions, A.D. 1740.
The last of the Palmologi had fallen nobly in the
defence of his Eastern empire, and the sword of
Mahomet 11. won him a place amongst the sove-
reigns of Europe. Fanaticism, fatalism, intolerance,
and ignorance induced the descendants of Mahomet
to attempt at different times the subjugation of Chris-
tianity. The battle of Western Tours was variously
repeated in Eastern Europe, and more than once the
safety of the Continent depended upon the success of
Polish valour. _ . _

If the early histories of a rising nation demand
an agreeable care in the task of collection and re-
cord, less pleasing, albeit more facile, is it to recount
the rapid decline of fortune, fame, and station. For
the labour of the historian the fabulous myth of
Sisyphus is not without its moral. After the extinc-
tion of the Jagellon kings—the era of Polish aris-
tocracy, honour, and independence—the democratic
party—the multitude, the paupers and the corrupt—
elected for king Henry Duke of Anjou, brother to
Charles IX. of France. This was an open and
avowed sale, paid for in Italian and Medicean gold,
and effected by the Jesuits. But, after one short
year of incompetent government, wherein the Prince
" besought for peace yet, unprepared, drifted to-
wards war," the brawling many waxed afraid of the
consequences of their corruption, and the Magnates,
upon the retirement of Henry and his accession to
the throne of France, elected Stephen Bathory,
Duke of Transylvania. He proved to be a wise and
resolute monarch, defended the country bravely
against the Russians, and, having thoroughly sub-
dued the Ukraine Copecks, formed and established
them into a national militia. Sigismund 111. of
Sweden owed his elevation to the Jesuits. He con-
tested for the crown against Maximilian of Austria;
and it was during the process of this election that
the democratic party gave evidence of being swayed
by every motive opposed to disinterested allegiance
and patriotic duty. For forty-five years Poland was
racked by Jesuit malice and Jesuit dominion. During
the misgovernment of this king, Russia, availing ber-

self of the hatred towards the Jesuits, corrupted a
numerous party of nobles and secured them to her
interests. She bad also to revenge herself against
that secret body of ecclesiastical conspirators for the
attempt to appropriate the throne of Russia by
placing thereon Demetrius, a Jesuit and impostor,
and afterwards Ladislaus, in opposition to the legiti-
mate head of the house of Romanoff. At each royal
election in Poland the democratic party encroached