The Sun.
London, England, 1849-06-20 00:00:00

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LONDON, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20, 1849

Either as warriors or as publicists the NAPIERS, if
not doing, are at least always endeavouring to do
good service to their country. Whenever their swords
are sheathed their pens are called into requisition.
When they withdraw for a while from the command
of the military,or maritime forces of Britain, they
evince an earnest and patriotic anxiety to forward the
improvement of their warlike professions. This, it
will not yet have been forgotten, was evinced in a
striking manner by the Letter addressed to the Presi-
dent of the Board of Control (on the necessity existing
for the reorganization of the Baggage Corps of the
Indian army), by Sir CHARLES NAPIER, the victor of
Meanee. It has also, within the last few days, been
displayed quite as conspicuously by the Letter
addressed to the First Lord of the Treasury (on the
urgent demand for the extension of our naval power
in the number and quality of its steam- vessels) by
Sir CHARLES NAPIER, the conqueror of St. Jean
d'Acre. Whatever may be the views of the Admi-
nistration either as to the efficiency of the Baggage
Corps of the Indian army, or as to the sufficiency of
the steam force of the-English navy, it is quite im-
possible that the Ministers of the Crown should do
otherwise than yield the most diligent attention to
the remonstrances of men so illustrious among
the great Captains of the two elements. The
NAPIERS have nobly and brilliantly earned for
themselves the right of requiring this Ministerial
nonsiieration, by the ardour of the one as a soldier,
and of the other as a sailor, and by the splendid vic-
tories with which they have both illustrated the his-
tory of the Anglo- Saxons.
Although the objections made lip Sir CHARLES
Narita, in reference to the mal-administration of
affairs at the Admiralty, have been lung since ren-
dered familiar to the public through the medium of
hi; Parliamentary speeches, the majority cannot fail
to be gratified at the publication of a document
which recapitulates those objections in the concise
form of an epitome, and condenses them within the mo-
derate dimensions of an epistle. As a resume of the
opinions expressed by the Gallant Admiral during
the six years he remained in the house as a popular
representative, the communication to Lord JOHN
RUSSELL on the " State of the Steam Navy," a letter
contained in our last evening's impression, must prove
peculiarly welcome to every lover of his country, and
every well-wisher of the illustrious service which has
elevated that country to its present greatness.
Sir CHARLES at once plainly and bluntly acknow-
?edges himself to be an alarmist. In doing
this, however, he reminds the Prime Minister
that no peril can be risked by his exposure of the
defenceless condition of England, that exposure
having already been made by the memorable letter
penned by the Duke of WELLINGTON. And as an
additional, nay, more, as a conclusive justification of
his own exposition of " the nakedness of the land,"
Sir CripLES insists upon the inappropriateness of the
time in which the Duke took upon himself the in-
vidious duties of an alarmist, and on the other hand
maintains that such an exposure of the urgency of
our national position is shown to be exquisitely re-
quisite, at a period when 30,000 have been conveyed
with such astounding facility and suddenness from
Prance to Italy, from Toulon to Civita Vecchia.
Our distinguished Sea-Captain speaks directly to the
point, without the feeblest attempt at circumlocution;
and his hint to the Premier is not less startling than
It is sententious. "I advise your Lordship," says he,
"to look at the chart—not at the distance from Tou-
!on to Civita Vecchia, but at the distance from Cher-
t ourg to Portland." Immediately before that re-