The Sun.
London, England, 1839-01-23 00:00:00

THE NAVY.

TO THE RIGHT HON. LORD JOHN RUSSELL.
MY LORD,—As one of the members of the Royal Coin-
mission now assembled to consider the state of the Army
and Navy, I take the liberty of calling your Lordship's
attention to the comparative situation of England's two
great arms of defence, and to the erroneous system which
has been pursued up to the present day. Without meaning
to impute blame either to the Board of Admiralty or the
Government, I cannot but feel, in common with my brother
officers, that from time immemorial the Navy has been un-
justly treated, and never has been the favoured service
either of the Crown or Aristocracy, notwithstanding it is
the most powerful and natural bulwark of the nation. The
comparisons I am about to make will not, I trust, my
Lord, be considered in an invidious light, being alone
anxious for the glory and prosperity of the Crown, and
feeling the Army have no more than that to which they
are fully entitled by their loyalty, talent, and valour. The
united service of the present day forms the closest union of
friendship. Fathers, sons, and brothers are employed in
each branch of both services. Jealousies are completely
extinguished ; and it now rests with such members of the
Royal Commission, as "Wellington, Richmond, Minto, Rus-
sell, and Peel, to cement that union, by placing the whole
force of the country on a just and equal footing. My Lord,
this is a great -national question, and one on which must
depend the future safety of the kingdom. My Lord, under
the Crown are about 140 regiments of infantry, cavalry,
artillery, and engineers. Your Lordship is aware that each
regiment has its Colonel, being a General Officer, who,
besides his half-pay, quite equal to an Admiral's, receires
from 8001. to 1,800/. per annum as Regimental Colonel,
and probably may be a Governor of some garrison town, at
home or abroad, with an additional allowance for that
government, and great patronage, when on the Staff, by
the appointment of Staff Officers ; whilst Admirals holding
comparative rank, have not one-third of their income, and
no patronage whatever. The number of Generals and
Admirals employed on full pay being about ten to one.
Again, Colonels, independent of the command of regiments,
have a great variety of Star employments, viz., Inspecting
Field Officers, Adjutant and Quartermaster-Generals,
Lieutenant-Governors of garrisons, each receiving a salary
besides his half-pay ; whilst Captains in the Navy, holding
a comparative rank, have scarcely any employment beyond
the command of ships, and it is needless to state to your
Lordship how few these are in time of peace. Perhaps
your Lordship is not aware that Colonels of regiments live
with their regimental mess, precisely at the same expense
a 3 the youngest Ensign ; whilst Captains in the Navy are
compelled to furnish their cabins at an expense of 2001. to
5001., are obliged to keep a table of their own, and in the
event of ship Wreck, under any circumstance, are not al-
lowed the least indemnification, though, if a Colonel
be a passenger, he would receive a fair remuneration
for his losses. Agein Captains in the Army, ranking with
Lieutenants in the Navy, are employed on the Staff, as
Brigade Majors, Aides-de-Camp, Assistant Quartermas-
ter and Adjutant Generals, while Lieutenants in the
Navy are only employed on ship and coast-guard duty ; and
even Lieutenants and Ensigns in the Army can hold Staff
situations, while Midshipmen have nothing in prospect but
hard ship duty, and little chance of promotion after serving
their six years, and may probably be discharged after 15 or
16 years' service, without any provision. Independent, my
Lord, of this immense disparity of advantages, the Army
possess one other, which, to my mind, surpasses them
all—they can obtain leave to visit their families for a period
of two or three years, without any diminution of their full
pay, while officers of the Navy, even under the present im-
proved system, can never obtain more than two or three
weeks' leave. Could your Lordship credit that an officer in-
valided from the East Indies, whose health had suffered
from climate and hard service, after paying his passage to
the Cape of Good Hope, where he was obliged to continue
many months under medical care, at a cost of nearly 3001.,
was absolutely refused his hqfpay by the Admiralty Board,
and received letters from Mr. Croker, then Secretary ,stating
it to be contrary to the rules of the service to allow either
full or half-pay, under any circumstances whatever, from
the day the officer quitted his ship to the day he reported
himself at the Admiralty. Such, my Lord, was my own
case ; and it was not until after persevering for five or six
years that, at last, through the influence of my old friend,
Sir George Hope, then a Lord of the Admiralty, I ob-
tained my just rights. In comparing the promotion of the
two services, your Lordship will observe, that the Brevet
in the Army will carry an officer forward to the General's
rank, without ever serving actively as Field Officer ;
whilst promotion in the Navy is so retarded, and the sys-
tem so unjust, that should even a Captain have held that
rank for five-and-twenty years, without sufficient .interest
to obtain active employment, he will be placed on the Re-
tired List of Rear Admirals, without any prospect of
further advancement'; and to prove the injustice and ab-
surdity of naval regulations, Captain Devonshire being in
command of an eighty-gun ship two years since, of course
considered by the Admiralty efficient for such a command,
was actually, on the coronation promotion, put on the Re-
tired List of Admirals, because he wanted six weeks of the
time allowed for obtaining his effective Flag. Also Captain
Carden, whose services were worthy of receiving, in ad-
dition to his half-pay, 1801. per annum of what is now
called good service money (a sum formerly paid to two or
three Admirals and Captains who held the sinecures of
Generals and Colonels of Marines, an incubus
from which that gallant corps has happily been
relieved), was also placed on the Retired List of Admirals,
after being long and actively employed. I trust, my Lord,
these gentlemen will excuse my naming them, to support
the statement I have made. My Lord, are you aware that
however early in life an officer may obtain the rank of Cap-
tain, with the low average of thirty years ere he reach the
Rear-Admiral's flag, he must necessarily have passed his
70th year before he is eligible to command the grand fleet.
