The Sun.
London, England, 1848-05-10 00:00:00

BLOCKADES OF VENICE AND

--
THE BALTIC PORTS.
(From last night's Gazette.)
Foreign.office, May 9th, 1848.
It is hereby notified, that Viscount Palmerston, her
Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Foreign
Affairs, has received a dispatch from her Majesty's am-
bassador at Vienna, enclosing a note from Count Fiquel
wont, the Austrian Minister for Foreign Affairs, con-
taining the following announcement of the blockade of
Venice:—

(Translation.)
COUNT FIQUELMONT TO VISCOUNT PONSONBY, DATED
VIENNA, APRIL 30, 1848.
The eity of Venice having raised the standard of revolt,
the Government of his Imperial and Roy al Apostolic
Majesty has found itself compelled, with the view of
reducing it again to obedience, to place the port of
Venice under effective blockade, from the 23d of the
present month.
In expressing the hope that this measure will not be
of long duration, and that it will cause only a short in-
terruption to commercial relations, the undersigned,
Minister for Foreign Affairs, has the honour to request
that his Excellency Viscount Ponsonby, ambassador
extraordinary and plenipotentiary of her Britannic
Majesty, will bring this measure to the knowledge of his
Government.

The undersigned avails himself, &c.
(Signed) FIQUELMONT.
Foreign-office, May 9, 1848.
It is hereby notified that Viscount Palmerston, her
Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Foreign
Affairs, has received from the Danish Minister at her
Majesty's Court a note announcing the blockade of the
German Baltic ports of" Stettin, Stralsund, Rostock,
Wismar, Pillau, and Dantzic, and further announcing
that the Elbe will be blockaded on the 10th inst.
The tenor of the Danish Minister's note is as follows:
(Translation.)
My Lord,--In execution of the instructions which I have
just received from my Government, I have the honour
to notify to you the blockade of the following ports of
the Baltic by the forces of his Danish Majesty, namely:
Stettin, Stralsund, Rostock, Wismar, from the 2d of
May ; Pillau and Dantzic from the 3d of May ; and to
request that the Government of her Britannic Majesty
will cause the usual publication of the same to be made,
in order to obviate all future complaint or reclamation
on the part of the trade.

Every neutral vessel will be informed, on its entry
into the Baltic, that those ports are effectively blockaded.
I am informed by the same dispatch that the blockade
of the mouth of the Elbe has been provisionally fixed for
the 10th of May, but that a further notification will be
forwarded to me.

In making your Excellency acquainted with the
measures adopted by my Government, I have the honour
to enclose a copy of the dispatch from my Court, which
directs me to make the communication ; and I avail
myselfof this opportunity of renewing the assurances, &c.
(Signed) REVENTLO W.
Danish Legation, this Bch of May, 1848.
(Enclosure.)
No. 29. Copenhagen, May 2, 1848.
Monsieur le Comte,—You are aware that differences
which have for some time prevailed between Denmark
and Prussia, as well as the other powers of the North
of Germany, have recently broken out into open hos-
tilities.

It is not owing to the Ring our august master that
they have not been terminated by means of conciliation;
every proposition made with that view has unfortunately
failed, in consequence of the obstinacy and precipitation
of the Cabinet of Bei lin.

His Majesty, being at present attacked upon his own
territory by the German troops, finds himself under the
painful necessity of employing all the means of defence
in his power; and he has therefore resolved, in the first
place, to cause the ports and the mouths of the rivers
belonging to the enemy to be blockaded by his naval
forces.

