The Sun.
London, England, 1849-04-25 00:00:00

PAYMENT 01? 151VIDEND.

J. B. Montcfior.., Nicholas-Lne, City, merchant, 55.,
on Wednesday, April 25, or any succet ding Wednesday,
be twet n the hours of twelve and three, at the office of
Mr. Follett, Sambrook-court. Basinghall.street.
NOTICES OF CERTIFICATES,
At the Court, Bisingliall-street.
T. White, Coraill, chemist and druggist, Mrty 16, at
half-past twelve—J. De Levante, Wood-street, City,
shirt-tucker, May 16, at eleven—P. Thompson, sen.,
Osnaburg-place, New-road, and Commercial-road,
carpenter and builder, May 16, at twelve—J. Bad-
cock, East llsley, Buckinghamshire, draper and grocer,
May 17, at twelve—J. Hawkens, Duke-street, Lincoln's
Inn-fields, builder, May 15, at two.
In the Country.
W. Hammerton, Kingston-upon-Hull, Haman, May 16,
at half-past ten, at the Town-hall, Kingston-upon-Hull
—T. Thompson, Manchester, merchant, May 17, at
twelve, at the Court, Manchester—W. Miles, Worcester,
stock and share broker, May 24, at twelve, at the Court,
Birmingham—ll. Newton, Northfi .Id, Worcestershire,
butcher, May 19, at twelve, at the Court, Birmingham.
At the Court of Review, May 15.
W. . Bedells, Leicester, paper and general dealer—
G. A. Cawse, Claremont-terrace, Prince of Wales-road,

Ilampstead-road, builder—J. M. Manny, Liverpool,
stock and share broker—R. W. Smiles, Blackburn,
bookseller—J. Carter, Liverpool, merchant—J. Pod-
more, Wolstanton,.Staffordshire, grocer—D. Boit, Bris-
tol, share broker—T. Barker, Breams-buildings, Chan-
cery-lane, perfumer.
PARTNERSHIPS DISSOLVED.

H. Hoyle, G. Hardman, and C. F. Wilton, Rosendale,
Lancashire, and Oporto merchants—U. Hoyle, G. Hard-
man, and H. Howarth, Rosendale, Lancashire and Lisbon,
merchants—T. Wilson and W. Wilson, Bristol, linen-
drapers—J. Goodman and C. Taylor, Great Marlbo-
rough-street, Regent-street, tailors—T. 11. Clarke and
S. J. Fill, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, ship chandlers—G.
J. Bailey and R. Clarke, Macclesfield, wood turners—J.
Walkling and W. Wheatley, New Brentford, Middlesex,
dealers is earthenware—Mary Walker and J. Wager,
Bridgnorth, Shropshire, linen and woollen drapers—P.
R. Hoffe and J. Lush, Donhead St. Mary, Wiltshire,
brewers and maltsters—G. M'Connal and C. Ritchie,
Liverpool, commission and forwarding agents—W.
Wright and J. Derrington, Rotherham, Yorkshire,
cabinet makers—J. B. Ronchetti and C. J. Ronchotti,

jun., Manchester, opticians—R. Bradley and W. E.
Parker, Manchester, stock and share brokers—E.
Butcher and T. Gee, Bristol, wholesale grocers—E.
Thoinewill and W. Gretton, Burton-upon-Trent, iron-
masters—J. Bourdillon, J. Bourdillon, jun., and S. Bour-
dillon, Great Winchester-street, attorneys (so far as re-
gards J. Bourdillon)—E. Whitfield and W. Smyth,
Tolleshunt D'Arcy, Essex, surgeons—J. P. Schilizzi and
T. M. Balli, Liverpool, merchants—J. Swai❑ and J.
Graveson, Ashton-under-Lyne, lime and coal dealers—
J. B. Walmsley, W. T. Walmsley, and C. E. Walmsley,
Marple; Cheshire, cotton spinners (so far as regards
J. B. Walmsley)—W. Marshall and T. Marshall, Re-
gent-street, hosiers.
INSOLVENT PETITIONERS.
Thomas Caldwell, Norwich, commission agent.
Francis Ignatius Lovett, Norwich, hairdresser.
William White, Cardiff, butcher.
Francis Bates, Harborough Magna, Warwickshire,

farmer.
William Houston Boynes, Staindrop, Durham, land sur-
veyor.
Thomas Batchelor, WooLicot, Warwickshire, agricul-
tural labourer.
Charles Henry Nicholls, Rhyl, Flintshire.
Thomas Colley, Shelton, Staff )rdshire, joiner.
Charles Goodall, Newcastle-upon-Lyme.
Thomas White, Horocastle, Lincolnshire, tailor.
Richard Bennett, Yeolmbridge, Devonshire, blacksmith.
David Pepper, Liverpool, grocer.
William Hyde, Bootle, Lancashire, engineer.
Joseph Hardwick, Liverpool, bookseller.
John William Mills, North Shields, joiner.
Richard Rutter, Wolstanton, Staffordshire, journeyman
miller.

