The Sun.
London, England, 1839-02-25 00:00:00

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.

A mot:on upca no state of the British Navy is promised
by Lord Colchester for this night, in the House of Lords.
This great question has never yet had a chance of fair play
in Parliameet. It is, we apprehend, too much mixed up
with party and pereonel considerations. The rnalpracticea
under telocis the marine has suffered are those of a system
of long duration, which has survived many Cebinets,
'nd has been rude subseivient to the selfish views or
many. The viesee of the " system" will never be tho-
roughly probed until the subject shall be taken up by Re-
f •eniers of a ebse not embraced within the muster-rolls
of politisal party. The grand and fundamental disease
of our marine has been its subjection to the official
euidenee of a Board dependent on the will of each suc-
cessive Administration, and compelled by the very na-
ture or thing's to sacrifice the impartial government and
genera welfare of the fleet to the maintenance of a Minis-
terial mejrrity in the House of Commons. Hence it fol-
lows that superior merits in naval cffireers are over looked,
valuable scrv,ccs forgotten, men of distinguished charac-
ter anf talents passed by with haughty and heartless inso-
lence, consigned to penury, or banished to foreign court
tries, while strdplinge whose families possess votes, cr can
procure them, are lifted into a promotion for which they are
utterly unqueliiied, over the heads of men who spent more
years hi fightiror ter their country than the new race of
post e iptain3 and commanders have numbered since the
day of their birth. We suppose there never was such a
prosperous ieventiou heard of as that of intrusting the di-
rection and destinies of that vast piece of complex mechan-
ism called the " Naval Power of Great Britain " to
men who have no knowledge of seamenship or of
seamen,
.c f ships, or stores, or gunnery, or naviga-
tion—ef what it is that constitutes officers, or sailors, or
science, or practice, in maritime affairs—who, in fact, on
entering the hall of the Admiralty, have everything con-
nected with their duty to learn, and most likely never saw
a man of war in their lives, but in a picture, cr at anchor,
when ships di l lie at anchor, off Spithead. The author of
an able article on the grievances of the Navy, which was
transferred from a monthly publication to the colunas of
Saturday's and of Monday's Times, asks this rather puzzling
question :—" What, for example, would he said, were an
aldermen, or a sergeant-at-law' (or he might have added,
Lord Howick), " called in to the Horse Guards to con-
trol the general administration of military matters, when
a sergeant of the line would be fumed a far more
efficient person ?" Why, it would be said that the army
was sold to a clique of jobbers (just as the Navy now is),
ignorant of all things appem taining to the Royal service
but the alt of making vacancies, and filling them up
through the most barefaced abuse of poster with the raw
materials of votes at elections and of majorities in Parlia-
liament. But the bad composition of such a board of nasal
xpe ieterelermee is not all, nor the worst. The connexion
of the Board of Admiralty with the Minister of the day
insures a change of all the members of that Board on every
change of Ministers. Hence it follows that there can be
• no steadiness, consistency, nor uniformity in the course of
naval administration. There can be no pions matured,
nor experiments thoroughly completed, nor policy tested
by ae appeal to its consequences, before a sudden re-
moval viiits ail the parties, and the whole series of
measures adopted by them is left to take care of itself.
