The Sun.
London, England, 1855-01-06 00:00:00

THE FOREIGN LEGION.

KTEL, JAN. I,—The anxiety to ascertain what course
tl,e Engli- Government may intend to take with regard
to the eurohnent of a foreign legion daily increases here,
and it is to be hoped that some movement may soon Le
made in this matter, if the intention to send effective
foreign aid of this sort to the army in the Crimea be
really sincere. The same feeling prevails in many dis-
tricts of Germany, and it is to be feared that the enthu-
siasm may be allowed to pass away, or may receive
another direction, if further delay be allowed to take
place in its prosecution. If proper means be adopted,
there will be no lack of recruits. The field is ample,
and many who now emigrate would greatly prefer the
service of England. The number of emigrants from the
port of Hamburg alone direct to Transatlantic countries
in the year 1854 exceeded 30,000, and that is but a
small portion compared with the number known to
have embarked from Bremen, Holland, and Belgium for
the same destination, in addition to those who availed
themselves of the routes ilirough France or England.
As a convenient receptacle for recruits, Heligoland, as
I formerly hinted, should now be made of service. Its
situation points it out as peculiarly adapted for this pur-
pose. It is of easy access from those countries on the
banks of the Elbe, the Weser, the Ems, and the Eider,
from which the most suitable reinforcements could be
procured, and a few small steamers stationed at the
island would be most useful in conveying recruits to the
depot that should at once be opened there. It will, be-
sides, at this time serve a good purpose if attention
should thus be directed to the use which otherwise may
be made of that island. The recent acquisition of a por-
' tion of territory from Oldenburg by Prussia, for the pur-
pose of forming a naval arsenal, has been too much over-
looked, and if a proper understanding be not speedily,
established between the Western Powers and that dila-
tory Government, the untoward consequences which
may flow from that arrangement to the British trade
with the north of Germany may be discovered when too
late. To counteract that mischief Heligoland must be
re-organised, and the sooner this is attended to the
bettor.

The return of the English and French fleets already I
begins to be the subject not only of conversation,
but of preparation here on the part of the resi-
dents ; but nothing is yet known of the arrangments
which these Governments may contemplate as to
their supplies in the spring, although, if they intend
again to make use of this anchorage, it is almost time
that some symptoms of preparation should appear. It
is said, indeed, that the French Consul is now occupied
at Hamburg in connexion with this matter, and the
British representative there may likewise be engaged in
the same manner ; so that, after all, everything may al-
ready be duly cared for. It is to be hoped, however,
that the arrangements ►ill be in all respects better and
more efficient than they were last year. You have
pointed out most powerfully and most usefully the whole
system of mismanagement which has prevailed in the
Black Sea, and the want of foresight and of arrangement
in the Baltic might have been equally notorious if the
fleet had encountered any reverse, or had even been
exposed to the slightest opposition. There was never
any store of coals held in reserve here, and when
they were required none could be obtained until
they could be brought from the Sound. The sup-
ply of provisions was in a great degree equally
precarious, and while the markets of London re-
ceived a weekly importation of about 500 head of
fat cattle from these duchies of Schleswig-Holstein
through the port of Tonning, the crews of the Eng-
lish fleet here were left without the requisite fresh beet
until steamers were despatched to bring over a quan-
tity of half-starved oxen from Elsinore. All, indeed,
was conducted on the same footing, and the English
mode of doing business was the general subject at once
of astonishment and of ridicule. _ _ _

The feeling on the part of the people throughout the
whole of this neighbourhood is very decidedly anti-
Russian, and their expressions of satisfaction on the
receipt of any intelligence which is favourable to the
Allied forces are loud and universal. This may in some
degree arise from a belief which is very generally enter-
t::ined that the sympathies of the Court at Copenhagen
and the predilections of the people of Denmark Proper
are both the other way, and, as there is little or no har-
mony between these two portions of the dominions of
the Danish Crown, it uniformly happens that the cause
which is espoused by the one is directly opposed by the
other. It would be well, therefore, for England to avail
herself of all the advantages which such a state of feeling
offers, and this cannot be better done than by making
use of the bay for the purposes of her fleet, and of the
country around for the supplies of that Beet, which few
districts of her own land are in any measure better
suited to afford.