The Sun.
London, England, 1853-08-31 00:00:00

LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, AUGUST 31, 1853.

LAURENT'S CASINO, ARGYLL ROOMS,
(Lessee, Crias. C. LAURENT, Onslow-house, Fulham.road).—
T /HS EVENING, MONDAY, the above Rooms will RE-OPEN
for the se son, and continue open every evening, with LAUREN T'S
CELEBRATED BAND. Admission, Is. Doors open at half-past 8 ;
Dancing to commence at 9 o'clock, and ter,Linate at half-past 11.

M
exSceptlSTaturd'Say, at °8
o'cTlockßLMorniCng' EveryPcr:ormßan•ce,TuijeFßevdEaeyninard Saturday, at 3 o'clock. Stalls, 35.; Area,
2e ; Gallery, is. The present Entertainment will CLOSE FOR
T:IE SEASON on SATURDAY, September 10.—Egyptian Hall, Pic-
cadilly.

DR. KAHN'S ANATOMICAL MUSEUM,
consisting of more then 700 Models, IS NOW OPEN, at the
Portland Gadery, Regent-street, opposite the Polytechnic, every day
except Friday, from 11 till 5, and from 7 till 10, for gentlemen only ;
on Fridays, however, the Morning ExhPaition for gentlemen will

close at 2 o'clock, when Ladies only will be admitted until 5 o'clack
Explanations for gentlemen by Dr. Leach, and for ladies by Mrs,
Leach. Admhslon—One billing.

ItOYAL POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTION.
PATRON—H.R.H. PRINCE ALBERT.
Last week of the FIRST PART of the LECTURE on " THE
THAMES," by GEORGE BUCKLAND, Esq., assisted by Miss
Blanche \lounge, with APPROPRIATE SONGS and DiSsOLVING
SCENERY. The Second Part commences on the sth September.
LECTURES.—By J. H. Pepper, Esq. : On PHOT,IGRAPHY, with
Illustrations, Mornings and Evenings
By Dr. Bachhoffner : On ELECTRO-GILDING and
:41,1/ENING.
The LAWCASTIIRE SEWING MACHINE exhibited in Use
and explained Daily.
Open Mornings and Evenings. Admission, Is.; Schools, and
( hildren under Ten years of age Half-price.

NETHERLANDS LAND ENCLOSURE
COMPANY.

Notice is hereby given, that the THIRD INSTALMENT of 11
per share w 11 become payable on the shares of this Company on the
30th Seotember next. . .

Shareholders are requested to pay the same at the banking-house
of Messrs. Masterman and Co., Nicholas-lane, London, who will give
a receipt for it, which must afterwards be presented with the shares
at the offices of the Company, in order that the amount of the call
maY-24-1.49-arjr4UWW_
y of the oard. GEO. FASSON, Secretary.
3, Adelaide place, Lsndon-bridge, 29th Aug., 1853.

BANK OF DEPOSIT,
7, St. Martin's-place, Trafalgar-square, London.
Parties desirous of Investing Money are requested to examine the
Plan of this Institution, by which a high Rate of Interest may be
obtained with perfect security.
Interest payable in January and July.
PETER MORRISON, Managing Director.
Prospectuses free on application.

NICOLL'S AUTUMNAL PATTERNS are
NOW READY.

EXCELLENCE and ECONOMY comllined, as illustrated by the
well known Patent PALE I'OT, at Two Guineas.
In England, France, cr Germany, the best talent, workmanship,
and materials are secured by H. J. and D. NICOLL, 114, 116, 118,
120, Regent-street, and 22, Cernhill, London.

COUGH,, CONSUMPTION, SPITTING of
BLOOD NIGHT SWEATS, and FEVERS.—lmmediate
relief is effected by PASCGE'S CONCENTRATED COUGH and
CONSUMPTION MIXTURE, in all affections of the throat, chest,
lungs, &c. In all cases of cough, hoarseness, wheezing, dlflicutt
breathing, &c., however inveterate. this highly-successful remedy
will ba found the only medicine upon which entire reliance can be
pltred. It is also very yiluable -in the febrile affections of children
. .

a all BILIOUS DISORDERS, liver complaints, indigestion in all its
orms, headaches, loss of appetite, &c., PASCOE'S INFALLIBLE

_ .
GLOBULES will effect a radical care, as proved by numberless tes-
timonials. Prepared only by the proprietors, Henry and Co., with.
out whose signature across the Government stamp none is genuine
To be obtained through Barclay, Sutton, Sanger, &c., or any re-
spectable medicine vendor, in bottles at ls. 1%d., 2s. 9d., and 4s. 6d.
each. Wholesale depot, Bohemia-place, Hackney.

THE FRENCH NAVY.
PART VI.
THE COMPOSITION OF THE FLEET.

(Continued from, The Sun of Aug. 25.)

