The Sun.
London, England, 1856-03-17 00:00:00

got,
considerable harm in the opinion of f #reigners.
For what must be the effect of his statements in
Russia and in France ? The enemy must say, "Is
this boasted naval power of England so formidable
after all, which sends out a fleet manned with
lubbers who dare not lie out on the yards to fuil
sails, commanded by officers who have not skill
enough to sail in line, and piloted by pilots utterly
ignorant of their business. Had we known this
as in lion's skin better, we need not have shrunk
from 'pectins! it on the open sea."
The French, too, if they credit the statements of
Admiral Napier, may not unnaturally ask whether
in combined operations it is safe to 'trust to allies
who are so ill prepared for war, even upon the ele,
IP tlat where their-strength-has been supposed -to lie.
If Sir 0; Napier's novices in. 214 were of greater
value than he rates them, the disservice of his sub-
sequent speeches and writings outweighs them in-
comparably.
His first complaint is of want of preparation for
the war, tut it appears that ho was not more ready
than the Adnaralty, and he describes himself as
torn away by the hair of his head. His cabin was
not fitted up *ben hp was ordered to sea, and he
sailed without knives aid forks. Yet he had had
ample time to make his preparations, and though
so backward himself, he has no indulgence for the
pilots who had not their clothes with them, and
who had to land at the Downs in consequence. he
has blame for everybody but himself, and he ac-
tually i efers to the preposterous expectations created
by his own speech at the Reform Club dinner, as
if he'had nothing to do with it except, indeed to
complain. Mark his words ':—
lie would pass over the banquet at the Reform Club
(laughter)—that glorious, banquet where many flue
speeches were made which, he believed, led the country
to expect so much front the fleet, that if the Emperor of
Russia had been brought prisoner to England the peo-
ple would not have been satisfied. (Laughter.)
This is a pretty bold stroke. The admiral is too
modest to add quorum pars magna fui.
We are to believe two things explicitly. First,
that Sir C. Napier's fleet was about the worst
manned and the worst commanded ever sent forth
for a grand campaign. Secondly, that being sa
bad, it did, everything admirably wf.ll. For ex-
ample :
Thinking that It would not be properto ent-sr the
Gulf of Finland so early in the year, Wei* ids US was
in hand," be went to Elgenabbee, the roadstead of Steel-
helm, intending to remain there two dais for the -pur-
pose of completing the watering and coating of his ships.
After leaving the entrance to the Gulf of Finland, it be •
gas to blow very hard, and there was a succession of
furious gales, which detained him for about ten days. At
last the storm ceased, and he proceeded to sea ; but,
while in the very middle of the rocks and shoalnof Mgt-
nabbee, the fleet was, unfortunately, caught in the
thickest foe which it had ever been his lot to see. He
never paned such an anxious time in the whole course
of his life. The fog was se dense that he thought it al-
most impossible the fleet could escape. Anchorage there
was none; the danger was extreme; but, by the mercy of
Providence, every ship got safely out. One, indeed, a
little in advance of the rest, came in contact with a rock,
but without sustaining any material damage, while an-
other narrowly escaped the same misfortune. He was
bound and happy to state that Great energy, zeal,
and decision were displayed on that trying occasion.
There was no wavering on the part of the captains.
All they could do was to go forward ; they. ,did
so ; and every one brought his ship safely out to
ten. He himself passed alone through a passage of
which nothing was known before, and he would leave
the house to imagine what an anxic'ns night he spent
not knowing what had become of the rest of the fleet,
for it was not till the following afternoon that his mind
was relieved by seeing the ships safe at sea. No human
foresight could have prevented the terrible risk. He was
perfectly justified in going into Elgsnabben, which was
the roadstead of Stockholm, and nothing but a fog could
have exposed the fleet to such danger.

As the proof of the pudding is proverbially in the
eating, so the proof of the fleet in the trying cir-
cumstances described would show than it could nct
have deserved the character before assigned to it
by its admiral. And some of the officers who so ad-
mirably acquitted themselves upon this occasion
were the same as those to whom he desired to tele-
graph the order before the eyes of the whole fleet,
" Go home, you are of no use to me here."
And of inconsistencies of this character the ad-
miral's statements are full. The workman was al-
ways quarrelling with his tools and bragging of his
work. He was at war with everybody, but least of
all with the Russians.

On the other hand, we cannot but think that he
was held too much in leading strings by the Admi-
ralty: as the old song has it,

Now fondled, now chid,
Permitted, forbid.
Prudence was preached till it appeared that pru-
dence was in excess, and then daring, and "no-
thing venture nothing have," became the text of
the lesson. Our notion is, that an officer in chief
command should have full unfettered discretion to
act according to the present circumstances, of
which he must have the best knowledge. If he
deserves the command, he deserves this confi-
dence. But an error in this respect does not make
Sir Charles Napier right, for he ought not to
have submitted to the interference of irhic:i he
complains, but should have resigned his command
if his first protest against undue meddling; was un-
heeded, and the practice persisted in. This is
what Nelson would have done, what Collingwood
would have done, and what others have done. By
his own showing, Sir C. Napier should not have
accepted the command of the Baltic Fie et, which
he thought unfit for its duties ; and by his own
showing, too, after having taken the command, he
should have resigned it when he found that there
was an admiral over him at Whitehall, ovierruling
his judgment and prescribing his operations. We
do not mean to say that the fact was so ; but sup-
posing Sir C. Napier's representations to tie true,
his Conduct in submitting is censurable. The plea
of regard to the public service will not a' rail, for
the public service could suffer by nothing f io much
as by the criminations and.damagino• statements in
which Sir C. Napier has not scrupled to indulge,
to say nothing of the disgraceful breaches of con-
fidence. What ho has done for his own character
may be an unpleasant question even in his own
self-satisfied mind, but that his speeches have, in
the eyes of foreigners, lowered the character of the
navy, whose prestige is the protection of our coun-
try, is too certain and deplorable a fact.

