The Sun.
London, England, 1839-02-14 00:00:00

NATIONAL CONVENTION.
(YESTERDAY.)

-
Mr. ROGERS in the chair. The usual Secretary was ap-
pointed, who read the minutes, and called over the names
of the members.

RULES AND REGULATIONS COMMITTEE.
Mr. COBBETT, in answer to the Secretary's question,
said that the Report of the Committee was not yet ready.
Mr. PITKEMILEY begged the attention of the gentle-
men who composed that Committee to the great necessity
of a fpeedy Report.
Dr. FLETCHER said that they were quite in the dark as
to their powers. The delay arose from want of knowledge
as to the extent of their control.
N:)TICES OF MOTIONS.
Mr. COBBETT gave in one. That " the name of this
Convention be called the General Convention of the Dele-
gates of the Working Classes."
Mr. F. O'CONNOR gave one to the purport of adding
to the Petition Committee an instruction that Mr. Thomas
Attwood and Mr. Fielden be requested to present petitions
of the Chartists.

AUDITING THE ACCOUNTS.
Mr. F. O'Cos:voa, in proposing- this resolution for the
adoption of the Convention, felt it was unnecessary that
he should say anything in support of it, as they must be
aware that the loose manner in which the accounts of the
pubic bodies were regulated, was often a source of great
dissatisfaction. In order that this should be obviated in
our case he felt it necessary to bring forward the present
resolution. It would be just to the people at large that an
exact account should be rendered of the monies which
they had subscribed. He thought that Monday, being the
day of Supply, would of course be the most convenient day
for the Finance Committee.
Mr. WROE seconded the resolution.
Atter a few words from Mr. DocoLas, it passed.
The resolution was to the effect, "That the Finance Com-
mittee be requested to report every Monday on the state of
the Treasury."
Mr. RICHARDSON read a letter from one of his constitu-
ents enclosing five pounds.
REV. MR. STEPHENS.

Mr. FEArRGUS O'CONNOR was most anxious that an oppor-
tunity of stating the case of the Rev. Gentleman should be
given him ; however, as it seemed to be the opinion of the
friends of that gentleman that it would be improper at this
time to introduce any discussion on the subject, what-
ever his own opinion was, he withdrew the motion on the
suggestion of the friends of that gentleman, and while he
did so—

Mr. Alderman HADLEY begged to know from Mr.
O'Conner if, after his declaration to the contrary he in-
tended to make a speech ? If so he must say it was a mode
of proceeding quite irregular.
MR. O'CONNOR said that he would not take up the time
of the Convention by making a speech, but he, in expla-
nation of the reason of his withdrawing the resolution,
w shed to say a few words ; as this -was not wished, he
simply begged leave to withdraw the motion of which he
had given notice.—Motion withdrawn.
Me. O'BRIEN brought forward a resolution, of which
he had given notice in course, " To the effect that this
Convention request an interview with The House of
Commons on the 23d of February, in the Crown and
Anchor Tavern, for the purpose of disabusing the minds
of the gentlemen of that House of any bad opinion they
may have taken up with regard to the principles of the
Chartists, and to give them every information as to the ob-
jects for which we have assembled."
Mr. B. O'Brien spoke for a long time in his usual strain
on the grievances of the working classes, and on the want
of knowledge of the legislature on this subject, which
proved the necessity for the interview.
Mr. COLLINS, on seconding the resolution, said that after
the very eloquent address which they had heard,
it would not be necessary for bim to say much in
its support, as the necessity for this meeting was made
so evident by Mr. O'Brien. It would not become him to
take up their time with the introduction of anything to
show its tendency to promote in the minds of the House of
Commons a feeling different from what they have at pre-
sent with regard to our principles, but he could not help
saying that, according to the old saying, that to gain a
cause,. it was not only necessary that yourself should be
right, but also that those who opposed you should be wrong.
Is it not therefore right that we should take away from the
gentlemen of the House of Commons any bad impressions
they may have been led to take up from the disjointed and
false accounts of our opinions and principles, which are set
before the public by those who are our enemies, and who
leave nothing undone to make us appear what we are not.
We must tell these gentlemen if the intercourse is given,
that we are not so poor as they think, nor are we as igno-
rant as they imagine. We can prove to them, by the
production of the report of the Hand-loom Commissioners,
a commission which had been appointed by the Govern-
ment, that the poor are as well ordered, as rtligious, as are
those classes which are above them ; indeed, before that
commission it was proved satisfactorily that in Scotland the
hand-loom weavers, who, to support their numerous
families, had only ss. 6d. per week. were the most re-
ligious and moral of the country ; and that it was from
that body that the deacons and church-officers were chosen.
Such was their piety and strict morality. In regard to
the want of knowledge attributed to the working classes,
how could it be otherwise, when the system of which they
complained compelled the poor people to a line of conduct
which preventei them from giving an education to their
children ? Is it not in evidence before the Factory Com-
mission that children have been worked at the early age of
five- and-a-half years? How, therefore. can those be educated
who have scarcely escaped from the cradle, when they
must mount the platform of the factory. Indeed it was
told him by a schoolmaster that in a particular part of the
country some philan►hrophical individuals undertook to get
up an evening school ; but the children attending the
school, instead of learning their lessons, were from ex-
treme fatigue always asleep. In conclusion he impressed
on them, for the sake of their principles, to consider their
poiition, and by their vote give an opportunity of the
House of Commons being tested.

