The Sun.
London, England, 1852-03-13 00:00:00

THE SUN,

the " grievous errors" [" Blue Book," p. 255], the
" errors" Sir HARRY has " committed" [" Blue Book,"
p. 256], the "errors into which he has been betrayed"
[" Blue Book," p. 256], if we are to credit that very
distinguished military officer, that experier ced cap-
tain,
ta, that redoubtable and dauntless conqueror, Earl
GREY,
speaking to the nation through the medium of
his dispatch of the 14th of January in the
Parliamentary report comprising this memorable cor-
respondence. 0 ! that dispatch of the 14th of Janu-
ary ! The very circumstance of its publication may
be regarded, we are almost disposed to think, as of
itself sufficient expiation even for the blunders of Earl
GREY—most blundering of all our blundering ad-
ministrators—during the period of his continuance in
the Colonial Department of her MAJESTY'S Govern-
ment. It must always remain a thorn in his side,
and a thorn poisoned, moreover, indirectly by the
panegyric pronounced at the commencement of the
present session upon the capacity, the judgment,
and the skill of Sir HARRY SMITH by no less
illustrious an authority than his Grace the Duke of
WELLINGTON.

It will_be remembered by those who have watched
the course pursued by ourselves that from the very
outset we protested against the unstatesmanlike con-
duct of Earl GREY in writing the dispatch of the 14th
of January—discountenancing as we did, at the same
time, the condemnation pronounced in certain quar-
ters upon his Excellency the late Governor of the
Cape. We asserted even from the earliest moment that
there was no cause for anxiety as to the capacity of
Sir HARRY SMITH as a Commander. We declared
with the utmost distinctness that there was no need
whatever for replacing him by the appointment to
the same important and responsible post of the Hon.
GEORGE CATHCART. Before his Successor had
reached the Cape, Sir HARRY had—as is now seen
in corroboration of the correctness of our opinion—
proved himself equal to the occasion by becoming
signally victorious. Precisely in a similar man-
ner did we aver, when almost all the country
at home was in a panic, in respect to the revolt
in the Punjanb, that Sir HUGH GOUGH (now Vis-
count of Goojerat) would prove one too many for
the Seikhs, notwithstanding his " skrimmages" at
Ramnugger and Chillianwallah! And in testimony
of the truth of our assertion it need scarcely be re-
called to public remembrance that Sir CHARLES
NAPIER found all the work " done to hand" before
his heroic foot had again pressed the soil illus-
trated by his ever-memorable conquests. Sir
HUGH'S indomitable courage had carried him
in triumph through every difficulty ; and in
the same manner Sir HARRY'S unquestionable valour
has with equal rapidity rendered him victorious—

added to which, that in the latter instance the
military skill, the military capacity, and the military
judgment of the victor have been vouched for by the
most venerable Captain now living, Field-Marshal his
Grace the Duke of WELLINGTON. So much for the
wisdom of Earl GREY ! So much for his prescience !
So much for his statesmanship! The country can
now, by the light of these recent and final successes
in Kafirland, see the late Colonial Secretary in his
true colours, beholding, as it were pendant round his
neck like a millstone, that unhappy dispatch of his
dated Downing street the 14th of January.

