The Sun.
London, England, 1852-11-25 00:00:00

Sir Charles Napier is a better general than he is
a lawyer, or he never would have suffered himself
to be matched, as he was yesterday, against the
Ameers of the Queen's Bench. Meeanee is nothing
to first day of term. The public will very
generally sympathise with the gallant officer's
indignation at the foul aspersions brought against
him for his conduct during the campaign of
Scinde, but, if he be wise, let him rather leave
the care of his defence to the justice of his contem-
poraries and of posterity than to lawyers and law
courts. Every one in this outspoken country who
has raised himself to any degree of civil or military
eminence has been exposed to like attacks, and has
in his proper person proved how little calumny can
avail against an honest man. Surely Sir Charles
Napier might call to mind the rule of action
invariably followed by his 'late illustrious com-
mander on like occasions. Is there one of us who
has not heard that the Duke of Wellington was
" surprised?' at the Duchess of Richmond's ball at
Brussels, or that during the course of the subsequent
battle he ensconced himself snuglyamid the friendly
leaves of a tall tree by way of avoiding the enemy's
bullets ? Only conceive the rage of any one that
bears the name of Napier on being told that
during the progress of a heady fight, he was only
to be found at the top of the highest poplar in the
neighbourhood ! We are not aware that the
Duke of Wellington ever instructed his solicitor to
take legal steps to defend his reputation against
calumnies of this kind. It may be said, however,
that some charges are so ridiculous that they fall to
the ground of themselves. An accomplished gene-
ral who has spent half a century in the service, and
has successfully fought pitched battle after pitched
battle, may afford to' augh at charges of timidity
and mismanagement ; but it is otherwise if he be
accused of harshness, of cruelty, of peculation.
Even in cases of this kind, we must recur to the
example of Sir Charles Napier's old commander.
There have been plenty of critics who have stated
that most of the great Peninsular victories might,
with prudence, have been avoided ; that they were
the acts of a man who was more studious of • his
own personal elevation than solicitous for his coun-
,try,'s g00d... .AlLwhexeraember the history of the - -
time will be perfectly familiar with the accusations
of which we speak. The siege of Badajoz, for' ex-
ample, was represented by some as an unnecessary
operation ; by others, who admitted its necessity,
it was considered to have been conducted with a
criminal disregard of human life, and all for the
purpose of furthering the Duke's anibitiets 'views.
So, again,' with regard to the storming of San Se-
bastian. Every obnoxious epithet was applied to .
the Conqueror of the Peninsula, either for acts of
his own men, over which he had no control, or A,
for the acts of the enemy. It was said that the'
Duke of Wellington ordered that the town should
be set on fire in order to wreak his wrath upon the
innabitants ; it is now known that the conflagra-
tion was the act of the French General, and that
the Duke's efforts were solely directed to getting
mastery over the flames. Such is the way in which
Sir Charles Napier's old leader has been dealt with
by malignant or incompetent persons. 'From time
to time we are fully aware, wheii the occasion and
the audience were suitable, he uttered a few words
of stern and soldierlike denial—that 'was all. He
never went to law about the matter;;, the chances
are, he never gave it a serious thought: He' was
great enough,---every man should be great .enough
—to live down slander.
The mischief appears to be this in minds of a
particular class :—They are painfully sensitive to a
single voice of censure ; they pass over or seem
not to discern the approval of the thousands or
millions who would come forward in their defence,
if defence were really , necessary. , The single
Mordecai at the gate 'gives more pain than all the
splendours of the palace can afford gratification.
Now, with regard to this very Review article which
has roused Sir Charles Napier to such mighty wrath,
did it ever enter his mind to consider what his pre-
sent position is ; and why it is what it is ? Is there
a name more honoured in the illustrious list of
British officers ? If any man, woman, or child in
the three kingdoms really and truly believed that
Sir Charles Napier is an admirable mixture of the
wholesale assassin and painstaking pickpocket—
that he caused the Scindian. and British troops to
cut each other's throats for ,his own private ends,
and wound all up by filching the petticoats of the
ladies at Hyderabad, can he for a moment suppose
that, instead of being where he is, he would not
long since have been dismissed from the service,
and excluded from decent society ? Why, then,
this over-sensitiveness ?—why this superfluous at-
tempt at rectification and justification ? Sir Charles
Napier won a great battle and conquered a great
province ; his brother wrote a history of his opera-
tions that is nearly as good as tho battle itself, and
there should be an end of the whole affair. Every
man's part is assigned to him already in the public
judgment. Sir Charles Napier may feel very con-
fident that his share in this achievement is not ac-
cepted as that of a cut-throat or peculator. We
cannot but wonder at the singular want of discre-
tion displayed by those who could advise the gallant
old soldier to bring such a case, upon a criminal in-
formation, before the Court of Queen's Bench. Ir-
respective of all legal considerations, of what benefit
would it have been to Sir Charles Napier, could
he have succeeded in causing poor Mr. Murray to
be impaled, or garotted, or whatever the appro-
priate punishment may be for the gentleman who
undertakes the commercial department of calumny ?
He would not have made Meeanee and Hyderabad
one whit clearer to the apprehension of those who
were determined not to be convinced ; all who
were open to conviction had received it long ago.
The best counsel we can give Sir Charles Napier—
and we offer it with every respect for his great
ability and glorious achievements—is for the future
to avoid legal polemics, as far as may be. If a
great man is too ready to hand over the care of his
reputation to the lawyers, the people—the natural
trustees in this respect—are apt to think them-
selves discharged of their trust. Let him be satis-
fied with the conviction that by the united voice of
his fellow-countrymen he has already been chosen
as the officer possessing the highest talents for com-
mand and the greatest military genius of any now
to be found in the British Army List. That
opinion remains unaltered. Surely this is a suffi-
cient compensation for a little transitory nonsense.
History readily distinguishes between a Tilly and
a Wellington, and history nowadays follows closely
on events.—Times.

