The Sun.
London, England, 1849-06-20 00:00:00

C

LONDON, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20, 1849.

Either as warriors or as publicists the NAFIERS, if
not doing, are at least always endeavouring to do
good service to their country. Whenever their swords
are sheathed their pens are called into requisition.
When they withdraw for a while from the command
of the military or maritime forces of Britain, they
evince an earnest and patriotic anxiety to forward the
improvement of their warlike professions. This, it
will not yet have been forgotten, was evinced in a
striking manner by the Letter addressed to the Presi-
dent of the Board of Control (on the necessity existing
for the reorganization of the Baggage Corps of the
Indian army), by Sir CHARLES NAPIER, the victor of
Meanee. It has also, within the last few days, been
displayed quite as conspicuously by the Letter
addressed to the First Lord of the Treasury (on the
urgent demand for the extension of our naval power
in the number and quality of its steam-vessels) by
Sir CHARLES NAPIER, the conqueror of St. Jean
d'Acre. Whatever may be the views of the Admi-
nistration either as to the efficiency of the Baggage
Corps of the Indian army, or as to the sufficiency of
the steam force of the English navy, it is quite im-
possible that the Ministers of the Crown should do
otherwise than yield the most diligent attention to
the remonstrances of men so illustrious among
the great Captains of the two elements. The
NAPITNE3 have nobly and brilliantly earned for
themselves the right of requiring this Ministerial
consideration, by the ardour of the one as a soldier,
and of the other as a sailor, and by the splendid vic-
tories with which they have both illustrated the his-
tory of the Anglo- Saxons.
Although the objections made by Sir CHARLES
NAPIRE, in reference to the mal-administration of
affairs at the Admiralty, have been long since ren-
dered familiar to the public through the medium of
his Parliamentary speeches, the majority cannot fail
to be gratified at the publication of a document
which recapitulates those objections in the concise
form of an epitome, and condenses them within the mo-
derate dimensions of an epistle. As a resume of the
opinions expressed by the Gallant Admiral during
the six years he remained in the House as a popular
representative, the communication to Lord JOHN
RUSSELL on the " State of the Steam Navy," a letter
contained in our last evening's impression, must prove
peculiarly welcome to every lover of his country, and
*very well-wisher of the illustrious service which has
elevated that country to its present greatness.
Sir CHARLES at once plainly and bluntly acknow-
ledges himself to be an alarmist. In doing
this, however, he reminds the Prime Minister
that no peril can be risked by his exposure of the
defenceless condition of England, that exposure
having already been made by the memorable letter
Penned by the Duke of WELLINGTON. And as an
additional, nay, more, as a conclusive justification of
his own exposition of " the nakedness of the land,"
Sir CHARLES insista upon the inappropriateness of the
time in which the Duke took upon himself the in-
vidious duties of an alarmist, and on the other hand
maintains that such an exposure of the urgency of
our national position is shown to be exquisitely re-
quisite, at a period when 30,000 have been conveyed
with such astounding facility and suddenness from
France to Italy, from Toulon to Civita Vecchia.
Our distinguished Sea. Captain speaks directly to the
point, without the feeblest attempt at circumlocution;
and his hint to the Premier is not less startling than
if sententious. " I advise your Lordship," says he,
_ «p look at the chart—not at the distance from Ton.
ti * o Civita Vecchia, but at the distance from Cher-
g to Portland." Immediately before that re-
a

commendation he has declared in the most emphatic
language that the French possess a much
more efficient steam navy than ourselves,
seeing that while England has more
horse power, and he believes more tonnage, " France
has 20 steam-frigates, capable of mounting 32 guns
each, and of carrying 2,000 troops with ease." A
fact which was alarmingly demonstrated the other
day by the abrupt disembarkation on the shores of
Central Italy of the French army under OUDINOT ;
and one, moreover, which calls forcibly to our re-
membrance as opinion long since pronounced by a
great French -statesman and historian, ADOLPHE
TRIERS. " The character of steam-navigation"—
these are the very words of M. THIERS—" the cha-
racter of steam navigation it is impossible to predict
now in its relation to future events. That it gives
more means to France of acting against England is
possible. That it renders the Straits more easy to
be crossed must depend upon the efforts France may
make to assume a superiority in the employ of the
New Power." According to the deliberate assertion
of Sir CHARLES NAPIER those efforts have been made,
and have not only been made, but have proved up to
the present time to be eminently successful.
If false, that assertion may be very readily
disprovei ; if true, it renders the argu •
ment of the Admiral signally imperative.
Whether true or false the fact might be the most
effectually and the most clearly demonstrated by
having recourse to the very measure proposed by Sir
CHARLES NAPIER, namely, the appointment of a
committee of naval officers and engineers to investi-
gate thoroughly the whole system of the present
management of our naval forces, and to propound
some other by which its difficulties and blunders
might be immediately and permanently prevented.
The very circumstance of his suggesting this con-
trivance for the removal of existing abuses, and for
the substitution of a wholesome re-organization, affords
the best guarantee of the sincerity and the
disinterestedness of the feelings by which Sir CHARLES
NAPIER is actuated. It demonstrates that his solici-
tude is actually to witness the improvement of our
steam navy, and not to cram a crochet of his own
down the throats of the Government. This circum-
stance, moreover, is the more worthy of regard in
his particular instance, from the recollection of
the fact that the views upon steam navigation of Sir
CHARLES NAPIER individually are entitled to a very
express consideration, for, according to his own
decisive statement, " during the two years he com-
manded the Channel squadron no less than 29
steamers have passed through his hands." Of the
steam vessels of war by which he has endeavoured to
illustrate the accuracy of his objections to the old
system (or rather to the old want-of-system), the
most remarkable have been the three well-known
ships, the Sidon, the Odin, and the Terrible—
the first-named being the very first pro-
duced under his personal direction, Mr.
FiNcriam being the builder, and Mr. SEAWARD the
engine maker. Faults, blemishes, deficiencies, there
undoubtedly have been in these vessels, but those very
faults, blemishes, and deficiencies have only, to our
thinking, proved the more incontrovertibly that Sir
CHARLES NAPIER was correct from the outset in his
objections. If plans, in carrying out which the
builder and engineer have been brought together, the
merits and demerits of which plans have been scrupu-
lously canvassed " for months," in reference to which
officers experienced in steam navigation have been re-
peatedly consulted—if such plans, so directed and so
followed out to their completion, are found, notwith-
standing all these precautions, to require
considerable modification, how much more liable to
error must not those earlier, more jejune, and hap-
hazard plans he in the furtherance of which neither
the constructor of the ship, the maker of the engines,
nor the seamen of the vessel have been brought to-
gether to consult on one of the most difficult points
of naval architecture.

