The Sun.
London, England, 1830-11-27 00:00:00

alarming progress in spite of all the endeavotlri to counter-
act the mirages of time, end of the maladies peculiar to
‘vooden fabrics neglect, favouritism, and that
(tinker of the brut, Which ativd from intioiten iervices
have damped the spirit and quenched the fiery iroi of the
old warrior of the oce in.

Neither of these assertions are tram in every sense.
The Navy is perhaps in as high a condition, with reelect
to its wooden walls, as it ever was in any part of the
struggle of the last eventful year* of war. The ships now
existing are genertilly in good repair, and the greatest
attention is paid to their gate and Condition. They are
generally superior in liirm anal qualities to the generality
of those, which we have posiliteseal in dny part Of the late
war. But the Mieforttitie of the British Navy i., that
our hostile rivals no longer haVige:e the settle class of
,hips and avoids tat which we have been hitherto op.
posed. The march of improveisent has made the most
rapid strides. The models we have copied are models of
from fifty to sixty years standing; others have been esta-
blished by the French and North Americans with all the
improvement* that experience and skill could suggest ;
and although in the congregated struggle of opposing
fleets, and under certain aspects of trind anal weather, no
doubt can he entertained, under a favouring Providence,
of the glorious results of British skill and Ilti•
rich intrepidity, yet it iv impossible to imagine
that the result would be equally the same in the battles of
detail where single ships may struggle fur the mastery,
when the most consummate heroic devotion, the most
practised skill, must find itself unequal to the overwhelm.
tog superiority of material force.
That those who have been the directors of our naval ad
ministration herniate in some way sensible of the fact, may
be supposed by the present attempt to increase the mate-
rial force of some of our finest ships, by changing an ar-
mament perfectly adapted to their sizes, qualities, and ca-
pacities, for one which, by its overwhelming weight, will
alestr4 the good effects of all the few improvements made
in these particulars on former occasions, and will infal-
libly introduce again all the vices which had been so slowly
and so reluctantly remedied in the qualities of our vessels.
Deeply sensible of all the..defects already hinted at, and
despairing of any change in the system of the last fifteen
years, 1 had, iu my hours of regret for the deficiencies of
a profession which I have long respected and loved, often
looked to the prominent Members of the late Opposition
in Parliament, to discover if there was any one who, on
being made acquainted with, and feeling a conviction of
the deficiencies here noted, would, with a persuasive and
convincing eloquence, have enforced on the minds of the
nautical executive the necessity of some change in the eys-
tent of the various departinents of the naval administra-
tion—one who would, from patriotic motives devoid of all
factious principles, have endeavoured to ameliorate, whit
I am convinced it would be productive of national disgrace
to continue.

It wait on Sir James Graham that my wishes rested.
It was Sir James, who in the last Session of Parliament
sholed such talent and moderation, that I con►idered was
the gifted personage who might have brought conviction
to the minds of the high °Meets and members of the late
naval administration, and would thereby have added
greatly to the effects of the professional talent, the a-al, and
the ewe/trying application they have been long known to
possess. It was on the Hon. Member for Cumberland
that my hopes rested, for working salutery changes in the
systems followed by the late naval administration, had it
contimml. But an entire change has been effected, and it
cannot be, therefore, but with the greatest satisfaction, as
such change was to he made, although with as much un-
expected surprise as p'easure, that I have observed his name
at the head of the new Admiralty Board.
To this talented personage a brilli ant career is opened.
He is at the head of the most important service of the
country—one that until latter days has been always most
congenial to the national taste, and interwoven with its
habits and constitutional principles. He possesses high
independence, unshackled by political ties, and is not
enveloped in - the entanglement and mystification of
Parliamentary influence; prejudice to old habits and old
customs, merely beceu•e they are old, must with his
judgment be entirely neutralised; and gond sense will
teach him, that there is no disgrace in copying from an
enemy, that which may carry the stamp of improvement
and perfection with it. The state, quality, and condi.
Lion of the ships, as well as of the whole material of our
Navy, amongst other matters, must be taken into consi. ,
deration, and some deviation from old lish4x mu►t be
made, as far as economy will permit. I dwell on this as
the most important consideration, because with good tools
any thing may be accomplished by a skilful workman,—
with had ones the art of the most talented may be rendered
invalid.

