The Sun.
London, England, 1839-01-01 00:00:00

COURT CIRCULAR.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge had an evening
party last evening, at Cambridge House, Piccadilly.
The Right Hon. C. Poulett Thomson has returned to town
from a visit to Sir Charles Taylor, Bart., at his seat at Holly-
combo, Sussex.

Despatches were received yesterday at the Colonial-office
from Captain Prescott, R.N., Governor of Newfoundland ;
and from Major-General Middlemore, Governor of St. Helena.
Viscount Duncannon is staying at Camford, Dorsetshire.

DEATHS AMONG THE NOBILITY

DURING THE LAST YEAR.

JANUARY-13. The Earl of Eldon, aged 87 years. 16.
The Countess of Essex, in her 78th year. 17. Lord Farn.
borough, in his 78th year (title extinct). 18. The Earl o
Clonmel, in his 55th year. 27. The Dowager Countess o
Ross. 30. The Countess of Stamford and Warrington.
FEBRUARY-11. The Earl of Carrick, in his 59th year.
19. Lord Carteret, in his 69th year.

Mmtcn-1. Hon. Elizabeth Monson, sister of the late Lord
Monson. 6. Countess of Lonsdale, in her 78th year. 10.
Lord Selsey, in his 51st year. 19. Sir E. Barnes, G. C. 8.,
M. P., aged 62 ; same day, Lady Mary Grey Egerton, eldest
daughter of the Earl and Countess of Wilton. 21. The
Earl of Dalhousie, in his 68th year. 26. The Hon. Louisa
Harbord, sister of the late Lord Suffield, in her 71st year;
Lord Berners, in his 77th year.
APRIL-5. The Dowager Viscountess Strangford, in her
82d year. 9. Mary, Dowager Duchess of Roxburghe. 20.
The Dowager Countess of Warwick, in 78th ) car. 21. Lady
Emily Montagu, sister of the Duke of Manchester. 30. Lord
Muncaster, aged 35.
MAY-8. Lady Warrender, in 80th year. 22. The Mar-
quis of Ormonde, in 64th year. 27. The Countess of Am-
herst, at an advanced age ; same day, the Countess of Har-
rowby, in her 66th year.
JUNE-3. The Dowager Lady Southampton, in her 62d year.
JULY-10. The Duke of Leeds, within a few days of com-
pleting his 63d year.
AuousT-6. Lady Frances Jane Bankes, youngest daughter
of the late Earl of Eldon. 20. Lady Isabella Elizabeth
Turner, in her 51st year. 25. Earl Annesley, in his 67th
year. 28. The Countess of Abingdon, in her 63d year.
SEPTEMBER-4. Lady Barbara Crauford, sister of the Earl
of Coventry, aged 38. 18. Lord Carrington, at the ad-
vanced age of 86 years. 20. Lcrd Farnham (fifth Lord), in
his 71st year.

OCTOBER-19. Lord Farnham (sixth Lord), in his 65th
year. 25. Sir C. Platt, K. C. B.

•
NOVEMBER-1. Lady John Russ,ll, in her 31st year. 2.
The Dowager Countess of Newburgh, in her 77th year. 5.
Viscount Deerhurst, in his 31st year. 16. The Right Hon.
Cutlar Fergusson. 20. The Earl of Sefton, in his 67th year.
21. The Dowager Countess of Dartmouth, in her 78th year.
29. Hon. Mrs. Bowles, sister of Viscount Palmerston.
DECEMBER-1. Hon. Lady Broadhead, in her 34th year.
12. Baroness Hartland. 15. The Hon. Charles Abbott,
brother of Lord Tenterden. 20. The Hon. William Walde-
grave, brother of Lord Rqdstock, in. his 43d year. 22. The
Earl of Clarendon, in his 82d year.

Orders have been received at Chatham to prepare
moorings in Lang Reach (nearly half-way between Roches-
ter and Sheerness) for eight sail-of-the-line and two frigates,
to be detached from Sheerness, and added to the Chatham
ordinary ; forming:, it is presumed, a third division, and ac-
companied by a divisional Lieutenant from the Ocean.—
United Service Gazette.

