The Sun.
London, England, 1855-09-17 00:00:00

No. XXV.

The Baltic fleet, on its return to port, being now
dispersed in different harbours of Great Britain,
and several of the ships which composed this fleet
being under orders for service in the Black Sea
and Mediterranean, you are hereby required and
directed to strike your flag and come on shore.
To Sir Charles Napier, K.O 8., Vice-
Admiral of the Blue, &e.

No. XXVI.
[Copy.]
Merchistoun Hall, Horndean,
Dec. 25, 1854.
Sir,—I have the honour to acknowledge the
receipt of their lordships' orders, directing me to
strike my flag ; and with reference to the same I
request their lordships will inform me whether I
am to consider that my command is at an end.—l
have the honour, ac.,
(Signed) CHAS. NAPIER, Vice-Admiral.
The Secretary of the Admiralty.
They wrote on 26th December :

No. XXVII.
With reference to your letter of yesterday's date,
I am commanded by my Lords Commissioners of
the Admiralty to acquaint you that the order which
you have received, agreeably to custom, to strike
your Flag, and come on shore, is always the ter-
mination of a Flag-officer's command ; and I am
. directed by my Lords to take this opportunity to
express to you the sense their Lordships entertain
of your exertions during the period of your ser-
vice in command of the Baltic Fleet.—l am, Sir,
your very obedient, humble servant,
W. A.. 8. HAMILTON.
Vice-Admiral Sir Charles Napier, K.C.8.,
Merchistoun.
The following is a document of special import-
ance, and will hereafter be frequently and particu-
larly referred to in Parliament, as adverting to the
first adverse act of the Admiralty, namely, that of
dismissing Sir Charles Napier from the command
of the Baltic Fleet.

No. XXVIII.
Merchistoun, Horndean, Jan. 2, 1855.
Sir,—I have to acknowledge your letter of the
26th of December, acquainting me that the order
which I have received, agreeably to custom, to
strike my flag and come on shore, is always the
termination of an officer's command, and adding
that you are directed by my Lords to take this
opportunity to express to me the sense they enter-
tain of my exertions during the period of my ser-
vice in command of the Baltic Fleet.
I regret that their Lordships should not have taken
the opportunity of the dispersion of the Baltic Fleet
to recognise in any manner the services of the several
admirals, officers, and ships' companies, latelyunder
my command. lam not aware that their services
were inferior to those of the admirals, officers, and
ships' companies of the French fleet during the
period of our acting together, and they were ex-
tended over a much longer period of time—for their
Lordships know that the British fleet was sent to
the Baltic at a very inclement season, long before
it was joined by the French squadron, and that it
remained in the Baltic far into another very incle-
ment season, long after the French squadron had
gone home—yet while the French Emperor, in his
Speech to the Chambers, pays a just tribute to his
fleet, as well as to his army, for their devotion and
discipline in the North, as well as in the South,
and records a success in the Baltic, in which the
fleet under my command participated, the Queen
was not advised to advert in her Speech to Parlia-
ment to the services of her Baltic Fleet, nor do
their Lordships now notice them. It would have
been gratifying to me, certainly, to have been di-
rected, on hauling down my flag, to communicate
to all those lately under my command their
" Lordships' " satisfaction with their conduct.
I took to the Baltic a fleet, splendid and magni-
ficent no doubt in the size of the vessels of which it
was composed ; but their Lordships cannot be ig-
norant of the defects, in the composition and quality
of the crews hastily put on board. That fleet wads
not manned like the fleets of Lord Nelson and Lio.r
St. Vincent, nor, with the exception of a few s ups
which had been off Lisbon, was it thte
into action • but I brought back a flee.
rile a fitl
y to
egg°
(without which vessels aro nothing),...
nificent, not' in vessels only, but in tpheerfcercetwins
results were obtained by the u
gunnery, in seamanship, and
rdeinasciitptilninge;xeTrtbioenses
of whom had
the seamen, many of the officers, and through the waillninegceosbsaerdiileyncbeeoenf
compelled to serve on their redtutrhn
discharge or a
r i efrom
tions, when they had expecte
long run on shore on leave.
eatly
I consider the country to be gr indebted to
those officers, and to those seamen, and it would,
indeed, be a subject of regret to me to think that
on account of any dissatisfaction their lordships
tothe
may entertain with respect to any part of my
con-
duct, they should abstain from signifying
Nor-
admirals, officers, and seamen of the late Baltic THE RAILWAY ACCIDENT AT READING.—Mrs.
ton died late on Fiday night, making the fifth death
fleet their grateful sense of their services.
As regards my own conduct, it would be most inoccasioned
p hospital ltahries caalltapsrtergorpeheeelegTfhaveereermaabilnyienxgceppattiFenetrs.
gratifyinr' to me if their lordships would afford me guson, the Etoker of the pilot engine, whose case is pro-
the oppor°tunity of justifying
any tribunal composed of officersevery part of it before uounced very dangerous. The nature of his injuries ar. a
competent to form two severeisscaailspo
irlo:lntldesc.arit lure.
C. a
Judgment up% Ra,yaa ; but I cannot merchapto
ovisgwdona,tt:ennwer 6