The Sun.
London, England, 1851-04-19 00:00:00

atilt

LONDON, SATURDAY, APRIL 19, 1851.

The second portion of the Naval Estimates, that
relating to the dock-yard expenditure, will be brought
under the consideration of the House of Commons on
the Ist of May next. There is, therefore, ample
time for Honourable Gentlemen to make themselves
sufficiently acquainted with the subject, so as to be
enabled to arrive at tolerably correct conclusions on
the various questions that may come before them,
and to justify the votes they may finally be induced
to give. We have already noticed with regret
the culpable apathy exhibited by too many of
the chosen representatives of the people on all points
relating to the estimates—that is to say, the sums
that will probably be required for the due support of
the various branches of the public service during the
ensuing year. The most important of these estimates,
those in which the greatest savings may be ef-
fected without, in any degree, impairing the effi-
ciency of the department, is in the materiel of the
navy, or in other words, the dockyard ex-
penditure, for which the sums, amounting, in
the aggregate, to no less than 2,011,3071.,
are demanded. Before an expenditure so enor-
mous can receive the sanction of the defenders of
the public purse, it must be shown to be absolutely
required by the exigencies of the case, and that it is
dispensed with a prudent and judicious economy ; so
that the nation may receive a full equivalent for its
outlay. It is, however, unfortunately but too note,.
rious that the grossest jobbing is practised in these
establishments ; that vessels are constructed at a vast
expense, which remain rotting in the water
without ever being put into commission, or rendered
in any degree serviceable, until, with occasional de-
mands for repairs, they rot away and become utterly
valueless. Now, as Sir CHARLES NAPIER justly re-
marks, " continuing the system of building ships to
rot is throwing away money." We will also add,
that dismantling and paying off vessels which are in
porfect order and condition, condemning and
turning them over to the dockyards to be over-
hauled, or, in other words, to be pulled
to pieces, when they might be continued
in active employment for years without any important
alteration or repair, is also "throwing away money"
in the most ridiculous and absurd way. If it were
necessary to keep the artificers (which we positively
deny), it would be more judicious to let them remain
perfectly idle, for while they keep up the appearance
of working, putting together and taking asunder—
adding to, or cutting down vessels, for the sake of
appearing to be occupied, we are required not only to
pay their wages, but also to provide a large and
expensive supply of stores and materials for their ex-
periments. Every artificer discharged from the dock-
yards will lead to a considerable saving in stores and
other materials that are now consumed without the
slightest practical utility.
On this point we would direct the attention of
Honourable Gentlemen to the admirable letters of
Sir CHARLES NAPIER to that effect, which appeared
in our impression of yesterday, as well as those to
which we gave insertion in the beginning of October
and on the 14th of March last. We deeply regret
that the Gallant Admiral has not a seat in the House,
to put forward personally his views on matters for
which he is pre-eminently qualified to form sound
opinions. But, as no constituency is so fortunate as
to have him as its representative, it is incumbent on
others to ascertain and to give expression to these
views, by which, as he judiciously remarks, the
House of Commons may be enabled " to refuse the
house-tax," the necessary supply being provided for
out of the savings of the dockyard.

At present we have no less than 63 line-of-battle
ships, from 70 t 0,120 guns each, besides four steam-
screw ships of 68 guns each, making in all
67 liners, ready for immediate employment.
besides fourteen or fifteen of different sizes, some fit
for repair, and others not. Where then should we
look for, and how long would it take us to find ex-
perienced and efficient crews for these vessels already
at our disposal ? We cannot again resort to the in-
famous system of kidnapping that was so long
sanctioned under the tyrant's plea of necessity, but
the real cause of which was, that we did not choose to
hold out sufficient inducements to those gallant men
to flock voluntarily to our standard, and made our
own paltry and cbecsepuring parsimony, in a !natter
wherein generosity should have been exhibited, the
pretext for acts of robbery and invasions of the
liberty of the subject, utterly inconsistent with our
much- vaunted justice and the freedom of our insti-
tutions.

We cannot now attempt to man our fleet by im-
pressment, and unless a very different system from
that at present in operation be introduced, we shall not
get volunteers sufficient for half our vessel.. 'Why,
then, should we complete the 21 liners, from 80 to
120 guns each, now on the stocks ? We are, per-
haps, not as yet sufficiently powerful in the steam
department. The three screw-steamers may, therefore,
be finished, but let us take the advice of the
hero of Acre, and permit the other eighteen ships on
the stocks " to remain as they are to season," and
withdraw the men employed on them. By this
means a very considerable saving may be effected
(fully equivalent to the amount of the contemplated
house-tax) without the slightest injury to the most
important branch of the national service.
We hope that every Reformer who has a seat in
the House prove himself faithful to his former
professions, and worthy of the confidence of his con •
stituency, by attending in his place on Thursday,
the Ist of May, and strictly scrutinizing every esti-
mate that may be brought:for ward.