We cannot dismiss this important subject with-
out some more extended notice of the state and
prospects of our fleet compared with that of France,
having in mind the general views of the Commis-
sion, as well as its opinion in regard to the " corn-
position of the fleet," which are now in the course
of being actively carried into effect.
Every dispassionate mind must see that we must
be always prepared to send forth naval forces supe-
rior in amount to those of any assailant, and at
least as quickly. This truth is nowhere more con-
clusively shown than in the recommendations of
the French Commission, which are, in fact, based
upon the assumption that we are overburdened
with our vast commerce and colonies, which render
us vulnerable in every quarter of the globe.
Granting that our forces are superior in amount,
members and witnesses with one voice declare that
they must be dispersed over every sea, while those
of France, free from such demands upon their ser-
vices, will be more than sufficient to inflict upon
us serious and lasting injury. Neither must we
conceal the opinion expressed by many of these
gentlemen best qualified to form a just estimate of
our position, that, from the absence of all organised
means of raising men, England could not in the
hour of emergency raise a force even equal to that
of France.

The principle characteristic of our, perhaps, too
numerous fleet is the want of all intelligible system
eNists ul
tome of the most important descrii)tion of slips,
and there is no unity of character and qualities in
the ships of the same class, while each class in-
cludes a great many vessels far inferior in force to
those which bear the same denominations in fo-
reign navies—vessels which either ought never to
have been built, or long ago sold out of the service.

As the list of the French fleet has been omitted

from the recent numbers of the Annuaire de la
Marine, we are obliged to take its amount in 1851,
as given in the reports of the Commission. Ac-
oording to M. Collas, the number of ships building
and aflout in that year was 566, while M. Daru
states it to be 392 ; this discrepancy is explained
by a note, showing that M. Collas reckoned only
those ships building the construction of which was
advanced to a certain point.
According to our Navy List for July last, the
total number of ships on the effective list was 487.
This includes not only every ship from the moment
the keel is laid, but a considerable number of re-
ceiving ships, store ships, surveying ships, and iron
vessels, wholly incapable of service as vessels of
war.
The number of ships of the line, building and
afloat, was 91; while, according to M. Daru,
France had but 50, France has, however, no ships
of this class udder ,804i.guns., atid,,,while 65 of our
ships are of this or larger classes, we have no less
than 26 smalleany of %hem of the old class,
several hundred, tons less than Modern frigates.
These vessels, having neither the speed of frigates
nor the force of ihips of the line of the present day,
may be considered as of little service for general
purposes.
The nation that would maintain a maritime pre-
ponderance must be always prepared with a power-
ful fleet of ships of the line, and, though it was at
one time supposed that steam would cast aside
these " oak leviathans," the wonderful and unex-
pected results that have attended the application
of the screw to great ships have united speed and
force, and immensely added to their power and.
importance. This discovery, however, has ren-
dered it necessary to furnish all ships of the line
with this invaluable agent, and England has far
superior means of fulfilling this object than any
other Power. We have 12 ships of the line afloat
already furnished with screw propellers, including
four of the smallest size, intended for coast defence,
and mounting only 60 guns. , Eleven more are
building, and will be ready in the course of from
one to two years, and there is no reason to doubt
that our force in these vessels will be fully equal
to any contingency.
The proceedings of the Commission, however,
show that the idea of contending for the first place,

