The Sun.
London, England, 1854-04-26 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, APRIL 26, 1854.

CAPTURE OF ANOTHER
RUSSI AN SHIP.

THE ADMIRALTY AND THE HORSE

LATEST FOREIGN NEWS

GUARDS.

(BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.)

The statement that Mr. Cunard had offered to carry
000 horses to Gallipoli has been denied point blank
by that gentleman himself. The assertions of the
Morning Hlei•ald respecting changes in the Admiralty
Board have likewise been contradicted on authority. In
thus correcting two misstatements of our contemporaries,
we take the opportunity of saying that strongly as we
have been led to criticise the administration of the Navy
on certain points of detail, we have pleasure in bear-
ing testimony to the readiness with which the present
Board have adopted many sound suggestions offered them
by the Press. It must not be forgotten that during the
rule of Sir James Graham and Mr. Bernal Osborne over
the Navy we have sent forth the finest fleet that ever
sailed from the shores of England, and that if Admiral
Dundas, who has control of another noble collection of
our ships, has not yet been so energetic as the public in
their anxiety have wished him to be, the fault is not
fairly chargeable on the Admiralty as a department, but
rather on the Cabinet as a whole. Compared with the
Horse Guards the Admiralty Board is a perfect company
of Crichtons. Sir James Graham is worth a dozen
Lord Hardinges, at all events. And sinoe we are giving
a public department its due, in spite of grumblings at
certain drawbacks, let us add that upon the naval ad-
ministration of this country—as upon most willing
horses—there has always been a tendency to bear too
heavily. Why, for instance, should the Admiralty
have to choose hay ? Horses are not a part of the
Navy—the marines being foot soldiers, not horsemen,
the popular joke to the contrary notwithstanding.
Why then, we say, should a salt-water department
have to arrange the niceties of upland or meadow grasses,
dry or moist, good or bad ? This is surely the business
of the Commissariat, if not of some person deputed by
colonels of cavalry themselves. Sailors don't eat hay,
and therefore the Admiralty should have nothing to do
with the selection of such stores. Again, the slowness
with which the troops have been landed in Turkey is
also a sin at the door of the Ministry rather than of its
naval branch. The troops themselves have been most
anxious for active service—the carriage of the men and
the steam-ships which have been employed has been
prompt. It was not the Admiralty who originated the
plan of dropping them all at Malta as a kind of half-way
house. The Cabinet must bear that blame. Whilst
blaming the Admiralty for their own sins, therefore, let
us be just, and not visit them with the sins of others.—
Daily News.

THE WAR.

PLYMOUTH, Wednesday, 10 a.m.—The Avon
steamer returned during the night, having
succeeded in effecting the capture of the Russian
merchant ship reported as being in the Channel
yesterday. It proved to be the Carlos, Captain
Backe, 400 tons of Finland, from Lisbon, to a Rus-
sian port in the Baltic. She left Lisbon on March
25, and has been beating about in the Channel
since. She was captured yesterday at half-past one,
about twelve miles south of the Start. She is
built of fir, laden with salt, and is a splen-
did vessel ; her crew number fourteen men.
The French fleet were about four miles distant,
bearing E.S.E. She was compelled to hoist her
flag, and was brought in with the English ensign
flying at her peak end, and the Russian Black Sea
flag under. She made no resistance.
Several other vessels havelleft Spanish ports with
similar cargoes.
The Portland frigate has just returned from the
South American station, but before coming to she
was ordered,to proceed to Spithead with all haste.
She left immediately.

The following telegraphic despatch has just been
received :

" The Bertholde, which left Gallipoli on the
18th, has arrived at Toulon.
" Eighteen thousand troops had landed in Galli-
poli. The health of the troops was excellent.
" The squadron under Admiral Hamelin was at
Baldchik. The Russians were not advancing. They
were fortifying themselves in the Dobrutscha.
Omer Pacha's retrograde movement was to concen-
trate his troops.
" Besides the camp at Gallipoli, the English are
establishing one at Buyukdere.
" The St. Louis, 90-gun ship, was launched at
Brest yesterday."
A telegraphic despatch from Vienna, of the 24th
April, announces that a sharp combat took place
on the 16th before Kalafat. Sixteen squadrons of
Hussars and eight squadrons of Cossacks, with six
cannon, having come to reconnoitre the Turkish
lines, the Paella sent two regiments of regulars,
some Bachi-Bouzouks, and six cannon against
them. The combat last three hours. The Rus-
sians were driven back vigorously : they lost five
hundred men. The Turks had fourteen raexi
killed and thirty-three wounded.