It has long been a subject of regret with every well-
wisher to Ireland that, with the exception of the linen
establishments in the province of Ulster, she has no
manufactures. Could Ireland, it is said, become a
manufacturing country there would soon be abundant
employment for the whole of her labouring popula-
tion, who would then cease to be redundant, and who
would be enabled to earn, on their own native soil,
that subsistence, to obtain which they are now com-
pelled to toil hard in the towns and cities of England,
or to clear the forests of the North American conti-
nent. But there are great difficulties in the way of
establishing pny of the textile manufactures in
Ireland ; the capital which would be required to esta-
blish a cotton factory; for instance, would be enor-
mous, and the difficulties in the way of opening up a
new market for the sale of the manufactured article
almost insuperable ; but if it were possible to establish
in Ireland extensive manufactories of an article of
rsrallyconsumption, the raw material for the pro-
ducingucelia which was the product of her own soil, and so
peculiarly
adapted to that soil, as, by its supe-
riority over the similar products of other countries, to
give Ireland a practical monopoly of the supply of
the manufactured article, then should we see Ireland
become prosperous, and, as a natural consequence,
peaceful and industrious ; then should we find the
agriculture, manufactures, and commerce of Ireland
not antagonistic to, but aiding and assisting each
other, as the prosperity of one must inevitably and
directly, in such a case, involve the prosperity of all.
We entertain a sanguine hope and expectation that
such a process of manufacture as we have described
has been discovered, and we think that the future in
dustrial prosperity of Ireland will, date from the day
on which the first manufactory of beet-root sugar,
according to the plan proposed by Mr. CROSSLEY,
shall be established in the sister island. The manu-
facture of beet-root sugar is a subject of much im-
portance, to which too little attention has been paid
in this country. We have been told by those inte
rested in the manufacture of cane sugar that
beet.rot,t sugar could not be produced at
a rate which would enable it to compete
with cane sugar without
investigation
a high protecting duty,
and this assertion has been taken for granted without
;etbwuetenwchen inquiries are made as to the
competition b
France beet-root augerane sugar and beet-root sugar
in France, the contrary is found to be the fact. In
hag no protection ; for many
years past the duty imposed on beet-root sugar, the
production of France, d
aa " cane sugar from the

West Indies, has been precisely the same, and yet year
by year the production of beet-root sugar in France
has been rapidly progressing. Now, the soil of Ireland
is much better suited to the production of beet-root
than is the soil of any other European country. We
are told, on high authority, that the average produce
of a statute acre of land of the white Silesian beet is in
The northern departments of France 19 tons.
French Flanders ... 16 „
Belgium ..• ..• ••• 18 „
Germany ••• ••• ••• •.. l 6
England 22 „
Ireland
•.• ••• ••• •• • 30 ,g
The usual prices paid for roots.by the manufacturers
per ton is—

In France ... ... 12/.
In Germany ... ... 16/. to 181.
In Ireland, from to/. to 121.
But not only is the yield of beet-root con-
siderably more per acre in Ireland than in any other
country, but its quality is greatly superior. Pro-
fessor SULLIVAN, in a communication to the Royal
Dublin Society, on the 27th December, 1850, states,
as the result of his analyses, that not beet-root only,
but that all bulbous roots generally grown in Ire-
land, yielded nearly 25 per cent. more saccharine
matter than similar roots grown in Belgium or
France. It is clear, therefore, that so far as the
manufacture of beet•root sugar is concerned, no
country on the European continent can possibly com-
pete with Ireland ; but it would appear that the
beet-root of Ireland possesses nearly equal advan-
tages over the sugar cane of the West Indies, as is
shown in the following statement :
" A statute acre of land in the West India

colonies planted with sugar cane, yields
upon an average of raw sugar 2O owt.
In Ireland, a statute acre would produce
30 tons of roots. 15 tons being required
by the ordinary process to produce 1 ton
of sugar, the produce of sugar per acre
would be
Again,—

" 1001bs. of sugar canes yield of sugar from sto 71bs.
1001bs. of Silesian beet, by the ordinary
mt-thod
Or when refined 5 to silbs.
1001bs. of beet-roots, dried and operated
upon by the improved methods, which
extract the whole saccharine 8 to 10Ibs.
Or when refined
" Thus showing that about the same quantity of
refined sugar is produced from beet-roots us from an
equal weight of sugar canes I"

A great objection to_the introduction of a manufac-
ture, such as that of sugar, which has hitherto been
confined to " crop time," is, that it does not afford'con-
tinuous labour to the inhabitants of a district, but
overworks those engaged in its manufacture during one
portion of the year, leaving them absolutely destitute
of employment during the remainder; this objection
is entirely obviated by the invention which Mr.
CROSSLEY has patented
.for the use of cut and dried
roots, which can be preserved for any length of time,
and thus enable the manufacturer to carry on his
manufacture during the entire year. We consider
that the introduction of this improved process for
manufacturing beet-root sugar into Ireland will give
an impetus to: the agriculture of the country such
as it has never yet received, whilst, at the same
time, by providing abundant employment, it will
tend to raise the rate of wages, and thus to give to
the labouring classes a greater command over the
comforts. of life. For the sake of all classes of our Irish
fellow-subjects we would desire that this manufac-
ture should be introduced into Ireland with the least
possible delay.

