The Sun.
London, England, 1838-03-19 00:00:00

posed of letters, papers, and reminiscences supplied by
Lord St. Vincent himself, and wherever these documents
express opinions in the truth or expediency of which Capt.
Brenton does not heartily coincide, they are sure to be
followed by short but clever dissertations on their fallacy or
inapplicability. In this portion of the work Captain Bren-
ton has rendered a most important service to young naval
officers, who might be misled as much by the errors as in-
spired by the heroism, of the Earl of St. Vincent. The
following extract from the work will illustrate this obeer-
vation. It refers to the impressment of seamen
:
The natural impatience of the seamen to be freed from the re.
straint of a ship of war, and. to be early on board the merchant ships
which usually fit out and sail in the spring of the year, occasioned, as is
usually the case at the conclusion of a war, partial ebullitions of mu-
tiny. The only one of any consequence was that which occurred on
board the Temeraire, in Bantry Bay. Rear-Admiral George Campbell
had his flag on board of her. I have given the particulars of this
fatal event in the ' Naval History,' and only recur to it now with sorrow
and regret, because my illustrious friend, the Earl St. Vincent, was at
the head of the Admiralty at the time. The language of the officers
at the wardroom table was, in all probability, the chief existing cause,
and, because they were not punished, the seamen were, with a degree of
severity which, although it might be justified under the peculiar situa-
tion of the empire, yet I shall never cease to deplore, as one of the most
fatal blots on our naval annals. It was an unkind and ungrateful re-
turn to the brave fellows who, during a war of unexampled success and
glory, had faithfully served their country. When they saw the olive
branch of peace, the fruits of their own valour, they were only too eager
to seize the first fruits of it ; stimulated thereto by the intemperate and
thoughtless language of their officers, who declared their intention of
innnediately retiring on half-pay, as nothing could be gained by going to
the West Indies in time of peace.
As soon as the orders were received for the squadron, of which
the Temeraire was one to prepare for a voyage to that destination, the
seamen of that ship declared they would not go. The mutiny was almost
instantly suppressed, by the determination of the Rear_Admiral and his
officers, and the ring-leaders were secured. Here I wish I could draw
a veil over all that passed. But, I dare not utter what is false, if I dare
sot conceal what is true. I was present at the trial in Portsmouth
Harbour, and saw the prisoners. They were the noblest fellows, with
the most undaunted and prepossessing mien, I ever beheld—the beau
ideal of British sailors ; tall and athletic, well.dressed, in blue jackets,
red waistcoats, and trowsers white as driven snow.' Their hair, like
the tail of the lion, hung in a cue down their back. At that time, this
last article was considered, as indeed it really was, the distinguished
mark of a thorough-bred seaman. Unfortunately, these gallant fellows
were ignorant as they were impatient, and the custom of the time was
to hang every one who should dare to dispute the orders of his superior
officers. Had as much reward been held out for good conduct as there
was punishment for bad, we should never have required such exam-
ples, or wanted seamen in time of need ; but our navy had till then been
managed by men whose minds were not sufficiently enlightened to en.
able them to see that nething more than a simple act of justice was want-
ing to satisfy the seamen. All the worst men, or what were express
' eively called the " raff," should have been paid their wages and dis.
charged;htkhianev
ge,definitivesian charged ndt tfebyrwecwisi best should
riosgoueivil
iedvddi cg,varte,
dgebameer
even
regardless
oste
dhtoaefei
then
ni
theet
employment,
oxyni
Governmente
ednnoc
tue: b.
either ehers pay,
hi until
idel

Narrow-minded political economists, often the most extravagant
beings in the land, will tell us that we could not afford this outlay. I
tell them, in reply, that they know nothing about the matter. If we
had afforded it, we should have saved millions ; we should have saved
the last American war, and all the noble ships we lost by capture—ships
taken from us by the very men whom our political economists had
driven, by their ill-timed parsimony, into the American navy. Only
let us make the experiment ; give every able-bodied seamen, of good
character, 41. per month, of twenty-eight days, or 521. a.year, and you
need not give yourselves any more concern about America or impress-
ment; you need not hang or flog any more of your brave defenders: for
it is only the bravest, though often the most ignorant, who commit them-
selves. The only punishment you would need then would be to disrate,
from able-bodied to ordinary, in time of war, and turn the culprit on
shore, as wenow do, in time of peace.
Unhappily, we had not studied these matters in I SO°. Impressment
had always, as was supposed, filled up our ships ; but no one ever cal-
culated the price at which the men were purchased. True you had the
men, but without their hearts ; they never loved you, nor their country.
for denying them the common rights of Englishmen—a participation in
the blessings of that Constitution of which you so justly boast, and of
which you so unjustly rob them.
As a Cabinet Minister, and more particularly as First Lord of the
Admiralty, I shall always regret that Lord St. Vincent sanctioned the
punishment of those unfortunate men. But it was what was then " the
manners and customs in such cases used at sea." The same wayward
policy which murdered poor Byng executed those men. It was then
fatally and erroneously thought necessary. We now know that a dif-
ferent and milder course will answer much better. The execution of
Chesterman and the other mutineers of the Tenteraire cost us snore than
I am willing to believe or to own ; but it certainly lost us for a time the
good will and affection of our sailors. Of this truth I was made fully
sensible, not only in our passage to the West Indies,with Admiral Camp-
bell, but in all the subsequent years of the war up to 1814. We could
perceive among the seamen a sullen and lifeless obedience, a scrupulous
attention to all orders, but no voluntary service; they did their duty
from fear, not love. When we crossed the tropics, on our passage to the
West Indies with that squadron, I observed scarcely any of the usual
saturnalia, so common and cheering in the dull monotony of a trade
ind ; in short, we had the effigies of the seamen, but their animation
was fled. I have raade this digression purposely to call the attention of
the Government and the profession to the great evil of neglecting
the training and education of our sailors, to the better rewarding of
good conduct; and to making not only expulsion in peace, but loss of
servitude and emolument in war, the only punishment for negligence
or crime.
'File Portrait of Lord St. Vincent is very finely en-
graved, and is, we understand, an excellent likeness.