BERLIN, TUESDAY.—Partof the fleetis blockading
the Gulf of Finland, and part the Gulf of Bothnia.
The Tribune brought in a Russian barque as prize
to Copenhagen on the 22d.
CONSTANTINOPLE, April 14.—Odessa has been
bombarded. The town is partly destroyed. This
is confirmed by letters via Brody.
VIENNA, April 25.—Accounts from Bucharest
state that Prince Paskiewitsch has ordered the
evacuation of Lesser Wallachia, the cutting-off of
communications with Servia, and the disbanding
of all the free corps.

ST. PETERSBURG, April 18.—An ukase directs
that, before the 20th of May, a naval force, com-
posed of volunteers for the defence of the coasts of
Finland, shall be organised.

All sailors on leave of absence are required to
return to duty forthwith.
Letters from Jassy of the 12th state that Prince
Paskiewitsch had inspected, on the frontier of Bes-
sarabia, four cavalry and six infantry regiments,
in all 24,000 men, on their way to the principalities.
Letters from Odessa state that troops of all arms
are continually passing through that town.
A letter from Semlin, of the 20th, says The
Vladika of Montenegro has published a prodama-
tion preaching a religious war against the Turks.
Six thousand volunteers have already enrolled
themselves. The moment for attack is not fixed."
The Lloyd contradicts this statement, on the autho-
rity of letters from Cattaro and Cettinje. The
Vladika, it says, has given assurances of neutrality
to Austria.

The Ost Deutsche Post of Vienna has the follow-
ing from Bucharest :—" The Russians will cross
the Danube below Giurgevo to take Rustjouck by
assault. They also intend crossing the river near
Rassuva. The two banks are occupied by four
divisions of infantry, two of cavalry, two of artil-
lery, and the 3d and 4th corps with eighteen bat-
teries. Prince Paskiewitsch, who arrived here on
the 16th, will be present, it is said, at the passage.
The flotilla of the Danube will second the opera-
tions. The positions of Kalaradsch and Giurgevo
are to be visited by the Prince.

The accounts from the Turkish army at Kars, in
Asia, are far from satisfactory. General Guyon had
indeed succeeded in forming new cBrps, and pro-
ducing bodies of well-organised troops, out of the
discordant and heterogeneous elements with which
he had to deal ; but what could even he effect
against famine and its attendant sickness, which
were continually sweeping off some of his force ?
The winter meanwhile continued with unabated
severity there, and thus precluded any relief from
reaching there from the land side. Even at Erze-
roum itself there was the utmost difficulty in pro-
curing provisions at any price.

