The Press.
London, England, 1854-06-17 00:00:00

560

The English ships are said to have appeared again
off Libau, and taken away ton ships from the harbour,
which were regarded as good prizes.
letter from Rostock states that the squadron of
Vice-Admiral Parseval-Deschenes anchored on the
oth off the Isle of Gothland, in Sweden. It was ex-
pected that they would join Admiral Napier about
the 12th.
A letter from an officer of the fleet, dated Hango
Bay, June 1, says:—
" I have no doubt the good people in England are ex-
pecting to hear of our doing something in the shape of a
bombardment, but they do not know the difficulties we have
to meet. if the Russian ships were all at Helsingfors our
Work would be plain. Suppose we have to attack Hel-
singfors, and destroy the fleet there, in doing so several of
our ships would probably be disabled, and it would be
known in St. Petersburg in a few hours. The fleet at
Cronstadt (20 sail of the line, several 50-gun frigates, and
smaller ships) would then come out and attack us with
great advantage ; and although skill and bravery would
counteract a great deal, still we might lose some of our best
ships, and leave the Russians masters of the Baltic for at
least this year. Sir C. Napier appears to see all these
probabilities, or something would have been done ere this ;
besides, the Baltic fleet is not yet complete ; we have other
ships to join. if it is possible to attack Helsingfors
without disabling too many of the ships, I am of opinion
Sir Charles will do it. Our chiefs are men of bravery and
experience, as also are the chiefs of the French fleet, and will
not allow the Russian ships to lie quietly at their anchors
if it is possible to destroy them, It will, no doubt, be said,
Why not destroy the forts at Hango Bay ? What, I ask,
should we gain by it? If we killed 1,000 of their men,
they could soon replace them, but the destruction of their
fleet would be a severe blow."
THE RUSSIAN FLEET.
The Oat-see, a Mecklenburg brig, which left
Cronstadt on the 30thlof May, was taken and detained
at Riga by an English vessel for having broken the
blockade. Her captaln has communicated some in-
teresting details touching the Russian fleet and the
condition of the harbour of Cronstadt:—

" He reports that when the Ost-see left Cronstadt there
were twenty-four Russian ships-of-war, one of which is a
three-decker, ready for sea. They were all outside the
than-of-war harbour and in the St. Petersburg Channel, the
three-decker being moored broadside on to the opening,
which had been narrowed by throwing in large stones and
rocks, so that not more than one vessel could pass through
it at a time. Seven hundred guns were brought to bear
upon this narrow passage, in which the submarine mines
of Jacobi were deposited, covered with stones and marked
by very small buoys. Heavy chains, supported by large
buoys, were laid across the channel about four feet below
the surface of the water. All the channel buoys had been
removed, and the ships so placed that their fire supported
and crossed that of the detached forts, in which 20,000
soldiers were stationed. The Russian fleet is fully manned,
the three-decker having 1,100 men on board, and the other
liners 700 each. The Russians express the fullest confi-
dence in their power to destroy any force that shall venture
to attack them. The inhabitants of St. Petersburg are
not allowed to visit Cronstadt, and the people of Cronstadt
are not suffered to go to St. Petersburg."
CIRCASSIA.
Official accounts of the proceedings of the com-
bined squadrons detached from the Black Sea fleet
to the coast of Circassia have been transmitted to their
respective Governments by Admirals Dundas and
Hamelin. The instructions to the captains were to
capture the Russian forts on the coast when practi-
cable, to take possession of such as had been aban-
doned, and to do everything possible for the assistance
and encouragement of the Circassians in their attacks
upon the Russian forces. These directions appear to
have been carried out with promptitude and success,
and at the date of the despatches Anape and Soujah
were the only forts in the country still occupied by
the enemy. The detachment comprised the Aga-
memnon, Charlemagne, Ajax, andHighflyer,under Sir
E. Lyons and the Viscount de Chabennes.