The Sun.
London, England, 1837-05-16 00:00:00

NAVAL LIEUTENANTS.

(From the Devonport Independent.)
The following petition was agreed to and signed by 661
Lieutenants during the last month. Our ever active towns-
man, Lieutenant Somerville, corresponded on the subject
midi Earl Minto and the Members for the Borough, forci-
bly arguing the claims of his veteran brethren. In his letter
to Sir Edward Codrington, Mr. S. remarks that, " In reply
to Naval Memorials of former days officers were told, as a
reason why their pay was so small, that they received large
sums as prize-money, their widows pensions, their sons gra-
tuitous education at the Naval College, their daughters the
Compassionate Fund, themselves half-pay, and Sure pro-
motion if they served. With the case as it now stands you
arc, most likely, better acquainted than myself ; and all
must admit that it is the duty of a wise Government to en-
deavour to remove the source of all heart-burnings or an-
noyances, and that nothing tends more to the strength and
efficiency of any service than a persevering endeavour to
instil into its relative parts confidence and self-esteem :
witness the speeches made and orders given, in every age
of the world, by Commanders-in-Chief, before and after
battle, &c."

The following were received from Sir Edward Cod-

rington :

Eaton-square, Ist May, 1837.

Dear Sir—l enclose a copy of the letter with which I
transmitted the petition and the letter from you to Lord
Minto. Overwhelmed as I am with claims upon my pen
and my time, I trust you will not require any observations
on your letter received this morning.
Very truly your's,
Lieut. Somerville.

E. CODRINGTON.
Eaton-square, Ist May, 1837.
My Lord—The accompanying petition has been con.:
fided to me for presentation to your Lordship by 661 indi-
viduals of that very important and meritorious class of my
profession, the Lieutenants of his Majesty's Navy. And
with the view I have of the policy, as well as the justice
of giving due encouragement to those who have shown,
and are ready to show again, whenever necessary, their
willingness to sacrifice their lives in the performance of
their duty to the country, I beg leave, with all due respect,
to implore your Lordship's benevolent consideration of the
boon they ask.
I have the honour to be,
Your Lordships very obedient Servant,
(Signed) EDWARD CODRINGTON.
The Earl of Minto, G.C.8., &c.
TO THE KING'S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY.
The humble petition of the undersigned Lieutenants of
your Majesty's Fleet, humbly sheweth,

That your Majesty's humble petitioners approach your
gracious person with sentiments of the most profound duty
and respect, in the hope and confidence that your Majesty
will be graciously pleased to grant a favourable considera-
tion to the humble prayer herein set forth.
Your Majesty's petitioners beg most humbly to bring
under your gracious notice the very peculiar state of
.the
list of Lieutenants, as far as it affects their seniority for,
Half-pay, with its increase. Your Majesty's petitioners, to
make their prayer more clear, would briefly advert to the
regulations for the payment of the three classes. The 182
Retired Commanders, under your Majesty's Order in Coun-
cil of the Ist Nov. 1830, and first 118 Lieutenants, receive
7s. per diem ; the next 700 have 6s. ; and the remainder
ss. At the close of the war, when this scale was established,
officers who then came within the first class had not more
than 20 years' rank, and the second chili on!y 10 years ;
since that period every year has shown a consideraVe
disparity between the number of years servitude in
the relative classes, which (they humbly
_conclude)
was then taken as a criterion for forming the present
scale : that disparity has gone on increasing, and 40 A' an
Officer must have held his rank 33 years to be placed on
,the 7s. list, and 25 years to be placed on the 6s. list—the
last being senior to those who were originnily place:l on the
7s. list ; and a large proportion of Officers of 20 years'
rank, can have little hnpes•of even reaching •the 65. list
in a less period of time,. as Lieutenants, than the Officers
who filled the last vacancy on the 7s. list—viz., 33 years ;
consequently, the great majority of this class of your Ma-
j,,sty's Petitioners must despair of ever living to attain the
is. list. In humbly soliciting your Majesty's notice of the
working, of this scale of Ilaif-pay, your Majesty's Peti-
tioners'have done so with a view to facilitate the object of
their prayer, which is to implore your Majzsty to grant
them relief, by removing from the Half-pay List of Lieu-
tenants those Officers who, from having been promoted to
:t. superior rank, as." Commanders, under your Majesty's
Order in Council, no longer belong to their body, are
nominally a separate List, but are,. notwithstanding,
still included in the number of 300 Lieutenants entitled to
7s. per diem. Your Majesty's Petitioners humbly observe
that they believe this retired rank to be the only one in
your Majesty's Service not placed on a separate List for•
Half-pay ; anti your Petitioners would also most dutifully
solicit your Majesty's notice of a circumstance that has
taken place in the Sister Service, which (they humbly
conceive) bears some analogy to the subject of their present
prayer ; at the same time dis Claiming the slightest invidious
feeling on any favour granted to their brethren in arms, but,
on the contrary, rejoicing in every act of bounty bestowed
upon them. The circumstance to which tour Majesty's
Petitioners have alluded, is the fact that a number of old
Subalterns in the Army were, some few years since, promoted
to the unattached rank of Captain, having only ss. per diem
half-pay, but were in consequence removed from the List of
Lieutenants, and within a short period your Majesty was
graciously pleased to raise their Half-pay to the same amount
us their Brother Officers, viz. 7s. per diem, the relative rank
of the whole of your Petitioners and this Class of Officers
being the same. And also, with the greatest possible Mc-
renee,your. Majesty's humble Petitioners would entreat your
further notice of the boon' lately granted to their brethren
of the Royal Marines, a number of old Captains having
been privileged to retire on full pay, and a number of Ist
Lieutenants having been promoted to the unattached rank
of Captain, but who were taken off the List of Lieutenants,
and put on a separate List. These several instances of
your Majesty's gracious and paternal feeling for old and
faithful Servants has emboldened your Petitioners to ad-
dress your Majesty, sensible that they need not point out
that a large portion of themselves and brother Officers have
large families -to support on their half-pay alone, and that,
in a period of profound peace, they have but little prospect
of improving their straitened means, and therefore the in-
crease of Is. per diem is to them a subject of deep interest
-and anxious expectation, which the granting of the prayer
of this Petition will be the means of giving immediately to
many, and inspiring in them for such a boon, the most sin-
cere and lively gratitude.
And, as in duty bound, your Majesty's humble Peti-
toners will ever pray.

