The Sun.
London, England, 1828-01-11 00:00:00

LORD COLLINGWOOD'S CORRESPON-

DENCE. AND MEMOIRS.

(FURTHER EXTRACTS.)
Shortly after the battle of Trafalgar, Lord Col-
lingwood wrote to Lord Barham, then First Lord of
the Admiralty, the following letter relative to the
promotion of officers belonging to his victorious fleet :
.--" I beg to express my earnest hope that your
I.ordship will take into consideration theaaaecuhar,
circumstances of the late action, in
,which as much,
gallantry Was displayed by the fleet, and a powerful
-armament of the enemy ruined in as short a time as
in any action; but what, distinguished it from all.
.othert is, that the usual reward to the captains,
arising from the sale of prizes, is almost all lost by
the wreck and ,deatruction of the ship. What Go-
vernment may please to do in this respect, I cannot
say, but, none was ever more worthy of its regard.
To the officers, among whom are many yoling, men
qualified for Lieutenants, the most grateful reward
would be promotion; and if your Lordship would
enable me to dispense it to them by commissioning
the four ships, and appointing the officers serving in
this fleet, I should feel exceedingly gratified in having
it in my power to reward so much merit as is now before
me. I have mentioned this subject in full confidence
, that your Lordship feels the sane disposition towards
them with myself, and in. doing it I have only per-
formed a duty which I owe to them." It would
seem to be reasonable that the officers who bad
gained. 'such a victory should have the promotion
which might be necessary to fill up vacancies. Lord
Barham, however, thought differently, and could by
no means wave the privileges of the Admiralty in
favour of vulgar merit. He writes thus to Lord
Collingwood :a-a." In oraler to prevent disappoint-
ment to individuals, I must beg that you will strictly
conform to. the rules laid down by the Admiralty,
1-,y which they leave death and court-martial vacan-
cies to the comisanding officer, and reserve all other
to themselves. I aui the more particular on these
subjects, because. the. ,neglect of thetn has
created • mueli slisappointmeot to individuals
as well .as their. friends here. I, shall trouble
you, through my Secretary, • with, a list of such
persons aa I wish to fill the Admiralty. vacancies."
Lord Collingayood writes thus to Lou Barham on
the Pat of
,March, 180(1, on the subject of the ap-
pointments a--3' I hope your Lorehastp will excuse
toy expressing my great disappointment that the only
officer to whom I was particularly anxious, or whom
recommended .to your Lordship to be promoted,
has been passed over uunoticed ; and I can now say,
what will scarcely be credited, and, what I am willing
to believe your Lordship is-not aWareof, that lam
the only Commander in the fleet who has not had,
by the courtesy of the. Admiralty, an oppOrtunity to
advance one ollicer of any description. The mis-
fortune I had iolosing two friends in Captains Duff
and Cook, made it necessary that I should fill their
places, which I did as justice demanded, by pro-
' motil; the First Lieutenants of the Victory and
Royal ....4ave reign. My First Lieutenant stands
wherel.placed him, in the Weazle, covered by his
wounds, while some of those serving in private ships
are Post Captains. Lieut. Launiess, ti.e
.only per-
eon I recommended to your Lordship, is an old and
valuable officer; he has followed me from ship to
ship ail the war. A complaint which he had in his
eyes prevented his going into the Sovereign when I
removed a few days before the action ; but I did
hope that my earnest recommendation to your Lord-
ship might have gained him favour. My other
- Lieutenant, who removed with me into the Sove-
reign, was, happily for him,_killed in the action, and
thereby saved from the mortification to which other-
wise he would probably have been subjected." The.
;interest which predominated over that of Lord Col=
iingwood, and the individuals which Lord Barham
dcascribes as being disappointed_Veciuse their pro-
teges did not get the vacancies ought to have
- .been given to meritorious offieers,,is described in the
allowing extraot of a letter froth Lord Collingwood
Captain-Clavel, his old Lieutenant :
" The Royal Sovereign.
-" Lord Mulgrave knows my opinion of you, and the
stotafidenee I have in you ; but the truth is, that he is' so
assessed by peptone having Parliamentary influence, that he
cannot find himself at liberty to select those Whose nautical
and gallantry would otherwise present men for the
service. A hole 'or two in• the skin will riot weigh against
a vote'' in Parliament; and my influence is very light at
,resent," The first consequences of Parliamentary patro;
• maga being more attended to than nautical skill may be
- • found in -the following extracts :--Lord Collingwood, writ-
ing to Admiral Lord Radstock, November 1, 18053, says,
,$ When one, considers that in all great bodies of men who
are h. any profesSion, a large proportion of them engage in
it more from motives of individital interest than from pub-
lic spirit, at? laws, rules, and regulations should have this
principle in view, and the interest of those who really serve
should be advanced. It is not, however, the case, which
is the reason that the ships have very inex:uerienced youths
for their Lieutenants; end the-surgeons have a premium,
or a large half-pay, for going ashore. I could say a great
deal more on the subject, if I were not afraid it would im-
press you with an idea that lam hard-hearted, which, in-
deed, ,I am not. The difficulty in getting officers is such,
that the subject has Peen much upon my mind. Few line-
-of-battle ships have more than two or three officers who
.are seamen ; the rest are boys, fine children in their
mothers' eyes, and the facility with which they get promoted
makes them indifferent as to their qualifications."
At this time, however, there were not less than two
iluingund nine hundred and twelve Li.eutenants ,on the
Navy List, of whom not more than 1,800 were actually em-
ployed.. like seamen among them were thrown on the
shelf; and wetie obliged to .beg for employment. The con.
:sequence of persoca with Parliamentary influence hieing
IstErted to:pension young men, by giving them commissions
in the navy, or, as Lord Collingwood exaresses it, "Of
,effieas in the navy being niatle the provision for all sorts of
;4/c ," is shown by the fact, that we had at that very
• time u ring list of Admirals who were regarded apparently
by the 41Y Board. as unfit to, be trusted. There
.44"1
were in iibt up- Admirals of a rank high enough to
• succeed Lord collingw.ood in his command ; and yet he
was constrained, tn.qugli .Pfc'sj;kg his recall OR the Admi-
raltv; to retain the coni7aand, because nobody could, be
found worthy to' be entruste'l with it, The Admiralty
must have looked on that list, i::'• Earl of Chatham has
been said to have done in looking over a list of our Gene-
rals, with fear. "I know rsot " (said that Statesman)
" how these gentlemen may affect the enemy, but they
miike me tremble." " I have before . mentioned my de-
iimira health " (says Lord: Collingwood in A letter to
hislada), " to Lord Mulgrave, and he •tells -Ale in re-,
tioat he hopes I will stay, • for he knows riot how
to p,upoy my plaCe. The impression which his, letter
made upon me was one of gritf and sorrow.—Bret, that with
n,,,:we have, there should be thought to be Any

