The Sun.
London, England, 1845-11-06 00:00:00

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LONDON, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 6. 1845.

Whilst the admirable editorship of Sir HARRIS NICOLAS, in
giving to the world the " Nelson Dispatches and Letters," is
vindicating the memory of the greatest of all British heroes
from many most serious but utterly unfounded imputations on
his moral and political integrity, the accomplished biogra-
pher is also rendering a service to the nation at large
of incalculable value. Sir IL&xms is reviving that
generous enthusiasm which, kindled by similar labours
on the part of Sot-rimy, has secured to:the naval service
of the kingdom many hundreds of gallant and enthusiastic
sailors, whose youthful imitation of our indomitable captain
of the seas gave an irresistible direction to their future des-
tiny. But, whatever less elaborate care in the collection,
extent, and digestion of authentic materials, on the part
of the late Laureate, had left imperfectly developed, has been
admirably supplied by the greater industry and judgment of
the more recent historian. His views of the principles that
governed NELSON'S conduct in some of the most memo-
rable passages of his eventful life are not obscured
by -the same occasional prepossessions or prejudices
of a purely conventional character which some-
times disfigure the opinions advanced by SOUTHEY,
and which all the matchless charms of his style of composition
cannot compensate for. But we do not intend to enter in
this place into any formal or controversial parallel between
the two historians, nor to enlarge, even, on the successful ex-
planations, as we are clearly of opinion they must be consi-
dered, which Sir HARRIS has now supplied on the nature of
the earlier period of Lord NEISON'S connexion with Lady
HasinzoN, and in exculpation of the hero from that
ungenerous and vindictive instrumentality in the
terrible fate of Prince CARRACCIOLI, which has been so
confidently but so unwarrantably attributed to the British
Admiral. Our present purpose is to offer the humble
tribute of our praise and congratulation to Sir HARRIS Nr-
coLas, for having, by his very opportune labours, placed the
greatest naval chief who ever astonished mankind by his va-
lour and his prowess, his disinterestedness and his success, his
genius and his fortune, in a right position before the eyes, as
it were, of the present generation and of posterity. Judging
of others by ourselves, we are convinced that the same
thrilling emotions of admiration, respect, gratitude, and en-
thusiasm will animate every British bosom for the memory
of this immortal leader with. which the perusal of these
records of his inmost thoughts, of his heart's own eloquence,as
well as of the great acts of his magnanimous intrepidity,
have inspired our own. The study of the themes we allude
to is a pleasure of the very hitheat order, modified only by the
bitter indignation with which we trace the shameful story
of the wrongs he was incessantly experiencing at the hands
of superior authorities, through the base influences of profes-
sional envy, and the contemptible niggardliness of political
partizanship ; and the peculiarity in his career, whilst living,
seems to attach to the honours paid to hie memory after
death. To sum up the complexion and amount of these in
one fact, we need scarcely remind the public that the column
reared to his memory, in Trafalgar-square, still remains
unfinished, still hoarded up, in part, from the view of his
compatriots.
On several former occasions we have animadverted from
time to time on the contemptible conduct of the Government
of Sir ROBERT PEEL with regard to this national monument,
We exhibited the Premier gravely upholding the report of
one of those Committees (of taste, the fine arts, &c.) whose
decisions and recommendations are generally the subjects of
merriment or compassion to all the refined capitals of
Europe. We adverted to Sir ROBERT'S concurrence in
the announcement to the House of Commons that it

had been judiciously determined to reduce the architect's
original design for a Corinthian column of a given dimension
of shaft, &c., (1.) because in case of any accident to it, it
might cause great destruction of life and property in so
densely crowded a thoroughfare; (2.) because those original
proportions would throw into absolute insignificance the low
façade of the so-called " National Gallery" (a monstrosity
due to the designs of Mx.Wilacifis and the purblind patronage
of Mr. SPRING RICE). The "National Gallery," it is evident
the Premier, at the time, considered a very fine edifice; so,
for fear of destroying its " effect," the column was actually
reduced (by some 13 feet or more, if we rightly remember)
in height, and thus impaired, in order to meet the views of
Boards of Taste and Boards of Woods and Forests,
Then Came Lord Liztoofs with his petty quibblings
and evasions, as manifested in his correspondence with the
NELSON Column Committee; his undecided and wavering
intimations of consent to "allow" a Trafalgar festival to be
celebrated at the inauguration of the column, an/ the
ludicrously offensive apprehensions (which he had the bad
taste—and, we will add, the presumption—to intimate of
the danger of disturbances from the jollity of a re-union of
the few surviving veteran heroes of the mighty victory of
Trafalgar. We have over and over again adverted to -the
wretched puerilities, the disgraceful make-shifts, ;the
asphalte-substitutes with which the same utterly -in-
competent management (participated in, we presume, h.:.
twoen the two wooden jurisdictions, the Boat.d.