The Sun. — London, England, 1839-02-27 00:00:00

a salary of 1,0001. than the place-worth 5,000/ a-year without a seat in the House. ( Loud cheers.) Because, Gentlemen, I have been brought up in the school of economy, and I have learned that to have few ~,,,, :, ;, ~, f. , 1 , ' , 1,* ^*' 4 o \''''Cr.'3 sed therefore 1,000/. a y+ a*, ie "sie.,i,e, es ‘,. *1 i i e.. ve. e eeei e as much to me as 10,000/., and as my Hon. Friend has alluded to ecclesistical commissions, I may add that whe ther the probate of my will be for 100,000/. or under one million, it is all the same—l cannot be in a situation to hear it —and there will be always some miser whose pro bate will exceed that of the ordinary amount. Now if Mr. Goulburn had attacked my appointment on the ground that it was an unnecessary burden, while other persons were receiving the public money, end doing nothing for it, and that it was fitting that some of these persons should be appointed to my office, in order that they might do some thing for their pay, I should understand the purity and d isinterestedness of the Right Hon. Henry Goulburn, who might be much better eineloysd, instead of looking after the Cabinet in which he had a seat so long, in looking after the cabs of the metropolis.—(Great cheering and laughter.) Here would be a very useful office for him.— (Much laughter.) And as for Mr. Wynn, it might be suggested by that Right Hon. Gentleman that if his friend had too arduous a duty, and that there was more than one Pensioner upon the public purse, there might be a division Of labour; and while the one looked after the cabs, the other would look after the omnibuses.—(Laughter.) Here, indeed, would have been great disinterestedness, and here would have been a saving to the public of 8001. a year. The plain truth is, that the whole proceeding has been based in a deep-rooted, a long-continued, and a still working sys•em of personal persecution of myself.—( Hear, hear.) There is not a gentleman present—there is not a Member of the House of Commons, who will say that the duties of that office were overpaid.—( Hear, hear, hear.) If Mr. Wynn thought my political independence in danger, what was the natural course for him to pursue ? should he not have said, 1 would be the last man to disturb Mr. Harvey in his possession of this office ; and I think the salary a er inferior oe, but at ll events it is fairly de to him • v but y inasmuch n as his political independence is subverted, if not in fact at least in feeling, I propose to bring in a Bill to provide that the Registrar of Metro politan Public Carriages do hold his office so bong as he conducts himself well—so long as thet is the case no Go vernment can meddle with him. The law as it now stands provides that he shai; hold office during pleasure, and he 'night have said that wheeeas by an Act passed in the last Session, the Registrar of Public Carriages holds office during pleasure or discretion, and it is expedient that he should hold it so long as he conducie himself well, or in other words, for life. He might have said that this was avery arbitr ar y p ower , an d it may happen that somefine „aY, after h av i ng s p o k en severe ly in the House, or, as ~51t• nobert Peel said, as a reason for my not being on the P ension List C omm itt e e, after having spoken " sarcasti cally," I may receive a poke note, with the official broad seal, with the name "F. Maule" in the corner, to the effect " Sir, I am desired by Lord John Russell, to acquaint you that you no longer hold the office of Registrar of Metropolitan Public Carriages." In such a C ase every body would hare said, " We all can see how it is --we saw what he said last night, and where his name st ood in the division list."— ( Hear, hear.) Some M ight have said that it was a great hardship an d others would say, " It served him right ; he should have stuck to his party." The.efore the Right Hon. Charles Wa tkYns Williams Wynn should have brought in a Bill to Protect my independence, and to provide that I should „ hold , my office so long es I conducted myself pro lierlY, as all public servants should hold their offices, ffer from the Right Honourable Gentleman, when he s aYs that I held an office under the Crown—l held my °nic e under the people, and it was under an Act passed for the especial purpose of protecting the interests and the I ves of the people of this great metropolis. So long as I conducted myself properly in that office I deny that It e could have discharged me. If there was a discretion T. him, it was a p o litical discretion ; and if I had been ",, i stuissed with ou t c ause, some one would have risen in the 'louse to ask why I had been dismissed, and to move for 41 , inquiry upon the subject Mr. Harvey then said was only another link in the chain of persecution b ind a professional and a political party had sought to 'rind round Lim, ever since he commenced his political or P r ofessional exjstence. He would mention this subject be eailse it w as only. by pointing out canes of individual injus tice that o th ers could be warned, that a remedy could be sought after. A gentleman recommended him to attack t he Ecclesiastical Courts—why as well might a cat at tsek the lion exhibiting at the Theatre. He might make a speech on the subject in the House of Commons in order to 'ring forward the subject. Some Members would be astonished, others would be asleep; some of the papers Would deny his statements, and others would regre t that it had been brought forward at such a n hiconvenient time.—( Cheers. ) He had already attacked corruptions ; he had begun to attack the corruptions of the Cou r t s o f L aw b e f ore h e was even a M em b er o f th e douse of Commons, before he represented Colchester, in t he year 18] 8 • before that time he had attacked' Ore abuses of the Court of Exchequer—those abuses of which nil were the victims who happened to offend against the law s of Customs or Excise. If any person were so unfor tunate as t o o ff end aga i nst t h ese l aws , even a lthough the penalty , sought to b e reco vered might amount to no more than 5/., t h ere was expense first of all, an information filed against him ; then five Counsel were retained , at the of fifty guineas, to support it. T h e re Was the A ttorney- General, the Solicitor-General, and three other Barristers, at 10 guineas each, to be paid by the unfortunate defendant ; he had no choice. There was ' lis ° in these cases a regu l a r Exchequer Jury, a sort of domestic jury, chosen from 48 persona, calling themselves gentlemen —persons living in bye streets, nobody kn owing exactly how they lived, but that they had so mething to d o w ith t h e E xc h equer; an d if th e s e j u rymen 10nd a verdict for the Crown, they were rewarded with tw o guineas, and if for the defendant they only received l a i r ' • He had corrected thi s system ; and now if a man ad the courage, h e cou ld go before the secondary, and I sist upon a fair jury being struck. Two of the C ounsel a lso had b een struck off; and now, instead of having to Pa y five hungr briefless, be.gless men, only three were h o nes all that were employed, and of these one generally did ie . '? work of the other two.—( Cheers and laughter.) After f ' - ' s be had expressed his intention of retiring from his pro lakon of an attorney, and commencing practice as an ad reo,,cate. "Oh I" said the Benchers of the Temple, " be ,--n you are permitted to do so, you must give us a refe- L n ee to two respectable persons." He accordingly , ..." give them these references one to his ol d as highs a Tory as ever existed, and the other to his agent—shortly after he received an intimation that it `was necessary he should enter into a bond to observe the stiles, regulations, and ordinances of the Temple ; he ac cordingly entered into the bond. He was next called upon t°. Pay th e sum of 1201., which he ha d pa id accor di ng ly. : tie next had given to him certain rules, to the effect that he sho u ld f or every term during three years, eat s i xteen e inners in the hall of the Temple, and that having eat these !S id dinners, consisting On the one day of mutton and po lio, oes, and on the alternate one of beef and very harmless Duel ding, he would be then duly qualified, and well stufk'd to be a barrister.—( Cheers and laughter.) Just at 014 time the members of the bar had found out that at . l i e rneys knew m ore t h an t h e y did. Sergeant Wilde, who had been an Attorney at the same time that he (Mr. Har- I T)) had been, Lad taught them that, and baying learned t "ls the determined something , that more should be ne a- (se „ a aare besides being stuffed with dinners, to enable an o b ' s `rney to b ecome a b ai 'rister. They, therefore, deter "4"4l4 that every attorney should cease to have been an T °l neY for two years before he could be called to full "Sr- Now, they knew that .''e was an attorney in Gr est P r ß an tice ; they knew that he had Offices . In ed him to give P all u - -t. Helen's Bishopsgatc ; they fore his money, this. and notwithstanding he had paid . aro eat h . unt eaa , la elinners, they had refused to call him to the bar,? be he gave up his •• ' They thus exposed Cm to g ga, an practice. Years beford all arising from it, for t. N the temptations o robb e d h i %they would call him to the bar. Having say when, at 111 °"' ilia r • ice and his money, what did they p act adrnitt , t he end of that two years, he applied to be .. e . ed WI, " "7, they refused to admit him, on account i":lsomething which they said had happened twenty years You If the• Benchers would now come to him and say, P re sentativ e ..reell have been Member for Colchester, you have been the e l: sentative of one of the most important of the metropo *lt l n borough s , we will consider this as sufficient evidence as i : t o Mr character—we will overlook the past, we will ilve you a locus penitenlic if you will only say that you 7 1 e sorry for what occurred and hope you will not do so 4 ain . If you will confess that being now 52 years of age, and having had more experience you would not again do " You did wh en a young man. " H e wou ld sa y, No, and he W ould tell them that with 30 years' experience he would at .2 ) under similar circumstances, act precisely similar to What lie had done at 2 1.