(lifficulty•in finding 3 successor of superior ability to me;
10.11, that there' hould be any difficulty in the way of the
eoily roLlifort 'and happiness that I have to look for Ward to
in ."1-lis w"rid.". /With our irrufwltte number of Admirals,
oz,ret`or,:; was a difficulty :IP' fuuling one capable of
his ;ircluous situation with honour; Pt), potwith-
stauiiinz Lord Collingwood's health, he was std.
fired to :lie at his post.
" I was nmeh obliged," he says in a leap to Lord Rad_
" for I,;:tr kind letter of the sth of 3 h'Y Api. a i
—__ appears •to rue to be as heavy a youth as I have
,;ee He has already got beyond the hounds of his cbi-
n.
lity
; yet his father, I &vie say, thinks hint qualified to
rommand a fleet. But if sortie zegard be not paid to the
ability of those Commanders, their ahivs had better be in
Porchester Lake. I have sent horneseverr4,
cause they
were not only of no use,
but were constant plagu.
e,
son will seta good example, Ipm sure he wilt, of dili-
gence. I keep him very aridly at hula duty, and he is very
active." It is well known that only tlic.vsi who had in-
fluence were very early promoted, and of course the fore-,
going, as well aS the following passage in a letter to Mr.
.Vackett, can only apply to one of thernt,--" -- has
1-.. sen behaving very ill. He has been twice in ennfinernent,
and ,i;114, to have been tried by a court-martial, bat i
begged him uff, and he has written to roe a very penitent
letter, proMising amendment. The fact Is, that these boys
are made lieutenants too soon, and before their heads cat:
.hear good fortune. It seems so easy to them, that they do
not set the value on their situation which they ought. I
stand between them and danter as much as I can, but they
have still unfortunately the power to ruin themselves."
" It is certain," he writes to Lord Mulgrave, then First
Lord of the Admiralty, " your Lordship canuut know
many, of those gentlemen who are recommended by their
friends; one of them is turned off the quarter-deck for
some un-officer like behaviour. I think your Lord-
hip will approve of his reforming before he is promoted."
Young • has returned to me," he says, writ-
ing to Lady Collingwood, " but I have little hope

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