The Marquis of Hertford gave a grand dinner on
Saturday last.

Besides the patronage of their Majesties and most
of the Royal family, the fancy dress ball on the 30th of June,
fur the benefit of the Royal Academy of Music, will be under
the auspices of the most distinguished ladies of rank in the
kingdom, who intend to follow the plan pursued last year—
that is, to form several groups of dancers, uniformly dressed,
Lut each set to be differently attired. The Hanover.square
Rooms are to be elegantly and tastefully fitted up for the oc-
casion, under the superintendence of an artist of eminence.

. We are glad to learn that there is no doubt what-
( ver of Mr. Sheridan's success. It is no less gratifying to fine
that local dissensions have not led to political apostacy. The
gentlemen who, in the Town Council affairs, appeared to hay-
s cted so hostilely to the Reformers, are we understand, sup-
ortinw Mr. Sheridan, to the extreme surprise and disappoint..
rscnt of the Tories, who had calculated upon them in Parlia-
mentary as well as Municipal Elections.—Somerset Gazette.
THE FREDERICK-STREET MURDER.-Through-
out the whole of yesterday Mr. Inspector Aggs and police con-
stable Peglar, 104 S, were actively engaged in tracing the
murderer, but they were unsuccessful in gaining any clue
likely to lead to his discovery. It is now ascertained that the
man who was seen running from the house soon after the mur-
der, with his hands stained with blood, was not the perpetra-
tor of the deed; but that he had met with an accident, which
accounts for his appearance, and was hastening to a surgeon to
have his wounds dressed. Tie friends of the unfortunate
young woman assert most
.'positively, and their assertions are
corroborated by the statements of the medical gentleman who
examined the wound, that it was quite impossible that she
could have committed suicide.

If cold or filth is allowed to impede perspiration,
sensible or insensible, and prevent the waste matter from being
thus got rid of, it must be thrown upon some other function,
and will produce bowel complaint, or cough and expectoration,
according as the lungs or the bowels are weakest.
_ _ _

One-of Sattertbwaite's 'best jokes was tying a bit of
meat very securely to the bell-handles which dangle outside
the gates of certain suburban villas—sweet retirements of
snug citizens ; the result of which operation was that every
liungry dog that chanced to pass that way instinctively—rea-
:lcn:abiy almost, but naturally certainly—began to grabble at
tempting morsel, which he vainly attempted to detach ;
the inevitable consequence of which attempt was the violent
riagrir of the bell. Out come the servants candle in hand,
Lek a:I around, hear nothing, see nothing—shut the gate,
and go in. Thi.next doggy who comes trotting along, -and
who has not happened to dine well, has another touch at the
an-at; away goes the bell again, out come the servants, as
#iefore, and, as before, go in again. And thus ten times in
the night the family nithin continue to be alarmed beyond
n, lee,•re at what apdears a systematic attack upon Hawthorn
ttae:: or Eglantine Hall, the master of which is a decided
hrp,,eliendriac, and the mistre33 expecting to be confined
II elf hour.—Theodore hook ire " The Humourist."

A .71ac employed in cutting down a 3yeamo:e tree,
in a gentleman's garden in tle neighbourhood of Breck-lane,
Eve) inTL, f)tod a throstle's rest, near the top of it, composed
of eightryards of lace and two net caps, %%hich articles had
missed by the family, aA, in c )nsequence, one of the
ss,,rvants unfortunately turned away. To what a state of luxury
c:nst England have arrived, when even birds form their beds
blor,de lace !—Lirerirool

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE 10-MORROW.
5i0rning.........49 minutes after 11.. I Evening...—. 0 minutes after 0.

The publication of TIIP. SUN NEWSPAPER commenced this day
at 10 minutes past Three o' Clock.