The Sun.
London, England, 1827-07-09 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

We do not recollect what exact amount of the
public money has been appropriated by Parlia-
ment to the repairs, or nominal repairs, of the
former Buckingham-house, but it is very cer-
tain, and not a little deplorable, that further
sums will yet be required towards getting rid of
some portion of those repairs, or amending
those professed amendments of the late Queen
Charlotte's Palace. The people of England
have paid before now for frivolous and useless
undertakings—for mean jobs—for thriftless and
foolish quackeries of various descriptions—poli-
tical, military, naval, architectural ; but surely
such a job as this new erection, or fabrication,
or whatever it may be, under the name of a re-
building of Buckingham-house, was never before
inflicted on a community who had eyes to see
with. Let any man just pass along Piccadilly
from west to east, or traverse the diagonal of
the Green-park from Hyde-park-corner to the
elegant and well-proportioned mansion built
for his Royal Highness the late Duke of York,
and let our pedestrian glance as he proceeds at
the intended abode of Royalty ; we are satisfied
t 9 let any such spectator determine whether a
mass of deformity more hideous ever met his
offended eye than the whole northern profile of
the new Buckingham Palace ! What the centre
of the main front may look like, when the scaf-.
folding shall be removed, we cannot now antici-
pate ; but of the parts which are visible from the
point to which we have before alluded, it may be
said with truth, that nothing similar exists, or ever
has existed, since architecture became a science.
Three or four lumps or knobs protrude themselves,
not unlike so many carbuncles on the proboscis of
a bloated visage, with no link of relationship be-
tween them, or of connection with the edifice
of which they are said to be members ; nor is
there the least symptom of individual beauty vi-
sible in these extraordinary excrescences, to re-
deem their apparent alienation from the body of
the building itself. Naked gables—unadorned
cubes—one eliptical elevation, somewhat like an
half egg-shell rising above the cup—and a gene-
ral air of crowding and confusion, without one
particle of majesty or magnificence, are all that
can at present be descried of that edifice which
will have cost almost its weight in gold, and
which Wi'4 announced to be a noble and eminent
retuf;ation of the ancient reproach to the metro-
olis of England, that it contained no decent ha-
bitation for the King. This heap (for it is no-
thing better) presents what has not been often
equalled in works which pretend to be works of
art,—a mixture of magnitude and meanness, of
laboriousness and insignificance, of intricacy and
poverty, of frivolous caprice with heavy and lum-
bering vulgarity. No professional or educated
mind could ever have produced such a piece of
monstrous meagreness. Mr. Nash, who is really
a man of talent, disavows all participation in it.
We do trust that where so many hundred
thqusand pounds have been misapplied, and
where still more must be sunk in attempting to
cure the misapplication, some responsible person
may be forthcoming. If intermeddling or dicta-
tion has been suffered from an irresponsible guar.
tet., there is no language strong enough to ex-
press our contempt for the unmanly servility
which has endured it.—Times.

In the History of the War in the Peninsula
under Napoleon, a posthumous work of the late
General Foy, of which the translation of the fir..,t
volume has just appeared, some severe strictures
are passed on the Duke of Wellington in his
military capacity. " The glory of the British
army (says General Foy) has arisen principally
from its excellent discipline, and from the cool
and steady bravery of the people. The military
commands may be distribued with impunity,
according. to combinations or Parliamentary in-
fluence ; it is the army which, of all others, can
most easily dispense with extraordinary talent.
The officers who have returned from the wars of
Portugal and Spain, while they areloud and un-
animous in doing justice to the prudence and
intrepidity of their leader, allow him the posses-
sion of no quality which eminently distinguishes
him from the other conspicuous Generals of their
nation. While they extol his characteristic firm-
ness, which from an early period liberated him from
the trammels of responsibility, they have nothinc,
to say in praise of the resources of his under-
standing, or the productions of his genius. We
have heard it asserted by men whose opinion is
not without weight, that there were twenty officers
(and to mention only some of those who served
in this war, Picton, Crawford, and Sir George
Murray), any one •of whom would have com-
manded with as much, and perhaps with more,
ability and success tha'.n Wellington, if they had
had the same soldiers under them, the same pas-
sions to work upon, the same immense re-
sources at command, and above all, the
same certainty of support from the favourable
dispositions of the Administration. .. • • • •
An English army left entirely to itself might
conquer, but it would never know how to turn a
victory. to advantage ; if, however, it happened
to be itself defeated at a distance from its point
of departure, it would experience not merely a
check, but the most dreadful of all calamities.
In writing the History of the War in the Penin-
sula—that war in which the English hatred to
Buonaparte showed itself so strongly—we shall
have occasion to show how nearly the army of
Great Britain had; more than once, met with
such a catastrophe as would not have allowed a
man to escape to carry the news of it to London.
As we have already said, such a system circum-
scribes the talent of the General. His first duty
is to be careful of the machine committed to his
charge, completely wound up so as not to wear
it out by useless or extraneous movements. In
his eyes the plans of operation will never have
several aspects. A sound, but limited, judg-
ment will be sufficient to direct him in the means
of execution ; he will prefer the defensive, which
avails itself of all that has been foreseen, to the
offensive, which, by its uncertain chances, re-
quires more frequently the resources of genius.
The war will be reduced to a series of bold
strokes. In the eyes of an English General,
perfection of the art consists in bringing
into the field fresh and well-conditioned I
troops, in -.posting them advantageously, and
then coolly waiting for the enemy's attack. On
the day of our disaster, we saw these sons of Al-
bion formed in square battalions in the plain be-
tween the Wood of Hougoumont and the vil-
lage of Mount-St. Jean. To effect this compact
formation they had doubled and redoubled their
ranks several times. The cavalry which sup-
ported them was cut to pieces, the fire of their
artillery completely silenced. The General and
Staff Officers were gallopping from ont square to
another, not knowing where to find shelter.--
Carriages, wounded men, parks of reserve, and
auxiliary troops, 'were all flying in disorder
towards Brussels. Death was before them, and
in their ranks ; disgrace in their rear. In this
terrible situation, neither the bullets of the Im-
perial Guard, discharged almost point blank, nor