Compare this fact, my Lord, with promotion in times past,
when our Nelsons and De Saumarezes were commanding
fleets at 45, and allow me to ask your Lordship, if this
continues, what is to become of the country ? In the state-
ment which I had the honour of la) ing before your Lord-
ship last December, I endeavoured, among other points,
to draw your Lordship's attention to the system of impress-
ment, being convinced that, by a judicious arrangement,
it may in time be safely abolished, end the Navy of Eng-
land become a beloved and favourite service. Impress-
ment, my Lord, was first known in the reign of Richard
the Second. By Elizabeth it was provided that two Magis-
trates were to back any warrant for the impressment of
seamen. Statutes of William and Mary, and Anne, at-
tempted to man the fleet by registration. Mr. Justice Fos-
ter states impressment to be contrary to the Great Char-
ter and Bill of Rights, and that nothing but necessity could
justify the Crown in thus violating the liberty of the sub-
ject ; but in case of no proper plan being formed for man-
ning her Majesty's fleet, and seamen's wages kept lower
than are to be obtained in the merchant service, how can
necessity be demoostrated ? Necessity was pleaded at the
trial of the patriot Hampden ; but happily for England four of
his Judges declared the common law knew nothing of
necessity. In the reign of George the Second, Govern-
ment brought a Bill to Parliament to subject Naval Of-
ficers - on. half-pay to martial law, on which they exercised
their undoubted right of petition in a spirited memorial,
withelee tendee of„altescommissionvf. many, is the event
of the Bill passing : thus an act of unconstitutional fyranny
was defeated, and the Bill withdrawn. The mutiny of the
fleet, in the reign of George the Third, was engendered by
injustice to the seamen. They were still los.al to their
King and country, and even while ctuising off an enemy's
port, in sight of a superior fleet, would cheerfully have
, beved their officers in battle. Their dispute was with Go-
vernment, from proper concessions not having been made ;
all England was in alarm ; the country appeared lest ; but
on their grievances being redressed, the men returned to
their duty. Se, my Lord, it really would appear that in-
justice to the Navy is an heir-loom.
I never was more delighted than to hear, from one of the
Lords of the Admiralty some days since, at a great public
meeting, that an entire new system is to be adopted. I
am aware, my Lord, that trif/iag improvements have been
going on under every Government, but it remains for the
Royal Commission to recommend to the Commons an ex-
tensive measure of judicious reform, which is far beyond
the power of the Admiralty to effect. My Lord, there is
another subject which is deeply felt by the officers of the
Royal Navy—the meagre distribution of honorary rewards;
for, whilst in the Army, the most trifling skirmish will en •
sure to the officers some mark of distinction, naval officers,
wh° may have fought in many general actions, seldom have
the satisfaction of being noticed. My Lord, it is in trifles
that we trace the spirit pervading the whole, and I cannot
refrain from stating a circumstance which pained me a few
days since, when one of the most distinguished officers in
the service, a gallant Admiral, by the naval regulations,
was under the necessity of applying to me, as a county
Magistrate, to make a deelaretion for the receipt of
his h:tlf-pay, while Generals are exempt from
this degradation—merely testifying, on their honour, their
being entitled to receive it. My Lord, lam in communi-
cation with flag officers and officers of every rank, and I take
upon myself to say that the sentiments I have expressed in
both my statements to your Lordship, are tliose of the
great majority of the Navy. Well may we exclaim—for
which of our deeds have we been thus rewarded? Was
it for the glorious victory of the First of June—the battle
of the Nele—Camperdow a—the Straits of Gibraltar—cns
penbagen—St. Vincent's—Trafalgar—Algiers?—or for
sweepieg the combined fleets of the world from the face of
the ocean? We trust to you, my Lord, riot only as a
member of the Royal Commission and the leader oi7
House of Counons, but as a patriot, to plead our cause,