The Sun.
London, England, 1854-04-07 00:00:00

THE WAR PREPARATIONS

The 95th Regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel Smyth, left
their quarters in Portsmouth garrison yesterday morning
at half-past 10, played out by the band of the 42d High-
landers, and marched through the streets to the dockyard
amidst the most enthusiastic demonstrations of the spec-
tators, to embark for the East. The Medway, Royal
West India mail packet, was moored alongside the dock-
yard jetty, from which the troops marched on board. In
the afternoon she left the harbour, amidst the cheers of
the crews of the ships fitting out, and the hearty fare-
wells of the shore population congregated on the steam-
boat piers and the walls of the garrison. She proceeded
direct for the East. The weather was beautifully fine,
and the sea smooth as a lake.

The Cumberland, 70, Captain Seymour, is receiving
sea stores, provisions, &c., at Spithead ; her crew will
be paid three months' wages on Saturday, and she will
sail on Sunday to reinfJrce the fleet under Sir Charles
Napier.

The Megaara, 6, screw troop-frigate, Commander
Johnson, is refitting in the machinery department. Her
crew were paid wages to-day, and were granted ten
days' leave.

Her Majesty's frigate Meander, 44, Commodore
Talbot, is hourly expected from the Cape of Good
Hope. On arrival her officers and crew will be turned
over to the screw steam-ship Algiers, 91, fitting at that
port. She is now in dock at Keyham, and the artisans
have been ordered to work extra hours to expedite the
fittings, so that she may be taken on* of dock on I
Monday.

The screw steam-ship Nile, 90, Commodore Martin,
got up steam in Hamoaze on Wednesday, and made a
satisfactory trial of her engines.

The steam•tug Jasper is being fitted for service as a
gun-boat in the Baltic.

Mr. Wateman, of Anderton, who has lately supplied
the Government with two flat-bottomed boats for land-
ing troops, is now constructing two more for the same
purpose.

- A: Dutch war frigate, from Batavia for Rotterdam,
was off Fowey at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, under her three
royals. Wind, westerly ; light. An American paddle-
wheel barque-rigged steamer, with checkered sides and
a man figurehead, was close into the Bolt at 4 o'clock
yesterday morning, under full steam and canvas.
The Rhadarnanthus steam store-ship, Master-Com-
mander John Belam, arrived at Woolwich on Wednes-
day evening from Portsmouth, and reports that there
was not a single ship-of-war or war-steamer at Spithead
when she left for the eastward. She passed the St.
George, 121, and the Prince Regent, 90, in the Downs,
where the St. George was daily joined by a number of
seamen for service in her with the Baltic fleet, and she
will soon fill up her required number.
The Volcano paddle-wheel steam-sloop, recently re-
turned from service on the West Coast of Africa station,
and at present in the basin at Woolwich, has been
surveyed to ascertain her fitness to be employed as a
floating factory fir the engineers to work on board or
her, and accompany the Baltic fleet, to effect any repairs
that may be required for the steam-vessels of the Royal
Navy in that sea.
The City of London steam-vessel was taken out of the
basin at Woolwich yesterday, and left for the Mediter-
ranean with a number of officers and horses of the Staff
of Lord Raglan and a company of Royal Sappers and
Miners on board.

A number of workmen are employed in erecting ad-
ditional compartments for horses to be embarked in the
Emperor steam-vessel, and she will leave on Saturday
for her destination.
A number of the workmen in the carriage department
at the Royal Arsenal have been engaged at 7s. per day,
to join the Artillery branch of the expeditionary force to
the East, and will accompany the batteries to the field,
to effect promptly such repairs as may be found neces-
sary, in the event of the gun-carriages or ammunition
waggons being injured.
Active preparations are being made at Dublin for the
embarkation of the draught of cavalry regiments ordered
on service now in Dublin garrison, or quartered in pro-
vincial barracks. The remaining sections of artillery in
Ballincollig (Cork), and other localities, have received
orders to hold themselves in readiness for immediate
service abroad. Arrangements have been entered into
for the accommodation of the horses belonging to the
several artillery troops as they arrive, and for their
conveyance by troop-ships direct for Malta.
Bodies of recruits continue to arrive at Aldborough-
barracks, from Beggar's-bush and other depots, and a
system of active drill is carried on every day.
The merchant steamers trading to Dublin have been
fitted with requisites in every necessary case, and are in
readiness when required for the transport of troops.
50
Between 1 an
and d 2 o'clock p.m., Wednesday, a body of
men, rank file, together with four non-commis-
sioned officers (volunteers from the 90th Regiment) em-
barked on board the City of Waterford Company's screw
steamer Sylph, bound direct for Dover, in order to join
the Rifle Brigade about to proceed on service to the
East. Among these volunteers are a number of ser-
geants and corporals, who have resigned their rank as
non-commissioned officers, and have joined the Rifle
Brigade as private soldiers. This corps, after having
been inspected at barracks, marched through the city
and along the North-wall to the place of embarkation,
headed by a full band, and accompanied by crowds of
citizens, who cheered them loudly as they passed.
Captain Jerningham
was expected to arrive in Galway
on Wednesday evening, for the purpose of enrolling
volunteers for the coast defences.

