The Sun.
London, England, 1854-04-25 00:00:00

THE BLACK SEA.

MALTA, APRIL 13.—The Golden Fleece from
Gallipoli, which conveyed the Rifles thither, re-
turned here yesterday, and brings intelligence
from the British and French fleets to the 4th
instant, under which date they continued at
Baldchik, a place of anything but prepossessing
appearance, with usually much swell and surf on
the beach. From Cape Calazriah to the town
there are chalky-looking cliffs, close to the sea ;
above them a confusion of hollows and mounds,
sprinkled with dark thorn-bushes, reaching back
a short distance, till an abrupt white-faced cliff
rises to the edge of the plain at a height of about
400 or 500 feet from the water. From the ships
there seem but few breaks in the long flat outline ;
but on landing, deep wild gulleys are here and there
found, and Baldchik is on the western side of a
valley which is connected with several such—a
miserable place, beginning in detached houses
near the beach, owning some pieces of streets,
going first to the right, and then extending up to
the left in a promiscuous manner along the edge of
a cliff, until near the plain. Its population is
about 5,000. - In the table-land there are vine-
yards, and cherry-trees, and brushwood ; and out-
side this begins the great grazing-ground for
the cattle wbose folds surround the farm-houses.
From Baldchik towards Varna there is a greater
variety of outline, more wood is to be seen,
and the country is evidently much more in-
teresting.
Enterprise and commercial specu-
lation have taken Englishmen into strange
places, but there is not much chance of any
of our British naval officers being allured to make
a half-way home at such a place as Baldchik, even
were the tenure ofland in Turkey guaranteed bythe
best of laws. Who could get on under such an
executive as governs in Turkey—in a place where
there is at all times a prospect, as in the present
day, of a cry, " The Russians are coming ?" The
inhabitants of Baldchik are all ready to leave for
Varna, or some place on the other side of the
Balkan range. There are neither defences nor
soldiers, and the bey or paella has applied to the
admirals to land the marines for the protection of
the town, which has not been granted ; for it
would be wrong to lead him to rely on such aid at
a moment when the stay or the movements of the
fleets must of necessity be very uncertain ; and
accordingly, he has been advised to apply to the
p acha of Varna for Ottoman troops ; but prudent
measures have been nevertheless taken to secure
the safety of British and French watering parties,
should it be threatened. Poultry
and eggs are
procurable, but oxen have to be brought from
Varna. The Sidon, Firebrand, and Magellan were
despatohed on the 27th of March, to prevent any
supplies being landed for the Russian force which
crossed the Danube on the 23d. They went along
the Turkish coast, seeing nothing until they
reached the Sulina mouth of the river, where they
found that an 18-gun battery had been erected by
the Russians, who have a schooner of war lying
outside the bar, the masters of which were coun-
selled to leave. Severel consultations were held_ by
the captains of the four allied war steamers, and at
one time they were on the point of comingd to
thethe
determination of doing their best to destroy
t
were
not
oti
esi.
battery, and to cut out the schooner ; but on a
andmorem
careful
a tu re r
deliberation,examination otfhetsheeir
instructions,
dered a sufficient warrant for the rejected under-
taking, and the same was for the moment reluc-
tantly abandoned ; not, however, without a hope
that their instructions might before long be remo.
(Jelled and extended. Returning to Kostendje, the
town was found deseited. ; but, falling in with, a'
boat putting back tlgougla great? 01 weather; it was

ascertained that a number of the inhabitants had
been killed, and others most brutally treated, by
the bashi-bazouks, or Turkish irregulars. Some
wounded were taken on board the Firebrand,
which conveyed them to Baldchik ; and among
others, one man with a sad gash across his throat,
a woman badly wounded in the breast and side,
and even two children badly wounded, one not
more than eight months old, the other two and e-
half years of age ; so that these poor wretches have
not only to fear the enemy, but their very defen-
ders, these bashi-bazouks ! The people of the
Bazarjie have sent to Varna for means of trans-
port to remove what little property they have
before these plundering irregulars despoil them of
it. The Firebrand, after communicating with the
admirals, left on the 3d to rejoin her consorts the
Sidon and Magellan. News reached the fleets on
the morning of the 4th, by the Inflexible, of the
arrival of the first French troops at Gallipuli, dates
from which place to the Bth of April announce up
to that time no other British arrivals, save the
Rifles and two companies of Sappers and Miners,
under Brigadier-General Brown, on the 6th, in the
Golden Fleece, from Malta ; and five French
steamers, with 2,810 rank and file (Zouaves and
Chasseurs d'Orleans) from Algeria. The Tahiri
Bahri, Turkish steamer, had arrived from Volo,
with four chiefs and 150 Greek prisoners, part of a
band of insurgents routed outside the town of Volo.
THE EXPEDITIONARY FORCE AT MALTA.—Cotu-
rnissary-General Routh, with several other officers,
reached Malta on the 13th of April in the Colombo.
The Valetta arrived at the same time from Mar-
seilles, but did not bring any officers either British
or French. The Colombo left for Alexandria on
the same evening, and was to be followed by the
Valetta, taking a portion of the Indus's cargo, on
the next day.