The Sun.
London, England, 1853-02-14 00:00:00

FRIGATES.

Guns. Men. Stations.
Leander 5O 500 Portsmouth.
Arethusa 5O 500 Mediterranean.
Portland 5O 450 Pacific.
Winchester 5O 450 East Indies.

Now, in recapitulating the above lists, from which are
omitted all our immense force of paddle-wheel steamers
and smaller screw-vessels, we may remark that we do
so for the purpose of making the public acquainted with
the real condition of the navy at the present moment.
We neither omit nor exaggerate, but give the plain
facts. We have exposed the incorrect statements of Sir
Charles Napier on the one hand, and have frequently
shown the statements of the Times in July last, that the
French had nothing equal to our Agamemnon (not then
in commission), and our Arrogant, a second-class frigate,
to be equally erroneous, and now when we see the in-
valid Earl of Mount Egdcumbe lending his name and
his military and yachting character to spread alarm
throughout the country at a time when every exertion
is being made to complete our screw-ships, and to in-
crease and stregthen the shore defences of the country,
we deem it our bounden duty to tell the world the
truth.

The Earl of Mount Edgcumbe's beautiful seat is situ-
ated on a portion of our defenceless frontier, and doubt-
less he would like to see a strong fleet in Plymouth
Sound or Cawsand Bay, as well as a regiment quartered
on Maker Heights ;so should we. We should like to
see the Mewstone fortified, and a screw-squadron in
Torbay. We should like to see every untenanted house
in his lordship's manor of Stonehouse occupied by
officers of the Royal navy, array, or marines ; but we
are looking forward to the abolition of the income
tax, and we cannot afford to assist any nervous old
gentleman in creating unnecessary alarmslby backing up
his letters to the Times. We would much rather that
all our line-of-battle-ships were fitted with screw machi-
nery ; that we had a reserve of 10,000 instead of 3,000
seamen in the coast guard; that we had all our contract
packet service men trained, as Lieut. Engledue has sug-
gested, to the use of great guns and small arms ; that we
had double the force of marine artillery that we at pre-
sent possess ; that our troops in the manufacturing dis-
tricts were removed to the coast towns, and that we had
the flying batteries of artillery complete • for railway
locomotion ; but we must confess that we are not so
badly off after all with 23 sail of the line in actual com-
mission, 7 of them screw-ships (including the steam
guard-ships) ; and we are quite • satisfied that, in the
space of a few months, we shall have nothing to fear
from an attack on our shores of the whole naval forces
of the world combined. We have been slack ;we are
now making up for lost time. Every succeeding month
will now turn out a good "peace-maker " in the shape
of a 130-gun or 90-gun screw-ship ; and thus in a very
short time we shall be as safe as in 1842-43, when Lord
Haddington's Board of Admiralty, at the suggestion of
Sir G. Cockburn, gave us a reserve of 30 sail of the line
to fall back upon.
But we must not forget that we require the men, not
the mere seamen • we should get thousands of those on
an emergency. ilre want marine artillery and seamen
trained to the use of arms. The fleet is provided. Let
Sir Baldwin Walker do his best, and the country will be
well cared for in that respect ; but we want the skilful,
well-drilled gunners to smash a flotilla or fire the enemy's
coasts.—Morning Herald.

[ADVERTISEMENT.] HOLLOWAY'S PILLS FOR TNE
EFFECTUAL CURE OF DROPSY.—The singular efficacy of
Holloway's pills in the numerous cures effected by their
use in some of the most obstinate cases of dropsy is very
extraordinary. These astonishing pills act with such
peculiar effect upon the system, that the fluids arising
from this direful disease, are imperceptibly carried off,
and entirely prevented from any further accumulation.
The distressing symptoms which accompany this coin-
plaint being thus dispersed, the sufferer regains buoy-
ancy of spirits, and a completely renovated constitution.
Females at particular periods of life should have re-
course to these admirable pills, as they are the finest
medicine ever known. Sold by all druggists, and at
London.
Professor Holloway's establishment, 244, Strand,