The Sun.
London, England, 1854-11-25 00:00:00

THE BALTIC 'FLEET.

KIEL, HOLSTEIN, Nov. 20.
Since the departure from Nargen of the principal
portion of the Baltic fleet several merchant vessels,
freighted with cargoes for the Russian market, have
endeavoured to escape the vigilance of the steam
squadron cruising in the Gulf of Finland. Some
have succeeded in getting into port, while many
have been captured, and on their being adjudicated
as legal prizes the proceeds arising from their sale
will be shared solely by the ships under Captain
R. B. Watson, in command) he steam-frigate
Imperieuse. •
The existing regulations relative to the distribu-
tion of prize-money are not satisfactory to those
serving on board the large ships of the fleet. Al-
though not actually present at or taking any part
in the seizure of vessels consigned to the ports of
Rusia, they feel that some portion of the proceeds
accruing therefrom should be assigned to them, or
an equivalent in the shape of a public grant of
money be made to them,—and for this reason,
that during the present campaign the operations of
the fleet have been chiefly limited to the blockade
of the enemy's ports. If the smaller ships had
been attached as tenders to the larger ones, the
latter would have shared equally with the former,
although not present at the capture of any prize
vessels. The present system of awarding prize-
money requires revision, and it is to be hoped that
the Admiralty will direct their early attention to
the subject.
Since my despatch of the 17th instant there
is but little to report as regards the movements
of the fleet. The Basilisk paddle steam-sloop,
Captain the Hon. F. Egerton, left yesterday for
the Gulf of Finland, to reinforce the flying
squadron under the orders of Captain R. B.
Watson. The Magicienne, 16, Captain Thomas
Fisher, and Vulture, 6, .Captain F. H. Glasse,
arrived to-day from the northward. The former
brine-8 intelligence of a serious collision between
the 'Euryalus and the Imperieuse, which occur-
red during a violent snowstorm. The Euryalus
ran into the Imperieuse, whereby the mainchains
of the latter were cut away, and other damages
caused to the hull. The bowsprit of the Eurya-
lus was carried away, and also her figure-head,
which dropped on the quarterdeck of the Impe-
rieuse. Both ships have been able to repair the
injuries they have sustained Without going into
port.
The Board of Admiralty, desirous of effecting
everything that is possible to improve the condi-
tion of the subordinate and warrant officers, the
petty officers, and seamen, &c., serving in her
Majesty's navy, have issued new rules and regu-
lations relative to the periods at which the pay-
ments of their wages shall be made. On and after
the Ist 'of January, 1855, gunners, boatswains,
carpenters, unpassed clerks, midshipmen, masters'
assistants, clerks' assistants, and naval cadets are
to be allowed to draw bills at the termination of
each quarter for the amount of pay due to them,
in a similar manner to commissioned officers. The
subordinate and warrant officers are also, when
first joining ships to which they may be appointed
for foreign service, to be paid in advance, in ac-
cordance, if they require it, with the following
scale :
Unpassed Clerk
Midshipman
Master's Assistant
Clerk's Assistant
Naval Cadet
Gunners, boatswains, and carpen-
ters, (Ist class)
Ditto, ditto (2d class) lB 5 0
Ditto, ditto (3d class)
The permission hitherto granted to these officers,
of allotting or remitting any part of their pay, ac-
cording to the rules and regulations previously ex-
isting, will not in future be allowed.
The advance is to be paid by the paymaster of
the ship at the earliest possible period after the
officer has joined, with the sanction and in the
presence of the captain or commanding officer, for
the purpose of enabling the officer to provide his
necessary outfit, and make his private arrange-
ments before the ship to which he belongs shall
proceed to sea.