among maritime Powers with ships of the lin; has
been abandoned by France in favour of sudden in-
roads with her armies on an enemy's coasts, and of
unexpected onslaughts on commerce and possessions
in distant seas. Her reduced force in ships of the
line arises, therefore, from the change of tactics,
and her position being not one of defence she would
be enabled to choose her weapons, as well as the
place of attack. Our excess of line-of-battle ships
cannot do the work of light flotilla in defence of
our coasts, nor are they suitable for the protection
of our commerce in distant regions.
The history of our past measures with respect to
frigates is worthy of a glance. In the American
war we pitted our ships of 1,000 tons against the
large American frigates of 1,500 tons, the disparity
in the number of men and in weight of metal being
in similar proportions ; in other words, our oppo-
nents' ships were just half as large again as our
own. They were, moreover, to a large extent
manned with British seamen. The result was not
surprising, and we owed these reverses not to our
officers and men, who did their duty nobly, but to
the Admiralty, which, having neglected to provide
a proper class of ships, sent out small vessels to
contend against overwhelming odds. It would be
thought impossible to disregard such a lesson, but,
with these painful facts before us, and while all
other powers were building 50-gun frigates, similar
tt
ho
etihr ossiez
eo, f
wA
em
per ie r
sc
s,
taendd du2oallyyeaersvenininbcureiladsig
for building
frigates of the same, and even smaller classes than
that to which we owed our reverses. Down to a
very recent period, while our harbours swarmed
with these vessels, we did not possess a dozen
50-gun frigates. Then we built three or four ships
of 36 and 40 guns, something larger in tonnage
than the old class ; and it is only quite recently
that we have begun to provide ourselves with any-
thing like an adequate number of powerful frigates
of a force equal to those of other nations.
It also deserves notice that several years have
now elapsed since the Prince de Joinville published
his pamphlet, showing how England was to be
" struck to the heart" by divisions of powerful fri-
gates, which should sweep away our commerce
from every sea. In 1846 a part of the vote of 93
millions was applied to build a number of these
first-class frigates, besides the steam-vessels ; the
money, in short, was devoted to create the very
force proposed in the pamphlet, all the opinions of
which we have seen are re-echoed and confirmed
by the Commission. Still, in the year 1853, we
have only 41 50-gun frigates building and afloat,
while in 1851 France had 45, of which those build-
ing were then nearly completed. On the other
hand, we have no less than 70 vessels of various
inferior sizes, many of which are scarcely equal to
the French corvettes, though we persist in calling
them frigates.
It may be said, that ships of the line might be
employed in the duties of frigates, of which class '
we obviously require a very large superiority of
number over any assailant ; to say nothing of the
expense, such a waste of our resources in men, at
the hour of need, would be the strongestpossible con-
demnation of the obstinacy and want of foresight
which could alone have occasioned such a necessity.
Still, this would be a better course than to insure
defeat and loss of prestige by opposing powerful
50-gun frigates with vessels of half their size, also
under the name of frigates.
If we have neglected to provide a sufficient num-
berme a
no
sf
ofp d ng sailingopwreeiviiul
aforce of these ships
with the
screw before our neighbours, and so of obtaining
the superiority in number required for the security
frigates, we have now the
of our commercial and colonial interests. The
frigates now building are admirable models, of
sufficient force, and will all have screw propellers.
The Imperieuse is, perhaps, the most perfect ship
we have ever built, and promises well for her sisters
on the stocks. It is to be hoped that no time will
ffri all sizes
be lost in increasing their number.
A considerable number of highly efficient vesselsgates.
have also been built with screws, but many are
ratThheer
sweorretwhyvetsosele be cbaullillingand
corvettesait thaneao
amount altogether to 70 in number. We have a
i
confused mass of some 70 small vessels, sloops-of-
war, and brigs of all sorts and sizes, many o them
beautiful models, but by no means well adapted to
war. These vessels will probably soon disappear
from the Navy List, and must be replaced by an
effective class of corvettes, fitted with screws, and
answering in size to the corvettes of France and
the sloops-of-war of the United States. At present
we have no class of vessels of a similar description.
We have 115 paddle-wheel steamers,
while France
had, in 1851, 107. The French Commission is un-
doubtedly right in its opinion that the larger classes
of those vessels have been superseded as ships-of-
war by the introduction of the screw. As the re-
port states, they are only fit for transports, but in
I this character they are of great importance to

t France, as a means of transporting her armies,
and bringing them suddenly to bear on remote
a and unprepared quarters. To us they will be a
mere dead weight, since we have no ambitious
schemes, and maintain a military force barely
equal to the defence of the country.
The smaller vessels will be useful for the coast
defence, but the number is insufficient, and they
are by no means particularly well suited to that
important service. A certain proportion of the
swiftest vessels must be built by the State ; but,
as we have before suggested, the great mass of the
vessels required for the defence of our coasts may
be provided by measures under an act of Parlia-
ment for ,fitting merchant steamers to receive
armaments, and enabling the Admiralty to take
them into public service as hired vessels in case of
war—an event that would put a considerable check
on their ordinary employrnt. If this course were
adopted, every vessel, when built, should be accu-
rately and completely fitted to receive a certain
armament, and the armaments of a sufficient num-
ber, should be at all times kept in perfect readi-
ness to be shipped at a day's notice. This sug-
gestion is one of the many hints of which we may
avail ourselves, to be found in the proceedings of
the French Commission.

As France has resolved to apply screw propellers
to all her larger vessels, no doubt can exist as to
the wisdom and necessity of adopting the same
course, and the process seems with us to be in
active operation. The best proportion of horse
power to the tonnage does not, however, seem to
be yet quite satisfactorily ascertained, though it is
certain we cannot safely allow ourselves to be sur-
passed in speed. If France build ships that steam
10 or 12 lalots, we must do the same ; ships withpt
.sTRISOIMOMAbta would -ber-u15140,18,-„Jt_ +hem_
Still it may be doubted whether wood and iron
can sustain the continuous shock of a force which,
acting on the least buoyant extremity of the fabric,
is capable of driving a vessel of 3,000 or 4,000
tons' burden at the rate of 14 (land) milesan hour.
A sparing exercise of this power will at least be
prudent, and it will probably be found necessary
to employ it only on important occasions.