The Sun.
London, England, 1846-11-02 00:00:00

THE NAVY-IMPRESSMENT.

It must be a very consolatory circumstance to
those who are so tremblingly alive to any reports
concerning the deficiencies of our navy, that their
misgivings are seldom shared by the parties who may
not unnaturally be conceived to possess the best in-
formation on the subject. Hardly a naval man will
be found who will not unhesitatingly assert that the
improvement of the navy in almost every department
has within his own recollection, been immense ; and
stia as have had the good fortune to get service in these
dull times almost unanimously avow their conviction
that the superiority of every vessel now in commission
to her counterpart of thirty years since is something
quite inconceivable to those who have never enjoyed the
opportunities of comparison.
Setting aside indeed for the moment one particular
of the most vital importance, in which the worst abuses
of the old system bid fair to be revived when occasion
may call, we imagine that the apprehensions so
generally felt from time to time regarding our naval
force have arisen from statements and inferences pub-
lished by persons who judged only from what they saw
and heard, and which were imperfect for want of due in-
formation, and influential only from want of due contra-
diction. When it was asserted, and not denied, that
the navies of France and America were rapidly sur-
passing our own in extent, equipment, and discipline,
the tendency of most people to suspect the worst secured
a ready acceptance to the rumour, and the blunders and
mishaps which really occurred in our dockyard experi-
ments gave a colour to the tale, and all went together to
disturb the equanimity of the public on this most im-
portant point. The self-vindication of responsible officials
was, of course, not everywhere satisfactorily accepted.
What was respired was, that some impartial exposition of
the real state of things, supported by authority, based on
/acts, and admitting of ♦erification, should have bee❑
laid before the public in SR intelligible form. This has
been attempted by Rear-Admiral Bowles, in a short pam-
phlet, published just at the close of the last session, but
we can hardly say with any great success. It is not that
we distrust the correctness of his general ♦iews—on
the contrary, our impression is, that the mischief of
our constructive and instructive vagaries is corr,para
tively superficial, and that we are really, except in a
single item, most admirably provided with the solid
materials of a fleet to steam or sail against any navy
in the world. We do not say the thing could not be
done ; we only think that Admiral Bowles has not
done it.
A gentleman more peculiarly fitted than the Admiral
for the task he had assumed could hardly have been
named. He had been a Lord of the Admiralty, and had
inspected the experiments of a squadron; yet, as his
accession to the naval administration had been very
recent, he had, as he himself remarks, but little claim
to personal credit, and therefore but little temptation
to exaggerate the improvements for which it was de-
manded.

With all these opportunities of information and pre-
tensions to authority, he has said little more to the
purpose than could hare been urged by a half in-
formed or anonymous pamphleteer. He touches on one
or two leading points, but compresses the whole of his
remarks upon them into one or two bare assertions.
We do not doubt that his assertions are true ; but
something beyond assertion was precisely what was
wanted, and his was precisely the pen from which it
was expected. It was not without misgivings that
we saw a professed view of the state of the navy
put forth in a single widely-printed octavo sheet, of
which one-third is consumed in the preamble. The
truth is, that this preamble is more to the
poipt than any other portion of the book. The
exaggerations of jealousy and the mis-statements
of ignorance alluded to by the Admiral were undoubt-
edly the things to be combated. Nothing could be
clearer than the duty of a competent person to
"dispel these dangerous delusions, and place the real
state of the nary before the public;" nor do we
for a moment hesitate to concur with the gallant
author in his idea, that "no one could perform this
service with more propriety than himself." The
♦dmiral's shot is terribly disappointing. He gets a
good sight of the mark, and a good measure of the
distance, and then drops his bullet a thousand yards
short. People who despair of England's safety
because the Avenger is over-engined will not be
•omforted by a concise intimation that " mean-
while the country may be assured that our
dam navy is' in a very efficient and satisfactory consli-
tion ; nor will those respectable ladies, who hare been
taught to dread the rampant uxoriousness of French
Vices, he quieted by the news that Sir Robert Peel's
Government set up a steam-hammer at Devenport.
The terribly deficient regulations for the supply of sea-
ntea to which we have alluded above are briefly noticed
by the Admiral, who admits his acquaintance with
this weakness of our system, and observes, that his
efforts have never been wanting to impress its impor-
tance on his colleagues. Considering the unanimity
which all parties seem to profess upon this point, it
is not a little extraordinary that all should so concur in
neglecting it. No Government measure has yet been
projected, or, at least, been published, for superseding a
necessity equally dangerous and disgraceful. We still go
on in such a course, that, at the very first outbreak of
war, all the old villaniee of impressment must be put in
practice again. We may find some difficult in substi-
tuting an efficient and equitable system of recruiting
our crews, but we may at least try an experi•
zneut. Half the perseverance that has been shown
in making the Scourge carry her bombs, or the
Retribution her engines, might have perhaps suc-
ceeded in organising a reserve of able-bodied seamen
at every port. It is hardly clear why we should so
neglect the nobler and manlier lesson. For, however
laudable may be our yearnings after perfect models, it
should never be forgotten, that it was rather in fighting
than in running that the strength of our navy was pre-
aimed to lie. It was by our sailors, not our ships, that we
swept the seas from tha Isle of France to Falmouth. The
top-heavy tubs of our most covetous contractors took in
tow the finest models from Toulon or Rcchefort, and if the
excellencies in the two departments of the service were
irreconcilable with each other, we would willingly relin-
quish to other nations the palm of ship-building, and
content otirselves with the prerogative of conquering for
our own use the magnificent vessels of our enemies.—
Times.