—(Cheers.) Ile would go to the House of Commons, and he would like to find a ti?' lawyer who would speak to him upon the subject. „oey all recollected what a poor figure Scarlett cut.-- w Leo s l a tv , g ter.) He observed there a high City authority e s `..`nao pwn Recorder, Mr. Law, had been one of the !nehers. Let him tell his Recorder that he (Mr. H.) 'could be ready to meet him at any time he liked upon that 2: 6t e rr el•—(Cheers.) Yes ; and he would not confine him ta i _to Mr. Law on ly. H e wou ld mee t any one upon the pl" of that question.—(Cheers.) There was Sir F. , ot ° h 'eck also, who was now in Parliament, and three of the b e ! Benchers, w h o sa t u p on ant, occasion are also Mem er ez i, of Parliame n t ; an d h e wou ld meet all of them, and : he no aseistanc e an d no s ympathy from the profession— tai Wou ld defy these three men to single combat, and main that they had not acted the part of honest men. 1 1- ((Cheers)_ The Honourable Gentleman then proceeded: will go furthe r . Wh a t did Ido in the House of Corn eC?Is in 1834, w h en t hese miserable, skulking beings— iVeers and laughter)—were uttering their insinuations ail . ell directions ? I said, I demand inquiry. A Com le:altte, Was appointed, and I did not appoint a single mem ris, Wrio sat upon it. Upon it there were five or six bar win'. and there were more Tories than any other parties, t O not above three out of the twenty-four with whom 1 w as u freel en conversable t erms . Th e y b r ought witnesses _ P • ail parts of the country ; and in consequence of the importance of th e inquiry, and the impossibility of getting ga e ve of the witnesses before the Committee, the House Committee '! ower which it very unusually gave, it gave the aent power to go from place to place. They d o down to Colchester, but who was it that went • ,kin down? down must say that the Chairman no doubt felt tlly ... ~ 0 towards me, still he was a lawyer, and 'el m 4. `done can doubt that Mr. O'Connell is as much a ~ ..1 . , , t• as any of the dirty Bench in the Temple. Three : 2 ' l /I e Committee went down to Colchester, and obtained f or "ter from a gentleman there, which did him honour, o it c, cared my character, to whom he was at all times ~Pl!oseel, who uniformly voted against me at Colchester, j 'net exerted himself as much as he possibly could against ei Ze• Who, : ask, were the parties who went down with ' , l r ••O'Connell `'Two friends of mine. You will know he I tell you the v were Sir G. Sinclair and Mr. Glad , stone, not one of them very friendly to me. They returned , ' and agreed report. Now, why, let me ask, I \ tas not t upon a ow, ; a a that report wade public in the same manner ~. the report of that Comoittee which created the vacancy. 8 this e t • : e; e e • n t wog Justice ?—( l'l 0, no., it is concealed because would clear me, and cover the cloistered nest of wigged lee to in n the Temple with disgrace. Why should that re• ...._ itioN port be allowed to remain on the table of the House, a dead letter, uninvestigated, unread, and unnoticed? Mr. O'Connell stated in the House tsl Commons that the deei stun cf the cloistered crew had already deprived me of an i eons , ' of too eon/ when I leek at toe irsignificesec , (; nr- ft:Cl sC4 Utiti, to any of them. I never heir Air. Law, she Recorder, speak either in the House of Commons, or in the Court, but I feel my own great superiority, end if to-morrow I were called the bar, I would be happy and not afraid to meet him or any of them on the circuit. and see which is the best. When I was thus robbed of my possession ; what did I do? A man is not to be driven over by any legisla tive constable who may choose to do it. The native ener. gies of man will rise up against oppression.—( Heer, hear.) I should not have thought of going into the b oroug h t o se ll hops ----( Laughter.) I appliedto be re-admitted as an attor ney. Now mark the next illustration of petty oppression. A notice ;vas exhibited in open Court, calling upon any per son to show cause why he objected to my re-admission. What are attorneys and barristers ? You hall a cab driver, you get into his vehicle, and give him a shiilinsr or two—you care not for his charscter. Well, so with a barrister; you hold up your heed —( A laugh) —you give him a guinea or two, you secure his tongue—often giving the more for it because it is the fouler.—( Loud laughter.) Now, what is an attorney? He is the confidential adviser; he settles your deeds, he adjusts covenants, which are to bind not only you but s our descendants ; he comes creep ing to the side of the dyi,g man, and he receives his last instructions, by ehich the accumulations of his industry are bequeathed towards whom his affections, yet warm with undiminished ardour; be may put himself in as executor, as legatee ; years may roll away ; he stands forth as a moral agent, unassailed by the breath of calumny ; when at last something breaks out, and opens a series of criminal acts, rendered the darker and the deeper because they have been committed in secresy and in confidence. Well, thong up a notice in the Courts of Westminster Hall, that I was about to apply for re-admission as an attorney. Did any of those who were sitting in the cloistered chambers of the Temple—those irresponsible tyrants, clad in the costume of their interested privileges—did they come forward and say, " We have prevented this man from becoming a bar rister—we call upon you, the Chief Justice of these realms, to prevent him from becoming an attorney." No; they did not do so ; they dared not do it—(Cheers)—for they would have had to state their charges, and I should have been heard in open Court in my defence ; and I could have hurled a thousand such creatures to their merited dis grace.—( Hear, hear, and loud cheers.) I am going to apply again next April, and a notice will be exhi bited in the Courts of Queen's Bench, Exchequer, and Common Pleas, to that effect ; and I challenge the grave Recorder of London, or any other person, to show cause why I should not he readmitted.—( Loud cheers.) Well, so on with the history of persecution. I directed my attention to Parliamentary agency ; I had plenty of busi ness. One of tiffs: first things put into my hands was either to support or oppose a Canal near Birmingham. I was upon the Committee. I did not leave the Committee because I was a Parliamentary agent. I went upon the Committee, and did all I could for the parties; and those who were afraid of my becoming a barrister, soon began to tremble for my superiority before the Committee ; and two Members who were deeply interested in a rival canal, and were beating up all the support they could for it, got that great depositary of musty prededents, the Right lion. Charles Watkyn Williams Wynn, to bring the case before the House, and they came to a resolution that no Parliamentary agent could sit in that House.—( bear.) I said I did not think it correct that persons in terested should sit upon Committees—( Hear)—and I pro posed an amendment, that no Member directly or indi rectly interested in a question should be allowed to sit on the Committee appointed to consider that question.— (Cheers.) " Oh no," said thee, " that will not suit us at all—we only want to get rid of you ;" and they all (with a few exceptions) voted against my amendment, and for the resolution which was levelled against me.—( Hear, hear.) Would you believe it, one of those very men came to me and said, " Mr. Harvey, this is the best thing that could have happened to you. It has published to al! the world that you are a Parliamentary agent ; we know how successfully you exerted yourself; you have only to get the. business done by somebody else ?" My answer was, " I ;sill never do that by another man which I cannot do myself." And from that time I have never received a single 6s. Bd. from Parliamentary agency,—( Cheers.) Having thus been deprived of the means of subsistence, I turned my attention to those great nests of corruption—the robberies effected on the poor and unprotected in the " Charities" of this country.--( Cheers.) I attacked these monstrous evils—one of them in this borough—l am happy to say with great success.—(Cheers.) I assailed those gigantic frauds which are perpetrated under the name of Company's Charities in the city of London, where many public Com panies have beets for years in the receipt of large funds, arising from the estates bequeathed by benevolent indivi duals centuries ago, to buy bread and faggots for the poor. When the legacies were given, the funds were quite suffi cient to cover the expense of the stipulated quantity of bread and fuel which were to be distributed. But now these funds had accumulated to hundreds and thousands. Now the Companies turn round and say, ' l ' True, the tes tator—a very good sort of man—but if he had lived longer he would perhaps have become more prudent—true he left the produce of these estates, that so many loaves of bread and so many bundles of faggots should be distributed among the poor4and we do so ; we give the same number of loaves and faggots as the testator named, nay, we gave double that number." But what have you to do with the remainder— with the hundreds and the thousands ?—" Oh ! we apply them in eating and drinking."