Lynchburg daily Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1852-1861, 1855-09-20
Allied Operations on the Baltic.

Allied Operations on the Baltic.
The affair of Sweaborg. which was announced
in England and France with such flourish of
trumpets. turns out to have been the pettiest of
triumpbs,ifi fact,l i9e all the other undertakings
of the Allied fleets, it were not failure. The
London Times in some severe reflections on the
inactivity of the Baltic squadron INDUCES in the
following remarks on the Sweaborg lombard.
ment:
.Of course, nobody here is satisfied with the
result, and all sorts of people. sagaeious or sim
pie, are putting their heads together to solve the
problem Of an immees preparation which not
only has so little to show for ITSELF but turns out
so helpless aud abortive. People are ransaeking
their memory. their reading, for the history
of the late and they are sayiug--old ones
well as young upes--that they don't remember
ships always coming back foi stores. they
don't remember that feat was expected just to
lombard place and then return homefhey don't
remember either that ships IN the old sailing days
were so shy of forts, or that they reckoned il "A
perfect reason for not attacking fort, or forcing
a harbor, or attempting TO cut out the encmy's
shipping that they were likely to suffer some dam
age and lose some Certainly, on compar.
ing the present with the past, great change hns
come over the scene in more respects than one
and the colossal screw steamer. twice ms big as the
old liner. with twice heavy metal, twice us
swift. and infinitely more manageable, after ALL
does very much less work than the old nerwith
its crowded hrnadside of small guns its clumsy
build.i sails and lis fatal tendency to become
utterly disabled or becalmed just when il ought
not. There numerous instances of sailing
vessels being deliberately moored, as at Agers.
not at the distance OF two miles, but nj less than
900 yards from battery, and having done
sideraby more harm than they received. There
are instances of ships sailing right into the enc.
my's harbor. and fighting batteries aud shipping
all at once. without always coming off the worst,
and very seldom without giving much Us they
took. Now is the FIRST time that steam has been
applied to naval warfare on the large old scale Of
war Ii is the time that nautical people have
long been ,oking forward to as TINT which would
solve a great problem. Well, that problem is
an solution, and are bound 10 say that thus far
steam turns out very little better than coward
ly imposter. What does il do for US! 1t is al.
ways coming home. and showing grcat prudence
in keeping out of danger: but, yet. il does none
of the things il was promised to do. There was
a. time when naval commanders used 10 say they
would 90 anywhere, enter any por'. or stand any
fire. If they could only answer for being able to
extricate themselves when they had had enough
oft The long desired agent has coma, aud
there is hardly one ship in the fleet without it
The only result is, that sailors, for the first
We shall be- told. perhapsas we have been told
before that we are urging sailors into fool
hardy enterprises merely to satisfy the impatl
ence Of civilians. We reply with the question,
..What has been done this year with naval or
nament which altogether has cost England for
this season alone no less than E3O000.0O0!"-
Some If that money is for the transport of troops;
but. on the other hand the navy has its ordnance
found by a separate department. 10000 0O0,if |
it does not pay the bill. is very fair estimate.
What has been done more than Nelson or Colling-
wood e,yuld have done with the means nj their |
command! As for the Black Sea, excepting the |
operations in the Sea of Azotl, the fleet there has
passed so completely out of notice, that many of
readers have probably forgotten that there Is,
somewhere other in the East,a fleet more pow |
erful in all respects than that which figured in the
great naval review at Portsmouth two years ago. |
At this moment cannot even say whore it is, |
the events of the day leaving one very little spare
attention for things that lead to no result IL come
to nothing. Looking to both seas, however, it |
is evident that the great question of steam rersus
sails has not received very triumphant solution.
Could Nelson and his iustrious contemporaries
and predecessors arise from their graves and take
their stand on some Finnish Crimean headland
could they see the endless bother of idle ma
nouvring, the steaming to and fro, backwards
and forwards, out and back again, To bring an
other mortar a crank, to stop a leak i'll "A
boiler, or mend faulty stop cock, and could they
witness the grand act of the season, lombard
ment at the distance of two miles, followed by
a return home, and the performance ended by the
middle of August, are inclined to think they
would thank their stars that they were born before
the days of steam, and their lot cast in an
age when success ond renown were expected not
so much from imposing dsplays,and here & there
ingenious dodge for doing damage without
risk but from the old English virtues of enterprise,
perseverance and daring.