The Press. — London, England, 1853-07-09 00:00:00

218 with 912 guns and 7,625 men; and the total increase in all the home ports was 855 guns and 4,000 men. And yet this is an Adminis tration which a lawyer, wanting to bring him self into notice, asks the House of Commons to declare by resolution to have been an Administration " calculated to impair the "efficiency of the service"! No wonder the House of Commons wghed down the forensic CLEON, and that, to ale-indignation of the Times newspaper, written under the inspiration of the miserable malignity of Admiral BERKELEY, independent men, like the members for the North Riding, Manchester, and other great Iseats of industry, would not lend their sanc tion to this wretched cabal. Let us briefly enumerate the other important measures which distinguished the administra tiou of the Duke of Noarnum NKR LAN D. Mindful of the rapid advances in the application of screw-propellers to large ships, he provided for the equipment of a sufficient force of screw line-of-battle ships, so that, what with the con struction Of new vessels, mid the addition of a screw to some already built, a considerable force of this character is now available. But for these decisive measures of the late Admi ralty, how would the present Board have been able, on the first rumour of war, to have despatched such noble ships as the Agamemnon, the i.lanstpareil, and the Mike qf Wellington, to the stations at which they were most needed, mud to have taken up the imposing attitude which the combined fleets now assume at the entrance of the Dardanelles" ... Among other important proceedings the Duke appointed a steam committee, which vis►itced all our mercantile steamers, and re ported on their resources to the Admiralty. It had been asserted in the House of Com mons that steam-packets and merchant steam ers could be used for war, and that, in the event of hostilities, the Channel would swarm with this force. Out of ?1N) merchant steamers examined by this committee, three only were reported as capable of being used for warfare, and then only by tut altenition of great expense. But the most important measures of the bite Board of Admiralty, and which originated with the noble Duke himself, were the steps which he took for improving the maiming of the navy. Hitherto it had been the practice to enter seamen for three years only, and the ineonve nienee resulting therefrom, with the frequent changes, was universally felt mid acknowledged, yet no Board of Admiralty had attempted a remedy. The late First Lord, himself a sailor, and fully conscious front his own experienee of the great importance of the subject, at once grappled with the question, and appointed a committee of distinguished officers to conduct an inquiry into► the whole case. The instruc tions to the committee, written by the Duke himself, were fully considered and carefully drawn up : they comprised, among many other topics, mum inquiry into► the first entry and training of seamen, ►and the periods of service for which they were engaged ; the necessity and practicability of permanently retaining their services so as to form a standing navy, and ensure the MOMS of rapidly manning our ships when required for service. These sultjects, and mean)• recommendat . all calculated to improve the condition of the sailor, and to endeavour to bring back to the country and the navy some of our hest-trained men at present serving under a foreign flag, having been well considered, and much evidence taken, the result, in an elaborate and valuable report, has been presented to Parlia ment, by the command of her MAJESTY, and is the foundation of two bills which Sir JAMES GRAHAM has brought into the House of COHIIIIOII4. It is unneeemsruy for us to notice what is 'vernally anbnitted, that the naval patronage Admiralty was 111`VCr exercised by any I .ord in a manner so free from the in • of party polities. The mos`, merito tlieer was always promoted, and sonic of est ships in the service were given, his administration. to Whigs. It howevvr, he rentviuberell that, amichit THE PRESS. all these reforms and remedial labours, the Duke was once during his administration called upon to act abroad under the most dif ficult circumstances. We allude to the ques- Lion of the American fishe►ies : all impartial men will admit that there never was a naval interference more effective and more suc cessful. It gave us great satisfaction to obse►ve the complete failure of the attempt in the House of Commons on Tuesday last to blacken by the most petty cavils, and the most paltry repre sentations, the conduct and character of one of our greatest nobles, who has served his Sovereign and country for fifty years—who was a midshipman. and is now a duke. A great country may well be proud of an aristocracy formed of such men MR. STAFFORD. THE present Secretary of the Admiralty—we hope not in his eagerness to depreciate the services of the Duke of NORTHUMBERLAND, but rather from a more generous impulse, and the love of truth—acknowledged in the House of COHHHOHS on Tuesday night that Mr. STAF FORD, his predecessor, had been "at very ill " used maul." •I'he records of his office, we doubt not, assured hint of the ability, the energy, and the devotion with which Mr. STAF FORD discharged the functions of his important post. Captain OSBORNE also must be con inced, from personal experience, of the nau seous cant and the intense malignity with which Mr. STAFFORD hits lacer aSKILLIed for doing that which all his predecessors had dune, anal which all his successors will imi tate. The manly acknowledgment of Captain Osatntsx was suppressed by the Liberal news papers. This is in keeping with the infamous misrepresentations, and even mendacity, with which it has been attempted, though vainly, to injure Mr. STAFFORD. THE QUARTERLY REVENUE ACCOUNTS. Tim form of our financial aeeounts, as given quarterly, is framed as it' purposely to puzzle the uninitiated ; and we venture to aver that there are few, even among the trained officials of the present Government, who could undergo an examination as to the object, ►weaning, and effect of that mysterious ar►ay of figures which issues from the Treasury at the expiration of eacl► quarter. But the age of red-tapeism ought to be at an end. L► the administ►ative reforms in tended by the late CHANcia.Lon of the Exenr.