NAVAL APPOINTMENTS.
• Lieutenant. —Hon. H. A. Moreton (1850) to the
Phoenix screw steam-sloop at Woolwich, fitting to pro-
ceed to the Arctic regions.
Surgeons.--John H. Carruthers (1841) to the Algiers,
91, screw steam-ship at Devonport ; John Thomson,
M.D. (c.), (1846) to the Eurydice, 26, at Portsmouth ;
David Thomson (b.), M.D. (1845), to the Gladiator,
steam-frigate at Portßmonth.
Midshipman.--,W. Evans to the St. George, 121, in
the Downs on her way to the Baltic.
Naval Cadet the Hon. Manners Yorke, to the Han-
nibal, 91, screw steam-ship, at Woolwich.
Mr. John Trickett, aFgsistant to the chief engineer at
c,, t., -. the.tactory at Woolwich dockyard, is appointed chief
eugineec of the new factory works at Keyham, near
Devonpoit dockyard.
-Mr. David Pa,tridge, first-class chief engineer since
..
January, 18a0, and at present serving. in the Penelope
, , maamtigate, just returned from service as flag-ship on
e.•-zr4;; ' .
Z.,"%,%''' PIO west' coast of Arica station to Portamouth,, i:3 al)
,i.:<.,-; , l;Pgittimok assistant to the chief engineer at Woolwich
' .- • 'dockyaidf, vice Trickett,
‘45......z,p_

LONDON, FRIDAY, APRIL 7, 1854.

SIR CHARLES NAPIER'S
ADDRESS TO THE FLEET

The Morning Chronicle, in a second edition of
to-day, publishes the following telegraphic despatch
from its Copenhagen correspondent
COPENHAGEN, Thursday, Noon.—The fleet
has returned to its anchorage in Kioge Bay.
The Admiral has issued the following order of the
day :

" SIR CHARLES NAPIER'S ADDRESS, MADE BY SIGNAL,

TO THE FLEET IN KIOGE BAY.

" Lads—War is declared. We are to meet a
bold and numerous enemy. Should they offer us
battle, you know how to dispose of them. Should
they remain in port, we must try to get at them.
Success depends upon the quickness and precision
of your fire. Lads, sharpen your cutlasses, and
the day is your own."

Germany appears to be seriously meditating a
defection from the cause of Christendom. The
specious proposal recently transmitted from St.
Petersburg seems to have been already wonder-
fully successful at the Court of Charlottenburg.
Perhaps before long it may prove to have been
no less successful at Schoenbrunn. The proposi-
tion, we mean, emanating from the Emperor
NICHOLAS, and recently conveyed to Berlin by
Prince GEORGE of Mecklenburg. What was the
precise nature of that proposition ? Recollect—
it amounted simply to the suggestion, that when-
ever the Western Powers should secure from the
Sublime Porte by Treaty the emancipation of the
whole Christian population of Turkey, then
the Russian forces would at once evacuate
the Danubian Principalities. Observe-- this
is the conciliatory, the seemingly conciliatory
offer made by the AUTOCRAT at the eleventh hour
for a pacification. When ? At the eleventh
hour do we say ? Nay, at a somewhat more ad-
vanced division on the dial than the eleventh !
At the period when war has been openly declared
against Russia in the London Gazette, and in the
Paris Moniteur. When the combined fleets in
the Baltic and in the Euxine are preparing for
the blockade—here of Revel, and there of Odessa
—for the simultaneous bombardment of fortified
places so remote from each other as Cronstadt and
Sebastopol. At this juncture, at this most immi-
nent crisis—when the imperial family of the CZAR
is retreating for safety to the central part
2f his vast empire, at Moscow—then, but
not before, the Emperor NICHOLAS sends
his specious proposals for an " arrangement" to
his royal brother at Berlin—shaping the offer of
this pacification in the form of the singular Mes-
sage entrusted to Prince GEORGE of Mecklenburg.
It would be altogether idle to suppose for an
instant that the CZAR is really prepared in accord-
ance with the terms of this proposition to yield
at last before the authoritative attitude assumed
towards him by France and England after pro-
longed deliberation. His real and only object in
throwing these final suggestions for a bloodless
arrangement of difficulties, is to cajole, if possible,
the Austrian and Prussian Governments. By
making these pretended advances towards a
reconciliation, the wily AUTOCRAT affords
both Austria and Prussia, what the latter, at any
rate, has so long looked for—the opportunity for
a defection from the cause of Christendom. At
Berlin the project of the Emperor NICHOLAS is
already proving itself to a considerable extent
successful. There the King is manifestly pre-
paring himself for measures by which he, no doubt,
hopes effectually to deceive the Prussian repre-
sentatives. There,
too, his Majesty finds in the
duplicity of his Minister, MANTEUFFEL, the fitting
medium for the carrying out of his elaborate
schemes of misgovernment.