Ail the-experience, therefore, gained in such a department
im confined to the clerlie, who never quit their desks ; and
what FO7t of thino the most practised subaltern of that
desc, iption is capable of becoming, even at the end of
" thifty years' service" as a penman, and it ith m any col-
lateral advantages, we have a characteristic specimen in
that shrewd, indurstrieus, zsaleu3, and respectable chef de
hure7n, who has lately (with what success we say not)
volunteered the defence. of the existing. Board of Admi-
.alte—viz., Sir John Barrow, who, with deference be it
,polie.n,forgot that he was himself an "unauthorized co!un-
ref:- on one side or the question, when be abu el and threat-
:lva eellant officers ter wring on the other side without
'`ieteority." • "lche aiftirsuf the arrny,"says time anther above
quoted, :IA lee says truly, " arc adiniaistered free from
II polhical control." Haw long this may he so is another
questimm. " Net so those of the Navy. The head of all
our mmiee is hirneelf shackled to the state "—thet is, to
'lve Minister pro tempura. One enormous and vital ma-
ae"y in our Naval systein bee been the almost unlimited
ournber of midshipmen admitted on the recommend t-
tien of officers first taking the command of ship,
eithout due regard been had to the nolltitudes already
in the service, and wholly unprovided fur. Tilts
ills the Navy with disapeoloded and mum inuring clohnsnts
for ernpniyment and promotion. It almost necessitates
the otherwise needless, and, in process of time, discon-
tented multitude ofjustly clamorous lieutenants, of whom
es: believe there are at this moment several thousands on
ttec Navy List, and by unavoidable consequence the mejo-
rity of them unfit to -do duty on board ship. At the runt
of this improvident multiplication of unemployed ofli-
ecrs lies the political character of the Board of Ad-
..-ni-Lt;ty, and the expediency, for corrupt purposes, of
'toying votes by selling patronage through ill the stages of
:;ronsoti: n. Look at the American Navy, of which a strik-
ing, iutelliecet, en.l inetructive account was given in the
Times or yeAerilay. The Americans arc it iser in their
economy thee cur Josephs ; all ranks of men in their naval
service, from the conira3dere to the midshipmen, nay, to
the form:tau-nen inclusive, receive more than double the
pay of Brhish men and officers. 'lh post captain has
:marl:: 1,0001 per annum at sc-a, and pay ashore (analo-
gous to our trait'-day) not less than 7301. While we allow
our merchant seamen for navigating the clumsiest end
elowest sea tubs in the world (as was explained a few
rleys ago in speaking of English naval erehtecture)
las.° guieess to 2!. 10s. per month, the Americans,
riving the fastest and forest ailing vessels on the ocean,
-I,y time seamen 31. 103. While, on the other hand,
'he British Government allow able seamen on board
men-of-war It. 14s. Ter month, the American Go-
vernment altowa them 21. Hence it is that, for all pur-
poses, whether of peaea, or war, says Captain M.rryat,
the pick and choice of our British seamen givecr their ser-
vices to the United States, that we, who breed the best
seamen, are forced to put up with the refuse, after a fermi-
dable rival has skimmed the cream of our seafaring popu-
letion ; and that if there be a scarcity cf seamen in the
market, England will be sure to feel it first, and America
not while a single man is to be found unemployed in the I
market. All this would be very saddening, and might
drive us to despair of the country, if the fault were not I,
our own, red the rerne;ly within our power. America, it I
Appears from Captain Marry-at, has no able seamen before
the mast to rely upon but those who arc native subjects of
Great Britain. la war she would be utterly unable to man
her ships without them. She has now 30,000 of our best
hands between her national and her mercantile shipping.
Ifwe outbid her, or even equal her in wages, we shall have
a
Its these men home; and she has none to replace them.
l• short, everything is pinched and starved in the British
service the scantling of our ships as compared with to-
reighefs—the complement of hands as compared with fo-
reigners_ the pay of officers and seamen, as compared with
foreigners, Yet in no service that ever existed was there
such a profligate aid frantic waste of funds AS in the
13ritish service, because what was granted for the national
defence has been applied to individual corruption. What ,
course of observation or argument may be taken by Lord
Co'chester we know not, but his Lordship has only to open
his eyes upon a wide field of grievance yet untouched, af-
-ectiagthe highest interests of the Navy.— Times.
It nil' he semi by our report of the proceedings of the
Anti-Cern law Delegates that they have determined to re-
turn to their constituents, to consult with them respecting
their future course of proceedings. Some strong fa..!ts
were stated by Mr. Johnston, of Glasgow, to show the dis-
proportion between the amount of labour neces,ary to
produce a certain return in 1820, 25, 30, 36, 37, and 38.
