The Sun.
London, England, 1854-07-01 00:00:00

THE BALTIC.

DANTZIC, Friday, June 30.—The Basilisk has just
arrived here.

On the 27th a part of the fleet was at Barosund.
The Hecla, Odin, and Valorous had returned from
Bomarmuncl on the 26th.

On the 21st Napier sailed fiir Cronstadt with 12 steam
line-of-battle ships, 9 steam-frigates, 5 French ships of
the line, and several French steam-corvettes.

On the 21st Admiral Plutnridge returned, in the
Cuckoo, to the Gulf of Bothnia, from the consultation
to which he had been called with Admiral Napier.
Important news is daily expected.
The Swenska Tidning confirms the report of an at-
tack on Bomarsund on the 21st.

The bombardment began at 5 in the evening, and by
7 the masked battery was dismounted and abandoned,
and at 10 o'clock p.m., the Russian magazines were in a
blaze. The English lost three men.
The Russians fought obstinately ; their artillery were
well supported by rifles.
One bomb burst on the deck of the Hecla. Midship-
man Lucas threw another overboard before it burst.

LETTERS FROM. THE RUSSIAN HEAD-
QUARTERS.

The following important letter from Jassy is published
in the Moniteur of yesterday morning. It will be seen
that it destroys the fiction of the Russians having re-
treated from the high consideration of the Czar for
Austria :

." Jassy, June 20.
" The order to retreat has been given to the Russian
troops. This fact now bears an official character. No one
here doubted that it would bo one of the first results of the
arrival of the allies of Turkey on the theatre of war ; but
what is not so generally known, thanks to the mystery in
which all the measures of the military administration of
Russia are enveloped, is, that the measures taken for the
evacuation date from the end of the first fortnight in May.
Scarcely had the division in Lesser Wallachia failed in its
attempts against Kalafat, and fallen back upon the Aluta,
when instructions were issued at Bucharest to commence
preparations for retreat.

"The Russian authorities, fearing that the coincidence
of these preparations with the concentration of Anglo-
French troops on the Ottoman territory should be re-
marked, thought it necessary to mask their movement by
a solemn declaration from Baron
Budberg to the Boyards,
to the effect that Lessor Wallachia was only provisionally
evacuated, and that Greater Wallachia would not be
evacuated at all. These first symptoms of evacuation had
given rise to very unequivocal manifestations of satisfac-
tion among the Wallachians, and the Russian authorities
were not ignorant of it ; but feigning, nevertheless, to
believe that such reports were of a nature to create consi-
derable alarm among the populations. Baron de Budberg
chose this very gratuitous supposition as a pretext for his
declaration. Be reiassured,' ho said, ' the Russian troops
will not abandon your territory.'
" Already, however, the orders to fall back upon Jassy
were being carried out, especially as, regards the division in
Lesser Wallachia.
" Thus General Liprandi, instead of directing his maga-
. ...

zines either to the smith, towards the Danube, or easterly
towards Bucharest, sent them in a northerly direction,
towards Slatina and Foksehani. The sick and wounded
to Jassy. Finally, the war commissariat, which, since the
commencement of the occupation, was established in the
capital of Wallachia, was transferred to that of Moldavia.
Before operating a general retreat, which became more
urgent in measure as the Anglo-French troops approached
the Balkans, Marshal Paskiewitsch thought he could ob-
tain a success capable of compensating the bad effect which
a retrograde movement would necessarily occasion. Ac-
cording to his custom of only attempting decisive
coups with large masses, the' marshal had assembled
imposing forces before' Silistria. Information from
authentic sources states that the number of troops con-
centrated before that place when the Russian Com-
mander-in-Chief arrived atom, was not less than 100,000
men • nor did he think that force sufficient. He sent for
additional troops, especially artillery, and even the Wal-
lachian militia was made to attend, though it did not take
an active part. These figures, given by impartial and com-
petent authority, make known the full extent of the check
given to the Russians before Silistria. The success so ne-
cessary to them to cover their retreat failed them, and
they cannot conceal from Europe that they retreated be-
fore the Turks and their allies."

