The Sun.
London, England, 1840-04-23 00:00:00

Ranks. Total Numbers.
,
~aptains ............. 653
807

Commanders ............
Lieutenants ............ 2,670

----- -
It would be incorrect to attribute the inactivity of
these officers entirely to a voluntary relinquishment of
duty on their part, as there is no doubt that very many
of them would have been fully prepared to serve if op-
portunities had been afforded to them ; but as we have
shown that the proportion of the employed to the unem-
ployed is as small as 1 to 11 in one class, as 1 to 10 in
the second, and as 1 to 6 in the last class, it must be
quite obvious that any full-pay employment must have
been qaite out of the reach of a very large number.
With regard to the second point—viz., the time that
has elapsed since the active employment of some of
these officers, and the necessary change thereupon in
the character of their half-pay, from a retaining fee to a
pension, in consequence of desuetude, the following
statement, also prepared from the Admiralty returns,
will show how large a portion must be considered as per-
manently non-effective :

Period passed since employment afloat. 1816'181718181 , 1819,11820 1821 , itp.
a . -------
Midshipmen to be Lieu- +
•-rt, t., • 7; .4 7;
Rank.
_,,••-• -2 ~,0 F,2 040 b" 0 t‘i Total of Served tenants
85
E-. 5 ;,4,1)
c'''
,4"' ,,,,-"' '" preced- during Lieutenants to be Corn-
manders
4 .. , c•N 0 •-• c:::, '"' ~-, ing Co- last 10
6 n " "" lumns. Years. Commanders to be Cap- j 1
tains
—...... —.—. —. ---7 - --1—
Captains ...... .. 683 12 237 55 981 402 281
Commanders '... 807 34 299 65 1261 524 283
1823 18'24 1825 1826 1827 1828 1829
--
Lieutenants X 2879 57 1257 153 354 1821 1058 Midshipmen to be Lieu- +— _
tenants,
14369 103 17931, 273 578 2747 1622 Lieutenants to be Com- !.
'With this return before us, which shows that about Commanders to be Cap- I
one-half of the officers of the Navy have never served tains....
Aloat for nearly fifteen years, and that very nearly t General promotions in these years.
2.000 have not served afloat for more than twenty In February, 1830, a regulation was introduced by

With this return before us, which shows that about
ore-half of the officers of the Navy have never served
Aloat for nearly fifteen years, and that very nearly
2,000 have not served afloat for more than twenty
years, we feel it impossible to doubt that whatever
difficulties may have been presented to their obtaining
employment, a very large number indeed must regard their
position as one of retirement upon half-pay for the re-
mainder of their lives.

f' General promotions in then yeb.
In February, 1830, a regulation was introduced by
the Board of Admiralty, which restricted the promo-
tions to one-third of the vacancies in the superior class ;
so that from that time only one captain, one commander,
or one lieutenant, can be made for every three casualties
or removals from the lists of any of these ranks.
There are, however, the following exceptions to this
restriction :-Ist. Officers distinguishing themselves
by brilliant service. 2d. Three officers annually pro-
moted for services in the coast guard. 3d. Death
vacancies on foreign stations. 4th. A lieutenant or
a midshipman, at the nomination of the commander-in-
chief at each of the home ports ; or of an admiral, on
his being relieved on a foreign station, and striking his
flag. sth. General promotions.
It is obvious that, in peace time, the first exception
can operate but little to advance naval promotion, The
capture of slavers, or the prosecution of successful
voyages of discovery, or for scientific purposes, furnish
the only opportunities for acquiring claims to be re-
cognised under this exception ; but it is a valuable re-
servation of that right of selection which we consider to
be judiciously placed in the Minister's hands, to enable
him to reward merit or gallant conduct.
The promotions for Coast Guard service, not being
granted exclusively for naval duties, can scarcely be
taken into account as forming part of the system of
naval promotion.
The promotion to death vacancies on foreign stations
is, in effect, equivalent to the practice of the army, con-
sistently with which the vacancies in the regimental
establishments are filled generally by promotion when
the casualties occur on foreign service, the difference
between the navy and army system in this respect being
merely one of degree. The very large portion of the
army employed in the colonies, and their protracted ser-
vice there, will undoubtedly be productive of a larger
proportionate mortality, and will afford, consequently,
greater prospect of advancement to casualties than will
result from the comparatively limited colonial service
of the navy. The propriety of maintaining this ex-
ception to the restriction upon naval promotion is ap-
parent, as it is consistent with the practice adopted in
all the other services.

Taking the service, therefore, as a whole, which, as
we have already explained, we are, from its construc-
tion, obliged to do, and considering the large admixture
of inefficient officers necessarily to be found in each
clas3, we see no reason to declare this inefficiency of
the navy as at all greater than might naturally be ex-
pected from an examination so conducted as to embrace
both the available and the retired officers.