—( Cheers and laughter.) Well, all the clerks of these Companies clubbed together, and subscribed their twenties and thirties of pounds, to get one of my inf , ermations against one of the Companies ; on what ground ? Why, that the " relator," the " informer" was unable to pay costs 1 Well, I went down into Court, single handed, against all the lawyers and the crowd of clerks who were arrayed against me, and whom you might hear saying, " We'll do for him I—(Laughter.) I went to Sir Edward Sugden, and said " I should be obliged to you to speak for me." He said " You are in a pretty mess.—( A laugh.) The relator can't pay the costs of the information if it should be dismissed; you are answer able to the Court for it." I said " Am I in danger, then ?" He said " You are." " Oh, then," rejoined 1, " I'll not trouble you to speak in my defence."—( Laughter and cheers.) I spoke myself to Lord Lyndhurst; I put the question to him, " Will your Lordship decide that Courts of Justice are open to none but wealthy men—that poverty instead of being, as I should think it ought to be, a re commendation—( Cheers)—is to be a disqualification from obtaining justice ?"—( Cheers.) I had a host of Whiglings against me; but Lord Lyndhurst, to his ho nour, dismissed the application—(Cheers)—and my oppo nents, the clerks, had to pay me a 1001. for costs. Well, Gentlemen, it did not end here. I will tell you how they went on with it, and how they endeavoured to dry up the sources of my existence. Lord Brougham, who knew as much about these charities as any one, and who put the country to the 250,0001. expence to have them looked into, had not been appointed Chancellor 24 hours, before he sent for me, and he said, " Mr. Harvey,l shall appoint you Solicitor to the Charity Commission." " My Lord," I said, " I am very much obliged • to you, I will soon set them to rights."—(Laughter.) Just see what happened. Before his Lordship could carry his object into effect—his was during the time the Reform Bill was in agitation—there was a dissolution of Parliament, and I wrote to a Member of Parliament, who had great influence with the Government, and said " I wish to know whether I am to have the place before I go back to Col chester, where I spent 3,0001. the other day, and where I shall have to spend 3,0001. more, and where I shall have the drag chain of a half Tory with me. I wish to know whether his Lordship means to give me the place?" " Oh, no doubt of it," was the answer. " But,' said I, " I have a doubt—(Laughter)—and unless I have a letter from you, stating that I have been appointed, I shall not put myself to the expence of contesting Colchester." Well I received a letter from him, it , which he said—" I dined with Brougham yesterday— cobody can speak of another more kindly than he did of you —you are to have the office." Well, I spent the money, we fou r ; ht the battle of reform, and though I had the pro mise of his Lordship, yet he was overruled—it was said there were others whose interests were better represented— there are many barristers claimants for the office, but not so fit for it as you are—and I am very sorry that you can not have the place. This is all part of the same system of personal persecution. Lord Brougham does not deny it, but he says they were too strong for him, and this system is to remain unaltered.—( Hear.) Then Mr. Baring and other Members from Essex placed on the table of the House petitions signed by 3,000 free holders of the County of Essex, calling on the House of Commons to institute an investigation into this matter, knowing what injustice had been done to me, and yet from that hour to this I base not had justice dealt out to me.— ( Hear, hear, hear.) Well, then, Gentlemen, if I had been disposed to take this place, I should have said it re quired no apology. It was a miserable pittance of bygone wrongs, and if it is said, " Harvey, why did you take it if you thought you could not keep it ?" my answer is, I did not care whether I could keep it or not.—(Hear.) My object was. miserable as the office was, in regard to my own pretensions, to serve the people. —( Hear, hear.) I have been in Parliament for five and twenty years, and when I see the miserable creatures who are in Parliament trying to get something or other—and if a dog Billy was let loose among such vermin they would run at the rate of twenty miles an hour to escape.—(Great laughter.) I say, that when I see who and what they are, I can stand up against any one of them and say—some may call it vanity and some may call it conceit—but I du not hesitate to say, that I consider myself as competent to be Chancellor of the Exchequer as any of them, and I venture to say that I would give as much satisfaction to the people in the course of a short time.—(Cheers.) When they offered me this miserable office, I cared nothing about the salary or the labour. My friends, who feel for me, said, ‘• Take it, Harvey—it's office, it's office; and it chastises the insolence of your oppressors, who have been everlast ingly whispering that no Government dared give you office." Now, you see a Government that will ; and I think, so far, Lord John Russell is entitled to com mendation, because I had no personal claims on him ; and if it were possible for a man of his mind to de scend to a recollection of things said or done in the House of Commons, he might have said I was the last man towards whom he would have such a feeling. It reflects great credit on him, and I shall be right pleased if the policy of the Cabinet and of the Queen's Govern ment shall be so far liberalised as will enable me to give it an honest, a conscientious, and useful support—( Cheers) ; for the more I see of the Tories the more I loath Toryism ; they love persecution of every kind—lies are at the very bottom of their creed—they won't allow a man to think as he likes—they would place the human mind in ma nacles—they r e w l o i g u i l o cl a make from a w h m i o a h n phaey administtherationsup port of the law.—( Loud Cheers.) Tall: to them of cheap law for the poor, and they will talk to you of soap arid their union workhouses.—( Laughter.) Gentlemen, be assured you must not mind what the Tories tell you.—You hear them say, why we ourselves are partially penitent, we havethrown off the dirty drapery of past tim es, and have put o n th e c l ean clothing of (Laughter.) Conservatism._ Gentlemen, they are Tories in disguise— let them call themselves what they will, they are to the very core cheats, and it is the duty of every man, even to relax some of his own strong partialities, to express his ab horrence of their deeds, and to exert himself to expose teem on all occasions. Gentlemen, my friend near me has allude i to my opinions—they are the same.-- ( Cheers.) We are a long way off good government. Great changes must take place before we can realize what is meant by that comprehensive term. I am not disposed to take shelter under that easy system of patriotism, which induces some men to say, " Oh ! I voted the other night for a stringent naolion, and I have done so and so." Be assured that is all mock patriotism. Defective as the House of Commons is in many respects, it possesses in itself the machinery of doing good, and, if a member of Parliament will only de vote his time and attention sedulously to two or three things—not trying his hand at too many, he will do some good. Let him endeavour to give a name to hinise:f when he shall cease to breathe, let his friends be proud of reading his history in bygone ages.—( Cheers.) Why, Gentlemen, if I had left your service to-day, I trust you would not have forgotten those advantages which I have secured for the public when they were dragged into that dark den of Exchcquorisin to which I have alluded, and the efferts I have made, and so successfully to capes:, the enormities of the Pension List.—( Loud cheers.) These things pass away. But I was also the means, and let it be known to your children, of securing to you the right of reading, day by day, whet I:asses in the Chambers of Parliament. You saw reports stuck up in Law Bookseller's shops which it would require a child, that you would not find in our Union Workhouses, to carry; being a Report of the Agricultural Com mittee, or the Hand-loom Weavers, which would take a man half a century to read and more time to understand—(Great laughter)— but now, from my exertions, those reports are published from day to day— you have every question put and every answer given, and how did you obtain that right ?—because when I had the press at my command—though Wynne might have said it would affect any pro perty.— ( A laugh.) I dared all consequences, and se cured for you what I consider to be a great benefit. But this only shows how rapidly labours pass away. I was also the author—and though opposed by Lord Alttiorp,in the first instance, it was eventually adopted by the Govern ment—of having the list of majorities and minorities pub lished every day.—( Hear, hear.) These are advan tages secured to you by a man who means and wishes to do well. I shall pursue the same course.—( Cheers. ) I will never take an office, whatever may be its emolu ments (and God knows emolument would be acceptable enough to me), I will never take office unless it ►s to advance some great principle and in connection with some important object which tests the liberality of the Government and tends towards the improvement of the people.—( Cheers.) Gentlemen, I have detained you a great length of tirne.—(Cries of " No, no.") lam pleased with having the opportunity of showing what a victim of per secution I have been, and I do trust my Hon. Friend who sits here (Sir P. Laurie) will not allow many hours to pass be fore he communicates to the great and learned head of his Court what he has heard here to-day, because let it not pass away: as a mere idle exposure on the bust ings.