FORMATION OF A THIRD FLEET BY FRANCE.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XI, Issue 723, 2 June 1854, Page 3

FORMATION OF A THIRD FLEET BY FRANCE.

The ' Moniteur publishes the following report from the Minister of Marine, announcing the formation of another great fleet, to be commanded by Admiral Parseval Deschenes :—: — "Paris, Febr. 23d, 1854. " Sire, — Your Majesty has directed me to prepare a third squadron. Your orders are executed. The moment appears to me to have arrived for providing for the command of the ten ships of the line, fourteen frigates, and fifteen corvettes, either sailing ships or steamers, of which this squadron is to be composed. I have the honour of proposing to your Majesty to confide those ships tothe officers whose names follow : — "Vice - Admiral, Commander-in- Chief — Vice - Admiral Parseval Deschenes. Rear-Admiral, second in command— Bear-Admiral Pcnaud." In a few days France will have three great fleets at sca — the Black Sea fleet, under the command of Admiral Hamelin ; the Brest fleet, which has recently gone round from that port to Toulon and the other Mediterranean ports, for the purpose of embarking the expeditionary army, and conveying it to its destination in the neighbourhood of Constantinople ; and lastly, the fleet now announced under the command of Admiral Parseval Deschenes, of which the destination is not yet published, but which it may safely be stated, is to be sent into the Baltic. The 'Moniteur' publishes a decree, prohibiting the exportation of arras of every description, and also of gunstocks, projectiles, and other munitions of war. Clothing, horses, sailing-vessels, and steamers, also come under the prohibition. The ' Moniteur' also publishes a letter from Prince Napoleon to the Emperor, in which the Prince requests permission to form part of the expedition which is being prepared. Orders have arrived at Toulon for the embarkation of the troops belonging to the corps destined for the East. It is now positively stated that the French expeditionary force for the East will amount to 80,000 men, to be hereafter increased in the proportion that may be rendered necessary by circumstances. It appears that there is a plan on foot of detaching fiom 30,000 to 40,000 men of the expeditionary armies, and sending them to the Crimea, where they would attack Sebastopol by land, while the fleets attacked it by sea. A circular from the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, addressed to all the diplomatic and consular agents of France, orders them to give their support to the subjects and the commerce of England in every case where they may be menaced "by the common enemy.