The Press.
London, England, 1854-05-06 00:00:00

THE PIES 'l

the horses of the Royal Artillery and field batteries
on board, arrived there during the 25th and 26th ult.
They were nearly all five or six weeks from England
having met with fine weather, but light and variable
winds. Of all shipped only twenty horses had been
lost. The gross number that landed were 550
artillerymen, 19 officers, and 537 horses. A month
would probably still elapse before they could expect
to reach Gallipoli.
The mail-steamer Egyptas, independently of her
ordinary passengers, brought 514 officers, non-com
missioned officers, and troops, but they did not land
at the island.

On the 26th Malta harbour presented an animated
appearance. Upwards of sixty vessels, most of them
laden with coal, were signalled at an early hour, and
not long after came into port.
Lieutenant King had left for Tunis with orders to
buy 1,000 horses.
Lodgings for 5,000 French troops were being pre-
pared at Malta.
Military commissaries have been sent to the different
points of the theatre of war. Rustum Pacha, the go-
vernor of Adrianople, has gone to Rodosto with
officers charged by Ueneral Canrobert to study the
question of the formation of a camp at that spot.
Colonel Desaint, the head of the French topographic
department, had gone to examine the military route
from Gallipoli to Adrianople.

THE FLEETS.

BALTIC FLEET.
Our news from the Baltic still reports little but
preparations and anticipations.
Admiral Napier, on the 20th ult., was cruising off
the Gulf of Finland, having with him the Duke of
Wellington (flag), St. Jean d'Acre, Cresar, Cressy,
Royal George, Edinburgh, Imperieuse, Leopard, Mu..
gicienne, Driver, and Gorgon. The rest of the fleet
were cruising, under Admiral Corry, between Dager-
fort and the coast of Sweden.
A letter written on board the Duke of Wellington
on the 27th ult. states :—" We are about to attack
Hango Hinch harbour, which will be the opening of
the ball, and of which I hope to render you a good
account."
Sir C. Napier, as we stated in our last Pnuss, paid
a flying visit to Stockholm on the 24th of April, and
on the following day had an audience of King Oscar.
His reception in the city was enthusiastic, and
although his arrival was quite unexpected large
crowds had assembled to greet h' by the time he
reached the landing-place. Theempathies of the
Swedes are said to be decidedly in favour of England,
and the visit of the admiral was believed to have
been inspired by the hope of obtaining from King
Oscar an active co-operation in the war against the
Czar. It is said that several Swedish ships-of-war
are to be put into commission forthwith. Sir C.
Napier left Stockholm on the 25th ult.
Cruisers are stationed off Revel, Riga, Memel,
Dantzic, Stockholm, Gothland, Bornholm, in the
Sound, Cattegat, and Gulf of Kid, so that the whole
Baltic Sea and coasts are under strict guard.
The number of prizes taken in the Baltic has
been very great, many of them laden with arms,
hidden under cotton, &c., and intended for Russian
harbours.
A coal depOt is being formed for the fleet at
Fahroesund, on the island of Gothland.
Many Finnish and other seamen have entered our
fleet from the northern harbours. No expense has
been spared in obtaining the assistance of pilots.
Not less than 1,0001. has been paid, in an instance
or two, for the services of this class of men during
the whole season, till the navigation closes ; and
the same sum has been given to a Norwegian
linguist., who speaks Russian and Finnish, on board
the Wellington.
The smallpox has appeared among the sailors of
the fleet, but the disease has not broken out with
any intensity except in a single vessel, the James
Watt, which has lost a good many men. Several
ships have had their crews revaccinated at Elsinore.
A flotilla of steam gun vessels, destined for cutting-
out service in the shallow waters of the Baltic, is
being rapidly formed. The Pigmy, Otter, Jasper,
Lynx, Cuckoo, and Minx will form the advanced
squadron.
All the ships of the French fleet under the com-
mand of Admiral Deschenes, with the exception of
two, left the Downs on Wednesday for the Baltic.
Those left. behind are the liners Jemappes and La
Tage, the ships that came in contact with each other,
and have gone to Sheerness for iepairs.
According to a lettter from the Baltic, the Emperor
of Russia has ordered that all the boats belonging to
the members of the Yacht Club of the Neva shall be
placed at the service of the State, to form part of the
flotilla of armed row-boats which is being formed at
Sveaborg and Cronstadt, to act as a species of naval
guerrillas against the British fleet.