—( Hear, hear, hear.) I have told you of the deeply felt injuries and wrongs under which I suffer, and I do say it becomes the duty of an en lightened Government and of every honest man, to do all he can to correct so deep an evil. Gentlemen, 1 thank you sincerely for the distinction you have again conferred on me, Be assured it stimulates me in the career of well doing —he assured that nothing is so grateful to my heart as to feel that I live in yours, and be assured that during the dark hours of night, when you are quietly slumbering and enjoying repose from your fatigues and labours, I shall be the vigillant guardian of your rights.—( Hear, hear.) Whether it is to protect your local rights or to advance great national interests, however feeble my pretensions and abilities, be assured that I shall be faithful to you to the end.—The Hon. Gentleman sat down amidst the most enthusiastic cheering.) Sir PETER LAURIE, as soon as tine Hon. Gentleman had concluded, asked him for a frank. Mr. HARVEY said he would give it with great pleasure, but it would not be good till to-morrow. Mr. HARVEY then moved a vote of thanks to the High Bailiff, pronouncing a high eulogium upon his public, con duct, and his attention to the comfort and accommodation of that great meeting and of the public press. His conduct on all occasions had shed lustre on a very useful office, and merited the best thanks of that meeting. Mr. VOUSLAY seconded the motion, which was carried unanimously. The HIGH BAILIFF briefly returned thanks. He was much indebted to them for that mark of their attention, and if they were satisfied he was gratified.-_( Cheers. ) Three hearty cheers were then given. for Mr. Harvey— three groans for Mr. Wynn, the loser—and three cheers for Mr. Jervis, after which the return was signed by several of the freeholders, and the meeting broke up. CLERICAL INTELLIGENCE. Pi.EFERMENTS AND APPOINTMENTS. The Rey. John Clark, curate of Leeds, to the incum bency of Rawcliffe, in the county of Lancaster. Patron, the Rev. W. Hornby, vicar of St. Michael's. on- Wyre. The Rev. Thomas Ludlam, A. M., fellow of Peter House, Cambridge, and late curate of Astley, to the vicarage of Ellington, \Worcestershire. The Rev. Thomas Case, curate of Cranborne, has been presenteil, by the Earl of Shaftesbury, to the vicarage of Horton, Dorset, vacant by the resignation of the Rev. Charles Thomson. _ The Rev. Charles Francis New•march ItLs been prc sented t.,) the rectory of Pilhatn, Lincolnshire, vacant by the death of the late Rev. W. Dunkin. The Rev. Levi Walton, to the perpetual curacy of Wending, Norfolk, on the nomination of the Earl of Lei cester. The Rev. G. Cotrerill, A. 8., to the vicarag. of Earl ham with Bowthorpe annexed, in the county of the city of Norwich, on the pre3cntation_of F. 8.. Frank s of Oakley, in Suffolk, Esq. OBITUARY. At Louth, the Rev. John Horner, rector of South Res ton, vicar of Tathwell, and formerly fellow of Clare Hall, Cambridge. At the rectory, Checkley, Staffordshire, in his 85th year, the Rev. S. Langley, M.A. At Stockton-upon-Tees, of which parish he was curate, in the 29th ear of his age, the Rey. G. Newby, of St. John's College, Cambridge. The Rey. John Dakins, M. A., 40 years rector of St. James's, Colchester. At L;amington, the Rev. [lane Hamilton, D. D., rector of Knoektopher, Ireland. THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY,-EVENING EDITION, .FEBRUARY 27, 1839. NAVY ESTIMATES. An ESTIMATE of the SUMS required to meet the EXPENSES which may be incurred in the NAVAL DEPARTMENT in the Ycar 1839-40, under the following Heads ; viz. : and if the Commons do not choose to vote money, come what may, no blame can be afterwards laid on the Go vernment. My second charge, That during a long peace no step, with the exception of the Registration Bill, has been taken to man the fleet in the event of war, is a serious one, and a reflection on all Administrations. Sir John Barrow says we must impress ; but that is easier said than done ; and indeed I very much doubt whether impressment ever can again be carried to the extent it was last war. On a sudden emergency I really do not see who is to carry it into execution. To attempt impressment on shore I believe to be inexecut able without deluging the country with blood ; and we most certainly have not men of war at home to impress men sufficient to man a fleet. What then is to be done ? Stare the question in the face, and act boldly. Let Parliament pass an Act to oblige every boy who goes to sea to serve an apprenticeship of four years in the merchant service, and three in a ship of war, before he can become a registered seaman. Had a Bill of this de scription been passed twenty years ago, there would not now be a B r iti s h seaman who had never passed through a man-of-war ; and, in that case, I really do believe, in the event of a sudden emergency, they would volunta rily come forward. Men brought up in the merchant service have a horror of the Navy, whereas those brought up in a ship of war always prefer it to the merchant ser vice. lam quite aware with the present feelings of the merchants and ship-owners, it would be difficult to pass such a Bill—but we may make a beginning. There was an old Act of Parliament of Queen Anne which authorised parish officers to bind parish boys ap prentices in the merchant service, and the Captains were obliged to receive them. Ido not believe that Act was ever enforced, and it was repealed the other die. I would re-enact and amend it, and authorise all Guardians of Unions to fit out and bind workhouse boys apprentices for four years in the merchant service, and three years in the Navy ; I would station receiving-ships at all the principal ports to receive these boys, and as vacancies took place in merchant ships, they should be appren ticed, and at the expiration of four years.they should be returned to the receiving ship and from thence passed into a ship of war for three years ; they should then become registered seamen, and be allowed either to remain in the navy, or go into a merchant sip. In the event of war, a proclamation should be issued, calling out the number wanted, be g i nn ing o f c our s e , with te youngest, and the merchant should be obliged immediately to discharge them. I would have no other force used except depriv ing them of' the power of going in the mer chant service—they might hang back a while, but I feel satisfied they would ultimately present themselves ; they should be received in the receiving ship, be allowed to choose their own Captain, and be paid a bounty equal to the soldier and marine. After seven years' service they should be discharged, if they wished it; and if they re-entered for five years more, they should have another bounty and an increase of pay. At the end of fifteen years' service they should be en titled to a pension ; but if they continued to serve they should have a further bounty and an increase of pay : and at the end of twenty-one years an increase of pension. The pe,y of the Petty Officers has been lately increased after fire years' consideration, but it is still too low ; the first class Petty Officers ought to have double the sea men's pay, the second class Petty Officers one-half more than the seamen. •. In addition to the foregoing regulations, the maritime districts should be exempted from serving in the Militia, and th( it quota should supply the Navy with landsmen, giving them a bounty to make up for their being obliged to serve abroad. If these regulations were once put in force, we need apprehend no difficulty in fitting out a fleet both effi ciently and expeditiously. Sir John Barrow concludes his supplement by saying, " At no - former period of profound peace, in the whole history of Grea Britain, was her Navy so efficient as to tbt number, condition, and equipment of the ships in commission, and the number and superior qualities of the Petty Officers and effective seamen borne on their books." I am sorry to be obliged to differ with Sir John, by observing that the Petty Officers are most de ' cidedly on the decline, and what is more, they are very difficult to be obtained ; formerly the Petty Officers were always the first to be completed when a ship was put in commis-ion, but nor they are the last. What is the reason ? Because the excellent regulation made by the Lord Hirh Admiral that the Petty Officer when a ship was paid off should be entered in the Flagships has been discontinued ; as to the seamen being better than formerly, they are no such thing. Sir John Barrow says three-fourths of the crew of the ships are able sea men—if he had said they were rated able seamen, he would have been right ; but as to their being able sea men, not one half of them arc what used to be called able seamen; they are borne on the books as such, because they are the best to be had, and because they will not enter unless they bare such a rating—and the truth is, the more steam increases, the more the s - amen deteriorate, and we have taken no steps as yet to apply a remedy. I shall conclude this letter by a remark on the first reason Sir John Barrow gives of disbelieving- that the Pamphlet so • much talked of was the production of a Flag Officer. He says, " Because a British fl tg officer in possession of information, hostile or injurious to the Queen's Government and the nation, would feel it to be his bounden duty to make it known to her Majesty's Minister, instead of conveying it, to the enemy, or those whom he treats throughout as enemies." If by her Majesty's Ministers Sir John Barrow means the Admiralty, I must tell bins that I never yet knew, 'during my service of forty years, any Board of Admiralty obliged to an officer for any communication whatever, unless he was an influential man ; on the contrary, I believe, nine times out of ten, they thought one extremely presumptuous for giving an opinion at all ; and it was for that reason