board the Government ships built on purpose to convey
them. They are stowed away in these vessels in the
spaces left unoccupied by cargo, partitions, coals, &c.;
instead of being placed between decks- with plenty of
hammock room, and the comfort of the officers in fine
saloons and ample berths is gained at the cost of com-
fort on the part of the men. In the same way, whenever
the soldiers are obliged to land, they are subject to the
delay, discomfort, and even danger of ill-managed shore
boats instead of being carried drily and comfortably in
paddle-box boats, or in men of war launches. Then the
sailors complain of being penned up by the men, and_of
the great increase of labour in washing and cleaning the
vessel, as well as of many other things which the marine
habit of fault-finding with sojers' will suggest to the
fancy. A dandy new ship, all brass work and
paint, with gold and maple and papier mache drawing'
rooms, is certain to suffer when employed as a trap-'
port for 1,000 men, with ammunition and arms. If
vernment dockyard engineers could only build engine-
that would keep in order now and then, or if the Li: .
afaue-9,
vernment would always employ men like Penn,
lay, or Napier, they ought to maintain a fleet of 12 goo
steamers to act as transports. There will be plenty t 0
be done with them as long as we have colonies and ch
tant empires to manage. We have always troopes7l
sea, troops coming home or going out, and a Pow n.e,
maritime nation like ourselves should take shame to
other nations doing that which we are unwilling toa.
ef-
fect. At this very moment there is a good de
_l.,
_1
anxiety felt here concerning the officers and men 01 the
Rifle Brigade, who sailed in the Sir George Polloex
sailing vessel the other day from Malta.
"No one would be at all uneasy if it were known they
had embarked in a man of war —even though it was the
Simoom. The French, however they ms•nage it,are
able to send very much greater numbers of men, though
they pack their ships too much, and have small and in
sufficient vessels in use. sera
" On Thursday there was a geteral hunt for guarded
through the town. Mr. Calvert, the Consul, attended
by dragoman and interpreter, and a train of lodga
seekers, went from house to house but it was not
the eye had got accustomed to they general style of the
buildings and fittings that any of them seemed wil,;oe.ato
accept the places offered them. The General got a very
fine place in a beau quartier, with a view of an old Turk_.
on a counter looking at his toes in perpetual perspecti7
Colonel Sullivan and staff were equally suceesehlt..,
From one learn all. The hall door, which
quated concern—not affording any particular resistance
to the air to speak of—opens on an apartment with clay
walls of about 10 feet high, and of the length and bre°
of the whole house. It is garnished with the odds and
ends of the domestic deity—with empty barrels, "e
casks of home-made wine, buckets, baskets, &C. it't
side a rough staircase, creaking at every step, condo
fit
one to a saloon on the first floor. This is of the plaineof
prints
possible appearance. On the sides are stuck
is an an
the Nicolaus ho basileus,' and of the Virgin au!
Child (after the Greek school), with wonderful 041.5-'1
ings from Jerusalem. There is no other furniture.
may be observed, that as the schism between the Greek
Catholic and the Roman Catholic Churches arose out of
the discussion of an intricate question on the subtlest
point of theology, they fight bitterly on matters of veil
fine distinction yet. Thus the Greeks are iconoclasts,
and hate images, but they adore pictures. A Yer
Jonah, in a crimson whale with fiery entrails, is
favourite subject for these artists, and doubtless beare
some allegorical meaning. From this saloon open the
two or three rooms of the house—the kitchen, the divan'
and the principal bed-room. The floors are covered
with matting, but with the exception of the cushions
on the raised platform round the wall of the re°Ee
(about eighteen inches from the floor), there is nothing
else in the rooms offerred for general competition to
the public. Above are dark attics --voila tout?
...DIY
apartment would form a study for Dr. Reid or .51
Gurney. If they want to understand the true principle
of keeping up a current of fresh air everywhere, let them
at once come out to Gallipoli, and become my sucees.
sers in the possession of this remarkable chamber. True,
the walls are of mud and straw, and the staircase has
been devised expressly for the purpose of entrapPil
the first heavy Turk who may happen to stride up. -„
is the thinnest wood-work possible. Water is some we'
off, and the philosophers if not provided with servant
who can speak the language, and an allowance of ratio'ns
from her Majesty's stores, may be seen soon after their
arrival stalking up the street with as much dignity es
is compatible with the circumstance of their carrying a
sheep's liver on a stick in one hand, some lard in the
other, and a loaf of black bread in their arms—at least
your correspondent had to adopt that course or die
of hunger the other day. There is not such a
thing as a pound of butter in the whole country, meat
is very scarce, fowls impossible, but the country vine
is fair enough; eggs are not so rare as might ";,"
imagined from the want of poultry. Lieutenant-Gene-
ral Brown is in one of these houses ; Colonel Sullivan
and staff in another. Officers coming out here shout,.
know what they have to expect. Let them provide
themselves with everything they are likely to want, for
they will find nothing at Gallipoli. The nights am'
mornings are cold even yet, and the thermometer in tir
shade does not mark beyond 57°. Indeed the spring le
not near so far advanced as it is in England, and the
trees and shrubs are only just beginning to bud. There
is no chance of getting horses at present for love or
money—indeed, comfort or necessary accommodation ja
out of the question. In every respect the French an
teach us a lesson in these matters. While our sick
men have not a mattress to lie upon and are literally
without blankets, the French are well provided for. We
have no medical comforts none were forwarded
from Malta—and so, when a poor fellow was sink-
ing, the other day the doctor had to go to the
General's and get a bottle of wine for him. The hospi-
tal sergeant was sent out with a sovereign to buy coffee,
sugar, and other things of the kind for the sick, but he
could not get them, as no change was to be had in the
place. After this it is annoying to visit the French
hospital, and see them so well prepared. Everything
requisite is nicely made up in small packages;
so that they can be carried on mules' beams
and are marked with labels, so that one can
lay his hand on what is wanted in a minute. They
are very troublesome in getting what they want'
and already some little difficulties have arisen from their
desire to lay hold of everything. Dr. Alexander has
managed to get beds for about 200 patients in different
houses, and lie goes down to-day with Mr. Calvert to
the Dardanells to look at the building which is destined
for the principal medical establishment. I regret to say*
there are two cases of smallpox in hospital, but they
are going on favourably ; they came from the Golden
Fleece. The French and English are generally very
healthy, and the town and neighbourhood are said to
enjoy great freedom from sickness and disease.
Friday last the General visited the site of the camp, and
quarters were appropriated to various officers of the
staff in the town.

