The Sun.
London, England, 1853-07-14 00:00:00

THE NAVY.-SIR JAS. GRAHAM'S BILL.

A BILL to make better Provision concerning the Entry
and Service of Seamen, and otherwise to amend the
Laws concerning her Majesty's Navy.
(Note.— The words printed in Italics are proposed to be
inserted in committee.)
Whereas by an act of the session holden in the sth and
6th Will. IV. c. 24, it was enacted, that no prison should
be liable to be detained against his consent in the naval
service of his Majesty for a longer period thin five years,
to be computed from the day of his being entered into the
same, unless he should have voluntarily sntered for 6
longer term, and except as thereinafter proviled, and pro-
visions are therein contained having reference to such term
of five years : And whereas by an act of the session holden
in the 10th and 11th years of her Majesty, chapter 30, it
was enacted, that every boy who, when under the age of 16
years, should enter the service of Majestys navy, should
be liable to be detained in the said service icr any period
not exceeding seven years, to be computed from the day
of his being entered into the limo ; And vtiereeS by an
order made by her Majesty in Council, on the Ist day of
April, 1853, her Majesty has been pleased, by and with
the advice of her Privy Council, to approve recommenda-
tions of the Commissionere of pile sishalraity far the en-
couragement of men entering the navy for continuous and
general service, and regulations have been and may be
issued by the said Commissioners of tile Adrsiralty ofibring
increased rates of pay and other advantages to Men enter-
ing the navy for ten years' continuous ant general ser-
vice, or re-entering for continuous and general service
for such a term as with such time as may be allowed
in respect of their previous service will make up a term
of ten years or thereabouts, and for tie benefit of
boys entering her Majesty's navy : And whercias it
is expedient to make provision concernirg 'the service,
of the persons who may be entitled to the benefits of the
said regulations, and toextend theperiod of service'of boys
hereafter entering the navy, and otherwise to amend the
law concerning the manning and discipline of the navy :
Bo it therefore enacted by the Queen's Most Excellent
Majesty, by and with the advice old consent of the Lords
Spiritual and Temporal and Commons, latish; present Par,
'Moment assembled, arid by the authority of the same as
follows;--
I. Where, under the regulations or directions of the
Lord High Admiral, or Commissioners for executing the
office of Lord High Admiral, men willing so to enter or re-
enter into the naval service of her Majesty have already
been or may hereafter be entered or re-entered for ten
years' continuous and general service, or entered or re-
entered for such other term of continuous and general
service as under such regulations or directions may be
authorised, such men shall be liable to serve accordingly ;
and all the provisions of the said act of the sth and 6th
Will. IV., as amended by this act, shall extend to every
such man as if the term for which he has already been or
may hereafter be so entered or re-entered were throughout
substituted for the term of five years.
11. The said act of the 10th and 11th years of her Ma-
jesty shall be repealed, and every boy hereafter entering
when under the age of 18 years into the naval service of
her Majesty shall be entered and liable to serve until he
attain the age of twenty-eight years ; and every person who
when of the age of 18 years or upwards, shall be hereafter
entered into such naval service as a boy, shall be entered
for ten years' continuous and general service from the time
of his entering, and shall be liable to serve accordingly;
and the said act of the sth and 6th years of Will. IV., as
amended by this act, shall be applicable to every such boy
as if the term for which he shall be liable to servo were
throughout substituted therein for five years ; and the
statement by any boy of his age at the time of his entering
as aforesaid shall, for the purposes of this act, be conclu-
sive evidence of his age at that time.
111. So much of the said act of the sth and 6th Will.
IV. as provides that every person detained in the service
in consequence of any special emergency after the expira-
tion of his period of service shall be entitled to receive for
such extra service one-fourth in addition to the pay of his
rating, shall be repealed ; and every such person so de-
tained shall be entitled to receive for such extra service
twopence a day in addition to the pay of his rating.
IV. The fourth section of the said act of the sth and 6th
years of Will. IV. entitling to double bounty seamen, sea-
faring men, and Other persons entering the navy within
the time and in manning therein mentioned, after the
issue of any Royal proclamation calling for the services of
seafaring men, shall be repealed ; and all persons enter-
ing or re-entering the navy after the issue of any such
proclamation (whether general or restricted as herein-after
mentioned), shall be entitled to such bounty or respective
bounties according to their classes, as may be offered by
I such proclamation, with such increase, if any, as her Ma-
jesty may in the case of all or any such person think fit to
direct, in respect of their entering within such times or in
such manner as in such proclamation may be in that behalf
appointed.