There is, however, another most important branch of
the profession to be brought tinder consideration. It is
the whole persopsul of the Navy. I ellusie not to the abi-
lity, the seal, and devotion it contains, for that is un-
questionable...but it is to the abuses that have crept into
every department of it by the working of borough influ-
ence and faveuritism ; and the making of the Navy, not n
professional establishment for the defence of the country
and the guarding of its commerce, but for the gratifying
the corrupt and mercenary views of unprincipled borough
voters. It is this misery which has crowded our lists and
will be productive of the most inconvenient consequences
hereafter. It is this which has brought the inexperienced
youth into play, while the grey hairs of experience have
lingered in forgetfulness. It is this which has filled the.
clausal of our officers with a superflunus quantity of youth-
ful blood, to fight, as they say, future battles; when
there were individuals in sufficient numbers, in the flower
of their age, who in the course of nature would vigorously
support the British flag for many years yet to come, al-
though they might have done their deeds of peril and of
battle ere tl.e last revolutionary struggle was quelled.
To support their talented Chief et the Naval Board, I
contratulate the country in observing that our beloved and
popular King has considered that the naval profession was
alone sufficient to furnish counsellors for his fleet. Who
can object to see the friend, the companion, and the adviser
of the immortal Nelson presiding at what is considered as
the naval part of the Admiralty? lie was the legacy left
us at the glorious day of Trafalgar ; and it is universally
known and acknowledged that no one is better versed in all
the essential duties of an officer and seaman. That he is
also adapted for filling other of the various duties
that a British naval officer is called on to perform,
he has himself shewn in the manner in which
he represented the government of his country on
the coast of the Pacific Ocean, amidst the clash
of contending interests during the struggles fur national
independence amongst the Spanish colonists. Admiral
Dundas, less known in the service, may yet be well
Adapted for that portion of detail usually allotted to the
second Naval Lord. In the junior members of the ad-
miralty, we hare great source of congratulation in finding
an old experienced frigate officer universally acknowledged
to be one of the best in the 'service, bringing his talents to
the benefit of the professional administration, in the place''
of a young subaltern of the army, or a civilian just eman-
cipated from college. And in the junior Lord the service
will be gratified in seeing an officer, though younger in
experience, yet a relative of one of the old veterans of the
first American war, who fought nobly against the well-
organised threto of Louis XVI.
Nov. 26, 1830. VE VICTIS

We understand the court Journal of to-
morrow will contain, among a great variety of original
and entertaining fashionable and political matter, a curious
and striking parallel between the public lives and exploits
of the Duke of WELLING -rots and the Duke of itimmno-
!Lomat I AU article on Lord BROUGHAM ; and a descrip-
tion of the lste King's Templer, &c. at Virginia Water.

The Peterborough election took place on
Wednesday. Mr. FATAKIRLY, the late patriotic Mem-
ber for Lincoln, was returned without opposition. In
about an hour afterwards he started fur London.--
Drakard's Stamford Weirs.

LORD MUTON.—This Noble Lord having
for the present resolved to retire from public life, has
cated his seat for Peterborough, and named Mr. FAZA-
-IINALIT to succeed him. Ms Lordship's chief reason far
this step is stated to be an anxious desire to superintend the
education of the numerous family, which his late amiable
lady, on her death-bed, commended to his personal care:;
and the Noble Lord is too good a father to neglect so gcl-
limn an injunction. We have also beard other reasons
assigned. It is said, that the venerable Earl Frrzwattat
is to have a Alarquisate ; and that Lanillfaros expects
to be called to the Peerage in his father's lifetime. Tbfa
we do not believe. Earl FITZWILLIAIt has attained too
great an age to render additional rank desirable or cot
venient. He has, in fact, fallen into dotage; end this
circumstance, as well as the motive above assigned, renders
Lord MILTON', prellenee at home a matter of prudence.
Wc agree with one of our contemporaries, who lauds
Lord Itlttams us s public man, that " at this juncture wiS
can 11l 'spare intelligent and independent'services; hut we
cannot, in any view of the case, agree with the Mingo
in considering " even the Noble Lord's temporary retire"went a national tnisfortutie." Personal purity and hide.
pendenre we cheerfullyawarti.him;` lu some'Other respects
a sense of duty leads us to censure rather than praise--
Levi, littellivncere