The Sun.
London, England, 1845-08-23 00:00:00

LITERATURE.
THE DISPATCHES AiVD LETTERS OF
VICE-ADMIRAL LORD VISCOUNT NEL-
SON, with Notcs by Sir Nic.'.olas Harris Nicolas,
G.C.M.G. Vol.
Li previous notices of this work we have already
indicated our opinion of its merits as a companion to
the Dispatches of Wellington and Marlborough. We
need not delay, therefore, to characterise it again.
The lime occupied in the present volume is about
twenty months—from January, 1798, to Auguet, 1799.
The contents, the edite,sr remarks, " illustrate, perhaps,
the most important, as wei; as most interesting, events
of Nelson's life—the first of his brilliant victories, and
the only transaction in his professit;nal career to which
blame has ever been attached."
The victory was that of the Nile ; the doubtful
transaction was the trial of Prince Caraccioli, followed
by the execution of that aged man.
There is no occasion here to repeat whathistory has traced
upon her adamantine tablet—the details of the defeat of
the French fleet in Aboukir Bay, on the Ist of August,
1798. Nelson's own dispatch, announcing the triumph,
occupies a single page, but Sir H. Nicolas has very
judiciously prefaced it by a more explicit narrative from
the pen of Sir E. Berry, Captain of Nelson's own ship,
the Vanguard—an account which particularly interested
George the Third and the Duke of Clarence—by the
log of the Vanguard, by letters from several of his cap-
tains, and by the official account which the French Ad-
miral Blanquet drew up. Such materials make the
fullest and most satisfactory narrative yet submitted to
the public. What more particularly has struck us is the
fact that Nelson achieved his victories under circum-
stances of comparative difficulty. The winds, and even
the tides, sometimes baffled him. Now, with steam to
place a fleet completely under command, it would seem
as if nothing could resist our arms at sea. Yet, whether
through carelessness or ill-judged economy, our naval
force is not what it might and ought to be. Steam has
made our naval force manageable beyond what the wildest
dream of fancy could have anticipated 20 years ago; but, if
the occasion should unhappily ari,e, might we rest
assured that victory would so ccitainly grown our arms
as when Nelson had command? Every inao who fought
wader him, had a conviction that defeat was iavossible ;
and perhaps this was the secret of his success. Con-
, sidering our insular position, the best defence of Engie.nd
is to be found in her " Wooden Walls," and the Execu-
tive shoulA be mindful of keeping these unimpaired; for
to be ever prepared for war is the best way to insure the
continuance of peace.
Sir Harris Nicolas defends Nelson from the grave
charge of cruelty in the case of Caraccioli, publishes all
the letters and other documents written by his Lordship
on that and the preceding events, and puts into an
appendix all collateral documents. In all of these he
forms an opinion much more favourable to Nelson than
has hitherto been entertained,—namely, that he acted
only in obedience to a scrupulous sense of duty."
The facts are very simple. In the summer of 1799
the French were driven out of Naples. Some of
them, with certain Neapolitans who had joined
them, and borne arms against their Sovereign, placed
themselves in the Castles of Uovo and Nuovo. Cardinal
Ruffo proceeded to invest those castles, arid Captain
Foote, of the Seahorse frigate, with the Perseus bomb
and the Sicilian evadren, speedily joined him in that
service. An armistice followed, and the invested forts
capitulated immediately After, the terms being that
" persons and property, both moveable and immoveable,
of every individual of the two garrisons, should be
respected and guaranteed," and trot not only the said
garrison, but the Neapolitans who had taken refuge with
them, should be conveyed to Toulon. But Cardinal
Buffo's instructions from the King of the I.l:Yvn Sicilies
were that he should not treat with the rebels.
Nelson
came up. He believed that an armistice, and not a capi-
tulation—a preliminary, rather than a conclusion—had
been made, and, acting for King Ferdinand. decided
that the capitulation should not be carried into effect
without the royal sanction, and this he grounded
on the fact that he (Lord Nelson) had arrived with a
superior force Wore the capitulation was even begun to
be carried into effect. Cardinal Ruffo protested. Nelson
insisted, and took the castles. The garrisons and the
Neapolitans with them became prisoners. Caraccioli, a
noble Neapolitan, had joined the rebels, and com-
manded the Republican gun-boats that had tired
upon the Minerva, bearing the King's flag.