£ll 0 0
.. 5 10 0
.. 8 0 0
._ 6 5 0
.. 3 0 0

With reference to the payment of the petty
officers and seamen, the Lords Commissioners of
the Admiralty have issued directions that the
wages due to them hereafter will, as occasion may
require, he paid to them at any time and place by
any naval accountant officer (paymasters of ships
included), according as their Lordships may think
fit. In all cases of these payments being directed
to be made at a port having an Admiralty esta-
blishment with a superintendent, they are to be
made in the presence of and under the control of
awl; superintendent. Lie seamen are alou to be

permitted to remit the whole or any portion of the
balance of wages due to them to their wives and
families or relatives.

Subordinate officers, when promoted to the rank
of commissioned officers, as also petty officers pro-
moted to the rank of warrant officers, are no longer
to be allowed as heretofore to transfer their pay
tickets by endorsement. In future the wages due
lo them on promotion are to be paid by the pay-
master of the ship, if desired, up to the time of
their promotion, or the promotion tickets may be
sent to the Board of Admiralty, who will cause the
amount to be paid in the customary manner ; but
hereafter payment will not be made to any person
in whose favour such promotion ticket shall be en-
dorsed.

Men or boys discharged out of the service abroad
are to receive froni the paymaster of the ship from
which they are discharged the amount of wages duo
to them at the time.

According to the present rules of the service,
seamen and boys when discharged out of one ship
into another on foreign service, are not allowed to
receive the balance of wages due to them, unless
the ships to which they belong are ordered home,
and the men volunteer to remain abroad. Here-
after this privilege is to be extended to all men and
boys serving on a foreign station wjio may be dis-
charged from one ship to another, provided they
have served two years in the ship from which they
are discharged, whether or not such ship be or-
dered home.

THE CONDUCT OF THE GOVERNMENT
IN REGARD TO THE WAR.

(From the Press of this day.)

A. 'victory, more remarkable, perhaps, than anything
in the annals of war since Agincourt, been gained
by the sheer and splendid valour of troops who had
60,000 of the enemy before them and a Coalition Min-
istry behind them. Despite both obstacles Inkermaz
was won.

There is little fear lest the glorious deeds of the sth
of November should lack record and eulogium. The na-
tion has burst out with one exulting acclamation at the
tidings transmitted by our Field-Marshal. Not an inci-
dient of that day, from the church bells sounding out in
the darkness of the morning to the final retreat of the
routed enemy at the dusk of evening, will ever be for-
gotten where the English history is read. And the
journalist, who perceives a more imperative duty than
the gratifying one of dilating upon the heroic actions of
our soldiery, has at least the satisfaction of knowing
that there is no chance of their glorious valour and un-
hesitating self-devotion going unrecognised.
Unhappy England ! that the very glory of her soldiers
is the shame of her statesmen. Unhappy, that in every
one of the facts which make the ♦ictory a marvel and
a miracle, is a damning charge against those who sent
forth the expedition. The army was miserably scant to
contend against the enormous force of the enemy—it did
contend in the face of those fearful odds, and vanquished
—hence its glory. But why were its numbers so few
Such a fight would have been impossible had Sebastopol
been previously assaulted ; and the day of assault had
bee■ again and again named, but, unable to complete
their preparations, the besiegers allowed time to pass,
the Russians came up, and this dreadful battle was
fought. Why was the army unable to complete its
preparations ? Why, but because its resources were,
by the criminal negligence of the Government, inade-
quate to its work. At no time was our arms•
rnent at all proportioned to the task set before
it. Ere disease had thinned the ranks, and ere, a.
single Russian shot had been fired, the army wa%
—as every' military man knew—far too small for
the reduction of Sebastopol ; and yet, after thousandi,
had rotted and died while Lord Aberdeen was cackling
ever "negotiation," and after the slaughter of the Alien ,
and of Balaklava, the Ministerial organs received orders
to pretend to expect the fall of the great stronghold.'
The sadden shrieking and shouting for reinforcements is
a cry of the very latest date—it was net set up ult 4.-."
men, incensed at the fearful and wicked waste of life in:
the Crimea, and indignant at the cowardly terror of ..the`,
Administration to face Parliament, began to speAk, of
holding their owe meetings, and of considering far
themselves the conduct of the war. The first of such
assemblies would have sounded the Coalition knell ; and
the cry for reinforcements was made, we admit, with all
the fervour and frankness of imbecile despair.
Despite all that had been done to insure failure
and ruin, the little Crimean army has triumphed.
Our best blood has been poured out like water,
a carnage which, had it been necessary, would have been
dreadful, but which, seeing that it might have been
spared, is utterly hideous, has been in part announced;
and there is other sorrow on its way. Scarcely a family
of rank but is already in mourning. Our brave soldiers,
slaughtered by the thousand, find nameless graves in the
Crimean valleys. And yet the glorious little hand holds
its own against all comers. How long it may be able
to do so is a question too grave for discussion. A coun-
cil of war has decided that the army is to winter in tlet
Crimea, from which resolution it is evident that no im-
mediate effort was contemplated. Sebastopol is to be
taken at our leisure. It is most probable, therefore,
that our skilful generals will be able, Heaven only knows
at what price, to secure and maintain a position which
may defy the onslaughts of the enemy. Let us trust
that such may be the case.

