No sovereign since Peter the Great has done so much for the Russian navy as Nicholas. At Navarino the Enghsh were no longer so discontented with Russian ships, if we may believe that the testimony of Captain Craw4ord was not a mere matter of courtesy, in acknowledgment of the hospitable reception given him by the Russian fleet, or that he was not influenced by party feeling, to throw the blame of negligence upon the then English ministry. " I cannot refrain from expressing my astonishment," said Captain Crawford, " at the extraordinary advance made by the Russian navy at a time when that of England has been at least stationary. It was truly admirable to see the attention paid by the Russian officers to all that passed on board our ships, and the promptitude with which they applied their newly-acquired knowledge. There is among the Russian naval officers and sailors, an admirable esprit de corps, an emulation, a desire to do their best, an enthusiasm for their national fleet, and its prosperity. I could not, as an Enghsh naval officer, help feeling somewhat strange at the thought that there should be at Cronstadt twenty-six Russian ships of the une, with 30,000 men on board, and victualled for four months, while, for the protection of our coasts and harbours, our merchantmen in the Baltic, the North Sea, and the Channel, there were only seven ships of the line, and even those not fully manned."
The whole naval force of Russia consists of 350 ships of war, carrying nearly 6000 cannon, and manned by 50,000 men — sailors, soldiers, and gunners. Among these, 40 are ships of the line, from 60 to 120 guns ; 35 frigates ; 120 gun-boats, of which last the greater part have been organized for the protection of the coast of Finland.
On all the seas which the Russians have reached they have launched ships : on the Baltic, on the Black Sea, the White Sea, the Caspian, and the Sea of Okhotsk : in the three latter, on account of their remoteness, and the little importance of their relations, the fleets are of course small, consisting only of a few frigates and brigs. The two chief fleets are stationed in the Baltic and the Black Sea, the latter increasing more and more with the increasing importance of the affairs of Turkey. Nearly 2000 cannon float on the Black Sea in twelve line-ofbattle ships, eight frigates, and some smaller vessels. Among these ships is the largest in the Russian navy — the Warsaw, carrying 1 20 guns.
The Baltic fleet is still the nK)st important ; 28 ships of the fine form the nucleus, to which is attached a suitable number of frigates, corvettes, &c. In the number of ships and guns carried by them, this fleet has long been the most effective on the Baltic, and, indeed, doubles that of any other power there, both in immber and equipment. The German powers, whose possessions border on the Baltic, — Prussia, MecMenburg, and Holstein, — have no fleet there.
The Swedish fleet consists of 100 vessels of war; of which, ten are line-ofbattle ships, and 13 frigates, with a fleet of about 300 sloops and gun -boats. The fleet of the guardians of the Sound, the Danes, that people of the island and the ship, consists at present of 30 large vessels, — among which are 6 line-of-battle ships, and 6 frigates, — and 70 gun-boats. If we estimate the naval force on the Baltic by ships of the line, there are 26 Russian, and only 16 not Russian. The Russian ships have now a coast line of 300 German miles to defend. Before Alexander's time they had only 170 miles, before Catherine's 120 miles, in the time of Peter the Great not more than 100, and previous to that, i. e., 150 years ago, they did not possess a single foot of coast. The English have contributed largely towards this increase of Russian naval power in the North as well as in the South. The destruction of the Danish fleet at Copenhagen by the English was an occurrence at which the Russians might rejoice as reasonably as at the battle of Navarino.