The Sun.
London, England, 1854-08-07 00:00:00

TO THE EDITOR OF THE DAILY NEWS.

SIR,—An able letter on "Our Two. Fleets and their
Task," in your columns of yesterday, properly insists
upon the importance of destroying the Russian fleet in
the Gulf of Finland, as an object second to none which
we can propose to ourselves during the present war ;
and the writer proposes two methods of effecting this re-
sult, so far as relates to the fleet in Cronstadt :-Ist. By
landing on the Western extremity of the island, which is
comparatively defenceless, and thence destroying the
fortifications by regular approaches. 2d. By shelling
the fleet in harbour at long range, from the northern
side across the island. A simpler mode of effecting
this object presents itself, by breaking through the Lisi
Noss embankment, which extends from the north-eastern
corner of the island, a distance of six miles, to the near.
est point of the mainland, and which forms the sole
obstacle to a large portion of the allied fleets penetrating
to within a very few miles of St. Petersburg itself. The
embankment once cut through, there would be a channel
for vessels drawing 18 feet of water into the rear of
Cronstadt, where the fortifications amount absolutely to
nil.

With regard to the feasibility of the undertaking,
it is to be observed that the embankment is unde-
fended by batteries, and from its length and position
is incapable of being so. As to mechanical obstacles,
if a joint stock company were got up to out a ship canal
through the Lisi Noss, they would find a hundred engi-
neers and contractors who would undertake to complete
the works for them within a month.

-- ---
This same Lisi Noss embankment is, after all, a
unique and barbarous contrivance, and such as, with the
mechanical resources at onr command, ought not to stop
our progress for a moment. It might puzzle for a while
the routine of Chatham ; but a Stephenson or a Brunel
—a Bendel or a Brassey.would laugh at the idea of its
occasioning serious embarrassment. In a word, to adopt
the language of our parliamentary committees, " the
scheme presents no engineering difficulties."
August 4, 1854. A COUNTRY READER.

COURT CIRCULAR.

OSBORNE, Ant 5.

Major-General the Ron. Sir G. Cathcart arrived at
Osborne yesterday evening, and had the honour of
dining with her Majesty.
Sir George returned to London this morning.

AUGUST G.

The Queen and Prince, accompanied by the Prince
of \Vales and Princess Louisa, and attended by the
Marchioness of Ely, the Hon. Mary Bulteel, and Capt.
Du Plat, honoured Colonel and Lady Katherine Har-
court with a visit at St. Clare, near Ryde, yesterday
afternoon.

The Duchess of Kent, attended by Lady Anna Maria
Dawson, and Sir George Couper, arrived at Powlest-
house, East Cowes, yesterday, which residence her
Royal Highness has engaged for several weeks.
Prince Albert visited the Duchess soon after her
arrival.

Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent, attended
by Lady Anna Maria Dawson and Sir George Cowper,
left town on Saturday afternoon, by the South-Western
Railway, for Powis-house, near Osborne, Isle of Wight.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer and Mrs. Glad-
stone left town on Saturday, on a visit to Sir Walter
and Lady Mary Farquhar, Poulsden-park, near Guild-
ford.

C.I33INET COUNCIL.—A Cabinet Council was held on
Saturday afternoon at the Foreign-office, Downing-street.
The Ministers present were— the Earl of Aberdeen,
Lord John Russell, the Marquis of Lansdowne, the
Lord Chancellor, the Duke of Argyll, Viscount Palmer-
ston, the Earl of Clarendon, Sir George Grey, the Duke
of Newcastle, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sir
James Graham, Sir Charles Wood, the Right Hon.
Sidney Herbert, Sir William Molesworth, and Earl
Granville. The Council sat three hours.

MARRIAGE IN THE ARMY AND NAVY.—The propor-
tions in the service who are returned as married in every
100 of each class are 25 officers and 15 men in the
army ; 30 officers in the navy, and 24 seamen ; while
two officers in 100 and one man in 100 are widowers in
the army, and one officer and one man in the navy. The
proportion of bachelors in civil lite is 31 in every 100
persons of the age of 20 and upwards. Among the
officers of the age of 20 and upwards serving in the
army, 71 in 100 ; among the men, 82 in 100 ; among
the officers in the Royal Navy, 60 in 100 ; among the
seamen, 69 in 100 are returned as bachelors.—Census
Report.

PROMOTIONS AND APPOINTMENTS.—Sir Graham Mont-
gomery, Bart., has been appointed Lord-Lieutenant and
Sheriff Principal for the county and shire of Kinross.
Mr. Arthur Edward Kennedy, Governor of Sierra
Leone, is also appointed to be her Majesty's Consul-
General in the Sherboro country, on the west coast of
Africa. Mr. John Bell, her Majesty's Consul in Algeria,
has been promoted to the rank of Consul-General, but
without any addition to his present salary. Mr. Thomas
Elmore is appointed unpaid Vice-Consul at Algiers.
Rear-Admiral Henry Byam Martin is appointed to Sir
C. Napier's fleet in the Baltic.
DEATH BY MACHINERY IN HOLBORN.—On Saturday
evening a fine youth, named John Carr, residing in
Kingsgate-street, Bloomsbury, was assisting his father,
at Mr. Clark's, an engineer, in Gate-street, Lincoln's.
inn-fields, when, contrary to orders, he went into the
machine-room, and being caught by his coat, he was
drawn in among the machinery and killed on the spot.
THE MURDER AT ESHER.—The trial of Mrs. Brough,
for the murder of her five children, is to take place on
Wednesday next.
PROPOSED NEW PIER AT THE SOUTH SIDE OF BLACK-
PRIARS•BRIDGE.—On Saturday several workmen were
employed in driving piles on the south side of Black-
friars-bridge, immediately contiguous to the British
Plate-glass Company's warehouses, for the purpose of
constructing a landing pier on that side of the river,
at that particular point. The proposed. pier will be
200 feet long, six feet wide, and furnished with a
roof of corrugated iron. The work has been un-
dertaken by a few spirited individuals as a
private speculation, and it is to be hoped that
they may succeed, as they deserve to do, in thus em-
barking their private capital for the convenience of the
public. The Committee of the Thames Navigation and
Port of London, which has, at present, control of the
bed and soil of the river, have given the promoters leave
to erect the pier, and the authorities of the Surrey Trust
have granted the use of a commodious passage, as a
means of egress from and ingress to the pier, from
the
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bu ne
rde- t r clett ,
is
ehiyp
at
the ed fLo:tttotfbteh bridge
pier
e ‘vi o nll be
opened in the course of a few weeks. It is intended to
call the erection,
" The Royal Surrey Watermen's Pier."
ANTIMONY SHOT.—We understand that extensive ex-
periments are now being made, by order of Government,
tf.) test the effect' of shot made from antimony upon
wooden as well as iron surfaces. As far as they have
been tested, the destructive effects of these balls are
more apparent than those arising from iron ones; for
as soon as the surface is struck, the metal, owing to its
great brittleness, breaks, and the various particles, con-
sequently, become widely spread. The authorities seem
to be much pleased with the success which has attended
these experiMents • and we are informed that an im-
mediate supply of antimony balls will be despatched to
our fleets in the Baltic and Black Seas. The use of this
new missile will create a demand for our Cornish anti-
mony, which is now in considerable request.