The Sun.
London, England, 1854-04-07 00:00:00

THE DISTURBANCES ON BOARD HER
MAJESTY'S SHIP CUMBERLAND.

From our accurate acquaintance with the circum-
stances connected with the disturbances on board the
Cumberland, 70, Captain Seymour, it would be pro-
productive of the greatest possible mischief to the best
interests of the naval service of this great country, if the
extraordinary and incorrect account that appeared yes-
terday morning in the columns of a contemporary were
allowed to pass uncontradicted. We, therefore, append
the following statement from our Portsmouth corres-
pondent :
PORTSMOUTH, WEDNESDAY.—The Times, under the
heading of their naval news, states that Sir Thomas John
Cochrane endeavoured to address the crew, &c., but was
met with murmurs of " Leave, leave, leave," &c., and
could not continue his address. We beg to give this state-
ment a flat contradiction. We were on board before the
ship let go her anchor, and did not leave her until the pro-
ceedinigs had concluded and the above officer had departed.
Sir Thomas Cochrane did not address, nor did he attempt
to address, the ship's company at any time. One of the
Lords of the Admiralty, Real-Admiral Berkeley, did ad-
dress the crew, every word of which address appeared in
this day's Herald, and we repeat that that address was re-
ceived with the utmost respect and attention. What fol-
lowed we will give with the same accuracy as we did the
address of the gallant admiral. Everything went right until
the crew were piped to dinner, but during this period the
villanous crimps obtained admission into the ship through
the lower deck ports, and by their agency deleteriolis
liquors and poison were administered to the men in
copious draughts and doses, the effects of which were
such that when at one they were piped to their duty
a spirit of insubordination manifested itself in a most un-
mistakeable manner. Shots were rolled about the deck, the
mess things broken, and the crew refused to do their duty.
The Marines were got instantly under arms, and prompt
and successful measures were resorted to to quell the muti-
nous conduct of the drunken and misguided crew. Three
of the ringleaders were brought from the Cumberland and
placed on board the Victory. Nothing of this sort would
have occurred but for the introduction of the land sharks
—crimps and bumboat people. They, to suit their own
designs of plundering poor Jack, instilled the poison into
his mind that it had been ordered that the crew were to
have a fortnight's leave. They told them that they were
no men if they did not insist upon their " rights," quot-
ing Penelope, Desperate, &c. Of course those wretches
would have had every farthing out of the poor fellows'
pay daring the fortnight; but when they found them-
selves balked of their prey, after Admiral Berkeley's
address, they set to work and created that evil which
was likely to cause most serious mischief. We are pleased
to state, however, that the men have come to their
senses and are heartily ashamed of their disgrace-
ful conduct. They have returned to their duty,
and the ringleaders have been sent to their own ship this
morning to be dealt with according to their deserts. The
ship will be paid advance on Friday morning, and sail on
Saturday for the Baltic. She has taken on board a twelve-
month's stores. We only trust that an order will be issued
never more to permit the crimps to go alongside, and that
whatever is sent on board shall pass through the hands of
the officer in command. The Cumberlands aro a good and
well-disciplined crew ; they love and respect their officers,
and but for the designing and disappointed vagabonds that
tempted the men to forget for the moment their discipline
and their duty, this unfortunate and totally unexpected
occurrence never would have happened, nor will such ever
happen again, if the ' sailors' pest' is kept out of the ship."
We may remark that, we believe, we have the credit
of being the friend of the seamen. We have advocated
their just claims to good treatment, fair consideration,
and adequate pay. We believe that there is no class of
men in the world who make greater sacrifices for their
country, and who are more willing and anxious to keep
faith with the Crown but we must warn them
against evil counsels and influences that have led to
such outrages of discipline as have occurred on
board the Cumberland. A bargain is a bargain all the
world over. Seamen well know what is expected of
them when they enter the Royal navy ; they are not
trapped or kidnapped into the service, they take their
ratings with their eyes open to the duties required of
them, and they are aware that on an emergency they
are bound to sacrifice every other consideration in the
world to their duty to the country. They understand
this arrangement, and if they are disappointed in their
natural expectations of leave or discharge, why they
must take it out of the Russians who have caused their
detention. Their officers -are in the same boat with
them, endure the same privations, the same detention,
the same absence from their friends and connections ;
and the seamen know well what is their duty on such
occasions. Such outrages, therefore, are a disgrace to
their intelligence, and tend to alienate from them those
friends to their class who have been working hard for
their advancement and improvement in every station
and in every position whicha man-of-war's man occupies.
We trust that we shall not have to reproach the seamen
of the fleet with any more unseemly outbreaks that re-
flect anything but credit on the class.
We are quite sure that it is only for the moment that
they are led away by false representations, and become
the tools of designing scoundrels, and that they will
return to their duty as they return to their senses ; but
when they consider that this temporary disruption of
discipline produces more disastrous consequences than
the fire of an enemy, we trust that the steady men of
the ships' companies will carefully watch any growing
disposition to be led into mischief by evil promptings, or
by the maddening influence of intoxicating draughts of
Portsmouth "blue ruin," and will take prompt mea-
sures to prevent their shipmates from falling into griev-
ous error.