415

A laboratory on the island of Cronstadt, occupied
in the manufacture of cartridges, has blown up and
deprived sixty human beings of their lives. The
building contained 30,000 lbs. of powder, but was not
within the rayon of the fortress, which sustained no
injury. In the town, from which the laboratory was
a league distant, a great number of broken windows
attested the violence of the explosion.
There seems to be some doubt of the truth of the
statements that the Russians had evacuated the
Aland Isles.
A new policy has been adopted with regard to the
crews of the Finnish and Russian ships lately, captured
in the Baltic. Instead of being kept as prisoners of
war, at a great expense, and to the ruin of their un-
fortunate families, they have been landed at Copen-
hagen, and allowed to go home over Sweden. More
than 150 have thus been liberated already. Some
of the prisoners taken on board Russian ships in the
Channel and brought to England have been allowed
at their own request to take service in British mer-
chant-vessels, those being selected that are bound
for Australia or some distant voyage.
The Russian prizes Ciejion and Ahlstran have been
declared illegally captured according to the terms of
her ilklajesty's proclamation, and were consequently
released.
THE BLACK SEA.
aomeAtinmEsr OF 011EfaliA.
The news so long expected, that the Black Sea
fleet has at last struck a blow against the Russians,
has now arrived. Odessa was bombarded on the
22nd ult. Full details are still on their way, and the
outlines conveyed by the telegraphic wires through
different routes, and derived from various sources of
intelligence, vary very perplexingly in their state-
ments. However, of the fact there is no doubt. It
appears that on the 15th ult. a division of ships left
erne, and made sail for Odessa, in order to com-
mence bombarding it. On the 17th they arrived off
its harbour, and in the afternoon four ships advanced
close to the port and threw in a few bombs, when
they shortly after retired. On the 18th eight ships
made a reconnaissance towards Odessa, and fired
again a few bombs into the harbour, probably also
evidently with a view of ascertaining the exact range.
On the 20th the whole squadron advanced to begin
the bombardment. Finally, we learn by despatches
received yesterday that on the 22nd of April the
allied fleets destroyed, in a few hours, all the fortifi-
cations, the batteries, and the military stores. Two
powder-magazines blew up, and twelve vessels-of-
war were sunk. The merchant-vessels were saved.
The loss of the allies was only five killed and six
wounded. Thirteen Russian vessels laden with mu-
nitions were taken.
The fleet afterwards left in the direction of Sebas-
topol.
The Austrian Correspondens gives an account of
the affair, evidently from Russian information, stating
that an attempt had been made to land 1,800 men,
but without success.

The Woronzow Palace at Odessa was totally de-
stroyed by the shells. The attacking squadron is
stated to have consisted of nine ships. Odessa was
garrisoned by 40,00 men.
Before commencing their first attack, the English
and French admirals sent a summons to the governor,
demanding the delivery of the Russian ships-ot• war
in the harbour of Odessa. For this purpose they
allowed an interval of some hours. The summons
being disregarded, the bombardment was resumed,
and the ships sunk as above mentioned.
There was a report that the Russian fleet had
ventured out of Sebastopol, with the hope of driving
the assaulting squadron from Odessa, but had
retreated into port again somewhat precipitately.
This, however, lacks confirmation, if not credibility.
Besides the assault upon Odessa, we hear from
Constantinople that the Russian batteries at the
Sulina mouths of the Danube had been bombarded
by a division of the allied fleets.
The French are, it is said, about to reinforce their
fleet in the Black Sea immediately by the addition
of four more ships-of the-line.
THE WAR ON THE DANUBE.
Both the Turkish and Russian commanders were,
according to the last accounts, withdrawing their
forces with a view to their concentration. The
rumour of approaching aid to one party, and of new
antagonists to the other, had doubtless caused these
preparatory movements on either side. The re-
ported evacuation of Little Wallachia by Prince
I'askiewitsch is now confirmed. The Russians re-
treated through Slatina back upon Bucharest. It is
further known that on the 24th the Russians com-
menced their retreat from Kralove, and have broken
up their position in that town, which was for some
time the head•quarters of Prince Oortschakoff. The
right wins of the Russian army would, therefore,
appear to rest on the river Aluta, with its head-quai-
ters at Bucharest, and the main interest of the cam-

paign .
below Nicopolis, and especially between . itsehuk
and Silistria. The latter fortress has been hard
pressed by the Russians since the 14th ult., but on
the 25th was still in the hands of the Turks, who
had defended themselves with great gallantry. A
grand attack was expected about the Ist inst., the
Russians having made preparations for crossing the
river with 30,000 men, covered by seventeen batteries.
The garrison are resolute, and Mustapha Paella is
confident of holding out until aid arrives. The Turks
daily send about 1,000 cannon balls into the in •
trenchments of the Russians, who up to the 19th
had 800 men wounded, many of whom were officers.
The number of killed is unknown, but it must be
very great
No confirmation has been received of the reported
victories said to have been gained by the Turks at
Czernav oda and in the Dobrudsch a. Deserters from the
Russian army in the latter district, however, state
that the Danube overflowed and carried away all the
raft bridges : the communication with the right bank
of the Danube was cut off, and for the last four days
the army was without provisions. Their number is
60,000. They lost 4,000 in passing the river. The
place on which they are encamped was very marshy,
the frost was intense, and their loss was 100 men per
diem.

is ones more concentrated on the operations
But,

The Oat Deutsche Post of the 27th announces, as
the most important military news from Bulgaria,
that the special corps of Russian dragoons, 26,000
strong, which generally follows the footsteps of
Prince I'askiewitsch, were now under march for the
Danube. It was believed to be the intention of
the prince to press on with this corps, and a
select reserve of light troops, into the very heart of
Turkey.
Omer Pacha is in the meantime collecting his
strength, and constructing formidable defences
around Schumla. He has 40,000 regulars and 15,000
irregulars, including Redifs. This force is formed
into six divisions—two for the plain, three for the
heights, and one of reserve in the town. He is de-
termined to remain in position there and await the
Russian attack. He has reason to believe that the
Russians expected an offensive movement on his
part in the Dobrudscha. Had he advanced in that
direction the enemy might have thrown 00,000 men
over the Danube at Rutachuk, Schumla might have
fallen, and the whole country passed into the pos-
session of the Russians. The army of Bulgaria
consists of 140,000 men, regulars and irregulars. Of
the former there are 95,000 men, including the gar•
rison of Sophia. In Widdin and Kalafat, 20,000 ; at
Varna, 8,500 ; at Rutschuk, 7,000 ; at Silistria,
11,000; and in Schumla 55,000 men, and 320 guns,
of which 138 are for field purposes.