The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1878-08-17 00:00:00

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StourbrOge ohstrver.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 17, 1678,

THE BPdrIsFI NAVY.

It is the Navy, "whereon, under the good
Providence of God, the wealth, safety, and
strength of the kingdom chiefly depend."
Such is the language of the Act of Parliament
annually passed providing for toe government
of this arm of the iervice. As an institution
indeed the navy of Great Britain is centuries
older than Parliament itself, fur it is now close
upon a thousand years ago, that King Alfred,
to whom even at this distant day we owe so
much, built the first fleet of galleys for the
protection of his dominions. In that far-off
time there was an lira that a toiletry eternsly
washed by the waves of the sea might, through
its ruler, claim to be lord of the ocean imme-
diately surrounding our shores. This claim
originally advanced by Edgar, has not only
been maintained throughout successive ages,
but extended, and the demand that Britain
should be mistress of the seas has been con-
ceded. Between nine and ten centuries have
elapsed since naval salutes to the British flag
were introduced, and though sometimes dis-
puted, the objectors have neser been long suc-
cessful in evading it. The ')utch agreed to
strike to the English coioars in the British seas
in 1673. The touour of the gains) at sea was
also formally assented to by Franca is 1704,
although i Lad lorg previously been ex;icted
by 10:Ligian Woweyer uliget have been the
,Litions of the various lines of kings who,
since the days of Alfred, have reigned over the
people, Norman or Plantagenet, Tudor or
Stuart, whether they came from the Rival
Houses of York and Lancaster, or from Bruns-
wick, the maintenance a the navy has ever
been a source of pride and pleasure. The
honour of the flag has been held high above
dynastic jealousies, or State intrigues, and to
this day the reputation of the navy, at what-
ever cost, is a point upon which every Briton
feels justly proud.
The great naval demonstration at Spithead
this week was probably the most Leposing dls•
play of pGwer upon the sea ever wiimessed in
our waters. Those of us who have not yet
advanced to middle life, can remember the
naval review at Spithe id, on the tilard of April,
1856, when the Baltic and Black Sea Fleets
passed under the official inspection of her
Majesty. In all ages Englishmen had regarded,
with ~..excusable pride, the exploits of their
battle-ahips, and when the review of twenty-two
years ago took place we had just emerged from
a war in which the navy had gained leas than
its usual share of honour. In the dsys of Lori
Nekton, when the enemy icaigia upon the open
sea, the British ships were invariah,y victorious;
but it was the misfortune of our naval com-
manders during the Russian war that they
could never induce the foe to come out anti
light them. Rather than run the risk of a con-
test in the Black Sea, the Russians scuttled
their fleet there, and by sinking it right across
the mouth of Sebastopol harbour, prevented
the allied fleets from attempting to force an
entrance, thereby causing the siege of that for-
tress to be conducted by land. In the Baltic
the Russian fleet had withdrawn to the protec-
tion of the fortifications of Croustadt, where the
navigation of the channels was of such a charac-
ter as to render it impossible fur largo men-of-
war to attempt the passage. In neither the
Black Sea nor the Baltic, therefore, had the
hopes and expectations of the navy been ful-
filled, and in a sense the results of the war had
been disappointing. It was discovered, when
too late, that gunboats of light draught of
water. were better fitted than great battle-ships
for suert warfare, and just as some scores of
•kese had been built, the struggle came to an-
,ea by toe i'reto of Paris Soil, on the 23rd
of April, 1856, as spectators in teus of thousatliA
gazeu upon inn great display of naval power at
Spitbead, they felt that, although the Fleet had
not done so much as was expected of it two
years before, its laurels had not been gained for
a very sufficient reason. No enemy had
ventured to show upon the open sea, and there
fore it was impossible to fight him. He had
either sent his ships to the bottom where ours
could not follow them, or had withdrawn them
behind stone walls, where it was equally im-
possible to pursue them. We should have
gained credit and renown upon the s..a had an
opportunity been afforded us; but instead of
naval victories we had to be content with such
deeds us the bombardment of Odessa and the
capture of Bomarsund.
In more senses than one the spectacle at
Spithead this week differs from that of 1856.
The time which has elapsed, although a con-
siderable one in the life of man, is but a mere
speck in the history of a State that has for a
thousand years claimed to be mistress of the
seas. In that brief period a comp!ete revolution
has taken place in the construction of the navy.
Up to that time, from the days when th.
Syrians and the PllcEniciltis first cr.!ssed the
sea, vessels, whether of ,var or i;munierco , her
been built of wood, and this been tf
material used for thousands of years. N..w
our men-of-war and the great sieaniers of on.
mercantile marine are made of iron. The emus
ment of our battle-ships to day wousi eave bsee
deemed utterly incredible by Sir C.,arle-i Nji r
and Sir Edmund Lyons, The idea of twtnty
four inches of armour-plating, and . a twelve
hundred pound solid shot would hsve bate)
laugheu to scorn. In another resoect also t
is a wide difference between teis w and its
predecessor. Then we had ()eine '.nt. of 3tw
years' conflict with a great Enrepeee Power;
and the cemeteries at Sebastope! contained the
remains•uf thousands of our brave euiiers who
had gone forth to fight the battles of theie
country never to return. Now there has been
'no war. During the early part of the Session
the country seemed often to he periloukly near
; but that. ralsniity, at all events, has been
avArttd. Ilia has not Let'll done without a
sacrifice-' of nioeey, it ie true, but in 1856 both
wuney ee4 hen sap-wind—life to
prodigal est-ut, the loss of which we have
happily not now to :nourn.