my letter was addressed to the Foreign Secretary, and which letter I did not publish till the Russians were hard and fast in the Baltic, since when we have had abundance of time to prepare, and should anything happen either now or hereafter, no blame can be attached to those who stepped forward to prepare Parliament to comply with any demand the Government might make for an in crease of force. I have now done with this subject ; and bad it not been for Sir John's letter, I should not •have renewed it, because [think officers actively employed either in the civil or military branch of the service, have no business either to praise or blame the Government. I am, Sir, your obedient servant, CHARLES NAPIER. Sheerness, Feb. 20, 1839. THE INSULTS ON THE BRITISH FLAG. TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN. see by the Morning Papers that the subject of the Prince de Joinville's audacious conduct was again brought forward ; and it is the surprise and astonish ment of the nation at large, particularly the officers of the Navy, to find that some distinct motion has not been made for the production of a copy of Licut. Croke's letter to the British Consul, also to ask what man-of-war was present (as stated in the House of Lords by Lord Minto), when the outrage was committed, for had a man-of-war been on the spot, what right had Lieutenant Croke to make his complaint to a Consul when a senior officer was present. Ido most sincerely hope that some Mem• ber will move that Lieut. Croke should be examined at the bar of the House of Commons, Is it not strange the Admiralty have never called on this officer, who has been some time in England, to render them a detailed account of this most extraordinary proceeding, and was it not the commanding officer of the packet's duty to have laid before Capt. Plumridge a full and par ticular account the moment he returned into port, as this is considered a question of great moment as one of the grossest insults ever offered to a nation, particularly to a country which, until this circumstance, has been so choice of her honour. How did Captain Bingham act in his little ship when a large American frigate wished to take away some of his crew ? He fought the Little Belt against as great a disparity of force us the packet arid French corvette ; and when he had made an honourable resistance, he surrendered up his ship. The country are anxious to know why the packet did not use her guns in the protection of one of the crew, for this pilot became for the time being an English subject ; the moment he took charge of the vessel his name must appear on her books, and he received the Queen's pay ; therefore I have no hesitation in saying that any officer in charge of a man-of-war packet, with one gun, much less four, who would allow a French boat to board him (let her he commanded by a Prince or a devil) for the purpose of taking a man out of his ship, without using all the force he possessed, is not deserving of being entrusted with the nation's honour. I have no doubt had Lieutenant Croke told the French officer, he was astonished at such a demand, that nothing but force should induce him to give up the pilot, and with the pilot he would surrender up his ship, we should then have a cat ofano ther colour, this Prince would not have dared to repeat the demand, instead of this unfortunate circumstance, which has only tended to feed the vanity of the French Navy, .to the mortification and disgrace of our own. Until we have dater, there must appear something very mysterious in this affair. The insults must have taken place nearly two months previous to the arrival of Commodore Douglas, as our squadron did not leave Jamaica' until long after the French took the castle ; it is therefore necessary to know what steps the Consul took on receiving the Lieutenant's complaint, did he make any and what representation to the French Ad miral? Surely that 'was the time for the apology to be made, and not when our squadron made their appear ance ; if so, in my opinion, it came v. , ith a very ill, grace after such a lapse of time. Should Licut, Croke be examined, it will then mine out whether any signals we re passing between the Ad m i ra l and Noce 'de Join yule, ii so tire °tl e actycecl by y ltvloo to draw is th a t the Prince putwas if u tiio titpt his senior officer, and ;', a t' the C Fr r e u n z e , h w A it tr i al se h e tt i v n i o n . g an boa E rt n g ic, o l : i m i4 .l7 ;. ,,- onf_t t r b : f . ore Vera i began to doubt if we felt at; ;nteaest in his proceedings, and LEGISLATION. The following is the mode of " doing business" in a certain assembly :—The Speaker is furnished %lith a list of Mcmbers having petitions to present that evening, and calls them up in turn. Something like the follow ing scene takes place, the House being all the time in a buzz : Speaker—Mr. -- Mr. rises. I hold in my hand, Sir, a petition from so and so, stating so and so, and praying so and so. I move that this petition be brought up : Speaker— brought up—this opinion say aye ; opinion say no—the ayes have it. Presenter hands into the clerk at the table. Presenter—That it now be read. Speaker—Now read—this opinion say aye ; opinion say no ; the ayes have it. Clerk reads—`` Petition of the undersigned—general distress." Presenter—That it lie on the table. Speaker—Lie on the table—this opinion say aye ; opinion say no ; the ayes have it. Clerk takes up the petition and stuffs it under the table. Thus, in five minutes, is despAtched the labour of, perhaps as many weeks, and if the noise is not too great to ::prevent the reporters from hearing, the petitiower may stand a chance of teeing somewhat like the fol- lowing mention of it in the next morning's paper : " Mr. presented a petition from some place (of of which we could not catch the name), but what the subject was, we were unable, from the confusion that pre vailed, to aseertain."—Morning Paper. NEWCASTLE MURDER.-There appears to be no doubt that in our next, we shall be enabled to give the whole of the interesting trial of M-. Bolam. The parties engaged for the prosecution as well as for the defence are equally busy in their arrangements. Some of the parties connected with the prosecution go to Carlisle, we believe. this day, for the purpose of consulting with the counsel who are to conduct the case at the trial. We have heard the parties for the defence intend to adopt a similar course, but of this we do not speak so certainly. Since we last noticed Bolam, he has had an interview with Mr. Batson, the magistrate, and the Mayor, but the result has not been made public. It has been finally settled that the trial shall take place in the Guildhall, and workmen are now em ployed under the direction of Mr. Stephens, the head of the police force, in erecting the necessary barriers. Ac commodation is to be made for twenty additional reporters. Tyne Mercury. THE POPE.—We learn from a correspondent at Rome that apprehensions had been entertained at the end of last month as to the health of the Pope, but that the indisposition of his Holiness had been less serious than was supposed, and that he had been present at the mass celebrated in St. Peter's on the anniversary of the en thronement of that apostle, which was attended by such a concourse of foreigners that it could not be performed as usual in the Sistine chapel.—Galignani. PRIVATE BILLS.—The petitions for Private Bills presented to the House of Commons since the c( m. mencement of the Session, amount to 195. Of these Bills twenty.bine are for railways, twenty-three for roads, seven for harbours, twenty-five for enclosures, eleven for the for mation of joint-stock companies, five for canals, and seven for the formation of cemeteries. PUBLIC PETITIONS.—The total number of Petitions presented to the House of Commons during the present Session, to the 19th of February inclusive, was 1.556. Of these 1,224 wtre against the repeal of the corn-laws, with 90,936 signatures ; 214 for the repeal of those laws, with 369,857 signatures ; and in supp or t o f t h e Church of Scotland 40, with 7,240 signatures. DOUBLE MAIL TO IRELAND.—We under stand that arrangements have, at length, been concluded for the conveyance of a second mail daily between Liver pool and Dublin, and that on the Ist of May, there will be a morning and an evening mail departure from both ports. The negociations which have been so long carried on be. tween the Dublin Steam Company and the Admiralty for this service have, we believe, been completed, and we anti. ciliate much public convenience from the proposed change, Liverpool Albion. A Mayo Paper reports the supposed murder of the 11ev. Mr. Barrett, a priest. ABSTRACT. Nos. Pages. 1 4 Wages to Seamen and Marines 2 10 Victuals for Ditto 3 11 Admiralty Office 4 13 Office for Registry of Merchant Seamen 5 13 Scientific Branch 6 15 Her Majesty's Establishments at Home 7 30 Her Majesty's Establishments Abroad 36 Wages to Artificers, &c., employed in her Majesty's Establishments at Home 9 38 Wages to Artificers, &c., employed in her Majesty's! Establishments Abroad 10 39 Naval Stores, &c., for the Building and Repair ofi Ships, Docks, Wharfs 1 40 New Works and Improvements and Repairs in the Yards, &c......... • .......... .......................... 12 42 Medicines and Medical Stores 13 43 Miscellaneous Services Total for the Effective Service.. 