Her IVlajestv has been pleased, on the recommenda-
tion of Lord Hill, to direct that Lieutenant-Gene-al Main-
waring shall receive an allowance of 2001. per annum for
distinguished service. This is the officer who, when com-
manding the 51st Regiment and two companies of the 82d,
repulsed a sortie made by the garrison of Flushing, and cap-
tured two pieces of cannon and 600 prisoners. This was
one of the few gallant affairs performed on that ill-fated ex-
pedition.— United Service Gazette.

COLONELCY OF THE 3D DRAGOON GUARDS.
—lt is probable that the Colonelcy of the 3d Dragoon
Guards, which has become vacant by the death of General
Sir Samuel Hawker, will be filled by Sir Charles Dalbiac
or General Goidie ; rumour inclines to the latter officer,
from the circumstance of Sir Charles having so recently
obtained an appointment.— United Service Gazette.
INSPECTOR-GENERAL OF CAVALRY.—Major-
General J. W. Sleigh is, we can confidently announce, the
officer destined to succeed General Sir Charles Dalbiac as
Inspector-General of Cavalry. His appointment will, in
all probability, be gazetted next week. Major-General
Sleigh commanded the 11th Light Dragoons at the battle
of 'Waterloo, and is, as all military men are aware, a highly
distinguished officer.— United Service Gazette.
Her Majesty is about to visit Drury-lane Theatre
to see the extraordinary performance of Mr. Van Amburgh,
in the new pantomime of Jack Frost.
_ _

Marshal Soult, on his way to Paris, was attacked
by four highwaymen, who were resisted and beaten off by
the valet and other domestics of the Duke, who was, during
the entire of the affair, enjoying a.profound slumber in his
carriage, and only learned the danger he had incurred wheu
he awoke at the end of the stage.

Lady Stanley has, with kind attention to the poor
in the neighbourhood of Haggerston, distributed a fat ox
among them, and also a supply of comfortable clothing.
Roscius.—Mr. Henry Betty has been playing
with marked eclat in the principal towns of the adjacent
counties. Last week he was at Leominster.

THE NATIONAL CHARTER.—In allusion to the
proceedings of a preliminary meeting, of the Working
Mens' Association, at Cheltenham, held on Monday even-
ing, the object being to consider the propriety of adopting
the National Charter, including three great principles—
namely, Vote by Ballot, Universal Suffrage, aid Annual
Parliaments, the Cheltenhanz Free Press says—" Though
we by no means agree with the Chartists that these matters
are of more immediate importance than the Corn-laws re-
peal, or that their concession would be attended by the
same substantial benefit to the community, many of whom
stand in greater need of a loaf than of pelititeal enfran-
chisement, still ue are free to admit snot some of tue
speakers adduced very cogent argumeutsi n favour of a
dispassionate consideration of the subject.

'1 1-1 E A V Y.

TO► THE El%17'01? OF THE -SCOISM, 1/17

Euvroa,—l hr,e r.,utt your paper of toe 15th,-Cot
tairling your rovu :lit the RUSSiiiil fleet, and a sp .eee h
purported to have been delivered by a gallant Admiral at a
dinner giv:.n to Gdonel AkreromV, at Stirling. I d lifer
so entirely with you and the gallant Officer that I feel my-
self unwilling!y cat.!cd upon to substantiate what I state d in
my letter to Lord Palmerston.
I am as great friend, Mr. Editor, of the present Gov ern-
ni-nt as either you or the gallant Admiral ; but I am not
blind to their faults, or disposed to be silent when I con-
ceive fie country to be in danger.
You tell the public, Mr. Editor, that a Bri.'ish m an-of-
war would dispose of two of the paste-board ships which
have terr,fied Admiral `:..pier out of his sober senses. I
am not easier terrified than my neighbours, nor am I dis-
posed to treat my enemy too lightly ; we had qui to enough
of that. in the American war, and did not open °um eyes till
our frigates and sloops of war began to sail into th.e Ameri-
can ports with the British flag under the star and stripes.
You state that the numerical amount of the Russian
fleet has been greatly exaggerated, and its real strength
still more overrated.

