The Sun.
London, England, 1855-02-23 00:00:00

MISCELLANEOUS.

Rear-Admiral Plumridge hoisted his flag yesterday,
and assumed the duties of superintendent of Devonport
dockyard.
A court-martial assembled on board the Impregnable,
guard-ship, yesterday morning, for the trial of Captain
Story, of the Harrier, for running his ship ashore.
It is rumoured at the professional clubs that Captain
Beauchamp Seymour ill to command one of the floating
batteries now in course of construction.
A portion of the Naval Coast Volunteers are to be
called out mad embodied ; they are to receive large
bounties to induce them to join her Majesty's service,
in order to man the fleet of gun-boats, mortar vessels,
and floating batteries for the spring campaign in the
Baltic. _ _

An Ordnance survey has been made of the east coast
of Scotland, with a view to the more exposed places
being put into a state of defence. Batteries are t• be
erected at Aberdeen and Peterhead, and small forts are
to be manned at some other points on the coast line.
We hear that among the candidates for the vacant
situation of the superintendent of the mail packets at
ljoutharnpton are Sir Edward Belcher, who fully in-
tended to discover the North-Western passage, and
Captain Dacres, who should, and who undoubtedly in-
tended to, have kept order in the crowded little port of
Balaklava. We believe that Captain Dacres is likely to
be the favourite.

The Telegraph hired steam-transport, No. 184, left
Portsmouth harbour yesterday morning for the Crimea,
with coffee and other victualling stores and bale goods
for the troops. Assistant Staff Surgeon Peacock went
in her to take charge of the ear drivers. Major Oualci.i
Simpson declined a passage in this vessel, the state of
which we have before reported.
A. Russian prize (the ship Rapide, 441 tons register)
seized in the Mersey two months since, under simulated
papers, was sold at Liverpool yesterday, by public auc-
tion by Messrs. Curry and Co. The first kid was 800/.,
and she was iltimately knocked down to a Norwegian
gentleman, named Bertimekaw, for 1,325/. Her dimen-
sions are—length, 109 feet ; breadth, 20 feet ; and depth,
19 feet. She was built at Jacobstadt in the year 1840.

THE FLEET OFF SEBASTOPOL.
The following is an extract from a letter from an officer
in the fleet off Sebastopol, Feb. 5 :—" Princess Royal
just arrived from England ; blowing strong ; not safe to
communicate witk each other by boat. The St. Jean
d'Acre and Princess Royal add snuck to the fighting
look of the off squadron, and the big Albert looks very
knock•me-downisb. Report is busy again, and the last
yarn is that Sir Edmund will have a hammer at the forts,
if it is only to create a little diversion. From the Rus.
sian outworks, now all their best gunners (mostly sailors)
are in the advance earthworks, the ships drawing off
will recall many of these men, and cause a Lit of a ner-
vous sensation to Mr. Osten Sacken besides. The Snake
arrived yesterday from Kertch, where she bad been on
a reconnoitring expsdition. She grounded under the
forts, and had a smart fire on her for two hours, but her
Lancaster gun, with the whistling shell, did good work,
and caused the firing from the shore to become wild, and
eventually, when she came off, the forts had ceased to
return the fire. Tho Snake had towed: Dutch ship from
under the point the day before, the captain of which ship
was left behind at Kcrtch. He was allowed to come off
after the Snake left, and reports that her shell killed 50
Russians. This is the Russian report.
" The icertch peepl3 seemed to think the Snake would
be an easy prize, for they manned several large brats,
and pushed off to take possession, previous to their hear-
ing the music of the Lancaster shells. Ono shell (a can.
non round one) unmanned the boats in a marvellously
short tires, killing 17 men. These vessels in smooth
water are wicked craft. The Wrangler is gone to
Odessa ; the 'Viper to Eupatoria. The rest of therewith
fleet,
except the Leopard, in the straits of Kertch, are
the admiral, and quite ready and willing to begin to do
some gunnery. Weather bitterly cold."

The French exchanges continue with a firm appear-
ance, and there is no demand for gold for transmission
lrom this side,

(From the Times of this day.)
The arrangements occasioned by the recent vacancies
in the Cabinet have net yet transpired, if, indeed, they
are completed ; but we have reason to believe that some
of the attempts made to replace the late Ministers have
not been successful. Mr. Cardwell not only does not
accept the Chancellorship of the Exchequer, but ho pre-
fers t) share the fate of that small political section to
which he belongs, and he vacates the Board of Trade,
following the example of his colleagues with more
fidelity to their decline than they had shown I. his ad-
vancement. Among the new appointments the names
of Lord Elgin, Mr. Baines, Mr. Lowe, and Sir Corne-
wall Lewis have been mentioned, but we have no positive
information as to the offices which these gentlemen arc
intended to fill. We presume, however, that when
Lord Palmerston meets the House of Commons this ;
evening he will feel the necessity of announcing to Par-
liament and the country that his Administration is once
more complete.
Although Lord Palmerston's Government has existed
for barely a fortnight, it has already undergone an essen-
tial transformation. Lord Palmerston accepted. a
reversionary interest in the late Coalition, and the
Ministry he presented to the acceptance of the Crown
and the approval of the nation differed in only two
material points from that which had just been over-
thrown by the will of the Legislature. That combina-
tion was, as the result has shown, already effete, and
the very first trial to which the Cabinet was exposed
dissolved its union, and deprived it of the services of
several of its members. But, though this circumstance
completed the destruction of the Government which had
already' lost its hold on the House of Corunione`and the
country, it placed Lord Palmerston in a far more ad-
vantageous and commanding position.. Instead of ga-
kb...;..g 'r +ha C.,..gmenta of the 101.. CluvorO-
merit he has now to construct a new one, and it rests
entirely with himself and his colleagues to determine the
strength and novelty he will impart to such a combina-
tion. The use he may make of this opportunity will be
the decisive criterion in the eyes of the country of his
ability as a First. Minister, for, if he confines himself to
an attempt to fill the highest posts in the State by men
taken from a narrow coterie, whose names are already
familiarised to the public by their previous failures, it is
evident that such a Ministry cannot last many weeks,
and that it will be succeeded by the accession of Lord
Derby and his friends to power.
We have been accused of late of a blind and indis-
criminating hostility to the aristocracy of this country,
yet nothing can be further from the truth.
We do not for a moment dispute the well-earned
influence and fame of men born in the highest ranks of
society, and trained to the service of their country, to
which class many of the first of English statesmen and
warriors undoubtedly belong. But we complain with
justice that a title or family influence should become an
apology for mediocrity, and that the highest posts in the
state, which demand the highest talent in the nation,
should be occupied by men who seem to be even uncon-
scious of the duties they undertake to perform. At the
same time, the popular constituencies of this country
have much to answer for in the men whom they have
selected for their representatives. Want of time, want
of ability, want of courage, are continually alleged even
in that class of politicians from whom the queen has a
right to select the executive Ministers of the country ;
and it is a deep reflection on the House of Commons, as
at present constituted, that it contains so few men on
either side able to surmount and willing to confront the
real difficulties of public affairs. The disappearance
from the Treasury bench of three or four of the best
Parliamentary debaters renders it absolutely indispen-
sable to the Government to supply their places with effi-
cient men. Upon the success of that attempt the exist-
ence of Lord Palmerston's Cabinet depends, and the
experiment can only be made to succeed by a bold de-
termination to seek for talent beyond the beaten tracks
of official life, among the industry and intelligence of the
country.