The Sun.
London, England, 1854-05-03 00:00:00

OBSTACLES TO AN ATTACK UPON
CRONSTADT.

Although the presence of a mighty naval arma-
ment like the one here is naturally calculated to
raise some suspicious doubts in the minds of a
people who once suffered so severely from England
53 years ago, yet I am convinced the Danes gene-
rally regard our fleet with the kindliest feelings
and best wishes for its success. At the same time,
owing to the difficulties attending carrying on a
war against Russia, the Danes wish to preserve
their neutrality. lam aware that in England this
desire of remaining neutral is looked upon as a
leaning towards Russia, either through fear or in-
terest ; but I belie-re it arises from a feeling that
their active interference against our common enemy
would only drag them into increased expenditure,
and in no way accelerate the end of the war. The
Danes acknowledge our power here to be enor-
mous ; our ships models of naval architecture, and
the crews fine high-spirited fellows, who, if they
could only meet the Russian fleets in an open
contest at sea, would settle the question of marine
supremacy for centuries to come. From several
Danish naval officers I have heard that the best
authorities here would answer for our success
against more than double our own force. To-day
there is a report that the French fleet from
Brest, of 25 sail, has entered these waters. When
these vessels join the English, the combined fleets
here will amount in round! numbers to 70 vessels,
with 30,000 men, and about 3,000 guns—enough
to destroy any enemy to be found bold enough to
get in the way. But a naval engagement seems to
be the very last thing the Emperor Nicholas ever
contemplated rushing into. Then, of what avail
are these fine ships ? " Oh," our countrymen say,
" they are going to make an overwhelming attack
upon Cronstadt." This seems in England to have
been so general an opinion, that a few words of
information gathered from those who have fre-
quently navigated the Gulf of Finland may not be
out of place. The Baltic, in all its parts a shallow
and uncertain sea, becomes, in the Gulf of Fin-
land, still more so ; and is thickly interspersed
with islands, between which are narrow channels
indicated to the pilots by buoys and marks. These
marks have now all been removed, and the buoys
taken up, and rocks sunk in their places (some say
filled with powder), but this requires confirma-
tion. We will, for the sake of argument, sup-
pose that a clever pilot (without anything to
guide him) succeeded in bringing a part of the
fleet to the westernmost point of the island of
Cronstadt. At this point the channel will only
admit of one vessel passing at a time, which, upon
its arrival opposite Risbauk, would have more than
600 cannon shot poured into its bows instantane-
ously. Of course it would be sunk at once, and
thus the channel would be effectually blocked.
This is supposing any of our largest vessels can get
up a channel haying in its deepest part about '
fathoms water. If an attack upon Cronstadt is
contemplated at all, the only chance of success
lies in our possessing mortars that will carry shells
a mile further than the Russian batteries can reach ;
but I fear that even then it would be a very
bloody struggle, although of course we must con-
clude that the admirals of the combined fleets took
all these matters into their consideration before
they came here. Helsingfors and Sweaborg, which
lie on the north side of the gulf, are scarcely more
assailable than Cronstadt itself, being well
defended by batteries commanding narrow
channels ; but it is believed here that they
might be taken, although not without great
loss to ourselves. But then, again, it
is feared that while Cronstadt holds out, the
Emperor will not feel himself compelled to come to
terms. What will Sir Charles do ? Will this mag-
nificent fleet be used in a long and tedious blockade
of the Russian ports, in which our loss in expenses
will far exceed the Russian ? The desire of the
Emperor is, doubtless, that he may have the satis-
faction of destroying our fleet in detail under the
fire of the Cronstadt batteries. But this I sin-
cerely trust will not be put in his power without
due precautions being taken to insure our success.
In the meantime the people of England are ex-
pecting their favourite fleet to achieve some wonders
in these seas. That the Russian power will even-
tually be humbled here and elsewhere no one can
doubt ; but who can say when, or how long the
struggle may last ? If courage, ability, and daring
enterprise will insure success, the day will soon be
our own; but how will they avail against the cold,
negative opposition and cunning artifice which
have always characterised the Russian tactics ?
The old policy is new being followed ; that of re-
treating to some unassailable point, and there
making a final stand. This plan has the double
advantage of economising their own resources and
wearing out those of the enemy. May we soon
obtain some advantage and recover the blessings of
peace ; but at present there seems very little
chance of such a wished-for consummation.