The Sun.
London, England, 1838-12-21 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

It appears by the Hampshire Telegraph, and other
Papers devoted to shipping intelligence, that active exer-
tions are going forward on our maritime coast and in our
dock-yards, in order to put the navy in an effectual state
of equipment. An Evening Paper, we are glad to see, an-
nounces that the mode of recruiting by impressment is en-
tirely abandoned. There are, however, other abuses in
the navy which require correction. We are bound to con-
cur in the general complaint of partiality, brought at the
close of last session against the present system by Sir E.
Codrington and Mr. Hume. 'We more especially concur
with the following general suggestion and undeniable fact,
then adduced by the latter Hon. Member. He said that
" a better system should be adopted, and merit should ob-
tain its due rewards. The rewards of merit were now no-
toriously given to the sons of the aristocracy." We have
latterly commented on the abuse of flogging in the navy.
The inadequacy of pay and the unfair distribution, as well
as the retention of prize-money, are abuses not less de-
serving of notice and of remedy. But the system
of aristocratical influence in promoting without
merit, is the most crying grievance. The younger
sons of patricians—mere boys, who have never
been out of harbour, have been often made Captains,
while hosts of officers, who have encountered hardships
and perils in every quarter of the globe, through a long,
laborious, and glorious life, are pining away the latter por-
tion of their existence in obscurity and comparative poverty.
Is this justice ? Is it policy ? Can the British navy be
expected to maintain the ascendancy of its character un-
der a system so every way disheartening ? It is notorious
that numbers of our best seamen, in consequence of these
discouraging circumstances, are even now in foreign ser-
vice. Our seamen, it is true, have nevertheless always
nobly upheld the honour and character of the country
when their services were required. Their native spirit in
the hour of peril has always burst through the restraints
of adverse circumstances, and maintained the ascendancy
of Britain's trident over the ocean. But had the system
been different, the whole materiel of our crews would have
been greatly superior. The subject is of the most vital
importance to the well-being of the country, and to its ho-
nourable security and naval predominance. It deserves the
anxious attention of Government, and will, we trust, be
brought forward with unrelaxed perseverance before the na-
tional Legislature till the evils we have indicated are re-
medied, and the radical vices of the whole system removed.
—Morning Advertiser.
We have an unwonted duty to perform towards the
Morning Chronicle. We have to thank that Journal for
having given rather a fair account of what we have been
s tying for some days back about party and Parliamentary
prospects. We have also to thank our Contemporary for
having put its true account in juxta-position with the un-
true statements of an occasionally insane Journal, upon
which the fit kas been working very strongly for some days
hack. The Morning Chronicle, however, with all its
frankne-s, still leaves something out. It truly enough de-
scribes the view which we have taken of the conditional
duty and probable course of the Conservative party in the
present juncture of affairs ; but does not do us the favour
to allude to our statement of the past and present circum-
stances of the country, which seem to justify, and evetf to
demand, that course on the part of the am-radicalized
Whigs, and independent patriotic Tories, which we have
indicated. As for Mr. O'Connell and his tail, and the
other revolutionary people upon whom Ministers have
hitherto so much depended, either they must be " shelved,"
as the Chronicle terms it, or the Ministry will be" shelved."
We apprehend that whatever our Contemporary may think
concerning this alternative, Lord Melbourne will think the
former the preferable process. We shall see.—Horn. Post