The Sun.
London, England, 1849-07-12 00:00:00

into operation, it would cccasion a relief to the amount
of one-halt the money now paid by the shipping inter-
est.—(Cheers.) He would not at that time enter into
the details of the measure, for those could be fully con-
sidered when the Bill was in Committee; but he might
observe. that it was the custom for foreign or over-sea
vessels to pay a toll, not only on passing a light, but also
on their return. That ho proposed to abolish by this
Bill, and to make one payment sufficient. That would
make a reduction of 50.0001., or what was equal to 16
per cent. upon the amount paid by foreign or over•sea
vessels; so that the House would see that the reduction
on coasters would be 50 per cent., and on foreign vessels
16 per cent.; and he was again bound to say, that in the
win 13 of this matter he had received the best assistance
from the Trinity-house.
Sir J. GRAHAM—It can be done without an Act
of Parliament. . .

UCHERE—The Rie,,ht Hon. Baronet
asked him if it could not be done witheut an Act of
Parliament. It certainly could be done by the Trinity-
house, with the consent of the Privy Council, without
having recourse to the enacting of an Act of Parliament.
He came now to another question, which was also of
great importance to the shipping interest of this coun-
try—he meant the question of privilege.—(Hear, hear.)
It was not new in that House, for frequent attempts bad
been made to improve the system under which our
pilotage was conducted. He remembered when he had
the honour, some years ago, of being President of the
Board of Trade, the Right Honourable Gentleman
the Member for the University of Oxford
strongly urged upon him the propriety of dealing with
this question, and he recollected when the Right Hon.
Gentleman was President of the same Board, he in his
turn returned the compliment by requesting him to in-
terest himself in dealing faith this difficult subject.—
(" Hear," and a laugh.) He believed they had both
very good reasons for not undertaking it, while they
were very much warned against it by the example of his
late lamented friend Lord Sydenham, who with great
energy, great industry, and great talent, devoted himself
to the consideration of the question; but in that instance
he was sorry to say that local interests were too strong,
and the public interest too weakly represented, to give
much chance of success to any efficient measure upon the
subjece—(Hear, hear.) However, he did not intend to
propose, nor was he in a condition to propose,
any great or general scheme, such as was contemplated
by Lord Sydenham on this question, if he did, he could
not hope that at this period of the session the House
would be able to carry it ; but with regard to this subject,
as well as upon the subject of lights, he had turned his
attention to considering whether it would not be possible,
even at this period of the session, to secure for the
mercantile interest of the country some practicable
relief from a system which he, for one, had always Con-
sidered acted with great severity on all who were en-
gaged in the merchant service—(Hear, bear.) The sys-
' ,em of pilotage in England was under the control of
; three jurisdictions first, there were the Cinque
Ports, who had the control of the pilotage
within their own range. Then some of the greatest
of our ships had to resort to a pilotage that
was under the control of local and special jurisdiction;
et.il , in the last place, the rest of the country, cons
;trising that part of the kingdom beyond the North Fore.
Lind, and which was traversed by most of the shipping
passing to the port of London, ceme under the jurischc-
toil of the Trinity-house. In his communication with
he corporation of the Trinity-house he had felt it his
+toy to call their attention as well to the question of
ilotage as to the questii.n of light, and he was happ}
ei say, that upon this question likewise the cerporatioe
lad met the demands of the mercantile interest, and the
views of Government, in a spirit of en operation fuel
sa to come to some arratigemeet en the subject
And he was able to state to the House that a great prat
,icable alteration would he introdueed into the piletag
eystem under chir control.—(Heer, hear.) At present
he coasting trade was alteget her exemp e e trove pilotage
out the whole of the foreign trade of the country wa-
..bliged to take pilots, notwithstanding the captain or
toaster of each vessel might be sufficiently conversant with
the coast as to enable him to work his ship into pert
without risk or danger. That was a system which ren-
dered it incumbent upon every vessel to take or pay for
a pilot, and he was sure the House would agree with
him that it was an obligation which inflicted a severe
injustice upon a large class of shipowners. At the time
when this system was founded he believed there might
have been good reason for its establishment; for instance,
the importance of encouraging local pilots might have
rendered it necessary, but in the present condition of
our trade he had no hesitation in saying
that if the system ought not to be alto-
gether abolished, at any rate it ought to be
greatly modified and improved. Could a greater
anomaly or injustice than this exist—a vessel going
from Liverpool to Dublin was not obliged to take a
pilot on going into Dublin, but a vessel going from
Liverpool to Dublin, and then to Brest, was obliged to
take a pilot in going into port, although the captain
might be well acquainted with the coasting trade.
He might multiply instances of this nature
to show the injustice and anomalies of the
present system, but it was not necessary for his
purpose that he should trouble the House with doing so,
since he was enabled to state the willingness of the
Trinity house to allow in future any foreign trading
vessel that should have on board a master or man con-
versant with the coast, and of whose fitness
and ability they had previously satisfied them-
selves of, to dispense with the services of a pilot.