Dr. FIE rcuErt said; with regard to the torch-light meet-
ings, of which so much had been said here and elsewhere,
from necessity alone were these meetings held. Unless
they were held by torch-light they could not be held at all,
for the state of the people was such that from fear of their
employers, and from their necessities, they were unable to
devote any other time to those meetings but that which
was given to them for their natural rest. It was not, as
was said, for the purpose of intimidating the timorous ; it
was not for the purpose of producing a solemn effect on the
minds of the public, although it might have that effect,
that they were held by torch-light. With regard to that
which had been held at Bury, and of which he (the spea-
ker) was Chairman, nothing could be more peaceable;
and although it was deemed of sufficient importance to claim
the notice of the Government, who sent down to Manchester
one of the Under-Secretaries (Mr. Phillips), as was un-
derstood, to confer with the Magistrates after it was over,
yet nothing could be elicited, to claim for it a title to
illegality. The Bury Magistrates, upon whom I waited
before the meeting, had such reliance on me and on the
people, that they refused to swear in special constables,
although requested to do so by some of the shopkeepers
of the town, and on the inquiry which took place at Man-
chester afterwards " the constable of Bury"—and mind,
gentlemen, when I tell you that there is but ONE constable
in that town, does it not prove that, although in the very
heart of the manufacturing districts, that it is a peaceable
and well-regulated communit3 ?—well, this constable on
his oath, says that the meeting was of the most orderly
and peaceable description. Nothing that he could see in
it tended to a breach of the peace.—( Hear, hear.)
And while I am on this subject, may I be permitted to say
for myself, in answer to some remarks in the London
Press—." That it was unwise to hold that meeting after
the publication of Lord John Russell's letter." I did not
deem that letter of such importance as to prevent us ex-
erting a constitutional right ; it was not law, and could
not bind us ?—(" Hear," and cheers.) We met for the
purpose of petitioning against grievances.—( Hear.)

