The Sun.
London, England, 1854-08-30 00:00:00

our: NAVALiviiOPITEicRASTE,IAO.IiS 71 E

TO THE EDITOR OF THE DAILY NEWS.
SIR,—I beg leave to send you the enclosed ox-
tracts of a letter I have just received from a per-
son on board one of our ships in the White Sea.
Perhaps you will agree with me in :thinktng them
of public interest.

We have been told that blockades were to be es-
tablished in the White Sea on the Ist of August.
ThiS 'nay have'been done; but .as all neutral yes-
17E1n port, and.laden previously to tbienotifi .
tion of effective blockade, havea right to free egress
with their cargoes, -it :is-, obv lour such a blockade
will be only a farce aa.regards Russian trade for
.this year.
You will observe the number of Dutch vessels
mentioned by iny.correrofidetit: 1 neAr could
get in Parliament any eXPl4nttion of :49 intima-
tion which, undeniably, was given totbemerchants
of liolland, that their -commerce with Archangel
shOuld not bd interfered with ; while very imper-
information of the Course determined
:upon by
the allied Governments was afforded to British
merchants. ,
All pp V take this opportunity of calling your
attention to the concluding paragraph of the note of
the Austrian Goiernment, of the Bth inst., which
you lately published. Austria therein "reserves
to herself free deliberation on the conditions she
may bring forward for the re-establishment of
peace, if she should happen to 'be forced to take
part in the war." Austria, then, as yet takes no
part in the war. The attitude she has assumed is,
therefore, an armed neutrality, to become possibly
an armed, iateriventiuu. She thus holds, as far as
her force may enable her to hold, the fate of the
swhaer,proocrlatihmes
she is "free."peace,termsof This in her i
sa hands.ral n
And
a
existenceprou d triumph
theecifui
ertashAsiedl3ltl/2. iebetsotf:i
sacrifices to presery
thefoAruAsettrt:jaal.rtniialenms, dii:liirerilledowlllfaarsCoyriu.n
at.Trawileh:vrnecryd.:
salarttsifelmawon r, , n t i
si
.0 i
months ago. We wale great
Tifiese sacrifices may have
been wise ; but the result
-the. it7ocoliti:2o-aZl,ti°tifija'sit"cargin:ltsparPi-
littered in Parliameiit.—l have P:linivnistherss,
the honour
,to be, Air, your obedient - servant,
Portuuma, August 2G. CLILYRICARDE.

Off Cross•lslard, -in the
White Sea, Je is, 1854.
I must apologise to•you for a ldres,iog yritl
having, first obtained your permission to do
,so ; but
there is such thorough truth in your late rerniirk-8 on the
way in which the war is being conducted in this quarter
that I cannot resist " the temptation of telling yea how
exactly the state of the case tallies with your description
of it. „

We arrived off the bar of the Archangel or Delos'
River, with the three ships on the 26th June, having
boarded an immense quantity of vessels, principally
Dutch, on our way down the White Sea. Within 36
hours of our anchoring it came on to blow very heavily
from the N. W., which is a fair wind for vessels bound
in. They come in in shoals—not less than from 300 to
350 vessels, of which the majority were Dutch, having
passed us between the 26th June and 3d July, when the
wind changed. During this period it blew so hard a gale
that our boats were occasionally prevented from board-
ing, and, as it was, they were knocked to pieces almost,
and all to no purpose—for the vessels were ali, with the
exception of one Yankee, in ballast—and as we have
orders not to blockade, we could not interfere with them.
In anticipation of a blockade, many of them had obtained
numerous freights, and the astonishment of the Yankee
was great when he was told that he was at perfect liberty
to proceed. All these craft are now at Archangel, and
the first rush has evidently subsided, though whenever
we can see, which is not very often the case, others are
seen running down.
Without a blockade of Archangel our presence in this
sea is next to useless. The quantity of grain, meal,
flour, &c., which will be exported thence this year will
be positively enormous, and a stoppage of it would be
felt in the heart of the empire. You can have no idea
of the extent of this traffic,. No one who has not wit-
nessed its effects. From far and near, within a circuit
of 400 miles of Archangel, the produce of the country is
sent in ; and as the craft which embark it bring remit-
tances, either in bills or specie, to pay for it, just fancy
what a blow would be struck at Russian commerce by a
strict blockade, and what a quantity of money would be
removed from circulation. We have taken one schooner
and about half a dozen luggers since our arrival, and
another schooner (empty) parted from her anchors, and
drove over the bar in the height of the gale, after we
had put a couple of 321 b. shot through her, got a boat's
crew oh board, who luckily escaped to a neutral vessel
just as she went adrift. Perhaps you are not aware of
another *arrangement ftvhich has been entered into
between the Swedish and our Government. It is
that the Russian luggers trading between Archangel
and the coast of Norwegian Finrnark are not to be mo-
lested, because upon them the inhabitants of that deso-
late region depend entirely for supplies of food. Now,
this is humane, and would be proper were it not so
liable to abuse. We fell in with a fleet of three, the
other day, one and all consigned to our consul at ilam-
merfest, who, with the consular agents at Vardo, Runs,
and Vatose, seem to have the whole of that trade in
their hands ; and the schooner of 120 tons which we
took was provided with a sort of pass from the Norwe-
gian consul at Archangel.
You may depend upon it that the only effect of the
war in this quarter has been prejudicial to ourselves, by
placing the entire trade in the hands of the Danes,
Dutch, and Hanoverians ; and I fervently hope that,
should the war last over the year, as seems most likely,
you and your party will force our Government.to adopt
a different line of conduct. For this year the mischief
is done.

