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

WOUNDED SEVERELY.

William Mitchell, A. 8., her Majesty's ship Blenheim,
by splinters of iron.
SLIGHTLY WOUNDED.

William Bridle, gunner's mate, her Majesty's ship
Hogue, by splinters of iron.

SLIGHT CONTUSIONS.
Captain William Ramsay, her Majesty's ship Hogue
Lieutenant G. F. Burgess, R.N., her Majesty's ship Edin
burgh.

BURNT.
John McGugan, A. 8., her Majesty's ship Hogue, in the
foot; John MeGriffin, A. 8., her Majesty's ship Hogue,
foot.

A. IL BRADFORD,
Surgeon of her Majesty's ship Hogue, and 3ledioal
Officer in charge of the above force.
Approved, W. RAMSAY, Captain.

No. 381. Bulldog, off Bomarsund, Aug. 19.
Sir,—l.have received their lordships' letter of the 7th
inst., approving of all my proceedings and their satisfac-
tion at Admiral Plumridge's activity and judiciousness.
2. I owe much to Admiral Plumridge fur the manner he
placed his squadron to prevent reinforcements being thrown
in ; and I am informed two Russian Admirals were sent
among the islands to see if it were possible to pass the
blockading squadron, and returned in despair.
Rear-Admiral Plumridge, as second in command, I have
removed into the Neptune ; Rear-Admiral Martin will
hoist his flag on board the Leopard, and take charge of
the Gulf of Bothnia, during the rest of the season, which
will not be long.—l have, &e.,

CHAS. NAPIER,
Vice-Admiral and Commander•in-Chief.
The Secretary of the Admiralty.

No. 397. Bulldog, Led Sund, Aug. 227 j. 51.
Sir,—l ara happy to inform their Lordships, tbd Rear
Admiral Chads has conducted three of his lino-Of-battle
ships in perfect safety through all the intricate naviTation
of the channels from Bomarsund to this anchorage.—l
have, &0., CHAS. NAPIER,
Vice-Admiral and Commander-in-Chief.
The Secretary of the Admiralty.

Return of Russian Prisoners embarked in the
undermentioned Ships.
Hannibal —Officers 9, privates 304. wives of officers 1,
wives of men 7, children 2 ; total, 323.
Algiers—Officers 8, privates 4 wives of officers 2, wives
of men 1 ; total, 420.
Royal William—Officers 10, priiates 731, wives of officers
1, wives of men 8, children 8 ; total, 764.
Termagant—Officers 3, privates 199, wives of officers 3,
children 1, servants 1 ; total, 207.
St. Vincent—Officers 15, privates 499, wives of Men 5,
children 2 ' • total, 521.
Grand total, 2,235.
(Signed)

F. W. GREY, Commodore.

GRANITE BATTERIES.

(From the Examiner.)
At the moment when some of our contemporaries
were reprobating in language most severe and unmea-
sured the indiscretion of those who advocated in Parlia-
ment or the press a rather more vigorous action on the
part of our fleets in the Black Sea and the Baltic, and
at the time we were told, on the authority of an admiral
who had seen Cronstadt from the top of a lighthouse,
that " the batteries were of solid granite, to attack
which would be certain destruction, on the authority of
Sir Charles Napier," we ventured to remark
" Cronstadt is no doubt as strong as it can be made,
but if it has any extraordinary look of solidity, such as
to strike an observer of cannon-shot range at the top of
a tower, it is to be suspected that such a show is false,
that it is postiche, that the place is padded out, that
it is an impostor of a fortress, or in one word, Russian,
which expresses every mystification."
Well, as far as Cronstadt is concerned, the accuracy of
our guess remains to be verified. But we have had a
specimen of Russian fortification at Bomarsund. The
batteries there were also pronounced to be granite, and
we were told to prepare for a siege of some duration,
because the ground is extremely unfavourable for dig-
ging trenches and approaches ; and of course the line-
of-battle-ships, though ,carrying guns of larger range
than the fortress, were not to be risked against the
granite batteries. So the siege is commenced by land,
and in due form. But how unlike is the attack to that
upon Silistria I The form is very soon neglected—the
French speedily grow tired of being methodical, and
do the work allotted to them by assault—the English
meanwhile have dragged six 32-pounders by main
force over rocks and ploughed fields, without making
a single zig-zag to a point whence the guns
can be directed at pleasure against the towers
or the principal fortification. Captain Pelham takes
a line of his own, and places a ten-inch gun
in a wholly irregular, but very annoying position. There
is a moment when Sir Charles Napier has made up his
mind to rush to certain destruction, but he is restrained,
and the fleet merely throw a shot and shell every five
minutes, by way of diversion for the Russians.
Now mark the consequences, as related in a private
letter published by the Standard. is Captain
Pelham 's fire.
Three or four shots set the great stones visibly elinttering
as I could mark by a pockHt, telescope: one block then fell
out, then another, then is third 4.fifitp. and these were
followed by an avalanche of loose rubbish, just; as you see
macadamising stones pour out from the end of a cart when
the back-board is removed.

Next as t 9 the face of the fort exposed to the distant
fire of the ships, not one of which appears to have been
damaged.
The large blocks of granite that formed the face of tho
fort, and which in appearance offered an immense resist-
ance, fell out in masses, and the rubble with which the
wall was filled in, tumbled oat in heaps. The Edinburgh
the Ajax, and the steamers fired at long range on the Bo-
marsund fortress, while at t o same time the Leopard at-
tacked .the fort of Presto, on the other side the narrow
channel. At 12-30 a flag of truce was held out at an em-
brasure at Euruarsund, towards the fleet; a boat, with an
officer, was sent on shore, and at about half-past twelve
the governor surrendered.

- -
Now, supposing that Fort Menschikoff had been ex-
posed for a forenoon, not to a shot and shell every five
minutes, but to the sustained fire from the broadsides of
five or six line-of-battle ships, is there not a strong pro-
bability that the solid granite would have been " ma-
cadamised" into the loose blocks of rubble to which
the Bomarsund forts were reduced by the employment
of a twentieth part of the means supposed ? Possibly
Fort Menschikoff might have surrendered as nimbly as
Fort Presto himself.

The construction of granite towers is in fact a return
to a wholly obsolete method of fortification. When ar-
balests were superseded by artillery, it was speedily per-
ceived that stone walls could no longer be relied upon.
The "gins and cracks of war," imperfect as they were
in their infancy, produced a speedy revolution in the
construction of fortified places. The lofty towers and
high walla of the castle disappeared, to be replaced by