SCOTCH SEQUESTRATIONS.
J. T. Crawford, Glasgow, machine, tool, rivet, and bolt
manufacturer, to meet within the Star Hotel, Glasgow,
Ap_6l27, and May 18, at two. . .

J. Groves, Inverness, auctioneer, to meet within the
Caledonian Hotel, Inverness, April 28, and May 19,
at two. - ,

J. Walker, Coatbridge,,grocer and victualler, to meet
within the Waverley Tavern, Glasgow, April 27, and
May 28; at one.
A. ➢lorrison, Stannergate, near Dundee, to meet with-
in the Royal Hotel, Dundee, May 2, and May 23, at one.

THE FRENCH NAVY.
(From the .Journal des Debuts.)
The budget of the Marine is about to be discussed two
or thr2e days hence. In:, he fever icr savings, more or
less prudent, more or less reasonable, wht,h seems to
govern the last anxieties of the Assembly, we may tok
whether the navy will find any mercy before this ardour
—too blind to allow of any mistake for a❑ electoral
watchword. We do not hope as much, but wo would at
least prevent the throwing overboard of the very thing
required to steady the ship during the storm, and to save
the most precious part of its freght—the crew.
The considerable reductions demanded by the com-
mission aro of two kinds, like the two great divisions of
the department, viz., personal and material.
Nobody in France can have yet forgotten the sponta-
neous acclamations of the country, the press, and, above
all, the Chamber, unanimously voting, after two eloquent
speeches from MM. do Lamartine and Thicrs, the sub-
vention of 93,000,000 demanded in 1846 by P.I. de
blackau, then Minister of Marine, for the increase of the
natdriel of the fleet.

That credit, distributel over a period of seven years,
is not yet exhausted. We can understand its applica-
tion being postponed—we can understand the reduction
for a time of every expense not indispensable to the
materiel, and the limitation of the expenditure for a
short time to the urgent necessities of reparation and
replacing, in order to prevent the decline or decay of the
immense property of our arsenals. We admit, in a
word, that the navy, like all other branches of the public
service, ought to bear its shire of the sacrifices which
the country is obliged to impose on itself, even in op
[coition to its moat legitimate and most manifest 53 m-
pathies.
But if, although with regret, we suffer judgment to
pass on this head, we do net think that the personnel
can be subjected to the same sacrifice, because we are
convinced that it would be striking cur navy—one of the
glories and one of the essential forces of the country—
to the very heart. We will only here allude to the mi-
litary tied navigating personnel—the vital and real force
of the fleet; and a simple comparison will suffice to show
that the actual staff of our naval officers cannot be re-
duced without rendering the ordinary service of the state
of peace perfectly crushing and overpowering, if nut
immediately impossible.
The English navy includes 4,700 officers, and the
French 1,600. In the English navy the proportion of
the officers to the total number of ships is in the ratio of
7 to 1; in France it is only 4:!-, to 1; that is to say, that
if for any contingency whatsoever you were required to
arm your fleet, however reduced at this present moment,
you would not hare—far from it—the necessary per-
sonnel in officers. You would not have one left for the
harbour service; not one would have time to be ill or to
take a day's rest!
Can it then be necessary to repeat, in order to prove
how tenderly this state of the naval staff requires to be
treated, the lessons which our history has only taught
us too dearly? The spontaneous creation of naval offi-
cers cannot he decreed like their instantaneous suppres-
sion, by abruptly terminating their career before the
regular time for the sake of an insignificant saving—
less than 300,0001., if the retiring pensions that must be
allowed them be taken into thelaccount.
Would the Republic, for the second time, attach its
name to the most afflicting reminiscences of our naval
annals? It one day believed that men—brave, no
doubt, but who had not gained their epaulettes by the
hierarchial instruction indispensable to special corps,
might replace the officers formed and grown gray on
board our squadron; it intrusted its ships to them—
and the navy of France has not yet repaired its
disasters; and she has required more than thirty years
of peace, military or scientific expeditions, active naviga-
tion and serious studies, more and more exacting, to
re-construct a navy worthy of her, not by the number,
but by the acknowledged merit of its officers. Need we
insist further..? Will a beggarly saving be allowed to
destroy the laborious past, the certain future, of the
French navy? We cannot believe it.
D.I. Charles Unpin has shown with his usual talent,
in figures rigorously exact, the little reason and the im-
mense danger of the radical reforms demanded in the
naval personnel. The support of M. Dupin has never
been wanting to the navy. It is to be regretted that
representative admirals, removed from Paris for the ser-
vice of the Republic, have not been able to quit their
posts for a day to come and defend, with their authority
and experience, their arm thus attacked, perhaps with
more passion than justice, and more levity than con
viction.
We hope, however, that the naval officers, in de-
fault of their natural defenders in an assembly too
few in number or too timid, will meet with men
who most know and app., ciate them, for they know
their lives and their devotion, and if the school
to which they belong is an easy and speedy affair; we
allude to the generals of the African army, of which our
navy has, so to speak, formed part for the last 19 years,
and whose testimony it ought not to fear invoking. dti e
still hope that the navy will be deh.nded with
energy on this same question by the represen-
tatives of the seaports in what concerns the effective
of the seamen and the masters, any reduction of
whom, at the moment when our maritime com-
merce is far from having recovered its activity, would be
a saving at once disastrous and cruel. We even venture
to rely on the support of all men of any prudence, with-
out any referenco to opinion, The National ,Assembly

will not destroy in a few seconds, by an ill considered
vote, the irr par:.ble work of ages—the fruit of the trea-
sures and the blood of France.

