The Sun.
London, England, 1862-04-26 00:00:00

:III& SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY EVENrrI, APittit 26, 18,G2,

great speed.' The iron vessels of an enemy might
therefore run past forts, and obtain nn entranco to
Pcrtmouth or any other harbour. Once past them,
of what use would be the forts for purposes of de-
fence ? When the ship has run the gauntlet, there
is an end of the forts. Forts would then only em-
ploy soldiers whose services were required else
where ; or they would be taken and occupied by
the enemy and their batteries turned against our-
selves. , _

" On this point a further consideration presents
itself. The Defence Commissioners recommended
the Spithead fortifications to protect Portsmouth
Dockyard consisting of a mass of buildings,
abounding with combustible materials, from being
set on fire, and destroyed by rifled ordnance, at a
distance of 8,000 yards.' But, if our vessels are
hereafter to be built of iron, timber, masts, cordage,
and the other principal combustible materials to be
preserved from fire in the dockyard, would no longer
be required there; and as for the 'mass of build-
ings,' it would take but a small part of the sum
intended to be sunk in the Spithead sandbanks, to
render the dockyard buildings perfectly bomb-proof
for any stores that are of consequence.
"111. I shall not be tempted into a discussion as ,
to the probable cost of these forts, because we really
do know, and can know, nothing certain on that
subject. Parliament has already appropriated
£2,000,000 sterling for fortifications, and the money
is said to have been expended on land purchases,
and in sinking foundations for forts. What will be
the ultimate outlay in sinking the foundations at
Spithead nobody can tell us. Judging from the tone
in which the First Lord of the Admiralty spoke in
the House of Lords of works executed by contrac-
tors,' the period of completion is equally doubtful.
They promise,' said his grace, ' to build in 12 or
18 months; but all their efforts fail in consequence
of the novelty of the construction, and the enormous
pieces of iron which have to be fastened together.' If
this applies to the construction of iron ships, how
much more must it not apply to the construction of
iron forts, of which I he foundations have to be laid on
sandbanks, the surface of which is 25 feet below
high water-mark. If contractors fail in construct-
ing such forts, if the cost of their works should be
ten times greater than the original estimate, I
think Parliament, instead of blaming the contrac-
tor,' should rather blame those Government officials
who require works to be carried on of unknown and
unspecified quantity, difficulty, and extent, and who
are coesequently compelled to enter into contracts
for their construction under circumstances which
afford no guarantees whatever either as to time or
as to cost.

" I wish that the limits of a letter permitted my
going more fully into this question. It is not only
of the greatest interest, but it is of the most vital
importance to the nation. We are about to recon-
struct our navy on new principles. This is no
secondary work. It requires to be undertaken with
the greatest prudence, and to be committed to no
inferior agencies. For my own part, I think the
whole subject needs to be looked at with larger
views than those which appear to prevail in official
circles. I concur with those members of the House
of Commons who expressed their extreme dissatis-
faction that any portion of the question should have
been referred back by the War Department to a
commission which has already proved its incom-
petency by two inharmonious and self-condemnatory
reports. When I consider the countless treasure
which the want of scientific and practical skill has
already cost this country, I cannot but think that,
if further inquiry is needed at all, it ought to be
confided not to those who composed the commission
upon national defences, but to men of science, prac-
tice, and experience, at once unprejudiced and un-
pledged. I will not anticipate the Defence Com-
missioners' third' report. Let it be what it may,
I for one shall tontine to oppose any expenditure
upon fixed forts. I shall also oppose any further
expenditure on the construction of wooden ships;
we ought to build no more of them, and the vessels
we have of that class should be sold out of the navy
to the best advantage. I am inclined to believe
that the conversion of wooden ships into floating
batteries will be ultimately found to be a costly