445 Half-pay to Officers of the Navy and Royal Marines 15 46 Military Pensions and Allowances '6 51 Civil Pensions and Allowances Total for the Naval Service. For the Service of other Departments of Government : [7 53 Army and Ordnance Departments (Conveyance a Troops, &c.) 8 54 Home Department (Convict Service) Gramt Total THE NAVY. 7'O THE EDITOR OF THE SUN. MR. Enrron,—l have purposely abstained from making any remarks on Sir John Barrow's Supplement to the Life of Anson until the meeting o Parliament, conceiving that after all that has been said and written on the subject, the state of the Navy would be tho roughly investigated by both Houses, and I shall now endeavour, in commenting on Sir John's statements, to lay before the public as correct and impartial an opinion as I am capable of giving. I have examined Sir John's tables with great care, and I believe them to be perfectly correct, and with the exception of the number of French ships in commission, not essentially differing from the statement I laid before Lord Palmerston. Sir John commences his supplement with a most unjus• tifiable attack on Commander Craufurd, for describing in very modest language what he felt on finding himself at sea, with a Russian fleet of twenty-seven sail-of-the-line, and twenty frigates provisioned for tour months, manned with nearly thirty thousand men, and within a week's sail of our own shores, and he throws a censure on the First Lord of the Admiralty who promoted Captain Craufurd, and the first Lord who employed him, almost immediately after the publication of his pamphlet, by describing what he had written as the " silly opinion of a youthful commander," and imatedi diately afterwards admits the correctness of his state ment by blaming him for indiscreetness in inviting a neighbouring power to pay us a visit with an over whelming force. The intention of Captain Craufurd was evidently to awaken the Government fro:n the state of lethargy they had been in for some years past, with regard to the Rus sian fleet, and Sir John had no right to impute any other motive to him. The Secretary seem 3 surprised that Captain Cranfurd had not attended to the opinions his seniors and supe riors had given of the Russian fleet in 1823, when the greater part of them, as he states, were so hogged, that, when standing on the after part of the lower deck, it was impossible to see one-third forward ; and he at the same time tells us that the Russian ships only last a few years. What, in the name of common sense, would have been the use of Captain Craufurd reading the opinions of his superiors in 18'23, of ships no longer in existence, when he had an opportunity of seeing and examining a whole fleet in 1836 ? Sir John Barrow must pardon me for ob serving that I think the " silly opinion of the 3outhful commander" must be preferredto the absurd advice of the Junior Secretary ; and I beg leave to tell him that Captain Cranford's opinions have been confirmed bath by old and young officers who have seen the Russian ships ; and no Government, be it Whig, Tory, or Radi cal, can be justified in permitting such a force to be in commission, during a profound peace, without having a respectable fleet to keep them in check. - Sir John says that, for many yc ars . the Russians have had a strong force in the Baltic every summer ; if so, the clever administrations he has served,deserve as much blame, one as the other ; and I hope and trust we shall never see the like again. I shall entirely pass over Sir John's scurrilous attack on the Flag Officer, who can defend himself, and tuerelyobserve that it was quite unnecessary proclaiming himself a Conservative, fo r the hint he gives of the Flag 'and being nearly subject to the third article of war, and of the risk he may . rnu of being treated as Admiral Vernon was, suf4cieixtly,proclaizr.s the nature of lii Opi'niOns. I have a.4vays thought the present .Government .GOvernment were injudicious in allowing him to remain us Secretary to the Admiralty ; and now lie has avowed himself, the sooner he is removed the better, more particularly as he has published opinions not en tertained by his masters. Sir John divid,s the charges which have been made against the Admiralty under three heads. 1. That our ships of war, particularly those of the hip, are not equal in number, size, or armament, to those of the maritime powers, France and Russia es y. 2. That ships of the line are sent to sea without their lower deck guns, and with a reduced and inade quate complement of men. 3. That from the reduced state of naval stores in the dock-yards, and of the number of shipwrights, - a fleet such as war would require, could not be sent to sea. I shall furnish him with two charges against the eleven Governments he has served. 1. That a large Russian fleet has been allowed for many years to discipline and exercise in the Baltic, without our having a respectable force to keep them in check. 2. That during a long peace no step, with the ex ception of the Registration Bill, has been taken to man the Navy in the event of war. As to the first charge, every impartial naval officer must allow, since the present administration came into office a vast imp"ovement has taken place in ship building. Sir James Graham's Admiralty began to im prove, and it has been followed up by its successors. I think, however, we arc wrong in building 70-gun ships, and I hope the two on the stocks will be the last. The class of the Pique, instead of carrying; 36 guns, ought to carry 40, and the Cleopatra class 30 ; and the reasons I shall give are so plain, that I think the Ad miralty will yet take them into consideration. . . The Pique is pierced for 40 guns, and quite capable of carrying them ; her crew are in proportion to her guns, but quite inadequate to knock about her masts and yards. By increasing her number of guns, her crew would be increased also, and they would then bear some proportion to her sails. The Cleopatra is in the same situation ; she is pierced for 3 0 and mounts only 26, with a crew of 190 (since increased to 200) men, and she has the masts of a 40-gun frigate. The new corvettes of 18 guns ought also to carry 20 with an increased establishment. We are gradually getting rid of all the useless craft built by former Admiralties, and it would be a wise measure to razee a dozen more 74's. Sir Jan Barrow admits we want more large frigates, and we certainly have too many small line-of-battle ships. Fine ships, however, do not entirely constitute an efficient Navy, they are only floating f ortifications, a nd it would be just men o ugh t w h to o as ridiculous in a Cont inental p ower boasting that her a rmy was efficient beca use her fo rtifications were in order, as it is in us callin g , the Nav y effi cient because we have com mand and man these ships who con s tit ute an e ff ic i ent opinion. Navy ; and I shall p resentl y show, thatin th a t respect we are not, in my humble ships.goumb It on. is so tl : e ffi oeffiienect. rs as and 1%.e le pi be in comparis on with other nations. The second ch ar g e brou g ht against th e Admiralty — that ships of the line are sent to sea witho ut their lower deck guns, and with a reduced complement of men. is a sufficient The excuses of Sir John Barrow, that this was done as a temporary accommodation to th ree guns are on Admirals are inadmissible. I never knew that Admirals were ac commodated on the lower gun deck ; therefore, taking out their guns was useless, a nd the fact that the Cornwallis discipline,he and never The charge was the case in tl.e late con demnationttallini eetilrri.f:rraey therefore, Wellesley onou eftitt fullyhitleocearrsestyinfcisiaeo,etceswttmi:oiu,necasl tl:iitinl,e g loc u rl o n aifi t il l ios e ieopr i .eo lttoi I:: , maoss t s ir pressing . John ' describes it. As to the employment of ships of war to carry about troops it is universAly condemned by all officers, ought to be resorted to but . under circumstances, which I admit was instances. present Board of There are various o p inions about ships being kept in time of peace with reduc ed compleme n t s . I t i s no new a t e s ) 1; e sten Admiralty. I entirely disapprove o f the plan, and I have heard it stated that two of the publicly Lord s o f t h e Ad miralty have condemned it, an d i nsisted on a change; and every naval dicer ought to b e obliged to r i ou ; gh t t he t r o c theretofore thrown I ro c w a n nn on see that any bl ame n t the them for their independent conduct. I have alNays been of opinion, and my opinions are recorded in a pamphlet .I Publi s h e d upwards of twenty years ago, that in time of pe ace one hal f t h e marines only ought to be embarked, an d their places filled u p w ith able seaman, Mach would enable the Government, in the event of a sudden armament, to at once double the Navy ; whereas, when they are Gross EAlmate for the Year 1-31)-40 1,085,731 603,471 113,924 2,550 29,075 122,740 19,694 468,059 27,430 951,410 159,992 2(1,500 101,282 !3,705,858 782,230 522,548 194,188 ',204,824 171,000 83,550 Deductions Credits Ireserved in aid of the Granti. 5,642 56,846 2,478 1,421 i Required Ito be voted for the Service of the Year 1,030,089 546,625 113,924 2,550 26,597 121,319 19,694 468,059 27,430 856,637 159,992 18,309 50,907 kb492,132 782,230 512,548 193,443 14,980,353 150,954 66,204 Gress Estimate for the Year IS3B-39. 1,076,231 554,912 112,637 2,425 27,197 122,366 18,884 450,093 24,850 600,160 89,786 20,000 101,580 1 3,201,121 783,682 530,856 201,202 1 ,716,861 163,100 80,950 /Deductions Credits reserved in aid of the Grants 3,731 34,165 Last Vote for the Financial Year 15135—,'9. 1,072,07 520,747 112,637 2,425 26,230 121,793 18,854 450,093 24,850 554,383 89,786 17,847 73,631 3,085,853 783,682 525,856 200,633 4,595,024 149,636 63,330 94,773 2,191 50,375 213,726 10,000 .745 224,471 20,046 17,346 15,459,3:4 I 261,863 5,197,511 4,960,911 148,921 ,4,811,990 i❑ a reduced state, the first thing to be done is to full man the ships with the men who can be procured, they would tlmn be efficient ; but how is the Navy to be suddenly increased and fitted out,—will Sir John Bar row be able to do it expeditiously with men pressed against their will? The difficulty of getting men at the present moment is great, and circumstances may arise (if they have not already .arisen), to render it ne cessary to suddenly increase the fleet ; but the same cir cumstances may not authorise impressmnt. What then is to be done ? I shall state a case to show the advantage of manning the ships in the manner I have proposed. I will sup pose the Powerful, with a full crew of 700 men, 625 of whom are officers and seamen. It is required to arm a second $4-gun ship—one watch (the half of the ships company, including officers) would be immediately dis charged into the new ship. This would give each ship 312 Officers, seamen, and boys Embark . 