It would be necessary for him to Wing in a Bill upon
this subject; the Bill would be of a permissive and not
of a compulsory nature, extending not only to the Tri-
nity-house, but to all bodies who had jurisdiction over
pdose; it would allow them, if they thought fit, after
having satisfied themselves of the qualification of the
master or man on board, to grant permission to the
ships to dispense with the services of a pilot.
As he understood the law, the pilots themselves had a
vested interest in working foreign traders along the
coast, and unless this Bill were passed they might be in
a position to bring actions against the Trinity-house
He attached the greatest importance to this question.
as this position would not only be given to the
Trinity-house, but to the Cinque Ports and
other jurisdictions, if they should think fit to
avail themselves of it. Certainly he was not empowered
on the part of the latter bodies to state that they were
disposed to follow the example of the Trinity house, but
at the same time he indulged in the hope that if the new
system were found to work well in the instance of the Tri-
lay-house, the Cinque Ports and other local bodies would
tie induced to consider whether there were not special
circumstances to jusuity them to follow the example in
part, if not in the whole. Still, however, he could not
nelp thinking—returning to th., real question—that a
prin
esoite,pk
erol
7eu tdhosarhnto,
us,
t,l,v,fiebsebseeeolonebito:lnairpg, iendg
tf
or o mt a
ka r oaa dl
itc,p) n
st
di s c
ti
creel point had been gained by the establishment of the
if
e
tenbtoaradbilaitycepttnainwoorrk Pmtah ne
vessel along the coast.—(Cries of , " Hear hear. "He was authorised on the part of the Trinity t )
e
to state that this permission woull be given, and as the,
3111 h-- proposed to bring in was merely of a permissive
character he could see no diffieuity in the way of carry
big it even at this late period of the session.—(Hear,
oear•) He was empewer-d by the Trinity-house to say
that they did not mean that the permission in their
hands should be a dead letter, but that they
would truly and bona fide carry it into eff et; that the)
would, in all cases Wore they should be satisfied of the
eornpetency of the master or mate, or some other per
eon on board an over-sea trader, to pilot the vessel along
the coast, give permission to exempt that vessel from
the necessity of paying a pilot whose services they do not
require.—(Hear.) This was the only measure which lie
proposed to introduce, with a view to carry out or
emend the law in the course of the present session, but
th-re was another measure relating to this question of
the highest importance, and perhaps of still greater in-
terest, but with regard to which he did not propose to
take any step, or to ask the House to pass it in
the course of the present session. Indeed, at
this period of the session he must despair of
the House being able to give that consideration
to the matter which would justify them in passing
a measure on the subject, still he was most anxious
to lay the views which he and the Government enter-
tained with regard to it upon the table of the House,
in order that they might be considered by the House
and the country with that deliberation which the
importance and the interest of the question demanded.—
(Hear, hear.) He came now to the consideration of the
general condition of our mercantile navy.—(Hear,
hear.) He desired to ask the consideration
of the House to the condition of the mercantile marine,
mainly with reference to the character and qualifications
of the masters and mates, and to the discipline of
the crews, and general well-being and condition
of the seamen.—(Hear, hear.) They had already had
incidental discus,ions on this subject while dolling
with the navigation laws, and he could only repeat
now, 'what he stated then, upon this question,
that while nothing was further from his intention than
to cast any sweeping or indiscriminate censure upon
the officers of the mercantile marine of this
country, yet, upon the other hand, truth and
a sense of duty obliged him to state to the House his
opinion—an opinion founded upon inquiries of
no limited or superficial description—that there
was much in the condition and in the
present state, in the qualification of the officers of our
mercantile marine, in the condition and dia.
cipline of the men, and in the condition
of the mercantile sailors of this country, that
required the most serious attention on the part
of Government and the Legialature—(Hear, hear.)
de believed that in saying this no corn-
nerciel man of experience, and no captain
of the Royal Navy, whose professional services hail
fed him to a distant part, where he heel found
13ritish ships, and hal ample opportunities of
forming an opinion upon the subjects, would
contradict him when he said that especially in regard to
the qualification, both in an honorary and a scientific
eiint of view, the mercantile captains of this country
were not the most competent in the world; and it was
most desirable for the House to consider whe-
ther some measure could not be devised
to put a stop to an evil prevailing in
the mercantile marina of the country, which,
if not soon arrested, he had no hesitation in
saying would, ere long, threaten the prosperitt
anti welfare of our mercantile service.—(Hear, hear.)
Ho said this without any feeling of despondency wi h
eteard to the condition of the British merchant navy.
—( dear, hear.) 11. believed they possessed that which
mast constitute the staple of the greatest mercantile
Heavy in the world, anti he had no doubt whatever that hs
-time judicious measures they might place it on the saints
orerninent footing on which it once stood. It was,
,therefore, not from any feelings of despondency,
nut from a tense of duty, that he urged the
i-cussioa of this important question, in the
hope that the most expedient course might be adopted
to put a stop to the evils which they all so much re-
He was unwilling to go at any length into
gretted.

