The Sun.
London, England, 1854-05-13 00:00:00

from the military governorship of the provinces of
the Rhine and Westphalia, does not arrive untilafter
the establishment of a camp in the north of France
is known to have been resolved upon by the Im-
perial Government. Already, it is said, considerable
anxiety is evidenced at Berlin in reference to the
approaching encampment of this northern
army hard by the German frontiers. And no
wonder ! The camp is to be composed of
some 25,000 men at St. Omer, of some 25,000
men at Ilelfaut, and of from 50,000 to 60,000
men at Boulogne the EMPEROR himself
taking the command of the whole army, num-
bering in the aggregate upwards of 100,000. No
wonder the accomplices of the councils of the
KING of Prussia begin to talk among themselves
of Jena, with a dread of its repetition ! No won-
der—any more than that King OTHO and Queen
AMELIA should fear at last for their sovereignty
over the country they have so long misgoverned,
the possibility, before many more weeks have
elapsed, of an Anglo-French occupation.
Everything indicates, indeed, at the present
moment, that both Greece and Prussia will have
to be dealt with summarily by the two great
Western Governments.

As will have been observed from our impres-
sion of last evening, Captain CLAXTON has at
once given to the statements recently put forward
by Mr. SCOTT RUSSELL, in reference to the pro-
posed steam gun-boats for the Baltic, the bene-
fit of his direct and distinguished corrobora-
tion. In his letter to the Times, dated the
10th instant, Mr. RUSSELL observed that among
those experienced steam officers in the navy who
had strongly recommended to the authorities the
employment of gun-boats made according to his
firm's plan of construction, he might mention
his friend Captain CLAXTON, of the Royal Navy,
one of our oldest steam promoters, and one who
had himself examined the vessels Mr. RUSSELL
had been describing in his communication. In
his letter to The Sun, dated the 12th instant,
Captain CLAXTON takes occasion, as will have
been remarked, we repeat, in our impression of
yesterday, to corroborate all that bad been said
by the builder of the two vessels, in reference to
the merits of the Nix and the Salamander.
Those model steam gun:boats--inadvertently
mentioned in these columns as belonging to the
Northern AUTOCRAT, whereas they are, on the
contrary, in the Prussian, and not in the
Russian, maritime service—are, it will be ob-
served, spoken of by Captain CLAXTON in terms
of eulogium, justifying, to the full, every syl-
lable of our own earnest words of commendation.
Nor can it be in any way surprising that an officer
like Captain CLAXTON, an officer of acknow-
ledged skill and undoubted experience, should
speak in language of praise of steam-gun-
boats so peculiarly fitted to the shallow navi-
gation lying between Cronstadt and St. Peters-
burg. Remember some of the more prominent
merits of the Nix and Salamander. Enumerate
merely the most conspicuous of these and then
pronounce—after the statement made by Mr.
SCOTT RUSSELL, and the panegyric penned by
Captain CLAXTON, RN., by way of corroboration
—pronounce, we say, 0 Board of Admiralty!
after mature consideration, whether steam-gun-
boats precisely of this kind are not the very
things fitted for the exigencies of the
maritime service of France and England in
the Baltic, when their combined fleets shall
have conquered Cronstadt, and shall be de-
sirous of pushing on resolutely towards St. Peters-
' burg. Remember that the current of the Neva
and the adjacent shoal waters at the extremity of
the Gulf of Finland can only be traversed by ves-
sels having less than a draught of eight feet—and
remember that these steam gun-boats mentioned
by Mr. RUSSELL and praised by Captain CLAXTON,
have no more than a draught of five feet even when
fully armed and equipped ! This extraordinary
advantage is accompanied, recollect, by a variety
of other notable merits, the vessels in question
being 160 feet in length, 24 feet in breadth, and 11
feet in depth, having engines of 160 horse-power—
with a speed of 15 miles—and armed by four 32-
pounders and four 68-pounders ! Extraordinary
merits like these surely demand for the proposed
steam gun-boats, to be constructed after the model
of the Nix and the Salamander, the serious and
impartial consideration of all their advantages by
the proper authorities of her MAJESTY'S Govern-
ment.