I have the honour, Monsieur le Comte, to announce
to you, in consequence, that the effective blockade of
the following ports will take place:—
For Stettin, Stralsund, Rostock, and Wismar—from
the 2d of May.
For Pillau and Dantzic—from the 3d of May
regard to the mouth of the Elbe, the blockade
thereof is provisionally fixed for the 10th of May; but
I reserve to myself to transmit to•you a further notifica-
tion in this respect, as well as with regard to other ports,
the blockade of which may be determined upon.
While I request you, Monsieur le Comte, to bring
these arrangements to the knowledge of the Govern-
ment to which you are accredited, I have to add, that
every neutral vessel will be warned, on her entry into the
Baltic, that those ports are effectively blockaded.
The royal ordinance which, in determining the mea-
sures to be taken relative to the blockaded ports, and the
seizure of vessels belonging to the enemy, recognizes and
guarantees the rights of neutrals, is in the press, and will
eutral
be communicated to you as soon as possible. N
packets, charged with the conveyance of mails, will be
allowed to pass freely, and will only be warned not to
bring in articles contraband of war.—l have, &c,
(Signed) KNITTid.

NAVAL INTELLIGENCE.
PORTSMOUTH, TUESDAY.—The Andromache freight
ship, 500 tons, Captain Passmore, arrived this morning.
Her dates are—Hong Kong, December 30; the Cape of
Good Hope, March 5; and St. Helena, March 22. She
has invalid seamen, marines, and soldiers, from the
qtiadron in China, 12 of whom' died
on. on thrace e passa
Monc ge -
She brought home Lieutenant the HHo
ton, of the 29th, and lady, passengers; Mr. Black, late
Naval Cadet of the Vulture steam-trigate, and other pas-
sengers. The Lightning steam-vessel went out and
brought the invalids from her, who have been sent to
Haslar Hospital.
The Adventure naval transport, Master Commander
Wellington, sailed this afternoon fer Sheerness, with vo-
lunteers for the Ganges, 84.
The freight ship Melville arrived this morning from
the Cape of Good Hope, with troops, we believe the 91st
_ .

regiment. A stem of signalling,
SEA• SERVICE SIGNALS.--,x Si - the
ed!, of the Imperial Austrian
invention of Lieutenant B
during the last two months, by an. order from the
service, has been in the course of trial in the Solent
Houston Stewart, R.N., C. 8., under coast defences.
Comptroller-General of the coast guard service, Captain
two black, dia-
mond nicated from Portland to St. Alban 's-head, 17i miles,
and across the bay of Weymouth, t3i- miles, in rainy
The trials have been most satisfactory, having nommu.
hazy, windy, calm, and fine weather, with the rapidity
of the electric telegraph, and the signals were made out
at a distance of 22 miles. The method is ple,
which distend them. They
ftiocnonostfru"c
consisting of two double cones of painted black canvas,
similar to two nun-buoys, one over the other, showing
the opinion of most naval
- shaped substances when open, and when closed
the same figure in evesriympdliereoc
show only the black canvas of the cones collapsed on
the edges of the hoops
appear so cheap and
as portable, that it is
officers who have seen them that they may be used
for general purposes as signals in a fleet, and shown
in many positions where flags could not be seen,
An instance in proof of this occurred on Monday, when'
the Wellington revenue cruiser, Lieutenant Grandy,
R.N., commanding, exchanged many signals with her
Majesty's ship Bienbeirn, between Calschot Castle, in
the Southampton water and Portsmouth harbour, a dis-
tance of eleven miles, with the utmost rapidity, while
the flag-ship Victory was covered with signal pennant
endeavouring to communicate with her Majesty's ships
lielleisle (whom she misreported to the Port Admiral
the Collingwood), at Spithead, a distance of about six''t
miles, without success, until nearly eight o'clock
night, in consequence of the mirage, &c. Flagsat
hoisted on board the Wellington at the same
were
and so unconscious were the officers `Valli te Blenheim time,
the fact, though answering all the n2tnnt, eim of
Biguals that they were not seen by thorn," cone
and they

