The Sun.
London, England, 1852-12-31 00:00:00

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OUR NATIONAL DEFENCES.

(From the Times.)
We trust that the National Defence question may
have now been put fairly in train, for it is a ques-
tion which, of all others, was least fitted for sus-
pense or delay. The case, if there was any case at
all, was obviously one of imperative urgency ; and,
though we fully concur with Mr. Disraeli in con-
sidering that plain speaking on such a point is far
better than a " prudish affectation of reserve," we
need waste no words in proving that the topic is
not a desirable one to be kept constantly iz the
public mouth. We wish to see the thing not only
done, but done with. Let it be once understood
that our defences are complete, and no more need
be said about the matter. When a well-grounded
belief has been established that nothing is lacking
in the way of prudent preparation, the self-reliance
of Englishmen will do the rest.
At present, these precautionary measures are
under active supervision. The artillery force will
be raised to an effective strength without delay,
and a substatial addition is to be made to the ma-
rine corps. Votes providing for these requirements,
as the reader will remember, have been actually
passed, and were passed, too, without a dissentient
voice. With regard to our military resources, it is
impossible to deny that the appeal of the country
has received a most satisfactory answer. An admir-
able force of volunteer militia has been raised
without the smallest difficulty, nor is there any rea-
son to doubt that the battalions might be readily.
doubled. The men, Mr. Fry must now acknow-
ledge, have proved an orderly and well-con-
ducted class—a class doing infinite credit tit_
themselves and their country, while their al.?
ciency is attested in the highest terms by those
best competent to judge. They are, in fact,
almost as regularly " soldiers " as most troops of
the continental armies. In England, from the
peculiar nature of our line service, we contract ex-
traordinary ideas 'of the military profession. We
think a f" soldier" means a man who has enlisted - •
for life, who kn.ows ni) home but his regiment, who -
has either sailed or is destined to sail over thou- .
sands of miles of ocean, and who is to encounter
every species of enemy or climate in every quarter
of the globe. But this idea of a soldier prevails
nowhere else. The armies of other European
States are mainly composed, like our own militia,
of men enrolled for a few years, drilled at home,
and expecting no service (under the usual circum-
stances) beyond their own frontiers. Our volun-
teers are fully on a level with the ordinary range
of continental conscripts, and would acquire an
equal amount of military aptitude in six months' •
training.
With regard to the navy, which, as everybody
admits, should be the first object of our solicitude,
it seems to be acknowledged that the whole ques-
tion substantially resolves itself into the supply of
seamen. We have ships 'and' officers in abun-
ance, and of the best quality too. As to steam,
the force of the Royal Navy alone includes 112
vessels of 26,749-horse power, besides which there
are 1,218 registered commercial steamers with a
tonnage of 185,366 tons, exclusive of engine room.
If resources like these can only be made available,
it must be clear that we can have nothing to
apprehend in this respect. The one great requisite is
a prompt and sufficient supply of trained seamen.
We took occasion the other day to observe that
the number of our seafaring population was large
enough to feed the Royal Navy without stint or
embarrassment if the attractions of the service
were but fairly adjusted, and upon reference to
Mr. Porter's statistics it appears that eleven years
since—that, is to say, in 1841—the " Navy and
merchant seamen, including half-pay, marines,
fishermen, watermen, &c.," numbered in the ag-
gregate 226,456, of whom 129,666 were returned
as "at home." Of this number it is certainly not
extravagant to set down 60,000 as good ablebodied
mariners, and the question is, how to obtain the
cheerful services of this important class.
We have before us a pamphlet on " The Forma-
tion of a Maritime Militia, or Sea Fencible Force,"
addressed to the late Prime Minister by Captain
Charles Elliott, R.N., in which this subject is very
comprehensively discussed, and , the suggestions
deserve our attention, not only from the position and
experience of the writer, but because they appear to
coincide in substance with the scheme actually con-
templated by the authorities in power. Mr. Disraeli
plainly intimated in his financial exposition that the
question of manning the mercantile marine had been
remitted, as forming part of the great question of
manning the whole navy of Britain, to the decision
of a committee ; and he further observed that Mi-
nisters, in due time, would submit to ,the House
proposals for " a very great change in the
system on which the royal navy is manned."
Taking these remarks •
together, we cannot have
inuch hesitatienin 11 • ' . _ • • •
C4tain Elliott's rec. irgrt*ni; n`.lt ; ; ; rir•;