Briefly—Sir CHARLES NAPIER has fully effected
all the purpose of reasoning towards which his ar-
guments were through this letter directed. He has,
by his allusions to the superiority of the French
steam navy, as revealed in the recent expedition of
30,000 troops to Civita Vecchia, proved that some rigid
investigation is required forthwith. He has proclaimed
the madness of the reduction lately made in the
number of our seamen to the extent of some 3,000 or
4,000 mariners. He has shown that by our present
absurd and dangerous system we are only building
overgrown corvettes which are miscalled frigates—
and that those vessels, through the want of co-opera-
tion and of a common understanding among the
parties engaged in their construction, are conspicuous
for the following defects :—the want of sufficient
stowage—the exposure of their boilers to the enemies'
shot—the sinking of the main deck ports so low in
the water as to render their guns useless, and
the general fabrication of so-called frigates at once
cumbrous, ineffective, and inconvenient. All these
defects, all this necessity for a re-organization in the
management of the navy, we ourselves have long
and long ago insisted upon. Years since
The Sun has declared, for example, the absolute
necessity for the general adoption of the
" screw" in our own 'steam navy, as the best preser-
vation of the propelling force in vessels of war,
besides all those other necessities for modifica-
tion, which have at length found a supporter so
earnest and resolute as Sir CHARLES NAPIER. There is
no longer any path for withdrawal open for the Go-
vernment. The charges made against the pre-

veiling system have become at last so dis.
tinct and definitive that they must be en.

countered. And, to bring the matter to the
earliest and most satisfactory settlement, the com-
mittee of naval officers and engineers must conse-
quently be appointed. When this much has been
accomplished we shall no longer be " groping in the
dark," and shall see the Navy of England placed in
a-position commensurate with its ancient glory.

What the ATTORNEY-GENERAL has had "under
consideration, but not found time or opportunity to
do," the Noble Lord the Member for Marylebone
has almost accomplished ; while the law officer of the
Crown was doubting and hesitating as to the best
mode of encountering the difficulties of the case, the
unpaid representative of a metropolitan borough has
produced a sound practical measure, completely
removing the ,virus from an acknowledged
nuisance. The Palace Court Bill was
read a second time on Monday evening,
without a single dissentient voice, and was ordered
to be committed on Friday. It will undoubtedly
pass through all its stages with perfect unanimity,
unless Sir JOHN JERVIS should, in the interim, shake
off his apathy, and bring forward his long contem-
plated Bill for the total abolition of the tribunal.
Lord DUDLEY STUART proposes that hencefor ward
eavueorwyeapetrosoanemsuauedd
tihne tthe ransPfearlacoe Court shall b
to
the
County Court of the district within which he resides.
This privilege will completely take
of the obnoxious tribunal, for it cannot
cannot be
b
that any person of ordinary capacity will voluntarily
supposed
submit to the enormous costs and practical injusticearl
of a jurisdiction that has already attained so unen-
viable a notoriety. It may sometimes be resorted to
by persons anxious to obtain payment of extortionate
or unconscientious claims, for, whether justly or
otherwise, it has been 'generally believed that the
party appealing to the Court has almost a
certainty of success if he can bring forward
the slightest evidence to sustain his demand, but no
defendant will consent to have his case adjudicated
on where there is a manifest prejudice in favour of
the plaintiff, and where, in the event of an unfavour-
able decision, the original debt may be quadrupled
by the costs incidental to its recovery. If cheap and
expeditious justice be desirable, nothing can be
alleged
,in favour of the jurisdiction of the Palace
Court.

