The Sun.
London, England, 1841-11-03 00:00:00

MARINE OFFICERS

The death of Major-General Vinicombe leaves only
one officer in existence who has rison from the corps of
Royal Marines to the rank of Major-General, aldniugh
that corps is still ten. thousand-strong, and was during
the late war upwards of thirty thousand. This fact
speaks more plainly the gross injustice of our present
system of promotion than any that has come to our
knowledge ; and shows how completely successful the
aristocratic classes have been in monopolising all the
higher grades of the army and navy, to the excusion of
those who spring principally from the middle ranks of
life, and are dependent only upon a long and faithful
discharge of their duties for their advancement in the
service. _

yv
We remember a I.ord of the Admiralty giving what
he wished to be considered as very good reasons why
Marine Officers should be perfectly satisfied with their
condition, and he concluded by saying that it should
be recollected that the Marines were only a Junior
branch of the Navy, thereby, implying, we suppose,
that they were to be satisfied with a younger brother's
portion. If such be the opinion of the present Go-
vernment, it would be only fair for them to excuse
the Marine Officers from the responsibilities recently
imposed upon them, and revert to the state of things
which existed prior to 1814, for it is a most erroneous
supposition to imagine that their condition has been ge-
nerally improved since that period.
Prior to 1814, General Officers commanded the divi-
sions, there was therefore no possibility of the corps
being left with only one solitary Major-General. Field
Officers did not then embark, those situations were there-
fore comparative sinecures, as were also then the sixteen
Pay-Captains, who were always at head-quarters, and any
officer could with facility retire from the service, &c. &c.
Now from the great reduction which- has been made in
the number of Officers, while the Fleet has been aug-
mented, no person under the rank of a Field Officer can
anticipate more than six months at head-quarters; and
such is the difficulty of getting even the half-pay, that a
man to obtain it must prove that he is not only utterly
worn out and useless, but he must also show that there
is not tke most remote probability of his ever being
worth anything. We do not mention these things with
a wish to see the Marine Officers removed from any
situation where they may be useful; but we contend
that as of late a great increase has taken place in the
quantity of. duty required of them, there should have
been a proportionate increase in the quantity of promo-
tion allotted them, instead of which we are sorry to say
that the chances of an old Officer becoming a General
Officer have been materially diminished, and in five
years niore, if the present system be continued, there
will be no earthly possibility of any one of them attain-
ing that rank.--Naval and Mditary.Gazette.

THE PARISH CLEIIX, BY THE AUTHOR OF
" PETER PRIGGINS." EDITED BY THEODORE HOOK,
ESQ.—This new work seems to have, excited as much ad-
miration at its originality, wit, and drollery, as did its
initimable predecessor, the "College Scout," from the same
pen, or pens, for it is difficult to believe but Ciat these
singularly striking works have been produced (Beau-
mont and Fletcher fashion), between the two writers
whose name, and want of name they bear. The great
merit of this new work is, that with the rich vein of
humour pervading it in every part, there is blended an
equally rich vein of the ore of sterling sense and strong
character and passion, in which Peter Priggins was per-
haps somewhat deficient. In a word,. Peter Prigg,ins
was to its successor; The Parish Clerk, what George
Cruikshank's caricatures are to Wilkie's real pictures of
life and character—the one bearing us away with it to
the wild regions of farce and, fun, the other fixing us,
Hades of what we actually see about us in the journey
though in an equally humorous manner, the fair simi-
litudes
of life.
DISTRESS IN LONDON.—It is estimated that
there are in this metropolis 26,000 journeymen tailors,
of whom 17,000 are at this moment out of wpFk. This
season of the year is always unfavourable the
work, and the condition of.
em-
ployment of this class of workmen, but it 'Very rarely
deplorable. • Under
happens that more than one-third of the whole number.'
withoutltiawtotrhianbluetr to
nearly two-thirds of the whole number. There are also more
geed last year. We
is unemployed. At present thocirsiepu)orarilsileiynl
thandt
journeyman,easteh lcs,llrsOchOuoilup)
IsrdtisnahlWelocxere:nssiatidiweitrsioisioui
ositets os:eux
find, on comparing the returns of the Registrar-General
during the last five weeks, with the corresponding five
weeks of, 1840, that the numbers are now uniforthly
greater than last year, Deaths in week • ending 11th
Sept., 1840, 853-1841, 869; 18th, 0
877; 25th, 1840, 838-1841, 857; 2d Oct., 1840, 857
1841, 883; 9th, 1840, 794-1841, 816. With these
figures before us, and without any reasonable ground for
expecting improvement as regards the price of food or
the means of employment, what a dreary prospect does
this open to us for the coming winter I—Facts and
Figures.
DISTRESS IN CARLISLE.--I know families
in Carlisle, of five ent,l six of a family, who are compelled
to live on 4s. or ss. per week, who hate nothing but a
pallet of straw to sleep upon. with. 1 ittl6,4*. no' coVeting
and in order to keep in life, :and that each day hwal,
miserable as another, when they divide, their scanty
•
victuals over the week they sometimes have just FIVE
POTATOES for each, meal,rand six human beings for them !
—Letter of a Working Man to the Editor of the Carlisle
Journal.
More rain has fallen during the present month
than in any former October for more than a quarter .of a
century. Bleak and gusty winds have swept over the land,
winnowing our forests, and scattering the fruits from
the trees in our orchards ; whilst the floods have in many
districts overspread the meadows, destroying the hus-
bandman's hopes of a second crop of hay. In many parts
of the kingdom much of the grain iS Still abroad —Liver-
pool Chronicle. -

MAGAZINES.
THE SPOR7'SHALY.

The "Sports►nan" this month contains two
engravings—one of which the " Death of the
Elk" is finished off with considerable care and
nicety, though we would put it to the artist whe-
ther he has not made the head of the animal
somewhat too large. The frontispiece appears to
us to be as large as that of a bullock, which
surely must be an exaggeration. If we except
this blemish, the engraving deserves all praise
for the skilful manner inwhicli it is executed. In
the literary department we find an entertaining,
ramblin, sporting article, entitled " The Turf,'
by a Looker-on."