The Sun.
London, England, 1847-01-07 00:00:00

and policy, alike condemn ; it would be sufficient simply
to secure such sailors by enlistment as we formerly ob-
tained by impressment, and we might then trust to a like
training for a like result. Such, however, is notoriously
not the state of affairs. Though we have happily had
no occasion for proving our relative strength on an ele-
ment we have been taught to consider our own, yet,
making all allowances for exaggeration, it is clear
enough, from fact within our actual cognisance, that the
improvements in artillery practice and naval architecture,
backed by the novel and scarcely appreciable power of
steam, have supplied our opponents with such resources
as leave us no longer at liberty to reckon upon a day's
breathing time after the declaration of hostilities. We
must be prepared with fighting-crevts at an hour's
notice ; and these can only come from a regular
reserve. A full complement of volu❑teers from
the merchant service though in the finest
spirit and condition, would not answer the pur-
pose. They must be gunners as well as heroes. No
doubt a couple of months' practice, under a good captain,
would make them all that could be desired; but to se-

cure them this few weeks' law, a trained and disciplined
crew must be at hand to bear the first brunt of the war.

As no doubt can be entertained of the necessity of this
provision, so few differences can exist as to the mode of
insuring it. The men must have served as man-of-war's
men, for in no other school can they learn their duty;
and they must be kept either afloat or ashore, either in
marine barracks or additional guardships. The only
difficulty on this point would be found in the repugnance
felt by seamen to enter for any but a particular ship or
under a particular captain; but the loss of this freedom
of election might be compensated by a small improve-
ment in pay, pension, or prospect of ratings, even if it
were not thought to be fairly met by the advantage
of continuous instead of temporary employment. The
expediency of prolonging the present term of a seaman's
engagement is admitted by almost every writer and
speaker on the subject, and can hardly be doubted by
the men themselves. A discharged sailor is as helpless
as a disbanded soldier, and is the worse off as his desti-

tution is almost sure to recur. Nor are the old stories
about these matters altogether inapplicable to the pre-
sent day. It is barely eleven years since 15 per cent. of
certain ships' crews were summarily turned adrift, al.
though their engagements had been understood by them
as extending to the whole period of the commission. It
is clearly, however, impracticable to increase this reserve
of trained men to such an amount as would at once send
to sea all the ships we might require, although it should
undoubtedly be strong enough to constitute, along with
those afloat, an effective squadron, and to furnish a nu-
cleus of good hands on board ships less advanced in dis-
cipline. Next, then, there arises the qwstion, how the
bulk of cur sailors are to be obtained without recourse
to impressment when necessity requires. One of the
schemes for this purpose which has obtained the
attention of two successive Administrations is that
of Lieutenant Bowden, of which the following
is an outline : Every merchant vessel is to carry.
for every 150 tons of her register, one " Queen's man
and one " Queen's boy," the first to be an able seaman,
and the second not under fifteen years of age. The
former is to be liable at any time and under any circum-
stances to serve in the royal navy, and the latter is to
step into his full rank at the age of twenty. The term
of the Queen's man's engagement is to be five years,
renewable at its expiration for a like term, and then en-
titling him to a pension ; and both he and the boy, in
addition to their regular wages, are to receive a small
monthly allowance from Government. It is calculated
that from London and Liverpool alone some 13,000 or
14,000 able seamen c:;uld thus be procured at a few
days' notice, even if only one quarter of the vessels had
been enabled to enter the prescribed number of Queen's
men. The readiness of the men to accept these terms
is presumed from the considerations that their wages
would be increased, their time of servitude defined, their
pension certain, and their chance very good of enjoying
the advantages of the royal service without ever actually
serving. Nor is it conceived that the masters of
merchant vessels would be otherwise than consenting
parties, inasmuch as they are not required to enter these
men over and above their proper compliments, but only
as part of them, and since these men, and these only,
would be liable to be taken away from their ships by any
of her Majesty's vessels, a regulation which would in-
form them of the precise extent of their liability in the
event of any sudden demand. The possible efficiency of
merchant seamen for the higher duties to which they
may be rendered liable, is a consideration only second in
importance to the regulations for securing their services
by an equitable contract ; and a former suggestion of
our correspondent's deserves attention as well as the
hints thrown out in his present letter. It is to the effect
that as this class of persons are exempt from the :militia
ballot, they should be required to attend a drill of their
own on board an " exercising ship" at certain periods
while within certain limits of a port ; and we are en-
tirely of the gallant author's opinion, and that a few
trifling prizes and a little tact in the captain-
superintendent would soon make this exercise a
great deal more popular than skittles or nine-
pins. If any person should be impressed with as idea
that our sailors have degenerated in a long peace, or
that improved treatment has relaxed their nerves and
subdued their hardihood, we commend to his notice the
story of the shipwreck of the Osprey, as reported in our
paper last week. An accident of a most grievous kind,
than which few ever involved less culpability, was reme-
died to a singular extent by the behaviour of the officers
and crew under circumstances far more trying than the
hazards of an unequal battle. After the lives of all had
been saved by the most energetic promptitude of action,
the ordnance material and provisions were landed
through a heavy surf, and guarded with effective disci-
pline, among a population who would have been excited
by the slightest relaxation to pillage and murder. Al-
most all the stores of the ship, including even her copper
and copper bolts, were saved, and transported across more
than a mile of deep sand. After the provisions had been
expended, during a period of two months' ceaseless toil,
the whole ship's company was mustered and marched 110
miles across a savage and unknown country, the disci•
pline and behaviour of the men, during nearly a year's
exposure to these severe duties, being so admirable as to
have been honourably recorded by their captain in the
course of his own defence, and to have received from the
Court a testimony which both Captain Patten and his
crew merited almost as fully by their improvement of an
inevitable misfortune as they could have done by any
instance of less costly, though more glorious success.-
7 rues.