At Vienna it would be difficult, or rather pre-
mature, to assert that the last diplomatic endea-
vours of the CZAR aro proving themselves as suc-
cessful as they are manifestly becoming with the
Prussian Government. Yet at Vienna rumours have
become audible as recently as within the few days

which have already elapsed of this present month
of April—ninwurs which, if in any way 1-ng,q
upon reality, would go far to render us more than
ever doubtful of the sincerity of Austria, while

they might justify no inconsiderable amount of
suspicion nearer home than in the councils of the
Viennese Administration. The rumours we al-
lude to as being rife in the earliers days of April
are rumours of a Convention of the Great Powers,
a convention having for its objects —tlie guaran-
tee of the integrity of Turkey and of the rights '
of the Christian population ; the opening of the
Black Sea to the flags of all the nations
of the earth ; the opening also of the
mouths of the Danube to the mercantile enter-
prise of both hemispheres ; the revision of the
treaties already existing between Russia and Tur-
key ; and, among other things, the placing of the
principalities under an European Protectorate.
Actually there has been, since the beginning of
this new month of April, a talk at Vienna of some
such Convention ! What is the meaning of all
this ?—coming as it does soon after the arrival at
Berlin of that specious and suspicious Message
from the CZAR, the proposals brought thither by
Prince GEORGE of Mecklenburg. Can it be
possible that the warlike preparations, of
which we have heard and seen so much of
late, are, after all, to prove only so much
" fire and fury, signifying nothing? " Are Eng-
land and France to be cajoled, deluded, and bam-
boozled ? Sooner or later the great struggle must
.lome—the struggle between the rival powers of
Barbarism and Civilisation. Any pacific arrange-
ment that might be consented to by the Russian
AUTOCRAT, with a view on his part to ward off
the deadly blow struck at his empire by France
and England simultaneously, would effect in re-
gard to that long-anticipated collision, not its
permanent prevention, but simply, and for a
brief interval only, its postponement. It
might thus possibly come at a period when the
champions of the cause of freedom and civilisation
might not nearly be so well prepared for the
dread. encounter. It might then so happen that
an alliance, as cordial as that which now so happily
subsists between them, might not knit together so
intimately the policies of the French and English
Governments. Better—all things considered—
fight the great fight now, for once and
for all, than leave it to the accident of
come less propitious conjuncture of circum-
itances. We speak thus not from any love of
War—Go]) knows, and Gon forbid But consci-
entiously, and deliberately, and most earnestly
from our preference for peace, and from the deep
desire of our heart that that peace, the next great
peace among the chief powers of the earth, should
be built up upon more secure and more solid
foundations.