THE POTATO FAILURE.
DUKE OF SUTHERLAND.

The subjoined addresses have been circulated by his
Grams the Duke of Sutherland to his smaller tenants
and workpeople. The potato failure has fortunately been
less severe in that county than in Invernessshire or i
parts of Rossshire, but the Duke expresses his conviction
tbat assistance is necessary, and that it should be ren-
dered in the shape of employment. A tenant in Suther-
landshiro—Mr. Hall, Evelix, near Dornoch—has pub-
lished a statement relative to the the people of that
county. He says the potatos in his neighbourhood are
" nearly half-rotten, but the corn gives well to meal."
Mr. Hall corrects the Timis Commissioner as to the
houses of the peasantry in Sutherland. " From where
I write," he says, " there are upwards of one hundred
houses within my view occupied by crofters and cottars,
and only three where the walls ars made of earth. All
the rest are substantially built with stone and and lime, or
atone and clay; their offices mostly of the same materials,
and substantially thatched with stone and clay. The
whole county, as to houses, is almost all alike. Now, as to
rents. The crofters and cottars generally pay from ss. to
6d. the Scotch acre fur what is arable land, and for what
is not arable, adjoining their lots, they pay nothing. The
fact is, the rents cannot be lower, if we pay rent at all.
I must acknowledge the lots are generally too small to
make anything of them but a bare subsistence; but I
consider that class of people better off in Sutherland
than in any other of the northern counties. I have been
acquainted over all Scotland—and part of England—for
above fifty years, and I consiner the crofter set off people
in Sutherland now, as to their houses and accommoda-
tion about on a par with those of the same class in the
southern counties of Scotland about fifty years ago. The
class of people I allude to cannot make rich on such
small holdings, but they are generally comfortable, and
they show that at kirk at market, for you cannot see a
better clad or better looking people in all Scotland, or
In the kingdom." The foowing are the Duke's ad-
dresses :
" I have received a petition from some of the inhabi-
talks of the parish of Clyne, stating the failure of the
potato crop, and praying that measures be immediately
devised for the purpose of providing food for the people,'
and to arrest as much as possible the impending
famine.

