The Sun.
London, England, 1841-04-08 00:00:00

REFUGE HARBOURS.

So the question of refuge harbours on the
south-eastern coast of England is put to rest for
the present ; but we predict it will rise again, ere
long, "in form more palpable" than ever. The
Chancellor of the Exchequer on Thursday gave it
the go-by in rather equivocal style, and in a style
we did not altogether expect from him, though our
hopes were not very sanguine of the success of
Mr. R ice's motion for a Committee. We do not
so much blame the Chancellor of the Exchequer
for objecting to the mode of proceeding with " the
important question of :he defence of the coast" by
Committee, if this mode was considered by him
" inexpedient," but what we find fault with on the
part of Mr. Baring is, that though he admitted its
importance, he left it in a position that we can.
make " neither head nor tail," to use an expres-
sive enough though somewhat vulgar phrase, of
his intentions. He said, "he thought that
the appointment of a Committee would tend
greatly to defeat the object. He admitted
that there was one part of the Report of the Com-
missioners upon which there was some doubt, and
upon which it might be necessary to have further
information. It was thought that the object
might be effected at a smaller expense. If it
could be done for a quarter of a million instead of
two millions, all parties must desire such a result ;
hut he thought that that saving would be much
better rife, ted by the proper officers. He trusted
that his Hon. Henri, upon the assurance that the
information which he possessed should he referred
to the officers appointed by the Treasury, would
not deem it necessary to go to a division."
If from this statement we are to understand that
the work is to be set about without furtler evidence
than has already been obtained, so far so well ;
but if it was meant to imply that nothing is to he
done, on the part of the Government, beyond the
surrey of the Commission of last year, it would
have been only candid in the Chancellor to have
said so, as such a declaration would have opened
the field to private speculation. One thing
is certain, that whether or no our present
Government shall earn for themselves the credit of
placing the south-eastern coast in a condition of
defence and security, as' regards its hat hours, com-
mensurate with the wants of the British navy, an
enlightened public will not suffer it long to remain
in its present ruinous and defenceless state. No,
no, this all-important subject will not be lost sight
of by the British people, more especially by the
shipping interest ; and it shall not be the fault of
the Morning Advertiaer, which was among the
very first in the field to vindicate the right of our
right arm to proper consideration, in the respect of
which we are speaking, it it is not agitated ! agi-
tated ! agitated ! till the matter is carried to that
consummation so devoutly to be desired.
The discussion of the harbour question in the
House of Commons on Thursday last, will have a
beneficial effect in opening the eyes of the public to
its actual position, and we do hope the shipping in-
terest of the country especially will take it up at
once in the manner it ought to be taken up. What
are the merchants of the great metropolis about
that they do not move in a matter so nearly affecting
their immediate interests ? They are not wont to
be so "stack " when matters of much smaller im-
port are on the tapis. We could enumerate many
cases where Government grants have been forth-
coming, infinitely smaller in importance than the
one in question.

Scarcely was there a speaker in the House of
Commons on Thursday who opened his mouth on
the subject of reln,ze harbours, who did not reiterate
the sentiments and arguments promulgated many
months since in the columns of the Moraing "Myer-
user ; and The Sun and Standard have also, we
are glad to find, ably supported cur views. In the
Standard of Friday evening last a most powerful
apptal to the nation was made on the vast, the pa-
ramount importance of providing a capacious deep-
water harbour, not only as a station fur vessels of
war• hut also as a place of shelter for the world's
shipping generally, on this all-important and much
neglected coast ; and were it not that its length pre-
cludes the practibility of our quoting it here, we
we should have given it a place as corroborative of
the position we have ourselves single-handed re-
peatedly maintained.

Whiie calling attention to Mr: Rice's motion, a
fortnight since, we said, that to the immediate
ad(,,inion of the recommendation of the Admiralty-
Commission (that is, to construct capacious deep.
water harbours at Dor!r, Margate, and Langley

Point), in whole or in part, we anticipated but one
objection, viz., the cost ; but in a country like this
whose wealth, strength, and boast were her wotidei,
nails, we hold any reasonable outlay to supply thr
desideratum in question to be a matter very secon
dary, if not entirely insignificant in importance.
The Standard takes precisely the same ground.
and maintains that the prevention of the loss of
that property—not to mention the saving of the
more precious lives of our sailors—of our merchants,
would, in a very brief space, cover the expense of a
refuge harbour in the Channel, and that in the
event of a war this expense might he covered in a
few days.

There is another kind of coincidence between
ourselves and our Conservative Contemporary, to
which we shall briefly allude ; it is the site for the
chief refuge port in the Channel. The Standard
points out Dover as the most eligible site. This
also do the Admiralty Commissioners ;and to show
that we were in advance of both (for we wrote be-
fore the Admiralty Report had imtle its appear-
ance) in the expression of this opinion, we have
only to make the following quotat►on from our pa-
per of May the 21st, 1840. We then said, and,
as lawyers say, we did so " without prejudice,"
that " anv one visiting Dover must be struck with
the local advantages it holds out fur the formation
of a port of shelter for our shippin,., either front the
war of elements, or that of hostile fleets. Here the
majestic chalky cliff's which stand boldly forward as
a br,:ast,work to the kingdom, actually part
asunder, and form a most inviting haven ; and, in
short, Dame Nature, as it were, throws orn her
arms for the reception of the way-worn mariner
and his tempest-to3t barque, whilst the beautiful
capacious bay between, presents an extent of an-
chorage, on which a whole fleet of the largest class
of ships might, in perfect safety, ►ide out the most
boisterous gale. Ahd farther, these natural advan-
tages are much strengthened by the town and har-
bour being flanked and covered by the protection
of the first batteries in the kingdom ; namely, those
of the Redoubr and the thand Citadel on the
right, and the Castle on the left, whilst a formi-
claole range of martello towers stretches on either
side along the whole line of coast."
While noticing, with much satisfaction, the able
co-operation on this important national question of
our Contemporaries of the daily press above named,
we cannot help remarking the profound silence on
the subject maintained by those ministerial organs,
the Chronicle and the Globe. Nay, even the
Times Is yet mute on the subjt.ct, though it is ever
wont to give tongue most lustily, professedly for the
every inteiest of the British navy. Surely the fear
of embarrassing the Government is not before the
eyes of the " Thunderer." The question, thanks
to its promoters, is in nowise mixed up with parti-
zanship ; and, therefore, our taciturn friends cannot
he influenced by any such cons:derations.—Morn-
ing Advertiser.