In 1820, the declared value of 248,000,000 yards ex-
eorted was 13,193,5291. ; in 1838, the number of yards
exported was 645,000,000, and the declared value only
15,500,000/, The sum paid for wages in 1820 was
1_%393,529r. The sum paid in 1838 for wages, for No-
eueing nearly three times the number of yards, was t nly
l
ItE",°001. Now, making every allowance for imprcvcd
porleineiples, it i 3 clear that the labour expended in earning
t_satne amount of wages must have been out of all proper.h _greater in 181'3 than in 1820. A better proof can
godly
dly be given of the cruelty of the Corn-laws to the work-
men. Tee en elv anuracturers' prices are of course determined
competition in the foreign market. lie cannot give
mere to the tvg,t 'amen than bbis returns enable him to do,
Lecause his workmen consume food taxed for the benefit
ef the landowners; and the consequence is, that the
poor workmen are ground down by excessive la-
' !ear to enable the landowners to live in luxury at
:heir expense.. The Chairman, demonstrated the trickery to
which err Robert Peel did not disdain to have receurse, in
- telting the e ear 1833 as a point of comparison with the
seven preoccling years. In 1837 there had been a great
,ailing off, in consequence of the distress in America, and
the stocks having been exhausted, there was necessarily a
street increase in the return for 1838. Mr. Johnston
coutoel the claims advanced by Sir Robert Peel for the
landowners, on account of particular burdens on land. A
man who mortgages hie property may as well call the in-
h•rest he pays a tax, as the landowners call the land-
ell and other burdens taxes. Land was originally the
property of the; Stete, and granted not absolutely,
het for certain servicesrend duties to be rendered,
ha almost all other countries, the greater part of the
taxe3 are borne by the land ; but owing to the pre-
ponderance of the aristocracy in the Legislature,
they have contrived to render the burdens subject to which
the lands were originally granted merely nominal. They
have no right to talk of the land-tax, poors-rate, tithes,
and connty.rate, as burdens on land. The land has always
been held subject to these burdens. The landowner who
.
is subject to tithe 'nes no right to complain of the advantage
enjoyed by the landowner who is tithe free—the former
purchased his estate for so much less. The landholder in
East Lothian, who receives Si. an acre for his land, pays
, ohewhat between 6d. arid Is. in the pound to tire
Church : the landholder in Kent, who receives 30s. an
acre, pays ten shillings in the pound for his tithes ; but
' neYets aral sellers take the net rent only into con-
s_ideration. The " mistake of landholders is that they
forget the difference between land and property
clerked from labour. The land of a country belongs to
'he people of a country, and is originally time fund for de-
.
f'aYihg all public services In most countries throughout
tril.2,7°'ll, the land is still the property of the State. In
'lu-rn Europe land at first held only for a term of years,
af.erwards or life, mere in time to be transmissible to
children--but still subject to the burden of military service,
pomiee, al • .strati
end thernimon of justice, public instruction,
mahmtenance of the poor (which last burden
is a reservation
petothe land,
of so much of the common right of the
Whatever the rand, on its apportionment to individuals).
services and amountin money. now payable for these
thee hal _duties—and in most cases the commute-
harden onb teh
aorn e a nominal burden—it is no more a
tenant. ,„.. landlord, than the rent is a burden nn the
watax :,11,1_ former is not more entitled to complain of
rent, The 'IV-rate than the latter to complain of
Ar. Nlurray, ,landholders,, es was shown by the Honourable
,ad corfirne,ceoey airno,t everything to Lc manufacture
tlighland ca °f country. The change in the value of
~0„5 riot
(„igr,h_e
.y: is almost incredible. But Mr. Met ray
made,. pounti%
,h44l` Cif to the Highlands, but takes two
e ',net), at the first d B.c'Y'.iinti —Berwick mot Roxburgh_:;,lo..e irnp...whi
.:,..ai..heof the comparison, 1795, were in a
toan any county ti 7, e
in England,

ploughing with two horses without a driver, sowing turnips
on raised drills, and the convertible green-crop system
having been universal in them before 1770. In these two
counties he takes the rental of seven parishes in 1795 and
in 1836. At the former period it was 304901., and at the
latter 76,9201.—and yet the avarice of landlords is not
satisfied. The meeting adjourned to Manchester, at a time
to be fixed by the Anti-Corn-law Association of that town,
giving a week's notice. They separated witl the declared
intention of carrying agitation into every town and village
in the country, in order to obtain and direct, by every con-
stitutional means, the influence of the people on the Legis-
lature.—lllerning Chronicle.