The Sun.
London, England, 1849-04-26 00:00:00

THE NAVIGATION LAWS.

It almost escapes the public attention, and may_there-
fore be very properly suggested to the notice of the
Lords, that the question does not lie between
the present Navigation Bill and no Bill at all. The
state of the law, the difficulties cf its working and
even of its interpretation, the commercial treaties
now about to expire, the just demand of foreign
States, the urgent wants of our colonies, and the recent
surrender of colonial protection, all call for a prompt
and extensive readjustment of the present syweir.
Something must be done, and so far from the Bill just
brought into the Lords being a premature measure it has
already been delayed rather too long. The question really
lies between a general, a simple, and a generous measure
on the one hand, and, on the other, a vast and compli-
cated system of patchwork compromise, which will
only render confusion still more confounded, and
which it will be necessary to cobble again before
two sessions are over. On the immediate necessity of
great alterations all authorities are unanimous.
Ministers, present and past, shipowners, Free-
traders and Protectionists, agree that something
must be done, and the strongest opponents of the
Ministerial measures has apologized for their hosti-
lity with the remark that they are prepared for a
moderate relaxation of the law. There appears, how
ever, to be a singular horror of positive susgestions.
Neither Mr. Herries, nor any of his more youth-
ful allies, have ventured to inform us what they
would do. We are not surprised at their shirking
a difficulty which they cannot feel snore strongly than
we do ourselves. Such responsibilities, however, do not
always admit of evasion or postponement. Should any
chief in the Upper House, confident in his genius, his
rank, his position, or his fate, muster names enough to de-
feat the present Bill, he must be prepared with his own
solution of the difficulty; and we venture to assure him
that many and great as are the burdens a Protec•
tionist Minister would find on his shoulders, not the
least will be the duty of adapting our Navigation
Laws to the changed circumstances of the empire.
Should there be any man in either House ready to
undertake this onerous office, and should he also
succeed for the space of two or three years we nee,l
go no further back than Monday night for a warning
of his eventual destiny. The most unqualified, as
well as the moat able speech of the evening, going,
indeed, still further than the Ministerial measure,
was made, not by some enthusiastic novice, not by
the disciple of a new and more absolute school, but
by one of the very men who only four years since
framed, introduced, and passed the Navigation Acts
in their present amended form. Those Acts, cocci-
(!ering the circumstances of that day, were just such a
moderate reform as, we presume, Mr. Herries or
Lord Stanley would recommend to the present Par-
liament. They would merely repair the old vessel,
caulk up its scams, replace its di cayed wood, and add
a few bits of improvement. We will not even guess
how they would deal with Canada, with Russia, with
Prussia, with Holland, or whether they would even
attempt to add new facilities for the importation of
raw materials. We will suppose them so ingenious,
so bold, and so successful as to frame, to introduce,
and to pass a new Navigation 811 of a mode..
rately progressive character. By the example of Sir
James Graham sacrificing the navigation Jaws, as
Sir Robert Pet I had previously sacrificed the
corn-law, it may be confidently p:-edicred that
in three or four years the author of such a new naviga-
tion•law, peddled and patellas' up on :he same fatal
model, will stand up in Parliament and tear into shreds
his own once cherished workmanship. The only
doubt or curiosity we feel about the matter refer s
to the manner in which such a man as Lord Stanley will
perform his political penance. Peel was a man whose
work it had been fur years the " the struggling pangs of
conscious truth to hide," and accordingly he recanted
with a fury of penitence which his party could not follow
for very shame. Graham has retracted with an easy
composure which altogether escapes animadversion.
Time only may show how Stanley, or any other Pro-
tectionist, would pass a moderate Navigation Bill in
1849, and pronounce it a mischievous failure in 1853.
Surely there are men in the Lords who can see
that dignity as well as political morality respires the
adoption of a course which can stand the consequence of
its own success. The opposition to the pending measure
ought, in our humble opinion, to be much more practical
and constructive than it has hitherto been. When a change
is wholly wanton and gratuitous, it may be enough
to demolish it, but when a change so far from being
unnecessary is thrust upon us by the course of events,
the only proper reply is a substitute. Instead of telling
us, what is not always so agreeable to the ears of ship-
owners, of the vast increase of shipping under a protec-
tive system, and other arithmetical generalities, let Lord
Stanley, or some of his friends, tell us how they propose
to meet the existing pressure on the Government. How
will they deal with Canada? How will they make the
route of the St. Lawrence as cheap as that of the Erie
Canal? How will they put the upper province on a par
with the neighbouring States of the Union? Will they
open the commerce of the West Indian islands ?
What sort of treaties will they propose to the
various European Powers with whom we must
shortly be in communication o❑ tWs delicate
subject? Will they attempt to remove the ridiculous
anomaly by which we can import articles in any stage o'
manufacture from European ports, though we cannot isn.
port, in the very same ships, the very same materials iu
a raw state? Will they pay any attention to the circum-
stance that as the law new stands our merchants cannot
touch numerous articles of tropical produce at their
natural depots, in ports where our vessels are continually
looking for cargoes, but must leave the article where it
is abundant and cheap, and seek it for themselves, at
much cost of time, money. anti life, in remote, deadly,
and inhospitable coasts? Will they continue the prohi-
bition of foreign-made ships in the British trade under
all circumstances, and the vexatious restrictions on
the employment of foreigners ? Will they carry out the
principle of indirectly taxing our staple manu'actures
for the supposed benefit of a carrying trade
which those very manufactures have created ?
Will they leave the navigation-laws iu such a
complex state that shipowners and merchants
had need be lawyers to know what they are about,
and the most cautioas and honourable men amongst
them are continually offending to their cost?
Unless they are prepared to act wholly in the dark,
and plunge themselves and the nation into an en-
tanglement from which they cannot escape without
atter loss of credit, they will consider beforehand what
they will do, as well as what they will oppose. If they
have a rival measure, let them give us the opportunity of
selecting between it and Lord John Russell's. If they
have not, they must allow us to put up with the only
actual alternetive.— Times.