A lIIGH SIIERIFF FINED 1001. BY A

JUDGE.

On Monday the commission for holding the Spring Assize
for Cansarthenshire, was opened at Carmarthen, before
Mr. Justice Williams. It was, so far as the county was
concerned, a maiden assize.
Mr. Win. Goode, the under sheriff, proceeded to meet
his lordship—the high sheriff, Major Rice, of Llwynybrain,
being unable to attend personally on neifount of illness.
Mr. Goode, who left Carmarthen in an ordinary fly, fume-
compiniod by jayslin men or county poldoemen, met his
lordship about two miles from Carmarthen, on the road
from Cardigan. We (Swansea Herald) rare told that his
lordship refused to proceed to Carmarthen in Cr) fly pro-
vided by the under sheriff, and entered the town in his
own carriage about 4 o'clook in the evening, and immedi-
ately proceeded to the Town-hall.
On Tuesday, his lordship, in charging the grand jury,
said :—ln Cardiganshire, whence I have just come, I had
the task, to me altogether as novel as it was agreeable, of
telling the grand jury that I had nothing which I could
make the subject of a charge, because there was not a single
fpporeriresfootnrhmeerm, for trial,
datnrtitola it,:
0,
laoiyrneaahn
have
that
he
alt businessthat
do. Bnt, gentlemen, my plewure on this occasion is not
altogetherje sty h ,as
appointedwit out alloy.to be Thehigh goehnetrlieffm &oaf
thiswho whom
countyahn earoMt
other
absent. I learned from a letter which I received on my
arrival here from himself that his absence is attributable
to illness. That is certainly to be regretted, and if so, he,
cannot reasonably be expected to be present here to-day ikt,
the sacrifice of his health. His absence, however, from
that
e
nly
o:
jarsibt nulfsie,stsecser eyhjihtazdneuei2tecearna
maintaining
lecause
vhiliesgssaersidtidsinsyl
tmblkot
:nnhinsi!erbiegiremotertssorinyeaemador{rtvuupeiwoirixoanl isnesttigeotut attendance
ifeiC) Itacturlohfeceattoopnaleolr. ci
t :fanhrfatefdobnaha ireatdarii 11
payingiv. iiarianeff
igtaba eat
execution
oe alsou
ogo
s
tat
should
idt the
motiveapv eer
tf performance
thought
tmc et
thooifsue
commission. sbs leo
present
r. e s Thisent pie:
sothnealdl
yu.t y
Iwnhdiecehi, by
would whichp
more
hnhtahevatenc abeuae
snehunol
atgrhiayt standsheriff,
keae excused
rather
nu
tabanaidt.
his duty should be faithfully performed on his absence.
But it has been plainly and !pointedly neglected, and for
that neglect I foetid. it incumbent upon me yesterday to
fine him in the sum of one hundred pounds. (This an-
nouncement created throughout the court a sensation,
amounting almost to cheers.) I need not say that it pained
g
me to be under such a necessity, and especially to be under
there mwisohenat to
Fhgei agreeable :wabbhstl eeoa
jtuval
roper
os'ir• laid
ye
whatever
p;o.
for
that necessity in the country so endeared to me as your
county of Carmarthen. I know not what the cironmstanct a
are that have led the present high sheriff into such a course
of conduct, brit I do feel sure that there is no other gen-
tleman in this country who is capable of such a failure of
loyalty to her Majesty, and such a mark of disrespect to
the law of the land.

t. The
—LEEDS, Sunday Night.--The prisoner, William Dove ,
Tus ALLEGED POISONING BY STICYCHNIA AT
omLreeEnEctaD,rSoe.r.
inquiry
anxietynowwe
vo rd
ne anpac pneodeftaomrhabai
entgodgb,arb
oroedur sgbohoi
since it eh w.
forwardl ita Hisht
ea ffi
appearanceeaa t t i
the
adbayod c
1.00
auni
mrsfinnemened i n
this day (Monday) is expected to be of material import-
ance, and the public mind is on the tiptoe of expecta-
tion. The defence which. will be set up at the trial is
rumoured to be on the scientific point—as to the possi-
bility of detecting strychnine in the stomach after death ;
and as Professor Taylor, in the Rugely cases, gave evi-
denced'k
ji.anuvgdaliyucciapelarobable he will be an
investigation
Mr.
vestig Morley and
the
mNaulnitnaegioeyni:Aiticistoexthcaeet
I important witness at the