inutility. I question the powor of iron-plated

wooden vessels to resist strain under the
operation of great guns, or even of the action of
steam machinery in a heavy sea-way. Composed,
as such vessels must be, of a multitude of iron
plates fixed upon wooden frames (which add weight
without increasing strength), I question whether
they will not be so shaken as to render them un-
seaworthy. Iron and wood are not congruous in
combination. The wood in the iron casing will
either rot or shrink ; and the vessel so constructed
will in a few years require reconstruction, and
entail all those expenses for repairs which have
proved so costly in our wooden fleet. Plated ves-
sels may, however, serve as temporary expedients;
and as temporary expedients I should not oppose
them during a period of transition.
"But the class of vessels which will in the end
prove the least expensive, and the most efficient for
purposes of defence, will, I believe, be found to be
iron ships, of sufficient size to mount large guns in
central batteries, protected by shields, and fitted
also to act as rams, by the aid of powerful steam
machinery. Vessels of this class will have all the
advantages of forts, with the additional all-impor-
tant superiority of mobility. They may be manned
with the greatest facility, and with the smallest
number of men. There would be no limit to their
durability; and unless damaged in action, the only
repair they would require would be a coat of paint.
A sufficient number of these vessels for the protec-
tion of our coasts and harbours might be con-
structed in two or three years on the Tyne, the
Mersey, the Clyde, and the Thames, for a far less
sum than that which will have to be expended on
fortifying Portsmouth and the other dockyards.
The Government would find no difficulty in (Yin-
tracting for the construction of the hulls of these
ships at fixed and certain prices. They would en-
sure perfection of material and workmanship ; and
the machinery and engines would be supplied by
makers of unquestioned reputation, or furnished
from the condemned vessels of the wooden navy.
Competion for the construction of these ships would
ensure, also, new designs and improved forms,
which it is hopeless to expect to obtain from pre-
sent sources.
" Let measures of this sort be resorted to, and
there need be no fear of the result. Science and its
practical application may have to fight our future
battles, but happily in England we possess both.
We possess all the raw material, unlimited supplies
of coal and iron; and our country is the birthplace
of the steam-engine itself. What we have to do is
to see that the resources of the nation are properly
apdlied, and not squandered on costly inutilities.
Above all, the department responsible for the re-
construction of our navy must be made to feel that
the time has come when incapacity and the para-
lysing influence of routine will no longer be allowed
to prevail against the teachings of science and the
requirements of progress.--I am, my dear sir, your
faithful servant, " S. MORTON PETO.
"Kensington Palace-gardens, April 23, 1862."

EMIGRATION FROM THE CLYDE TO CANADA.-
The tido of emigration from this cotmtt y to Canada has, at
the commencement of this season, set in strongly in favour
of the route from the Clyde via the St. Lawrence. The
steamship United Kingdom, of the Anchor line, which
sailed from Glasgow on the 12th inst. for Quebec and Mon-
treal, being the first steamer of the season, took out the
large number of 124 passengers, principally of the agricul-
tural class, the majority being able-bodied single men. The
succeeding ship of the Anchor line, Caledonia, an elegant
new steamer, commanded by Captain Clarke, has already
a large number of passengers engaged to go by her on 3d
May ; and the same agents are despatching a passenger
ship, with a full complement, for St. John, N. 8., on 17th
May.-IVorth, British Mad.

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broken down,

THE ALARNIVG DISTRESS IN LANCA-

SHIRE.

Yesterday, at half-past 11 o'clock, a deputation of
gentlemen in the city of London, most of them in-

ierested as merchants and otherwise in the cotton

manufacture and trade,waited upon the Lord Mayor,

by appointment, at the Mansion-house, with the
view to interest him, as the chief magistrate, and

through him the public at large in the wide-spread
and constantly increasing distress now prevailing
among the operative population in the manufactur-
ing districts of Lancashire, and to invite him to be
the medium through whom the community might
be disposed to contribute funds towards an allevia•
tion. The necessity for some such step has for some