forms about two feet from the ground, by the water's
Ige or up the main streets, as well as in the shops of
the bazaar (one of the passages' or arcades already de-
maribed), see that they have no slippers on, nothing but
stint woollen hose, their feet gear being left on the
ground below ; shawl turbans (one or two being green,
For the real descendant of the Prophet), fur-lined flow-
ing coats, and bright-hued sashes round the waist, in
which are to be stuck silver-sheathed yataghans and or-
namented Damascus pistols—don't let them move more
their eyes, or express any emotion at the sight of any-
thing except an English lady ; then gather a noisy, pic-
turesque, and active crowd of fez-capped Greeks, in
baggy blue breeches, smart jackets, sashes, and rich
vests—of soberly dressed Armenians—of intellectual-
looking Jews, with keen flashing eyes—Chasseurs de
Vincennes, Zouaves, British riflemen, Vivandieres, Sap-
pers and Miners, Nubian slaves, camel drivers, commis-
saries, officers, and sailors, and direct them in streams
through the streets round the little islets in which the
smoking Turks are harboured, and you will do much to
populate the place. It will be observed there are no
women mentioned, but children are not by any means
wanting—on the contrary, there is a glut pf them, in
the Greek quarter particularly, and now and then a
bundle of clothes, in yellow leather boots, and covered
at the top with a piece of white linen, may be seen
moving about which you will do well to believe contains
a woman neither young nor pretty. Dogs, so large,
savage, tailless, hairy, and curiously-shaped, that Womb-
well could make a fortune out of them if aided by any
clever zoological nomenclator, prowling along the shore
and walking through the shallow water, in which stands
a herd of bullocks and buffaloes, waiting till the araba
or cart is ready for them—six French steamers, and
three French transports, with the tricolor flying, and
the paddle-box boats full of troops on their way to land
—a solitary English steamer, with the red ensign, at
anchor in the bay, and some Greek polaccas, with their
beautiful white sails and trim rig, flying down thestraits,
which are here about threeand a half miles broad, so that
the villageson the rich swelling hill of the Asia Minor side
are plainly visible ; all these must be added, and then the
picture is tolerably complete. In truth, it is a wretched
place--picturesque to a degree, but like all picturesque
things or places, horribly uncomfortable. The French
came first, and like all first-comers they are the best
served. When the Golden Fleece came in on Thursday
night there was no pilot to show her where to anchor,
and it was nearly an hour ere she ran out her cable in
19 fathoms water. No one came off to her, for it was
after midnight, and there was something depressing in
thiS silent reception of the first British army that ever
landed on the shores of these straits. As we entered
the portals of the Dardanelles, and rushed swiftly up
between its dark banks, crowned with mountain ridges
looming through the darkness, we tried to catch their
form and discern the outline of the villages on its shores.
The sentinels on the forts and along the ridges chal-
lenged loudly—shouting to each other to be on the alert
—the band of the Rifles all the while playing the latest
fashionable polkas, or making the rocks acquainted with
Rule Britannia,' and God save the Queen.' But
al/ these things ceased at Gaillpoli, and when morning,
came we only felt sorry that nature had made it a desir-
able place for us to land at. The tricolor was floating
right and left, and the blue coats of the French were
well marked on shore, the long lines of bullock carts
stealing along the strand towards their camp making it
evident that they were taking care of themselves. As it
happened, our active, intelligent, and able Consul had
gone to the tower of the Dardanelles to look for us, but
we had escaped him in the dark. The first thing that
happened after the visit of the commissaries was charac-
teristic. The General desired to send for the Consul,
but the only way of doing so was by water, and the
only vessel available for the purpose was a small Turkish
Imperial steamer near us. The consul's dragoman, a
grand-looking Israelite, prepare& to go on the expe-
dition, but the engineer on board had just managed to
break his leg. He therefore requested the loan of our en
gineer, as no one could be found to undertake the care of
the steamer's engines, and after a successful cruise he re-
turned in the evening with the Consul, Mr. Calvert, on
board. Now, will it be credited, that no instructions
were sent to the Consul to prepare for the reception of
this force at Gallipoli ? And yet lam assured such is
the case. The only steps taken by 'the authorities'
were to send two commissary officers, without interpre-
ters or staff, to the town a few days before the troops
actually landed to make provision for them. These offi-
cers could not speak the language, nor were they fur-
nished with any facilities for making themselves intelli-
gible—their proceedings, therefore, in all matters of
purchase, hire, or contract, were necessarily very slow,
and considering the pressure of the French demands it is
very wonderful they were so successful. However, the
English Consul was, fortunately, a man of energy ; he
came to. Gallipoli, and found the French had literally
got hold of the town from the Turkish Council. It is
affirmed here, indeed, that so vigorously did General
Canrobert speak in making requisitions for his army,
that the Pasha asked him whether the French were
come as allies to assist, or were come to treat them as a
conquered province.' The story further goes that Gen.
Canrobert next day sent an aide-de-camp to the Pasha to
say 'he was in command of an army and a soldier, and
had perhaps spoken too warmly ;2 and that the Pasha
(Roostum) replied, that he too was a soldier, and had
been in command of an army, but that he never could
have considered these circumstances justified the use of
such language.' This by way of parenthesis. Mr. Cal-
vert went to the Turkish Council, reminding them that
there were British troops yet to come, and succeeded in
