Weekly hawk-eye and telegraph. [volume] (Burlington, Iowa) 1855-1857, 1856-01-30

| GIGANTIC NAVAL. PREPARATIONS OF ENGLAND
| FOR THE NEXT CAMPAIGN.-As the prospects of
| peace grow fainter, and the spectre of War
looms ont dark and gigantic more wildly from
| the future, it becomes the business of England
| TO examine what hopes she has Of being able 10
strike hard and home at Russia--of being able
| to make her blows tell with quick and vital eff
| feet on the vast body of her foe. There is no
use in hesitating-therc is nothing to be gained
! by the system Of cautious delay-it is time that
we should not only show, but should actively
| employ, our enormous strength by sea--that we
should not only blockade the Russian ships in
the Baltic, but that we should show them that no
strength of defence, that no armament of forts
is sufficient to secure them from the force of the
| British attack. We must appear close to st. Pc
| tersburg with arguments which Russia cannot an
swer. We must see what conditions Of peace
she will venture to offer when the last sail of the
| Navy, on which she has spent her time and her
treasure, is emoshed-when even Cronstadt is
| insufficient to defy the armament that we re
now gathering for this exploit.
We published yesterday a list, the accuracy
of which we have no reason to doubt, of the
ships that will be available for the Baltic cam
paign of 1856. 1t is n catalogue the extent and
| power of which will show that the country has
not been de--that she has not neglected the
greatest source of strength that she possesses
that she has fleet superior to anything that the
world can show at the present day, or that histo-
| ry can tell of in old time. Twcnty-ships-ot-the
line and eighteen frigates, of the magni-
cent proportions and heavy armament with
| which those formidable vessels arc now fitted
are followed by line of floating batteries
| heavy mortar-ships, and gun-boats of smaller d-
mansions, amounting in all to 243 sail-enough
one would think to do anything that can be de-
mandcd Of naval force. 1t is plain that Rus
sia expects, and is preparing to meet, a strong
attack this year in the Baltic. All our news
thence tells us Of the troops that she is concen-
| trsting--of the defences that she is erecting
! there She knows our preparations, and feels
that sharp and decisive work must be encoun-
! tered Hitherto our appearance in the Baltic
| has been snowy, rather than damaging and for
| midable. Our ships have been busy with the
ruin of Russian commerce. They have not been
exposed to danger; they have not meddled with
! glory. They have struck the Russian flag from
the seas without suffering blow themselves
| This has, no doubt, severely damaged the coun-
try. 1t has created trouble in the Russian towns
and has brought disnay and starvation to the
stores of the merchants, but it is no. enough
for the national obstinacy-it does not, unh
PLY, convince the people. Another cor =, ,"p
be taken-t must be determined W. ,o,har or no
British skill and courage are ,a.ah for tho
Notifications which make II a i''''I , ~, s,tb
of Pnss;, Wo shonla.' .e pride and strength
E,,,a,,I ~, s,.sae mink, and we believe all
which we shall with us, that the armament
f,r,s th;s ~ bring against these tremendous
;cs wh;os .esent year-that the floating batter
,;nr IA we and our Allies shall bring into ac-
that the fleet of gun-boats which we shall
,irect will at least be sufficient if not to destroy
the forts themselves, to annihilate every ship
that now lies beneath their guns The destrnc-
ton of the Russian Navy will be something to
add to the history of our maritime glory 1t
will be a blow which it will take Russia long to
recover--a serious damage to her, practically
and financially fatal loss to the position
which her ambition had led her to assume in
Europe London Post, Jan. 4.