- 411Elt, we believe the simplification of this system of accounts was comprised ; indeed, he had actually commenced it in the course he proposed in reference to that disputed ques tion, " the repayment of advances ;" and we doubt not that a new, elder, intelligible system, divested of all official mystification, would have been established by him► from the cont mencem►ent of the present financial year. Unfortunately, the country is now suffering under a plague of tapeism. Tapeism is the principle--and the only one—of the present Government. Tapeism is the bond, the only bond, of union among them. We must wait patiently till this plague shall in mercy be removed. The present quarterly accounts, therefore, we must deal with as we find them. " Grati fying result" is, of course, the first idea that suggests itself to our mind, and is expressed by our pen. The phrase is hackneyed : it will be found in the remarks of all our contempo raries; and not unnaturally, for " increase" and " surplus" are the predominant features in the aecounts just published. In the ordinary revenue of the year ending July, IM7Oi, there is an increase of upwards of 1,200,0001. as vmpared with the year ending SATURDAY, July, 1852, and in the quarter of nearly 900,0001. ; and we find the words, " the SUE plus" and " surplus consolidated fund," with long arrays of figures, near the bottom of the account. This, no doubt, is very gratifying : our revenue, at present, is steadily increasing. Mr. DisasEm's anticipations in 1852 have been inure than realised. But it will not fail to occur to our readers►, if this be so, if the in crease of our revenue has enlarged our means, could there have been a more favourable opportunity for revising the admitted injustices of our income and property tax.? And if that increase indicates activity and prosperity among our manufacturing and conunercial interests, an activity and prosperity confirmed, no doubt, in every respect by the returns of the Board of Trade, could there have been a less fitting time for oppressing with increased and most vexatious taxation that great interest in this country at whose cost, or through whose loss, this commercial activity and prosperity has been brought about ? And, at such a time, has the wisdom, and knowledge, and caution► of the paragon Financial Minister been exhi bited in operating. unsucceslfully, upon a con siderable portion of the public funds? We shall return to this subject next week, and advert to the effect upon this prosperous condition of things likely to arise from the measures proposed by Mr. GLADSTONE and his Government. THE CROWN OR THE COMPANY? A FERBLE despotism is a political impossibility. An irresponsible department in a constitutional state is a dangerous anomaly. And a central. ised administration, which increases by its complicated and cumbrous machinery the na bind tendency of centralisation to produce delay, cannot be justified without strong cause shown for its existence. Such a despotism is the East India Com pany. Such a department is the Directorial Board ; and in the double administration of which each half by its operation impedes, in• stead of assisting, the other, we have the ex treme of delay combined with the minimum of deliberation. This last assertion may be doubted, but it is true. For what is everybody's business pro verbially becomes nobody's business ; and a responsibility and a duty which are equally shared between two, not always friendly, de partments are remarkably apt to be evaded by both. Mere dilatoriness, moreover, in post poning a decision tends to produce haste in deciding at the last moment. And, above all, Parliament, believing, or professing to believe, in the theoretical system of mutual check and control, holds itself exempted from the duty of interfering in the administrative affairs of India. On these three grounds, therefore — divided responsibility, indefinite postpone ment of all matters not urgent, and freedom from parliamentary control—we utterly deny the plea usually advanced by the Company's advocates, " that it discusses fully and ma turely the subjects brought before it." In regard of delay, we have Mr. MEISILL'S evidence of last year before the Commons, that in ordinary cases a despatch from India is not answered until after an interval of six or eight months ; it being notoriously the Indian custom to send home not merely general sum maries of local proceedings, but specific details respecting every act of the local executive, which acts are in very many cases invalid until sanctioned by the authorities of Lead. enhall-street. Compare this with the working of other great departments. In the Home °Rice few despatches remain unanswered forty-eight hours ; in the Foreign and Colonial °tikes nothing. except an unusual pressure of business, prevents a reply being sent to the minister or governor demanding one, by the next out-going until, or, at the very outbule,