You are- in error, Mr. Editor ; we have the authority of
-Captain Crawford for it numerical force, and if he had
brought home a false report to the Admiralty, their Lord-
ships most certainly would not have almost immediately ap-
pointed him to a ship ; he also stated their real strength to
be 3 three-deckers, rated 110 ; 6 two-deckers, mounting
84 guns ; and 18 74's, 1 rasee of d 6, 1 of 52, 17 44's, 3
large corvettes, and a number of small vessels, mantled with
nearly 30,001) men. I recommend his pamphlet lo your
perusal, and I shall be most happy if you can contradict it.
The gallant Admiral in his speech says he wishes they
were double that number, because, in the event of hostili-

ties, we should give a good account of their paste-board
ships. Now, on this point (though I do not hold them so
cheap as the gallant Officer) I agree with him, provided we
had a disciplined fleet ready to contend with them, which we
have not ; at the time I wrote to Lord Palmerston we had.
only 3 three-deckers, with about 200 men each, and 3
74's, weakly manned, in England.
The gallant Admiral gives an account of what the Rus-
sian Navy was a great many years ago ; but I have the
authority of two gallant Admirals, who were in Admiral
Duncan's fleet when the Russians joined him, for saying
that the first time they took a reef in their topsails they
were forty minutes doing it, and that in six weeks there
was not one ship that did not do.it in three.
One of these Admirals also saw the Russian squadron in
the Mediterranean, and declared to me only yesterday, that
their gun practice was equal to our own.
The gallant Officer stated that, three years ago, five sail
of the line were manned and fitted out in two months, and

that two under his inspection could not have been better
minned than they were. I shall not venture to contradict

this statement, but I c.in safely say that they were not
ready for sea at the other ports in less than three months,
and that they sailed incomplete of even the peace esta-
blishment, and badly manned ; and that we are at the pre-
sent moment sending out ordinary seamen and stout boys to
fill them up.
He further states that the Russel, being wanted expe_

ditiously, was ready on the 16th day, and sailed the 18th.
The Russel was commissioned on the 13th of July,
1835, and sailed on the sth of August ; she was a demon-
stration ship, was rigged, and in a much more forward
state in every respect than the ships now are ; the greater
part of her crew were rifraffrom all directions, and the Ad-
miralty were so aware of this that they actually entered at
Plymouth some of the principal petty officers, and sent them'
after her. It is stated in the Gallant Admiral's speech,
that we have nine sail-of-the-line in the Mediterranean
containing a sufficient number of seamen to man thirty
sail-of-the-line. The gallant Officer, Mr. Editor, never
could have made such a statement : no One knows better
than himself the number of seamen that ought to be in a
ship of the line. In that squadron there cannot be more
than 5,500 men ; if you deduct about 1,800 officers, boys,
and marines, you will have 3,700 men ; and even suppos-
ing them all to be seamen, which they are not, there
would be for each of his thirty sail 123 seamen—complete
them with ordinary and landsmen, and a pretty fleet we
should have to cope with the Russians. But, Mr. Editor,
these ships are in the Mediterranean, and could not arrive in
England in sufficient, time to prevent London from being
pillaged.
The Gallant Admiral is astonished that, during peace, we
should even have one first-rate in England ; and he finishes
by saying there is no alarm whatever to be apprehended
from the state of the Russian Navy and the inefficiency
of ours.

