The Sun.
London, England, 1830-02-01 00:00:00

THE ORDINARY.

This important branch of our Naval Service
will, we are informed, share in the reductions
which are progressively extending themselves,
with an indiscriminating rigour, to all our great
national establishments. The new regulations
fer the Ordinary are to come into operation on
Monday next (the Ist Feb.), when the Senior
Captains' boats crew will be reduced to a cox-
swain and six men. Only four men will be
allowed to the Commander, and each of the four
Lieutenants, for the purpose of attending to the
vessels laid up in ordinary. The crews of ships
newly launched, or under repair, are to be with-
drawn from the command of the Captain of the
Ordinary. A small sum is to be deducted from
the full pay of the warrant officers of ships
building, or under repair. And about one hun-
dred and fifty men and boys will be discharged
from the Ordinary under the new system. Such
of boys, however, as are able and willing to go
to sea, will be provided for in the navy. Sen-
sibly as we feel the necessity, the unavoidable
necessity, of carrying the system of retrenchment
to its utmost possible extent in our various public
establishments, we are far from viewing with
complacency any reduction which tend to impair
the vigour, and sap the foundations of the mari-
time power. The Ordinary, under a good
system, might be converted into a most valu-
able nursery for seamen, and a practical school
of nautical science. While other nations might
feel disposed to view with jealous suspicion any
considerable increase of our naval force in actual
commission cluing a period of universal peace,
the Ordinary might safely he converted into
a depot for young active sailors, who might be
kept in constant training by being frequently sent
out in sea-going ships to cruise in rotation, and
would thus not only be ready for active service
at a moment's notice, but saved from the neces-
sity of seeking a livelihood in the ships of other
countries. Such a system, though unavoidably
productive of an increased expenditure in the
department of the Ordinary, would, we are con-
fident, be eventually far more beneficial to the
nation than the trifling, and we cannot but think
unwise, reduction about. to take place—it would
enable us on any sudden emergency—and who
can tell how soon such may arise—to man a
considerable fleet at a few hours' notice, without
having recourse either to the exceptionable and
often cruel system of impressment, or the more
expensive and more precarious one of recruiting.
The elements of discord are fermenting through-
out the world, and he must be bold indeed who
would venture to assign the period of explosion;
but it must be sufficiently evident that a wise
nation should be ever prepared, and never liable
to be taken by surprise. The legitimate strength
of an insular nation is her navy : her outworks
and her bastions should be on the bosom of the
deep, her wooden walls shouli be ever fully
manned, and her utmost vigilance exerted to
preserve their strength unimpaired. Whatever
reductions, therefore, may be deemed advisable
in other departments, that of the navy, and of
the Ordinary, as a nursery for the navy, should
be rather augmented than diminished.—Ply-
mouth Journal.

About nine weeks since, a child of Air. JOHN
WEBB, at Trowbridge, was attacked with a complaint
which was thought to be the croup ; and the usual re-
medies—as blistering, leeching, &r. were resorted to.
Still the child became worsc—for which, however, a pretty
substantial reason can be assigned. On a minute exa-
minatiun of the throat, a hard substance was discovered,
which was speedily extracted, and proved to be "neither
more nor less " than a wooden cup and saucer, such as
children play with, and which measured an inch and
3-16ths in diameter. Strange to say, these extraneous
substances had been lodging in the throat of the child far
eight weeks and three days!