V. The fifth section of the said act of the sth and 6th ;
Will. IV., requiring the service for a period of five years,
in case their services should be so long required, of the
seamen serving on board the fleet in case of such procla-
mation as therein mentioned, and fixing the bounty to be
paid in consideration of such service, and the sixth section
of the said act, concerning the re-entering of persons whose
period of service shall expire when any such proclamation
shall be in force, shall be repealed.
VI. Provided always, that nothing herein-before con-
tained shall affect the rights or liabilities under the said
acts of the sth and 6th Will. IV. and 10th and 11th of
her Majesty incident to or consequent upon the existing
terms of service of the persons now serving in the navy,
except such persons as may have entered under the regu-
lations for continuous and general service, or may have
become, or may hereafter become, entitled to the benefit of
such regulations.
VII. Any proclamation of her Majesty, her heirs or suc-
cessors, calling for the services of seafaring men, either
during the time of peace or war, shall, at the pleasure of
her Majesty, her heirs or successors, apply to all seafaring
men, or be restricted to any particular class or classes of
seafaring men, either according to their ages, the numbers
of their register tickets, or otherwise ; and every such re-
stricted proclamation shall be as valid and effectual in law
as any such proclamation calling for the services of all sea-
faring men, and as to the men within such class or classes
shall and may be enforced accordingly.
VIII. When any such restr cted proclamation shall have
reference to ages, it shall be incumbent on any seafaring,
man claiming in respect of age not to be within such pro-
clamation to prove his age by the production of his regis-
ter ticket, or other evidence.
IX. In case her Majesty, her heirs or successors, shall by
proclamation call upon the seamen or any class or classes
of seamen serving in her Majesty's navy, or such of them
as may be required so to do, to extend the term of their
services, any seaman to whom such proclamation shall ex-
tend, and whose term of service shall have expired at the
date of such proclamation, or may expire will() such pro-
clamation shall continue in force, may be required to serve
for a period of five years from the expiration o such term,
if his services be so long required, and shall be liable to
serve accordingly, and shall for such extension of service
be entitled to such bounty as may be given by such pro-
clamation.
X. Nothing in this act contained shall control or dimi-
nish the authority vested in the Lord High Admiral or the
Commissioners for executing the office of Lord High Ad-
miral to enter or cause to be entered seamen and others
for her Majesty's navy for any period or periods of service
for which they may volunteer, and to detain them in such
service accordingly; and nothing in this act contained
shall control or diminish the authority vested in the Lord
High Admiral or the said commissioners to discharge, as
he or they may think fit, or to authorise the discharge of
nava any sea
sery men or other person whatever from her Majesty's
l ice.
XI. So much of the act of the 11th Geo. IV., cap. 20,
as provides that no petty officers, seamen, or marines (ex-
cept those wounded in action with the enemy) who shall
be discharged from hospitals or sick quarters at home,
either to a ship or from the service, shall be allowed wages
for more than 30 days of the time they shall remain in
such hospital or sick quarters, shall net apply to petty offi-
cers or seamen entered for continuous and general service
in the navy, or to boys entered under this act, and any
such petty officer, seaman, or boy, who may be sent to any
hospital or sick quarters at home shall be allowed his pay
for the whole time he shall remain in such hospital or sick
quarters, subject to such deduction therefrom, after the
expiration of 30 days, as the Lord Eigh Admiral or the
Commissioners for executing the office of Lord High Ad-
miral may from time to time direct, and the time such
petty officer, seaman, or boy may be in such hospital or
sick quarters shall reckon as part of his time of service ;
provided that no such deduction as aforesaid shall be made
in any case where such petty officer, seaman, or boy would
have been entitled to his full pay, under the said act.
XII. It shall not be lawful for any person to bring on
board any of her Majesty's ships or vessels any spirituous
or fermented liquor of any descriptionwithout the previous
consent of the officer commanding the ship or vessel on
board of which the same may be brought ; and it shall be
lawful for any officer in her Majesty's service, or warrant
or petty officer of the navy, or non-commissioned officer
of marines, with or without seamen or persons under his
command, to search any boat or vessel hovering about or
approaching, or which may have hovered about or ap-
proached, any of her Majesty's ships or vessels ; and if any
spirituous or fermented liquor be found on board such boat
or vessel, to seize such spirituous or fermented liquor,
and the same shall be forfeited to her Majesty ; and if any
person shall bring any spirituous or fermented liquor on
board any of her Majesty's ships or vessels without sich
previous consent as aforesaid, or shall approach or hover
about any of her Majesty's ships or vessels for the purpose
of bringing any spirituous or fermented liquor on board
the same, without such previous consent or for the pur-
pose of giving or selling, without such previous consent,
spirituous or fermented liquor to men in her Majesty's
service, or of aiding or assisting any officer, seaman, or
marine in her Majesty's service to desert or improperly
absent himself from his ship or vessel, every such person
shall, upon a summary conviction thereof before a justice
or justices of the peace, forfeit and pay the sum of ten
pounds for every such act or offence ; and it
any such
shallbelazafur!