Had the Government at home made up its own mind
as to the plan of operations, or made itself adequately
acquainted with the nature of the task which was so
glibly prescribed to our soldiers, not even a Ministry
like Lord Aberdeen's would have sent out a• miserably
insufficient a❑ army. A powerful force, with a defined
object, would have at once proceeded to its work, and it
is not much to say, that in the presence of such an arms
as ought to have been despatched to the Crimea, ouch
attempts as those of Menschikoff and Liprandi would
have been military impossibilities. But, boasting as
seemed the Prince's phrase, when he announced that he
would " cast our forces into the sea," it was really no
such absurd vaunt when the relative numbers of
his own forces and ours are contrasted. The grand
attack on the sth was an attempt to fulfil this
pledge, and if one man is matched against six—and
these are the terms on which the Coalition has pitted out
forces against the Russians—the six can hardly be
charged with boasting in whatever way they may under..
take to deal with the one.

But those who expected the Coalition to manage the
war boldly and practically manifested a sanguiness in
which we must avow that we were unable to participate.
We showed at the very outset that the war, begun at
the wrong time, was also begun in the wrong manner.
Now, wrong seldom comes right, and the whole cam-
paign has been a series of misfortunes, illuminated at in-
tervals by the splendid valour of those wantonly exposed
to such trials. It is almost useless, except in refutation of
arrogant self-laudation, to refer to the past conduct of the
war. But now that our army is finally consigned to the
inhospitable and iron-bound Crimea for a terrible winter
—now, at the end of November, the Government is
taking thought for the need of our soldiers, and "orders
are given" for the preparation of winter clothing, which
will doubtless be made, in time, and at some later time
will be shipped, for the long voyage to the Black Sea.
Wooden barracks are even talked about, and a yell
good suggestion that holes should be dug in the grounds
and that our soldiers should become Troglodytes during
the winter, has been received with favour. In the
meantime, our soldiers, under the watchful eye of *
practical Government, are shivering in the Euxine
breezes, starvin:g with miserable rations, and sick-
ening in presence of medical assistance of so limited
a character that it is little more than a erne
mockery. May Heaven preserve the brave fellows who
have withstood the Russians, but who have yet to
withstand the Coalition !
This is no time to mince words, or to seek for emascu-
lated paraphrase in place of honest English. The nation
knows that the army has been abominably treated, and
that its condition at this moment is one of peril and suf-
fering. Public indignation demands that every exertion
be instantly made for the succour and solace of the troops
now sentenced to a Crimean winter. Hands, hearts,
purses are all open if the Government will do its duty.
There is nothing which the nation will refuse to the Ad-
ministration—except confidence.