The Press. — London, England, 1856-12-13 00:00:00

DECEMBER 13, 1856. SIR CHARLES NAPIER AND LORD PALMERSTON. SIR CHARLES NAPIER has this week forwarded to the morning papers copies of the following correspon dence : NO. 1.-SIR C. NAPIER TO LORD PALMERSTON. Merchiatoun, Dec. i, NH. My Lord,—Your lordship tells me that you have wit nessed with great pain " the discussions that have taken place between me and the Board of Admiralty, both in and out of Parliament, as well as the attacks made by me upon Sir James Graham on a public occasion." But, my lord, if you have felt pain on that occasion—provoked as I was by Sir James Graham and his Board—how much more pained must you have been to witness the unpro voked attacks made upon me by a member of your lord ship's Government on two public occasions. Your lordship tells me that "you have always main tained, when professionally employed in executing instruc tions under your department, that you had full reason to be satisfied with my judgment and discretion; and you are bound to say that you estimate the great services which professionally 1 have performed. You highly respect the noble qualities of which—in my professional career—l have given such frequent proofs. But Sou have seen, with sincere grief, in my conduct on shore, things which my best friends (and you claim to be one of them) could not witness without deep regret." How much more po.gnant then, my lord, must have been your " grief," and how much more deep your " regret," to witness the conduct of Sir Robert Peel—a Lord of the Ad miralty, a member of your Government—in attacking an old officer, double his age, who had served his country honourably for upwards of fifty years, had several times received the thanks of Parliament, and had even been highly lauded in Parliament by the hon. baronet's own father. Your lordship must also remember that in attacking me he attacked the French admiral, my colleague; and in so doing must have given offence to the French nation— our ally. Your lordship will permit me to observe that you do not put the case sufficiently strong. The attacks were made at public meetings, it is true; but they were made by Sir Robert Peel, a Lord of the Admiralty, a member of your lordship's Government, and in the presence of one of your colleagues ! Your lordship thinks no investigation necessary, be eause " you consider my conduct to have been judicious and proper, and to have been founded on a correct sense of my public duty in the very responsible situation in which I was placed as Commander•in•Chief of the Baltic fleet." The fleet i commanded, your lordship observes, " was perfectly sufficient, when reinforced by the French squadron, to have enabled me to give a good account of the Russian fleet if it had come out to give me battle." But the fleet under my command was not sufficient for the double purpose of attacking the stone batteries of Cron atadt, and afterwards encountering with success the Rue• aian fleet. Your lordship further observes, that " if I had attacked Cronstadt, whatever the result might have been to the Russian batteries, my ships would have been so serioisly damaged, and my fleet, after such an action with the bat. teries, would probably not have been in a situation to en• counter the Russian fleet. The consequence of such a state of things might have been a naval disaster, or the temporary ascendancy of the Russian fleet, not only in the Baltic, but in the North Sea, and on the coasts of Eng. land." You therefore think that, " in the then existing state of things, I acted with sound judgment in refraining from attacking the batteries of Cronstadt with the fleet under my command ; and that, in pursuing this course, I best performed the important and responsible duty which I had undertaken." This, your lordship says, " is your opinion now--was your opinion at the time—and it was so expressed in a pri• vate letter to me, when I was still in command of the Baltic fleet; and that this is the opinion you have invari ably expressed to all with whom you have communicated at any time on the subject." I feel highly gratified that you entertain so high an •pinion of my public services in general, and particularly of my conduct before Cronstadt. But Ido not think, after what has passed, that even your good opinion will clear me in the eyes of the world. It was stated by Admiral Berkeley, in 18.50, that it was my fault Cronstadt was not attacked. It has been stated at ,me public meeting, in presence of one of your colleagues, by Sir Robert Peel, another Lord of the Admiralty, that, "had I done my duty Cronstadt weuld have been crumbled to dust.'' This was confirmed at another public meeting, and it was stated by Sir R. Peel that " what he had said at Staf ford was approved by the 'highest authority.'" This has gone forth to the remotest corners of the earth. The " highest authority " could not have been your lordship, after what you have written to me. It could not have been her Majesty. Therefore I think the country has a right to know who this " highest authority " is. Sir Hobert Peel's opinion, my lord, on naval matters is not worth much ; nor, indeed, on any other. His want of Judgment is proverbial, but his position gives him weight. The course he has pursued reflects little credit on your lordship's Government; and be assured, my lord, that he is not the Samson to pull down the pillars of the State and crush the Administration beneath its ruins. I therefore trust your lordship will reconsider your de. vision, and grant me the investigation I request.