The Sun.
London, England, 1863-02-04 00:00:00

The " Times" and Sir Charles Napier.

(From the Manchester Guardian.)
The Morning Herald recently published an extraordi-
nary letter purporting to have been written to the late Sir
Charles Napier, while he was in command of the Baltic
fleet, by the editor of Ohs Times. The genuiness of the
letter appeared at first to be doubtful, and we therefore
abstained from transferring it to our columns. General
Elers Napier, the stepson and biographer of the Admiral,
has now, however, declared it to be perfectly genuine. The
letter is as follows :

"London, Oct. 4, 1854.

"My dear Sir Charles,—l have been out in the Black
Sea, where I witnessed the landing of the allied armies in
the Crimea, or the two letters I found waiting for me should
not have remained so long unanswered. As a friend I

am bound to tell you what, perhaps, no one else will
have the frankness to write, that your conduct in the
Baltic has caused extreme dissatisfaction to the Govern-

ment and to the public, and has already gone far, very
far, to tarnish your well-earned reputation. You know
how unwilling I am to believe that you have done less
than any other man could do; but I confess that your
letters do not convince me that, with so splendid a fleet
you should be unable to do nothing more (sic in ortg.)
than the reduction of a petty fortress, and the enforce..
ment of a strict blockade. Of course there are diffi-
culties, and great ones—of course the weather is not
the most propitious—but the country, and especially
your friends, have been taught to think that you were
the man to overcome difficulties, and that such
a steam fleet as you have was a most independent of wind
and weather. Since you have gone out, too, everything
has tended to demonstrate more than ever the hollowness
of Russian strength. her best armies have been routed
by a mob of Turks, and have recoiled before a paltry
fort, after a siege in which they had exhausted all their
strength and skill. Now, too, their own great fortress of
the Crimea, which it was thought whold require a regular
investment and a prolonged siege, has been taken by
assault within ten days after the troops had landed,
their fleet burned, and their army captured or de-
stroyed. Do you think that after this the public will be
satisfied with an excess of ' discretion,' which preserves
your fleet, indeed, from all injury, but which leaves the
enemy the same impunity ? I assure you they will not;
and the Government will be supported by the country in
removing you from your command, if nothing more is done
than you have yet attempted. In the profession, and
among the officers of your fleet especially, your
conduct is most severely condemned. They declare
that Revel, Helsingfors, or Cronstadt itself, might
have been long since destroyed—that you, 30 years ago,
would have been the matt to do it—but that now your
nerve has failed you, and that you think of nothing but
getting safe back to Portsmouth. lam sure there is no
truth in this ; but it is said everywhere; and the fact that
with so splendid a force, you alone find the Russians un-
assailable and invincible, when everyone else, with much
less means, defeats their armies and destroys their forts, is
strong against you. For your own sake, then, and for
that of your friends, who have so long supported you and
asserted yt ur claims, do make an effort, cease to find 'dif-
ficulties'—any old woman can find them. Strike a blow
which shall be worthy of your once great reputation, and
of the country, and eclipse, if you can, the glory of the
capture of Sebastopol by the destruction of Cronstadt.
Unless you do something of the kind you are a lost man ;
you will return like Sir R. Calder, and perhaps some ene
of your subalterns will reap all the laurels you have
failed to gain. This, I know, is not pleasant to read, but
it is the truth, and even admirals should hear the truth.
sometimes. Pray believe it, and act so that your friends
will not have to blush for you, and to hear even Dundas
extolled at your expense. You have to choose between
glory and disgrace, for the failure to achieve one will
ensure the other. I give you the best proof of my
friendship in writing you this letter, and am, my dear
Sir Charles, with sincere good wishes, very faithfully
yours, " JoHm T. DELANE."
General Napier says :—" When I undertook to write Sir
Charles Napier's life, Mr. Delane's extraordinary letter
was placed in my hands for publication, together with
many other 'private letters,' the appearance of which in
print would no doubt astonish the world, and fully show
the difficult position is which Sir Charles Napier was
placed whilst goaded on' to undertake an enterprise the
impracticability of which was proved by its not being at-
tempted the following year, when there were many ad-
ditional resources at command which Sir Charles Napier
did not possess. Although the seal of ' private and confi-
dential' debarred me from making public much curious and
interesting correspondence, I was enabled, nevertheless, to
bring to light, in justification of Sir Charles Napier's con-
duct in the Baltic, more than apparently gave satisfaction
to the limes. Hence it is not a very friendly review of the
work, and the refusal of Mr. Delano to publish my reply to
the nearly only unfavourable notice taken of it by the
press."

COUNTRY MARKETS.

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LEEDS-TUESDAY.

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purchase
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were
and therefore few sales took place. Barley may be noted
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MARKET HARBOROUGH-Ty ESDAY.

White wheat, 50s to 548 ; red, 46s to 508 per 36 stone.
Barley at 38s to 40s per qr., grinding 298 to 31s per 3o st,,
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