At the same time it is our duty to apprise your Ma-
jr!s'y, that if any circumstances should occur requiring
naval armaments of the magnitude employed during the
last war, and en the scale adapted to the character of
this country, it would be necessary to make probably
very extensive promotions, for which ample materials
-will be found in the numerous able and accomplished
officers of every rank in the fleet, so as to place the
entire service on a footing commensurate with the ex-
pectations which the past services of the British navy,
under its long hoc of illustrious leaders, have engen-
dered, and to secure the continued possession of that
vast colonial empire, for the acquisition of which the
country is so materially indebted to its exertions.
hiving given. this brief sketch of the present condi-
tion of the navy as regards the efficiency of its officers,
we propose to trace the course of promotion, step by
gep, from the entry of the volunteer as a tana on board
a ship of war, until he shall take his place as an officer,
1 .ii;cl be finally elevated to his flag.

It is shown in the regulations for the government of
the sea-service that the officers of your Majesty's navy
are divide,' into three classes, viz., commission officers,
warrant officers, and petty officers.

'Foking those ranks only whose claims would appear
to come within the limits of the inquiry, for which the
Commission has been instituted, the first class com-
prises fl lc, officers, commodores (a temporary rank),
r,
captains, commanders, and lieutenants. In the second
class will be found master, secretaries (a temporary ap-
pointment), medical officers, chaplains, pursers, mates.
In the third, or petty officers' class, will be found mid-
shipmen, masters' assistants, volunteers of the first
class. It is in this class of petty officers that the young
gentleman destined for the naval service must com-
mence his career.

The fourth exception is no more than a reasonable
compliment to a flag-officer on striking his flag, and re-
quires no comment from us.
The fifth and last exception to the restriction on naval
promotion, occurs on the occasion of general promo-
tions. It is the usual practice on such occasions to
confer promotion on an undefined number of the
classes of naval officers who are promoted by selection.
These promotions are entirely made at the discretion
of the First Lord of the Admiralty, assisted by his
naval colleagues.
We have called for statements calculated to exhibit
the extent of promotion which the selections made on
these occasions have conferred during the last ten years,
and we do ❑ot find that they have been made sparingly.
In 1830, contemporaneously with the flag promotion
of the 22d of July, there were the following promotions
of selected officers :

According to an order from die Board of Admiralty
of the 7th of February, 1838, the following arc the
ouulber of volunteers of the first class, allowed as a
part of the peace establishment of each ship :

First rate
Second rate 5 Sixth rate

Third rate

Fourth rate
and the total number serving on the Ist of January,
1839, is stated to have been 147.
It was formerly the practice to allow a captain or
oammander, on first commissioning a ship, to nominate
tho %vhole of this class, with the exception of those
vo!unteers selected by the Admiralty from the Naval
College ; and the consequence was, according to the
,!,,idence, that the captains generally selected their own
friends, and that it was very difficult to obtain appoint-
ments for volunteers of the first class who had pre-
viously been at sea. The only stipulation was, that
the captain's nominations were subject to the approval
of the Board of Admiralty.

Commanders to be captains, 13 ; lieutenants to be
commanders, 20 ; mates to be lieutenants, 24.
In 1837, on the 10th of January, with the flag pro-
motions—Commanders to be captains, 25 ; lieutenants
to be commanders, 25 ; mates to be lieutenants, 25.
And on the 28th of June, 1838—Commanders to be
captains, 35 ; lieutenants to be commanders, 50 ; mates
to be lieutenants, 60.
In naval promotions it is to be observed that all ad-
vancement is to substantive rank, and is accompanied
with pecuniary advantage ; whereas, in the army or
ordnance corps, the brevet rank which is given at periods
of general promotion is not substantive rank, as we
have shown in our reports upon those services, and, ex-
cept in the instances of the colonels upon half-pay
being made major-generals, or the captains made brevet
majors, carries with it no increase of pay whatever.
The grant of substantive rank, which is the effect, or
rather the accompaniment of a general promotion in
the navy, renders this boon a more valuable one than
that conferred by brevet advancement in the army, a
point which should not be lost sight of in estimating
the comparative position of the officers of the two
services.

