The Press.
London, England, 1855-08-25 00:00:00

SATURDAY,

in an unpleasant collision with one of the
family whose motto is `• Ready aye,
ready." The belligerents at both sides pre-
sent a singular eontiast. It was said of a
htlem
famous London attetio -r, who was one of
" the characters" of kis e, that he had the
" me.pners of a sea 'top hcthe appearance of
" a litage-coachmat
,and the general know-
" ledge of the Ina itget ,of a theatre." Sir
CHARLES NAPIEit, in ,1 similar way, reminds
one of pmou.Err's novels, while his bearing is
a cross between that of the British admiral of
the stage and an Irish agitator. Sir JAMES
GRAHAM only puts us in mind of one dramatic
part. None will dispute his pretensions to
play lago, up to SHAKSPEARE and Nature.
Such being the antagonists in the present
fray, let us see how the Admiral advances to
the attack. His first blow is certainly a
stunner. " The first year there might have
" been some excuse for the Admiralty not
" having means, but none the second." All of
us have heard often enough how Sir CHARLES
asked for gun-boats, and did not get them.
tt ut the Admiral enlarges the accusation. The
Admiralty might have got plenty of vessels in
the river fit to be converted into gun and
mortar boats ; but, instead of doing that, they
built floating batteries, which could scarcely
swim, and cost us a million and a half.
Then, applying himself to the results at
Sweaborg, Sir CHARLES reminds us that the
Allieshad only forty three gun and mortarboats,
" though they ought to have one hundred ;"
and " Sir JAMES GRAHAM in a letter said two
" hundred." Now, we have often been sickened
by hearing of " the great official capacity " of
Sir hoe GRAHAM. It was originally cried up
when, in the Reform Bill era, the Right
Honourable Baronet entered upon an Admi-
ralty retrenchment of the root and-branch
kind. Why were not the gun-boats forth-
coming under this pretentious First Lord ?
" Curses are like young chickens, and soon
" come home to roost." That phrase of
" reason why " will stick to Sir JAMES GRA-
HAM with a vengeance.
For it is plain that under an energetic ad-
ministrator much more might have been ac-
complished. With better means, Admiral
DuNnes would have effected greater results.
On this point Sir CHARLES deals some vigor-
ous blows ; and we are made to recollect the
neglects of our Premier, and his procrastina-
tion in organising the Scotch and Irish Militia.
The phrases used in this correspondence recal
the calamity of the Coalition. As we read of
" rocks a-wash and reefs under water," we fancy
that the nautical writer must have been slyly
alluding to Russian sympathisers, Whig mal-
contents, and PALMERSTONIAN manoeuvring of a
divided Cabinet that " drifted" upon diffi-
culties.

Scarcely less curious than the letter of Sir
CHARLES NAPIER was a strangely-penned criti-
cism on it in a leading organ on Friday. It is
admitted therein that " Sir CHARLES has some-
" thing to complain of"—and he is disparaged
as not being fit to command. "If any body
" told him to do it, he would have done it.
" But he just wanted that faculty for giving a
" command to himself." That is one of the
charges against Sir JAMES GRAHAM in the
mouths of politicians. The artful Baronet is
unable to stand alone in politics. There must
always be a more earnest and deliberate will
to guide and control his secondary qualities.
He is fit only for a Vice-Minister under a
ruler of a party. Thus there was a coalition
of similar defects in the natures of the Ad-
miral in actual command and the First Lord at
home. The case is then put—" Had Sir JAMES
" GRAHAM been in command of the fleet, he
" might have, &c. &c." No; he would have
waited for the shifting of the last breeze. Sir
JAMES GRAHAM had only one quality for pre-
siding over a fleet,—
He boxed the whole compass of party right through ;
but his intellectual vacillation would have
made him subordinate even on the quarter-
deck. He would have tergiversated with the
north wind, and tried to play a double game
with the tidal influences.
At present this controversy is only in the
first stages; for all Sir JAMES GRAHAM'S
scrapes, like certain diseases, run their course.
When he takes up his pen to reply, the quarrel
Will have passed horn the acute inflammation