evidence to prove the statements which he had made. They
had had much discussion will regard to the character
of those very remarkable documents—the reports of our
Consuls—which had been laid on the table of
the (louse. He was very much of the opinion which
h- had heard exprt-s,ed by a Noble Le,rd in another
place, who had paid great attention to the subject—he
tnegot Lord Elleeborough. Speaking of the Consuls
r,ports, he said although it might ba true in particu-
lar instances, the Consuls had b-en biased in favour of
our merchant navy, and had coloured the character
of it a little too highly, but that there could be
no doubt ah)ut the truth and general accuracy of the
reports. He believed that to be a fair description with
regard to those Consuls.
(LEFT SPEAKING.)

THE ST-TN Lo DON. THURSDAY EVEN ING, JULY 12, 1549

certainly had not read the Alessa4e of the President in
the same ...ay the Hon. Gentleman understood it. Ai
he r(ad it. FIN un:ierst-od it to say, gem-rally, that Eng-
land and France had been on the best terms during the
transactions that had taken place within the last year, in
reference t. Rime; but with reference to the expedi-
tion to Rome, h© could say we were in no way involved
in it.'

" No way euvolved in it.' No doubt his Lordship
could safely say this.
" Mr. flume never meant to inquire whether we had
supplied the French troops with ammunition, or given
them actual aid in men or money. It would never have
occurred to him to put such a question. What he says
is simply this:—•lt is publicly alleged that we had con-
curred in the proceedings of the French against Rome,
and I regret to observe that it is confirmed in the Speech
of the President, which affirms that we agreed to, and
concurred in these proceedings. Now the question I
would ask is, did we, or did we not?' His Lordship
knew that to give a true and direct answer as to our
concurrence would be to admit the fact; aware that be
was speaking within hearing of the newspaper re-
porters, and that its answer would make its way over the
kingdom the next morning on the wings of the broad
sheet, he rides off on an ambiguous term—' with respect
to the expedition to Rome, he could say we were in no
way involved in it.'

" Nothing is so useful in Parliamentary logic, when a
Member is bard run, as the use of words which slide
easily from one sense into another.
It ciardnn
joothfnaißl to be raehmonalrdkeadayastramt,er He somewhat singular
that tha"t L
read tho Message of the President in the way the Hoa.
Gentleman (Mr. Hume) understood it.' What difference
is to be found in these versions? As Mr. Hume read it,
it averred that our Government were advised of the
hostile preparations that were making by France against
Rome, and offered no objection to them. ' As I read it,'
says Lord John Russell, I understood it to say, that
England and France had been on the best terms during
the transactions that had taken place within the list year
in reference to Rome.' Can the most critical perception
separate the two meanings? The confession comes out
stronger as Lord John proceeds, for be proceeds thus :
" "The French Government had asked our opinion as to
the propriety of their joining in the conference. at Gaeta;
and we said in reply that we had no objection to the
French Government sending a Minister to join in that
conference.'

" We have here the disclosure of a most important
fact. The French Government did not take a single step
until they had obtained the sanction of the British Ca
binet. They would not even suffer their Minister to
proceed to Gaeta with,ut taking counsel from Downing•
street as to the propriety of so doing. The matter tot
consultation was—' Would it be good policy fOr Franc,
to concern herself with the special interests of the Pop(
as determined upon at Gaeta, or to carry out her owl
views, and leave those interests to abide the result?' Th.
answer given was such as our privileged vanity entitle/.
us to return—' We have no objection to your sending
Minister to join that conference.' The +l...Atteritg det..
renee paid to the judgment of our Ministers by the R.
publican functionaries of France is remarkable. The
etve them not only the haut de pave, but all the pavi
Is this to be received as the first fruits of Fratornit% ? 0.
is it the well earned reward of their concurrence? A
Englishmen have a deep stake in these questions, let u
pt oceed to profit by every additional light that is throws
upon them."

"Phis reasoning is so clear and close that there is n.
evading it. This pamphlet, as our readers wil
perceive, comes from a powerful pen. There are on.
or two nan..es whispered as the writer, but we attar►
hut little credit to the rumour as to either. That h.
is of no party, and is as thoroughly well informed a
to the past is the present state of political affairs, i-
evident, and his disclosures have already produced a
sensation. 'That the striking prophecy contained it.
the title•page is in a train of fulfilment we fully
believe. In our opinion the events of every passing
day are bringing it nearer to its accomplishment.

PENDENNIS• By TV. M. Thackeray. Part IX.
The present number commences a new era in the
existence of Mr. Pen. He has left the country and
located himself in chambers in the Temple, as a law
student and litterateur, and is indulging in._4day-
dreams of vast annual sums of treasure which he is
to realise by the exercise of his pen.