days past been forcing itself on the attention of men
of influence in the City. The deputation consisted
of Mr. W. J. R. Cotton (of the firm of Culverwell,
Brooks, and Co.), Mr. C. Barber (Barber, Nephew,
and Co.), Mr. Wm. Morley (W. and R. Morley),
Mc. R. Cunliffe, jun. (Cunliffe, Sons, and Co.), Mr.
W. Greatorex (Bradbury, Greatorex, and Co.), Mr.
J. Armitege (Armitage and Co.), Mr. G. II rwes
(Cock, Son, and Co.), Mr. F. Lycett (Dent, Alicroft,
and Co,), and Mr. S. Dilberoghu (Cavafy and Co )
To show the nature and pressure of the distress,
Mr. Cotton read an official letter from Mr. Robert
Hop wood Hutchinson, the mayor of Blackburn,
which stated that " No place or district was suffer-
ing more than this town, where the population is
extensively employed in the cotton trade. For
many months past most if not all the mills have
been working little more than half time, and now,
when the savings of the operatives have been ex-
hausted, a large number of the mills are closed, and
the labouring manufacturing population are unable
to obtain even partial employment, and, with ex-
hausted resources, are dependent on the poor rates
and the gifts of the charitable for their existence. It
is evident that as thousands of the population have
now become entirely destitute, neither the poor law
guardians nor any other body can adequately
grapple with the difficulty alone and unaided.
To assist in relieving the distress a subscription
list has been opened, and a fund realised of nearly
£2,500, from donations of £lOO each down to small
sums. A soup kitchen was established in January
last, and since then a daily distribution has been
made of 1,500 to 2,000 quarts. Bread and oatmeal
are also distributed weekly amongst needy objects,
and the committee are already expending about
£2OO a week in relieving from 9,000 to 10,000
people, and as the distress not only continues, but
is on the increase, it is estimated it will now re-
quire a weekly expenditure of a still larger amount
to make the income of each recipient equal to ls.
per head per week. The funds are rapidly decreas-
ing, and the local claims are almost exhausted.
Hance the committee feel it imperatively necessary
to appeal to the charitable for further aid in order
that they may continue to relieve the prevailing
distress. The serious losses incurred in running
their mills prevent the millowners from contribut-
ing as largely and generously to the fund as they
otherwise would, and this circumstance deprives the
committee of a considerable source of supply, and
in like manner affects the ability to contribute of
the various gentry, tradespeople, and operatives
connected with and interested in the town." A let-
ter, under the later date of the 24th inst., was read
by Mr. Lyoett, from a manufacturing firm in Black-
burn, in which it was stated that not less than
10,000 persons are now receiving relief there in the
shape of bread, meal, or soup. The funds, they
added, for the relief of the distressed operatives are
nearly exhausted, and their privations are constantly
on the increase. They solicited from a firm in Lon-
don, to which the letter was addressed, any dona-
tion they might feel disposed to afford to relieve this
deplorable state of things, adding that the Arch-
bishop of Canterbury had sent £lOO.
Mr. ARMITAGE, one of the deputation, and a
spinner in an extensive way of business, said the
cotton spinners of Lancashire, of whom he was one,
were now keeping their mills running two or four
days a week, at very considerable loss, solely for
the purpose of preventing their hands from
starving. He added, in reply to the Lord
Mayor, that the cotton spinners, who as a body
were distinct from the cotton manufacturers, wer e
chiefly located within a radius of 20 miles round
Manchester.
Mr. W. MOIiLEY said it was desirable to bear in
mind that the existing distress in respect to its
cause vsas wholly different from any that had ever
happened in the manufacturing districts of Lanca—
shire. It did not, on the one hand, arise from over
production or from over speculation, nor on the

other hand from a "turn out" or any overt acts on
the pail of the operative population, but from cir-
cumstances over which they had no control, and
there was everywhere abundant proof that they
were bearing their privations in the most Christian
and patient manner. It was considerations such as
those that had induced the deputation to appeal to
the Lord Mayor to be the medium of receiving con-
tributions for the relief of the distress.
Mr. GREATOREX said he had seen it stated in the
paper a few days ago that an association was about
to be organised for receiving subscriptions, com-
mencing with the nobility and gentry of the county,
and extending to the manufacturers ; and then a
meeting should be held in London on the subject.
If that were in contemplation, it might, perhaps, be
more judicious in the deputation to wait end see
what might he done in that way.

