Show prom from the Sra rup ruf journal extract from frow a letter dated at st peter reter bur june tune 5 to friends in this tina cit city cronstedt Cron stadt ac A few days since eine sine I 1 went in comp uny iny with gine gaine sine three hundred excursion isis to P berhoff and cronstedt Cron stadt we had bad the best steamer on co tip neva a band of music from tile the imperial lin peria perla 1 guards and the best of all half a dozen americans passing down the river we had a fine chance to see the vast ast preparations made for forde fending tile the city itself ine in e ni e the rhe decla decka aj ali p of t tile the state ot of seize fele B bit dit it ries rips have ben be het n thrown up on all the he islands and arid casts coasts eve every ry person who has visited this capital must roust yet et grasp firm birin ly lv remembrances s of or tile tiie gardens and ad groves of vors Vore V orvi orsi irle irie f iq that the t vener veder venerable abler island and which has ties been smiling and siu slumbering evir sine the u das hys of peter is now girt in in full armor and numberless satellites in the the shape of if snappish little lilile gun boots are in in continual ont inual attendance an hours voyage g brought bron brou glitus I 1 us in lull the forts of 4 anti anci shortly after the fleet of the file allies was nas up give five or six miles be yond to ewry evry one of us whose iose lose mind lad had iad been at al pent toward a calculation of the character of the war ewry every foot of the like way became interesting stretching ava aga away to the right from troll the tile own town of cronstedt Cron stadt across the gulf bhore of finland was the tile submarine subr subi arine wall of tones and piling at which an army has been occupied during the tile pat winter ils its IL object is nooh channel which though generally alo shallow for frigates would adinie gun pun boits boats you mst ast not picture to yourself this wall as a 9 grand rand tand piece of regular masonry in in finish granite like peters jusys on the contrary its presence is is only denoted by specks and spots here an and d ti there jere and by a long rank of dismantled fri eates sates ates so as to coin command mand every part of it coming nearer hearer we pas passed ged sed two fleet fleets of rus ru 1 s sian an gun boats are perhaps sixty feet feel fe et ion lon long iong r some propelled by stefi te TA some by oars oats the former carrying three alree great guns s the tib latter letter two the tile russians claim to have haie as great a number of these antle ai the allies it is is iso aso aso said that the rusian lusian boats are ara much better adapted to these waters 4 n board coard of one some somei weeks since at a trial of her machinery there i were weri shown me several parts foi for lor which this supe sut gut 1 per 11 ait fit y is claimed soon we came into a goodly company of steam fr izates frigates and among them most trim tn morall cfall was the Kamsch built some years jears since at new york then we made nur our way through all the Russian slaw siaw fleet the bands on every side pla pia placing ing the national anthem chorus sed by hur but loud and arid long then we ran close under the forts and bitte ries ties of celebrated narrow passage ii the western gate of the empire it would greatly tax the boldest imagination not spurred ddn on by nie HIP view itself to fancy eve so immense a it combination of de fences at our right ri 9 ht towered fort chikoff chi kolf koif of horse shoe sha she shape te four tiers high and of granite on thi th i left w was as kron eron kron ern castle casie a fortress of bf still greater bie ble sie sze stretching out from these were long if f batteries covered with enormous enow enor moui guns farther west was rie M band the greatest fort of all like kron castle it is 13 circular in iri plan and built of granite hewn in in great square squire blocks still further gurther in front was fort alexander and a number of other fort forts from which branches bra long iong lines of heavy cannon in in battery T the he cha channel ariel itself is so narrow that not wire than two or three vessels could be arranged abreast in iii it and it could be swept at any moment nt hy by the concentrated cent rated fire of nearly all these forts and sat hat teri leri tens s by afire coming from five file different directions erections ions lons add then to this that teat two first class ships of the line stand protected by the forts rort but sweeping swee pine with their then whole broadsides broad sides the whole channel leng ieng lengthwise lengths thi ise lse that no place could be apt ter fitted for defence by submarine batterie batteria bat teri terie that according to all accounts jacobi the master klint in in all such devices hs hns been constantly at it work think of all these and you will then be jn in a way to estimate the probable emaciation of any foe who proclaims his intention of passing that way to his dinner in st petersburg A long way out was tile the hostile fleet then numbering twenty six and all steamers except one they were arranged in in long lines across tile the gulf and their magnificent appearance no doubt douht gladdened gladdene d the hearts of the Engl engi englishmen englishe ishm en of our party it was a splendid sight by the aid of a glass every pirt of their hulls lills were werm seen see n distinctly they have already shown much boldness A few days since a steamer the tile bulldog came so closely in that the faces of the crew were clearly seen though within easy easy range not a shot was fired on either side there is a russim nusim story that the emperor has given orders to let his enemies fire the first shot the allies seem to have employed the time since since their last visit to some soine profit for now thanks to improved char chat charts t s they run freely about in waters which last year they dared not ap rp A perfect chart of the gulf of fin lend and and the neva is not a thing easl easi eastly easily y to be ob tamed as you may well imagine when wilen you ou know mow that taking 17 soundings in in time of or peace is punished asa as a crime crim there are evidently other dangers to the fleet besides these arising from sands rands or stones the here often I hyugh in in a quiet way of jacobbs Ja cobis percussion batteries which broke from its anchor and was struck by a n finnish fishing smack the story runs that at last ne counts recounts vessel and crew were voyaging at a most uncomfortable distance cloud ward and in a very loose condition generally I 1 immense ammense additions have been made to the de fences of cronstedt Cron Crons stadt during the past winter hardly a da day has passed when aen we have not riot seen long trains of heavily loaded sledges on their way over the ice seaward the linz of cannon and ammunition through the streets is the most common occurrence I 1 met today to day several a wrought iron iron gun carriages of a size perfectly gigantic going toward these there defences defenses de fences |