—l have, dec., dc., CHARLES NAPIER. The Right Hon. Viscount Palmerston. THE PRESS. NO 11. SIR C. NAPIER TO LORD PALWERSTON. Merchistoun, Dec. 7, 1856. My Lord,—Since writing to your lordship on the sth of December, 1 beg to send you a copy of the Grand Duke's reply to me, just received. It is for your lordship to judge whether a member of your lordship's Government--who has endeavoured to ruin the reputation of au old officer—is fit to be one of his masters ; and your lordship may, perhaps, be able to as certain who the " highest authority " is to whom Sir R. Peel alluded in his speech.—l have, Sze. 41:c., CHAS. NAPIER. The Right Hon. Viscount Palmerston. NO. 111.-SIR C. NAPIER TO THE GRAND DUKE CONSTANTINE. ➢lerchistoun, Oct. 29, IMti. Sir,—l beg to send to your Imperial Highness a speech of Sir It. Peel—a Lord of the Admiralty—in which he accuses me of not doing my duty before Cronstadt. I also send your Highness my letter to him, and two to Lord Palmerston.—(Vide letter to Sir It. Peel in Morning Post.) I think I have distinctly stated what passed between your Imperial Highness and myself relative to Cronstadt, which certainly does not agree with what Sir It. Peel states. I shall make no apology to your Imperial Highness for writing to you. Your Highness is a frank, open-hearted sailor. I therefore request you will be pleased to inform me whether I have correctly stated what passed between your Highness and myself when you honoured me with an interview, and whether, as stated by Sir R. Peel, if I had attacked Cronstadt I would have crumbled it into dust.— I have the honour, &c. &c., CHARLES NAPIF.R, Vice• Admiral. His Imperial Highness the Grand Duke Constantine. NO. IV.-THE GRAND DUKE CONSTANTINE TO SIR C. NAPIER. St. Petersburg, 13th (25th) Nov., 1856. My dear Admiral,—ln answer to your letter of the 29th of October, 1 willingly affirm that you have quite exactly rern ted the conversation I had with you concerning Cronstadt. With respect to Sir R. Peel's statement, I consider it necessary to say that I spoke with him but once, viz., at his official presentation at Moscow, and that not a word concerning Cronstadt—not even the name itself—was men• tioned by either of us.—Yours affectionately, CONSTANTME. Sir Charles Napier, Vice• Admiral. THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE ON EDUCATION. THE Duke of Newcastle last week laid the founda tion-stone of Christ Church schools at Newark. Dr. Jackson, the Bishop of Lincoln, was present. His grace, at the conclusion of the ceremony, addressed a few remarks to the meeting upon the subject of education. His grace observed that our religious differences would seem to preclude the idea of es tablishing any great scheme of improved national education : At the same time there was no reason why they should be apathetic or negligent in the matter of education. On the contrary, whilst the Legislature was discussing various schemes of improved education, they might be endeavour ing in their respective localities, as they were here to-day, to promote an improved system of education on the prin• ciples of our holy national Church. This they might do without any feelings of bigotry or ill will towards others who were labouring in the same vineyard. On the con trary, there was room enough for all. They need not wait for any great national system, there was plenty to occupy all their attention until some such scheme could he devised. He regretted to add that this county of Not- tingham stood by no means prominently forward in good works of this description. The report of her Majesty's inspectors showed a deplorable state of things as regarded the schools of Nottinghamshire. There were only four teen certificated teachers throughout the whole county. Many of the schools were not more than half filled. One great cause of this undoubtedly was owing to the pro sperity which created an enormous demand throughout the country for a species of infant labour. In the agricul tural districts the parents received considerable wages for children only nine years old, and in the manufacturing districts children at the early age of seven found profitable employment. They might build endowed schools, and provide them with efficient masters and mistresses, but until they devised some scheme to keep the children at school their efforts would be in vain, for on the average each child was not kept more than a year at school. This in reality was one of the great crying necessities of the time, and though he for one should regret if any compul sory measures were resorted to, lie believed that it was to the interest of all, the employer as well as the employed, to arrange matters so as to facilitate the attendance of children at school to a far greater• degree than it was done at present. In conclusion, the noble duke said he thought it would be advisable to call a meeting in the county to consider the subject, and be was sure the bishop would be very ready to render his assistance in the promotion of so good a work. By applying a remedy in this direction, in bis opinion they would be doing more good even than by the mere erection of schools. The Bishop of LINCOLN said he should expose himself, he knew, to the charge of being an alarmist in saying so often, what he had felt himself obliged to say, that probably the next two years would be a time of severe trial not merely to our own Church but also to the great principle of religious educa tion 1105 Be maintained that there was no education worthy the name but that which was founded on sound definite re ligious principles. He could not but see that there were many men, and those by no means inimical to religion— on the contrary, men of eminence, sound in their own religious opinions, who had at heart the welfare of their fellow -creatures—who had been brought by Ruch reasons as satisfied them to the conclusion that our present efforts at education had been proved to be ineffectual, that they did nut reach the wants of the people, and that the time was come when the State must step in, and, either from the general taxation of the country, or from local funds, supply an education suitable to the growing wants of the population. It must be recollected that from such an education specific religious instruction must be excluded. While he honoured the conscientious convictions of such persons, he greatly regretted the conclusion they had arrived at. MR. BARON ALDERSON ON THE TICKET OF-LEAVE SYSTEM. AT the opening of the special winter assizes for South Lancashire at Liverpool, on Monday, Mr. Baron Alderson delivered an unusually lengthy charge, the principal topics of his address being the ticket of leave system, transportation, and the reformation of criminals. His lordship upon this subject said : Gentlemen, you will find a good many-1 don't know how many—in cases which people have been pardoned, so to speak, and come back into the world with what is called at present a ticket of leave, which certainly seems to me,—in its effects I mean,—an unwise proposition. They are let loose upon scciety ; and the reason is, that it is impossible to keep persons for so long a time as they were usually transported for before in this country. People get tired ; and then the chaplains of the gaol become ex tremely attentive; the offender turns up the white of his eyes, and pretends to be a converted sinner. The chaplain considers himself complimented in the effect of his admi nistration, and recommends him to be set free. A pardon is given, which is nothing but an incentive ; and then you have the result in a greater number of crimes committed by these people, who are not really reformed, but pretend to be so for the purpose of escaping punishment. Now, that transportation was subject to considerable evil, and required considerable reformation, was perfectly true ; but it is, after all, the best punishment for the country which inflicts it and the criminal who receives it,—for I believe it was perfectly well known that the persons who recovered a good name, and lived a decent and respectable life, formed a large per centage of the total sent out; while of those who remain in this country, and who, after a time, are turned adrift, there is a very small, if not an infinitesimal per centage only. They cannot obtain employment: what are they to do ? You turn them among their old associates. They have the cleverness which belongs to that description of persons, and they place themselves at the head of some new gang. Then evil arises. The men are punished perhaps for a second time, and it ends probably in death. Now, that is the fact. But turn him out in a colony, where the capital of the country requires an additional quantity of labour ; the residents would take those persons most readily, and could avoid them with greater ease ; they would be rid of their old associates in England, and would go into a new place, where they might distinguish them selves, as they are really capable of doing, by their talents and conduct, and they have often recovered themselves altogether, and become good men. With respect to incorrigibles, Baron Alderson was of opinion that they ought to be kept at home : We have no right to inflict on the colonies people who are incapable of being reformed in any country at all. The young criminals are to be reformed by reformatory schools, which are really doing great service, and I don't wish to make any alteration in that respect. J speak of the adults, for whom the establishment of the right system of trans• portation would be the greatest blessing that could be con letTed upon them. Mr. Baron Bramwell, at the opening of the Chelms ford Assizes on Thursday, while disclaiming all in tention of advocating either the abolition or con tinuance of the ticket•ot leave system, said : He must say that it appeared to him the granting of tickets of leave had very little indeed to do with the amount of crime that was alleged to be committed by the persons who received them. The fact was that when a person was sentenced to a certain period of imprisonment or other punishment, he was allowed, if he evinced con trition towards the end of the sentence, to escape a portion of his punishment. Undoubtedly it happened that many such persons, after obtaining their liberty, committed other crimes; but it appeared to him that the same result would most probably have occurred if the prisoner had received a pardon, or had been sentenced to a shorter period of imprisonment, and what he desired to point out was, that the granting of a ticket of leave was not in itself any more likely to he productive of crime than either of the other proceedings he had alluded to. He did not wish it for a moment to be understood that he was speaking in favour• of the ticket•of leave sy item—it might or it might not he advisable to return to the system of transportation, or that some other punishment should be substituted ; but whether the ticket•of leave system was retained or abolished, he thought that either course ought only to be resorted to upon some ground that was reasonable and in accordance with common sense. M. JULLIEN'S ANNUAL GRAND BAL MASQUE will this year take place at Her Majesty's Theatre, on Monday, December 22, on a scale of unprecedented Ail splendour and effect. The orchestra will be removed from its present position, and the whole floor of this magnificent theatre will form an enormous salle de dance. The house will be hung with festoons o