The Sun.
London, England, 1854-08-10 00:00:00

THE COMBINED FLEET AT LEDSUND.

LEDSUND, August 2.—General Baraguay d'Hil-
liers returned from Boniarsund last night in the
Imperieuse yacht. He was reconnoitering very
close to the forts, when the masked battery opened
fire upon him, and two shots fell over the ship.
The commander soon steamed away without their
reach. Preparations are making to-day to land
the troops in the paddle-box boats and ships'
cutters, etc. Her Majesty's ship Termagant, and
three transports, with troops, have just arrived.
The celebrated Vlusquito, iron yacht, made her
appearance last night with a Norwegian flag
flying. The cholera is still rife on board
the Majestic and Princess Royal, but is not
spreading. There have been 12 cases on board the
latter, and 22 in the former. A man, yesterday,
fell from the foreyard of the James Watt on the
anchor, and was killed. The Lightning (12 noon)
in just gone on to Bomarsund with all the scientific
and navigation officers in the fleet. At 1 p.m.
the whole of the boats attached to the combined
squadron were employed in landing troops at a dis-
tance of about three miles from the fleet. They
marched on to some heights, where a signal house is
placed, and were then allowed to roam about for three
hours to their evident enjoyment, after being cribbed
and confined in a man-of-war. From the shore the
appearance of the Sound was imposing in the extreme.
The severe and belligeren t character of the fleet have
been entirely changed, for whereas at Baro it con-
sisted print ipally of men of war, with their grim
broad sides of unbroken lines, now, on the other
hand, these men of war are interspersed with every
conceivable craft, differing in size, build, rig, and
appearance from the handsome Duke of Wellington
or the graceful imperial yacht, down to the most
ancient specimen of naval architecture, the Goth-
land trading sloop. The troops returned on board
at 6 p.m. in the boats, 140 of which were employed
for the purpose. The tent equipage of the men is
very portable. Their tent mess is divided in to six
men, each of whom carries a sixth part of the cover-
ing, together with a tent stick and pegs. On
pitching it, the canvass parts button over, and are
quite impenetrable to wet. The form of the tent
is low and gipsy-like.
The cooking utensils are also divided among the
six men to carry attached to their knapsacks in a
similar manner—one carries a tin saucepan, others
a kettle, drinking-cups, water-bottles, and every
requirement. Their accoutrements seem to be
selected of those materials requiring less care and
trouble in keeping in order. Thus the knapsack is
lined outside with the hide of the ox ; the shoulder
and waist belts are of the roughest black leather ;
and last, though not least, they wear none of those
instruments of torture round their necks so inge-
niously introduced into our army for the purpose
of homoeopathic strangulation.
All the troop ships that have arrived are men-of-
war.—St. Vincent, Royal William, Hannibal, Al-
giers, eeHrr sei
rf
Herefordshire,
sdthri
jaarnteo: rp, 0
Columbia,r St
sp. hl pn xr
JTeueelr mao, ac gEr
eadwn
wt)
nS tFr
.bol
Belgravia,i.
AUGUST 3.

The time for moving the troops up to Bomarsund
will either be to-day or to-morrow. A little delay
has occurred, but it is from the humane desire
of saving life as much as possible. For this
purpose, therefore, each ship has been ordered
to build two platforms for large lower deck
guns. These are to be landed, and are to be used
against the forts on the land side, which is deemed
very weak and incapable of resistance. A con-
tinuous siege, directed to a point that has been
lately discovered or heard of, will enable us soon
to make a breach in the fortification, without being
exposed ourselves to the fire of their large guns.
The men of war, it is thought, will not moor close
to the batteries unless of urgent necessity, but will
shell the place while the troops are investing it.
It is said the Duke, Acre, Princess Royal, and
James Watt draw too much water to risk in the
passage. The tide rises and falls about eight inches
duly ; indeed it is almost imperceptible, but a
strong current might decrease the depth two or
three feet, being all that the Duke at present
would have to spare between some of the little
islands.

The yacht Foam came in this morning from
England. The Tilsit, French man-of-war is ex-
pected.