150 Marines Complete the 11 Officers - 14 Midshipmen, &c. - 18 First-class boys, always to be had. 8 Ditto - 117 Landsmen 680 being the crew at present allowed, the Powerful might go to sea immediately, and if sent on a foreign station could take out Marines to be exchanged for seamen with the first ship she falls in with ; the new ship would follow her within a month, and would pro , bably in that time be complete with ordinary seamen. If the whole Navy was put on the same system a fleet could be equipped both expeditiously and efficiently, whereas at present we can do neither the one nor the other, and from the weak complement allowed the ships the duty is not carried on in the smart way it ought to be in a man of war, the men take no pride in their ships, and the officers are brought up with idle and slovenly habits, and are ashamed to try manoeuvres with full-manned ships of foreign nations. This happened not long ago to a Commander-in- Chief, laying alongside a French Admiral, in a full manned frigate, he in a weak manned line-of-battle ship, I believe, without lower deck guns. Sir John Barrow says—Let Parliament vote 50,000 men, if necessary, and the Admiralty would find no difficulty in sending thirty sail of the line to see in addition to the twenty-one in commission, for which additional thirty masts, sails, yards, and every article of gear are ready. Where and how is he to get m?n to man thirty sail of the line at once, when it is with the greatest diffi culty we can fit out and man one at a time, which Sir John Barrow knows as well as I do ? Relative to the masts and yards, there is no want of them ; gear of every description is ready for the demonstration ships, I believe, thirteen in in number, and the gear could be completed for the re.- maining seventeen before they could be got ready. If men came forward voluntarily, the demonstration ships would certainly be ready for sea within the month, but they would not be fit to go into action under three. If men did not come forward, but were pressed, they could not get to sea under two mocths, and the other seven teen would require double the time. In my opinion, that is not a state this country ought to be left in Ili long as the (Hogged) fleet of Russia is allowed to craiza every summer in the Baltic. The last charge, that, from the reduced state of stores irk the dockyards, and of shipwrights, a fleet, as war would require, could not be sent to sea. I believe there •• is • not one word of truth in this charge. I have taken - a good deal of pains •to inquire into the situation of both Portsmouth and Sheerness, dock yards, and I have no reason to suppose there is any deficiency of stores, and were it necessary to fit Out a large fleet the shipwrights could be very easily increased. It is seamen we want laid up in store, men of-war seamen. Stores can be bought, and shipwrights entered, but men-of-war seamen can neither be bought rtor entered. Having now disposed, to the best of my ability, of the charges against the Admiralty, I shall again bring forward mine against the various Governments who have ruled this country for some years past, and, by Sir John Barrow's own showing, will prove the danger we have been, and still are in. Speaking of Russia, Sir John says, " This power is undoubtedly the least of all others to be trusted, be cause peace or war is in that nation actually the prero gative of one man ; it is not, however, because she has two large fleets that she makes herself an ob ject of jealousy to England ; but it is her warlike indications in keeping them constantly manned, and, as we are told, provisioned for four months, ready, at a moment's notice, to put to sea ; it is this state of naval preparation, enabling her to commence hostilities at once, that should keep us on our guard against a surprise. She has neither colonies nor commerce to protect ; is it not, then, a fair question to be asked by Austria, France,or England, for what purpose is a naval armament, in such a state, kept on foot? It may be against England or Turkey, or both. In either case it behoves us to be prepared ; for if Nicholas be, as he is represented, ambitious, restless, vindictive, and un forgiving, and wholly independent of the opinion of his subjects, he can never want a pretext for going to war." Read this, Sir, attentively, and then look at Sir John Barrow's tables, and you will see Russia has in commis sion 40 sail of the line concentrated in two fleets, and we have 21 scattered over the world, all weakly manned. Is this, Sir, being on our guard a ga i nst a surpr i se ? I have shown that last summer we only had three three deckers in this country, with 250 men each, and three two-deckers weakly manned ; and I have stated (and I believe no experienced officer will contradict me), that under the' most favourable circumstances we could not collect the demonstration ships at the Nore under a month, and that they would not be fit to go into action with so superior a fleet under three. Sir John goes on to say there must be discussions, ne gotiations, manifestoes, previous to actual war, as cus tomary amongst civilised nations. Wf;at guarantee does Sir John give the country that thde discussions, negotiations, and manifestoes, may not be carrit•d on, supported by a Russian fleet, anchored at the mouth of the Thames ? Surely that would not be contrary to the law of nations. How are we to prevent the Autocrat doing so if he pleases, the moment the Baltic is open, and are we to calculate that he would prolong negotiations till we were prepared, which could not be under three months, as I have before stated? I will, however, suppose that the Board of Admiralty by waving their hand, could collect the demonstration ships at the Nore, full manned; they would only amount to thirteen, making, with the three flag ships, sixteen sail of the line; and I will ask Sir John Barrow, if there is an Admiral in the British service who would with that force hastily brought together, venture to attack the Russian fleet of twenty-seven sail of the line and twenty frigates ? Lord St. Vincent, with fifteen sail of the Hoe, attacked twenty-seven Spaniards, his fleet was in a high state of discipline ; but the Spaniards cannot be compared with the Russians ; and Lord St. Vincent, after taking four sail of the line, did not renew the action. I therefore must again repeat what I have before advanced, that either Russia must reduce her commissioned fleet to ten sail of the line, or the Govern ment will not be justified in keeping less than that num ber fully manned in this country during the time the Bal tic is open, and that may be done at very little expense. Let the flag ships be manned, and kept as depots to fit out and man ships put in commission fur the reliefs— a much cheaper method than the present one—because each line-of-battle ship fitting out pays and victuals nearly 400 men for three months before she is ready to proceed to sea. Let the four ships who have charge of the ordinary be made efficient, and let them relieve the ships in foreign stations in their turn, after fitting out another to take their duties. Restore the coast blockade, and station a ship in the Downs, one in Yarmouth Roads, and another in Leith Roads. This will give you a permanent and useful force in England of ten sail of the line, costing not one sixpence more than the present inefficient. system ; for whether the coast blockade is paid by the Treasury or the Ad miralty, is quite the same to John Bull. Parliament is now sitting—if more money is wanted, let the Admiralty state their opinions in both Houses ; 45,777 2,153 27,899 115,268 5,000 369 120,837 13,464 14,620 ventured at any risk to make Louis Philippe's son the instrument of insulting the British flag, and obtaini ng a ; pilot at the.expense of English honour, trusting t o time I and circumstances as to the result. The only re paration which the British nation has a right I to look for is either the recall of the French Admiral, if he gave the order , or the Prince, if he acted I on his o;vn responsibility, to be superseded in command of his ship when he would return to the parental care of his papa, whose duty it will be to read him a severe lesson how he again ventures to play with the paws of a Lion, for he may feel satisfied it is easier for Van Amburgh to tame all the wild beasts in Africa than any Prince to tread on the toes of thesßritish Lion with impunity. I am, Sir, AN OLD NAVAL OFFICER, Who would be more at Home at Fighting a Ship, than Writing a Letter for a Newspaper. United Service Club, Feb. 26. LLOYD'S SHIPPING-(THIS DAY,) DEAL, FEB. 26.—Wind W., light airs.—Came down from the river and remain, the Mary Ridgway, Chester, fur South Australia ; Patriot ; Calder, Odessa. Arrived a n d proceeded for the river, the Mary Ann, Hingston, from South Australia ; Europe, Melburne, Lines. The out ward bound sailed this afternoon, but great pat of them have put back. PORTSMOUTH, FEB. 26.—Wind N. W. S. W.—Ar rived the Magdalen, Bowen, from Litno..ck ; Augusta, Doane, Youghal. DOVEIt, FEB. 26.—Arrived off port—The Pazy lora, from Marseilles; Ralcad, Petley. _ _ _ RAMSGATE, FEB. 2G.—Arrived the Virginia, Burden, from London. CONN E 3, FEB. 26.