The Sun.
London, England, 1863-01-31 00:00:00

The Weather.—Sun Office, Jan. 31, 1863.

THERMOMETER.
ilightlst since Noon yesterday
Lowest during the night
This day at Noon~
Barometer-29.41.
Wind—West ; moderate, with light but continuous rain.
Barometer still falling, and every prospect of wet weather.

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.
THIS DA.T.--Morning, 12h. 3m.—Afternoon, h. m
To-mortitow.-Morning, 12h. 39m.—Afternoon, lh. 2m

:„„rmikkok:. -eor 'lo_o 4- )

LONDON, SATURDAY, JANUARY 31, 1863.

Thursday's sitting in the French Senate closed,
as must have been remarked already, upon the
brief intimation of the Telegram, with the passing
of the seventh paragraph of the Address. Passed,
eventually, nem. con., that is to say, fully and un-
conditionally, the seventh paragraph was—though it
was only accepted, however, after a very lively and
entertaining discussion. Opened, as the sitting was,
by a Speech from the Tribune, delivered by Baron
DUPIN, the half dozen preliminary paragraphs of
the Address were agreed to rapidly—the
first five in a batch, the sixth after the Marquis DE
BoissY had been allowed to make as ridiculous a
display of his absurdities as ever yet—(thanks to
that French SIETHORP and O'DONOGHUE rolled into
one !)—moved the Senate to laughter. The perora-
tion of this preposterous speech—coming so
opportunely as it does immediately after the
magnanimous tribute paid by the EMPEROR
to the Freedom of our..political institutions !
the utterly ludicrous close of this perfectly nonsen-
sical address is of its kind so eminently extravagant
in its impotent spitefulness, that it is really worth
for one mordent glancing at. "I detest Revolu-
tion," exclaimed the Marquis DE BUFFOON, we beg
pardon, DE BOISSY--" but I love it, I desire it, in
England." Whorcac. Liao Scnato—and no wonder—
laughed, as Lord FOFFiNGTON would say, " con-
sumedly." Undaunted by which derisive
plaudits the Marquis DE 33u— DE BOISSY
adds, "If England encourages the revolution
on all hands, elsewhere, it is that she may
not experience it herselt. But"—(Dr. CUMMING
had better look to the stability of his tripod as
a Prophet, for M. DE BoISSY a la parole]—
" thanks to the Volunteers, she (that is England)
will have it (the;revolution) presently : and that,"
cries out the orator, in a kind of anticipative
ecstasy, "that, verily, will be to me a day of in-
expressible happiness !" (Murmurs and laughter)
is the note appended to this by the French
reporter. Such is the response of the Imperial
Senate to the appeal thus made to their passions
by this THERSITES of the Gallic aristocracy.
The seventh paragraph—after the quiet pass-
ing of the half-dozen preceding it—then came,
as already intimated, somewhat more formally
under discussion in the Senate. M. THOUVENEL
opening the debate, M. BILLAULT closed it, and
closed it most effectively. Between the ex-Minister
(for Foreign Affairs) and the actual Minister (with-
out portfolio) there were but two Senators, it is true,
who took part in the discussion in any way of the,
terms of this paragraph. General GEMEAU being
one—the other being the Marquis DE LA ROCHJA-
QUELEIN. But among the four orators we have men-
tioned as much was said as was in any respect
-worth being said or listened to under the circum-
Stances.

As in last session, here in England, it was an
understood thing that the year was to be allowed
to pass
with common consent among the politi-
cal parties in the Lords and Commons, without any
serious contest whatever—so precisely is it, that the
present juncture seems to be recognised as a do-noth-
ing period in reference to what is only too familiarly
known all over Europe as the Roman Question.
France, Italy, the Papacy, all seem to recognise
almost with a sense of relief—after so long and
keenly sustained, and hitherto so utterly fruitless, a
discussion—that the present epoch is one to be tided
through, in regard to that question, in silence,
almost with seeming forgetfulness and indif-
ference. Yet Italy longs so for Rome as her
political metropolis ! While the Papacy is so re-
solutely determined never voluntarily to
resign its
possession of the Eternal City as the see
of PETER, as the capital of its spiritual dominion,
and, more than that, as the chief
city of the
dwindled State of the Papa.Re! France mean-
while standing—armed to the teeth--clamb and in-
scrutable in her policy (in spite of all M. BILLAULT'S
enigmatical explanations)—between these two con-
fronting and antagonistic forces This being the
situafson—as it has been any time these four or five
years past—France, Italy, the Papacy, readily agree
for a while to drop the discussion of the matter for
An interval. " Let me," says M. BILLAULT, the

Minister, in the course of his very remarkable 1
speech to the Senate on Thursday, " Let me be
allowed here to characterise the point at which
we have arrived, by pronouncing a phrase often
used in this debate. The non possumus that
we found at Rome, we now find at Turin.
(Great applause.) Well, then, in presence of the
political non possumus of Turin, as well as of
the religious non possumus of Rome, the ENt-
PEROR has said ' Between those two extremes
there is a middle term of conciliation possible.
I wish to find it, and if the time has not come
to make it prevail, I will wait.' (Fresh applause.)''
In silence there is sometimes an eloquence. And it
is certainly noticeable, in this way, that during the
coarse of the discussion in the Senate at Thursday's
sitting, and more especially upon the matter of that
seventh paragraph relating to the Roman Question,
the Prince NAPOLEON did not attempt to open his
lips from the Tribune. By universal consent the pre-
sent interval is accepted as one of repose and postpone-
ment in regard to that Roman Question. And so
—without any momentary show whatever of
opposition or disagreement from any quarter, from
the lips of even one isolated individual—the seventh
paragraph was adopted.