yv
The disproportion in the number of Lieutenants and
Midshipmen has since been partially remedied ; the
Mates, &c., having been reduced from 38 to '29, or in
a ratio of five and a half candidates for one
vacancy. But the continuance of this lesser disparity
is equally impolitic and inhuman ; impolitic, as it en-
tails on the country an annuity to officers who cannot
be employed ; and, inhuman, as it deprives those who
are employed, of all fair chance of promotion. The
presence of so many young officers is not required, and
the Admiralty is often shamed into the promotion of
one, whose claims of long service, cannot be overlooked,
but who, either from age or disgust, is useless as a
Lieutenant. Surely to admit fifty or sixty Mids, into a
flag ship, and some thirty into a frigate, as even is now
occasionally done, is inflicting a serious injury on the pro-
fession generally, as no demand for officers can keep pace
with such profuse admissions, and thus the promotion of
the greater number, becomes a lottery, in which there are
far too many blanks to a prize. What situation can be
more deplorable than that of a Mate (passed Midship-
man) of 30 to 40 years of age, who possibly entered before
his Captain was born, depressed by neglect, dejected in
countenance, and sick at heart with hope long deferred ?
The nature of their prospects will be better understood
when I state that there are nearly seven hundred Mates,
and less than four hundred Lieutenants on full pay in
the navy. What can be more unjust than to throw a
Midshipman, who has served several years, destitute on
his friends—alas ! perhaps he has no friends—because
he has not interest enough to obtain another ship ?
Unfitted for any other pursuit, he is frequently driven
to some menial employment. In two of the passages
which I have made across the Atlantic, the cook of
one vessel and the steward of the other, assured me
that they bad served as Midshipmen and were dis-
charged at the peace? Is it not then criminal in a
parent, who is without the pale of patronage, to launch
his child, ere he is old enough to know the consequences,
on the troubled sea of so uncertain and so ungrateful
a profession ? By the present system no young man,
however transcendent his merit, without powerful interest
or extreme good fortune, can reasonably hope to attain
higher rank than that of a Lieutenant ; and few, so
situated, attain that rank until they have served nearly
twenty years, and are above thirty. The inequality I
have described causes such an excess of half-pay officers
that, exclusive of a host of Masters, Surgeons, and Pur-
sers, they are now numerically sufficient to man, with the
usual complement of Marines, nearly eight sail of the
line. And why this inequality, unless to satisfy the
cravings of patronage, and to increase and perpetuate
the half-pay list? In all regiments, with the exception
of those in India, there are only two Subalterns to one
Captain ; and notwithstanding the many steps that the
Subaltern, who cannot purchase, gains by the purchase
of his seniors, he seldom obtains his company under a
sevice of twenty years. And yet a regiment has to
furnish many more guards and detachments than a ship
of the line, but in the army a sergeant performs duty,
which in the Navy should be entrusted to a petty officer
of similar rank.
Another cause of the cruel excess of Naval officers is