The very moment that.the gale broke, which was on
the d July, we went to work to try and get the steamers
over the bar of the Dwina, inside which lay a 16-gun
Russian brig, two steamers, two schooners, and:l9 gun-
boats, each mounting two long 36-pounders, and pulling
40 sweeps. We sounded the only two channels which
we now used, but found only from 14 to 14i feet in the
deepest. This occupied us all the 4th and sth of July,
and then as Miranda, the vessel of the lightest draught
among us, was drawing 14 feet 11 inches, we found that
for the present the job was impracticable. On the night
of the 6th the Brisk took the Eurydice and the prize
schooner in tow; and brought them up belie to an anchor.
age about 70 miles from the Dwina, admirably situated
for blockading, as all vessels bound to Archangel make
Cross Island to ascertain their position. We anchored
here on the 7th, and next morning the Eurydice sent two
of her boats ashore, on the main land to water. That
afternoon it came on to blow aoain from the northward ;
the boats tried to get off. 00e of them just pitche d
sufficiently close to the stern of the Brisk for her to vee r
a small gig with a line to her, by which 'she hauled her
up ; 'but God knows what has become of her. The last
seen of her was the next morning, at 4 a.m., when
-she was trying to beat up along shore. The schooner
and one of the boats were sent to her assistance,
but one of those cursed fogs came on, and since Sunday,
the 9th, we have only bad halfan-hour during which
ene could see the ship's length,, and during which *be
schooner and boat canie in, having been twenty rni!es to
leeward without seeing anything of the missing pinnace.
They had two days' provisions with them —but after
that !

If it were not, for this most unhappy affair, things
would be going pretty straight with us, for we have
apuicdkd up a
are
eeousceogluliesur which was
tlyreassoredseot to n
about
not
frtgoem Ettiugngoluatndo,f
coals. * .1' * At a place called Linolie, half way to
Archangel, stands the strong fort of Navjorin, mount-
ing SO guns of heavy metal, and only one vessel could
p roach at a time ; beyond that, at Solombol,,where
our
anchorage, They
aew
thea dockyard is, they have thrown up strong batteries,
and again at Archangel itself. The garrison consists of
6,000 men, and they have the means of turning out as
many gun-boats as they please.
As far as we can learn there is no vessel of any size on
the stocks at present, and no vessels of war have left the
river this year.
We had a little firing on the 4th of July. the enemy
having brought some horse artillery guns to bear on our
boats, which were sounding. No damage was done by
telegraph ha
and
dn
would
d
them, although their practice was good, and firing re-
markably
abreast quick.
light-
house
s
alupengduchett getoatohf
3ey..2i,
_,in,p7hooauovoe
yards.
untilabsrehtdheosnet.
tioliNihi.suritrroaiulniingdehwano,
taiwhi working ni
pficgrhr
eis tttwt oyaf
insohtotehbra,eel
healthy, although
l:I:r
entirely on salt meat since leaving the Downs. The
we:ther is terribly against, us ; what with gales of wind,
thick fogs, and strong currentF, We have enough to do to
:aka care of ourselves, osaatffdel tiihtslittethor'l ee

_.. .
FERE:,T COUNTMIES.-Frum a comparison. of the
PIIOPORTION OF DEAF AND DUMB PERSOI4:3 IN DlP-
tion of deaf and dumb in Ireland with that which pre-
vails in other countries of Europe,
from which accurate
information can be obtained, we learn that the proportion
Duchies being lin 1,593, is greater than that of the propor.
hies of
Luxembourg and Wurtemburg, and the.
Tuscany, Bavaria, Belgium and liollandrig-ifili, Nor-
way, the
average is 1 in 2,209 ;
and, less thantine average is 1 in
r. 17iidome of
n
way, and parts of Switzerland, where the
642. In some of the Swiss cantons the ratio is as high
as 1 in 200—i. e.; above seven times as great as in Ire-
land.— Medical Times and Gazette. _

......-......,.. ... -.
SHIPMENT or MuNrrrorrs or WAB TO INDis.—The
Lords Commissioners of her Majesty's Treasury have
caused the Commissioners of Customs to be acquainted
that, in compliance with their recommendation, their
Lordships are pleased to authorise the Board to allow
the shipment of munitions of war, &;c., by the East India
Company, without the necessity of an order in Council
being obtained in each case, in the same manner as with
regard to the shipment to her Majesty's forces in the
East, under Treasury order of April last, and without
bocnodsbvewringlorNequuNirDeEßd fromTaE
ct llenißnicit
Company,o
with ts,
AST —A
the Manchester City Police-court yesterday, a chimney.
.
sweeper named John Chorlton, was charged
send-
ing a little boy up to sweep a chimney -
tinhe Long
enterM raill
etyheSwh olearte;seab'hoPouult:tefi five
ti
nrn. Slack,
s ocie ty. grocer,
saw
inspector appointed by theehi °gate'
John Hall, an
o'dock on Wednesday, morningboylast; and Mr. Slack's
housekeeper said . she saw
o.tbe boy go up the chimney.
Thus the difficulty ofapr
freqw ntly renders proving the actual fact, which so
conviction in these cases impos-
sible, was in this '
WM fined 7/, nee overcome, and the defendant