The Sun.
London, England, 1854-10-13 00:00:00

1--46 N DON, FRIDAY. EV-ENING, OCTOBER 13. 1854.

NAVAL AND MILITA.BYINTELLITGR.N.QE..,

OUR SCREW MEN-OF-WAR. •
Royal Albert, 121, screw, Capt. Sir Thomas Pasley, is
at her old moorings at Sheerness. She has completed
taking in her provisions from the victualling department,
&c., and was yesterday busy taking in her inns. She is
beginning to show hor teeth. ~lu a few days, no doubt,
they will be all on board ; but as they are at Chatham, and
of very heavy calibre, it necessarily takes up a longer time
than is generally imagined to get them placed. Her inter-
nal fittings are being fast completed.
The Colossus, 80, screw, Capt. Spencer Robinson, Ports-
month.—We believe that as soon as the Ajax, 56, arrives
from. the Baltic, her hands will be turned over, and the
Colossus will proceed to the West Indies, to strengthen
our squadron. Under present circumstances, Jonathan is
getting saucy. •
The Termagant, 2f, screw, Portsmouth.—We are pleased
to stette that au order came down from the hoard of Ad-
miralty-for thii Ship to 'proceed to sea, which she did-earty
yesterday morning, fur the West, Indies.
The Horatio, '22, screw, CoMmander Jenner, is being
oaulkedi &c., in her Majesty's basin at Sheerpes,s ; no orders
for her docking we hear have been received.
The Cossack, 20, screw, Captain Fanshawe, is lying at
Blabk Stakes, River Medway; she is taking in her bonded
•Eitores,.&c., and on Wednesday had the powder lighter
alongside. She will noiv soon be off, but the definite day
for sailing is not named.
Tile Tartar, 20, screw steam-corvette, with engines of.
250 horse-power, sister to the Cossack, and built by Mr.
Plit6lier for the Emperor of Russia, was towed up to Wool.
wich on Saturday last from Northfleet, 'to shave her masts
put in,"and,she was taken into the basin on Thursday for
that-purpose. When her masts are put in she will be
towed to Chatham to be rigged, and made ready at that
port-for sea. • . •
The Esk, .20, screw steam-corvette, was taken out of
Woolwich dock' on Wednesday, and into the basin' on
ThUrsday. She is now ready for commission.
The Miranda, 17, screw, Captain Lyons; will hatil.Out of
the -fittieilia•sin at Portsmonth, to-day.
The Plicenix screw steam-sloop was• taken into the basin
On Thursday, having cleared out all her stores, and com-
pletely returned her rigging to the usual depository in
Woolwich Dockyard. The officers and crew can now leave
the yard for several hours daily, 'and on Monday'next the
engineers and warrant-officers will be transferred, as usual,
to the Fisgard flag-ship, and the Phoenix bo laid up in
ordinary for the winter.

PlaOe, aS the circumstances of the case aro expected to bk
laid before the court of inquiry which is to be held at
Whitehall immediately after the courts-marfial at Sheer-
hen artt coneluaed. - • -

was then thrown back upon them. We find that the
whole garrison •of Sebastopol were. before- us, undei
nenschikoff in person. His carriage has fallen•into our.
hinds, and in it a letter stating that-Sebastopol could
hold out a long time against us, but that there Was- IX
position at Alma which could hold out three weeks.
We took, it in three hours. So convinced were they of
the of our taking it that ladies were actually
there as speotators,•little expecting the review they were
destined to be spectators of. We expect now to find no
resistance whatever at the Katcha river, the whole Rus-
sian force having retired into Sebastopol. We' always
turn out at 4 o'clock in the morning, an hour before
daybreak.