Besides—it would be little short of insanity to
place any reliance henceforth upon the volun-
tary advances of the Russian AUTOCRAT. It
were preposterous to do so, after all his monstrous
duplicity, after all his heinous guilt, after all
his cruelty, rapacity, and blasphemy. Accept
nothing from him in the way of a partial conces-
sion. Extort everything that needs to be extorted
in the way, if possible, of adequate reparation.
Otherwise than by such means the tranquillity
of Europe can never again be securely re-
established. Can we seriously anticipate any
such decisive proceedings—let us ask this plainly
—while the Earl of ABERDEEN remains at the
head of her Britannic MAJESTY'S Government ?
Can we ? Is this, within reason, really to be ex-
pected ? The Noble Lord has never shown fore-
sight, has never shown decision, has never shown
anything but weakness, at any period of great
emergency. In the February of 1848 lie
had implicit confidence in the stability of
the throne of Lours PHILIPPE ! Ever since
Bonapartism has risen triumphantly, and as the
last expression of the national will of France out
of the debris of the Revolution, he continued up
to a comparatively recent period to depreciate the
powers, and the capacity of that extraordinary
man who is at once its imperial embodiment
and its democratic representative ! So much
' for my Lord ABERDEEN'S foresight ! Then
as to his decision or as to his weakness
under emergency—has he not been called by
potentates beyond the seas, at various times, and
by different personages, the " dear," the "good,"
the "excellent," the " estimable gentleman"—
each of these epithets the tribute to his supple
complacency? Nay—glance but for an instant at
the revelations of this Secret and Confidential
Correspondence. Have we not there the acknow-
ledgment from the lips of the CZAR himself that
bring him into personal communion with the Earl
of ABERDEEN, and all would be arranged in ten
minutes to his Imperial MAJESTY'S satisfaction ?
Ts this the Prime Minister of England at a crisis
so awful and momentous as that which now brings
into collision the opposing forces of Barbarism
and Civilisation ? Is it ? We ask, pointing to
these Viennese rumours of a Convention, and to
these sinister concessions of the Court at Berlin
to the conciliatory proposals recently emanating
from the Autocratic Councils at St. Petersburg.
If Lord ABERDEEN really wishes well to his
country—if ho be truly loyal to our beloved
SoTEREIGN—if he hesitates and doubts about the
ultimate success of the war, let him, then, in GOD'S
name, resign at once, and let Lord JOHN RUSSELL,
the " plucky" member for the city of London, fill
his place, but not follow in his ways. He, " Glorious
JOHN !" could not, he would not, he DARE NOT !
Therefore, let Lord JOHN " come on"—and let
" ABERDEEN, awa !"

Last night the petition of the " National Asso-
ciation for the Vindication of Scottish Rights"
was presented in the House of Lords, and a mo-
tion made, that an address, founded thereon,
should be presented to her most gracious MA-
JESTY. The Earl of EGLINTON, by whom the
subject was ventilated, reduced the grievances
complained of to three, which he deemed worthy
of consideration, and for which, on behalf of his
countrymen, he demanded redress. These were—

Ist. That there was not a separate Secretary of
Stale for Scotland, but that the whole business of
Scotland, not only legal, but connected with its
commerce and manufactures, was placed in the
hands of the Lord Advocate.

2d. The paucity of the number of representa-
tives allotted to Scotland in the Imperial Parlia-
meut.

3rd. That the Royal Palace of Rolyrood and
its precincts have been neglected, and not main-
tained in the condition which the historical asso-
ciations connected therewith, and the feelings of
the Scottish people for the habitation of their
ancient kings, justly demanded.

The above were but a selection from many other
complaints which have been put forward on be-
half of the sister kingdom. They were calmly
and temperately discussed, as they ought to be,
for there is nothing more strongly to be depre-
cated—nothing more calculated to excite the
displeasure of an intelligent and high-minded and
sensitive people than to find subjects to which
they attach considerable importance, and in
which they fancy, whether justly or other-
wise it is unnecessary to inquire, that
the national honour is in some degree treated
with levity and ridicule. The Scottish people
are entitled to respectful consideration in any
matters which a large proportion of their re-
presentatives may deem it expedient to put for-
ward on behalf of their country, and, unless
some very decided obstacles intervene, to graceful
concessions. If the objections should appear in-
superable, let it be so stated and if sustained by
arguments, we think that they will be satisfied.
At all events, there will be no prejudiced or stupid
cry of distinct nationalities or conflicting religious
opinions excited to disturb the concord and amity
existing between the inhabitants of the different
portions of that which is termed, and we hope
will ever remain—" The United Kingdom" of
Great Britain.

Scotland is not a conquered kingdom. Her
hardy children ever maintained their independence,
and all the strength and power of England could
never make any impression on a gallant nation
determined to be free. She was for a long suc-
cession of ages the sorest thorn in the side of
±,11,;!,:.1:1, that required the greatest vigilance and
energy to guard against her determined hostility.
The word% which Engiancro greatest drams tilt