THE CONDUCT OF THE GERMAN POWERS.
The Times correspondent writes from Vienna,
ou August 6th :—There are t j us now very con-
flicting opinions in well-informed circles relative
to the intentions of Prussia. The probability
is, that Prussia is now intriguing with Bavaria
and Saxony, and the other Bamberg Confe-
rence Scates ; but the Emperor Francis Joseph is
strong in the justice of his cause, and will not
flinch from-the performance of what he considers
his duty to himself and the nation. German unity
always was a fiction, and so it is likely to remain,
until by some concatenation of circumstances one
State becomes omnipotent. It is in my power to
give you some little insight into the present state of
the political machinery of Germany. The character
of the man who has been called by Providence
to reign over the Prussian nation is so well
known that it is not necessary to say a word on
the subject. The King of Bavaria is a valetudi-
narian, whose power of volition is about on a level
with that of the King of Prussia. The King of
Saxony is a good-natured, well-informed mo-
narch, who is remarkably fond of botany, and per-
mits himself to be governed by M. de Boust, a philo-
Russian of the purest water. However, as Saxony
has but little real influence over the affairs of Ger-
many, we may at once return to Prussia and Bava-
ria. It is notorious that M. von der Pfordten is the
very humble servant of that most liberal distributor
of ribands, crosses, and stars, the Emperor of All the
Russias ; but his influence would not alone have
been sufficient to make the head of the Bavarian
House consent to play second fiddle to the King of
Prussia. There is at the Court of Munich a certain
HerrvonDonniges, a, man of talent, who was formerly

a Prussian professor, and this person exercises very
great influence over King Max of Bavaria. Madame I
Donniges, his wife, is also a favourite with Queen
Maria, who, as you must be aware, is a Prussian
Princess. Not long since the Prussian ex-professor
visited Berlin, where he was received with very
great distinction, and, naturally, on his return to
Bavaria he was more than ever inclined to further
the interests of his native country. It is not yet
known what plan of operation was resolved on
when the two German Monarchs met in the Bava-
rian capital, but it is considered probable that, as
soon as Austria attempts to force Russia to drop
her prey, a formidable coalition will be formed
against her in the Bund. A slight degree of trepida-
tion is evident here, but France, England, and Aus-
tria, firmly united, may laugh the Emperor of Russia
and allhis German "toadies" to scorn. The prevalent
impression here is that Austria considers the ad-
vance of the Turkish army into Wallachia a kind of
breach of contract ; but if such be the case, this
Government is alone to blame. If the Austrians
had entered Wallachia on the 3d of last month, as
they had announced it to be their intention to do,
the Allies would now have been actively employed
on the northern and eastern coasts of the Black
Sea, instead of losing health, time, and patience in
the north-east of Bulgaria. The Turks, notwith-
standing their proverbial slowness, have taken time
by the forelock, and have had the satisfaction of i
seeing the backs of the Russians, and of receiving
a deputation from the Wallachian capital on the
anniversary of the day on which, in 1853, their
enemies had entered it. No one is a greater advo-
cate than myself of an alliance between Ans.'
tria and the Western Powers, but the move-
ments of this Government may render the
plans of the Turks and their allies nugatory.
Instead of carrying out her convention with the
Porte without further delay, Austria appears to be
only bent on obtaining one concession after the other
from the Porte. The policy of Austria does not
appear to be straightforward in this matter, but at
all events the interests of England are well under-
stood and well cared for at Constantinople. The
correspondents of the Triest. Zeitung and Augsburg
Gazette continue to rail at Lord Redcliffe, and this
may be considered a sure sign that the noble lord is
considered the great obstacle to the realisation of
some plan which Baron Bruck has formed. The
British Ambassador, says one of the writers for the
last-mentioned paper, is unhappy lest Austria should
succeed in introducing'a state of things in the Prin-
cipalities which may satisfy the inhabitants of those
provinces, " and raise a cordon against the plague
of revolution around the Austrian frontiers." It is
not in my power to say what is exactly meant, but
experience has taught me that whenever an en-
croachment is about to be attempted, phrases similar
to that quoted are plentifully served up to the
public.