The Sun.
London, England, 1855-09-04 00:00:00

EXTRACT OF A LETTER FROM SIR JAMES GRAHAM TO SIR

CHARLES NAPIER.

Admiralty, June 20, 1854 [Rec. 27th].
My dear Sir Charles—l am well aware of all the diffi-
culties of your position, and of the impossibility of
triumphing over an enemy who will not fight you on fair
terms, but you will discipline our fleet, and make our
officers and men fit and ready for any service. It is a
disgrace tl Russia that she dare not show a ship in her
own waters, and that she is driven to seek for safety
wider the shelter of her fortresses.
It would be madness to play her game, and to rush
headlong on her granite walls, risking our naval supe-
riority, with all the fatal consequences of defeat in an
unequal contest with wood against stone, which in the
long run eannot succeed. _

Iliad reliance on your prudence, which was doubted ;
your brilliant courage was proved long ago ; you will
now show to the world that you possess a combination
of those great virtues which are necessary to make a
consummate commander-in•chief.—l am, yours very
truly, J. G. GRAHAM.

( From the Morning Advertiser of this day.)

We resume the publication of the Correspondence
between Sir James Graham and Sir Charles Napier,
during the time the latter gallant officer was Com-
mander•in-Chief of the Baltic Fleet. Never, we unhe-
sitatingly say, hag the publication of any correspondence
on great international questions produced a sensation
at all approaching that which has been caused by the
Correspondence which has appeared in our columns
within the last few days. And, no wonder ; for the
manner in which the Ministers of the Crown manage
our public affairs, was never before so fully exposed to
the gaze of the world.

It will be observed that Sir James Graham, in the
first few letters which we publish to-day, still emphati-
cally dwells on the necessity of great caution, and is
prodigal of warnings against the imprudence, if not in-
sanity, of attacking any of the pore formidable forts of
Russia. This must sound very strange in the ears of
those who remember the vehemence of Sir James
Graham in goading on Sir Charles to attack Svea-
borg in October, when the navigation of the Baltic
had, owing to the advanced season of the year, be-
come perilous to the Fleet. Yet it will be seen, that
up till the end of June, when the season was so
highly favourable to any demonstration avainst the
Czar, the Gallant Admiral is not only adjured. but
enjoined, not to make any attack on the Russian forts.
In other words, when Sir Charles thought an attack
might be successfully made, he is prohibited by the
First Lord of the Admiralty from mak.ng it ; but the
very moment that Sir Charles writes home that, owing
to the want of the necessary means, he thought an at-
tack could not be made with success, and when, besides,
he considered the season too far advanced for such an
operation, Sir James Graham seeks to goad him into a
course which he felt persuaded would terminate in the
loss of the fleet, by a series of reproaches and insults, as
well as by something very much resembling the lan-
guage of command.

Bit we forbear from making comments of our own.
It is enough that we allow Sir Jauies Graham and Sir
C. Napier severally. to speak through the columns of
the Morning A dvei Wer.

No. X.
SIR JAMES GRAHAM TO SIR CHARLES NAPIER.
House of Commons, June 27, 1854.
[Recd. July 4.]
My dear Sir Char'es,—l am glad that you you have
gone up to Cronstadt to see with your own eyes what it
may be possible to do there. Whatever man can do I
am certain will be done by you ; and if you are re-
strained by a sense of duty from embarking in any des-
perate enterprise, on your return to Baro Sound you
shad' receive full instructions from me respecting an at-
tack on the Aland Islarith.

It is necessary to communicate with the Government
of France in the first instance, and these communications
have been already opened.-_I am, yours, very truly,
• J. G. GRAHAM.

No. XI.
[Extract.]
Admiralty, July 11, 1354. [Recd. 17th.]
My dear Sir Charles,—lf Bomarsund is to be attacked
by !!ea and land, Adnaira' Chads is peculiarly well quali-
fied to command the squadron sent on that service. You
are fortunate in having two such Rear-Admirals as Plum-
ridge and Chads under your orders,* with Seymour and
Martin ready for emergencies.--I am, yours, sincerely,
J. G. GRAHAM..
His Excellency Sir Charles Napier, K.C.B.

No. XII.
[Extract.]
Admiralty, July 11, 1854.
My dear Sir Charles,—l had anticipated your return
to the westward after an offer of battle, which I felt cer-
tain the enemy would decline ; and it now remains for
you to blockade the Gulf of Finland, to keep the fleets at
Cronstadt and Helsingfors disunited, and to await the
arrival of the French troops, when you and the French
Admiral and General must deliberate on the operations
to be undertaken by the combined forces. Bomarsund
will clearly be within your reach. Sweaborg, if it were
possible, would be a noble prize, but on no account be
led into any desperate attempt, and, above all things,
avoid the least risk of the Russian fleet slipping out of
the Gulf of Finland when your back is turned ; and be
slow to land your marines, without whom your line of
battle is disabled. The Russians, though shy, are crafty ;
and if they can catch you at a disadvantage, they will
be down upon you
With 50,000 troops and 200 gun-boats you might still
do something great and decisive before the end of Sep-
tember.—l am, my dear Sir Charles, yours sincerely,
J. G. GRAHAM.
Ms Excellency Sir Charles Napier, K.C.B.

