The Sun.
London, England, 1854-06-26 00:00:00

THE BALTIC.

In a letter from an officer of the Odin, dated
Oreground Bay (on the coast of Sweden), 15th
June, we find the following :
" There are four ships of us detached to this re-
mote corner in the Gulf of Bothnia. On the 7th
of June inst. the boats from this ship and the Vul-
ture, with 112 of our people and 80 others, were
sent under an officer of the Vulture to attack
Gamla Karleby, in Finland, in 64 50 N. They
were surprised by a large body of troops, and when
we were ordered to their aid with more boats from
the ships five miles distant, we found 3 officers and 3
men killed, and 17 more disabled belonging to this
ship. A large boat, with 1 officer, 27 men, and a
21-pounder gun belonging to the Vulture, missing,
captured, sunk, or destroyed, besides 1 man killed,
and 3 others wounded. I know you will rejoice in
the safety of the youngsters, although they were
in the thickest of the fire. I will now give you
the names of the officers killed and wounded, in
case of your meeting any one interested, with the
assurance that the wounded are all out of danger,
and doing well.
" KILLED.
Lieutenant Carrington, R.N.
Mr. Montagu, Mate.
Mr. Althorpe, Midshipman.
" WOUNDED.
Lieutenant Lewis, R.M.
Mr. Magrath, Midshipman.
cc missing from Vulture—Mr. Morphy, Mate."
A. letter from Stockholm of the 16th says :
" The number bf the vessels destroyed by Admiral
Plumridge amounts to 11 at Brahestad and to 10
at Uleaborg. No private house was burnt in
either of these towns, and no blood was shed."
A letter from Dantzic of the 19thstates :—" The'
Prince of Prussia has passed through Dantzic on
his way to inspect the troops of the province. His
Highness received from the citizens the warmest
reception. The municipal authorities organised a
fete in his honour, to which the officials, both civil
and military, as likewise the foreign consuls, were
invited. The flags of France, England, and
Austria were to be seen waving by the side of those
of Dantzic and Prussia. This attention on the
port of the municipality was rendered more impres-
sive by the circumstance that the Russian flag was
excluded."

We extract the following from a letter, dated
Wisby, Island of Gothland, June 18 :
" In my preceding letter from this ancient town I
stated that one of the small steamers of the British fleet
had approached the entrance to Sveaborg, the formid-
able fortress in the Gulf of Finland. I c.rn now informed,
in a letter from Stockholm of yestf,rdav's date,• that that
steamer was the Porcupine, 4 guns, Captain Melville
Jackson. The names of the other offieers are Mr.
Leech, acting first lieutenant, Surgeon ITAxee, Mr,

Goldsmith, first mate, and Mr. Saunders, clerk in charge,
lately nominated by the Admiralty purser unattached.
That war steamer was stationed during more than then
three weeks in Farasund, in this island, in order tip
guard the coal depot, and it is not a little remarkable
that it should so suddenly have exchanged that quiet po-
sition for one of so much importance and danger.
the masters of the fleet, and the Masters of other large
vessels, were taken on board the Porcupine, in order to
survey the shoals and passages around the entrance to
Sveaborg. It approached so near the forts that the,
Russian soldiers were placed at the guns, waiting until
it should come within range. A long gun, too, was
trained along up to the telegraph station, for the espe.
cial benefit of the Porcupine. As it first approached
the forts, it observed smoke at some distance—the Rus-
sians probably trying the range of their guns. You
were informed, I believe, in my previous communication,
that the Arrogant and Imperieuse were cruising some
miles off, ready to come to the aid, if necessary, of the
Porcupine, which, by enabling an engineer officer on
board to take a sketch of Sveaborg, has rendered no'
slight service to the good cause. The officers on board
the Porcupine hail also a good view on the 6th instant
of Helsingfors. Th e *dent and number of the batteries,
however, could not be fully ascertained.
"The following speech was delivered by his Majesty
the King of Sweden on presenting new colours to a bat'
talion of the Stnaland grenadiers :
"*On the colours which I present to yot this day is in-
scribed the word Lutzen.' That war recalls to my
mory the glorious time in which Sweden's King fought
and conquered in the cause of enlightenment. That name
will remind you also of the courage with which the Sma-
lenders supported him in that holy contest. You possess,
therefore, an ancestry of 200 years. Great reminiscences
impose great duties, and the victories of one's forefathers
exhort to fresh exploits (mama till nya bragder). The
days of warfare and honour are not yet over. Even now
you may be called upon to defend your native land, and
to combat for the dearest of all earthly possessions.
Should Fatherland and I call on you, my brave Srnalan'
ders, to gather around these flags, you will prove that a
long and happy peace has not weakened these arms which
in tranquil times cultivated the Swedish soil, and that
the swords which have long reposed in their scabbards
are not only as sharp, but that they will be as valiantly
borne, as they were on Lutzen's battle-field.'
"This speech was followed with enthusiastic and pro-
longed cheering. His Majesty afterwards presented neW
colours to the National Militia of this island, and in do''
ing so said :