for any officer in her Majesty's serviels or
rant or petty officer, or non-commissioned officer as afore-
said, or for any constable or peace officer, with or without
any warrant
or other process, to apprehend or cause to be
apprehended any such offender or person so acting, and to
bringhim or cause him to be brought before any justice or
justices of the peace, for the purpose of having the offender
summarily convicted of the same ; and any pecuniary for-
feiture under this provision shall and may be recovered,
with costs, and paid and applied in manner provided by
the act of the session holden in the 10th and 11th years of
her Majesty, chapter 62, concerning penalties and for-
feitures imposed by that act.
XIII. Every officer, seaman, marine, or other person
serving in her Majesty's navy who shall wilfully, or by rea-
son of imprisonment under any commitment by any civil
magistrate or other civil authority, or under any civil pro-
cess, be absent from his ship for forty-eight hours or
upwards, without leave of his commanding officer, shall
thereby, if such commanding officer so direct, lose and for-
feit all wages, pay, and other allowances (any portion al-
lotted to wife or relatives commonly called allotments only
excepted) to which he would have been entitled in respect
of his services during the period of such his absence with-
out leave ; and for the purposes of this provision any part
of a day included in the period of such absence shall be
deemed the whole day, and the wages, pay, and allowances
in respect of such day shall be forfeited accordingly : pro-
vided always, that nothing herein contained shall be taken

TO THE EDITOR OF THE MORNING HERALD.
Sir,--Considering the increasing importance of the
subject of manning the navy, doubtless greatly aug-
mented by the warlike aspect of affairs in the East, I
venture to offer a few observations thereon. lam fur-
ther induced so to do by having read some letters in the
morning papers purporting to be from "A Vice-
Admiral," "A Retired Captain," and Captain Fitzroy,
R.N., during the last twelve months. Manning the
navy has engrossed no small share of public attention—
an additional proof that the navy is the popular service
of the country. With all its abuses, it is still regarded
as the national arm of defence, and the gratitude of the
country is eminently due to the press for its exertions
in the good cause, and the energy it has displayed in
bringing such abuses to light.
The safety and dignity of Great Britain depends on
the efficiency of her naval power. Is it then, a crime
to be alive to certain evils which still exist, and, by ex-
posing them, to be instrumental in their abolition ?
These very evils have cost the country some thousands
of fine fellows, who would otherwise have been proudly
treading the decks of our ships at Spithead and else-
where. Is it not grievous to reflect that such a fleet
should be rendered ineffective through want of men to
man it, when there are yet good men and true in the
country unemployed.
"The gist of the letter of your correspondent,_ "A
Vice-Admiral," is to make us believe that the naval ser-
vice is the acme of perfection—that, forsooth, because
the general discipline of 1853 is less tyrannical than
was that of 1830, the service and the country are to be
tongue-tied, and rest satisfied.
Now, sir, I maintain that the improvement during
the above period, great as it is, is in no way commensurate
With the improvement in the moral character and gene-
ral habits of the seamen, and still leaves the Admiralty
considerably in debt. Yes ; and the order to square
yards must issue from head-quarters, e'er Jack regards
the service with favour. Circumstances that would for-
merly have passed unnoticed, are now narrowly scruti-
nised by the men ; and the evils that still exist must be
rooted out before the project of a standing navy, by
permanent and continuous service, can be satisfactorily
carried out.
" The letter ofAdmiral " not onlyde-
aiounces discussion on the subject, but goes so far as to
assert that the sole object of the writers on naval mat-
ters is to degrade the service in the opinion of the sea-
men. If the gallant officer can really be serious, permit
me to ask what has produced the reforms of which he
boasts Did they emanate from the humanity of the
'quarter-deck ? Are they the fruits of the gratuitous re-
commendations of officers themselves, or is their source not to be traced to public opinion expressed through
their legitimate organ, the press ? I assert, without
qualification, that all has been effected by this means.
It is no light matter to charge all those men who have
written on this subject with a desire to create discontent
in and dislike to the service ; however, the admiral has
thrown down the gauntlet, and to must be prepared to