No. Xlll-
[Extract.]
Admiralty, Aug. 1, 1854. [Recd. Gth.]
My dear Sir Charles,--13y your foresight and good
arrangements the whole of the French army will have
joined you off Bomarsund before the end of this week,
and I hope that you will send back the line of battle ships
which carried them to you as soon as possible. . . .
I am aware that Bomarsund presents difficulties, but
I feel certain that you will overcome them.
The next move must be well considered, but the fall
of Bomenund will be no bad beginning.--I am, yours,
very truly,

J. G. GIIANA3I.

No. XI V:
[Extract.]
Admiralty, Aug. 15, 1854. [Recd. 21st.]
My dear Sir Charles,—l agree with you in thinking
that before the end of September the fleet must begin
its movement to the southward. . • am, my
dear Admiral, yours, very truly truly,
J. G. GRATIA2I.
His Excellency Sir Charles Napier, K.C.B.

No. XV.
[Extract.]
Portsmouth, Aug. 22, 1851.
My dear Sir Charles,--I congratulate you sincerely
on the success of your operation-4 before Bomarsund,
hnd I highly commend your prudence and wisdom in
uffecting the capture of this. stronghold of
.the enemy,
without the loss of a ship, or of many lives.
You have judged well in every respect, both in de-

't Both these offi'.‘ero are rer,-4oved from tho

taining the line of battle-ships and steamers, and then
in sending them home laden with prisoners.—J aw,
yours, very truly,

No. XVI.
[Copy.]

J. G. GRAHAM.

Devonport, Aug. 25, 1854. [Reed. Sept.. 3.]
My dear Sir Charles,-1 am more than satisfied with
your proceeding!.

•
I am delighted with the prudence and sound judgment
which you have evinced. It would have been a miserable
want of firmness had you yielded to clamour, and risked
your ships, and sacrificed many valuable lives, in an
attempt to destroy, by naval means, works which were
certain to fall to an attack by land.
Your reasoning also, in favour of the immediate and
entire destruction of the forts at Bomarsund, is irre-
sistible, and I hope you will take care that the destruc-
tion is complete, and that not one stone is left upon
another.

I am well pleased also with the promptitude with
which you have sent back the line•of-battle ships and
steamers. The work has been well done, and I gladly
give you the utmost credit for it.
I write in great haste, but that which presses is the
order for destroyimz Bornarsund. At greater leisure,
and in a few days, I will write to you on the subject of
your ulterior operations, and of the preparations for an
early retreat from the Baltic before winter.
I am, yours, very sincerely,

J. G. GRAHAM.

Again, we appeal to our readers, whether anything
which we could advance in the shape of note or comment
on the extraordiiary correspondence which we have pub-
lished, could give additional force to the case of Sir C.
Napier ? There will be a universal response to the effer.t
that it would not. Sir C. Napier has done his duty in
putting into our hands a series of letters whose impor-
tance it would be impossible to exaggerate. We have
done our duty to the country, and to the gallant admiral,
in laying the correspondence before the people of these
realms. It now remains for the country to do its duty,
From the House of Commons we expect nothing. If any
practical steps are to be taken in the matter, they must
be initiatEd by the people. Sir Charles has triumphantly
vindicated his character. He stands before the world a
grossly ill-used man. But the clearing of the gallant
Admiral's character is not enough. What reparation
shall be made to a country whose honour has been tar-
nished, and whose best interests have been sacrificed !
And what punishment shall be inflicted upon those
against whom charges can be brought home of thus
tampering with the honour and the interests of the coun-
try ? These are questions which the people themselves
must answer. If they are to be answered in the proper
way,—in that way which the exigencies of the case de-
mand, the country must apply itself to a consideration
of the whole subject without one hour's delay. We have
made some startling exposures : we have said enough,
or rather have enabled others to say enough, to show
that some of the most zealous and most efficient friends
of Russia have had their abode, not in St. Petersburg,
but in Downing-street ; but, bad as the facts are which
we have laid before our readers, we speak advisedly
when we say that others a great deal worse yet remain
behind.

SPORTING INTELLIGENCE.

TATTERSALL'S.—"MoNDAY.

Subscribers mustered pretty numerously, but many of
them withdrew early to proceed to Warwick. Never-
theless, as times go, a fair amount of business was trans-
acted.