It is now for me to show, Mr. Editor, that there is
great cause of alarm, and that no part of the East coast of
England or Scotland is safe in the event of a sudden col-
lision with Russia.
I have already stated the force we had in England,
when I wrote to Lord Palmerston ; the Russians had then
a fleet of twenty-seven sail-of-the-line ready for sea. Had
Russia known of our warlike preparations in India, and the
treaties we had signed with Austria and Turkey, coupled
with the fact that we had given orders to capture Sar-
dinian men of war, in the event of their assisting Don
Carlos, the Autocrat would have had a legitimate cause
of war, and had he pushed out this fleet, even though a
paste-board fleet, the gallant Admiral will, I presume,
allow that they could arrive, without much difficulty, on
our coast, because we have already seen ten wive at Spit-
head, when we only expected four. Now, Mr. Editor, I
will show you that, under the most favourable circum-
stances, we could not prevent that fleet from striking a
blow that we should not easily recover from. I will sup-
pose that they did not choose to run the risk of either
attacking the Thames or the Medway, but contented theta-
selves with the occupation of the Northern capital, the
seizure of every vessel on the Eastern coast, crossing over to
Glasgow and destroying the manufacture and shipping,
and even of paying a visit to Stirling, where the gallant Ad-
miral held forth on the folly of our alarms, and probably
taking lunch with him at Cumberauld in passing.
May I ask you, Mr. Editor, what is to prevent them.
The Government could only full man the three flag ships,
and commission the thirteen demonstration ships. I will
suppose that the seamen who had escaped the Russians,
flocked from all parts to join them, that all the railroads
and carriages were put in requisition, and that officers and
men get on board their respective ships within the week,
and that the seamen at once get over their disorderly
habits, give up drunkenness, and worked night and day to
fit out their ships. I will suppose that the Gallant Ad-
miral was appointed to fit out and command this fleet, and
that he assembled, in the same time he took to fit out
the Russel, the, three flag ships, and the 13 demonstra-
tion ships from Portsmouth and Plymouth. I will sup-
pose all this pessible ; still the Russians would have suffi-
cient time to destroy our shipping and manufactures,
plunder our towns, and probably force you, Mr. Editor, to
give an account of their proceedings, unless you had taken
the precaution of starting off with your printing press, and
joining the Gallant Admiral at Sheerness.
I will now get the Admiral's fleet under weigh, and the
Russians shall wait for them, (which they need not do un-
less they liked, for they had plenty time to do the work of
mischief) and 1 will ask him, or any other enterprising and
experienced Naval Officer, whether he would venture to
engage this Russian fleet with men hastily got together,
most of whom had never seen a ship of war, who had never
seen a gun, or handled a cartridge, a sponge, or a rammer
in their lives, with only half his compliment of Marines, or
perhaps with none, for they would probably be wanted to
join the army.
I will further ask whether, if he had the temerity to
venture to attack them, there would be the smallest chance
of success ? on the contrary. I believe there would be
very little doubt of receiving a defeat, and if you, Mr.
Editor, had accompanied the Admiral, the probability is,
instead of printing an account of the action in the Scotsman
you would be obliged to publish it in the Russian, or stand
the chance of a journey to Siberia.
Now, Mr. Editor, I have shown you the fair side of
the picture, I will now show you the foul. I will suppose
the Russians had as much enterprize as we once had, (and
there is no reason why they should not have it), and in-
stead of going to Scotland they came right up London
River, with all their ships full of troops, (perhaps taking
our steamers,to assist them) ; what is to hinder them de-
stroying that Tory job, Sheerness Dockyard, taking pos-
session of all our ships in ordinary, firing all the merchant
ships in the river, laying London under contribution, and
returning in triumph to the Baltic, as we did at Copen-
hagen. Would the Powers of Europe assist us to chastise
them for such a breach of good faith ? Not a bit of it!
they would all rejoice, and perhaps lend them a hand to
destroy our navy both at Portsmouth and Plymouth, and
take from us for ever the dominion of the sea. We have
seen Russia pass the Balkan, take Shoumla and Varna,
and dictate a dishonourable peace to Turkey, at Adria-
nople ; and we saw the other day our squadron obliged by
the orders of Russia to anchor outside the Dardanelles,
and our Captain take a passage in the Capitan Pacha's
ship to visit Constantinople. Now, Mr. Editor, if the
Government would only commission twelve sail of the line,
man and discipline them well, they could then without
danger, tell Russia she must not any longer fit out so large
a fleet—she dare not refuse, because if she did, and we
sent a fleet to the Baltic, the nobles could not export the
produce of their estates, and the probability is Nicholas
would share the fate of Paul. A bold measure of this
sort would satisfy the country, popularise the Ministry,
rad problhiy ers., war.
I have the honour to be, Sir,
Your obedient servant,
CHAS. NAPIER.

Dec. 29, 1838.