Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1854-09-09
LATEST FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE.
THE BALTIC FLEET.


There is no further of much importance from the
allied fleets in the Baltic except the details of the sue
cessfu siege at Bomarsund The official dispatches of
Sir Charles Napier with reports from his su
coordinate officers, published eztenso in the Eng
sh but too voumnohs be reproduced here
We therefore give the following synopsis from the Lon
don Times of the Oath ultimo:
The dispatches which have now been received from
Sir Charles Napier and the ample details furnished
by our correspondents with reference the capture
of the forts at Bomarsund have doubtless been read with
the iveest interest by all classes of the public more
gallant and brilliant operation has seldom occurred The
destruction Of Of the sronghods by which Russia
hoped to secure her dominion the Baltic and her
ascendency over Sweden has been effected with compa
ratvely small loss Of life and in the short space Of three
days from the opening of the fire. l< @.
English and French, soldiers and seamen engineers
and Marines of both nations have Joined heart and hand
in this enterprise and have doubt that the vgor of
their attack and the rapidty Of their triumph an
earnest of what the allied armies and fleets will eec.
der circumstances of greater difficulty and against
determined resistance In military point Of view
many of the details Of this operation deserve notice. be-
cause they the first practical experiment have had
Of the effect of guns and small in the attack of
places fortified the system Of the Russian casemated
batteries in the North of Europe.
The first point the dsembarcation Of the troops
which took place the morning Of the 9Th The land
ing place chosen by the General and the Admiral was
bay OF about three miles in BREADTH situated the south
the western fort which is that called Fort Tee Rus
sian earhwork carrying six guns had been placed on the
eastern promontory of this bay facing the but this
battery taken in flank and dsmounted by the fire of
the Amphion and Phlegethon
In the mean time the Decentralization was going on
and ii 900 men landed in the boats of the feet in
the space OF three hours and half The Russian troops
appear to have made no attempt to oppose the landing
though they might have occasoned considerable annoy
to by posting their rifles in the woods near
the shore. The British and French Marines six hun
dred Of each sg were conveyed by the Driver to the
north Of the forts, and landed behind them The next
four days were employed by the army in preparing for
the attack
The position Of the batteries was selected sandbags
and gabons were prepared and the sailors brought up
with great labor some long S2pounder ship guns which
were placed in position eight hundred yards from the
round fort On the 18th the fire Of the French battery
opened from the southwest Fort Tzee and the bonn
bardment was sustained in the most brilliant manner for
twentysx hours, with very short interval We are
not informed at what range this fire opened and the
distance probably greater than it would have been
II the place had been approached by regular siege ope
rations +,
The most remarkable fact is however that this French
battery consisted Of only four 16 Founders and four
ars, Or a5 our correspondent states Of three
ars anu three brass field force quite inadequate
to breach granite tower Three Of the enemy's guns
were dsmounted through the embrasure and the fire of
the french nm cs on these apertures that
the Russians had difficulty in loading their gems, and
suffered most severely in consequence. This crcum-
stance is OF great Importance and accounts for the large
proportion OF the enemy killed and wounded in fort Tzee
Eventually this part of the work taken by the French
chasseurs on the morning Of the 18th by coup de aa
details of which win doubtless appear in the French
dispatches pa
| Meanwhile the British battery under the orders of
General Jones in process of contradiction work of
greater time and difficulty because it consisted Of 81
FOUNDER guns dragged up from the ships. We not
told by the Admiral Of how many guns this battery
sisted nor is its position accurately described Ii must
however, have been the northwest front Of the place.
and within range Of both the round forts for the
western fort had been taken before General Jones opened
hre he turned his guns against the fort with
equal effect This battery manned by marine artil
erymen from the four block ships Their practice
excellent and in eight hours and half one side of the
| tower was knocked in.
ltis not clearly stated however by the Admiral whe-
this result was caused by FIRE of the 3pounder
or by the explosion mentioned by our correspondent
it appears from subsequent passage ia our letter that
practical breach was made by the GUNS aud that they
were three in number The effect of the preaching bat
teIies erected by Gen. paraguay DHiers against the
prncpa Tort was not tried because the place catuaed
the attack had been carried to the last
In fact, 1t was wholly unenahe from the moment that
the round forts commanding the of the position
in the hands of the allied armies
The most obvious inference to be drawn from the sue
cess OF this attack is that the Russian forts they
generally constructed the same principles and Of tn,
same materials those Of Bomarsund cannot Withstand
for any heightened time close FIRE Of heavy guns ever
when those guns very few in number and that the
difficulty Of fighting in casemated batteries is greatly in