As the time for the meeting of Parliament draws
near, various symptoms indicate a certain uneasiness
in official quarters to bespeak public favour as to
the doings of those in power. Not that coming
events cast their shadows before so much, as to
bespeak the virtue of good intentions. So it is
with those members of Parliament who are anxious
to show off before their constituents just in time to
be too late. Nor is this the case with what is called
private members, but with public ones also. Hence
the promising display about what would have been
done but for many untoward circumstances which
were altogether unexpected,—just as such and such
" a great gun" was preparing to be fired off. So
that a good excuse was deemed better than nothing,
and the frank speaker walked off laughing in his
sleeve at his too credulous constituents.

The heavy burden of taxation is sure to find an
echo in every appeal to public attention—and for
the last few years with better reason than ever.
The army—the navy—civil and other departments
with more denominations, than any distinguishing
mark of utility to recommend them, to tend all to
swell up the enormous amount—and last, but most
uncivil of all, comes the iniquitous Income tax.
And how is the fathomless expenditure accounted
for ? By figures—figures—figures—drilled in
columns like so many files of soldiers drawn
up on parade, but explaining nothing—save that
they make a fine show.

Now we all like a good show, but would rather
see more and pay less ; not that we grudge to pay
a fair price for a good article, but we don't like to
pay for what we don't get. A splendid body of
soldiers looks imposing on a field day, but a noble
ship of war, proudly sailing before the breeze, is a
still more imposing and magnificent epectacle—

" Walking the waters like a thing of life."

That ship is well worth her money, exclaim ad-
miring thousands. We glory in our navy, and so
we ought, for that is oar true safeguard. But of
late years, nay, from time immemorial, our navy
has cost us yearly more than double the value re-
ceived for our money ; for, what with never-ending
orders from the Admiralty,orders and counter orders
to the dockyards—one surveyor having a fancy for
building a ship after this fashion, and his successor
being of a different opinion, alters this and changes
that, until a third condemns the toy, for his own
particular satisfaction! Thus, labour, materials,
and time are all wasted. Hence the abuses in our
Royal dockyards.
We remember that some time ago the present
noble Secretary to the Admiralty, Lord CLARENCE
PAGET, made a great sensation in the House about
the necessity of naval reform. The noble lord was
then in opposition—for there is never any need for
reform when in office—then all runs smooth and
sweet; but to rouse attention, he charged those in
power with having smuggled away something like
five millions of the public money ! It was not how
the money went, in the navy, but the enormous
amount that staggered the good economists in the
House, for all knew that a great deal of the money
voted for the navy went to the bottom. Not so
always, for Lord CLARENCE tried to prove that not
a smalL pnrtinn samptimes went aloft. There was
a fine frigate, said he, that was begun by one offi-
cial, altered by another, cut in two and lengthened,
then she was considered too long, for no dock could
, take her in, and finally she disappeared altogether,
the noble lord consoling the house by supposing
that she went to a better place !

But we are getting wiser now, if we may judge
by the papers, for we read of a ship just come
" above board " to the surprise of some, and the sor-
row of many. How she kept so long at sea, without
having gone to sea at all, is the wonder—but so it
is. The Active, frigate, of 40 guns, is that ship ;
her services by no means correspond with her name.
She was built some 18 years ago at Chatham, and
at Chatham she still remains ! Not on the stocks
—but afloat. When launched, she was considered
to be one of the " crack" ships of her class, but was
never sent to sea. Now, this is a sample of how
they do it in the dockyards. And, if the reason is
asked, the cool answer is, " nobody knows." No
wonder the Naval Estimates are so heavy. The
Nelson, a fine three-decker, of 120 guns, was some
thirty years on the stocks; and, when launched,
was afterwards reduced to a two-decker, and she
has never yet been to sea ! Her cost, taking
the interest of the money into account,
is something about a million and a half
without her having fired a shot in honour of the
immortal hero whose name she bears. This is how
the money goes! But yet the board remains. The
board never dies, be the party-colour red, white, or
stake.
blue—it is all one—one " systemo—and no mi

Well, it may be asked, why build another ship of
the line or frigate without having first tested the
merits of those already and so recently built ? Why
encumber the dockyards or harbours with new ves-
sels, and still persist in building more of the very
same class, only to be set asideswe hTenhefiynidsohnedo,t thusadding to accummulated expen •
com-
mit such ruinous folly in the merchant service,
simply because they could not afford it. No, nor
would the county afford it either if proper inquiry
were regularly made into the
" system''—another
term used to cover a multitude of vague generali-
ties, for which no one is ever to blame, because no
one is made responsible. If fault be found, or any
particular mistake be discovered, it is not com-
mitted in this department, nor in that, nor
even in the other, so that inquiry may go
on from the lower deck to the masthead
of official responsibility ; and who dare question the
I First Lord ?—an officer as irresponsible as President i
1
I LINCOLN, though, perhaps, not quite so ready to
k take the whole Staff under the protection of his
loffice, being rather fearful lest ugly questions be
asked by the "other side."

But a change of party will not mend the matter

--at least experience has not yet proved that a
change has produced any alteration in the "Sys-
tem." New brooms cannot sweep clean in the
Dockyards, because the dust blinds the patronage,