LAY S OF LEISURE HOURS.

BY LADY E. STVART WOATLEY.
In Two VoLs.
London, Hookham, 1838.
In these Lays we distinctly trace all the beauties, and
nearly all the defects, for which the numerous poetical com-
positions of Lady E. S.Wortley are distinguished. They have
all the vigour, freshness, and masculine freedom of thought and
expression of the noble authoress's already published works ;
but they are hardly less blurred with false feeling, and the
parade of " woes unutterable," with which it would be hard
indeed to find any class of readers that could heartily sym-
pathize. We cannot understand upon what principle—
now
pub-
lication cigi wo-
man,pslee—e
a
now that the Satanic school of poetry is shorn of its all en-
grossing,:dmighu ct
h feeling
lessbut a
intrinsically
aws oLady
aadny s unmeritedvorrichlytlWortley.
popularity—anygifted
dulwdhazard
hazs atre
d t
of such stanzas as those beginning—
" To thee I give my soul—my very soul
Crown my Devotion's hope with one sweet thought,
One thought of thine shall still seem worth the whole
Of my deep dreamy being."
And again—
" One thought of thine shall still appear to me
More precious than my soul's existence."
And the lines commencing—
" Love me not—love me not—l could not be
A sorrow and a bitterness to thee.
I would net be thy chastisement, thy doom,
And shouldst thou love me, such must I become !"
But these stanzas, and some others which we might
point out, are, after all, no great drawback upon the me-
rits of volumes, in which there is so much to admire. " I
claim not constancy from thee," is full of deep womanly
feeling. The " Ladye and the Warrior" is a fine ballad.
The poem on a" Fete held in the Open Air," is to us the most
delightful in these volumes. We equally admire the phi-
losophy and the feeling of the verses beginning with—
"Oh ! Beautiful are festivals I 'Tie well to set apart
Some hours to soften and to soothe the harassed human heart."
In truth, one of the worst signs of the present money-
exploring age, is the absence of the festive spirit that for-
merly pervaded all classes of society. Business has be-
come the great affair of human life. Before men are con-
sidered to have acquired a right to unbend their brows and
take their places at the board of human enjoyment, they
must accumulate a heap ten times as large as would be ne-
cessary to supply their remaining wants ; and the conse-
quence is, that, in nine cases out of ten, death overtakes
them before they are even ready to taste of the banquet.
The " Visit to a country House" is one of the most amus-
ing satires upon a very troublesome class of persons that
has appeared since the publication of Cowper's " John Gil-
pin." Lady Emily Stuart Wortley is a professed admirer
of the Duke of Wellington, but we do not see how such a
sentiment can justify an attack upon " Napoleon in the
Tomb !" in dishonouring whose ashes England has disho-
noured herself. There is a fable about a dead lion, which
those who cite the bones of Napoleon before their judgment
only to insult and mock them, might study with ad-
vantage. We forgot to mention that these volumes are
dedicated to Miss Landon, among the sincerest of whose
' friends the noble authoress subscribes herself.
iad I _
Y.

POPULAR LAW DICTIONAR

HENRY WHEATON, LL. DI

Longman, London, 1838.
" In this work," says the author, Mr. Tomlins, a pro-
fessional gentleman, " an attempt has been made to supply
to the public a familiar exposition of the Law, without lead_
ing the reader into disquisitions foreign to the purpose of
ordinary inquiry, or embarrassing him with technical
phraseology." A legal work composed on such a plan was
much wanted, for hitherto most productions of the sort
have been defaced and rendered nearly unintelligible by
professional technicalities ; and the little volume before us
will go far to supply this desideratum. It is plain to see
in every page that it has been compiled with great care,
and is the result of diligent and unwearied assiduity• That
portion of it which regards the state of the law as it affects
the various order of Insurances is full of useful practical
details, arranged in the clearest and most compendious form.

SCANDINAVIA, ANCIENT AND MODERN ;
Being a History of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway.
In 2 Vols. By ANDREW CRicuroiv,_Esq., LL•D., and

Edinburgh, Oliver and Boyd.
These volumes, forming Numbers XXIII. and XXIV.
of the " Edinburgh Cabinet Library," comprise within
themselves a very accurate and interesting account of the
mythology, government, laws, manners, and institutions of
the early inhabitants of Scandinavia ; an historical sketch