"I take the opportunity, ii answering this petition, to
address the tenantry generally, on the deeply important
subject to which it refers. It has received my most
anxious attentioa from the time when I found that the
disease in the potatos had extended to the county.
" In order to ascertain its progress and extent, and
to enable me to determine what was the best course to
pursue, I have had regular reports, from various sources,
from every parish with which I am connected. It is
astnfactory that the reports, and especially the most
reeent, concur in stating that the calamity is less exten-
sive than was apprehended.
" In some parishes the disease has, unfortunately,
prevailed to a lamentable extent : in others, the pota
toe have suffered little injury, not beyond the average ;
on the coastside the disease, though severe, is not uni-
versal.
" It is satisfactory to learn that other crops werenever
more abundant or better secured, which, together with
a general demand for labour, must diminish the evils
occasioned by the unfortunate failure of the potatos. It
is, no doubt, natural that the failure should impress the
sufferers with the apprehensions which they express ;
but it is satisfactory to find, on fall consideration, reason
to hope that these is no danger here of famine. Such a
calamity is best guarded against by the economical use
of what has been granted to us, and this I am anxious to
impress on those whose means make them indeaeudent
of potatoes as an article of food. I have felt it a duty
in my own family and household to abstain entirely from
their use for a considerable period, and feel justified in
reconvoending such a measure.
" I luny concur in the opinion entertained by persons
most
assistance becomes
to judge, that if, to meet an emergency,
becaomea necessary to enable the labourer to
" provide food, asa 1 of employment is most desirable,
and for those whoPm
tit work in the soauyt:r prevented from leaving fami-
lies, where the demand for labour
great, it should be our
asendeavour to provide additional
work at home, and suchprove most useful to the
people. There was, probably, never ai time when work
bas been so generally within
fidentle that the dealers in meal will provide
the fair market price, for purchase. The regular
at
have
every con.
dealer seem to offer the best means by which the'e diffi-
culties can be met ; if extraordinary necessities require:
entylual exertions, such will not be wanting.
" The hapless poor will be provided by the parochial
rs with meal, agreeably to recommendation received
oc to them.
" •ottention has not been confined to the present
ppm - order to meet future exigencies, tke gentlemen

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in my confidence will take measures to raise, in different
parts of the country, the best sorts of cabbage plants
for distribution ; and offer prizes also for the largest
quantity of onions and leeks, for which seed will be fur-
nished; the announcements have been circulated. I wish
much to encourage the cultivation of these vegetables.
On the north and west coasts, premiums for fishing have
also been advertised.
" These important matters, to which reference has
been made, have long occupied the attention of myself,
and of those whom I consult, and shall continue to do
so. I must conclude with observing, that our trial of
this distress has been less severe than those of many
others elsewhere, and we can best show our grateful
sense of Divine mercy by using carefully the means
vouchsafed to us, and by assisting others.
" With heartfelt good wishes, I remain your sincere
friend,

" SUTHERLAND.

" Dunrobin, October 12, 1846."
" TO THE SUTHERLAND MEN EMPLOYED AT THE
GOLSPIE QUARRY.
"The Duke of Sutherland is desirous of saying a few
words, to express his pleasure in giving them employ-
ment, the want of which is felt here as well as in many
other places. Yet the thought must occur that the pre-
sent employment cannot be of long duration, and that
if the quarry itself be not exhausted, still the occasion
for the work cannot continue. It may be hoped that
new means for so desirable an object may be found, but
there can be no certainty, and many must have to go
south for work, to earn for themselves and families, and
to meet future difficulties. It should be the endeavour
of every one to make some saving, and as the saving
bank pays interest for small suns which could not be
otherwise profitably placed, and the Duke of Sutherland
is responsible for the safety of the deposits regularly
made, let it be used accordingly. All that can be saved
will no doubt be hereafter needed ; and those who thus
show their prudence will have the best claim for consi-
deration. "SUTHERLAND."
" Dunrobin, Oct. 12, 1846."—Inverness Courier.

A SECOND LETTER TO THE MEM-
BERS OF AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES, AND
OTHERS INTERESTED IN LAND.