—Arrived the Rose, Do.Oceis, from Lisbon; and sailed for Hull. The Garnult, \Vimskat, dergen ; Abrasia, Antwerp ; Bracton, Luben, Amster dam ; Hortense, Lambert, Hamburg. POOLE, FEB. 26.—Arrived the Myrtle, Carter, Dahlin. HULL, FEB. 26.—Wind, N. W.—Arrived the Sea_ horse steamer, Borrat, from Rotterdam; Navy, Clgord, Hamburgh ; Europe, Altona; Dorothea, ditto; Juno, Antwerp. SUNDERLAND, FEB. 25.—Sailed Braganza, for Oporto. SHIELDS, FEB. 24 —Arrived the Energy, Fl em i ng , from Havannah. Sailed the Neptune, Bralie, Gravelines. GUERNSEY, FEB. 24.—Arrived the Elizabeth, from JERSEY, FEB. 24.—Arrived the Medusa, Le Brock, from Rio Janeiro ; Nameless, Curril, and Swift, Cadiz. FALMOUTH, FEB. 25.—The Mary Barry; Tewkesbury, from Odessa, is off this port, with loss of fore and main „Sts, having been on her beam-ends in a heavy gale, 19th inst ,in long. 9. She was taken in tow, on the 21st, by the Ar.ow, Seaddin,- from Sarragossa. As the vvind is at N. N. W., she cannot conic into port until next flood. FALMOUTH, FEB. .25. Wind W. N. W., to N N. W.,' strong breez2s and squally.—Arrived the Tagus, Burney, from Lon;Lon; Williams, Adams, St. Michael's ; Eliza beth, Lisbon; City of Limerick, Moppett, London ; en d Hereulcs, Fulton, ditto. Sailed the Meerwen, for Bata via ; Leveret, Malta ; and Tagus, steamer, Lisbon, Vigo, &c. LIVERPOOL, FEB. 26.—Wind W.—Arrived the Mo desta, from liavi,nnah ; Lancashire, Savannah ; Sir Wil liam Curtis, Doyle, Terceira ; Paradise,' Manero, Genoa ; and Coperneo, Gallero, ditto. Sailed the Caledonia, 'Caron:el, fur Bombay ; Gazelle, Roberts, Monte Video ; Fulmar, Haswell, ditto ; and Rob Roy, Arnold, Mobile. Off pun the Padre, front Laguna. TORBAY, FEB. 25.—Arrived the Charlotte, from Liver-. pool, with loss of fore-yard and top, and sails split. SALCOMBE, FEB. 25.—Off port, the Beau Ideal, Forbes, from Denia. DUBLIN, FEB. 25.—Arrived the Royal Adelaide stram•,•r, from London. Sailed Lady Leitrim, Cltrnents, Amigo KINGSTOWN, FEB. 25.—Arrived the Emerald Isle, Buck, from London ; James Lemon, Fores, from St. John' , , New Brunswick ; Lelia, ditto ; Thalestris, Chamb ers , Clyde; Whartinger, Scott, London. SAi?ed the Two Brother.% for Bourdeaux. GOOLE, FEB. 25.—Arrived the Triton, from Britilmos. BRISTOI„ FEB. 24. —The Erin (steamer), fr om Li ve ,._ rol, in coming up the River this morning got in contact with the Palmerston, bound to Swansea, the latter received considerable damage. and is on shore. PADSTOW, FEB. 25.—The Rose, Anderson, from Trate to London, in entering this harbour last night ran upon the Dunbar Sands, but was assisted off wiLhout apparent da mtge. WIIITEIIAVEN, FEB. 24.—The Alexander, Reed, from Sligo to London, has put into this port with cargo shifted, pumps choked, and must discharge. METROPOLITAN POLITICAL SUMMARY. The Times of this morning has a leading artic . ., upon the subject of the outrage recently committed en . the flag in the Gulf of Mexico, in tile course of which cur Contemporary observes There is matter of serious resentment against Ministers on the part of the people of England, if they do not yet in sist t.e.on en ample measure of eatisfactioa for the glarilar wrong we hive endured. The honour of the English Ilag like that ef an Eng:ishwoman—it must nut he blown upon, with impunity or without etonemait." Oer Contemporary should .have delayed firing off hi s side until fu; ther and more specific information had rec'eived - from Co.nteetiote Douglas. ' The Morning Herald, in no article upon Lenl .; RuPell'a ; Ecclesiastical Revenue's Bill, a ,evs, Willa professing to render Ecclesiastical available than heretofore for relit ious purposes, 11ce property nut beleaging to the State in a way which is . (amount to a Legislative assertion of a right of owner ship." Further on, in the same article, our Con temporary adds, " The Bill, which we. cannot help thitiking is in appropriate hands. goes to cut whiff th coniiyeating shears of a miserable economy, the cathedral establishments of the land." These estataish ments arc so exceedingly useful to the cause of pure C'aris tianicy—so exquisitely apostolical in their pecuniary cha racter—and so every way active, vigilant, tolerant, a n d hard-working— that ee are not surprised at the Morning II rald's pious alarm, lest they should be cut down by a pair of "confiscating shears !" The Morning Chronicle speaking of the Borough Courts' Bill, says, " Foreigners will understand how the Leaisla, turc of England has done its business, when they are in•, formed that from want of a proper administrati on of justice by iesponaible Judges in Local Courts, a vile substitute called a Court of Conscience, has been suff ere d to spring up as a matter of necessity i n nl i ziost every town, however small." Our Contemporary has another leading article on Mr. Duncombe's thee of motion respecting Lent theatrical entertainmente, in which he shrewdly remarks—" It is singular that at ;lie present reason the most religious people in Westminster are the poor players. They alone keep Lent, and fast on Wednesdays and Fridays. They neither work nor play. Where shall we find the like piety ? The Clubs are till open in the West ; the City is upon 'Change in the .Ea'st Parliament fits ; Bishops dine ; and the band of th e Coldstream Guards is redolent of musical profanity in the purlieus of the Palace. The players ate et th e summit of sanctity, But the worst of it is that thia ascetic pre-eminence is enforced. This very trumpery affair ought to have been set right the moment it was mentioned. That dramatic exhibition is any greater offence against the sacredness of Lent, than ten thousand things that are daily done ireevery street, is an argument which it is strange that any man should hold with a grave face." If it be orthodox for stockjobbers to gamble on 'Change during Lent, it surely cannot be very improper for actors to p e a crrn during that season ! To say otherwise, is to be g u ilt y of the worst and most pharisaic sort of cant. The Morning Post, recurring to the subject of Sir F. Head's appointment, observes :—" The Colonial Depart ment appears to have appointed him, in the igco t . ance of his personal di: position and political principles 1 H e in no ,way pr, pared to amalgamate with the Democrats of Upper Canada. He wanted to deal directly with the grievances which they had pointed out—they wanted to give these the go by, and to go on h unting up fresh grievances." The Morning Advertiser, in a leading article on the Factories Bill, remarks :—" The terms on which mill owners employ half-fed children, are, no doubt, oppressive, the hours of labour being beyond the healthy endurance of juvenile power: but to what is this to be attributed? To what, but the infamous restrictions against the free supply of food." FIRE WITH Loss OF LIFE.—One of the most dreadful fires that ever occurred in North Shields took place on the night of Tuesday, on the premise s o f i s . . / ,. Wilson, baker. A man, passing at midnight, poreoived flames issuing from the premises, end the watchman raised u u s nd f e u r ry at ro f r ou u r pw o' a c p r l d o re c s . an alarm. .It was with great difficulty that the family %vce: roused from sleep. Mr. Wilson's eldest daughter leep o il from - the second floor window, and received several brui..es, of four hours. The father, mother, two girls, and a boy, effected their escape by the staircase; but a little girl, named Anne, twelve years of age, who, unfortunately, was unable to follow, perished amidst the flames, notwithstanding 1 1, 0 most strenuous exertions to save her. Engines soon arrived, k tse a s f , te n r ot h b a in n : s apparel, the whole raged T h e flames vAitll t rl' le c t r n e e n g: d o o t Mr. Wilson's property, and two houses behind (in exi t! of which lived a poor woman, whose daily . bread depended upon selling her wares), were completely destroyed, The pcor woman had a very narrow escape for her life, an d every article she possessed was consumed.. Mr. Wilson ilson's unfortue e m l p o o r e e s l t t rn i a i n s p e p t s tie il w i m n h g o e r r s n:i an t t i g : -, I,briiscalso savelost ec„veenQathing part that of was i ; is f o a n m t i h l y e , of the inmates having been glad to escape from the fire in their n ight-dress , s. flow the calamity originated is not ascertiined, but it is believed to have arisen from th e oven ati‘maillicidcsladt daughter hh a to t earp th: oafi b rf a uo c iu k :sd p , a na r t t nsde o v f ,ienn t h ao e , flames first appeared. The body of Mr. W Nothing remained of the limbs, and the trunk state. Nothing con sumed to a cinder.— Gateshead Observer. LIVERPOOL, FE8.25, Six (:) CLOCK.—NEW Olt -LEANS.—By the caravan, which sailed from the bar the 24th, we have received New Orleans papers of the date of the January. • They acquaint us with the welccme an noueceinca that the waters of the Mississipi are r a pidl y risingvand that the means of communication—the cess at i on of 'whith has induced a stagnation in the t ra d e of the S ll) uti . te o-!s descend rt'l-St'tte' iro il tn the speedilybe available : S o soot , as the north, the rich produce of the upper eduitirc, so long and inconveniently detained, m ay be expected - to arrive ; and a brisk and lively business is anticipated: ' ,,, Tbe New Orleans papers do not contain env j utc ii i r,ence'rebm Mexico, with which we have not already been fUrnishedy The new Niimber of Bentley's Miscellany, to be published to-morrow, Feb. 28, will contain, in addition r a t h u i to the nt.l - anateiv . popular story, " J ac k Sheppard, " a Epistlagom T. M. to S. R." `" W e Mr. Bentley on effe":powerful aid tliusgr%cecnln to s Miscellany by this distinguished writer; for, w i t h out the signature of T. N., this " Epistle" wou ld b e instantly re cegnlsed t'eo production of one of the most eminent authors of our time. rich ing 3at, .r. ) se )--- gli sre a s ava ra be ~0