The Sun.
London, England, 1855-01-16 00:00:00

admirably. The French were short of rations yester-
day. Their roads, as well as ours, are in a very bad
state. Tho railroad, which we hear is to be laid down
from Balak.lava to camp, will be a great blessing.
The following is the Numerical condition of the British
army opposed to the Russians :
Sergeants
Drummers
Rank and File

.. 2,121
„ 656
. 38,085

Total
Of this number, there are at the present time sick and
wounded :
Sergeants .....
Drummers ....
Rank and File

565
▪ 107
1▪ 2,747

Total

. 13,419

-Post.

THE BLACK SEA FLEET.

DECEIIBER 28.—As I wrote to you in my last letter,
Admiral Dundee has gone, and Sir Edmund Lyons is
now senior officer of the station. According to the
etiquette of the service he is not supposed to assume the
command in chief until his predecessor has quitted the
limits of the station. The usual way is to fix a certain
epoch, and this will be, I hear, in the present instance,
the Ist of January. In the meantime, the vessels have
already exchanged the white for the red ensign.
The Admiral's flag is still flying on the Agamemnon.
It seems as if the Admiral was inseparable from his
favourite, for several nights of heavy weather which we
had again on the 22d and 23d have so much wrung the
rudder of the Royal Albert that there was some talk of
sending her, as well as the Algiers, to Constantinople
to have the damages repaired, but the Admiral's energy
prevented this, and the rudders have been taken out and
are being repaired on the spot.
The Naval Brigade on shore has received a consider-
able addition. The Stromboli brought from Constanti-
nople 400 sailors, 230 from the Queen and 170 from the
London. They have been sent to Balaklava on board
the Sanspareil, and are to be employed, in the first in-
stance at least, to carry provisions to their comrades in
the camp. There are now 1,130 sailors in front and
170 in the batteries near Balaklava; and for all this
number there arc only 10 horses and mules to convey
provisions to them. Those, of course, who are in the
batteries near Balaklava can easily come down for their
provisions, as the distance is scarcely a mile ; but 10
mules are only sufficient to carry up about one-half of
the daily rations which are required for the sailors'
camp in front.
The newly-arrived sailors will therefore be employed
in forming a depot in the camp of the Naval Brigade.
They will be divided into two lots, each of which will
have to go up every alternate day. The men are ready
to do anything, although they would like best to be
in the batteries ; but it will be rather hard work for
them, as sailors are usually not first-rate pedestrians, and
a walk of 12 miles—six to and six back from the camp
—with a bag of biscuit or a keg of rum on one's back,
would be no easy matter for the best pedestrian, espe-
cially if the roads, as in the present instance, are covered,
on an average, with six inches of mud of so peculiarly
tenacious a character that at every step the foot carries
with it a rams of earth covering the extent of a small
German principality.
As soon as a small store is laid in at the camp these
400 sailors will likewise go to the batteries, where they
will have again to handle their darling heavy guns. It
is ludicrous what a contempt Jack has for small guns,
which he can handle like a toy.
When the Naval Brigade was first sent on shore
there was much more sickness among them than in

the army at that time ; now the reverse is the case.
Out of 1,130 men who are in front, there are scarcely
ever more than half a-dozen in hospital ; they have
got accustomed to that kind of life ; and, besides this,
the diet of salt meat is nothing new to them. At first
they ought to have got fresh provisions with the rest of '
the army, of whom they form a part at present ; but
lately they have sent up fresh provisions, meat as well
as vegetables, expressly for them.
It would be only desirable that the supplies were
more frequent and less copious at a time, principally as
regards vegetables, for the greater part of these latter
rot before they reach their destination.
The naval camp is chiefly conspicuous by the merry
spirit of the men, and a more picturesque disorder than
the rest of the camp. It seems to be a strange contra-
diction that men, half of whose lives passes in a constant
process of cleansing, should distinguish themselves by
the reverse, but so it is ; I suppose it is a morbid taste
in which they indulge.
The fleet has received a valuable addition in the
Dauntless, 33, screw, which arrived at Karatch on
the 22d.
The Sanspareil, I hear, will leave Balaklava in a few
days to go to England for repairs ; she is no great loss.
The Niger has again returned, and looks in beautiful
order.
This morning the Admiral and several of the captains
went over to Balaklava in the Wrangler to inspect
things there, and to go up to head-quarters.
I hope that the ♦isit of the Admiral to Balaklava will

be attended with some good effeci.; on the port arrange-
ments of the place, which, notwithstanding the expe-
rience of several months, is as yet lay no means such as
could be desired.
The Bellerophon has come down from Eupatoria to
Karatch-bay, where she is to take in the men whom she
'sent to the Naval Brigade, and then she will go down to
the Bosphorus.