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

the privilege granted to Admirals in command of pro-
motion into death, and court martial vacancies. Hav-
ing long witnessed the abuse of this privilege, which is
usually exercised without the slightest reference to
merit or length of service ; and, being convinced that it
would be infinitely preferable for officers, without inte-
rest, to depend on the Admiralty for advancement,
than on twelve Admirals removed every three years,
and each intent on providing for his own rela-
tives or friends, I explained anonymously the ill
effects in the United Service Journal of May, 1829,
and, singularly enough, the evil was in a great measure
abated a few months after, by restricting the Admirals
to one vacancy ; that is, if a Captain died, he was only
allowed to nominate to one of the consequent three va-
cancies, in place of promoting a Commander, Lieute-
nant, and Mid, as before. But this privilege, as well as
that on striking the flag, is so inequitable in its operation,
that it should be entirely cancelled ; and Admirals
should be placed on the same footing as General Of-
ficers, by being restricted to recommendations only for
promotion.
Indeed it is incomprehensible, why an Ad-
miral is entitled to give rank in the Navy, equivalent to
that of a Lieutenant-Colonel in the Army, and probably
to Iris own son or nephew, or to some other very
young man ; while a General Officer, on Foreign or
Colonial Service, cannot appoint an Ensign. The Duke
of Wellington, in his admirable dispatches recently pub-
lished, complained that he had not the power, during his
Peninsular campaigns, of making even a corporal.
When my poor brother, a Lieutenant of the
Sybille frigate, died at Malta of his wounds, his
vacancy, 1 have heard, was given by the Ad-
miral in the Mediterranean to a Midshipman, then
serving in the East Indies ! ! Admirals, however
deserving, should be satisfied with their good for-
tune, in obtaining so high a rank, when many as
good and old officers as themselves are only Lieutenants
or Commanders ; and they should also bear in mind, in
reference to their own excess of number, that the
victory of the Nile, the most brilliant on record, was
achieved, although at night and at anchor, by only one
Admiral ( Rear and rare), with one eye and one arm,
while in Howe's action, in which several of the Cap-
tains were guilty of gross dereliction of duty, there
were no less than seven British Admirals.

I would suggest, en passant, the propriety of changing
the title of Captain into that of Commodore, and of
Lieutenant into that of Captain, as it is certainly ano-
malous to designate by the same title the commanding
officer of a ship, with perhaps eight hundred men, and
of a company of eighty men. And if commissioned officers
junior to the present Lieutenants, were appointed, the
Navy would then possess the better distinction of ranks,
in Commodores, Commanders, Captains, and Lieute-
nants.

I come now to the seamen, the sinews of our naval
greatness, whose attachment and services it is the first
duty of those in power to secure, as it appears to be ge-
nerally conceded that unlimited impressment, unless in
cases of great extremity, will never again be tolerated,
although Sir John Barrow seems to think otherwise.
If the Admiralty do not take measures in time to re-
move the present aversion of the seamen to the Navy—l
speak of the mass—it will incur a fearful responsibility,
as, without securing seamen, we build our ships in vain.
I would humbly then suggest to the Board, to begin the
good work ; Ist, By gradually reducing the number of
Midshipmen, and immediately augmenting that of petty
officers. 2d, By applying the prospective saving in half-
pay to the increased pay of the seamen ; and, 3d, By
providing a more equal distribution of prize-money.
As merchant-seamen are paid by the calendar month,
I question much the expediency of paying men-of-war
seamen by the lunar month. The latter are not calcu-
lating enough to reckon the difference, and if their: pay
were raised from 345. the lunar month to 40s. the
calendar month, the extra expense would only be 38s.
a year per man. This would be a near approximation
to the wages of merchant-seamen, which in peace time
are about 455. a month ; and the change might induce
many to enter the Navy. The country cannot do too
much for its seamen, as it owes them a frightful debt of
reparation. It is true that the victims of the heinous
cruelties of the last wars— those who were torn from
their families, and fought unrequited " under the cold
shade of the Aristocracy"—have nearly all passed away,
but their wrongs and sufferings are remembered by their
successors, whom it is both our duty and policy to conci-
liate and reward. .