The Sun.
London, England, 1854-05-24 00:00:00

THE BALTIC.

. The Boersenhalle, of Hamburg, publishes a 13°-
tice which has been forwarded to Riga for the in-
formation of all the foreign Consuls there, and a:
Liban. and Windau, that these ports being in 7
rigorous state of blockade any merchant-vessel
leaving after the 15th inst. will he captured, and
sent. to France or England to be condemned. The
notice is issued by Ciptain Rey, of the Amphon'
aid is dated from Memel Roads, the 12th. d
The Swedish postal steamer Nordstern arrive,
at Stettin on the 18th, and the passengers thab,
came by her say that, according to the statement
of the crew of a fishing vessel that arrived at Stock:
holm on the 15th from the Aland Isles, our flee'
had, up to the 13th, commenced no operation!
against Aland or the fortress of Bomarsund, htt:
that the English cruisers were to be seen all aho.t9
the coast of Finland. Other accounts describe
them as occupied in taking soundings about the
various islands. At Grisslehatn, that spot on the
Svredish mainland which communicates with the
Aland Isles, Rear-Admiral Plum ridge, in the Leo'
hard, is stated to have touched for the purpose 61
obtaining pilots for the difficult navigation of tb!
archipelago of the Aland Seas; and, further, that
the Leopard put to sea again without having 017"
tained the desired result. On the 12th and 13th
heavy cannonading was heard on the east coast °f
Gothland. As Revel is about 60 geographic',
miles distant from i4othland, this was doubfle':
produced by some gunnery practice of the fleet 7
sea. The combined Swedish and Norwegianileed
11 sail strong, with Prince Oscar on board, passe
Gothland on the 9th, sailing for Elfsnabben. ,0
The reports in Danish journals describe
French vessels as carrying a much more numerous
crew than the English of the same size. The inci
flexible, for instance, has 1,500 men on board, 9'll
the other line of battle ships, Le Tage, JentaPPes'
and Duguescelin, have each over 1,100 men—Per
haps part of this number consists of land trooei
The French fleet was anxiously expected at Kiel
by the 18th, but, as already mentioned, it was at
that date still in the Great Belt. Since the Ist
May colliers have been arriving there frequently
with a supply of 22,000 tons of Newcastle coals f°t
the French fleet, the depot of which is on the quay
of the Kieler Hafen ; but it would seem thatta,
French Government has given a similar tranquilly'
ing assurance with our own to the Danish Gover'j
ment, that their vessels shall not, unless hard
pressed, put into the harbour at all. It is states
in Kiel papers that the route for despatches at!ii
certain articles of transport for the Baltic fleet icici
be by way of Kiel, and that French steamers an
transports are appointed there to that service.

BLOCKADE OF BALTIC RUSSIAN PORI:t
The following is a copy of an official lactic
establishing a blockade of Russian ports :
H.M.S. Amphion, Harbour of Memel, May 12,1,r
Sir,—l have the honour to inform the Consuls of "",
Majesty at Riga, Libau, Windau, that those ports OA
at length in a state of rigorous blockade, and that ;
the ships which leave after the 15th May, either who„
a
or partially laden, will be stopped, and sent to Engt,
or France, to be there declared good prizes. This 00';
munication is to be made public in those ports.—l ba'6
the honour, &c.,
(Signed) A. C. KEY, Captain'
M. M. J. Hertslet, Esq , H.8.M., Consul at Memel.