having half the quarters in the town reserved to him
for their use. Next day he visited and marked off the
houses ; but on his return the French authorities said
they had made a mistake as to the portion of the town
they had handed over to him, and he of course had to
yield and give them up. They have the Turkish part of
the town, close to the water, with an honest and favour-
able population—the English have got the Greek quar-
ter, further up the bill, and perhaps the healthier, with
dexterous' tradesmen, and a population which hates
them bitterly, and regards them as foes quartered on
them by force of arms. Mr. Calvert was aided con-
siderably in his efforts by an officer of Royal En-
gineers, the Hon. Captain Wrettesiey, who has been
surveying this neighbourhood and the surface of the
isthmus since the departure of Sir J. Burgoyne.
I have great hesitation in expressing an opinion on
a subject of such difficulty as the selection of a position
for an army of occupation or defence, but in one or two
important particulars the site (said to be fixed upon by
Sir J. Burgoyne and Colonel Ardent) seems in my eyes
unfavourable. It is obviously difficult to get supplies
to the men defending it from the country—they must
be brought by sea or across from Asia Minor. Next,
it is not well provided with water ; and, thirdly, there
is a want of wood as well as of shelter. The line of
entrenchments which are to be thrown up across the
neck of the Isthmus will take three months for our dis-
posable force to make. Some alterations in the original
plans are said to have been proposed in General Vail-
lant's office in Paris ; but it is understood, that at or near
the line passing right across the front of the British
'camp from the Straits to the Gulf of Saros are to be
erected a series of field works and entrenchments of con-
siderable magnitude. The camp I speak of is that occu-
pied by the Rifles and Sappers and Miners, within three
miles of the village of Bulair (or Blejar). It is on a gen-
tle slope of the hilly ridge which runs along ,the Isth-
mus, and commands a view of the Gulf of Saros, but
the sea of Marmora is not visible from it. Sanitary and
certain other considerations may have rendered it advis-
able not to select this village itself, or some point closer
to it, as the position for the camp ; but as far as I can
see, the Isthmus is narrower at Bulari, could be more
easily defended, would not require so much time or la-
bour to put it into a good state of defence, and is
better adapted for an army as regards shelter and water
than the position chosen at present. Of course I say
this with great deference to the opinion of the very high
authorities who chose the ground, and I would not ex-
press it at all were I not emboldened to do so by the
fact that I heard it stated Sir John Burgoyne was not
engaged more than 10 minutes examining the spot.
Bulari is 101 miles from Gallipoli, so the camp is about
71 from the port at which its supplies are landed, and
where its reinforcements arrive. However, they are
talking of building some works on the coast,- so as to
enable troops to be disembarked within a couple of
miles from the camp ; and the engineers have also drawn
out a plan for a new pier at Gallipoli, at which boats
could come close up and land men and horses with
greater facility than at present.
" Sir George Brown, commanding First Division Bri-
tish Expeditionary Army, Colonel Sullivan, Assist.-
Adjutant-General, Dr. Alexander, first-class Staff-Sur-
geon, Captain Whitmore, Aide-de-Camp, &c., the Rifle
Brigade, and two companies of Sappers and Miners,
under Lieutenant-Colonel Victor, arrived as we have
seen on Wednesday night (Thursday morning), but it
was mid-day on Saturday ere the troops were landed
and sent to their quarters. Why was this ? Because
nothing was ready for them ! The force consisted of
only some thousand and odd men ; and small as it was,
owing to the fault of 'somebody or other,' it had to
lie idle for two days and a half watching the sea gulls,
or with half averted eye regarding the ceaseless acti-
vity of the French, the daily arrival of their steamers,
the rapid transmission of their seamen by the paddle-
box boats of their vessels to shore, and the admirable
completeness of all their arrangements in every detail
hospitals for the sick, bread and biscuit bakeries, wag-
gon trains for carrying stores and baggage, every ne-
cessary and every comfort indeed to be had the moment
their ships came in—not a British pendant was afloat
in the harbour ? Our great naval State was represented
by a single steamer belonging to a private company.
Well might a Turkish boatman ask, 'Oh, why is this ?
Oh, why is this, young man ? By the beard of the
Prophet, for the sake of your father's father, tell me,
Oh, English Lord, how is it ? The French infidels have
got one, two, three, four, five, six, seven ships, with
fierce little soldiers ; the English infidels, who say they
can defile the graves of these French (may Heaven
avert it !), and who are big as the giants of Asli, have
only one big ship. Do they tell lies ?' (Such was the
translation given to me of my interesting waterman's
address). It is all very well to talk about the fine
moral effect of developing the energies of the country
and relying on the effects of private enterprise, but the
thing is not understood abroad (perhaps not much at
home either), and experience convinces me, as it has
convinced every one who has seen the system at work,
that it would be far better for the G- vernment, even at
an increased expense of some" thousands a year, to
keep up an efficient steam transport navy in time of
peace, than to derange the operations and channels of
commerce, and disturb the communications and work-
ings of our great mercantile associations, by seizing on
their ships in times of war. Soldiers suffer by it—sailors
complain of it—the officers of the ships don't like it—
and the companies grumble internally, and talk auout
the damage and loss they sustain in consequence of their
best vessels being engaged as transports. The soldiers
suffer by ..he system, because they never are so well pro-
vided with sleeping and other accommodation on board
the very best and largest of these vessels as they are on

