The Express.
London, England, 1849-09-13 00:00:00

opinion ttin Lord GUM VIM/ in 1816 in the
Multi* wards:
-NMI/044h Ist yet heard, nothing Mich he he
at
yet root spun the onba,st, no inquiry whisk he Mod bore
able to slaw, in ell envincei his that the estelillintenits
might eat be Must ID what they wore in the pier 1702.
With Ferret M Gihnehar, Melt., end the lonia/ Itiontit
what aeoosion malt Mere be fee sr Imre a perportion or
Pone kr their ahiss 1 AO wield *the die /Mrs is par-
ticular. He wail elk their knahles to leek at the e-
litism' 'kettles if these Web, aR the Hess upon whisk
they weft eassenanei W ne—at the mom in whisk they
ease Innuhri-er the neightonee by wheel they
were ired spy whether they required aey tores
at an tHe believed that a sergeant et miriade, with
a few ries under to heist the 'Glean sa a biethlay, were
aa the allitary aid whisk was aserwary for then.

Ms CHAU.= NAPIER has written another letter
to Lord lons Rueful, which fa admirably timed to
meet the antielpated brevet promotion in hmour of
bar Maizeres visit to Ireland. We have .4 an mot-

mots list of oaken whom this country cannot em-
ploy, and who cost enormous sums of mossy," says
Sir CHABLIS, very feelingly adding, with equal jus-
tice, " All general promotions must be put a stop to,
for they are the overwhelming evil." No man is
better qualified to estimate the various causes which
have led to the present overcrowded and inefficient
state of the Navy List. He is an active °file r, fond
of his profession, and of being employed in it. And
when he is not, he lucubrates with a great deal of in-
dependecce and point.
The following are the plans of Sir Cuanus for re-
gulating the numbers of naval promotions :
I am not disposed to be too parsimonious of remotion, for
I know, if justly dealt out, it is the mainspriog of action. I
would, therefore, willingly allow one promotion for two
removals ea the slate of 'anteing, commanders, and Beaten.
sets, bat that should @over everything ; and in a few years,
when we bad same admirals of tiny yeas of age, I would
extend the same restriction to them. This would soon put
the lists on a wholesome footing; and of cerkinstead of stay-
ing on them as they sow do, some 20 years alter promotion,
would be sponstantly employed, as the French I Store are ;
the knowledge of their professinn would be kept up, and a
groat wing to the patio effected. And first lords, whoever
they are, must be taught that the promotions la the navy are
intended for the rabies good, and not to be exclusively be-
stowed on their private and Fondest! friends.
This plan o one promotion for two removals would
doubtless gradually thin the list of captains, com-
manders, and lieutenant', but it would do little
towards clearing away present inefficient bangers-on
upon the active list. Some more sweeping mesteire
mast be adopted for the diminution of the salaries of
those who have earned no pesion by put sirvice,
and who, while incapable of future service, remain
heavy burdens upon the public. Sir CHARLES knows
itat while only nineteen admirals are employed, we
have a list of a hundred and fifty; and ye tie says
he is glad the attempt to reduce the list to a
hundred failed. Has personal interest anything to
do with this satisfaction ? It would appear so, for
although the proportion of employed to unemployed
captains is much greater than that of active to idle
admirals—namely, 82 to 435, Sir CHARLES says in
his usual pain straightforward manner :
I strove, recommend your lordship not to stop at 600
captains, let them gradually be reduced much lower ; and
be moored, my lord, if the government do not show a pai-
tire determination to make reasonable reductions of what is

useless, tke country will do it for them. They do not wieh
the efficiency of the navy destroyed ; on the contrary, they
wi.h to see it kept up Obey don't want to see their ships dia.
mantled, ant their seamen turned adrift, but they wish to
see economy in promotion and is all the branches of the
service.

Ye t, in face of these facts, of the remonstrance of
Sir CHARLES NAPIER, and of the knowledge that of
a list of 836 commanders 705 are idle ashore, and of
a list of 2,239 lieutenants 1,476 only are serving at
sea, the Admiralty have the unblushing assurance to
recommend and carry out a large brevet promotion,
adding to the already enormous expense of non-effec-
tive services, and promoting officers to a position in
which idleness is necessarily forced upon them.
The following paragraph contains the pith of the
whole question :
May lash you, my Lord, if the navy had been ruled es
the army is, whether we should have had such an enormous
hot of officers, wham the country cannot employ, and who
cost moments saws of money? No commander-in•ebiel
would have dared to so burden the list ; and no minister
wou'd have permitted it to be so burdened, unless, indeed,
he shared largely in the dis'rih•ition of the patronage.