ST. PETERSBURG.
The Augsburg Gazette, of the 20th, publishasL/
report, from which we give the following extract.
" Within these last few days several Frenchmen bAjt.
passed through Berlin, having been obliged to leave 'io
Petersburg. They state that a perfect paraly9lB
srz ng trade and commerce in that city, rendered owte
grievous by the enormous price. of provisions. Meti'll
bankruptcies are imminent. Paper money had 18n"-As
considerably below its nominal value, and gold hwe
eagerly sought for. Economy in every branch of tb".
national expenditure was- being attempted. Thus, tst
building of the Church of Isaac was suspended—a
onii,ious and momentous matter 'in Russia. The Ili
troti4m of the wealthy inhabitants was perpetua 0.
racked by the crying wants of private misery and distrl,
The bullion in the treasury was removed to Moso° I.
KONIGSBERG, May 19.—The English Consttlbe
General at St. Petersburg, Michel, has now, a,sj.
desire of the Russian government, left that cal
and arrived here yesterday.
A letter from Moscow, 12th, says that throe
Emperor of Russia has ordered, in the BO°
zone of the Empire, a levy of 12 men out of everyll
1,000, 9 being for 'the contingent of this year, all
3 to equalise the contingents of that zone Witb
those of the Western one.
The Journal de St. Petersbourg of the 11th
publishes a rescript, addressed by the EmPellr
.Nicholas to Admiral de Ricord, on the occasion
of the 60th anniversary of his entrance into the
Russian service. In the rescript the EuiPercd)et
announces to Admiral de Ricord, who comma%s
the division of the Russian fleet anchored in 4. id
the
port of Cronstadt, that he appoints him to '
command of the two divisions united. The
Admiral has served under four reigns.
so
The shareholders of the Steam-boat CouiPf
,;e0
-on the Wechsel, at Warsaw, have received LlT'io
that the Polish Government are about to pii!„s,
requisition, on paying an indemnity, the nine le
posable boats to transport military effects for to,
use of the troops who are about to be cantoneci g s
the kingdom. Last month there were very lb
movements of troops iu Poland, but this n3°ljbe
they are very frequent, and Warsaw appears to
0,
chosen as the place of assembly. The military e,"
gineers have re-established the bridge over twri,
iNiemen, at Kowno, where five regiments of iniAed,
try, with a park of artillery, have already Passfoi
and a similar number are expected. 90 ovens ,`ecl
baking bread for the troops have been establish
near that town. It is generally mentioned in
Warsaw that a Russian corps d'armde will be Ø
placed in observation near the frontiers and ter
tory of Cracow.
t
lin b
Advices from St. Petersburg of the 12th insf 5
represent the Emperor's last ukase, requiring Ire of
recruits for both army and navy, as his manner 0,
replying to the intormatiou that General von Grll„d
wall lately brought him from Vienna. This nail l
out of fresh recruits for the reserve levies, first
all, nine in the thousand souls in the eastern Pro'
s
vinces, to set them even with the western province,'
and then three in the thousand more, making alt;
gether twelve. Of the Jews, who have to cOO%
bute their flesh and blood on every occasion of
levy of recruits, ten out of every thousand are
be made food for heretical powder in defence ;
the orthodox faith. The levy is to commenc°:h,
the 27th of July, and be concluded in a inoll"
Apart from the misery that is inflicted on these_os
220,000 men, who are torn from their h°11)
against their wills, and without their possefe
ing any of the elevating feelings that Loee.
the career of a soldier bearable and even "0
sirable, the money value of this man tax, levied ed
the landed proprietors, amounts to 22,000,000 b 0
silver roubles yearly (about 3,650,000/0, taking t
produce of a " soul" (duseha) at the highest vaillo,
tion put on that species of property by Herr Be,zie
brasow. Fortunately, this heavy taxation fallS tPt.
time almost exclusively on the Russians par e° °it
lence, the inhabitants of the eastern provinces ;,r
hits them particularly hard to have to raise 12 For
mille, and that, too, all at once, for when the •decl
peror in 1836, for the purpose of recruiting, dive
pr•
the empire into two halves, which were to be al
as
nately scourged by recruiting, the normal rate 111,,e,
fixed at five for every thousand. In addition to tts
value of the human property thus confiscated to
vituil
use of the Crown, each proprietor has to pay d°o-
in. cash 10, silver roubles 20 copecks per recruit tbe
wards his clothing, ; this amounts, for
220,000 men, to 366,650/. ja
One of the grand delusions kept up in Russi teit
spite of this drain on the population for
them
fathers' and brothers' flesh and blood, is, that theo
are no war taxes in Russia. Knowing by recent
attell
and bitter experience how fruitless any
would be at negotiating a loan anywhere in Bull;
the Russian Government refrains from atternPill it
to put forward anything of the kind ; and will'etbe
points out to its subjects the Governments °`.nt
West straining every nerve to obtain insufacl 16,
supplies to commence the war with, it self-ecoPbe
cently points out the contrast exhibited by
paternal management of the Emperor. The ;
isting laws provide for the furnishing of recrubl.A
the voluntary contributions of the people, "1
the authorities know so well how to extort blbe
little gentle hint "how desirable it vieul,(l.,ke.•
that the Emperor should not remark any
,Tot
warmness on their part," have hitherto helped of
very considerably ; but lately a fresh methodo.
raising an equally voluntary taxation has been 'lli
troduced by Herr Bezobrasow. Before even ant
circular for collecting contributions has been se eet
round, he has notified, as he says, in order to %ice
the wishes of several persons impatient too °aloe
their offerings, that taking the net annual. pr° 5 s
of a "soul" at five silver roubles (15s. 10d.) ti,./„.
minimum, it is proposed to contribute half the roj
nual produce of a " soul." A house in the caP 101
worth 15,000 silver roubles is reckoned at an gaols
assessable value with an estate to which Wu sc-
are attached, and it is expected will tax its'oble
cordingly. It is suggested to all owners of eyed
estates not yet registered to have them regiEß_ of
at once, so that they may enjoy the privilege,ho
contributing. It must be observed that all I*.