The Sun.
London, England, 1855-09-05 00:00:00

TBE BALTIC FLEET.

(Front, the Times of this day.)
The years 1854 and 1855 will be memorable in naval
history for the two grandest illustrations of the art of
bathos that a great nation—we are sorry to say, two
great nations—could possibly supply. That we were
wholly unprepared, that we started with no ships, no
crews, no stores, and no idea of what was to be done, is
not very consistent with the almost forgotten fact that
on the 9th of August, 1853, six months before our part
of the war began, the British nation—that is, the Queen,
Lords, Commons, Admiralty, and everybody of any
consideration in the country,—presented to the Russian
Archduchess, then sojourning among us, a spectacle of
unparalleled magnificence in the shape of a naval re-
view, comprising manoeuvres, a general engagement,tile
and an action with gun-boats, pronounced at the time
to be a very smart affair. The order of the day on that
occasion was, that everybody should believe and pro-
nounce the British nation irresistible on her element
true and, although it is very that the element mosthis te
t pro-
pitiousrra-
to us is not the only one that covers
queeus globe, still it was hoped that with our-
we had steam,
our immense guns, and our portable ililpas
pretty well got over the difficulty of a
or shoal. We cannot remember that at occasional
shore
that day or any
other date there was the least grudgingf of expense. On
the contrary, we are of opinion that the First Lord of
the Admiralty, or the Commander of the Fleet, or any
other man of weight had come
big ships ; and if the
forward and said, " This
is all very well ; these are very
enemy comes out you will be certain to give a good ac-
count off
fhim ; but you still want the precise description
of craft to enter the shallow waters of inland seas,
and mortars and guns of a range to stretch across
them ;"—in that case the nation would have gladly
thrown in its million or two for the purpose. We
believe that the Government, and every department
of it, had a carte blanche for everything that might be
thought necessary for the apprehended war. So, in our
opinion, it little avails to urge the economy of former
years. or rather of former periods. Indeed, the very
spectacle exhibited at Portsmouth on that memorable
day itself is a sufficient answer to the imputation of
economy. Those colossal steamers of the line, the cost-
liest and most elaborate fabrics ever floated by man, were
not built in a hurry, or with a grudging hand. Indeed,
the nation never has grudged any necessary expenditure,
or any expenditure for which even a decent case could
be made out. But, as we have said, in August, 1853,
there was not only the readiness on the part of the
people, but there was also ample time to make up any
deficiency whatever in our preparations.
Seven or eight months after that grand demonstration
we had two large fleets, each considerably larger than
that got together at Portsmouth, in the presence of the
enemy—the one in the Baltic, and the other in the Black
Sea. Our gallant allies contributed two other fleets,
thus making four fleets, besides innumerable transports
—altogether the largest armament ever put on the water.
Considering that in the Baltic we had to ask and wait
for a French army to take an unfinished and insulated
fortress, and capture 2,000 or 3,000 Fine, and in the
Black Sea confined ourselves to an ineffectual bombard.
ment of Odes,a, and a still more ineffectual bombard-
ment of Sebastopol, we do not hesitate to state that in
the year 1854 our two fleets—that is, our four fleets—did
nothing in either sea ; and the only result of that season
was that the Admiralty got some slight inkling of
the work to be done. This result might, perhaps,
have been worth its enormous cost, had it been made
good use of ; but it was all but thrown away; and we
started in 1855 very little better prepared than in 1854.
Of course, we mean little better prepared for the particu-
lar work to be done; for, so far as regards the chance of
meeting an enemy as grand as ourselves, with 20 ships
drawn up in line of battle in the German Ocean, or the
Mediterranean, or the deepest and most open parts of
the Baltic or the Black Sea, we were even better pre-
pared in 1855 than in 1854. But Russia, unfortunately,
still preferred " her element" to ours, and had the wis-
dom, or, as Sir James Graham calls it, the cowardice,
not to "come and be killed." Having been at the pains
to build some strong fortifications, she preferred to keep
her ships behind them, or, at the worst, she would rather
see those ships blocking up the entrances of her harbours
than paraded under the British flag at another Ports-
mouth review. Thus the campaign re-opened at the
beginning of this year ; ourselves very little better pre-
