The Sun.
London, England, 1864-12-06 00:00:00

SPIRIT OP THE PUBLIC JOURNALS,

TIMES.—Lord Clarence Paget found the electors
of Deal in a very good humour last Friday, and he
inproved the occasion by saying a good word for
himself, his department, his colleagues, and the Go-
vernment generally. Like Mr Childers at Pontos
fract, he seemed to think the subject of the Navy
somewhat closely connected with the subject of
Finance, as no doubt it is; and so, before entering
upon questions immediately concerning our naval
administration, he expatiated with considerable
satisfaction on our fiscal policy generally. We have
had eleven millions of taxes remitted within the
last four years. The National Debt has been re-
duced by six millions, and, besides this, the process
of converting permanent into terminable charges
has been steadly, though slowly, going on. Such
results, achieved in the teeth of a terrible expendi-
ture, Lord Clarence thinks highly creditable to the
Government, and challenges our admiration for the
"extraordinary wisdom of its financial measures,"
WTe hope all this talk about reductions is not pre-
paratory to new demands; bat Lord Clarence
speaks somewhat ominously when he comes to the
interesting topic of the impending estimates. These,
he tells us in the usual terms," will be framed with
the utmost regard to economy," but he feels ob-
liged to add that certain views recently expressed
with regard to "great and sweeping reductions"
will not be entertained. He even lets us into the
secret a little further, and warns us more particu-
larly to expect " a considerable increase in the votes
for the docks and basins of this country." After
this glimpse, however, of the future wo are whisked
back to the present, and Lord Clarence is very
anxious to have his say upon "some late criticisms
of the Press," The Press has talked a good deal about
the Victoria, just sent as flagship to the Mediterra-
nean, about the difficulty of manning her, and her
uselessness when manned. The Press has also
asked why the Royal Sovereign was putout of cont•
mission so abruptly, and why this single specimen
of the turret system was not more patiently tried.
The conduct of the Admiralty in these particulars
had been made the subject of " very constant
criticisms," but Lord Clarence is so well
acquainted with the "love of fair play among Eng-
lishmen" that he knows he may anticipate a "can.
did and impartial hearing" for his explanations.
This he shall certainly have, and though one of his
colleagues has already forestalled him to no groat
purpose, the public shall see what the Secretary of
the Admiralty himself can say for these proceedings
of his department. The Victoria, being a wooden
three-decker, carrying upwards of 100 guns, and
requiring at least 1,000 men to fight them, has been
sent to one of our chief naval stations, there to carry
the flag of the Admiral in command of the fleet.
Now, at the beginning of this very speech Lord
Clarence bad justified the late heavy expenditure
upon the Navy by explaining the necessity which
had existed for reconstructing it, and substituting
armour-plated ships for wooden vessels, as the only
ships by which our position at sea could be upheld.
It was this inevitable obligation that cost us all the
money that Lord Clarence spoke of, and therefore
the press, and the public too, felt much surprise at
seeing one of the most extravagant specimens of the
condemned fleet brought forward at an enormous
cost for active service.
This proceeding Lord C. Paget
now explains by telling us that the Victoria was
wanted in the Mediterranean fleet, not for mere
stateliness or dignity's sake, nor yet solely for the
accommodation of the Admiral's Staff, but for the
reception of supernumeraries for the service of the
squadron. A large fleet requires constant reinforce-
ments, by fresh draughts of seamen, and these men
are all-sent in the first instance to the flagship, thence
to be distributed among the other vessels of the
squadron as occasion may require. It might happen
that as many as 200 sailors at a time would need
lodging in this way, and what, asks Lord Clarence,
would the country say if pestilence were bred among
these men by their being cramped up on board
a ship "only fit to go immediately into action"—
that is to say, an ironclad? To this we reply that
the argument raises a most important point; and
that if our ironclads are only fit for the mere work
of a battle, and are not habitable vessels, the sooner
our naval architects are apprised of this defeet the
better ; but this will not in the least degree help
the Admiralty out of their difficulty. Let us admit,
for the sake of argument, that every squadron on
active service requires a large floating barrack for
the accommodation of draughts from home and the
transaction of general business; we must then ask
why this barrack, or clerks office, or Admiral's
residence, or whatever it is to be considered, should
be regarded also as a fighting ship, when, by the
admission of the argument itself, she is nothing of
the kind. Why should this floating hotel carry 100
guns and upwards of 1,000 men to work these guns,
especially when such a crew would occupy and
absorb the very space which is wanted for others P
If the Victoria were nothing more than a little
fhating Admiralty we could understand the matter;
but she pretends also to be a fighting ship, and in
that capacity carries an immense complement of
righting wen and guns. Lord Clarence declares that
these men were provided for her without difficulty ;
but ho does not tell us from what ships they were
taken, nor how the matter would have brew managed
bad no vessels been pet conveniently out of com-
mission just at that time. There, however, is the
fact that a ship which Lord Clarence Paget does
not attempt to say is fit for action, and which Mr.
Childers thinks adapted for duty mainly because
there is no expectation of war, is sent out with an
array of men and guns suitable only to a fighting
ship of the first class. Both Mr. Childers and Lord
Clarence excuse this unlucky vessel as only designed
for civil duties, forgetting that she is rated, manned,
and armed as a first-rate man-of.war, and entails
upon the country and the service a corresponding
charge. Apart from this business of the Victoria
and the question of the Royal Sovereign, which
the Secretary of the Admiralty handles with par.
tiality rather than prejudice, the Navy seems in a
" satisfactory" condition--at least, so Lord Clarence
thinks. But he forgets that the people in office
always think so, and that it is the people succeed..
ing them who are invariably dissatisfied with the
bequests of their predecessors. We shall feel a
good deal more confidence ou this head when a
Conservative Secretary says as much for Lord
Clarence as Lord Clarence his said for him-
self, and we get a somewhat unpleasant glimpse of
contingencies in a little sentence of this very speech.
Lord Clarence positively assures us that the Royal
Sovereign had as fair and full a trial as possible, and
not only that, but that, in his opinion, she proved
herself a great success, insomuch, he added, that
" we have now under consideration the conversion
of one of our large armour.plated ships, which is
now under construction, into a ship upon that prin-
ciple." 'This is rather alarming. It opens a pros.
pect of one more "reconstruction." We have, as
the Secretary tells us, no less than 30 armour-plated
ships built or building, and of these at least 25 are
vessels of some description or other on the broadside
principle: But if there are already such misgivings
of this principle that we are beginning to " convert"
one of the most costly specimens before it is com-
pleted, it is evident that a future Secretary of the
Admiralty may possibly come to condemn our whole
iron fleet. If the superiority of the turret system
should be established, the comparative inefficiency
of the broadside system will be established also, and
there will be all our work to do over again once
more. Lord Clarence has HOW said almost too much
for himself. If the turret principle contained all
this potential value, the Royal Sovereign should
have been launched a good deal earlier, and a spe-
cimen of tier kind better adapted for sea-going
should have been commenced long ago. It is by
neglecting inventions too long that we incur such
heavy charges. The turret system may be better
or worse than tho broadside system, but we ought
to have ascertained the fact before we adopted the
broadside system for five-sixths of our new and
costly navy.

