The Sun.
London, England, 1839-04-03 00:00:00

Royal Sovereign, yacht, Captain Sup. S. Jackson, C. 8.,
Pembroke.
Samarang, 28, Captain W. Broughton, S. America.
San Josef, 110, Captain J. N. Tayler, C. 8., guard-
ship, Plymouth.
Sappho, 16, Com. T. Fraser, West Indies.
Saracen, 10, Licut. W. H. Hill, Coast of Africa.
Satellite, 18, Corn. I. Robb, West Indies.
Savage, 10, Lieut. Hon. W. Plunkett, par. ser.
Scorpion, 10, Lieut. C. Gayton, Mediterranean.
Scout, 18, Corn. R. Craigie, Coast of Africa:
Seaflower, 4, Lieut. N. Robilliard, Portsmouth.
Seringapatarn, 46, Captain J. Leith, West Indies.
Serpent, 16, Corn. R. L. Warren, West Indies.
Skipjack, 5, Licut. J. J. Robinson, West Indies.
Snake, 16, Com. A. Milne, West Indies.
Snipe, 2, Lieut. T. Baldock, Portsmouth.
Sparrow, 10, Lieut. R. Lowcay, South America.
Sparrowhawk, 16, Corn. J. Shepherd, South America.
Speedy, 2, J. A. Wright, Sheerness.
Spider, 6, Lieut. J. O'Reilly (a) South America.
Spitfire, st. v., Lieut. J. Shanibler, West Indies.
Stag, 46, Commodore T. B. Sulliv;:n, C. 8., South
America.
Starling, sur. v., Lieut. H. Kellett, South America.
Sulphur, 8, sur. v., Corn. E. Belcher, South America.
Talavera, 74, Captain W. B. Mends, Mediter.
Talbot, 28, Capt. H. J. Codrington, Mediter.
Tartarus, st. v., Lieut. G. W. Smith, West Indies.
Termagant, 10, Lieut. H. F. Segram, Coast of Africa.
Thunder, stir. v., Corn. E. Barnett, West Indies.
Tribune, 24, Captain C. H. Williams, Lisbon.
Trinculo, 16, Com. H. E. Coflin, Lisbon station.
Tyne, 28, Captain J. Townshend, Mediterranean.
Vanguard, 80, Sir T. Fellowes, K.C.8., Mediterranean
Vestal, 26, Captain T. W. Carter, North America.
Victor, 16, Corn. R. Crosier, East Indies.
Victory, 104, Captain T. Searle, C. 8., guard ship,
Portsmouth.
Viper, 6, Lieut. W. Winniett, Coast of Africa.
Volage, 28, Captain H. Smith, East Indies.
Volcano, st. v., Lieut. Jos. West, Mediterranean.
Wanderer, 16, Com. 'F. Bushbv, West Indies.
Wasp, 18, Corn. Hon. D. W. A. Pelham, Mediter-

ranean.
Water Witch, 10, Lieut. H. J. Matson, Portsmouth.
Weazle, 10, Lieut. J. Simpson, "Mediterranean.
Wellesley, 74, Rear- Admiral Sir F. L. Maitland,
K.C.8., Captain 'F. Maitland, East Indies.
William and Mary, yacht, Captain P. Hornby,
Woolwich.
Winchester, 56, Captain John Parker, Sheerness.
Wizard, 10, Lieut. 'F. F. Birch, South America.
Wolverine, 16, Corn. W. Tucker, Coast of Africa.
Zebra, Lieut. R. F. Stopford, Mediterranean.

SLOOPS OF WAR COMMISSIONED AS PACKETS.—
Alert, Lieut. Ed. Jennings ; Delight, Lieut. U. Lary ;
Express, Lieut. W. G. Croke ; Hope, Lieut. W. -L.
Rees ; Lapwing, Lieut. F. R. Coghlan ; Linnet, Lieut.
NV. Downey ; Lyra, Lieut. W. Forester ; Magnet,
Lieut. S. Griffith ; --Mutine, Lieut. Richard Pawle ;
Opossum, Lieut. Robert Peter ; Pandora, Lieut. R.
W. Innes ; Penguin, Lieut. W. Luce ; Petrel, Lieut.
W. Crooke ; Pigeon, Lieut. W. T. James ; Ranger,
Lieut. J. H. Turner ; Reindeer, Lieut. H. P. Dicken ;
Seagull, Lieut. J. Parsons ; Sheldrake, Lieut. A. R.
L. Passingham ; Skylark, Lieut. C. P. Ladd ; Spey,
Lieut. Robert B. James ; Star, Lieut. C. Smith ; Swift,
Lieut. D. Welch ; Tyrian, Lieut. H. Crocker.