pared, arid the Russians in all respects very much better
prepared, profiting by experience, as we had not done.
But, so far as regards the old sort of preparation—the
preparation for Atlantic engagements—we this year sur-
passed ourselves. Do our readers know the number of
ships of war, besides steam and sailing transports with•
out number, that we have had, and still have, in the
Baltic and Black Sea this year—we alone, besides the
French ? They are not all half-pay captains or mem-
bers of the Army and Navy Club ; they don't all take
in the United Service Magazine, and see the monthly
account of these matters ; nor can we often find space
for them ; but here is the list of ships in the Baltic, cor-
rected up to the 27th ult. :—Ten ships of the line—viz.,
Duke of Wellington, 130 ; Royal George, 120 ; Ex-
mouth, 91 ; James Watt, 91 ; Majestic, 91 ; Nile, 91 ;
Orion, 91 ; Caesar, 90 ; Colossus, 80 ; Cressy, 80 ; the
following 21 of lower rates :—Blenheim, 60 ; Cornwallis,
60 ; Hastings, 60 ; Hawke, 60 ; Hogue, 60 ; Pembroke,
60 ; Russell, 60 ; Ajax, 58 ; Edinburgh, 58 ; Euryalus,
50 ; Imperieuse, 50 • Arrogant, 47 ; Amphion, 34 ;
Retribution, 28 ; Volage, 22 ; Cossack, 20 ; Esk, 20 ;
Tartar, 20 ; Falcon, 17 ; Harier, 16 ; Magicienne, 16 ;
with 19 smaller vessels—making altogether 50 ; with
few exceptions, steamers, and with guns of a very much
larger calibre than those used in the last war. Here,
too, is the British fleet in the Mediterranean, chiefly in
the Black Sea :—Eight ships of the line—viz., Royal
Albert, 121 ' • Queen, 116 ; St. Jean d'Acre, 100 ;
Agamemnon, 91 ; Hannibal, 91 ; Albion, 90 ; London,
90 ; Rodney, 90. The following 12 of lower rates :
Leander, 50 ; Curacoa, 30 ; Tribune, 30 ; Diamond,
28 ; Dauntless, 24 ; Sidon, 22 ; Highfb er, 21 • Ter
rible, 21 ; Modeste, 18 ; Furious, 16 ; Odin, 16 ; 'Valo-
rous, 16, with 30 smaller vessels—making altogether 49.
The sum total of the work done this year by these
two immense fleets costing how much to work and to
maintain them would be difficult to exaggerate, has been
confined to keeping a very few Russian men-of-war in
harbour, capturing some craft with fish, salt, and market
goods, burning some stores of timber, fish, and corn,
firing some towns and villages with more or less success,
and laying waste the arsenal and magazines of Swea-
borg. For every pennyworth of actual damage our
fleets have done to the Russian army and navy we be-
lieve we have spent a shilling ourselves. If anybody
can make out more by throwing into the account all the
boats and cottages burnt, all the sheep carried off, all
the planks shouldered by our sailors, and striking a fair
guess for all possible mischief done by our shells and
rockets thrown blindly among trees and outhouses, we
shall be glad to increase our estimate ; but we believe
the proportion of damage done is as much as when a
gentleman has a fight with a costermonger, and spoils a
pretty face and a five-guinea coat, without doing any
appreciable harm to the physiognomy or garments of
his antagonist. And when this is the state of the balance
—when the operations of our fleet have been generally
so abortive, and apparently so childish and mischievous,
that one is positively ashamed to read the account—the
next intelligence is that the season is over, that nothing
more is to be attempted, and that the Baltic fleet 15
coming home. This conclusion, indeed, was hastened,
and a full month lost to the very brief season in the
Baltic, by the fact that the fleet having very early re-
solved to stake everything on distant bombardments and
vertical fire, took out just a score of 13-inch mortars,
neither more nor less, capable of firing on the average
about 230 rounds a-piece. Aa a 13-inch mortar
costs, delivered, about 1251., it appears that the great
Baltic fleet, the mere maintenance and pay of which,
for the time it has been in the Baltic, has cost not
less than 30,000/. a-day, has been 'brought to a
standstill, reduced to utter impotence, and rendered a
laughing-stock to the enemy, just for want of 2,5001.,
about as much as a man of taste in these days gives for
three early Svres vases. Not to go further back and
exhume the errors of past Ministries, it is now consi-
derably more than half a year since the Ordnance was
handed over to Lord Panmure, and he appointed his
own Storekeeper. We conclude that Sir Charles Wood
had then only to state what he was likely to want, and
the Storekeeper would have taken care to have a supply
ready for him. Between that day and this it would
have been possible to obtain 500 13-inch mortars pro-
perly cast and bored, and deposited on any spot in the
hands of the allies, or delivered at any longitude or lati-
tude in the Black Sea or in the Baltic. Yet, for the

