The Sun.
London, England, 1841-04-22 00:00:00

COMMODORE NAPIER.

A special meeting of the Town Council of Man-
chester was held on Tuesday, at half-past three o'clock,
in the Boroughreeve's room, Tow❑ Hall, " for the pur-
pose of considering the propriety of presenting a con-
gratulatory addre,s to Commodore Sir Charles Napier,
G. C. 8., on his return to this country ;" the Gallant
Commodore having accepted an invitation to a public
dinner in the Town Hall. Yesterday after some dis-
cussion the following address was agreed to :

TO COMMODORE SIR CHARLES NAPIER, K.C.P.
We, the Mayor, Alderman, and Burgesses of the
borough of Manchester, in Council assembled, beg most
heartily to congratulate you on your return home, after
the performance of services which reflect the highest
honour on yourself, and redound so much to the advan-
tage of your country. Whilst we feel that the personal
bravery and naval skill you have exhibited in the vari-
ous operations on the coast of Syria, terminating
in the surrender of the important fortress of
Saint Jean d'Acre, have never been surpassed, we feel
also that this great manufacturing community are espe-
cially indebted to you for the early termination of
the horrors of war, and for the restoration of the
inestimable blessings of peace to an empire long so
intimately connected with Great Britain, and the
commercial relations with which are of so much
importance to the community ; nor can we avoid express-
ing our pride and satisfaction that your character for in-
tegrity and straightforwardness should have so much
contributed to the early termination of disputes which,
if much longer protracted, might have involved the
European powers in a war, the consequences of which
would have been most calamitous to your country.
For such services and such conduct, ,ve doubt not
you will receive from your admiring countrymen and
from posterity, those rewards, and that just meed of
praise, you have so eminently earned.
The festival of Monday last, in honour of Com-
modore Napier, was a just tribute of respect to that
gallant officer, for the conduct and bravery displayed
by him in contributing so largely to the brilliant suc-
cesses obtained by the British naval forces i❑ the re-
cent Egyptian war. Such marks of public approba-
tion are the least reward that those who fight the na-
tion's battles are entitled to expect for the toils and
dangers they undergo in the discharge of their arduous
duties. And we have a not►on that they will prove
not less effectual, pour encourager les autres, thin
marking the sense of a victory by the administration
of certain ounces of judicial lead. The manner in
which the occasion passed off, moreover, was every
way worthy of the town. It was an opportunity for
showing how regard for the country's renown, and ad-
miration for distinguished talents, courage, and enter-
prise, can triumph over party and personal differences ;
and we rejoice to say, that men of all shades of political
opinion united in testifying to Sir Charles Napier how
highly his emineat valour and services are appreciated
by hii countrymen.
The allusion to the effect upon Marshal Soult of the
courteous attention which he met with on his visit to
Liverpool will be received with extreme satisfaction.
And although it must be admitted, that, in estimating
that effect, Sir Charles speaks with the ardour and
emphasis of a lifitish seaman, rather than with the
rigid exactness of a moral mathematician : yet in
principle his observation is no doubt perfectly correct.
A. statesman who had experienced, as Marshal Soult
did, the liberal and friendly feeling of the really in-
fluential classes in England towards France and French-
men, would make many efforts to avoid converting a
disposition which might be so advantageously cherished,
into one of bitter and determined hostility. The same
praise which the worthy Commodore bestows upon the
politeness of the people of Liverpool, is due in no small
measure to his own expressions regarding the Pacha of
Egypt. They will produce a more favourable impres-
sion towards that individual than anything has yet done,
and will go far to create and keep alive that good un-
derstanding between the two countries which cannot
but tend in the highest degree to the solid benefit of
both.—Liverpool Courier.