11 MARCH 1854, Page 1

The English fleet sails for the Baltic today. On Tuesday

last Sir Charles Napier took leave of the London public in a banquet at the Reform Club, distinguished among such banquets by the occasion, by the union of the French and English ensigns, and by the presence of more than one of the Ministers, including the First Lord of the Admiralty, and that statesman of whom it has been said, more jocosely than truly, that he was at home in the Foreign Office and is still foreign to the Home Office. This ban- quet has been considered of such importance, that a prudish Mem- ber for an Irish constituency, and a martinet Member who stickles for official etiquette in naval affairs, have solemnly invited Par- liamentary attention to a vivacious jen de mot which effervesced from Sir James Graham inter pocula. A more serious question has been raised in Parliament' re ing the efficiency of the Baltic fleet, particularly in respect manning : Lord Ellenborough has suggested doubts whether

isters have not prematurely thrown away the right of impress- ment, and at the same time failed to compete in attractions with the merchant service, in such a manner as to weaken the force. But besides the testimony of Lord Aberdeen—a landsman—to the efficiency of the fleet " without a single pressed man on board," we have the certificate of- the Admiral commanding, Sir Charles Napier, who testifies to the complete efficiency of the fleet, and is not afraid to trust in it himself, his fame, and the duty he owes his country. We trust that his estimate will be excelled, like that of Mr. Gladstone, by the results. .

For after all, the event lies not even with the most perfect pre- paration, the wisest command, or the stoutest combatants; and there is some truth in the remark that the banqueting beforehand is too much like discounting a victory which is not yet won. The reappearance of the cholera amongst us, to find us still unprepared, is a rebuke to human self-reliance, which too often forgets itself in forgetting that it is subject to higher laws than those of Par- liament. Our best reliance is, that we have sought to study and obey those higher laws ; and sincerely too, although the Board of Health is still inadequate to the discharge of acknowledged duties, and, as Lord Granville tells. Lord Harrowby, Lord Palmerston still—twenty years after the first visiting—has the subject " under

consideration. But our acting statesmen may yet say, for themselves and for their countrymen, that they have con- scientiously searched to find out their duty, and to obey. The postponement of distinctive creeds to the broader instincts of justice—the effort to strengthen ourselves by moral as well as political justifications—the openness of discussion—the very act of clemency towards more of the insurgent exiles, English as well as Irish—are facts which, in proving the trust Government reposes in simple justice and the natural feeling of mankind, attest also the fact that none of us makes the appeal to arms without an abiding sense that the true appeal lies to a tribunal higher than any human institution. It is for the barbaric Russian to proclaim a war in defence of "the orthodox faith," and to arrogate the Divine judgment beforehand by the anticipated sentence against the opponents of the Czar—" Be his enemies scattered." The Eng- lish Minister studies to discover which course to finite humanity seems most just between man and man, and, claiming no inspired mission, says, with submissive courage, " God defend the right."