Gentlemen,—As I find that my first address to you
has excited some attention, I shall, with your permis-
sion, enter a little more fully into the subject.
But before I do this, allow me to warn you against
certain classes of persons who may mislead you in this
important matter.
The first consists of men who are fond of novelties,
sanguine beings who run with eagerness after every
painted bubble which the excited brain of the enthu-
siast throws off. These persons, often with the best
intentions, will hail any scheme which is proposed with
rapture ; will talk themselves out of breath in its praise;
but when the real difficulties present themselves, when
the eye of criticism looks coldly upon it, and still more
when the shaft of satire is directed against it and its
proposer, they will fall away and go in search of other
things. Do not, then, trust to these persons, but use
your own faculties as men of common sense, and judge
for yourselves.
Another class will go as far on the other side. Unable
to perceive anything beyond their own narrow range of
vision, they will obstinately refuse to believe that any
thing which they do not see or have not seen can really
exist ; and to this class belong those who not only can-
not see, but who will not see. Beware of these also,
and judge for yourselves.
But besides these two classes, who are generally honest
and well-intentioned, there are others with whom we
have to deal to whom I cannot apply these epithets.
Remember that in proposing great changes I am affect-
ing not only the interests of many thousands of persons,
but those of the most learned and the most subtle of
men. Remember that my proposals must not only be
proof against all that ingenuity, experience, and know-
ledge can suggest, but they are also exposed to all that
malice can invent—all that jealousy can inspire. Re-
member that it has usually been the fate of those who
have advanced truths opposed to the seeming interestslof
particular classes to have the fire which cannot be effec-
tually directed against their measures turned on them-
selves. Remember that this may possibly happen in the
present case. Neither must I forget that persons who
have proposed reforms as great and as useful as I believe
those which I propose to be, have struggled all their
lives to establish them, and have passed their whole
existence under the shade of calumny. This may pos-
sibly be my own fate, although so far I have no reason
to fear it. But be who ventures to lead an assault must
take his chance of being thrown down ; and it is over
his body that others mount to the breach which he has
made, and thus obtain the victory.
I would not trouble you with all this, if I did not
think it necessary; and now, before telling you what
I do want, allow me to tell you what I do not want.
I do not wish any alteration, as some one has
suggested, either in the law of primogeniture or
in the law of entail. It appears to me that the law
of primogeniture is well adapted to the institutions of
this country, and I do not wish to alter those institu-
tions ; nor do I at all object to the present law of entail
as it exists in England. If persons choose to entail
their lands, I do not see why they should not be
allowed to do so, provided every tenant in tail may cut
off the entail at 21. This is now the law in this
country, and I see no reason for altering it. But
what I do wish you to obtain is this—that
you may transfer your land, if you wish to do so, more
easily and with less expense; that you may buy your
land more easily and with less expense; that if you
wish to borrow money on your land, you may do it
more easily; and that if you wish to invest money on
other people's land, you may do it more easily.
These may seem very trite and simple matters. But
you know that at present you cannot do any of them
both safely and easily ; you know that the expense and
difficulty of those transactions are always great, and
in many cases enormous; and I will now show you
how this state of the law affects the value of your land.
In doing this, I must be permitted to consider land
as a commodity, the value of which depends on the rules
which govern the value of any other commodity. In a
former age, we know that it was treated differently. It
was considered as a means of affording a defence to the
State. It was governed by a different policy. Every piece
of land had an armed warrior to maintain its possession
for his lord. You may smile at this, but the remnant of
this system is in existence at the present moment as a
legal fiction. This ideal seisin of land, as it is called,
is ever present to the eye of the law, and must not
be disturbed for one moment ; and many absurd
consequences still arise from this state of the
law. It is of no great practical consequence, but I
mention it to show that we are in tke habit of treat-
ing land as if it was essentially different from other
commodities, when the reason for so considering it
has entirely ceased. We make a mystery of it ; we blind.
fold our own eyes in all our dealings with it ; before we
can even talk respecting it correctly we must learn a new
lane age; we have been hitherto content to consider it as
ts ,
a distinct artiele, to be dealt in by a few, and under cir-
cumstances not existing in anything else. Now if any-
body thinks this should be so—that some political
advantage is to be gained by so considering it—that
,ome great state policy is involved in it—l shall be quite
willing to hear him as to that ; but as I do not know
any one who does think so, I must assume that land, if
it be possible to make it so, and so far as the nature of