EMILY SANDFORD.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
Sitt,—lt will be an act of justice on your part to ad-
mit the reply of a subscriber to the fund for Emily Sand-
ford to the animadversions on that subj,ct in your
paper of the 23d. I shall consider the case on its ow❑
merits, setting aside the comparison with that of Eliza
Chestney, as not a fair argument against the contribution
for Emily Sandford,

I regret that this subscription was not prefaced by a
full statement of the grounds on which it was raised ;
for the destitution of its object was the weakest of them.
The strongest was, that she had " turned from the error
of her ways," with feelings still manifestly under the
influence of her tyrant. One who beard her evidence in
court, and sympathised with a woman's Mart, perceived
that her toes became tremulous from tenderness in
addressing Rush. Was it 1e5:.; an effort to decree his
doom because hi; guilt was of so deep a dye? Nu; the
very fact of the peril in which he stood, appealed more
than all, to her love. She could not so have acted from
any motive but a revived sense of duty. Had she made
use of certain cant phrases, she would have been placed
in the favcured class of llagdalens', anointing the Sa-
viour's feet—but, like Mary Magdalen she did, and
said not.'

-17nc7-aivering herself to bar witness to the truth,
she gave you, Sir, n right,which, acc..raing to ne judge,
you would not otherwise' niiVo had, to stigintitze her as
the paranyair of a murdel'er.
For these reasons I -offer her my small sul)cription,
with more even of espect Om of t iLy—and I will here ldd
to it my earnest %vish, th...t in her future retin meat the
mother's sins and sorrows may, through the provA,,,,,
which is always bringing goof our 01 evil, bt.conie
ings to the child by the lesions the-y will hrwe left en-
graven on her own mind.
These are not the sentimentalities of youth ; yen may
look upon them as the pusrilitiss of one from whom
youth has long passed away. I am, Sir, &0.,
AN OLD READER.