t o
tdistanceshe remained ignorant of the circumstances until the
solely de
fol-
lowing morning. The cones being black can be seen
watill
immense
irrespective of colour being
themselves two diamond d non aper,
figure
one over the other, and s
raw
ij
were to number them from
top to bottom 1,2, 3,4, they would find the sum total
make 10, which will admit of 15 changes, viz., two 3's,
two 4's, two s's, two 6's, and two 7's, which, by number-
ing the letters of the
taalphabet, admit of any com-
muniincatßions being mad Sir James Clarke Ross, Cap-
.N., commanding
search of Sir John n ghe expedition about to go in
Franklin and his lost voyagers, is
going to take out these s •
gnals as the best adapted for
i
certain communications between ship and ship. Lieu-
tenant Redrs intelligence
ment; he has also a and talent deserves encourage-
lamps,
as
simple
as systemthe cone
of night signals and signal
cone signals, and the brilliancy
of their light far
es anythingsurpass else yet produced
in this way.
THE ALLEGED
SEVERITY B
aontoff.--We OA RD THE BELLE..
gave ion
publicat
accounts which had reached us of a great many deser-
yesterday to some
tions from the Bellerophon 78 c
,Captain Baynes, C. 8.,
now at Portsmouth, and of charges
and other acts of cruelty practised
edof excessive flogging,
com-
pany during the short time she has beeneeethe ship's We are well aware that there waseramission'
certain
for some portions of the statements;
but foundations
time we felt assured that the real facts at the same
very much exaggerated. We are now enabled, on the
were,
as
usual,
authority of a communication from the Bellerophon,
charges to contradict that portion of the which
was contained in the paragraph extracted from the
Devonport
and
Telegraph's correspondence,we are
sure our west country Coutempor •
Contemporary will rec •
the denial of the horrible imputation on the eive
officers
of
we
the Bellerophon with as much satisfaction as have
had iu drawing it forth. With reference to the flogging
we have also the gratification to be able to correct the
exaggerations which have been set afloat; but we must
confess that the bare truth is painful enough, and whether
or not those frequent punishments on board the Bellero-
phon were justly deserved, and of necessity administered,
or the culprits have been harshly treated and excessively
tortured, of this we are assured that no body of men, in
any position in public or private life, deplore the facts so
much as the Lords of the Admiralty du themselves. The
Bellerophon was commissioned on the 23d of September,
1847, and, with a crew of 450 men, left Spithead
about the middle of December. She then proceeded
to Gibraltar, Corfu, and back to Gibraltar ; and, on
the 22d of April, to Spithead. According to the log
of the ship, from the time she was commissioned to the
30th March last 29 of the crew were punished. 01
these 16 were seamen (viz., 5 A.B 2 landsmen, 2 car•
penter's crew, and 7 ordinary seamen), 10 marines, and 3
boys. The total number of lashes inflicted was 732, and
the average number to each man was 25k. There were
15 punished for drunkenness, 4 for theft, 2 for skulking,
2 for stabbing, and 1 fur filthiness, &c. During the run
from Gibraltar fire men were punished with 96 lashes.
Thus the total number flogged since the ship has been
in commission is 34, and the total number of lashes in-
flicted was 828, and not " 1,600," as stated.
The number of desertions was stated to be about 94.
This is also incorrect ; the number checked as absent
without leave is 54, and it is expected that many of this
number will return to the ship.
These we believe to be the real facts of this painful
case, and it is quite bad enough, without any exaggera-
tion. Captain Baynes is known to be an excellent officer,
and a very mild disciplinarian. We trust that in future
he will be " captain of his own ship."
THE CHANNEL SQUADRON.—Rear-Admiral Sir C.
Napier, with the St. Vincent and Prince Regent, are
ordered to Spithead, and may be expected in about a
fortnight. The Ganges, 84, at Sheerness, is ordered to
the Nore; the Powerful, 84, at Portsmouth, to Spithead,
on the 15th; and the Caledonia, 120, at Devonport, to
Plymouth Sound.
THE SURVEYOR'S OFFICE, SOMERSET HOUSE.—It is
reported that Mr. Watts, master shipwright of Sheerness
Dockyard, is ordered to Somerset House, to assist Sir
Baldwin Walker in his duties as Surveyor of the Navy;
and that Mr. Read, now one of the committee of refe-
rence at Portsmouth, is to act as waster shipwright at
Sheerness during Mr. Watts's absence.