POST.—The Austrian Reichsrach is outstripping
the Imperial Government in its pursuit of the
policy of domestic conciliation which it declared a

few days ago to be the counterpart of its desire for
" the consolidation of a lasting European peace."
Both is Venetia and Galioia a state of siege has
hitherto prevailed. The Government, however,
terminated a few days ago that condition of affairs
in Venetia ; and the Ileichsrath has now con-
demned, in terms quite intelligible, though not in
those of direct censure, its continuance in Galicia
also. M. de Schmerling is too prudent and too con-
ciliatory to do otherwise than adopt the views of
the Chamber, which aro really essential to the con-
summation of his own policy. He is held to imper-
sonate the principle of a combination of representa-
tion with centralisation in the Austrian empire, and
that idea is the idea also of the leading and more
liberal of the purely Austrian statesmen. It has
been, no dolbt, from first to last a hazardous scheme,
and a very doubtful problem. But it was at the
same time the only scheme of centralisation for that
composite empire that was not plainly impossible.
Many attempts have been made at different times to
centralise Austria. The two most notable of them

were of Joseph IL during his novennium from 1780
to 1789, and that of Prince Schwartzenberg, his
successor Count Buol, and the colleague of either of
them as Minister of the Interior, Baron Bach, dur-
ing the ten years between the subjugation of Hun-
gary and the outbreak of the Italian war, 1819.59.
Both attempts, however, proceeded on a false basis.
The latter, in particular, was simply a centralisation
by means of military despotism—in other words,
something akin to a permanent state of siege. Hos.
tile nations, each with its own traditions and its own
suppressed constitution, were indiscriminately go-
verned like conquered provinces by a German
bureaucracy with German bayonets at their back.
The only question then was, not whether, but when,