the eyes of the late Government. These recom-
mendations, succinctly stated, may be said to sug-
gest that all the sailors and seafaring men of the
United Kingdom should constitute a body termed
" the Navy of Great Britain," of which the royal
navy should form a branch. Instead of the invi-
dious distinctions hitherto subsisting between the
royal and mercantile services, the former is rather
to be considered as a corps d'elite, or upper class,
into which entrance may be sought as an advan-
tage, and claimed as a reward. With these views,
all sources of income, relief, and provision, here-
tofore monopolised by the royal navy—such as
Greenwich Hospital, &c. are to be thrown open,
and included in one great scheme, under one
management, for providing a full supply of sea
labour for all the maritime purposes of the empire.
Such seem to be the fundamental principles of
Captain Elliott's views. The objection obviously
suggesting itself is that if a mwopoly of all these
attractions has failed in procuring the requisite,_
supplies for the royal navy, less than a monopoly
can hardly be expected to do so. If men prefer
the merhant service without such prospects, wil-
they prefer it less when such prospects are added
to the bargain ? As far as we can discern the
conclusions upon this head, it seems to be
thought that if all sailors are put upon a foot-
ing, all distinctions abolished, all objections re-
moved, and all things made clear, there will
never be a lack of candidates for that particular
branch of the service which enjoys the highest
rank and the most consideration. If all rewards
are gained by service, and three years' service in
one class is made to count as four in another, the
former class will carry the day. Exactly, in short,
as militiamen have been always found ready to vo-
lunteer into the line, so maritime militiamen will
be infallibly ready to volunteer into the Royal
Navy. This seems to be the reasoning adopted.
But besides this general scheme, which Captain
Elliott appears to have been some years in ma-
turing, he suggests a proposal for the immediate
levy of a force of sea fencibles, on the plan approved
by Sir C. Napier, and discussed in our columns a
month ago. The plan consists simply in the-divi-
sion of our whole coast into districts, with head-
quarter stations, each station having its guard-ship
and its staff of officers. The seamen of the district
are then to be enlisted in two classes, one termed
the " movable" and the other the " reserve
force, constituting a "regular" and "local" militia
respectively ; but neither class being liable, on any
pretext, whether in peace or war, to servo on fo-
reign stations without their own previous consent.
By calculations into which we need not enter,
Captain Elliott concludes that whereas in our Navy
Estimates we now provide 1,014,736/. (exclusive of
victuals) for 24,655 men, we could obtain an effec-
tive naval strength of 40,000 sea fencibles for
460,0001. These suggestions will, no doubt, create
much discussion, and probably invite some reply,
but the principles appear to us to be sound, and
we should not be unprepared for the recognition of
some such maxims hereafter by whomsoever the
Government may be conducted.

FRENCH MEDICAL STATISTICS.—The Gazette dss
ll6pitaux states that in France there are 11,217 physi-
cians, 7,221 ()Piers de saute and 5,176 pharnuiciene,
These numbers give one medical attendant for every
1,940, and one pharmacien for every 6,914 of the popu-
lation. What is singular is that the richer depart-
ments have fewer doctors than the poorer ; thus in those
of the north there is one practitioner for every 2,496
persons, while in the south there is one for every 1,619.
It is still more singular that there are nearly 600 towns
or communes, with populations varying from 2,000 to
8,000 souls, which have neither medical practitioner
nor pharmacien.
NOVEL PERFORMANCE.--Amongst the passengers
who arrived by the royal mail steam-ship Europe from
New York is Mr. R. Sands, the antipodal experi-
menter, who has been giving entertainments in the dif-
ferent towns in the Union, With .a large amount of
success. His novel performance consists in walking
across the ceiling with his feet up and his head down-
wards ;_ and, notwithstanding the precarious path he has
to tread, he never yet met with any serious accident.
Thu modus operandi by which Mr. Sands accomplishes
his antipodal excursion is purely scientific, and has pre-
viously been experimented upon, though never with the
success which it has now attained.
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communicated by. Captain Smith of Yarmouth, to Mr.
Dixon, chemist, Norwich. Mr. Walton, late H.M.S. at
Malta, had an ulcerated wound in the ankle, for which
he was in Malta Hospital six months ; in Portsmouth
Hospital four months. Refusing to have the limb ampu-
tated, he was turned out incurable ; other medical gentle-
, men failed ; when he tried Holloway's Ointment and
Pills, which in three months cured him, and he is now in
perfect health and Coast Guard Officer at Newhaven,.
Sold by all Druggists, and at Professor Holloway's
Establishment, 244, Strand, London.