The Sun.
London, England, 1846-06-18 00:00:00

suit to which he has dedicated himself from
his earliest boyhood, and in which he has
achieved for himself a reputation worthy of his
time-honoured name, in which it may almost be said
of him, as it was of his gallant ancestor by the
Scotch King, when conferring on him the name won
on the red field of battle, " that he had nae peer, and
therefore he should thenceforth be called Napier."
\% hen seconded by a nobleman, of opposite politics
indeed, but who had also distinguished
himself in the service of his country,
and who had been selected for his gallantry and
ability in the conflict to bear home to a grateful nation
the pleasing intelligence of the new laurels obtained
by her children at Navarino, formerly supported by a
Gallant Officer,. who has since been most properly
selected to fill the high station of one of the naval
Lords of the Admiralty, and by other Gallant Officers
in the House, such support, we say, demands
the most serious attention, and stamps with
authenticity the statements and professional
opinions put forth under such auspices. We are
now happily at peace with all the world,
but it must be recollected that the best gua-
rantee for the preservation of that peace, so justly and
so highly prized, is in ever being prepared for any
alternative, in being "ready, aye ready for the field."
The nation that is prepared for war will seldom be
called upon to test the amount of that preparation,
and it is surely in the time of universal tranquillity
that full attention should be given to every means
by which improvements may be effected in one of
the most, if not the most important branches of our
service. Sir CHARLES urged the necessity of having
the Admiralty under the control and superintendence
of practical naval men, and not of civilians. It would,
indeed, appear strange if the office of Commander-in-
Chief of the army should be conferred on a person
who had never served in that army. and who
must necessarily be unacquainted with the details
of that service, of the force which it would be
necessary to employ for any particular object. It
seems still more anomalous that our navy should be
placed under the direction of gentlemen who had no
experience therein, who were selected for their Par-
liamentary abilities, and not for their skill and
knowledge in that department, over which they were
called to preside. He traced much of the evils
which he mentioned to the ignorance which neces-
sarily prevailed in the board, and gave some curious
details as to the division of labour at that
board. Thus, the First Lord took all the pa-
tronage, that was his department, and a
most wearying and harrassing duty it must be
admitted to be. Another had the building of the
ships under his control, another the store, and
another the victualling department. The proposition
of the gallant mover was, that the number of the
Lords of the Admiralty should be reduced from six,
the present number, to three. He argued "that thereby
matters would be more speedily decided on, and that
they would be always sure of a majority, but
that with six to consult it was difficult to come to
any decision, and that the consequence was never-
ending procrastination and delay, for which no one
was to blame, for they could not say who was
responsible." There certainly appears much justice
in this objection, and anything that would inspire
additional activity, and take away the procrastination
that notoriously exists in the Admiralty, would be
a good service to the country. He proposed
that, in place of the three reduced Lords, there
should be appointed three controllers, who should each
have the head of a particular department in which
he had experience and knowledge, and for the due
and efficient working of which he should be respon-
sible : thus there should be a controller of the duck-
yards, another of the medical department, and a third
of the accounts. The defeds and dangers stated to exist
in some of the newly built-vessels will be read with
surprise. Whatever may be the cause, we trust that
steps will be forthwith taken to remedy such grievous
errors. On the division the second reading was
negatived by a large majority. We deeply regret it,
as whatever might be the defects of its details, they
could easily be amended in Committee ; and we think
the discussion would be attended with much benefit,
eliciting the opinions and obtaining the suggestions of
practical, well-informed naval officers. We trust Sir
CHARLES will persevere, as he is not a man easily
discouraged by opposition; on the contrary, the
greater the difficulty in his way, by so much the
more will he exert himself to overcome it. We ven-
ture to say, that " defeat " is a word which has no
place in his vocabulary.

Thanks to an innate predisposition towards benevo.

lence in the multitude, the memories of those indivi-
duals who have in any manner distinguished them-
selves as philanthropists are usually perpetuated by
the erection of some memento kindred in character
with their exertions. It is impossible not to recognise
in the public an anxiety to render some testimony of
their gratitude to those illustrious personages who have
contributed to the happiness of their fellow-creatures.
Statesmen, who hare mellowed the legislation of their

country under the sunnings of wisdom and liberality
—poets, who have decorated their native literature, or
taught lessons of divine morality in divine and un-
_ .

dying verse—philosophers, who have lightened the
labours of the artisan by the construction of elaborate
machinery—orators, who have advocated the nation-
ality of justice—and warriors, who have preserved their
mother- land from invasion, have, all equally been
honoured by posterity by some appropriate monu-
ment. From the ancient days, celebrated by the
" Lays" of Mr. MACAULAY, when
" There stood in the Commitium plain, for all folk to see,
The figure of Horatius, halting upon one knee ;"
down to the commemorative statue to WATT, or the
proposed testimonial to ROWLAND HILL and Father
MATH W. It was for the avowed purpose of contri-
buting one other instance to the long and glorious
catalogue of national gratitude to national benefactors,
that a meeting was convened yesterday, by the Lord
. . _ _

• Mayor, in the Egyptian-hall of the Mansion-house
The object of this assembly was simple it is true, but
it was to our thinking both beautiful and sublime
—namely, the raising of a memorial to the
_late Mrs.
ELIZABETH FRT, as a lasting token, of admiration for
her charac:er and affection for her memory ! And
it was resolved, moreover, that this memento, to quote
the earnest language of the Bishop of NORWICH,
should not be "a tablet in a church, with an un-
meaning inscription—not a sarcophagus, or a
mausoleum—but one which should abide in
its effects long after marble had dwindled into dust ;"
namely, a temporary reception for repentant females
on their release from the metropolitan gaols; and
assuredly no more suitable manner of perpetuating
the name of that most excellent woman could possibly
have been devised! The promoters of this enter-
prise, among whom we are gratified to per-
ceive many influential personages, deserve
every commendation for so appreciating the
worth
n of this celebrated Samaritan, whose name
ust ever stand immeasurably above that of the
heartless
charity monger, Join./ HOWARD. And
while in this manner rendering a tribute to the cha-
racter e
mos h
Mrs.
t Pars
a great blessing will be bestowed
less creatures in
the community
imprisonment, are thrust forth 'who, after undergoing
, homeless and d
upon t
h of t
those unfortunate females
byeways of this licentious capital,
with ;
h
desti-
tute,
nothing intog whatever
thea tever to preserve them from
an irre-
n
tions are more deplor-
able than those which are customary in society ; the
parable profligacy. Their tempta
sin to them is not masked by smiles or roses,
but is brazened before them amidst starvation,
gates ruined in repu-
tation ; they are driven by poverty to the lowest dens
the causeway before the prison
and nakedness, and contumely. 'They emerge upon
and the foulest rookeries in the metropolis; and
what with the contamination by which they are
encompassed, and the consciousness of their own im-
potency, their ruin is inevitable, and they become
abased from sinless women into harpies. It is for
the protection of these wretched beings ; it is to swell
the number of honest citizens and to diminish the
victims of debauchery ; it is to promote virtue, and
by that means to assure happiness among hundreds
of our fellow-creatures, that the proposed asylum,
to be called " The Elizabeth Fry Refuge," is about
to be undertaken. And heartily do we conjure the
promoters of this noble scheme to persevere in their
endeavours, to allow their labours no flagging in-
terval, but so to combine and so to persist in the ad-
vocacy of the undertaking, that the asylum shall,
before many months have elapsed, flourish in some
suitable patter of London, fructifying the germs of
tin Talk rcinaip in tiw bacuis of its in- .