The Sun.
London, England, 1852-03-18 00:00:00

THE NAVY RESERVE.

It consists rather happily with the general views of
the country that the single positive step taken by the
House on Monday evening should have been that of
granting the usual supply for the naval service. The
first vote was a simple one, but it did indeed, as" Mr. W.
Williams observed, amount in effect to passing the whole
of the navy estimates. As we consider these estimates,
in general respects, not objectionably framed, and as
" seamen and marines" must needs be included in every
possible scheme of national defence, we are glad that at
least so much advance has been made in the " business
of the country." Nearly hell the means required for the
effective service were thus provided by a few.minutes of
general agreement.
Tho vote proposed by the new Government is taken,
as we had conjectured, without alteration from the esti-
mates of the late Administration. The number of sea-
men, boys, and marines " to be employed in her Majesty's
fleet" of necessity regulates the general cost of the effec-
tive branch of the service. This number, as proposed
for the current year, is 39 000, being the same as for
1851. It includes 26,000 seamen, 2,000 boys, and
11,000 marines, of whom 5,000 are employed on shore.
But the votes of Monday evening went further than
this. Though the total numbers proposed were only
39,000, yet the sum voted for wages, 1,469,0541., was
computed for an aggregate of 44,000, inasmuch as it
included the cost of the proposed naval reserve. Tho
scheme, therefore, although no discussion ensued upon
the point, has thus far obtained the practical approval
of the Legislature. Tho particular viers expressed in
its details we took occasion to elucidate some few weeks
ago, but the subject is now invested with considerably
more importance as a substantial reality. The " re-
rerve," as our readers may recollect, is to consist of
5,000 men, 1,000 of whom are to be petty officers, and
they are to be selected with such regard to previous
service and good conduct certificates as to warrant a
presumption that they will be among the best of
their class. They are to be raised by volun-
tary entry, to be borne on the books of
some ship is commission, and to be furnished, on
certain conditions. with annual tickets of leave.
They are then to be at liberty to take ser-
vice in merchant ships on home trade voyages
only, and they are to present themselves for inspection
and payment every three months at the most convenient
of the stations appointed for that purpose. The induce-
ments extended consist of wages to the amount of 61. a
year for the men, and 9/. or 121. for the petty officers,
and of an undertaking that they shall be placed on the
same footing with actual seamen in respect of pensions
and expectancies—two years of " reserved" service being
reckoned equivalent to one at sea. Such is the outline
of the naval reserve.
The objections obviously producible against this plan
resolve themselves into the sole argument of its inade-
quacy. No person denies that it will be advantageous as
far as it goes, or that the aggregate expenditure entailed
by the vote, 38,6001., will be well invested. It is simply
alleged that 5,000 seamen do not constitute a sufficient
reserve against such contingencies as suggested any re•
serve at all, and that these 5,000 will be so dispersed as
to be practically little more available than ordinary
hands in the event of emergency. These objections,
perhaps, are not easily answerable in themselves, al-
though 5,000 good seamen can hardly be considered
an insignificant reserve when we re fleet upon the titre
and trouble required to send even a single three-decker
to Sea; nor does it seem lately that these men though
engaged
one of the several d t be long in re-
on the home trade, could be so distant from
plying to a call, presuming, as we may safely do, on
stations appointe as o
their
thatby
thethe
good faith and character. The exceptions to the
plan, therefore,
imply little more that the measure might
have been made more effective at a greater cost.
t has
boon
conceived w e believe,
Views, however, of a more extensive kind have been
entertained,
inoculation,
our merchant marine with 5,000 picked as
men from the
royal navy would tend to place the Queen's service in a
much more desirable light among
ncates of thite
were, scheme.
It
o
i
those who may be any
day called upon to reintorce it. It is said that if mer-
chant seamen, instead of being deluded by wilful mis-
representations, could be properly apprised of the true
conditions of the royal service, they would never enter.
•

tain any reluctance to enter it, and that thus the 5,900
seamen of the reserve repairing to their ports might
lead with them 10,000 good sailors more. In short, the
aim of the proposal has been so much to create a tempo-
rary force which might be disbanded with a change of
feeling, as to dispose the great body of the seafaring
population in such a manner that men in any numbers
might be obtainable at any moment. Under these per-
suasions, indeed, we have seen even short terms of com-
mission and the speedy dispersion of ships' crews inge-
niously advocated as promoting the object in view, inas-
much as the more effectually the merchant service was
leavened by importations from the royal navy, the more
likely would the royal navy be to derive again from the
merchant service an abundance of desirable resources.
It is urged, besides, that such a system being devoid of
the offensive character assumed by positive augmenta-
tions of force, would call for no corresponding augmen-
tations on the part of foreign Governments, and would
therefore be under no risk of defeating its own ends.
Without attaching equal weight to all these arguments,
we cannot deny that, in addition to. much plausibility,
they contain a substance of truth. Still, considering
how very extensively our merchant service must have
been already imbued with the elements referred to. we
can hardly look upon the experiment as a new one,
though, no doubt, the " reservd" seamen, being picked
to the service, may disseminate
jester notions of its character than would be given by
sailors actually dismissed or rudely discharged. It
however, that if the principle of the naval
really be found efficient, it will soon
evince the inutility of any reserve at all, for if once the
m n aebnesdhs
merchant service can be generally brought into the dis-
position thus
.contemplated, it will obviously furnish a
reserve to in Itself, and there will be no necessity for
maintaining one. Altogether, though the scheme is an
attempt to remedy a serious deficiency at a small cost,
and is certainly not without considerable promise, we do
not think it should be allowed to supersede provisions
more directly serviceable. It is conteasedly an experi-
ment, and as operation must be a matter of time, not to
mention that it, as is apparently the case, some doubt
exists about procuring at once even these 5,000 seamen,
as much uncertainty must at least hang about the ques-
tion of the influence they may exert on their mesamates.
In any case, however, it is wise to recognise the expe-
diency of preparation, and to devise, if possible, some
regular and permanent measures which may obviate the
necessity for impressment for all times to come.— Times.
oawuideldl effected