" On Saturday the Rifles and Sapper's and Miners
commenced disembarking, and were ready by,tverc;
o'clock for the route. They reached the camp au°,u_.
five o'clock. and pitched their tents in a hurry ere dusk'
The three leading companies, however, missed their way;
and went three miles too far. At night the cold I
severely felt. Lady Errol, who accompanies her bus"
band, and lives under canvass with him, was an object
of great curiosity and wonder to the Turks as she rode
off from the beach. The 44th pitched their tents close
to the town last night, but will move off to-day.
All the neighbouring hills are dotted with the tents of
the French. As M. Sabatior bas given it as big
opinion that there is only water at Bulari and the lines
for a brigade, General Canrobert has proposed that the
works should be carried on by three rinaants from
each army at a time, the English to be relit
by till
French, and so on. Captain Wrottesley has discovsrea
a stream some way from the site of
the larger camp.
The Kangaroo is landing her men to-day. She camein, after a good run, last night, and re
ports a barque
like the Sir George Pollock in the Doro passage. The
Vulcan, having disembarked the 44th and 50th, returns
this evening to Malta. We are, cheated horribly in the
exchanges. The French, - however, have stuck up a
tariff of prices, and have even established a restaurant
for the officers, &c., where they can dine and breakfast
at reasonable rates."

