The Sun.
London, England, 1854-12-30 00:00:00

A VISIT TO THE BULLDOG.

This fine six-gun steamer, which bore the Slag of Sir
Charles Napier at Bomarsund, is now lying at North
Shields, and has been inspected by thousands of visitors
from the shore. On Monday last the crowds which put
off to her were immense, and nothing could exceed the
civility with which all were received on board. Go to
what part of the vessel you had a mind, the blue jackets
or the marines were all attention when information was
sought by young or old ; and one corporal of marines,
in particular, rather took our attention from the complete
indifference with which he and his men treated a smok-
ing plum-pudding on their table, compared with replying
to the scores of queries put to them about the Minie
rifles piled at their backs. The pudding seemed to be
regarded as nothing compared wait the proper enlighten-
ment of civilians upon the " grooving of the barrel,"
and the peculiar advantages which the simple contriv.
ance for "sighting" afforded to the marksman. "Bless
you," s: 'd tl'e corporal, "we can pick off a man at a
thousand yards' distance with this quite well, when the
old rifle wouldn't look at 'lm !" The shrill whistle of
the boatswain's mate prod iced silence for a moment, and
a serjeant of marines prepared to tike the names of
"those who are going shore." A goodly number were
pencilled down, and the serjeant took upon himself to be
the friendly adviser of some of the choicer spirits, ape.
cially warning two young 'Wows against mistaking "the
bridge" (at Newcastle) for the." Bulldog," as they bad
apparently done upon a recert occasion. The fiddler
shortly afterwards began to labour in his vocation, and a
dance of a vigorous although Hot of a very neatly pos-
tured description followed. We took advantage of the hub.
bub to learn from one of the men how the tars accounted
for the comparative failure of the Baltic expedition, and
pitched by chance upon a sensible Aberdonian. Speaking
of the capture of Bomarsund, he said the most of the
Russian prisoners taken off by the boats of their ship were
tipsy, and numbers of them threw their caps into the
water after they had pushed off. Although the British
colours were fixed in the stern of the boats, the Musco-
vites did not seem to recognise the nationality of their
captors, and by their repeatc .1 inquiries of " Franko r
" Franke 1" evinced their anx'ety to learn if they were
in the hands of the French. On being told that they
were in the custody of the English, they seemed more
at ease; and the others pul ir I out their snuff-boxes to
treat our lads to a pinch. Regarding the popularity of
Sir Charles in the ships generally, the Scot could give
us no precise information, but as far as their ship's com-
pany was concerned, he said they would have done any-
thing to serve the good old man. The circumstance of
all others, however, which had fixed itself most indelibly
upon the mind of our friend, in connection with Set
Charles's stay in the Bulldog, was that he had requested
the captain on one occasion to treat all hands to Mk
extra glass of grog, and for this liberality the Admiral
had been unanimously voted " one of the best old
chaps alive " by every single Bulldog in the abiP.
Being curious to hear what might be the opinion of
the A.B.'s on the Cronstadt business, we remarked
that folks at home were greatly disappointed with the
proceedings of the fleet up there. " Well, was the
answer, "us in the light ships were within range of
the forts, but they didn't let us do anything. Char.
lie would have taken the place, and wrote home to
Lord Aberdeen that he would manage it with the lore
of half the fleet ; but somehow or other he never got
an answer, and the thing was humbugged:. poor
Lord Aberdeen ! everybody must have a kick at him
in some shape, because he wasn't swift to shed blood ;
but with an approving consc.ence be can afford to bear
it all in meek 6ess. Alter discushing Cronstadt our friend
edged over to a formidable 84pounder, and did his
best to instinct us in the rufliments of scientific gunnery,
but with what (mount of success it would be very mor•
tifying in us to confer •. however, we left the tidy
craft rather wiser than we stepped on board, convinced
that, hke Sam Slick, v. o ha.,l added a wrinkle to our
horn, and were up to a (r two in the fire-eating
hich I,ef. re 1;1,1 only been guessed at through the
medium of b. very remote agency. The Bulldog is to
remain in the T 3 to for a couple of months, and efforts
are bciDg made to add to her complement of bands. A
nuniber have joined l'er already, and, so far as we could
see, they will have no cause to regret the step, for pains
seems to be taken on board to render all her crew at
once comfortable and contented.—Sunderland Herald.

ANTRIM ELECTION.—Captain Pakenham has been
elected for the seat vacant by the death of his gallant
brother in the Crimea. The proceedings at the election
were pro forma, no opposition being apprehended or
offered.