He fled from one of the besieged castles after the capitu-
lation, but a day or two before Nelson's arrival ; he was
taken prisoner—brought on b ,ard an English ship of
war—tried there by a court martial of Sicilian officers,
convened by Nelson's warrant—convicted of treason in
having borne arms against his sovereign—did not claim
any protect;on from the capitulation—was convicted—sen-
tenced to death—and executed, by Nelson's warrant, as
naval commander-in-chief. Sir H. Nicolas adds, " Lord
Nelson's motive for ordering the immediate execution of
Caraccioli is unknown ; but the magnitude and notoriety
of his crime, and the supposed necessity, from the state
of Naples, of an immediate example, seem the probable
cause." It does rut appear that Lady Hamilton urged
Nelson to severity in this case—indeed, it seems that ho
was impelled by a sense of duty. But it is a serious
question whether the capitulation, once made, should not
have been carried out, even though contrary to Nelson's
own belief of the King's wishes And instructions.
The letters from Nelson in this volume are highly cha-
racteristic. The postscript of one of them contains the
ancit nt creed of a British sailor: " Their is no way of
dealing with a Frenchman but to knock him down.
To be civil to them is only to be laughed at, When they
are,enetnies."
In the appendix, already referred to, is part of a
journal kept at Naples, 1798-9, by Miss Knight, daughter
of one of Nelson's captains. We subjoin a few pas-

sages :--
" He says, that when he was seventeen years of age, he worr
300/. at a gaming-table; but he was so shocked at affecting
that, had he lost them, he should not have known how to pay
them, that from that time to this he has never played again."
When Admiral Nelson's arm was cut off, the surgeon
asked if he should not embalm it, to send it to England to be
buried; but he said, ' throw it into the hammock, with the
brave fellow that was killed beside ma'—a common seaman."
" As we were going in the Admiral's barge, the other day,
looking at the ships and talking of the victory, Sir William
Hamilton could not be pacified for the French calling it a
drawn battle. 'Nay, it was a drawn battle,' said the Admiral,
' for they d.ew the blanks, and we the prizes.'
" The Queen has desired to have a portrait of the Admiral.
Little Prince Leopold says, he will get a copy, and stand con-
tinually opposite to it, saying, ' Dear Nelson, teach me to be-
come like you. "
In another passage, alluding to Nelson, whom she first
saw after the battle of the Nile. she says, "Admiral
Nelson is little, and not remarkable in his person either
way ; but he has great animation of countenance and
activity in his appearance : his manners are unaffectedly
simple and modest."
Another volume, we presume, will conclude this work,
which really forms almost an autobiography of Ne!sou.

CRIMINAL COURT.-(FRIDAY.)
SurvrENcEs.— George James Aungier, who pleaded:guilty to three
charges of forgery, was brought up for judgment, and sentenced to
be transported for life. In reference to the case of this prisoner,
who was Lied on Thursday with a person named Thomas Parker,
who was charged with utteting one of the forged instruments, and
which was reported in our paper of ; esterday, it should be stated
that the verdict of guilty only applied to the prisoner
and .Aungier. T
the jury re-
he
evidence against Parker was exceedingly slight,
turned a verdict of acquittal.
Elizabeth Newton alias Mitchell, who was yesterday convicted
of being accessory before the fact to the forgery of a receipt of 441.,
with intent to defraud the Paddington Savings' Bank, and Ezra
Bass, who pleaded guilty to the offence of actually forging the re-
ceipt, were brought up for judgment.
Mr. Justice WIGHTMAN having commented on the aggravated
character of the offence of the male prisoner, who had first in-
duced his companion to commit the offence, and then deserted her
and fled to the continent, said he felt it his duty to order him to
be transported for life. With regard to the other prisoner, the
sentence upon her was that she shout.' be imprisoned and kept to
hard labour for two years.
John Taylor, who was also convicted yesterday of a robbery at
Buckingham Palace, was sentenced to twelve months' imprison-
ment and hard labour.

