The Sun.
London, England, 1854-03-08 00:00:00

LONDON, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 8, 1854.

Admiral Sir CHARLES NAPIER was last evening
feasted by the members of the Reform Club, on
the occasion of what must henceforth, we believe,
long continue to be regarded as a very memorable
entertainment. It originated, as the public are
well aware, in the selection of that distinguished
sea-captain as the Commander-in-Chief of the ma-
ritime armament about to enter the Baltic imme-
diately spring renders its still frozen waters
navigable, and there by appearing off Cronstadt
to threaten, and in all probability to accomplish,
the capture of St. Petersburgh. Whatever be the
destiny of that noble fleet, entrusted by the
QUEMI, and awarded by the Ministers of the
Crown, to his guidance, it was obviously but rea-
sonable that the admirers of that gallant officer
should be desirous to indicate, in some public
manner, before his departure, their admiration
for his past history—their sympathy in his heroic
fortunes—their entire confidence in his genius,
his energy, and his determination. Therefor 6,
yesterday's banquet was given to him at the
Reform Club—a banquet attended by the Right
Hon. the First Lord of the Admiralty—given in
an apartment significantly and appropriately
adorned with the blended banners of England,
France, and Turkey—presided over by a chair-
man no less eminent in official rank and in
personal reputation than the Noble Viscount, her
MAJESTY'S Principal Secretary of State for the
Home Department. Considering the grandeur
of the occasion, when Europe is on the verge of
a general war—remembering the imminence of
the crisis, bearing in mind that the guest was
Sir CHARLES NAPIER, and that the chairman was
Lord PALMERSTON—it would not he extravagant
to assert that the festivity of last evening was al-
together invested with the dignity of an historical
incident. It was surely an historical incident—
that first public dinner where a Minister of the
British Crown was enabled to propose as a toast
the united navies of France and England. It
Was surely an historical incident—that first public
dinner where a British statesman could introduce
without indelicacy, could introduce most appo-
sitely and eulogistically, immediately after the
Customary toasts expressive of the loyalty of
those assembled, the names of his Majesty the
SULTAN
CALIPH, and of the Imperial Chieftain
selected by our French neighbours as their SOVE-
REIGN. It was quite evident from every word
that fell last evening from the lips of Viscount
PALMERSTON,
in his capacity as chairman,
that he was' to the full conscious of the
singularity. and
• of the importance of the
opportunity. It was evident from the mingled
grace and fervour with which he introduced to the
notice of his hearers the names of NAPOLEON and
of ABD-ULrmEDJID, of the SULTAN and of the
EMPEROR, of those two eminent Princes, who at
various times but under kindred influences for
example, the one by the liberation of ABD-EL-
KADER, and the other by the bestowal of an
estate upon LAMA RTlNE—evinced their chivalrous
sense of some of
the nobler dictates of m.aguani-
mity. As Lord PALMERSTON himself facetiously
intimated, after the turtle of such toasts came__
what was a social banquet in itself—the chief
toast of the evening, that of the guest of the occa-
sion, the Gallant Admiral who had already won
many a perennial wreath of glory both on the
coasts of the land of CAMOENS and on the borders
of Palestine. The allusions made by the noble
Chairman to the former achievements of Sir
CHARLES NAPIER—to his deeds of prowess, firstly
in Portugal and afterwards in Syria, were wel-
comed with the utmost enthusiasm, as might of
course have been anticipated. It is particularly
worthy of observation, however, that scarcely less
mtlawdatua Wad displayed later on in the