The Sun.
London, England, 1864-05-18 00:00:00

at Chatham to receive their dismissal, not because
there was not employment for them, because they
were " regular hands," for the exigencies of the ser-
vice are always met by the employment of the
supernumeraries, who are taken on or discharged
at convenience, nor for any misconduct or negli-
gence of their own, but simply to enable the Lords
of the Admiralty to evade the law of contract, and
to take advantage of a loophole to commit a breach
of faith. These men were discharged at one
o'clock, and were re-engaged at two o'clock, they
received the same wages and resumed their old
occupations, but they knew that the long years
which they had spent in the service of Government,
refusing the better offers of private shipbuilders, at
periods when skilled labour was in high demand,
under the deluive belief that the superannuated
pension would be forthcoming when the time of
their service was accomplished, were thrown away.
Thus after expending the best years of their lives
in the service of their country they will be cast
upon the world, and most probably they will die
in the workhouse. To say nothing of the dishonesty
of such conduct, and the breech of honour, honesty,
and integrity, to which no private firm could dare
to stoop, the impolicy of the proceedings is so
manifest that we would rather believe that
Sir CHARLES WOOD had again brought
his baneful influence to boar upon the Admiralty
Board, than that the Duke of SOMERSET held sway
there. Is it at all likely that clever artisans will
care to devote their lives to a service which grants
tardy advancement and but moderate pay, and will
neglect auy chance of bettering their condition,
when prices rise and when they can turn to advane
tage the experienee which they have acquired under
the able shipwrights or engineers of Her MAJES-
TY'S dockyards. The course is a suicidal one, and
will be looked upon with complacency by all lead-
ing shipbuilders, who will at once find a greater
supply of skilled labour in the market and a cor-
responding increase of Government contracts. It
might puzzle the wisest to understand, and perplex
the most astute to divine what can be the motive
which actuates our authorities thus to lay down
these laws and to counteract all the efforts of those
who have gone before them. The details that are
furnished relative to this subject in the naval intel-
ligence of yesterday aro in themselves sufficient to
stamp the whole proceeding with ignominy, and
give rise to serious doubts as to the efficacy of ar-
rangements which are based upon such glaring in-
justice and wanton disregard of important claims.
We learn that on Monday fifteen men received
notice of dismissal at Woolwich in consequence of
the new rules regarding the "superannuation al-
lowance." These men were of various trades, and
some had been employed for a period of from 15 to
24 years in the establishment. They are now in
the miserable condition of uncertainty as to their
prospects which must awaken sympathy in the
minds of all not totally callous to the best feelings
of humanity. They have reason to apprehend that
they will not receive the least assistance from the
Government, although they have been for so long
in the factory where some of them have been in-
jured and "rendered unfit for future work." The
barbarity of such a course of proceeding is truly
painful to the mind to contemplate. Can it be for
a paltry saving that the men who assume to guide
our affairs can propose to inflict such injustice on
honest and upright men who have word hard in the
servic- of their country ? If such be the motive, it
is of so mistaken a nature that the most simple
and ignorant might well hesitate to own to it. Let
not the delegates of the Admiralty come to Parlia-
ment with the boast that they have done great
things in the way of economy, and effected conside-
rable savings to the revenue. Their fine sounding '
expositions will not convince their hearers, when
they remember what sufferers have fallen by the
wayside, victims have fallen in the track of their
chariot wheels. A more contemptible device was
never resorted to than this of defrauding the poor
of the guerdon of their toil, and sequestrating the
claims which are the birthright of their labour. It
is not the way to deserve to prosper, and very cer-
tainly it will not do so. The juggling nature of the
whole scheme will readily be comprehended by th e
men who suffer by its working, and the credit and
character thus forfeited will never be regained. It
is high time that some notice was taken of all this
unworthy trifling with the interests of our dock-
yard, and that the perpetrators of the hurtful de-
sign receive the censure which they 83 richly
merit. To those who take a right view of such
things it will be a sad reflection that a man may
work away through all the years of his health and
strength, and when the weakness of age, the infir-
mities of sickness, and the enervating effects of
overwork come upon him, that he be cast away as a
worn-out tool or a used-up garment. We are told
that the labourer is worthy of his hire, and it is a
part of his hire that those who can afford it should
provide in some measure for the period of inaction
which is often superinduced by over work in their
service. It is a shame that those in high places
should presume to turn and twist things to suit
their narrow notions, and satisfy their very elastic
consciences. The distinctions that exist between
right and wrong are too broadly defined, or rest
upon too solid foundations for them to displace
them ; and in the face of their pretentious reforms,
and sweeping innovations, the voice of justice de-
clares against them. The claims of those who
suffer are based upon the sure convictions of all
who advocate honour, honesty, and fair play, and
such an appeal ought not to be disregarded. As
political economists it is absurd, as officials it is a
gross blunder, and as members of a government it is
a violation of their duties thus to inflict injuries
upon honest labourers which these wiseacres of the
Admiralty have been effecting with such alacrity
and inconsiderateness.

The temperature of the last few days has made
it difficult for us to believe that we are as yet but
in the middle of M ky. Instead of the usual vari-
able weather, the mild spring days interspersed
with clouds and showers, with cold 'winds and
dark weather, we have the glowing heat of mid-
summer—the cloudless heaven of the brightest
days of July. The May of tti poets has long be-
come traditionary, and has lingered only in their
enchanted pax e, where, as LEIGH HUNT tells us,
she is an evergreen. Of late years the May queens
and village festivities, traditionary to the time, have
appeared almost ridiculous in recollection, under
gloomy, ungenial skies, and cold 1;0„ek winds,
which would be likely enough to render the tragic
pirate of the Laureetc's sprightly maiden only the
natural result of seeing " Charles's Vain come
out above the tall grey chimney tops" in book-
muslin and roses. But this year nil sueh legends
are perfectly comprehensible, and only require the
addition of sunshades over the flowery crowns and
marquees over the maypole. The sunshine of the
present season is as much in excess of our usual
allowance at this time as the cold of the early
months of the year outstripped
culations. Let u
heal s hope that its effect on the public
while we may th may be less perceptible, our ordinary
cer-
tainlyeel-
rejoice in its beneficial and fete Hieing influ-
ence. Pleasant as the cloudless sky may be, how-
ever, to the firmer, who awes in it the promise of
a plentiful harvest, and welcome as may be the