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Leader (1850-1860), 21st February 1857, Edition 1 of 2, Page 186

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      unintelligible : orders , now-warned biin to be cautious , now touched his selflove with , a , prick of irony , now said ,.. " Surely Svveaborg is assailable , " then , cried , " It is time for you to get out of that infernal Gulf . " Within four days the Admiralty ordered him to attack Sweaborg , and not to attack it . But what was to be expected from Sir James Graham , who said in an offlciaL despatch . ! that a fleet , even though unprovided with mortars , might reduce a fortress by its vertical fire ? We think that all Englishmen interesting themselves in public questions are bound to read Sir Charles Napier ' s narrative—for it is virtually his .

      What will , they then think of Sir James Graham , as a First Lordof the Admiralty , talking of the " vertical £ re" of long guns , recommending Sir Charles Napier to " risk" his four line-of-battle ships , and , at the same time , discoursing on the madness of running one ' s head against stone walls , offering a dredging machine when he was asked for gun-boats , suggesting diving-belfe when rockets were wanted ? The truth is , our Admiral went to . the Baltic with a skeleton armament ; he had not a gun-boat , not one mortar . ; bis : worst imprudence consists in having treated the Admiralty Lords asrtbey were treated by Lord Nelson and Lord St . Vincent , who told them they were dull and impertinent .

      We do not propose to retrace the story of Sir Charles Napier ' Baltic campaign .. But we must confess tiat this volume contains irrefragable proofs that he was grossly misused by the blundering pedants of the Admiralty Board . It is true that he issued a bombastic signal when the declaration of -war was announced to tlae fleet ; but it is true , also , that from the . first he endeavoured to moderate the expectations of his countrymen . Hi& ships were insufficiently manned .-with sailors , " miserably raw ; " the Admiralty authorities informed him , " We are come nearly to a dead stand for . seamen . " On going out he was cautioned , on coming home he was goaded . ; , yet > from first to last , he continually urged upon the Government the necessity of mortars , of gun-boats , and of a land force to co-operate with the . fleet . The Admiralty professed to consult his judgment ; when he acted

      Admiral Dundas could not reduce the fortifications of Sweaborg . So satisfied w Ti of their impregnability , that he never even assembled , his fleet for the nm-nn S % attacking them . " > P ° se of The French . Admiral left the Baltic tn 1854 without announcing his in tention to the British Government . Sir James Graham wrote on the 25 th of September : — . ft " The intelligence of Admiral Paraeval having left you has taken us by surnri The British Ambassador was informed in Paris on Saturday last bv the F h Minister of Marine that a letter dated the 13 th instant had been received bv ^ h French Government from Admiral Parseval , from which it was quite clear that h intended remaining with the greater part of his fleet and all his steamers as Ion" - the British force remained . " a as Napier was now alone . Graham was anxious for an attack . Admiral Berkeley , however , began to feel uneasy about the fleet :- " I am seriously thinking when it will be time to ( jet you out of that infernal Chilf How long do you tkinh it will be right to permit those My ships to remain ?"

      We can only make room for two more extracts ; the first is the Admiralty order to Sir Charles Napier to strike his flag : — * " The Baltic fleet , on its return from port , being now dispersed in different harbours of Great Britain , and several of the ships - which , composed this fleet beina under orders for service in the Black Sea and Mediterranean , you are hereby required and directed to strike your flag , and come on shore . " That was curt enough . ~ No thanks to the Admiral , officers , or men . Sir Charles Napier elicited aii explanatory letter iu an auveuded tone : ' " I am commanded by my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty to acquaint you that the order which you have received , agreeably to custom , to strike your flag and come on shore , is always the termination of a flag officer ' s command ; and I am directed by my Lords to take this opportunity to express to you the sense their Lordships entertain of your exertions during the period of your service in command of the Baltic Fleet . "

      There can be no question but that Sir Charles Napier , blamable , as an Admiralty Lord said , " not for his acts ., but for his writings , " is a good and gallant sailor , and that he led the Baltic fleet bravely and wisely through , innumerable dangers and temptations—physical dangers , and temptations to desperate enterprises . The testimony contained in this book vindicates b . im altogether . Impolitic he may have been with his pen , but as Admiral in the Baltic he deserved well of his country .