Having mentioned that I have inspected many ships
of war, from the huge three-decker to the tiny gun-
boat, I shall briefly describe a visit to a French frigate
and to an American corvette while lying in the harbour
of Rio de Janeiro—the former was a double banker,
carrying 62 guns, 32-pounders, with nearly .500 men,
and a most powerful ship. I expected to see the crew
at quarters, as in our Navy, but on getting on board our
party found every man armed and equipped as a sol-
dier, and drawn up in companies, which soon after
marched round the spar deck in slow and
quick time., with a band of music, exactly as a
regiment on parade, but it being the Sabbath they
were not further exercised. Having inadvertently
placed ourselves nearest to the rear rank men as they
marched, I was amused at the Captain calling us at
once to the opposite side, that we might better see the
front rank, or tallest men ; but it gratified me to ob-
serve that they had not the size, or muscular powers, or
manly bearing of British seamen—in fact, they looked
like landsmen. Notwithstanding, I fear that in the
event of another war, the French Navy will give us
mbre trouble than in the last, as, having comparatively
fewer officers, they are constantly employed, and have
gained experience, while promotion is more justly
distributed among them. I was also one of another
party of English gentlemen, who visited the cor-
vette, by appointment with the American Consul. On
stepping on board, we were received by the Captain, a
perfect gentleman in manners and appearance ; and a
small band complimented us by playing our national an-
them. The Captain showed us over the ship, which
mounted 24 guns, with a crew of 198 men. What
struck me most was the beauty of her deck, constructed
as it was, of unusually narrow planks, of close grain and
great length. While we were partaking of some refresh-
' ment provided by the Captain, I asked him how the
Midshipmen were promoted—he replied, by seniority,
and stated the following instance in proof, to have re-
cently occurred :—A Mid was passed over in his turn,
and on his applying to the Secretary of the Navy, he
was told, that he had forfeited his promotion. Unable
to obtain redress, he petitioned the Senate, and Mr. Se-
cretary was directed either to promote him, or
to try him by a Court Martial, but he preferred the
former alternative. If an English Middy, who
had long seen his juniors promoted over him,
were bold enough to kick against the pricks, and to ap-
peal from the Admiralty to Parliament, how different
would be his lot. I have more than once used the ta-
lismanic word " Interest," that expressive term, whose
workings are every day seen and felt in the Navy ; but
alas ! it gives no zest to bravery, and too often serves
as a cloak to cowardice. It is well known that two or
three three Captain's of Howe's fleet showed an evident dis-
inclination to share in the dangers of the memorable
fights of the 29th of May, and Ist of June, and yet in-
terest not only made Admirals of these men, but gave
them titles and commands. A very gallant and severely
wounded officer, now a Captain, has told me that while
serving as a Mid in a crack frigate during the
war, a brother Mid
*recommended his taking
his place in the boats, when employed on a
cutting-out expedition, observing that he had interest,
and was certain of being made, while my friend had no
interest, and success might give him promotion. It is
by such sinister means that the finest Navy may at
length be paralyzed and undone.
I am trespassing en your columns, but permit me to
inquire, through you, the object of building so many
36-gun frigates, as none of my Naval friends can inform
They are much too small to cope singly with a
French double-banker, and much too large for the
largest American corvette. I can understand the
utility of a few 28-gun frigates for Channel and
North Sea winter service, but to construct ships,
and very expensive ships, of a class which I
believe no other power possesses, appears to me as
fatuous as continuing to build 46-gun frigates after the
last American war ; the experience of that war was
dearly purchased, and it should not now be lost.
In conclusion, I would add, that as the Naval service
is fraught with so many trials and privations, so should
it meet with corresponding encouragement—that as re-
ward is the parent of zeal, so should they who labour at
the oar not toil in vain—and that, as all equally share in
the dangers, so should there be a more equal distribu-
tion of the few pleasures. Extend to both officers and
seamen the most common rights of justice and humanity,
and Britain will quickly possess a fleet, such as becomes
her insular position, and such as will enable her to defy
the enmity of the world. France and Russia may build
ships, but they cannot man them with British crews.
Unhappily, however, these brave men, the terror
of their enemies abroad, cannot overcome the cor-
rupt influence of patronage, their cruel enemy at
home. In the vast expanse of the Ocean, the officer
without interest, sees no land of promise ; to biro the
vista of advancement is dim indeed, and hope cheers
not the tedium of his midnight watch ; he is kept in con-
tinual dependance on the favour or the frown of power ;
merit is shorn of its fair claim, and many a gallant
Nelson wastes energies in some subordinate capacity
until his noble spirit breaks, and he sinks unheeded and
unknown into the deep waters of oblivion.
Should this long letter be the means of checking the
admission of one Volunteer, or of shortening the proba-
tion of even one Mate, it will amply repay me, as my
only object in writing it is the public good. Thank.
Heaven, I am independent, alike of patronage and of

GAME FROM AMERICA.—Our great wonder
has been productive of numerous small wonders, amongst others,
several of the citizens of Bristol have had upon then tables a brae;.
of quails from America, quite fresh, and every way in good con.'
dition. The birds were shot by Mr. G. Masready, surgeon to tl *
Great IVesterti, the day before he left New York.—Bristol Atir4