LETTER FROM THE BLACK SEA FLEET.
When it was known that Admiral Dundah would
have to enter the Black Sea, Captain Brock, an
officer well acquainted with it, was sent out to the
Admiral to assist in its navigation. The captain
is related to some of the most distinguished families
in Guernsey. The following is an interesting
extract from a private letter from Capt. Brock to 0,
relative in that island, and which was published in
the Guernsey Star, of Saturday last :
" Kavarna, Black Sea, March 28, 1854.
"We had a most interesting cruize in the Black Sea,
and on my return I bad circumnavigated the Black Sea,
the only Englishman in the fleet that can say
so, thanks
to my having been kept going. We coasted in the
Sampson to reconnoitre the Russian forts along the
coasts of Georgia and Circassia, and were witnesses of
the Circassians burning a Russian fort, which we after-
wards learnt had been evacuated by the Russians
it was a beautiful sight, and with the magnificent
scenery in the back-ground, formed „ aplea-
did spectacle. We did not then know that
ii
the Russians hail evacuated the place ; and, of courae
,upposed that the Circassians had stormed it and plitZi_
to the sword ; but we were afterwards undeceived. "'
saw some other forts in flames, and at last, my patience
being expended and curiosity excited to the utmost,
I prevailed on the captain to give me a boat,
spite of the prognostications that the Circassians would
take us for Russians, and shoot us. In vain did I try
to make the interpreters accompany me ; at last, in
despair, I was going alone, when the interpreter of the
French steamer in company with us, went with me. IC
was then dark, which increased the risk, but it was neces-
sary to obtain some clue to their extraordinary rzeceed-
ings. We pulled in close for the burning fort ; when within
musket shot they began firing pistols and muskets to warn
us off ; but I stood up and waved the boat's ensign ever my
head, and held out my alms, shouting as lr.aid or louder ,
than they. We pulled right on shore ; they seemed
uncertain what to do, and after many signs a man ad-
vanced on a white horse, and firing his arms in the
air and reloading them before he came neer, dis-
mounted and came into the water, with an axe in his
hand. Before even knowing what I wanted I jumped on
his neck and made him carry me on shore, which be did
to his and my great astonishment. I have no doubt I.
must have astonished his weak mind by my weight, arr./
his comrades by my appearance. Being called, however
they ran to me, and I told them we were friends to tLem
and enemies to Russia. This set them all alive, and
such embracing and kissing were never seen. We learnt
from them thht the Russians had, of their own accord,
evacuated this fort the day before, and that therefore
they had destroyed it as a hatred sign of the oppressor's
rule. I never before MIT 'inch a fierce looking set, be