      independently it censured him , though afterwards compelled to apologize . When he practised shell-firing , he was enjoined to economise his ammunition , and * when he begged for pilots , the First Lord wrote , " I suspect you . must grope youc own way in your own surveying vessels . " He offered , with a numbervof steamers , and a small farce , to keep the Russian armies ¦ " on the trot" round the coasts of the Baltic 5 but the Admiralty could not afford that diversion . It was one of Sir James Graham ' s eccentricities ., however ,, to discourse to Sir Charles Napier as to what might be done with " floating , batteries heavily armed with steam power and light draught of water , ?' when no such battery was at the Admiral ' s disposal . The Admiral replied ,: that he might as -well throw peas as shells against the granite walls of the . Russians . Minie rifles were sent to him , but no ammunition .

      When the fleet reached Cronstadt , it was supposed that the enemy ' s ships of war had anchored outside the forts : — The tars exulted in the prospect of catching them , and more so that not a breath of wind prevailed to carry them inside the protection of their batteries ; but this expectation was doomed to disappointment . The ships ahead looking out for ' infernal machines , ' found , as the mist cleared away , that the Russian fleet was safely ensconced . within the harbour , and under the guns- of the huge forts , which alone presented their fronts , as if in mockery of a force -which could not get near them . There was no doubtthe usual amount of swearing at an enemy who ¦ would not come out to be killed , but beyond this ebullition , the ships had nothing for it but to come quietly to an anchor . On the approach of the squadron , there was > however , evidently a great stir amongst the Russian fleet ; the steameia got up steam , and all seemed on the alert to meet an . attack , should the Allied fleet come within reach , of which , there was little danger , as the large , ships of the lino could not have been floated in , and there were no other vessels with which an . attack could even have been attempted .

      To attack this tremendous fortress with ships , Sir James Graham said would be to play the Russian , game "— " an act of madness . " Supposing , however , that a . fleet could be successfully pitted against such a fortress , what w-ere Napier ' s means ? The French Government supplied 2 , 000 , 000 shot and . shell to . the besiegers of Sebastopol ; with 12 , 000 shell the British Admiral was expected to lay in ashes the mighty range of fortifications along , the Baltic shores . Mr . Earp supplies , from the Admiral ' s notes , a striking summary of the difficulties in the way of such an undertaking . Sir Charles Napier , commissioned tc * overcome these difficulties , was liberally advised by Sir James Graham , who omitted , however , to furnish the machinery -with which his plans might have been carried out . Among his plans was one for blasting a trencli 111 the ice round Oesel and Dago—cutting off two islands from a sea of ice by a season of gunpowder explosions !

      In August , 1854 , Sir Charles ifapier would have attacked Abo , but his instructions prevented him , since the ITrench Admiral refused to co-opemte . Sir Jamea Guahom then intimated that the fleet was wanted at home . But a . blow at Sweaborg -was suggested , and four days afterwards came a despatch declaring ; that an attempt on Sweaborg was the last thing which the Admiral should propose to himself . However , one gun-boat was sent out , to illustrate the vigour of the Admiralty architects : — It was only whan , the season liatl passed away , with neither gun-boats , mortarboats , nor rockets supplied to the fleet ,, and when the public had become clamorous , that Sir James . Graham urged rash impossibilities , knowing full well that the Admiral would not them

      adopt . Tills letter sealed the fate of Sir CharJea Napier , though not a word . of its plain , aolid truth could be taken hold of . It was as guarded as it was unanswerable . For the Admiralty to bo told iu plain terms that all the Admiral had asfced for to . deatroy Sweaborg was gun-boats , mortar-boats , &c , whilst the Admiralty waa catching at the straws thrown to them by two engineering officers , was too true to be palatable . Henceforward it became evident that the only relation in which the 2 T " n ° l » S " - . ir Charle 9 Napier could 8 tand Rwanda each other was > who should bear the blame with the public ; and for this contest the'Admiralty girded up nrfB 2 q- fh T % ° S 0 Dior Navnl Lord > ™ * ° Kree of frankness , ap-£ 52-5 ; ^" 1 ^ C ° mingl 8 t ° ia thefull ° wing wonL _« Wo shall have t entlWy f ion 8 witll 0 « t «« d . Tub axxacic wuuno aqainsx

      voTwJS n » ^ T ^ YOU , WH . Tj . BB , t . KVHl . Ua ) , AXTIUC . Uoa »» ¦ ^« , ,.,... , » The : beat comment , as Mr . Eurp snya ^ ia Ch « S , Na D ? or 8 ' ° CS ^ Pai ^ ' WitU aV 0 ^ Place «»« ro » ghly ¦ Burvoyod for him bv Sir Charle ., Napior ' a fleet , and with aioana , uilo £ which wore . wanting to the firat iioot ,

