The Sun.
London, England, 1824-08-14 00:00:00

tTllt TIMES.]

The contingency, at all times possible, of n
difference with one or more foreign Powers,
ought to induce the people of this country to
keep an eye on the general administration and
actual condition of the marine of England. We
aware that so often as this most critical subject is
broached in either House of Parliament, the eti-
quette seems to be either to exclaim against all
discussion, or to drown inquiry, by a deluge of
assurances and boastings about the " excellent
and efficient state" of the navy at present, as com-
pared with former periods of its history. The
thing passes well enough in Parliament, where
Ministers of all ranks have extensive credit
for the accuracy and authority of their of-
ficial statements, and where it is not so easy
to revive a debate, when once got rid of. Out
of Parliament, however, an Englishman is nt li-
berty to doubt some portion of what conies front
persons in office. We have seen printed accounts,
and received many verbal ones, which would
greatly dispose us to recommend the institution of
grave and independent inquiry into the number
and efficiency of our existing men of war, and
into the regulations by which the supply of tim-
ber, as well as the building and repair of ships
in his Majesty's dock-yards, have been governed
since the peace of 1814. Is the oak now fur.
nished to us fulled in winter or summer ?—felled
we mean, without being previously stripped ? Is
any considerable number of our ships of the line
affected by the dry rot ? The Admiralty told
Parliament that the dry rot had been completely
got under, and for the first time we
know that an assertion of such a striking
nature would be apt to put down all fur-
ther disputation in the House of Commons, being
the purpose for which, or course, it was designed ;
but what we are desirous of hearing is, whether
the assertion was a true one. Is it true that the
whole of our three-deckers are fit to be sent to
sea ? Cnnid the Nelson, or the Howe, if net.
cessary, be commissioned for service without an
expensive repair ? Is the Genoa fit to be a sea-
going ship, or the Queen Charlotte, or the Ville
de Paris, or the Dreadnought, or that fine-looking
vessel the Prince Regent ? Report says that all,
or nearly all, the above ships are, more or less,
decayed already, though all are new since the
peace. or have been repaired for enormous sums
of money. If so, it is fit—it is but honest—
to apprise the nation of what they have to
trust to. Another important question is—why
should the gross number of British ships of
the line be so far short of what they were
at former crises ? They are at this moment,
we suspect, not so numerous as at the com-
mencement of the war of 1793 ; while other
Maritime Powers, in addition to those which we
had then to encounter, are pushing their marine
force to a formidable extreme. Spain, indeed, is
extinct, but Russia increases in vigour and confi-
dence, and the United States are mature in both.
If it be affirmed that our ships at the present day
are larger and more powerful, though less nume-
rous than before ; so, we reply, are those of fo.
reign nations. Upon the whole, we are anxious
only that the truth should be, arrived at, and that
errors of management, where they exist, should
be abandoned. The spirit of improvement, we
have no reason tom, ppose altogether dormant where
its activity would be most required ; but office is
obstinate,frequently capricious,given sometimes to
favour unhappy inthietice,and slow,of neeessity,in
the receipt of novel impressions. This question
)
ought to be set at rest; not by flip-
(f
pandcryy oorrstnappisliness, or assurance, for the sub-
ject is a vital one ; our greatness as a nation is
involved in it ; and we have a right (the people
have) to he thoroughly satisfied upon every
point which concerns our maritime power. There
seems to be no reason why the number and force,
as well as materials, of British men of war, ought
not to be prescribed by a vote of Parliament, as
they are by the Congress of the United States ;
or as the amount of the seamen, marines, and
s soldiers, are annually by our own Legislature.