(nom APT iRTILLERT OFFICER.)
BALAKLAVA, SEPT. 28

We have been marching latterly through a diffi-
cult country, and have been obliged to proceed with
great cautiora, having bad two very strong positions
to pass, something of the same nature as that on the
Alma. The first was on the Katcha,running
through river
through a valley, with . high ground rising, beyond
!t. The valley appeared to be beautifully fertile, and
the vineyards and gardens abonrirling in fruit s.ifs different
kinds, nearly all ripe. You may imagine it was pleasant
mough tocome across such places' after living on salt
pork and biscuit for several days: Our men, however,
Lte_the fruit so immoderately, and without dis'crimina-
tion (except that the unripe wasTather the most popular
'with theM), that they suffered from it very severely.
Al the next ,place where we halted, on the Belbeck,
there were 500 left behind when the army marched,
:most of them suffering from cholera. Near the Balheck
there wns-'a' chateau, belonging, I believe, to a Russian
nohleMan. It was charmingly situated. with pretty•
fromuv
41) baggage,
gs thattgh °et'
ratherhwe Yoah.o
,glrdenafull of fruit. Lord Raglan wade it.hie head-,
quarteri for the night, but our advanced guard. had got
into ._it beforehand, and' 'made sad devastation in it.
'Some-of the !wen brought into camp a mirror, about six
feet. high, .the frame of which I bon saw forming part
of a camp-fire. On Morylay, the 25th, we
:were within
about two mih sin a dirtet lure from Sebastopol, but were
obliged to makeraverycircuitous march to get round to the
beck of. th 9 town. Our road lay through a'thick .wood.,
'The artillery, in advance of the infantry, and when`
the head of our column debouched from the wood we
-found a body &Russians close upon us. They are said to
have been 15,000...5tr0ng, and their object to have been
to get into our rear, or'else to form a junction with the
garrison expected from Anapa, and to bring it forward
to the relief of Sebastopol. T- Anyhow, they, did not cal-
culate on meetink 'us there, for directly we 'opened fire
s7tied.ammunition,
were
them,
srtmet:
critical
ta lel:insteadyetfyooaanrw mustal
el,
tnaohrdueegnyof looltiftoal
wuvbaoereewu.ri
upon them theY made off, leaving behind a quantity of
:::•adf.
nli totju.obwnewnuE
vi . ar
ourselves
heellhylelevfiemcr(
reryhres
Our gunnera got hold of the baggage of some general
veffi'ricitoei u
snr waiting
nkfdio:
em-
broidered Hussar jackets, pelisses, and garments of
and. watches ; and some more lucky than the rest
got hold of 'the General's luncheon-basket and feasted
on wild boar .washed 'down with -champagne. We
marched that night down a hill. (up which the
Russians bad marched the same day), and encamped in
a large plain. , The next morning we started from this
position, passing through a narrow gorge iota another
plain, backed up with high hills, beyond which we could
see the through one of the gorges. We had arrived
at Balaklava. Here we found a fort, which the Light
Division proceeded to attack ; and, on gaining the
heights, we came in view of a part of the fleet lying off
the shore. After a little shelling from both sides the
fort surrendered, 'and we are now occupying the village,
around which we are encamped. The steamers in the
bay are landing our siege guns as fast as they can, to
.1
ietenr
hguselroaoxestunotaugwtririihaptcplytasraoitdsfutoei
commence operations against the great place. Some
think that the resistance wilt nut be very desperate, and
that the garrison will only fire a few shots to have their
honour. Though not of the same way of thinking my-
self, I still hope it may so turn out, as it will save a vast
amount of bloodshed and destruction of property, of
which there has been cuff eleut already. Another fort-
night will probably decide the affair.

[PRICE SD.

THE ADMIRALTY AGAIN.

• (Prom, the Morning Chronicle.)
Having publicly exposed, in our impression of last
Wednesday, the gross unfairness of the system adopted
by the above-named department, in communicating pub-
lic despatches exclusively to one particular journal, to be
forwarded by it to its 'contemporaries at its own con•
venience—and having also made strong private repre-
sentations on the matter—we had scarcely expected to
have occasion so soon to return to the subject. But
the Admiralty authorities seem to have no sense of
shame. Only yesterday, we had another example of
the same scandalous practice. The despatch from
Sir Charles Napier, which will be found in an-
other column, giving the names of some liberated
prisoners belonging to the Baltic fleet, was, like so many
preceding ones, presented by these servants of the
public to the same newspaper—probably with the condi-
tion that, so soon as it should be perfectly convenient
and agreeable to the favoured organ to communicate
a printed copy of the document .to other journals,
they, too, should have the opportunity of giving it to
their readers. We publish' the despatch in question
—as we shall all others which may be sent to us, even
in this discreditable manner= because we cannot

4.• •••••
think •it right to withhold information that concerns
either the public at large, or the friends and relatives of
our soldiers and sailors. , But we shall not the less
continue to hold up to the reprobation and contempt
which it merits the disgraceful conduct of a Government
department which makes public documents the instru-
ments of its own miserable spirit of jobbery and fa-
vouritism. If the First Lord of the Admiralty and
his
secretary choose to persist in•acting on a principle which
so. offensivelycantraetswi6h the just an4-hononrable rule
adopted by the Minister of War, we ,suppose we lave,
for the peasent;_no, remedy. Ilut.we warn those gentle-
men that when Parliament meets, they willhear of this'
subject in the froitse of Commons, .and that they will
then haVe to explain by what -right they employed the
machinery of a .public department in . promoting, the
private 'interests of a single newspaper establishment.