IRELAND.

DErBLII,T, TUEsDAT.—The accounts from cll parts of
the western provinces are really deplorable. In addi-
tion to the other evils which have fallen upon that
doomed district the cholera, we understand, is making
fearful ravogts among the poor, who are dying by scores
in their wretched buis, and even on the road side, where
in many instances the Mks have ben left for whale
days without the rites of burial. That this, unhap-
pily, is no exaggerated picture may be gathered from
the testimony of the Rev. James Anderson, the Protes-
tant It,etor of Ballinrobe, in the county of Mayo, aid
chaplain of the workhouse there, who, in a letter ad-
dressed to the Prime Minister, dilates with much force
upon the appalling scenes-oljuisery by which he is bur -
rounded.

TEE MITCHEL FUND.—Tho list accounts of Mr.
Mitchel's health heir g, according to the Home Secretary,
extremely unfavourable, a fresh stimulus appours to be
given to the interest telt on bel;a11 of the unhappy man's
wife and children. Mr. Richard O'Gorman, sen., the
secretary of the fund, acknowledges this morning the
receipt of subscriptions to the amount of 621. 10s., 314 of
which was contribut, d by one of the Dublin wards, and
30/. by the town of Kilkenny.
TUE FUNDS.—Three per Cent. Consols, 90i; Three-
and•a Quarter per Cent. Stock, 9 t ; Bank Stock, 193;
Hibernian Bank Shares, 2 t ; Dublin and Belfast June.
tion Railway, 94; Waterford and Limerick, 10i

ALLEGED FICTITioUS APPREN-

TIGESIIIP.

Last week memorials were presented to the master,
wardens, and court of assistants of the Vintners' Com-
pany of the City of London, charging a member of the
court with having been concerned in a case of appren-
ticeship rendered fictitious and nominal by non-servi-
tude, for the purpose of obtaining and using the privi-
leges of the company. One of the memorials stated
that by charter the freemen of the company of vint-
ners were entitled to certain privileges, and amongst
others to keep wine taverns, and to sell by retail and
wholesale all sorts of wine drank in their dwellings,
and that admission to the freedom by servitude can be
only obtained upon testimony of the master that
the party applying served the full term of
seven years, without fraud or deceit. That on
the 6th of April, 1842, a lad who resided with
his father was bound apprentice to a tradesman who was
a vintner to serve for seven years; that he continued to
live with his father during the seven years, without ever
having attended to the trade of his master, and that he
intend( d to apply to be admitted to the freedom by ser-
vitude of the company, upon the ground of his having
duly served his apprenticeship under inden-
ture; which the memorialists consider to be
contrary to the charter and to the rules and cus-
toms of the company, and in direct violation of the terms
of the indenture of apprenticeship. The memorial
concluded with submitting that the applicant for the
freedom was not entitled, acd requesting that the court
would examine witnesses on the subject, and that
admission be not granted until such evidence
should be heard. The second memorial which gene-
rally complains of a serious abuse of the privileges of
the company, " that of fictitious apprenticeship by
non-servitude," connived at by freemen of the com-
pany for it valuable consideration, states that such a
practice deprhe el the inland revenue of the mer-
chant's annual wine license of 101. 10s. and
the licensed victualler's annual retail wino license
of 21. 2s. ; that the putting down by the strong
arm of the law, carried out by the Excise authori-
ties in conjunction with the company, " the old prac-
tice, of freemen lending their names for a valuable con•
sideration," by fining both lender and borrower in
heavy penalties, -had carped many ingenious or artful
persons to adopt this mode of fictitious apprenticeships
by non-servitude. That the memorialists recommend
that an oath or some stringent system of tests be adopted,
so that the candidates for the freedom of the company,
as well as their masters, prove to the satisfaction of the
court the just and legitimate performance of their ser-
vitudes according to their respective indentures of ap-
prenticeship, or that some periodical visitation take
place during apprenticeship at the business premises of
the master, in confirmation of the servitude, either by
their beadle or by some officer appointed by the court.
We aro given to understand that the memorialists sus-
pect the matter of the memorials, which have been re-
ferred to a committee of privileges, and will be discussed
with closed doors, and that neither the memorialists nor
their solicitor will be allowed to be present. It is sup-
posed that there are above 300 fictitious apprenticeships
at the present time. Ia I'B3l the court was thrown open
for the examination of 16 cases of freemen of the com-
pany, charged with having lent their names for a valuable
consideration; and in one of these cases a wealthy wine
merchant in the neighbourhood of Tower•street, a free-
man of the company, was convicted of having lent his
name to the keeper of that notorious den of villany the
Finish, in James-street, Covent-garden, and suspended
from the enjoyment of the privileges of the company for
six months.