The Sun.
London, England, 1849-11-08 00:00:00

of Commons—so that the matter may be brought
under the consideration of the Legislature very soon
after the commencement of the approaching session

of Parliament.

What we have proposed with regard to the gradual
abatement in the number of admirals might be
equally applied, if considered advisable, to the
dimunition of the extravagant list of post-captains.
While, if it be objected that any such innovations
would be the infliction of a grievous injustice upon
deserving officers, by preventing their promotion—
we can only reply that the plan just suggested would
in no manner stop, it would only tend to retard
promotion. Besides—You talk forsooth of injustice to
superior officers, and have no complaint whatever to
make with regard to the deep and interminable injus-
tice shown to those whose rank happens to be in some
measure subordinate. Place yourselves exactly at the
turning point in the. naval service—immediately
between the junior post-captain beyond whom a rise is
always with life inevitable, and beneath whom a rise
is frequently impossible. Which division, we ask you,
is deserving of the most numerical commiseration ?
Above are 194 admirals and 554 post-captains, in all

748 superior officers—below are 876 commanders
and 9,363 lieutenants, in all 3,229 inferior officers—
consequently 2,481 more of the latter than of the
former. Any one of the former (if they only live
long enough) are certain of rising even to the su-
preme dignity of Admiral of the Fleet. With the
latter, as is notorious, it is altogether otherwise.
Fortunate young striplings with interest may jump
up to the elevation of their post rank within a month
or two of becoming commanders ; while old veterans,
of long service and indisputable merit, may continue
thirty, forty, or fifty years, as the case may be,
simple commanders, and die at last without the con-
solation of being, as the phrase is, "posted."
Lieutenants, in the same way, are frequently doomed
to waste the energies of a long life without the reward
of any higher promotion. Nay, there have been at
times, to our own knowledge, instances of midshipmen
growing gray in the service in the futile hope of ob-
taining their epaulettes—and at last, when the news
of their elevation has arrived, shedding tears of
mingled joy and incredulity. Shall these miseries
and this injustice continue among the subordinate
officers, among the lieutenants and commanders, while
the list of post•captains and admirals continues to be
egregiously overstocked ? It behoves the Admiralty
to pronounce the negative.

rHE FRENCH REPUBLIC.

We have received the Paris journals of yesterday.
The reception of M. FERDINAND BARROT by the
parti pretre and Legitimatist Members of the
Assembly, on Monday, was exceedingly cold, ac-
cording to the Debats, notwithstanding his speech
was in support of the measure introduced by his
predecessor for suspending the re-organization of the
National Guard of Lyons, a measure introduced by
M. DUFAURE as a peace offering to the parti-pretre,
and accepted by them as such. The coldness of the
reception of M. FERDINAND BARROT can only there-
fore be accounted for by the fact that the parti pretre
are perfectly aware that the PaEstueNT and his
Ministers possess the most accurate information on the
subject of the conspiracies in which the members of
the White Mountain have been recently engaged,
and that the same vigour will be exercisedagainstthe
Legitimatist and Sacerdotal traitors, should they at-
tempt an overt act of treason against the Republic,
that was exercised in January and Juno against the
Red Republicans and Socialists.
It was rumoured that the appointment of M.
F. BARROT to the Ministry of the Interior was
merely temporary, and that he would shortly make
way for M. LEON FAUCHER. We attach no credit to
this rumour. M. FERDINAND BARROT is, in point

of ability, equal to M. LEON FAUCHER, and in -point
of education and manners and temper (and in a
Minister of the Interior good manners and good
temper are essential qualifications) is infinitely his
superior. M. FERDINAND BARROT is, moreover,
a lawyer, while M. LEON FAUCHER is not, and,
therefore, M. FERDINAND BARROT will not