---- -----,.,
DISASTERS AT HAVRE.— IN o learn by the Havre
jounials that the storm of Tuesday caused several disasters on the
coast near the mouth of the Seine. Two English vessels were forced
from their anchorage and driven ashore, and a sloop from Newcastle,
bound for Rouen, with coals, went down near Lcure. The crew was
saved in the boat. Au English schooner, from Caen, laden with
stones, went down in view of the town, and the crew, who had taken
refuge in the rigging, owed their safety, in a great measure, to the
exertions of M. Lernotheyer, the lieutenant of the port, who, on the
first alarm, proceeded to the jetty, and had the lite-boat launched,
proposing a reward to any persons who would man it. six English-
men at once offered to proceed to the assistance of their country-men,
on condition that a French pilot would accompany them. A young
man, named Lefebvre, immediately offered himself, and the party
rowed to the wreck. They succeeded, though not without great
danger, in rescuing four sailors and the captain, whom they brought
sate to land. A little sloop, with two men on board, was capsized
near St. Adresse, and one of the men was drowned. The other was
taken up, when nearly exhausted with swimming, by a lishing-boat.
ERROR or THE PRESS.—" Fulnum-read.—llear
Punch,—You were facetiously pleased to kill me in your last num-
ber. I beg you will bring me to life again in your next. My change
of name and residence has deceive(' you. You evidently thought I
had gone the way of all metropolitan turnpikes, but no such luck, old
fellow. You will find me about fifty .yards down the same road,
looking all the better for the change of air. The fact is, I could not
stand the smoke of town at this time of the year, so I have
when-
this little box in the country. I shall be very happy to see you
ever you are coining this way. Till then, dear Punch, I remain, on
the Fulham-road, your turnpike to command, TILE SANDFOED-BRIDGE
GATE, late the Queen's Elm, retired."--Pond'.
EXTENSIVE RonnEmEs.—Yes:erday information of
the following extensive robberies was circulated throughout the Me-
tropolitan and City Police:—Front the house of Mr. Rice, No. 27,
Queen-street, Brompton, the property of Mrs. Walsh, 401. in gold,
and three 51. Bank of England notes. From the house of Mr. Wild,
Devonport-street, Shoreditch, a small gold watch, with worked back
surrounded by twenty pink topazes, a gold key, three gold seals, and
a silver guard chain. From the house of Mr. Paul, 10, North-street,
Westminster, two Si. Bank of England notes, a number of silver
spoons, and other articles. From the house of Mr. Heston, soap-
maker, Park-street, Walworth, a 51. Bank of England note, about
71. in ,-,-old, an old crown piece, and 101. in silver. Front the house
of Mr. Mitchell, No. 5, Ilawley-road, Kentish-town, five 51. Bank of
England notes. From a coffee-shop in Robert-street, Grosvenor-
square, the property of Mr. Avery, of High Wycombe, Bucks, five
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from Sir. Boyce, silverminli out jeweler, No. 5, Lisson-grove, a
brilliant cluster ling, set with about twelve atones, a brilliant single,
;,tone On, pearl pin and gold chain attached, a brilliant and emerald
union pin, a brilliant ring, a brilliant half hoop ring, a gold lever
watch, a gold guard chain, a brilliant pin, a 'gold Geneva watch, and
a silver gilt mull-box.
THE DANGER OF READING IN BED.—Yesterday
M,,roing, between twelve and one o'clock, the housekeeper of William
Grays:taw, Esq., residing in StannOrd-street, Elackfriars-road, was
alarmed liy a strong smell of someth ng ing burni, which she traced to
proceed Crow the pastry, where the tbotboy, Joseph Humble, slept.
!she at once alarmed her master, who, on entering the pantry, found
the curtains and bed on lire, and the lad last asleep. Ile at once
dragged him from the bed, and succeeded ill extinguishing the flames,
\Ohdell were confined to the bed and curtains. It appears that the
boy had fallen asleep whilst reading in bed, which he has been in the
habit of doing, and the candle falling down had set fire to the curtains.
FALL FRONI A HOP WAREHOUSE.—On Thursday
evening a frightful accident occurred at Bay's hop warehouse,
Tooley-street, Southwark. A man named Edward Thomas Secular
was engaged in hoisting a pocket of hops to the third floor loop-hole.
when he by some means fell out into the street. li. was picked up
in an insensible state and conveyed to Guy's Hospital, where it wag
ascertained that he had received a fracture of the skull, concussion of
the brain, and injury to the spine. Very slight hopes are entertained
of his recovery.