" In a time when war's portentous cloud obscuros
the northern hemisphere, every obligation becorncs
dearer, every duty more sacred. No obligation is
greater than that, in such a time, people and king shoat
have the same will and act in unison ; no duty is holier
than that of defending our native lard, at the sacrifios
even of life itself. Such a time, it would seem, may
possibly arrive for the north. (Synas for Norden, nw-
Aga.) Such a time, too, is one in which, as you will
prove, no sacrifices are too great for the maintaining of
our self-existence and independence. Should foes at-
tempt to pluck this noble island—this pearl in Sweden's
crown—from the bosom of our motherland, you will all.
eagerly gather around these banners which with my own-
hand I now make over to you ; and you will know heir
to fight for your king and your country. (Enthusiastic:
and long continued cheering.) But before I deliver to
you these pledges of my confidence in your patriotism,
1 ask you, officers, sub-officers, and men, to swear to
defend these colours to the last, so help you God.'
" Those speeches are certainly remarkable ones•
They are such speeches as a King of Sweden could ar
propriately deliver on the eve of any other contest in
Vie cause of enlightenment,' particularly if we have good
grounds for believing—as his present Majesty assuredly
has—that his subjects would courageously support bin'
in so holy a contest.' It cannot be forgotten in
Sweden that in fighting for so good a cause, it not only
conquered, but became one of the most important states
in Europe, respected and feared abroad, and prosperous at
home. Very different would have been its fate had it
espoused the opposite cause. ' The days of warfare' are
certainly not over, for a gigantic contest is now com-
menced, one, too, at the very gates, as it were of Sweden,.
The northern skies are indeed clouded, and clouded they
will remain until the sun of liberty—that liberty for which
Gustavus Adolphus fought and died on Lutzen's battle
field' shines forth in all its resplendence. The
Swedes who descend from the warriors of Lutzen, and
their sovereign, who now sits on the throne of the great
Swedish hero of 1632, may yet—King Oscar hints—be
called upon to defend their fatherland. That land is
coveted, not by the friends,' but by the foes, of the
"cause of enlightenment ;" and that ambitious empire
which plucked Finland—also a pearl in Sweden's crown
—from the bosom of its Swedish motherland, may well
hope to get possession of the island of Gothland, the
most important in the Baltic. Assuredly the Swedish
soldiers of the present day have not degenerated. Manly
and robust in form, in a high state of discipline, hardy,
brave, and courageous, they are inferior to no troops
in Europe. They. are worthy descendants of their
ancestors "of two hundred years." But "great re-
miniscences impose great duties," and the glorious re-
miniscences referred to cannot be separated from the
" cause of en!ightenment," and the obligation of com-
bating for it at any sacrifice. In times like the present
" people and king should have the same will and act in
unison," a noble and felicitous sentiment, and one truly
appropriate under present circumstances. There is no
one in Sweden or Norway hardy enough to deny that.
the overpowering majority of the inhabitants of the•
sister kingdom are heart and soul with England and
France in " the cause of enlightenment" against Russia
and barbarism, Let us, accept, therefore, as a happy
omen, that significant declaration of the monarch of:
Sweden, and employ in his regard the solemn and ini"*
pressive ejaculation with which he concluded his two
admirable discourses.

Ystad Gazette states that a rich inhabitant of that
town--a Swedish one situated nearly opposite the
Danish island of Bornholm in the Baltic—has promised
to give 1,000 dollars banco to the poor, on the day that
he receives certain intelligence of any important defeat
of the Russians."