suffer his zeal to hurry him into the commission of
Illegalities, which was too often the case with M.
LEON FAucnEn, and which told with most damaging
effect upon the Ministry with which he was con-
nected ; besides, M. FERDINAND BARROT is, and 1-As
been for years, the personal friend and the devoted
adherent of President Louts NAPOLEON BONAPARTE.
Re defended Colonel VAUDRT before the Court at
Strasburg ' he defended Prince Levis NAPOLEON
before the Chamber of Peers after the affair of Bou-
logne ; he was as intimate and as attached to the
prisoner of Ham as he has ever been with the occu-
pier of the Ely:6,?, and he was the first man of any
political importance who came forward openly and
boldly to advocate the pretensions of Citizen
Lotis NAPOLEON BONAPARTE to the Presidency
of the Republic. It i 3 not at all probable,
therefore, hat the PRESIDENT will displace M. FER-
DINAND BARROT. M. LEON FAUCHER may perhaps
enter the Cabinet as Minister of Finance, for all
parties seem to agree that M. ACHILLE FOULD'S lease
of office is not likely to be a long one. The present
Prefect of the Seine, M. BERGER, who is the intimate
friend of M. THIERS is to be removed, and will be
succeeded in all probability by M. TIIAYER or by the
Duc DE PADONE. M. DR PERSIGNT, one of the PRE-
SIDENT'S Aide-de- camps, will be appointed Minister
of Police. General BEDEAU will, it is said, super-
sede General AUPICK at Constantinople, and M.
ARMAND MARRAsT is spoken of as Ambassador to
Spain.
The Assembly on Monday decided, by a majority
of 377 to 201, to take into consideration a proposition
of General BARAGUAT D'HILLIERS, relating to the
repeal of the decree of last year as to the free admis-
aion into the Polytechnic
The ballot for the Committee of Inquiry into the
State of the Navy took place on Monday. The
following is the result :
Number of voters

Absolute majority
M. Colas
M. Daru
M. Ilerneux
M. Charuer
M. J. Lasteyrie ...
M. Bernoist d'Azy
M. Dufaure
M. Charles Dupin
The ballot for the eight remaining members to be
elected will be continued to-day.

The appointment of General BARRAGUAT D'HIL-
LIERS to the command in Rome is disapproved of by
the organ of the parti-pretre the Univers. We,
therefore, conclude that the appointment must be an
excellent one. The organs of the Legitimatists and
of the parti pretre continue to growl their dissatisfac-
tion at the recent changes in the Ministry, but they
are evidently " afraid to strike," although willing to
wound.
The Courrier Francais, which has warmly ap-
proved] of the message of the PRESIDENT of the Re-
public, urges him to act with vigour against the
enemies of order, and then'says:—
" The nation cannot enter into the full enjoyment of
its liberties until it shall have conquered the revolution •
ary spirit which has agitated it for the last sixty years.
In order to remove all pretence for agitation, the new
Ministry should hasten to adopt all the useful measures
which are called for by circumstances. It is by so
doing that it will merit the title of the Ministry of ac-
lion which it is wished to be able to give to if. Without
losing itself in projects of impracticable improvement, it
will suffice for it, in order to merit well of the country,
to resolve questions the solution of which is desired by
really practical men. The Ministry would, we think,
give a sufficient satisfaction to these wants in indicating
how it means to establish the equilibrium between the
receipts and expenses of the budget of 1850, and
in promptly voting that budget; in coming to
a decision on the loan of 500 millions which
it will be necessary to contract to reduce
the floating debt, and to meet the expenses of the public
works to be executed in 1850; in definitively decidinr, on
a Bill for the execution of the railways from Paris to
Lyons and from Lyons to Avignon; in using its irflu-
ence to vote as promptly as possible the different Bills
tending to establish a good mortgage system in France;
in expediting the vote on the Caisse des Retraites and on
the mutual assistance societies; in presenting on the
question of assistance a Bill in accordance with the wish
of the Constitution, withont entering into the impossibi-
lities of Socialism, or into the inconveniences of the tax
Ministry accomplishes
merited
theappellation
this
of compli-
catedon th et
task, it
t wilthel
have
really
a Ministry of action."
The Sieele has the following on the Eastern
question :
" Our reactionists render their beat assistance to
Russia and to Austria, who seek to dissemble the depth
of the check they have received in the East, in conse-
quence of their arrogant demand to the Porte on the
subject of the Hungarian refugees. If the Cabinets of
London and of Paris had confined themselves to sending
notes, it might have been maintained that it suit« d the
Czar and the Emperor Francis Joseph to be satisfied
with the sending into the interior those refugees whose
Extradition she hud demanded. But the English and
French fleets were placed at the disposal of the ambas-
sadors, and hence a light was thrown on the retrograde
movement of the two great Courts. That is a
sad case for those who reckoned on the mo-
narchical phantasmagoria of the North, but the
*solid knows, and will never forget, that be...
fore the union of the two great liberal powers, if
the autocracy did not impose silence on its diplomatists,
it prudently returned the sword to its scabard. In
order to console a little the misadventure of the schis-
matic Popo of Moscow, to whom they are not less de-
, voted than to that of Rome, the Catholics of the new