The Sun.
London, England, 1854-04-11 00:00:00

THE BALTIC SEA.

It is probable that this curious labyrinth of isle-en
tangled and coast-sheltered waters will, after all, be the
theatre of our first military operations in the struggle
which it is now universally admitted is at hand. Its
great length, and comparatively small breadth, give it
the form of an extensive gulf, and as such it would be
considered, if it were not separated from the North Sea
by the low and narrow tract of land *hich forms the
southern part of the Danish peninsula called Schleswig.
The longest straight line drawn through the Baltic
would be about nine hundred miles, and the breadth no-
where exceeds 150 miles. The area is computed at
160,000 square miles. The Gulf of Bothnia, which, is
a vast sea in itself, running up between Norway and
Finland, joins it on the north, and the Gulf of Finland
prolongs it in the east. The entrance from the Atlantic
is by a large gulf called the Kattegat, which separates
Denmark from Norway and Sweden, and by three straits,
the Sound, the Great Belt, and the Little Belt, which may
be considered the three gates by which the Baltic is en-
tered. Having passed the pine-crowned cliffs of Norway,
and threaded the numerous small isles of the Kattegat, we
approach these fcrinidable gates. So far as regards the
powerful naval expeditiOn that recently left our shores, we
need only consider two of these gates or entrances. The
southernmost, or Little Belt, which separates the peninsula
of Jutland from the island of Funen, is too long, the navi-
gation too intricate, and the depth of water too variable
to be attempted by large vessels. Its whole length is
about 80 miles, and in some places, as at Ferdina, near
the entrance, and at Middlefahrt, it is less than a mile
in width. The depth varies from 4to 27 fathoms. The
middle entrance, the Great Belt, separates the islands
of Funen and Zealand. It is about 70 miles in length,
and from eight to twelve miles in width. The navigation
of this passage is also dangerous, owing to numerous
shoals and small low islands. The third entrance, the
Sound, through which one of the vessels of our fleet
passed a few days since, separates Sweden from the
island of Zealand. It is about 30 miles long, and asthe
entrance, where it is narrowest, between Kronburg and
Helsingborg, it is only a mile and a half across. The
navigation of this channel is safe, and the depth of water
varies from 19 to 20 fathoms. The fortress of Kronborg,
which is about 25 miles from Copenhagen is placed at
the extremity of the tongue of land on which stands the
town and castle of Elsinour, and commands the entrance
of the Sound. The whole of these three entrances, are
strongly fortified, and are as completely the keys of the
Baltic, as the castles and fortresses of the Dardanelles
are the keys of the Black Sea and Constantinople, and
it is somewhat singular that nature has thus interposed
obstacles to the ambitious designs of Russia, by placing
her, as it were, under arrest in her own vast dominions,
with sentries at her only points of egress both in the
north and south.
Having passed the Sound, and arrived at Copenha-
gen, we are fairly within the Baltic. The northern
shore is generally high and precipitons;-and covered with
magnificent pine forests, producing timber of the finest
quality ; the southern coasts, on the contrary, are low
and marshy, and lined by numerous sand banks all the
way td the entrance of the Gulf of Finland. The basin of
the Baltic is of considerable extent. and it receives the waters
of several large rivers, and the.drainage of msathain
fifth of the surface of Europe. Perhaps in no otlier itZ
country on the face of the globe does so
in the course of the year as in the countries round the
Baltic. This phenomenon may be
alternatelybeace accounted for by the
e with warm
atmosphere of the sea being fine
moisture, and subject to a dry piercing cold, and by the
rapid transition from one
areto thethe i
otrlieehneet granaryTheproiv o
provinces
bordering the Baltic
quantityc o mp are do
ft omtehl
melted
the globe ; and no portion of the earth approaching
so near to the
polar Theirecleimeamnenbsee
in natural wealth.-
snow water that falls into the Baltic renders it
much less salt than the Black Sea. Its
average depth is small compared with its area, being only
forty to sixty. fathoms. It is to these two circumstances,
its comparative freshness and want of depth, is to be
attributed that the shores, and nearly the whole of its
surface, are every year covered with ice, which in gene-
ral, from the end of December to the beginning of April,
locks up completely the harbours, straits, and bays,
and interrupts the navigation. In severe winters large
portions of the Baltic have been frozen sufficiently
hard to allow of an army to cross. The current is
not rapid ; it sets outward towards the Kattegat, and the
tides are scarcely felt, the rise or fall at Copenhagen
scarcely exceeding a foot. Another peculiarity of the
Baltic, and of the gulfs in which it terminates, is exceed-
ingly important as regards the naval expedition which
has just entered its waters. The ice does not leave the
whole of this vast sheet simultaneously. The western
parts are free and disengaged much sooner than the
eastern, and from west to east the process of liberation
once begun, stretches farther and further by well-known
gradations.--Front (Justine' s .Russia.

RAILWAY DILLS OF 185-I.—The report of the hoard
of Tr ale to the general committee on railway and canal
bills, on the railway bills of 1854, has just been issued.
It appears from the report that the number of railway
bills which have been deposited this session, amounts to
138. Two additional bills, not strictly railway bills,
but relating to railways, have been considered with
these, which makes the number included in the report
1400—Railway Record.