It is eminently gratifying to observe the accordance
with our own views in reference to the treatment of
Captain PENNY by the Admiralty, manifested through-
out the discussion which took place upon that must
interesting subject last evening in the House of Com-
mons. In replying to the very pertinent questions;
of the Member for Youghal, the Honourable
AUGUSTUS STAYEORD acknowledged, without any
attempt at evasion or concealment, that the
authorities at the Admiralty had accorded to Captain
PENNY no reward, that they had promised him no
employment, and that it was not their intention to
award him any future recompense or any further en-
gagement. The candid avowal of the representative
of Northamptonshire came from him not without a
certain grace, even in his official capacity as Secretary
of the Admiralty, seeing that the blame in the whole
of this very disgraceful transaction rests
with the past and not with the present
Lords Commissioners. Admiral BERKELEY for one
avowed boldly and distinctly, that he was pre-
pared to take upon himself the responsibility of
not appointing Captain PENNY to the newly organ-
ized expedition—the expedition about to depart for
the Arctic Seas, under the command of Sir EDW ARD
BELCHER. Good ! We shall carefully bear that
declaration in our remembrance ; and we trust also
that the fact will be borne not leas carefully in their
remembrance by the constituents at the mercantile
port of Gloucester I Admiral BERKELEY is prepared
for one to take upon himself the responsibility of the
late contemptuous treatment of Captain Pamir ; he
would say more than this even, he was of opinion
that if Captain PENNY was sent out in the next ex-
pedition it would not be for the good of the service !
And why ? Becaise Captain PENNY, forsooth
is merely captain of a scurvy whaler ! May
it not be also that there is possibly a
jealousy, a professional jealousy, of an officer who,
like Captain PENNY, has secured, not the lion's share
only, but the whole of the glory of discovering the
actual route taken by Sir Jourf FRANKLIN ?
Than the remarks made last evening in
the House of Commons by the Hon. Baronet the
Member for the University of Oxford, none could
be more peculiarly in accordance with the observa-
tions we ourselves have made repeatedly, and
more particularly of late, in reference to
the paltry conduct in this matter of the
late Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty. Even
to an appropriate allusion to " Mr. 'haus COOK,"
the argument of Sir ROBERT HARRY 11w-is coin-
cided wonderfully well with our own, and is therefore
to us especially matter of the most sincere
satisfaction. Let not the newly appointed Board of
Admiralty allow this subject to as summarily
aa it was yesterday, in Parliamentary phrase)
" dropped ;" but rather let the most crying
evil perpetrated under the administration of our
naval affairs by Sir Fmaricis BAILING be " abated"
by his distinguished successor the Duke of NORTH-
UMBERLAND. The opportunity still presents itself for
the compensation of Captain PENNY in some manner
for the insolent treatment to which he has been
most shamefully subjected, by allowing him to proceed
in due season wild his two vessels and a steamer
for the purpose of exploring the open
water beyond Wellington Chanziel, those
hitherto neglected seas in which (from the
particulars brought to light through his instrumen-
tality) there is every probability of east. navigators
ultimately being enabled to follow up the traces left
by the missing Expedition.

"Britannia must take her chance," was the me-
morable exclamation of Mr. WILKINS MICAWBEE,
when departing from the shores of his ungrateful
Country. Notwithstanding his most energetic exer-
tions, the ehert-sighted community remained insen-
sible to his
haot
merits. After a long and patriotic
II; nfagtteh
whichab and ownaesd a
jhis t native
.
lsat rnudg,i:olet,hteheran
ela he
melancholy
bution for its want of appreciation of his numerous
virtues and transcendent abilities. The CHAN-
CELLOR of the EXCIIICIAIBIL speaks in something of a
similar tone—" England must abide the consequences"
if the inestimable advantages of " a bread tax" be not
distinctly understood and eagerly demanded. He
declares that it is the belief of her MAJZISTY'S Mi-
nisters that the best mode of affording the necessnry
relief to the agriculturists would he to adopt that
mode which science has recommended, and
which
they thought prejudice and passion.. only Oppos,d,
or,
in other words, the re-imposition. of a
of
oix corn,
according to the recommendation . an apostate
economical opinions
Free-trader, whose politico.e
will no longer be reeraved with respect
either by the Legislature or the people
of Great Britain. The nation may prove indifferent
to its true interests. It may reject the leenefits com-
ing in the rather questionable shape of taxed food
and a small loaf. If such should, unfortunately, be
the result of the appeal, Mr. DISE,WiLi, in the true
MicAwneu vein, emphatically warns vs that "Bri-
tannia must take her chance." He says, " But if
the country will not have recourse to these remedial
measures, we (1. e. her MAJESTY'S Diinibters) bow to
its decision." He adds, " I warn you again that if
you force our whole system of tazation to be revised,
you will find that though file means of redress for the
agricultural interest may be disc overed and obtained,