~ Cr
',... ;

-17(``

THE AUSTRALIAN GOLD FIELDS.

The accounts from the Australian gold fields up to the
end of August last contain news of the most exciting
nature. Mount Alexander sent down 22,402 ounces t.
Geelong in the last week of July, and in that week Bal-
larat sent 1,572 ounces. On the 3d of August the
Mount Alexander escort had 18,145 ounces ; and on
Monday and Thursday following the amounts transmitted
were 71,145 and 18,174 ounces, making a total of
107,354 ounces in the first seven days of August, and
from one locality ! The amount transmitted from Bal-
larat,
in the same space of time was 2,066 ounces, and
Dight's escort brought 34,676 ounces, so that a grand
total of 144,207, representing about 432,6211.,
The total
re-
ceived within seven days at Geelong. nr,,,:v9('`A
amount transmitted up to the 14th of August _ was
and by Dight's
ounces from Ballarat, Mount Alexander,
escort. On the 19th of August Ball
while 1,000
bourne 1,000 ounces, and 3,848 to Geelong,f means of
ounces were left behind for want
805 ~tent to Mel-
ounces came from
convey-
ance. On the 21st of August 36,
B3,llarat and by Dight's.
OnAlexander sent 842 ounces.
3t6h9e 25th of August Bal-
larat sent 4,167, and Mounttt
rt if it could get horses, was
Ballarat ; and the next escort, At that date a large quantity of gold was left behind at
above 10,000 ounces. ' On a
expected to bring
diggings yielded in the month of
August about
mark, the
Vic 246,000 ounces of gold.
rough calculation, is rather under than over the
The papersbefore us contain a very interesting docu-
ment,
current of labour, published by a Mr.
ice
Fitchett, ofpr the Victoria Registry-office. Of course,
prices are bon,c6 fide ones, because Mr. Fitchett is
the
prepared to engage servants at the amount he mentions.
181arried couples, as house servants for country hotels,
&c., can have engagements at 651. to 701. per annum,
with rations ; shepherds, 38/. ; hutkeepers, 301. ; bul-
lock drivers, 501., or by the week 11. 10s., and on the
roads from 31. to U. ; farm servants, 501. per annum,
and 11. 10s. by the week; bush carpenters, 21. per week;
cooks for inns, 1/. 10s. to 21. per week ; general ser-
vants, 401.. per annum, all including rations. i. Maid-
servants can have engagements at 241. to 301. , house-
maids at 231., nursemaids 181., cooks and laundresses,
241., including rations.

SUICIDE FROM s inquest
was. EAR OF _TARITATION.-41.71 inquest
was, held by Mr. Herford, coroner for the. borough of
Manchester, on Tuesday, on view of the,body of John
Heywood, a carter, aged 63, who drowned himself on
Monday morning. The old man had seen better days,
but was now reduced to receive parish relief, and for the
last two years he had been accustomed to sleep on the
long settle in a beer-house kitchen. This shelter, how-
ever,' was to be taken from him, for the landlord was
about to leave the house, and he had no other place to
go to ; he was, moreover, of such drunken habits that
his weekly pay of is. 6d. from the union hadbeen stopped
by the relieving officer, who refused to give the ratepayers
money, to' a man whom he had himself seen drunk three
times within a week. He gave him a note for the work-
house, but Heywood declared that he would not use it,
he would starve first ; and when his pay was stopped,
he said that if he had sixpence he would take some lauda-
mim, and be humbugged no longer. He was found in a
ttib of water quite dead, his head and arms in the water,
and his legs nearly touching the ground, so that his
suicide was most determined. The jury returned a ver-
dict of "Drowned himself in a fit of temporary
insanity."