NAVAL INTELLIGENCE.
PORTSMOUTH, TUESDAY.—A 80,4 rd r AdruilaltY,
c,nsistina. ot Captain the lion. M. F. F. B::rlevley,
M P.; Captain Alexander Milne, R.N.; Captain Sr
Baldhin Wa 1C,C.8., Surveyor of the Navy; and
Mr. IsaAc Watts, Assistant, Surveyor, arrived at this
port at 11 this morning, ar:d were received at Gosport
station by Flag-Liententint Cochran, who conducted
bun to toe Commander-in Chief; in whose barge tial
cretsed the harbour, and ccAntnecceil their inspection,
ti rat going on board the Arrogant, 46, CapttAn Ifizrroyt
thenm• visiting. the Plumper serew•schooner, Corrmindtr
No 11,01; and the Reynard :,chuorter, Contrmtnder Cra•
to-oft, rest.ectin r ewhoso armament the, visit was princi-
pally occasioned. A long examination of several of the
superior officers of the two lager vessels as to their
opinion of their various qualities ensued, but as each
person was examined privately in the captain's cabin,
we are not in possession ot what took place. The
Board afterwards visited the Blenheim, 56, Captain
Austin, C.B. In all ships the guns occupied much at-
tention, haling been worked for the purpose of ascer-
taining if their was sufficient roam to fight them. The
haturin-c1:1 wet-, alto hung up to see it sufficient accom-
modation for the crew existed. After is cursory inspec-
tion of one or two other object in the dockyard, and a
conference with the principal officers, the Board returned
to town.

A board of scientific officzrs, consisting of Mr. Mur-
ray, superintendent engineer of this dockyard ; Mr.
Dinneu, inspector of machinery, of Simerset-house,
late of the St. Vincent; and Mr. Thker, inspector of
machinery, of the Royal yacht, is orders d to survey and
report upon the state of the engines of the Sidon steam-
friga'e.

WEDNESDAY.—A most at% ful accident happened yes-
terday a'ternoon in this dockyard, which is expected to
terminate fatally to one or more persons. As a gang of
men were employed on the new dock, building by Mr.
Bramble, at the north corner of the yard, in working the
" traveller" of the tramway, supported on piles for rais-
ing and lowering stones into the basis of the fabric from
a lighter moored alongside, the gear broke, and the
" traveller" went over the rails into the lighter, and
most seriously injured two men in the vessel, and
dragged several others from the scaffolding support-
ing the tramway. Some fell into the vessel, and
others into the water. Six men were maimed, three
of them dangerously. Three of the most seri-
ously injured were conveyed to the Portsmouth,
Portsea, and Gosport Hospital. One man, whose
leg was so severely injured and lacerated (a bolt
having stuck into his thigh tour inches deep) that the
only chence of saving his lite was by removing the limb
above the joint, had that operation most skilfully per-
formed by Dr. E. J. Scott last night by gaslight ; little
hop,..s, however, are entertained of his recosery. Another
man had both legs broken—one in three places ; it is
much feared he must lose it, but he is not in a state at
present to undergo the operation. The Third is seriously
injured in the chest and heed. Tho greatest attention
was promptly afforded by the Excellent gunnery. ship,
and ihe poor sufferers were taken to the hospital upon
the shoulder. and in the arms of the crew of that ship,
which is moored adjacent to the spot where the accident
occurred. The medical officers or the Excellent 'were
the first in attendance, and accompanied the sufferers to
the hospital. The less injured were conveyed to the
medical department of the dockyard, where they received
the promptest attention from the officers of the establish-
ment. The cases of these poor nice illustrate in a most
striking light the value of such a benevoleet institution
as the Portsmouth Hospital. The poor fellows were not
admissable into the Naval Hospital, and but for the esta-
blishment of the former, would have had no place of re-
ception where heir cases could have been done justice to
nearer than Winchester.

The Favourite, 14, Commander Murray, arrived this
morning from the coast of Africa. She left Sierra
Leone on the 21st of February, Goree, 26th of March.
No news or specie. Has sailed fur Devonport W be
paid off.

The Vixen steam sloop, Commander Jenner, was at
Bermuda on the Bth instant, to leave for Halifax the
next week.

The Sappho, 16, Commander Michell, put in at Ma'
deira on the 20th ult., having encountered a gale of wind
off the Western Islands. The sea ran so heavy sbe
worked considerably, and the rigging all being newt
settled down at the mast heads, and gave out. The
lower masts and bowsprit were marly going by the
board. Ilaving secured her masts, sbe put to sea in 24
hours afterwards for Bermuda.

The Captain and officers of the Dutch corvette Am'
phitrite were entertained this evening on board the flag'
.hip Victory by Captain Blackwood and the officers of
that ship.

Comniander Lord Amelius Beauclerk, of the Strom'
boll, has leave of absence, to visit the Duke of St. Al-
ban's, who is very ill from the effects of a fall from hill
horse lately while hunting.
Wind—W.S.W., moderate breezes, and fine weather.