Mr. C. BARBER said the distress was not confined
to Lancashire, but was being felt among the hand-
loom wearers in Glasgow and other parts of Scot-
land.

The LORD MAYOR had heard and read enough on
the subject to satisfy his mind that the emergency
was such as justly to command the public sympathy.
Ho would willingly be the medium of receiving
subscriptions, provided some central and recognised
body in the locality existed or should be appointed,
to whom he could transmit the public bounty, for
he could not assume any responsibility in its distri •

bution.
Mr. /11:21:7::.GE would undertake to say that the
moment it was known in Manchester that bis lord-
ship would consent to receive donations, steps
would be taken to form a committee with whom he
might communicate.
Before separating the deputation engaged to form
themselves into a provisional committee until a
local one should be established in some central part
of Lancashire.
Immediately afterwards the Lord Mayor, on
taking his seat in the justice-room, adverting t 3 the
alleged distress And to the interyiew which had just
taken place, said he desired to state that about ten
days ago he received a letter from a member of the
firm of Culverwell, Brooks, and Co., enclosing a
cheque for £2O, to be applied to the alleviation of
that distress, and expressing a modest hope that he
would open a general subscription with the same
view. He requested the writer to call on him and
he did so. He had thought it better, however, to
defer making any public statement or originating
any movement until sufficient time had elapsed to
show whether there really was any necessity for a
general public subscription. The few days which
had since elapsed had brought him letters from
other people, enclosing small sums; and that morn-
ing a number of gentlemen interested in the cotton
trade, and all more or less acqua!nted with the dis-
tress prevalent there, had asked him to allow him-
self to be made the medium of transmission of the
public bounty to the distressed localities. He was
now desirous of stating publicly that ho was ready,
with the assistance of the gentlemen in the justice-
room, to act in the way desired ; that ho should bo
very glad to receive any contributions the public
might be pleased to send, and transmit the
amount from time to time to some central organisa •
lion in the district where the distress existed. He
could not himself take any part in its distribution.
All he could do, as he had said, was to be the me-
dium
of transmission, and as soon as he knew that
some organisation had been formed, either in the
great city of Manchester or some other part of
Lancashire, in which the public might feel confi-
dence, lie should bo ready to send the small sums
he bad already received, and any others that might
be entrusted to him from time to time. While be
was upon that topic, he might also say that Mr.
Baxter, a partner in the firm of Baxter, Rose, and
Norton, had called upon him to ask him to mention
in public, without taking further part, a case of

distress in Connemara. In a letter addressed to
him (the Lord Mayor) from Letterpack, Clifden,
county Galway, under date of Tuesday last, it was
stated, that " in that part of Connemara, owing to
the constant wet of last year, the potatoes and oats
failed to such an extent that there was scarcely half
a crop, and the poor in consequence were suffering
great distress. Nor did the weather admit of the
peat being dried sufficiently for fuel; so that the
poor people would have been in the greatest straits
had not benevolent people contributed to supply
them with food and coals. But now another very
serious evil threatens them—the want of potatoes
and oats to sow for the ensuing year. The land-
'
lords had in most caeessione all they could to assist
their tenants, and a committee had been formed to
collect money to distribute to deserving persons for
the purpose of buying potatoes and oats for seed.
Last week they distributed £2O in sums of 10e.
each to 40 persons, of which sum £lO had been sent
by the Society of Friends in Dublin. The commit-
tee hope by the kind aid of benevolent persons in
the sister kingdom to assist these poor people in
sowing their lands, as famine must almost inevit-
ably be the consequence next year if the lands are
left desolate for this season." Mr. Baxter, who
bad aided these poor people in past months,
enclosed £5 towards their buying seed.
Frem what he (the Lord Mayor) knew of the
writer of tho letter he had quoted, he placed im-
plicit credit in his statement, and he would venture
to recommend it to the liberality of the public, ad-
ding that the National Bank in Old Broad-street,
were willing to receive contributions for that pur-
pose,