the thing allows, should be dealt in as any other com-
modity, and that the same rules regulate its value.
Now what are those rules? Do not be afraid that I
am going into any politico-economical questions. The
rules of which I wish to remind you are familiar to you
all, and are acted on by all; and our good Dame Debo-
rah is at this moment carrying them into actual prac-
tice as she rides on Dobbin to sell her butter and eggs.
What she wants fur her commodities, and what yeu
want for your land, is a certain market, and as large a
class of purchasers for your commodity as possible.
Supposing you scould not sell your land at all, what
would be its value? Does it nut follow from this that the
nearer the state of the law approximates to a positive
prohibition of sale, the more is your land depreciated in
value—and the greater the facility you can getin disposing
of the land, the higher will be its value? The greater ease,
the less expense which attends its transfer, thegreater will
be the number of persons who will be disposed to deal in
it ; and if they can part with it again as readily as they
have acquired it, the less hesitation will they have in
purchasing it. Now, land is of intrinsic value ; it is as
valuable as gold or as jewels, and should be nearly
as readily convertible. But how stand the facts ?
Persons may tell you that you can buy it readily,
and sell it readily, just as the shoemaker may tell you
that your tight shoe is a perfect fit. But, alas I you
know that this is not the case. You know the delay, the
difficulty, the expense, the hazard of all dealings with
land, and can you wonder that it affects the state of
the market for it ? How many persons in this great
city of London, the market for every other commodity,
are owners of land in fee simple ? How many of its in-
habitants having 5001. to invest ever think of investing it
in land in the way either of purchase or of mortgage?
Are not the middle and lower classes practically ex-
chided from the purchase of land ? Do the
great consumers of all other commodities deal in
this ? And is this state of things beneficial to
any class ? Do you suppose that persons in the
middle and lower ranks do not wish to be purchasers
of land ? Let the success of the late building so-
cieties, which are a clumsy contrivance to supply this
demand, answer that question. The Englishman does
not differ in this respect from the Frenchman, the
Belgian, or the Prussian, except that the men of the last
three nations can and do supply their wants in this
respect, but the Englishman the law sends empty away.
For who, without some other purpose to gain, or having
seine other object in view, having a small sum to lay
out, would endure the delay, uncertainty, and ex-
pense which he knows full well attend the purchase of
land ? He knows not what time he may have to wait
for the completion of his title, what expense he may not
incur, and that after all the purchase may go off alto
gether, and he stand plants Ici without his interest. Is it
to be wondered at that, under these circumstances, a
thousand persons enter the Stock-Exchange to invest
their savings for one who goes to the Auction Mart?
Well, then, gentlemen, is there no remedy for this
state of things ? Are the circumstances which should
be peculiarly favourable to the landowner in this country
to he pleaded as a bar to his obtaining his just rights ?
Land should be more, not less, valuable here than on the
continent ; for there is much less land, comparing it
with the population, and much more money to invest in it.
What, then do I ask? Inquiry. Ido not ask you to
adopt those institutions which I have already mentioned
as existing in other neighbouring countries—a register
of titles and a general map by which all lands may be
described and conveyed. I merely urge upon you to
demand of the Government that inquiry shall be made
whether these institutions may be properly and safely
adopted in this country.
I only venture to express my opinion, that after a
careful examination of the subject, they may be made

THE SUN, LONDON,

the groundwork of a great change, of which you will
immediately receive the benefit. This is not the place
to enter into details, but I am prepared to do so if neces-
sary ; and if the professional knowledge and ingenuity
which exist in this country are turned in this direction,
I have no doubt of the result being satisfactory.
I ask for no rash, no sudden change. I cannot too often
repeat that I ask only for competent and disinterested
inquiry.
And now one word, in conclusion, to the members of
my own profession. Many who are most competent to
form an opinion on the subject agree with me in thinking
that the time is come when a great change is neces-
sary. But there are many others who believe that
their own interests are bound up in the present system.
I do respectfully beg these last to consider this well.
No one proposes to dispense with professional services in
dealings with land. Let them, then, remember that if
these are greatly increased in number, the profession who
assist in making them will be the first to benefit by the
change. What motive can I have in urging a measure
injurious to my own branch of the profession ? If there
be poison in the cup which I ask my brethren to drink,
I myself must suffer from its contents. Let u., then,
approach this inquiry with calm and unprejudiced
minds, and I am sanguine enough to hope that all
classes will be benefited by it, and the legal profession
among others.—l am, gentlemen, your most obedient
servant, JAMES STEWART.
Lincoln's Inn, Oct. 28, 1846.