The Express.
London, England, 1859-10-18 00:00:00

THE EXRREIC. TUESDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 18 1869.

THE 4RIIIBII NAVY.

la the coarse of-a letter addressed to the Dike of
Ssasegreet (First Lord of the Admiralty) Sir Charles
Napier asp:

It memo sew underetood we are always to have s Channel
dent, sad if any attempt is made by the Home of Commoner
to destroy it, I hops we shall have a Prime Minister who
has *tee eneeph to resign his plus, and indopeedenoe
to tell the &nee of Commons that without a feet he
will not be lesposeible for the safety of the country ;
and if we 'tauten a minister capable of so doing, I trust we
shell here an Admiralty who will not serve under suns a
minister. Depend upon it, soy lord duke, it will never nuns
to that. No flow of Commons would ever think of re-
ducing theme" contrary to the opinion of the government,
and the county wield sever allow the Haase of Coteaue
tads alerting althorn*. Well. I shall appose we bate
a Channel lon sea mil of the line; and, for Ace ante of
thsy Ahead be issamed with 800 officers, men,
ant anf 900 assofera. A 9 the blue jeans ought to be
ebb leame: La dew *I pews way 100 marines should be
senbarbel, end their member Sled up by A. B.'s. I don't
mw to reduce the merinos, cola the contrary, they should
be loomed and thereupon towns garnmeed by them.
In the event of war ems watch *mild be discharged into
another ship ready to receiver these. and the marines com-
pleted. This would give stet mss 20 Ballot the line, manned
with 060 men. The oftione, boys, sad Men (which are
easily obtained) would amount to 160 nuts. .

completeTo
on the ooeat-guard sad met volunteers. The first be/mg
drafted would endanger the revenue ; sad the email would
be comparatively useless, as they are not obliged to go more
than 100 leagues from the land bridge destreyleg year lest
for the Mime of the met, " aY of Thigh should be *Solent
shim," and never touched till the last extremity. It Is to
obviate this this we ere now eesechleg for a reserve of dis-
ciplined MUM to the extent of 30,000emet.
Oa the fist breaking out of war we mast not suppose that
20 mill cd the line sad 10 sail of the oast ships, which can
only be ocemidend sea-militia, would be arafficient for the
home statioes: sad to retaliate oar squadron. abroad;
It is far that that the 30,000 mu are required, and
that the twin.. Auld genie= oar seaports.
We ham sow to all our ports ships quite ready to receive
mei, sad in the event of war the measary number would
imandlately be comalesioned, sad the reserve, which
ought all to be at home, would be ordered to join their
respective ships, to which they ought to be told off before-
hand ; In addition to the reserve the marines should be em-
barked, and the moment the mem get on board,
they should find the captain and the officers reedy
to receive them, the hammocks clung, the Incas
litemile on the table, and their dinner cooked. The next
step to be taken is to cell out the militia, to replace the
marines in the seaport Mime ; they would have ample time
to be diaciplined, protected by the fleet, and thua in one
month the country would be armed to the teeth, end reedy
is fight say two nations that thought proper to attack us.
I now come to the most difficult part, that is, the forms-
tlea of the reserve that is purely a money question ; so, if
the money is forthcoming, the difficulty vanishes. If the
country will not give the mousy we most remain sa we me,
open to attack andinenit by nations better prepared than our-
mime ; sad if we meet with a disaster it will not be so easily
recovered as many people imagine.
Pszlisment has voted 100,0001. to form this reserve. It is
proposed to eel each man 61. For this he most be reedy at
all calla. Ile moat serve 28 days each year, and most know
ell his drills. Daring this time be will receive the same pay,
and the same privileges se seamen serving.
re:l4Z lord, to make this reserve efficient, they mule give
op all tricks except the meting trade. Now, a sailor in the
prime of life does not like to be than restricted. He is load
of wandering all over the world ; end if he is sot in the
prime of life, he is not fit for the reserve. Your gram will
dad that 61. is not a sufficient Inducement for a good seaman
to take up such a line. It *wen t° me the kmatioa of the
redeem moat be begun with men who have served ten yews
in Mail service. At present there teen are entitled
to a passion • that should be abolbbed, and they should
only be naiad to enter the reserve. They should be drier
wed the Qasea's Naval Goarda ; they should be exempt
fns impend punishment when serving; they should be
men of euseplary conduct, and after having been ton years
in the mama they should reeeire a good pension, but sub-
jected to be called upon, if fit, and wanted, and then desig-
nated the Old Guar and receive, as they o now, both pay
end perks. They should be eligible to civil situ., ious, end
01111 &Mid be tam to employ them if fir. If artificers, they
should be profaned to others to serve in the dockyards,
which is never thought of ; on the contrary, the dockyard
akin are generally against them. This ought not to be.
Now, my lord, comes the question, what pay is sufficient
to induce men to join the reserve P Five pounds will cer-
tainly not do. We most be careful not to risk a failure, and
we ought to make searching inquiries amongst the men
themselves what, in their estimation, would be sufficient en-
couragement to indoor them to adopt the coasting trade, so
as to be at hand at ail calls. Wherever is thought just mustbe
given. There is no help for it, for neither the sailor nor the
country will stand compulsion.
The ballot would be fee, but the ballot would not furnish
trained own. It would be easy to register all trot 'long-Mere
ma., sad draw them for the naval service ; but, ea I have
already said, that would not get you trained esensen—it
mold only get you meat voluntesre, which you have already.
la 18471 brought a bill into parliament for registering
the samose, and authorising the Queen to call them out
by eltern, bsejinniag with those just out of their op-
prontinship. This bill provided that all meters and owners
should he obliged to discharge men coming under thopro-
clareation, and to those moo • bounty should be given. That
was certainly a mild tiocetralloa, but still it was compulsion,
sad the Howie of Commits would not entertain it; and the
Admiralty shortly afterwards gave up the registration
tickets, and left us just elms we were in 1816. So many
improvements have taken plea in all the navies of the
world, that this system, or rather no system, will not now
do; and if we are to be preserved from danger and insult.,
no time should be lost in doing what the Home of Commons
sad the country expect. I shall conclude this letter, my
lord, by saying that England expects the Admiralty will
do its duty.