The Sun.
London, England, 1847-06-09 00:00:00

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LONDON, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 9, 1847.

Justice having been done, though tardily, to the
heroic participators in the naval and military actions
of Great Britain, dating from the commencement of
the European wars in 1793, until their termination in
1815, we are sanguine that those valiant defenders of
the national honour and the national flag, whose
claims to some honourable token of their prowess still
continue unacknowledged, will ultimately and speedily
receive a similar mark of public gratitude. The sense
of Parliament must necessitate this recognition of
neglected merit; the sense of the Government must
instigate her MAJESTY'S Ministers to forward, as ex-
peditiously as possible, some such final act of repara-
tion. Surely, if the officers and seamen who have
been engaged in little frigate actions are
decorated with a medal for their services, those
who have aided in such terrible and glorious battles
as those of Algiers and Navarino should ob-
tain an equal mark of the estimation in which
they are held by their compatriots. Imme-
diately the Gazette was published, a few even-
ings since, containing the announcement of the grant
of medals to all who had served in the Pensinsular
campaigns, and in the marine victories achieved be-
tween the years 1793 and 1815 inclusively, we availed
ourselves of the opportunity afforded by that an-
nouncement to comment upon the injustice which was
still persevered in towards the gallant survivors
in the great and memorable sea-battle fought on
the northern coast of Africa, in 1816, under the pen-
nant of the immortal EXMOUTH. Since then a letter
has been published in a contemporary by " The
Sole Survivor" of all the commissioned and ward-
room officers of the Windsor Castle in the actions of
the Dardanelles, demanding, among other things,
why the heroes of Navarino, Algiers, and Acre were
omitted from the list given in the official Gazette.
Lord EXMOUTH has long since been consigned to the
grave; his gallant second in command, Admiral
Sir DAVID MILNE, has very recently followed
him to that mysterious " bourne ;" we shall
look, therefore, to Sir EDWARD CODRINGTON, to
Sir ROBERT STOPFOID, and to Sir CHARLES NAPIER,
to bring this interesting matter under the considera-
tion of the Admiralty.
Whether the suggestion of the anonymous dissen-
tient already mentioned, namely that the different
" acts of intrepidity performed by officers and crews
in boats, from the commencement of the revolution,"
is entitled to the consideration of the authorities, will
remain a matter of uncertainty and discussion ; but
no rational objection whatever can be raised to the
presentation of some slight badge of honour to the
survivors of the magnificent victories off Algiers, off
Navarino, and off Acre. It were frivolous to recount
the details of those memorable battles, seeing that
they are familiar and noble memories in the cottage
homes of England. Historians have already inscribed
their narrative in the language of eulogium, whether
those historians have been gifted with the elo-
quence and enthusiasm of a JAMES, the perspi-
cuity and picturesqueness of a BRENTON, or the
accuracy and elaboration of a NICOLAS. Nothing is
requisite to revive in the popular mind a remem-
brance of the prowess evinced in those brilliant en-
gagements, seeing that that remembrance is perpetual
and unfading. The case of Acre is of too recent
occurrence to require any explanation whatever ;
and it is only necessary to remind the public that the
two preceding triumphs were produced by sentiments
of the most generous ana numarnzing aescrip-
tion,—Algiers having been bombarded for the
destruction of the piratical system of its
barbarous inhabitants, and the bay of Navarino having
been entered by the combined fleets ;for the purpose
of effecting the speedy emancipation of unfortunate
and degraded Greece. If the sanguinary deeds of
battle could be sanctified by the benignity of the
principles at stake, then assuredly were those of the
English sailors under PELLEW and CODRINGTON en-
titled in a peculiar manner to the admiration and the
honourable recollection of the community.
Something, we maintain, is imperatively demanded
from the Government as a compensation to the sur-
vivors for an unmerited neglect of (in the case of
Algiers) upwards of thirty years ! We cannot induce
ourselves to imagine that this expiatory act will con-
tinue much longer to be deferred. We cannot be-
lieve that the gallant men who bled in our ships of
war will be insulted very long by a perseverance
in such ignontinous treatment. Justice requires
that some immediate step should be taken by the
authorities at the Admiralty for the publication of a
supplement to the recent orders respecting medals
officially published in the Gazette. The omission of
such extraordinary actions from the original catalogue
which accompanied those orders was a most repre-
hensible oversight ; but the fault can be compensated
by the immediate issue of such a supplement
as the one suggested. So thoroughly are
we convinced of the injustice of the ne-
glect hitherto evinced to the gallant officers and
seamen referred to, that we are satisfied the oversight
has only to be mentioned to be remedied. The very
course which has at length been pursued in reference
to our Peninsular veterans is a confession that their
services have heretofore been responded to by the
economical ingratitude of the State. Is not the same
charge of ingratitude, which is applicable to Trafal-
gar, to Badajoz, and to Ciudad Rodrigo, appli-
cable in like manner to Algiers, to Navarino,
and to Acre ?—the only difference consisting in the
length to which Ministerial niggardliness was pro-
tracted. Surely the Government is not delaying the
reparation of its ingratitude for the satisfaction of a
cruel punctilio—namely, until a proportionate time
shall have elapsed after Acre, Navarino, and Algiers,
as actually has elapsed since the victories of Ciudad
Rodrigo, of Badajoz, and of Trafalgar !

The political circles in Paris are at this moment
involved in considerable excitement with respect to a
topic which, if judiciously handled, might be turned
to great public advantage. We have often observed
upon the great impediments which stand in the way
of the progress of real liberty in France, in conse-
quence, first, of the narrow franchise conferred upon
the electoral body, and, next, the unconstitutional
influence exercised by the Crown in both of the
Legislative Chambers, owing to the number
of placemen who have seats in the same, more
especially in the Chamber of Deputies. The
inevitable result is, that the people have no real voice
in the nominal councils of the nation ; whilst, contra-
riwise, the most fitful whim, or the most exclusively
selfish object of the KING is certain of being ulti-
mately gratified and carried out, how repugnant so-
ever either the one or the other may be to the in-
terests or dignity of France. Witness the celebrated
fortification measure in proof of the first, and the
Spanish marriages in support of the latter assertion.
All Europe saw clearly enough, and so, indeed, did
.the great body of the French themselves, that
the real object in fencing and encircling his
capital with a strong military wall, was
‘4:t a tr, as alleged, to guard it against the
e
a,
,tins,-iteeay nn
ofn an enemy,
itn of popular
nemebyu,iibujot discontenttoprotecthisdynasty
al: tongst his own subjects. His sole and personal ob-
jec t -was to tuthrallutphoencsitgizeradns ofll Paris. His anxiety
guaraunate
wa t, that, i.ntent
y undexmining the
lib ernes of the people as
the charter,
P°BitthiFfonufenchons of
cwith the
he: should not be. cashiered from beicsi throne
same facility that worked the de
I
X., should his aLiEnin,;stration of 11. ARLES
1
royalty ever evoke a sim.'lar patriotic effort on the
partre vo i of the 't
itohne people.
1830
d Loursco
ul Pl.quarrm succeeded. The
n,
lt now be repeated
Yr ithoitt a most sanguinary cc,'ntest, so long as
the Citizen King can place
)
any relianco
1 upon the fidelity of the regular arms,.. The Spanish