The Sun.
London, England, 1860-11-17 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

Memorials, Personal and historical, of Admiral
Lord Gambier, G. C. 13., with original letters
from Lord Chatham, Lord Nelson, IC., 'IC.
Edited by Lady Chatterton. 2 vols. Hurst
and Blackett.

These volumes appear in singular conjunction
with the memorials of the lamented naval Earl
whose death England has just had to deplore, and
who was at one part of his career involved in such
painful dissensions with their subject. The editress,
who has compiled this work from family papers,
gives, as her reason for so doing, " the prominent
though disputed position which Lord Gambier
occupies in the Naval History of England, and the
total absence of any reliable published information
as to his personal qualities." He was a well-
intentioned and high•principled man, without the
grasp of mind and vigorous energies of a great
commander, whom circumstances placed in the
midst of national events of historic importance,
and who was thrown into the shade by the
achievements of the Titans who were beside
him. Between the two extremes in which
his friends and his enemies regard him, Lord
Gambier seems really entitled to occupy a
middle position. The editress, who rates him
somewhat too highly throughout the work, takes
the following view of his career and character :
Of those whose names have unjustly suffered by juxta-
position and indirect inferences, there is no instance more
closely representative than that of Lord Gambier. Because
he had the pluck to avow unostentatiously his honest and
simple faith at a period when such an avowal was equiva-
lent to being morally branded as either a Methodist or a
Jesuit—he has been handed down to posterity as a narrow-
minded pharisaical sectarian, against the direct testimony
of men who served afloat under him, and against the fact
that, in 1830, he voted in the House of Lords for the
Catholic Emancipation to the annoyance of many personal
friends and dismay of the religious party, whose views he
is now affirmed to have held bigotedly. In truth, though
his personal bravery, trustworthiness in command, and
general high tone of character, stand recorded by the most
respectable and best-informed witnesses, the details of his
very remarkable organisation have never been fairly com-
pared and harmonised. Constitutionally fearless and by
temperament inclined to dashing enterprises— constitu-
tionally prudent in the required interest of the public
service—singularly broad, and exempt from party bias
in his political opinions—proudly patient under foul
calumnies and poisonous insinuations—Lord Gambier
was deficient in two defensive qualities without
which quiet merit is too apt to he jostled out of the road
to fame by loud-tongued competition. Those qualities
were self-esteem and ambition. Of the former he had
but just enough to secure firmness of purpose—the latter
was absolutely non-existent. Hence the only literary re-
cord of his gallantry, on the Ist of June, is to be found
in a periodical now out of print, and his management of an
arduous unrewarded duty fifteen years latter has remained
unexplained and undefended save in the forgotten minutes
of a court-martial.

Lord Gambier's family was originally French, his
greatgrandfather having been one of the Huguenots
who were driven from their country by the revo-
cation of the Edict of Nantes. lie was connected
with the family of the Pitts, who were at that time
most powerful in their influence—a fact which
accounts for his promotion, without accusing his
friendship for Mr. Wilberforce of any interested
motive. There is but little directly referring to
Lord Gambier in the early part of the work ;
indeed, the editress at one time expresses
her fear that her book may resemble " Hamlet with
the part of Hamlet omitted," but having arranged
it chronologically, and Lord Gambier's services hav-
ing been long uneventful, she has principally occu-
pied the first volume with the letters of
his friends or connexions. As these include
many from the first William Pitt and
other political leaders, besides numerous
extracts from the correspondence of Hannah More
with Sir Charles Middleton respecting the schools
which have rendered her famous, the reader has little
cause to complain. The second volume is more
directly concerned with Lord Gambier's naval
career, and the court martial on the affair of the
Basque Roads occupies nearly half of it. Into the
details of this we shall not enter. Always an in-
vidious task it would be doubly so when the great
Abbey has just received the remains of the
gallant Cochrane. We can only lament the
bitterness and spirit of depreciation with which the
editress invariably speaks of one who has left a
name worthy of being mentioned beside those of
Blake and Nelson. The two following extracts
bear testimony to the services which Lord Gam-
bier rendered to his profession :
While he presided at the Board of Admiralty, Lord Gam-
bier compiled with much labour a code of signals for the
navy—" no regular one authorised by the Admiralty hav-
ing been established since the very imperfect sailing and
fighting instructions issued by the Duke of York, after-
wards James the Second."
In that code Lord Gambier made a list of the ships of
the navy with numbers against their names—an invention
of his own—for the purpose of making themselves known
to each other at sea and on other occasions, with several
improvements in the signals and evolutions. He also drew
up the " General Instructions" for the direction and guid-
ance of officers in the internal discipline of government of
the King's ships, with the duty of every officer clearly
pointed out. This was a work greatly needed, as the old
instructions had become obsolete and almost useless, being
very deficient and confused. The new code introduced by
Lord Gambier was adopted in the service and found very
efficient. He made further improvements in it in the year
1815 when he was president of a committee of naval Ol-
t ars appointed to revise the former code.
5 5