The National Zeitung gives us the following graphic
letter from a correspondent at Jassy, dated " June
16:"

" Prince Paskiewitsch returned here the day before yes-
terday. What a, difference between his former entry and
this last arrival! Then ho had the bearing of a Caesar that
had only to come, see, and conquer; he was received with
Imperial honour, his entry was welcomed by innumerable
peals of bolls; when he repaired to the cathedral to mass,
the Metropolitan came to meet him with the Gospels and
the Cross, and ho was conducted through the Imperial door
(the centre door) up the nave to the altar. At that time
the Prince of Warsaw was so sure of his game that he in-
vited members of our beau monde to take coffee with him
in Silistria, and expressed himself delighted that, old as he
was, he was to have the pleasure of meeting the two lasses,
Britannia and Gallia. This gallant and galant spirit, how-
ever, is broken ; all silently and sadly has the Commander-
in-Chief returned to Jassy. His suite maintain that
he has only received a contusion ; but
.we hear that his
wound is so considerable as to compel him to go on
crutches, and therefore nobody is admitted to see him.
There are no less than twelve members of his staff
among the absent ones ; from the state of feeling
hero at head-quarters in the immediate vicinity of the
Commander-in-Chief, one may reckon what it must be
among the soldiers in the army. The plagues and visita-
tions of the country are not at an end yet; now that Lower
Moldavia has been tolerably sucked dry, the turn has come
for Upper Moldavia. Troops aro constantly marching
through from the Russian frontier provinces; but they
don't go any longer to Wallachia ; they collect in Roman
and further upwards at Tirguformes and by Darogan,
between the Sereth and the Pruth, not for the purpose of
marching against the Turks, but of presenting a front
against the Austrians. We bear that, for this purpose,
there are already about 00,000 men pasted in Upper Mol-
davia."

RUSSIAN ARMY IN THE SOUTH.
The Ost Deutsche Post of Vienna, under date of Bu-
charest, 20th, says :—" Marshal Paskiewitch is suf-
fering severely. The Czar intends that the Hereditary
Grand Duke shall take the chief command of the army
of the South, in the event of the Marshal not being
able to continue his military duties. The reserves of
the army of operation of the frontier of Galicia and
and Moldavia are concentrating themselves in the
Polish fortresses of Bresclite ski Novogeorgieweki,
and Zarnoski. They are p:incipally composed of ve-
terans. Warsaw and Lublin are being fortified. There
are very few Russian troops in the neighbourhood of
Cracow."

A letter, dated from Len.berg, 24th, says :—" It is
in contemplation to place Otwsacks ali along the frontier
of Galicia. The second lluesian c)rps d'armde, under
the command of General Paniutin, is in the government
of Lublin, and is gradually approaching the Austrian
frontior ;it amounts to 40,000 men. Bridges of boats
are being placed over the Dniester at Chotyn, Mohilew,
Tumpol, and Bender ; at the latter place there are to
be two."

SPAIN,

PURCHASE OF CUBA BY THE AMERICANS.

There are very prevalent and confident rumours
to the effect that the Government of the United
States is determined upon purchasing from Spain

the long-coveted and important island of Cuba.
It is even asserted in these sinister reports that the
actual sum has been fixed, namely that of
200,000,000 dollars—and more than that on dit,
into the bargain, that the commissioners from North
America are actually very shortly expected at
Madrid to negotiate this monstrous transaction.

Both Mr. Otway and the French Minister have ad-
dressed strong remonstrances or protests to the Spanish
Government on the subject of the Royal order requiring
foreign residents in Spain to contribute to the forced
loan. There has also been an interview on the same
subject between the British Chargé d'Affaires and the
President of the Council of Ministers. The aspect of the
affair is favourable, and there is a probability of its -
being promptly and satisfactorily settled. The Royal
order, which is long-winded and elaborate rather
than logical, and which assumes the principle that a
Royal decree can abrogate clauses of a treaty with a .
foreign power, seems to have been the handiwork of the
financial bureaux, and was signed by Mr. Domenech
somewhat over-hastily, without having been submitted
to the Council of Ministers. Its inconsistency with
existing treaties appears to have been made clear to
Count San Luis, who met the difficulty in a frank and
business-like manner. There is little doubt that means
will be found to annul that order, and that the incident
will not give rise to any unpleasant complications.