The Sun.
London, England, 1855-07-16 00:00:00

THE BALTIC FLEET.

DANTSIC, July 13.—The steam-sloop Geyser,
Commander R. Dew, arrived off this port yester-
day morning, at 12 o'clock, with mails from the
fleet. She made the passage from Cronstadt to
this anchorage, a distance of above 600 miles, in
59 hours.

There is little news of importance to communi-
cate this week. Admiral Dundas went up on the
7th, in the Merlin, to reconnoitre Fort Risbank,
and while so occupied was fired upon several times
by the batteries ; the vessel, however, being out
of range, all the shot fell short.
As the Geyser was coming down from the fleet
to Dantsic she met on the 10th Admiral Baynes in
the Retribution, with the Colossus, Hogue, Edin-
burg, and four gunboats, going up to join the Com-
mander-in-Chief at Cronstadt. The following ves-
sels, which form the other part of his squadron,
remain at Nargen :—the Hawke, Pembroke, Hast-
ings, Russell, together with some gunboats and
mortar vessels. On the same evening, the Geyser
passed the Imperieuse, with three mortar vessels
in tow, off Dago Ort.
_ _

On the 3d instant the Geyser, while blockading
the coast about six miles north of the fleet, success-
fully shelled a body of Russian troops, attempting
to occupy some large buildings in the vicinity of
Incomeni Point, and caused them to retire ; on
the following morning the same vessel destroyed,
with red hot shot, a large schooner which was being
built a little higher up the coast.
It is not at all improbable that the whole of the
fleet will very shortly leave the present anchorage
before Cronstadt, and take up a position lower
down the Gulf of Finland. What the exact object
of this move may be it is of course impossible to
say ; still, however, " coming events cast their
shadows before them," as the old proverb runs.
In this instance, however, it is to be hoped that
" coming events" will also cc clear off" those
shadows which have hitherto shrouded in darkness
the aim and intentions of the Baltic Fleet.

The corn trade is, at the present moment quite
at a stand-still. The dull accounts from England
exercise a great influence on the minds of pur-
chasers, who will not come forward except a mate-
rial reduction in former prices be made by holders ;
this, however, the latter do not feel inclined to ac-
cede to, and prefer taking their supplies to granary
rather than submit to a sacrifice.

Freights continue beady the same as last week,
20s. to London, and proportionate rates to other
ports.

In the timber trade several large purchases have
been made here, at rather high prices, from the
supplies just arrived from Poland. The export
trade consists principally of goods for railway pur-
poses, and for the Government. Considerable sup-
plies also continue to be shipped for the French
Government.

A Hamburg letter of the llth ult., in the Inde-
pendance Belge, says
" Last evening the French flotilla which was lying for
some days at Kiel cleared out for the Baltic, to join the
squadron of Rear-Admiral Penaud, in the Gulf of Fin-
land, before Cronstadt. The corvette Aigle had left Kiel
three days before with two bomb-vessels. The remaining
five, which sailed yesterday, were towed by three other
steam corvettes. The steam-sloopTernpete had postponed
her departure owingto de necessity of repairing damages
sustained by her engines, Other French ships of war are
shortly expected at Kiel, Stockholm letters and journals
ofratvherne:tnbd,e blraesutghetvebnlgt, make no mention of the
he Gauthiod, which entered
T
bombardment and destriction of Nystadt, in Finland,
by an English squadron. That statement was circulated
by the captain of a small ve,o,el coming from the Gulf,
and the Swedish telegraph immediately forwarded it in
all directions. Today the event appears to be unfound-
ed, and the Swedish journals themselves admit it. Let-
ters from Helsingfors of the 28th ult., received at Stock-
holm on the 3d, refer to the great difficulty of commu-
nicating with Sweden. No intercourse was possible
between Abo and the Isles of Aland, on account of the
continual presence of English vessels, which find means
to penetrate the narrowest creeks of our islands.
After the affair of Hangc-ljdde the English considerably
increased the number of their war vessels in the Gulf of
Bothnia. There are at present no less than 22 English
ships of war of all sizes cruising in that gulf, where no.
thing important had occurred up to the morning of the
29th. The attention of the English cruisers is particu-
larly directed to the telegraphs along the Finnish coast,
half a dozen of which were destroyed by them in the
month of June. On the 18th they cannonaded and
levelled with the ground the telegraph of Porkkaland
After bombarding to no purpose the fort of Slava they
set fire to the neighbouring houses, and, having re-
turned to the charge on the 20th, they completely
destroyed the telegraph. On the 21st, having re-
ceived a reinforcement of ships of war, the English
re-opened fire on the fort, and compelled the garrison

to evacuate it. The commander, however, in com-
pliance with his instructions, blew it up to prevent
its occupation by the Eaglish. The fortified pi-orliontory
at Kotka, between Frederikshamm and Lovisa, was
attacked on the 20th, by English gun-boats detached
from the squadron. They bombarded it for several
hours, and succeeded in setting on fire a number of
private dwellings, several commercial stores, and two
barracks. On the approach of the English ships the
entire population of Kotka abandoned the place, carry-
ing with them their most valuable property into the
interior. The English continue to supply themselves at
Elsinore with the cattle necessary for the consumption
of the fleet in the two gulfs. On Saturday last one of
their vessels sailed thence with 78 live oxen on board."