IN attempting to trace the professional life of Sir Robert Calder, we again find ourselves acting under the pressure of circumstances rather delicate than pleasurable. It has ever been our wish to regard the Naval Chronicle as a depository of facts, as a register of honourable and heroic transactions. Without any bias to, or aversion from, political parties, our unremitting endeavours have been, to “speak the plain and simple truth,” to bestow the palm where it may have been deserved, and to render justice to the professional merits of all men. Our opinion strictly accords with the sentiment so often expressed, and inculcated by the late gallant Lord Rodney, “that our naval officers have nothing to do with parties or politics, being simply bound to carry their instructions into execution, to the best of their abilities, without deliberating about men and measures, which forms no part of their duty, and for which they are in no degree responsible.” Under the influence of this opinion, it matters not to us, whether an officer be a whig or a tory, an adherent to the ministry or to the opposition; provided he perform his duty, to his own, and to his country's honour.