In the case of the Cumberland, cause and effect are
clearly traceable. There was no time for concert, pre-
paration, or co-operation. It was a stupid, senseless,
outbreak---a drunken effervescence, the consequences
of which we know are as astounding to the men them-
selves as to their officers and .the public. The men
of the Cumberland knew that they could not, like the
men of the Thetis, Penelope, and other ships that were
not ready for active service, be allowed a fortnight's
leave ; and we will stake our reputation, knowing the
esprit of this fine ship's company, that i fit had so hap-
pened that the Cumberland was not in a fit condition to

proceed to sea, there is not a man Jack of the lot ;Co

would not have volunteered for any ship that was ready,
and only wanted a crew to start for the Baltic within 24
hours. We are satisfied that they are not a whit behind
the Neptune's crew in ardour and devotion to the ser-

vice on which they are proceeding ; and the country
may depend upon it that if they get an opportunity, the
fire of the Cumberland, or the dash of her boarding par-
ties, will deservedly obliterate all recollection of this
"silly rumpus" at Spithead.—Morning herald.

TURKISH REFOR,II.-RELIGIOUS RAPACITY.

-
When we stated yesterday that the changes now in-
troduced in the Ottoman empire by the influence of the
Powers which have allied themselves for its defence
amount to a revolution in its social condition, we did
not foresee the very striking confirmation of this re-
mark which reached us a few hours later by the tele-
graph. We are informed by a communication from
Constantinople, dated the 27th of March, that the pos-
sessions of the mosques are to be declared the pro-
perty of the State, and that the refusal of the Sheik-
ul-Islam to consent to this measure was the cause
of his deposition. If this statement be correct,
it is beyond all comparison the most important re-
solution taken by the Turkish Government since
the destruction of the Janissaries, for it is a measure
from which Sultan Mahmoud himself recoiled, though
he had often contemplated it as one of the most essential
conditions of the regeneration of the empire. In fact, a
measure so contrary to the prejudices of the Mussul-
mans and the interests of the Ulemas could hardly have
been attempted with any chance of safety to the Sultan
or his Ministers unless he had the support of a consi-
derable force in the immediate neighbourhood of the
capital ; and even now we shall not be surprised to
learn that a coup d'etat of this description has been fol-
lowed by agitation and excitement among the Mussul-
man population.
The mosques and religious foundations of the Ottoman
empire form important spiritual corporations, exercising
an independent, legal, and theocratical power in the
State. The Ulemas, or masters of the law and the
Koran, are the sole possessors of the vast wealth be-
longing to these foundations, and at the same time, as
the expounders of the faith and fundamental laws of
Islam, they enjoy an authority to which the highest
powers in the State have been compelled to bow. The
insecurity of property under an arbitrary Government
and many other causes have induced Turkish land-
owners from generation to generation to assign over
the fee simple of their estates to the mosques, reserving
only the usufruct to themselves and their direct male
descendants. Land thus held by the mosques or religious
corporations became vacoof, or, as it is termed in India,
wukf, and is held for ever in mortmain. Such lands have
hitherto been exempt from taxation and personal con-
fiscation, and this tenure has so increased and extended
by the mere influence of duration and security in an
empire where all other property is fluctuating and
insecure, that fully three-quarters of the soil of the
Turkish dominions are said to be held in this manner.
To dispossess these powerful corporations of landed
property which they have held for centuries by the two-
fold bond of legal usage and religious veneration—to
resume the direct authority of the Sultan over so large a
portion of the lands of the empire, one-third of which
was allotted to the mosques by Mahomet the Conqueror—
and to defy the whole power which the Ulemas and re-
ligious orders may be able to put forth in defence of
their vested rights, is certainly one of the boldest mea-
sures ever taken in a great emergency.
But we entertain no doubt that this resumption of
lands is an indispensable preliminary to the real reform
and progress of the country. Sooner or later in its
history, every Christian State has under ;one it, and
the vast possessions which the superstition or the rapa-
city of former ages placed in the hands of the church
have been restored to the common uses of society.
The social revolution which is being effected in Tur-
key by the emancipation of the Christians, and the
establishment of a principle of equality between all
races and religions of the empire, led by
an inevitable
consequence to the abolition of the exclusivesupremacy
which the Mulsulinans have hitherto exercised over the
largest portion of the soil, except in the Archipelago
and in the provinces from which they are excluded by
treaty. And, although changes of this nature
are never
accomplished without the dangers and sufferings inse-
parable from revolutions, the future strength and inde-
pendence of Turkey depend on the introduction of a
system totally distinct from that which has reduced so
magnificent an empire to the verge of distiolutlon.
Times.

FLINTSHIRE. —We have to record the demise of
Edward Lloyd, first Baron Mostyn, who expired on
Monday last, at Pengwern, county of Flint, aged 85.
He is succeeded by his son, Edward Mostyn Lloyd
Mostyn, M.P., for Flint. This gentleman may be re-
membered as having been the purchaser of the stud
belonging to Lord George Bentinck, upon that noble-
man retiring front the turf in 1847. A vacancy is
created in the representation of Flint by Mr. Mostyn'a
elevation to the peerage,