All injustice, by whomsoever it may be wrought,
recoils upon the perpetrator in the shape of risk or
weakness, to which otherwise he would not have been
liable. The most vulnerable point of every Govern-
ment is its injustice. The sore point of any and every
department in the State is the injustice suffered by those
who serve under it.
The real deterioration of the British Navy is by no
means physical—not the scantiness of stores, nor the
diminished number of ships, nor the reduction of ma-
terial force of any kind : the true decline of our navy
is in its morale. It is in the treatment experienced by
officers, petty officers, and seamen. It is in their sense
of the wrongs inflicted on them—in their despaiP of
' justice—the discouragement of that high spirit by
which they once were animated—the consequent pre-
valence throughout the profession of wounded pride, of
brooding discontent, and of alienation from the service
proportioned to their consciousness of ill-requited zeal,
of knowledge depreciated, or merit overlooked, and ig.
norance and insignificance promoted.
It is true that all classes of the British Navy have
much cause to complain, and chiefly, so far as the
officers arc concerned, and so far as a single cause
can operate, on account of the enormous multitude of
members with which the service has been crowded.
We have already, on more than one occasion, hinted
at this inherent and predominant vice. Whole squads
of boys, from 10 to 14 years of age, are swept away
from school, or from their paternal firesides, into the
midshipmen's births of our men-of-war, already over-
run with similar occupants, and this for no reason
but because it has been a custom of old standing
far " more honoured in the breach than the observance")
to let sea-going Captains oblige their friends and relations
at home by relieving them from some of those domestic
supernumeraries, and transferring them to the public
charge.

When there are, as there always have been, thou-
sands of unemployed midshipmen, it does seem to us
the most preposterous thing in the world to let the ser-
vice be incumbered by incessant draughts from society
of still accumulating shoals of useless "youngsters." At
the end of six years afloat, by far the greater portion of
these youths pass for lieutenants ; but of those who
prove themselves on examination fitted for the rank, it is
a small proportion who are permitted, while young men,
to attain it, and they are notoriously selected on grounds
very different from superior intelligence or merit. The
youngest midshipmen are usually first promoted, being
for the most part :those who have the most powerful
friends. But, sooner or later, an overloaded list of mid-
shipmen leads of necessity to an excess in the number
of lieutenants, and by consequence of lieutenants craving
for, and disappointed in, the promotion fairly due to ser-
vices so valuable as theirs.

Of this class of officers—perhaps, all things considered,
the most important to an effective navy—the number at
this moment en the list exceeds, we understand, 3,000 ;
and their grievances are scarcely less numerous than
they are themselves : of these, many of the most gall-
ing have been the creation of the last six or seven
years, and their pressure has at length been such as to
compel this meritorious and ill used body of officers,
after much and anxious consideration, to frame a me-
morial explanatory of their causes for dissatisfaction,
which they have recently presented to the Commis-
sioners now sitting " to inquire into the several modes
of promotion and retirement now authorised and
granted to the officers of her Majesty's Naval and
Military services, for ascertaining the comparative
situation of the officers in each branch," and to report
whether any beneficial changes can be made in the ex-
isting system.

Of that memorial we have been presented with a
copy, as likewise of an accompanying address by Lieu-
tenant G. F. Somerville, R.N., and they appear to us
to be documents so instructive as to the mismanagement
and vices of that great national service, which, costing
the country so many millions a year, might, by a cor-
rection of gross abuses, be rendered worth incomparably
more than it costs us, and likewise so interesting as ex-
positions of the never-failing victory of corrupt patron-
age over public principle and honour in the administra-
tion of the Navy by a Ministerial Board, that we shall
endeavour from time to time to lay their contents before
our readers. The first extract we make from these im-
portant papers contains the Memorial above referred to,
followed by a few passages of Lieutenant Somerville's
address, from which it is our hope to insert other ex-
tracts hereafter, as time and opportunity may offer :
" To the Most Noble, the Right Hon. and the Hon.
Commissioners, appointed by our Most Illustrious
and Benevolent Queen, to inquire into the several
modes of Promotion and retirement, now authorised
and granted to the Officers of her Majesty's Naval
and Military Services ; for ascertaining the compara-
tive situation of the Officers in each branch ; and for
reporting whether due regard being had to economy
and to the efficiency of the service, it may be practi-
cable and expedient to make any, and what, changes
in the present system.'
" THE MEMORIAL OF THE LIEUTENANTS OP HER
MAJESTY'S FLEET)
" Most humbly showeth,--That your memorialists beg
leave most gratefully to express their gratitude for the
benevolent intentions of her Most Gracious Majesty in
the appointment of your Right Hon. Board, upon
whose impartial consideration of their various grievances
they rely with entire confidence.
" Your memorialists complain that they possess no
right to promotion, let their services be ever so long
or brilliant ; nor can they claim employment, be their
abilities ever so efficient. CoronatiOn and general pro-
motions, so far from being a benefit, have proved the
fruitful source of extensive annoyance ; in fact, the naval
officer is the only servant of the Crown who is unable to
maintain a right or claim a privilege ; whereas the cap-
tains in the army, who do not purchase their commis-
sions, have constantly in view the rank of general offi-
cers, of which nothing can deprive them but the visita-
tion of Almighty God ; and their rights and privileges
are so clearly defined as to defy mistake.
" Your memorialists also complain of the anomalies
attached to their retirement ; only the first 100 upon
the list of lieutenants, out of 3,159, are allowed to retire
with the rank of commander, the junior cf whom had
held his commission 42 years, independently of previous
servitude—some for long periods of years in the inferior
grades ; and they are amongst the oldest officers in
the navy, not even excepting the flags ; yet they re-
ceive the smallest half-pay given to any commander, less
than the youngest brevet-major, and their widows re-
ceive 101, per annum less pension than either.
" By the King's Order in Council of the Ist of No-
vember, 1830, it was provided that 300 of the senior
lieutenants might retire with the rank of commander ;
but only 179 have availed themselves of this ex-
traordinary boon, the junior of whom has been 33
years upon the list of lieutenants, besides previous servi-
tude in the iuferior grades. These 179 officers till
continue upon the half-pay list of lieutenants, thereby de- 1