i-
nistsluleedllatnhoorfdeor,cdt
rbeecrt,i
glBt3h4a,t thei n Board
ship,of cdnm
r tn
h()).
mis,aoned after that date, in which volunteers of the first
class were allowed, only one fresh entry into the service
should be made on the nomination of the captain or
eommaiang officer, and that the remainder of the com-
plement should be selected by him from young gentle-
men who had previously been at sea.
By order of the 13th of October, 1837, a similar pri-
vilege of nominating one volunteer of the first class as a
first entry into the service was allowed to each flag offi-
cer on hoisting his flag.
In addition to the youths thus appointed to the naval
service, the Board of Admiralty nominate annually
twenty-five volunteers of the first class, in lieu of those
who were formerly received from the college, and this is
stated to be equal to the average annual number admit-
ted from that college while it existed in latter years.
Under this system of restriction, it is calculated that
About 55 fresh appointments ape made every year, 30
hcillg nominated by the captains, and 2.5 by the Admi-
ralty.
After two years' service at sea, and at fourteen years
Of ,Igo, the volunteers of the first class may be rated as
midshipmen by order of the Lords of the Admiralty, or
by the commanders of her Majesty's ships and vessels.
The advancement is given if the volunteer has con-
ducted himself properly, and after an examination.
The total number of midshipmen in the service on
the Ist of January, 1839, was 239.
When the youth has been six years at sea as a volun-
teer and midshipman, he is eligible to undergo an exami-
nation for seamanship, as a qualification for a lieutenant's
commission ; and if he should pass this examination, he
is, if abroad, entitled, according to the naval regulations,
to claim a warrant, under the hand of the captain or
commander of the vessel, appointing him to the rank
and rating of a mate. But he is bound, within two
months after his arrival in England, to undergo a ma-
thematical examination to secure the confirmation of
his position as a mate,
which, in effect, is that of a
passed midshipman, eligible for the rank of a lieutenant.
The captain may withhold the warrant if the midship-
man's conduct shall not have been good.
The actual number of mates serving on the lst of
January, 1839, was 569.
The naval candidate is by this step removed from
the third, or class of petty officers, to the second, or
class of warrant officers.
When a mate is unemployed,
he is completely out of
the service ; he has no hold upon it, and he cannot
he compelled to serve ; and it may be inferred, that,
without some restriction on the power of the command-
ing officer to select mates and midshipmen for his ship
at his discretion, difficulties must have occurred in the
way of mates desirous of re-employment when their
chips were paid off.

(TO BE CONTINUED.)

FLANDERS AND DUTCH MAIL.

THa HAGUE, APRIL 19.—We learn that the an-
swers of the Government to the observations of the
Sections on the Budget have been transmitted to the
Second Chamber of the States-General. It is said that
the answers are not very decisive, but that the Govern-
ment has made some changes in the projects of law.
FRANKFORT, APRIL 16.—Michelis, formerly Chap-
lain to the Archbishop of Cologne, is released from his
confinement in the fortress of Magdeburg, and the pro-
vince of Saxony being assigned to him to choose his
residence, he had fixed upon Erfurts, where he is to be
under the spiritual superintendence of the Bishop of
the diocese.

We hear from Darmstadt that the Russian Crown
Prince will pass some time in the Grand Duke's family
before he goes to Ems, where the Empress of Russia
is expected by the middle of June.
DUTCH FUNDS.—Amirritanan, APRIL 18.
Money. Bills.
Actual Debt, 2.4 per Cent
Ditto, ditto 5 per cent.
Amort Syndic,46 per cent 904 In
Ditto, ditto, 35¢ per cent 75% 751 i
Commercial Company, 46 per cent.—
Ditto (1832 and 1833) 5 per cent........... 101% 10134
Ditto 1837, 5 per cent
Loan 1837, 5 per cent. 07% 9734
Exchange on London, One month ll 9756
Two months
—Dutch Papers, April 21.
PRUSSIAN FUNDS.—BERLIN, APRIL 16.
Bills. Money.
St. Schuld. Sch., 46 per cent. IO4IE 103%
Prussian English Loan, 1830, 4 per cent 1030 104
lixchange on London, three months 6 19%
—Prussian State Gazette, April 19.
AUSTRIAN FUNDS.—VIENNA, APRIL 11.
Five per Cents. Metalliques
Fon: per Cents
Three per Cr 'its.
8234
Bank Shares lB3l
--Altgemeine Zcitung, April 16.

We may congratulate the infantry of the line
on the likelihood of percussion muskets soon becoming v_
neral for the whole army, upon which the authorities have
lately determined, and the 42d Royal Highlanders have the
good fortune to be the first reg►ment selected to receive them.
The musket now in possession of the 42d is of that very su-
perior description, "the long land toner."—Naval and Mai_
tary Gazette.
LARGE TROUT.—On Monday last a trout, of
the extraordinary weight of 231b5., was caught in Hallowstell
fi,hing rater at the mouth of the Tweed. The weight of the
largest trouts usually caught seldom exceeds eight or ten lbs.—'
Berwick Advertiser.

_ -
To secure to some of the mates an opening for
the corn- 1
re-
employment, and to provide for their being among the
warrant and petty officers competent persons for a ship's
mduirtaieltay, eonre:huelaitBintnh wDaeseeisusitibecdr, by
18;i fißxionagrd of Ad-
plement of mates and midshipmen for the various ships