The Express.
London, England, 1849-06-26 00:00:00

Not quite so fast, Mr. Recorder : What say you to
the case of the Scotch Presbyterian, who takes an
oath without any book, merely bolding up his
hand ? If Mr. LAw rejoins that the presbyterian
would have no objection to the words, "on the true
faith of a Christian," we ask if Mr. LAW considers the
presbyterian faith to be the true faith ? Becalm if
he dues not, and if the presbyterian does not swear
upon the gospels, how would Mr. LAW make out
that the preebsterian took the oath in the sense in
which he intended it to be administered ?

This dilemma spews that is the present sate of
religion the use of the words, " on the true faith of a
Christian," must necessarily degenerate into a mere
formality. The words introduce a solemn mockery
into a solemn oath. They allow men to play and palter
with the most sacred terms of religion. They give cici-
caaion for mental reservation where it ought to be
the last exercised. They invite cerelcrani ea and fri-
volity in a ceremonial which should be of all others
the most serious and solemn. Whilst the House of
Lords extend equal right, and privileges to our fellow-
subject/ of the Jewish religion, we trust they will
also adopt the principle of uniformity in the oath, and
thereby even relieve Christians from a difficulty in
which the present form necessarily involves them.

SIR CHARLES NAPIER has endeavoured to kill
several birds with one letter. He is a zealous public
servant, is perfectly sensible of the manner in which
money is thrown away at the Admiralty, and aims his
first shot, therefore, at the miserable results of folly,
extravagance, and jobbing so painfully evidenced in
our steam fleet. Here, however, Sir Celestes brings
forward nothing new:,_indeed, his statements fall tar
short of those of the Financial Reform Association,
and by no means express the full amount of contempt
felt by many naval officers at a system characterised'
by faulty construction both of ships and engines, want
of mutual adaptation between vessels and machinery,
expensive repairs and alterations, and after all en
inefficient steam marine consisting cf vessels which
are too large and too slow for despatch boats, to) ex-
pensive for tugs and too unsteady or deep in the
water to carry or use the guns for which they are
intended. He forgets to state that in the sixteen
years, from 1833 to 1847 inclusive, 92,000.0001. Las
been voted for the naval service, of which 60,000,0001.
have to be accounted for under the heads of dockyard
works, steam engine factories, non-effective services,
and repairs.
Shot the second is aimed at the Terrible and Odin,
which Sir Cileimes considers to be inferior to his
own offspring, the Sidon. On this posit, we believe,
his brother officers do not agree with him generally.
foe Terrible is thought to be a perfect specimen of a
war steamer, stile the Sidon is notoriously slow; so
that we should not feel inclined to let Sir Cneeees
follow the example of other amateur ship-builders at
the expense of the tax-payers.
Sir CHARLE4 is on half•pay. He is of an active
tempt &meet ; he wants employment, and I.e prefers
sea pay and table money to les in event diminished
salary. So he gets op a war-cry, another invasion
alarm, in order to get a few ships commissioned and
himself Fut in command of .hem. He forgets to say,
however, who is to be paymaster. The naval esti-
mates are voted, and any eupplementa• y addition to
the war expenditure is not likely to be well received
by the country. We ages with him in wishing
to see our officers and seamen usefully employed
instead of remaining uselessly on shore, pensioners
utile hardworking taxpayers, and therefore, instead
of commenting further upon the last shots of Sir
CHARLE4, we shell propose a little plan of our own,
by which the ships he wants might be fitted out, him-
self put at the head of them or at the Admiralty
Board. as he evidently &rime, and the nation lave
mosey instead of granting further supplies.
Great savings might be effected at the Admiralty
by administrative improvements. Many men who
never do and never have done anything receive high
salaries; many who wish for active service are
obliged to remain on half pay doing nothing. Others
eater the service with the express purpose of retiring
as soon as they have attained the rank of commander
or post-captain. They serve ten or twelve years, are
paid all the time fir their service white they are
learning their profession, they attain the rank they
and desire, then live for the remainder of their lives
at the expense of the country in perfect idleness. If
any oae hints at reducing the pay of these gentle-
men, they talk of compensation for relinquishing
their claims to the right of being perpetually paid for
doing nothing. We we perfectly ready to pay well
for work done well, but most certainly cannot consent
to tax the poor operative, and expend his contrihn-
tams, in a manner which can bring no profitable
return. If more admirals and capt dos are paid than
arc required by the service, such payments are closely
as superfluous as their offices, arid that this is the
case, to a much greater extent than is generally
known, may be very readily proved es follows :
Including steamers, there were last year in the
navy 671 ships and vessels, only 252 of which
were employed. The number of admirals on the list
at the close of last year nearly equalled that of ships
in commission. There were 196 admirals, of
the different ranks of full, vice, and rear, of
whom only 15 were employed, including commodores.
There were 45 receiving retired pay, and 136 were on
the active list on half-pay. Now, if 15 admirals on
perform the duties required by the service, why keep
up a staff of 150 1 A minor propsrtion of the 232
vessels ore of the size to be commanded by a post-
captain, yet we find 680 officers of this rank on the
navy list, only 62 of whom are employed, 183 re-
tired, and 435 on half-pay on the active list. There
were 1,069 commanders on the list, only 88 of whom
were employed, 705 on hall-pay, and 276 on the re-
tired list. 'rho number of lieutenaets was 474 em-
ployed, 1,476 on half-pay, and 7 retired. Thus, of
these four classes of officers, 639 were employed, 511
on retired pay, and 2,732 not employed, but fit fir
duty, and receiving half their salaries for doing
nothing.
Now, putting aside the pay of the officers in the
above list who have retired from the service owing
to age or infirmities, we find the estimated sum
for the half-pay of admirals for the ensuing year
to be 74,7701. for that of captains 93,038 L, of com-
manders 109,4271., and of lieutenants 144,6061., the

total being -11,84.11. for the year. The full pay of
the officers of these ranks who are employed is
192,4001., so that the rewards of non-effective ser-

• aremes nearly in the proportion of three to one when
compared with those of effective service.
We shall take another opportunity of showing the
numbers of the different classes of officers who have

never served in the racks they hold, and the number
of years they have received pay for ranks in which they
have served. At present we must content our-
selves with having pointed out maladministration of
public business, and • source of supply for any in-
creased war expenditure which the alarms of Sir
Climes N.trtaa or the crotchets of any other pro-
f/poor of battle, murder, and sudden death may appear
to render necessary.