But where there is really a legitimate and bond
fide debt, the proceedings of the court are almost as
injurious to the interests of the creditor, as they un-
doubtedly are harassing to the defendant. Many
unprivileged persons practice under the sanction and
with the connivance of the attorneys, who put for-
ward a claim to compensation for what they are
pleased to term " an invasion of their vested
rights:' Such intruders will too frequently
be guilty of acts at which the legitimate prac-
titioners would blush, and no security is
afforded to the humble suitor that he will not be
permitted to fall into such hands. A set of harpies
haunt the precincts of the court yiho obtain the ma-

nagement of a case under the pretence of conducting
it more cheaply than the recognised officers of the
court. When such a party is entrusted with a cause
an immediate advance is required of one or
two pounds. In the majority of cases,
the deposit, which has thus been obtained
by something very little better than a swindle, is
appropriated by the recipient who takes no further
trouble in the matter. Happy is it for the creditor
if such should be the result, for he only sustains the
loss of the sum so advanced. But if unfortunately
the suit should be actually instituted, and an order
for payment obtained, a bill of costs is trumped
up, which absorbs the entire amount ; or if,
after payment of the debt, a balance
should chance to remain, it is infinitely more difficult
to obtain payment from the legal gentleman than from
the original debtor. This may appear to be an ex-
aggeration, but original documents have recently
been placed before us which fully sustain our state-
ments. Indeed we could not have credited the possi-
bility of such proceedings unless the most convincing
evidence had been afforded of the veracity of our
informant.

A respectable widow, who gained her livelihood
by letting furnished lodgings, had lent a sum of 121.
to a person similarly circumstanced, in the year
1844, in order to enable her friend to settle the rent
then due. No question existed as to the validity of
the demand, every shilling of which was for money
actually lent, without bonus or interest of any kind.
Repeated applications had been made for payment,
which would have been accepted by easy instalments,
but in vain ; no settlement could be obtained.
The debtor was either unable or unwilling
to satisfy the just demand. After having waited
patiently more then two years, the creditor was in-
duced in an evil hour to employ an attorney, whether
otie of the privileged few or not we are at present
unable to say. Proceedings were commenced some
time in the year 1846. On the 2d of October in that
year the attorney to the plaintiff (who had re-
ceived proposals for an amicable arrangement from
the defendant), ca ationing her against any interference
in the matter, and desiring that she should "leave it to
him to settle." She did so, and a demand was shortly
after wards preferred (according to the usual prac-
tice) for an advance of 21., without which no further
step could be taken. With considerable difficulty
this mcney was provided and handed over in the
month of March following, nothing having been done
in the interval. The party was then summoned to
the Palace Court, and no defence being offered, an
order was made for the payment of the debt and
costs by instalmemts of 10s. per month, the first pay-
ment to be made in May, 1847. Since that period
the instalments itrere punctually paid to the attorney,
but not a shilling was handed to the creditor, who
was not only kept out of her original demand, but
even of the 21. she, had advanced. Repeated applica-
tions were made• to this respectable atttorney for
payment, but although constant promises were made
nothing could be obtained. On the 13th February
last we find a letter from the attorney, who was never
at home when called on, in the following words ;
~ Mrs.

" I hope in the• course of a week or ten days to do
something for you.. I will, you may rest assured, not
lose a moment, but business has been flat,' and money
very scarce, or I would not have troubled you to write
or to send to me.

" Yours, truly,

In the beginning of March the plaintiff, who had in
the interim repeatedly called upon the attorney, wrote,
another letter staling that if the matter were not imme-
diately settled, sne would cause an application to be
made to the court for redress, to which she received
an answer, which for style and matter is certainly a
literary curiosity, and which we cannot refrain
from giving to our readers verbatim. It com-
menced with a bill of costs in this unopposed suit,
amounting to 11/, 2s. It then gave credit for
121. 104., viz., 21. received on account from the
plaintiff and various payments from the defendant
amounting in all to 101. 103., to which account was
appended the following epistle :--
‘, Mrs. -

" The last letter you wrote me must have been penned
by some low, insolent follow, whom you had better not
for the future have arlything to do with. I have made
out the amount in full, giving you credit for all I have
received, and by which you will perceive, after all your
bluster and impudent threats against me, that there is
only lt 83. due to you. This amount you can have, I
dare say, on Saturday next,.and then I wish to have no
more to du with you.—Young obediently,

Here, then, this excellent attorney wishes to have
no more to do with the plaintiff, or to take no further
steps after he has succeeded in extracting sufficient to
pay his 11/. 2s. costs, where there was no defence.
But, strange as it may appear, the 1/. Bs. has never
since been paid, but the settlement has still been put
off for a further time.

Such facts require no comment on our part, they
will be fully appreciated if any opposition should be
offered to the Bill, or if claims for compensation
should be put forward by those who allow such prac-
tioners to use their names or to act under their
authority.

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC.

We have received the Paris papers of yesterday.
The Illoniteur publishes the following telegraphic
dispatch :
" THE PREFECT OF THE RHONE TO THE MINISTER OF