The Sun.
London, England, 1841-10-26 00:00:00

PRICE 5d

THE NAVY.
(From the Naval cad Military Gazette.)
Some months since we expressed a hcpe that the at-
tention of the Lords of the Admiralty would be drawn,
by a letter of one of our 'Correspondents, to the case of
non-pro;notion of Lieutenant J. G. Harrison, of her
Majesty's ship Larne, who was recommended to their
Lordships by Sir Gordon Bremer, in his despatch of
18th of January last, and of whom most favourable
mention was made by Captain Belcher and Captain
Herbert, in the letter of the latter to the Commodore,
which appeared with the above despatch. Neverthe-
less, Lieutenant Harrison still remains unpromoted, al-
though the Commander, First Lieutenant, and two
Mates of the Larne, have each since got a step ; one
of the Mates for the serviee in the boat under Lieu-
tenant Harrison, for which both were recommendad by
the Commodore.

The reason why Lieut. Harrison was selected by
Sir Gordon Bremer to be recommended to the Lords
of the Admiralty for having been employed in the
boat of the Larne in the destruction of the junks, was,
his having commanded the first British man-of-war's
boat that came into action, he having gallantly pro-
ceeded tingly in the pinnace of the Larne, carrying only
a 12-pounder carronade, against them ; and it was not
until having advanced out of sight of the man-of•war
and expended great part of his ammunition, and under-
goue much fire from the junks, he had caused the crews
of four to abandon them, and was returning to the
steamer, that he met the other man-of-war's boats ad-
vancing, and joined them.
In the Army, a Captain and Lieutenant sent on the
same duty, and both favourably mentioned in a despatch
and recommended, the promotion of the Lieutenant
and not that of the Captain would be a stain on the
name and character of the latter not to be wiped out
but by public inquiry. The same feeling exists in the
Naval Service, yet such a stain bas been permitted to
remain on Lieutenant Harrison, notwithstanding every
other Lieutenant then and since mentioned in the
public despatches from China has, we believe, been
made Commander, as well as numbers that have never
been named in a despatch.
In submitting these facts to the consideration of the
present Lords of the Admiralty, we have the authority
of Lord Minto, in his speech in the House of Lords of
the 4th instant, when referring to the case of his son,
Commander Elliot, to show that the present Board can
with propriety take up the recommendations, though
made some time back ; and we will add our doubt
whether there is upon naval record a Commodore's
recommendation of an officer on service having been
thrown aside, as that of the Lieutenant whose case we
are advocating, but who is unknown to us, directly or
indirectly. It appears to us that Lieutenant Harrison
has worthily earned his promotion, and it would be an
extremely bad precedent, if deserving officers, recom-
mended for service on foreign stations—alas! perhaps
their only hope of promotion, after long and arduous
service—are to be thus overlooked.

PORTUGAL.
By the Montrose steamer, which arrived at Falmouth
on Saturday morning, with the Peninsular mails, we
have received a tile of papers from Portugal and the
south of Spain. The Montrose left Gibraltar on the
14th, Cadiz on the 15th, Lisbon on the 18th, and Vigo
on the 20th instant.
LISBON, OCT. 18.—After a protracted debate in the
Senate, during which much angry feeling was displayed
by some of the members of the Opposition, the repeal
of the decree of the 16th of January, 1837, relative to
the differential duties or bounty, in favour of Portuguese
shipping, was on the 14th inst. carried by a majority of
twelve votes, thirty-six members only being present. This
enactment will come into operation three months after
the date of this publication (which will be in the course
of this week) for ports in Europe and North America,
and six months for other ports. The Opposition
Journals are furious at this decision, which they
consider as giving a death blow to Portuguse navi-
gation, and putting an end to the prosperous trade now
carrying on with Great Britain. Notwithstanding all the
advantages anticipated by these differential duties, it
seems that no more than 40 Portuguese vessels have
brought cargoes of British manufactured goods to this
port during the last year, and these entirely of the most
valuable kind, upon which the shippers received large
sums ; these will now be paid into this Treasury. It
has been calculated, that by the continuance of such a sys-
tem, the national revenue would be deprived of at least
50 cantos de reis (about 11,5001. sterling) per annum, to
the benefit of, and merely to insure freights to, 40 national
vessels in the conveying trade from Great Britain.
In the Chamber of Deputies, on Tuesday last, a select
Committee was chosen to revise the plan of M. Jose
Bernardo da Silva Cabral, which proposes that one-third
of the members of the Senate be elected by Royal nomi-
nation, and for life.

The Government, it is understood, will not contract
for the decimas and imposts of the present economic
year, ending June, 1842, amounting by calculation to
1,300 contos, as such a negotiation would hardly realize
700 contos.

No doubt exists as to the closing of the Cortes by the
end of the present month, and it is rumoured that the
Ministry is now in so tottering a state as soon to bring
about a partial, if not a tots', change.
It is reported that Brigadier Marinho, ex-Governor
of Mozambique, on hearing of his dismissal from that
office, clandestinely retired to Bombay with a consider-
able quantity of valuable property ; two or three vessels
c,lartered on his account, however, were subsequently
eiz;
din the port by his successor, ad interim, Major
Ivan
Cos:: Xavier. .
s c

The Monarch ,;'id Implacable, ships of the line, were
at Gibraltar on
Thurs,Ly last, the latter having arrived
there from Tunis on the preceding Tuesday, leaving at
that port the Ganges and Revenges British line-of-battle
ships, and four French of the same clays. The Britannia,
on her passage to England, passed through the Straits
on the 11th inst. The Espoir, brig of war, left this on
Tuesday for Cadiz and Gibraltar. Her absence from
her station will be about three weeks, thus leaving the
Tagus without a British pennant.
The Marquis de Saldanha left this morning in the
Braganza steam-packet for Cadiz, on his way to Madrid
to felicitate the Regent on the failure of the attempt to
subvert his Government, as well as his personal escape
from premeditated assassination.

ExChange on London, at thirty days' sight, 521 d. to
54d. perrnilrei. _ _

The following is a copy of a letter of thanks from
Messrs. Leigh, Paige, and Co., merchants in this city,
to Captain Manoer Thomas da Silva Cordeiro, of her
Most Faithful Majesty's frigate Duqueza de Braganza,
the guard-ship off Belem, for his prompt and efficient ser-
vices rendered in the case of the British brig Syren :
" LISBON, OCT. 15.—Sir,---We beg leave in behalf of
the owners and Mr. Edward Grills, master of the brig
Syren, of London, which vessel on entering this port three
days since from Newfoundland, laden with codfish, got
on shore off Pedroicos, to offer our grateful acknowledg-
ments for the very important services you were pleased
to render to that vessel. Important, inasmuch as we be-
lieve them to have been mainly instrumental in removing
her from a situation, very perilous as it was, but which
with such a heavy cargo on board would have been in-
creased tenfold had she not been drawn off promptly by
the very efficient assistance so kindly given. Permit us
to repeat the offering of our best thanks.
" And we have the honour to remain, &c.
" LEIGH, PAIGE, and Co.