want of 2,5001. worth of iron, we have cut short our
Baltic season by at least a quarter.
So the season of 1855 is now consigned to the same
limbo as the season of 1854. We are to be patient, and
look to the season of 1856. We will be patient ; but we
must, nevertheless, take the liberty of looking forwards.
Is there any head in the Ministry who can imagine
the possibility of the fleets in the two seas doing any-
thing next year, and having, consequently, either .to re-
pair a reverse or follow up a success ? Is there anybody
who can take some sort of provision as to what the
fleets are likely to want in either of these emergencies,-
which, like a 13-inch mortar, cannot be made in a day ?
Let the fortunate possessor of those provident and cal-
culating powers be set to work at once, while there is
abundance of time ; let his estimates be checked by the
authorities concerned ; and let not October 1 pass with-
out all the orders being given and the contracts made.
If, as our correspondent at Kiel intimates, the cast iron
of this country is very bad, and therefore it is that our
mortars have failed, let some provision be made against
this, either by better iron or more mortars. Let us
have the 200 gun and mortar-boats promised by Sir
Charles Wood, 100 for each sea, and relays when wanted.
Let us have treble of everything that is found by expe-
rience absolutely necessary, and that will have to stand
the brunt of the war. As for the big ships, it is clear
we have
the order eof the day.nough of them. Number, not magnitude, is

RAILWAY TRAFFIC RETURNS. I

_
LONDON, BRIGHTON, AND SDIITTI COAST RAILWAY.—
Traffic return for the week ending Sept. 1,
18.55 ........................ .. . ...... .......... £18,g67 15 7
Corresponding week last year • 16,544 17 2
Total of the half-year to this date, 1855 ... . . .159,887 9
Total of the half-year to this date, 1854 LONDON AND `3OIITH•EAsTERN RAILWA
turn for the week ending Sept. 1, 1855
Corresponding week last year...,.

Increase in 1855

Ro EBERT ON WATERLOO-BRIDGE. On Monday after-
noon, during the passing
of the competitors for the
Lain after-
noons, Regatta under the Middlesex arches of Water-
loo-bridge, the clerk of the -Bridge Company (Mr. Powell)
was robbed of his watch, seal, and Albert chain, of great
one
Hunasdreds of persons were near at the time, and
val..
taken on suspicion, but the property was
ueEt Jan was
not f( )und.
. ; '
-. ;..1 : • i ' ' '

:One

..159,887 -6
1
155,492 n 1
LT.—Traffic -re-
.£25,126 03 3
21,413 V 8
.V 3,712 2 7