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      SIS . JOSHUA REYNOLDS . Sir Joshua ; Reynolds and kis Wvrics . Gleanings from Ms Diary , Unpublished Nam scripts r andfrom-Qther sources . By W-Cotton , M . A . Edited by John Burnet . Longman and Co . The severities of criticism should be merciless to men who publish books ¦ with attractively deceptive titles . Here . is . a . Mr . Cotton who announces gleanings from Sir Joshua . Keynolds's Diary , and unpublished manuscripts 3 £ very lover of painting and literature will prick up his ears ; . many will ordfiE tlie wnrlr frnm t . lifi hnnltsallers . The work arrives .. The leaves -are

      cut . The preface titillates expectation . The delighted purchaser reads : — The letters of the Kev . Samuel Reynold 3 , master of Plympton Grammar Schoolbut not incumbent of Plympton , as erroneously stated by most of Sir Joshua ' s "biographers—will be read Avith interest ; as they are now published for the first t 5 me , and relate to a . very important period of his son ' s life , when he became a pupil of Hudson , the portrait painter : they also induce us to believe that lteynolds , after his quarrel with Hudson , returned to London , and was reconciled to his master , who , It is said , frequently consulted him with regard to the pictures he was painting , and likewise introduced him to the acquaintance of the most distinguished men in his profession .

      The extracts from Sir Joshua ' s privato Diary contain much that is interesting and amusing , besides giving proof of the astonishing amount of work accomplished by him ; for we there learn that ho -was often , in his studio from nine o ' clock in the morning till four in the afternoon , and receiv ed as many as seven or eight sitters ia as many consecutive hours . But when absent from liome , he appears to have enjoyed the sports of the field , and on one occasion , in September , 1770 , wo find him hunting and shooting every day during a . week ' s visit at Sal tram . And shortly after the delighted reader finds himself under the guidance of a twaddling cicerone who , because Reynolds was born at Plympton , undertakes , in guide-book stylo , to drug him over the place , enumerating the names of certain persons of small celebrity connected with that seat of learning , and telling ' all a"bout' what no mortal desires to know . The " Letters , " now first published , are soon discovered by the delighted reader , now swiftly degenerating- into a gloomy nnd suspicious purchaser , to be Letters left unpublished , because utterly -without interest . f Xho gleanings from the Diary turn out to be mere lists of '' sitters . " One specimen shall suiHce : —

      EXTUA . CTS FROM THIS M / VUY- —171 ) 9 . This year's pocket-book contains tho names-of about SO sitters . In the mouth of January we lnul The Prince of Wales , afterwards Gcorgo III . Prince Edward his brotliar , who was created Duke of York tho following year . Tho Duchess of . Hamilton . This last -was the celebrated beauty Mias Gunning , who married James . sixth Dulre of Hamilton . Walpolo , in a letter to Sir Horacu Mann , -writes : —" The world is still mad about the Gunnings . The Duchess of Hamilton was presented on Saturday , and tho crowd waa so groat tliat even tlio noblo mob iu the drawing-room clumbcred on tables and chairs to look al her . " In February the portraits of Lord George Sackville , lord Edgcumbo , Commodore Edgcumbo , nnd Misa Reynolds were painted : and on Sunday , April 8 tli , the folio-wing memorandum occurn;— - Mr . Rogers at 6 . Again , in Auguut , 17 G 1 , Thursday at 5 A , Mr . Kogor ^ , in St . L . u \ vreiico I'oultney Lane . On Saturday , tho 21 at , wo Und tho nnivio of Kitty Fisher , and ngain , Sunday , 27 th , at l&toven o ' cloak , Mias Fischer .

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      Xg ® ^ THE LEADEB . [ No . 361 ,. ja . tcbdA . y

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 21, 1857, page 186, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2181/page/18/