The Sun.
London, England, 1864-10-20 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIMES --Mr. Gladstone sec tits destined, if not to found
a new school, at any rate to introduce new practices into
English statesmanship. Our public men have hitherto
been, like the nation if which they are the leaders, some-
what undemonstrative; the exer&se of their abilities has
generally been most conspicuous in Parliamentary debate,
where they seldom fail, if the subject in hand be only worth
the trouble to exhaust in all its bearings. They are also
called upon, as a part of their profession as leaders and in-
structors of the people, to make statements of their views
on particular public questions at public meetings held
during the recess of Parliament, and before their own con-
stituents to give an account of their political opinions and
conduct. These are the duties in discharging which a
member of Parliament does not appear to go at all oat
of his Way. But there has been a sort of tracUtion
among men holding cr aspiring to hold a first .rate
position in public life that it 14 as becoming in states-
men to confine themselves pretty rigorously within the
limits we have mentioned, ani that they were more likely
to lose than to gain in influence if they suffered themselves
to be tempted beyond them. Lord Palmerston is a striking
example that a Prima Minister, full of years and honours,
can do many things in the shape of what may be called
promiscuous public speaking, which his predecessors would
have considered altogether impossible ; but Mr Gladstone
disdains the narrow limits within which the Prime Minis-
ter has confined his activity, and undertakes, for the benefit
of an andieena to which he is bound by no other tie than
that of receiving a complimentary address, to publish a
sort cf "Murray's Handbook" of the politics of the time,
and of his own share in them. He has been Et) long a con-
spicuous figure in public life, he Las been so prominent an
actor in the scenes of which be treats, that it is no reproach
to him to say that even his powers of reproduction
cannot give them the interest which they had at first hand,
and that the history of the last eleven years will live more
vividly in his speeches in Parliament than in any narrative,
however brilliant and elaborate. Having in a great num-
ber of previous speeches given his opinion on almost every
subject connected with the social and material progress of
society, Mr Gladstone proceeded to give the Chamber of
Commerce at Manchester his views on politics in all their
branches. With regard to foreign politics, he considers the
position of England to be dignified, influential, and impar-
tial. We are placed on sort of judicial elevation, being
freed from any selfish interest, with no enmities to
gratify, and no other mission than to promote harmony
and good-will among our neighbours. There is solid
truth at the bottom of this very flittering sketch,
though we scarcely expect that it will be admitted
as a true portrait of perfi nous Albion by those neigh-
bouring and rival Powers who ought to be the best judges
on such a subject. On this question we must admit that
Mr Gladstone occupies the very foremost place among Eng-
lish politicians, that he has broken entirely with the old
school which seemed to have been educated in the doctrine
of Hobbes—that war is the natural state of man, and that
the business of England was not to raise herself above, but
to mix herself up with those unceasing Continental quarrels
in which she has so slight and so shadowy an interest. With
regard to America Mr Gladstone's statement is equally
satisfactory. We have suffered grievously by the war, but
we reccgni€e the right of America to settle her own quarrels
her own way. We doubt the power of the North to reduce
the South, but the responsibility is theirs. We have no
jealousy, and we wait the result in patience and forbear-
ance. This language is worthy of England, and will, we
hope, produce its just effect upon America, from which we
have not always been in the habit of hearing words equally
temperate and equally conciliatory.
. . .

nEßALD.—Another collapse We have an Admiralty
Board, and are supposed to have a navy, but apparently we
shall soon be without any sailors. Big ships, little guns,
and no men, and the best ship cf all laid on the shelf among
the steam reserve. Heaven help old England in the day of
need I Our Crimean campaign was bad enough when we
threw an army ashore and left it to perish, and packed the
pill-boxes under the bomb-shells, the former to be unshipped
at Scutari and the latter to go on to Balaclava. The cruise
in the Baltic was bootless enough, in which we burned down
timber stacks where there were no batteries, and fired at
Cronstadt from the respectful distance of three miles, flat-
tering ourselves that by tilting our gun at eagle of 4f
degrees we had just m .nsged to reach the foe. All this
was sufficiently odd; but who shall say what strange
results would become apparent were we now to find our-
selves suddenly brought into conflict with a first-class naval
power ? Chatham and Woolwich aro crying out for sailors,
and are likely to cry, according to all appearance, for some
time to come. We cannot revive the old press gang, yet
we cannot get volunteers, and between the two what is to
become of us ? 'We are told this is an old difficulty; but
after all the new devices which have been set on foot in
recent years we had thought that the old story would come
to an end. At least we had a right to expect that matters
would not get worse. But what do wo find at the present
time ? The Admiralty are actually at their wits' end to find
sailors for the purpose of manning the only two ships which
are now fitting out—namely, the Achilles and the Victoria,
It would seem odd if the Admiralty were to be told that
they should build no more ships until they c ,uld find men to
work them ; but it is obvious thtdall the naval architecture
in the kingdom will be useless without the real cis viva.
Sir Charles Napier was worried in his day, and growled
at the notion of seeking sailors on the cab-stand and in the
tailor's shop; but we seem now to be sinking to a lower
depth. We are told that upwards of a thousand continuous
service men who, at the commencement of the Russsan war,
entered the Royal navy from the merchant service, have re-
fused to renew their engagements, and that many whose
term of ten years has nearly expired have requested their
discharge on being paid off. The prospect is, therefore,
darker the further we look ahead, and we can give
full credence to the cautious admission that the so-
called " old-difficulty", of manning the vessels fitting
and to be fitted for sea "is just now causing consi-
derable anxiety at the Admiralty." The Achilles
is said to leave Chatham considerably under-manned; but
it is thought "probable" that she will " pick up" the re-
mainder of her crew at Devonport. The grounds of this
faint probability are not clear. Woolwich has been cater-
ing for some weeks past to get men for the Victoria, a
three-decker; but it is said that the effort has met with
" small success." Referring to the flag ship Fisgard, we
are told that, despite the " cld difficulty," she was " for-
merly crowded to inconvenience," but it is sorrowfully con-
fessed that only a few men are now to be found in her
berths. We are, therefore, at a loss to know where the
Achilles is to find men, ualess by same official hocus pocus
they are to bo turned out of one ship in to another, some
what on the thimble-rig principle. Even this latter pro-
cess has its dangers, as we see in the case of the Royal
Sovereign. By putting this ship out cf. cAnmission 300
men were set at liberty. These—and many more—were
wanted for the Achilles and the Victoria; but out of all the
lot only 20 or less remained in the service,