The Sun.
London, England, 1853-01-25 00:00:00

NAVAL •INTELLIGENCE.

The estimates of the late Board of Admiralty are
being revised by the new board at Somerset House, the
First Lord, Sir James Graham, Captain Milne, the
Hon. W. Cowper, with the second secretary, Captain
W. A. B. Hamilton, forming the board. Rear-Admiral
Berkeley, C. 8., is still in the country, and Mr. Secretary
Bernal Osborne, M.P., has proceeded to Clonmel for a
few days. Sir James Graham will himself move the
navy estimates at the appointed time.
The Phaeton, 50, Captain G. Elliot, at Sheerness,
will be paid off to-day (Tuesday). We perceive that her
stale sailing trials have been recapitulated by a contem-
porary. With all her good qualities as a sailing vessel
she is inferior as . a man-of-war to the Highflyer, screw-
corvette.

NAVAL AIDE-DE-CAMP TO THE QUEEN.
One of the two vacant appointments of naval aide-de-
camp to the Queen, which the ex-First Lord of the
Admiralty, the Duke of Northumberland, might have
filled up, but which he left to be disposed of by his suc-
cessor, has been conferred upon Captain the Hon. Fre-
derick William Grey, C.B. (1828), brother of Earl Grey.
The following is an account of Captain Grey's services,
from O'Byrne's Biography :
" This officer entered the navy Jan. 18, 1819; and while
serving as midshipman of the Naiad, 46, Capt. Hon. Robt,
Cavendish Spencer, contributed in the boats, under Lieut.
Michael Quin, to the brilliant destruction, on the night of
March 23, 1824, of a 16-gun brig moored in a position of
extraordinary- strength alongside the walls of the fortress
of Bona, in which was a garrison of 400 soldiers, who, from
cannon and musket, kept up a tremendous fire almost per-
pendicularly on the deck. He was promoted, immediately
on passing his examination, to a lieutenancy, April 7,
1825, in the Sybille, 48, Captain Sir Samuel John Brooke
Pechell, stationed in the Mediterranean; whence we believe
he returned home in the following August on board the
Cyrene, 20, Captain Percy Grace. His next appointment
was, on September 26, 1825, to the Volage, 29, Captain
Hon. Richard Saunders Dundas, with whom he sailed.
for South America, on which station he obtained com-
mand, April 17, 1827, of the Heron, 18. He acquired
post rank April 19, 1828, and was subsequently appointed
—Nov. 25, 1830, to the Actaeon, 26, which frigate, after
an intermediate servitude in the Mediterranean, he paid off
Sept. 4, 1834—Aug. 21,1835, to the Jupiter, 38, fitting for
the East Indies, whither he took out the present Earl of
Auckland as Governor-General—and (the latter ship having
been put out of commission Sept. 27, 1836), Oct. 30, 1840,
to the Endymion, 44. For his services in that ship during
the war in China (where, in the attack upon Chin-Kiang-
Foo, July 21, 1842, he elicited the best thanks of Major
General Schoedde for the manner in which he superintended
the embarkation of the troops under the orders of that
officer, whom he accompanied as a volunteer throughout
the day), Captain Grey, who paid her off towards the close
of 1843, was nominated a C.B. He is at presant unem-
ployed. He married, July 20, 1846, Barbarina Charlotte,
daughter of the Rev. F. Sullivan."

THE ARTISANS OF THE ROYAL DOCKYARDS.
We regret to find that considerable dissatisfaction has
arisen among the artisans and labourers of the royal
dockyards at their position and treatment by the Ad-
miralty. This feeling is displaying itself in various
ways, in public and private meetings, and appeals to
members of Parliament to support them in their appli-
cation for an increase of wages, &c. We regret the
more that the movement has taken place at this parti-
cular moment, for it will appear as if the dockyard men
had taken the opportunity of Sir James Graham's re-
suming his old office to rake up old sores and old recol-
lections of what they feel they suffered in former years
at the hands of the right hon. baronet.
The dockyard men, especially those working in the
royal establishments in the Thames, cannot fail to con-
trast their position _with that of their fellow mechanics in
such establishments as Mr. Mare's, of Blackwall, and they
must feel that they dearly purchase their claims--if they
live—to 201. a-year superannuation, by working for 21s.
and 245. a-week only, when those in private establish-
ments earn no less than 6s. and 7s. a-day, with this ad-
vantage to the latter, that they were not compelled to
purchase their appointments from political agents, nor
are they subjected_ta the mortification of seeing inferior
men placed over them as officers because of their politi-
cal influence. Whilst we trust that the dockyard men
will not be extravagant in their demands, we would ad-
vise the Admiralty to treat that useful, intelligent, and
skilful body of men who compose the artificers of the
royal dockyards with a consideration they have not been
accustomed to receive since the war. There is a great
demand at the present moment for shipwrights, joiners,
and labourers in all parts of the world, and we hear of
daily intimations on the part of the juniors employed in
her Majesty's service to attempt to better their fortunes
elsewhere. At such a tinie as this, when we shall per-
haps find more difficulty in getting mechanics than sea-
men or soldiers, it behoves the authorities to give to the
respectful memorials of so valuable and respectable a
body of public servants a liberal and kind attention, and
that they should not disgust the officers and men of par-
ticular branches by cutting of their chances of successive
promotion in importing into her Majesty's service indi-
viduals from private firms to be their chief *facers.