The Sun.
London, England, 1864-02-27 00:00:00

It is true that the naval reserve is looked to to
I provide the additional strength required by sudden
emergencies ; but, as Sir JOHN PAKINGTON pointed
out in his straightforward and sensible speech the
other evening, the coastguard possesses one great
advantage over the naval reserve in time of war—
their superior discipline. The right hon. baronet
reminded the noble lord at the head of the Admi-
ralty and his colleague, the Secretary for India, of
their having taken credit, the one for founding the
system of the coastguard, the other for the en-
couragement he had given to the system of training
boys. By one of those extraordinary changes of
opinion which seem to be popular in the present
Administration these Ministers now appear inclined
to discourage those very branches of the profession
which they were previously most anxious to culti-
vate. Well might the right hon. baronet the
member for Droitwich express his astonish-
ment that the Government should have chosen
such a year to reduce our navy, were
it only for the impression which such a course is
likely to produce on both sides of the Atlantic.
Coupling the strong language which the indignation
of Parliament has forced frotn the members of the
Cabinet with this singular proceeding, we may well
share Sir JOHN PARINGTON'S apprehension that the
Governments of Europe and America will entertain
the idea that the louder we talk the less we are
disposed to act. The truth most probably is that
the Government—anxious to conciliate the public,
knowing the indignation excited by the lavish ex-
penditure of the Admiralty—chooses the readiest
and least costly mode of making a reduction, with-
out due regard to the possible exigencies of the ser-
vice. The diminution in the number of men and
boys will cause no troublesome interference with
comfortable sinecures and established abuses ; but
if it be really the object to save money, a good
many effectual modes of economising might be
pointed out in our dockyards, without inter-
fering with the regular naval force. We are glad
to find that Lord C. PAGET proposes to increase the
pay of petty officers in the Royal Navy. This is
a change which has been long needed, and even
now it is not actually decided upon, since, strange
to say, this item is not included in the estimates.
There is no greater mistake than to underpay the
lower branches of the public service. No head can
work without hands, and however able or expe-
rienced may be our chief officers, the main body of
the work must naturally fall on their subordinates.
When we look at the large sums received by the
members of this and every other profession belong-
ing to the foremost rank, we need not wonder if
some discontent exists among the lower ranks. Nor
is cause for complaint wanting in the higher grades
of the navy. Sir JOHN PAKINGTON, in speaking on
this subject, remarked that more than once had he
offered ships to distinguished officers, who had been
forced to decline them because they could not afford
the expense entailed by accepting them. If we
consider the many commanders and lieutenants who
have spent the best part of their lives in the public
service without obtaining the promotion they had a
right to look for, we shall be very forcibly con-
vinced that there is need for more reforms than
mere reduction in the administration of our naval
affairs. Sir JOHN WALSH will probably find
a good many to agree with him in the
strictures which he passed upon the general
spirit which prevails in official quarters. He
pointed out to the House that in the event of
war we should need fleets in the West Indies, in the
Pacific, in the Mediterranean, in the Indian seas,
and most especially in the Channel, and asked
where were the iron ships to come from to supply
there requirements ? As we have before stated it
is quite possible to convert soma of our old wooden
vessels into a formidable fleet by putting a belt of
armour round the water line. By this means we
should have a fleet very quickly, and cheaply ready
for service, indeed the promptness and economy of
such a proceeding might be looked upon as a dan-
gerous precedent of the Admiralty. But the
will is wanting in official quarters, and Sir JOHN
WALSH said that there existed throughout the
world a belief that England was no longer strong
enough or filled with public spirit adequate to the
repression of international outrage. The hon.
baronet in another part of his speech said with
great force that at the present crisis " it was essen-
tial that England should buckle on her armour—
should show that while holding out the hand of
fellowship during peace, she did not always recoil
from danger when danger oame, and that she was
able to support her ftiends, to vindicate her honour,
and to redeem her engagements." None of these
points does our present Cabinet consider essential,
in fact we may almost wonder that they build war
vessels at all, since they appear intended for no
earthly purpose but to figure in the Estimates. It
is time, however, that the serious necessities of the
case were looked to. The public will not be satisfied
with an apparent economy which deprives the
country of the double reserve of the present and of
the future ; diminishing the number of boys learn-
ing their profession, by those slow and sure stages
which make the best seamen, and weakening the
force of trained and able men, who are ready at a
moment's notice to supply any sudden need. Some-
thing else is looked for at the present juncture, and
the Government may rest assured that the cry this
year will not be for reduction, but for readiness—
not for economy, hut efficiency.

HONOUR AND DITTY.—Some etymologists, if we
mistake not, says a writer in the Saturday Review,
tell us that the word "Honor" or " Honos" is really the
same as the word " Onus;" honours, in the sense of offices,
being burdens as well as honours. Or rather perhaps the
original common meaning would be charge or duty, some-
thing laid upon one ; and as such charge or duty may
be looked on either as an honour or as° a burden, the two
kindred words have run off into quite different meanings
on different sides. The derivation seems far-fetched, and we
are not going to decide whether it be right or not. But
if it be right, it shows an approach to a cycle in the mean-
ing of words. When we say " Yon do me honour by say-
ing so," and when we say "My sense of honour makes me
do so and so," we use the word "honour" in two quite dif-
ferent senses. In the former phrase there is no reference
to right and wrong at all ; in the latter, though the sense
of honour and the sense of duty aro not exactly the same
thing, yet tho notion of right and wrong begins to come
in. So far as that notion does come in, we get, in this last
and newest and most artificial sense of the word "honour,"
a slight approach to what, according to the etymology, was
the original meaning. In both there is some notion of duty,
or at least of something approaching to the idea of duty—
an idea which is wholly absent from the intermediate senses
of the word.

A HINDU DESCRIPTION OF NATURAL SCENERY !
—How enchanting is the scene before U 9. This
sylvan lake, and its adjoining grove of fruit and flowering
trees form a delicious retreat in the midst of so wild a
country. How came they here ? Is this the resort of gods
er nymphs P Observe, ever the limpid water of this mag-
nificent lake, float the white, the red, and the blue lotus.
On the velvet leaves of the tender lily the water-drops
glisten like so many brilliants. Their slender stems rise
above the water-level, bearing aloft many a peaked bud and
full-blown blossom ; while hovering over them wild bees,
drunk with honey or drowning in love, chase their mates in
ceaseless revolutions. Nor is the bank less gorgeous.
The majestic bamboo, with its fluted stem, yellow as if
bathed in saffron water, and rich in feathery foliage, leans
over the lake. The banana is there, heavy with its golden
tinted fruit. Up shoots the tall and tender areca, its eme-
rald tufts waving to the winds, its delicate stem entwined
by the betel creeper. The champac and the mellica—flowers,
indeed, of all hues and forme, redolent with rich perfumes—
scent the atmosphere. The clouds emit a gentle shower;
bright look the trees. Add as genial zephyrs blow the out-
stretched branches rustle with tremulous motion„ their
radiant leaves throwing off the moisture in a profusion of
pearly dups. Birds sing. How sweet is their melody 1
How handsome the peacocks! Parrots, maims, and green
doves flit from bough to bough. How joyous they seem
Not even the noonday sun can make itself felt within the
bower,—.einfcliariqra,