This is a hard hit. The head of a weak government
must seek for support in all qunten ; but it is quite
time that the system of doing so at the ta-
perse of the efficiency of the public ser-
vice should be stopped. The Bond of Admiralty
must give up jobbing for the minister, end keep
the list of officers low and effective or the country
will require such an acconot of the stewardship of
their lordships as will prove more star Wag than agree-
able. What between tory admiralties and whig admi-
ralties, John Bull, poor honest beast, is sure to be
burdened. This he has hitherto borne with patience,
but if he stands it any longer, he has his own self to
blame, and has no right to grumble. He will not
staid it much longer, Sir CHARLES. He has only stood
it so long lxcanse he was kept in ignorance of the mag-
nitude of the evil. It has now, however, become so ap-
parent, that even admirals are beginning to acknow-
ledge that public money is wasted in the navy. The
Admiralty must no longer be a political machine, but a
body of directors of the naval affairs of the country,
responsible to the people and their representatives for
breech of trust and useless expenditure. Those who
sanction promotion of men who cannot be employed
when promoted, are unjust stewards of the trust
committed to them. The money they so expend is
filched from the public parse. They must be treated
I accordingly, made directly responsible for breach of
trust ; and, if still timid wanting, the House of Com-
mons must prescribe limits to extravagance beyond
which no Board of Admiralty can pass, however
anxious "to do jobbing for the minister."

Tax hop-growers of Kent and Sussex have met
this year with a reverse. Their crop, as it frequently
happens in this speculative business, has failed them.
Nevertheless, down there comes upon them, at the
moment of their greatest need, the ruthless officer of
excise with his claim upon them for " duty."
H thetto, the payment of this duty has been very
rigidly enforced. It was only last autumn that we
heard stories told in Kent of farmsteads seized—of even
the very implemen'e of agriculture being taken—to
satisfy the demand made upon the grower by the state.
The present year, being the secoed year of comparative
raven& the probabilities are that half the growers
would go to prison if the payment of the duty was as
rigidly insisted on.
The hop-growers are therefore earnest in their
prayer to the CHANCELLOR ON THE EXCHEQUER to
remit the duty, or to give them time. Common com-
miseration for their misfortunes dictates the expree-
sion of a hope that they may be leniently dealt
with. Not that they have any right to
ask it, or any peculiar claim, other than that claim
upon one's sympathy to which every unfortunate
trader is entitled. The hop-growers embarked upon
their speculation with their eyes open. They knew
that the law levied on their growing crops a duty
which is levied on no other article which the British
soil produce& They knew exactly the relation in
which they stood towards the state. They flattered
themselves that they were "protected" against ill suc-
cess by an almost prohibitory customs duty of46s. per
cwt. upon imported hope. They "liked theirsenurity ;"
they planted hops upon the strength of it, and yet
no class of wiculturalists are more depressed. There
is much in this which ought to show the former that
protection," as he calls it, is by no means the invari-
able safeguard his self-elected " friends" would wish
him to suppose. Hope have as large a protection as
the most ardent protectionist could wish. Yet we see
that that protection can neither produce a good crop,
nor ensure the agriculturalist ;steward for his anxieties
and cares, nor even save him from the heavy loss
which a bad season, or bad farming, or want of
proper skill will inevitably occasion to him.
However, we would treat the unfortunate kindly.
The CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER appears in-
clined to do so. Mr. Honors, the member fur West
Kent, having laid the cue before the government in
all its bearings, the CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCUE-
Qum has offered to go into it, not only with a
view to see what can be done to meet the exigencies
of the present, but in order to ascertain whether the
whole system may not be put upon a better footing
in the time to come.

The hop-growers are unanimous enough in declar-
ing that no excise duty can this year be paid ; but
when they hear anything said of &haring or re-arrang-
ing the system of which they make complaint, they
ere by no means so generally in accord. At
the present time, we believe, the-e is every va-
rie'y of opinion amongst them. Some, despite their
complaints, affect to believe that the du'y had better
be retained u it is ; others are for reducing it one-