THE NATIONAL DEBT.
(From Tuesday's Gazette.)
The Lords Commissioners of her Majesty's Treasury
having certified to the Commissioners for the Reduction
el the National Debt, in pursuance of the Act, 10th
George IV., c. 27, sec. 1, that the actual surplus revenue
of the United Kingdom of Grvut Britain and Irelard,
beyond the actual expenditure thereof, for the year
ended the 10th day of October, 1846, amounted to the
sum of 1,781,6591. 2s. Id. ;
The Commissioners for the Reduction of the National
Debt hereby give notice, that the sum of 445,4141.
15s. 6d. (being one-fourth part of the said surplus of
1,781,659/. 2s. Id.) will be applied, under the provisions
of the said Act, between the 7th day of January, 1847,
and the sth day of April, 1847, to the following pur-
poses, viz.:— R. s. d.
account c oaupnptl
applied
To be appli d to the purchase of Stock
or Exchequer (Supply) bllls ..445,414 15 6
Add interest
andtrecebievgatblelsetson ,
to
to the purchase of Stuck

3,615 1 0

£449,029 16 6
S. HIGH AM. Controller- General.
National Debt ifice, Jan. 5, 1847.

HAIRDRESSERS' ASSOCIATION FOR THE EARLY
CLOSING OF SHOPS.—A preparatory meeting was held at
the Bedford Head, Bloomsbury, Tuesday evening, for the
purpose of forming an association for the earlier closing
of hairdressers' shops in London, when a series of
resolutions having this object in view were agreed to.
It appears that this class of tradesmen are in the habit
of keeping their shops open until a late hour, especially
on Saturday nights, and the subject of discussion was
the practicability of their being closed earlier both in
the winter and summer months (such a practice having
been pursued in Glasgow and other large towns with
success), and thus enabling the numezous journeymen
ar.d apprentices in this business to have time for recreation
and the acquirement of general knowledge. It was
understood that a public meeting on a larger scale, with
the view of carrying out the objects of the association,
c would shortly be held.
" BROTHER, BROTHER, WE ARE ROTH IN TIM
WRONG."—The Hon. Captain Berkeley and the Hon.
Craven:Berkeley have b(en on a visit to Earl Fitzherdinge,
at Berkeley Castle, during the last few days.—Cheltenham
Journal.