In the year 1796 Lord Gambier being then, as before
stated, at the Board of Admiralty, constructed a frigate of
32 guns, called the Triton, of peculiar beauty, and which,
upon trial in the command of Sir John Gore and other
officers of repute and judgment, was found to answer ad-
mirably in all respects. The Triton appears to have been
built by contract by Messrs. Barnard and Co., who make
the following note :--‘. If this ship should answer all the
purposes of a man-of-war, of which there is no reason to
doubt, the country will be much indebted to Admiral Gam-
bier for these experiments, as she will be built of straighter
timber than any ship of her class ever was in this or any
other country, a'very valuable acquisition at a time when
"compass" (crooked) timber is so difficult to obtain, so that a
twofold purpose will be answered, viz., that of a ship's sail•
ing faster, and being built of a straighter timber than any
others have been." The model and drawings of the Triton
are in possession of Lord Gambier's nephew, Vice •Admiral
Robert Gambier.
Lord Gambier also constructed the Plantagenet, a
74-gun ship. She was launched in October, 1801, at Wool-
wich. I subjoin the following passage respecting her from
the _Naval Chronicle :—" On the 23d a launch took place
from the dockyard, Woolwich, of a new 74-gun ship, called
the Plantagenet. This ship was built upon a plan furnished
by Admiral Gambier (when one of the Lords of the Admi-
ralty), and is considered by judges of naval architecture to
be of singularly fine mould and exquisite proportion. She
is upon a large scale, but without a poop, so that, at a
distance at sea, she may pass for a large frigate."

In the year 1832 Lord Gambier received a Field
Marshal's baton, the first ever given to an Admiral
of the Fleet as a badge of office. He had then out-
lived the days when tokens of worldly distinction
and marks of honour were valuable. Infirm, suffer-
ing, and nearly blind when the distinction was con-
ferred, he did not long enjoy it. The following
year saw the termination of his career and removed
from the naval service of England one who was
certainly a painstaking and conscientious officer, al-
though he might not possess the daring genius of
a Cochrane. The editress, with rare discrimination,
has left all details of his private life unrecorded. She
has, however, been less wise in the supervision of
her materials, which would have borne considerable
condensation. Thus the letters from Hannah More,
though many of them are highly interesting, occu-
py too prominent a place in a work which professes
such a different character. Among the correspon-
dence we find a letter from Nelson, relating to the
events of the war. With regard to the introduc-
tory correspondence and the time over which it ex-
tends the editress writes as follows :
In detailing only services of intrinsic importance, I
hoped and believed that I was anticipating the reader's
wishes. I believed that the varied correspondence of
with
Lord eminently noted in their day, and connectedth
Lord Gambier by blood or friendship, would be more ac-
ceptable than the names of his schoolmates, or a pars.
phrase of his to books. Moreover, these letters
form
links between the middle of the last century. and th
thee lmar-
atter
part of this. The letters describing respectively
riage of the elder and the birth of
etviph
aypounger
Pitt, carry us from the confines ofitah
strugl ole regime over
Walpole with Napo-
the bloody Rubican of 1793
ce the friend and inde-
i.nto tfh
leon, and thence through Wilber
Pitt. The links are ex-
pendent supporter of the y u
tended over the Reform- oßiullietro thde
Ldaaryds
JowhhnenftuLssoarldl
Palmerston was Foreign Secretary an
Paymaster of the Forces. Thus much as regards the
links in the chain of years.
The work, though telling us nothing really new, and
touching on many irrelevant matters, is
by no means
devoid of merit. It gives us a faithful picture of the
time, perhaps the better from the discursive cha-
racter of its contents, and as a supplement to other
works on that epoch it will be especially valuable.
The editress may be congratulated on having satis-
factorily accomplished a task which is somewhat
an arduous one for a feminine hand, and if her
judgment is sometimes a little biassed, it will
be readily accounted for by the high esteem in
which she holds the subject of her volumes.

THE GARIBALDI SPECIAL FUND.—The per-
formance announced for the Standard Theatre, opposite
the Eastern Counties Railway, Shoreditch, on, Tuesday
evening, November 20th, has been promoted by friends of
Italy in the district, as a benefit for the Garibaldi Special Fund,intended to defray the expenses of equipping and
sending out the British Legion. In consideration of the
local interest thus evinced, and the public object to be thus
served, the London Central Committee of the above Fund
solicit us to notify to Qur readers the date of the per-
formance, which the company of the Theatre hope to render
attractive, independently of its patriotic object.
FRANCE AND ITALY.—The Moniteur de la Flotte
has the following :—" Some journals have announced that
Vice-Admiral M. Barbier de Tinan had received new in-
structions, ordering him no longer to oppose an attack.on_
Gaeta by sea. We think those journals are wrongly.irisic
formed, and that, consequently, it is inexact that Admiral
.1
Perecino has commenced the bombardment of that town
doubtless they meant Mols.. di Gaeta. We areTainntann ri'yu
have
to believe that the instructions of Admiral d_e
revent, while
not been modified in any respect, and that the mission of
that genei ill officer is still the same—.40 P
maintaining the most strict neutrality,
by sea against Gaeta." suit; act of hostility

ITALY.

A Turin letter of the 13th, in the &Week, has the
following :—" M. Poerio has not accepted any
place in the new Government. It is still in contem-
plation to have him enter the Council of Ministers
without portfolio. Every one this morning was
occupied with the proclamation of Garibaldi 'to
his companions in arms ; it is the great affbir
of the day. M. Mordini has returned to Palermo,
where he will remain until the arrival of the Mar-
quis de Montezzemolo, named Lieutenant- General of
Sicily. We have received no journals from that
island later than to the 28th ult. They contain,
among other things, the proclamation addressed by
the pro-Dictator to the inhabitants, in which be
announced his departure for Naples, whither .he
was going to offer to Victor Emmanuel the wishes
of all Sicilians. I have looked in vain in all the
Sicilian journals, and particularly in the offi..ial
one, for the pretended decree of the pro-Dictator
Mordini, in which he is said to have named him-
self General of the Carabineers, with a salary in
proportion to his rank. That statement, which
has been published in several journals, but to which
I never attached any credit, is therefore a decided
calumny."