THE FRENCH 'REPUBLIC.

We have received the Paris journals of yesterday.
The Assemblie Nationale publishes the manifesto
of the Fusionist party, and it is certainly one of the
coolest productions, as regards the PRESIDENT of the
Republic, that has yet issued from the press. It is
a clear and distinct declaration on the part of MM.
GUIZOT, DUCHATEL, and their coadjutors, that they
consider M. Louis BONAPARTE solely as the planche
Napoleoienne, over which the Bourbon pretender is
to cross in safety to the throne, this said planche to
be kicked away the instant it has served the purpose.
The Aseemblee Nationale says—
" All our policy is to make the country comprehend
and accept the re-establishment of that Monarchy as its
true and only means of safety. We say it openly, and
those who repeat it will render us a service. What
would be the result of it with regard to Prince Louis
Napoleon ? Shall we at present take Fart for the pro-
longation of his powers? Certainly not. We ardently
wish, and we regard it more desirable for the present
welfare of France that he should definitively quit in
1852 the deplorable and precarious condition into which
he was thrown by 1848. But if in 1852 he does not de-
finitively leave it, if the vital question of his destinies
cannot then receive its true solution, we think that
France will do well not to overthrow at all risks the tent 1
under which she now shelters herself. Let there be no
engagement, and no premature and absolute exclusion ;
that is all that can 134 e and ought to be said at this mo-
ment on the subject."
Certainly, never since Louis NAPOLEON BONA-
PARTE was elected President of the Republic, on the
10th December, 1848, has there been published in
any journal an article so insulting to him, or so cal-
culated to bring him into contempt, as this article of
the Assemblee National.
The journals all contain the following announce-
ment :
" The Charivari of yesterday was seized at the post-
office, and at the office of the journal, by order of the
Procureur of the Republic, for a lithographic print,
under the head of Actualit6s, le prix de l'adresse aux
Champs Elysees, in which the President of the Republic
is represented as encouraging the candidates for posts in
the Ministry to discharge targets at a figure representing
the Constitution, and promising a portfolio to the per-
son who should succeed in striking it most effectually.
A prosecution has been commenced against the pub-
lisher of the journal and the author of the print, on a
charge of libel upon the President of the Republic."
We find the following in the Liberia of the Pas-
de-Calais :

" Much attention is attracted by a very energetic cir-
cular which M. Isim Faucher is said to have addressed
to all the prefects, directing their attention towards the
proceedings of the Socialists, and urging them to use
their utmost efforts to arrest the progress of their propa-
gandism. We understand that the Government is about
to present two Bills of great importance. One is rela-
tive to domicile in Paris, and will place at the disposal of
the Government persons of suspicious characters, whom
the Prefect of Police may, at his will, remove from the
capital according to the abrogated law of 1810. It is
stated that this law will be to remove from the capital
25,000 individuals of the most dangerous character in
times of revolution. The other Bill is relative to the
publications of French political exiles residing abroad.
These publications will be interdicted in France."
The Putrie publishes the following communicated
note from the Prefect of Police:—
.

" Several journals have quoted from the Inde-
dorisgsaonlivzeadtioni oifBstoh e
by S o c iieht
ey ofGn
vtehren
niDeix
pendance of Brussels some details as to the re-
n
Dnt, akem reor-
ganizationbre at the head of which is placed a,
person
of the name of d'Olincourt. As soon as the Prefect of
Police was made acquainted with the circumstances
pointed out, he hastened to make them known to the
Procureur of the Republic, begging him to obtain infor-
mation on the affair. The Prefect of Police is moreover
authorised to disavow the said M. d'Olincourt, and to de-
clare that he has no relation either direct or indirect with
the Government or with the Elykee, and that he acts
without mission and without any authorisation."
The Messager publishes the following letter, ad-
dressed to
your number
Generalberof thP. iIA4Toi instant you announce,:—
In
on the authority of the lndependance of Brussels, the
organization of a society founded by an old member of
the Society of the Dix Decembre, and you head your
article with the title of Besurrection du Dix Dicembre.
In my quality of ex-president of the Society of the Dia
Dicembre, you will permit me to declare through your
journal that that society was dissolved by a decree of
the 7th November last; that its member& have fully
submitted to the provisions of that decree, as they have
decided to obey all the acts of the authorities; that the
society, dead in Attu as in lege, has authorised no one
to speak in its name, and that to announce its resurrec-
tion is to state a thing which is not correct."
The Bourse. which was much depressed at the com-
mencement of the business, recovered towards the
close, and Government Securities were quoted at an ad-
of Thursday. The Five per
vCents.&nc on
optehnee
d closing
a t
9213icefr.s
lOc.,
and closed at 92f. 45c.
The Three per Cents. closed at 57f. sc. Orleans Rail-
road Shares, 830 f.; Rouen, 635 f.; Havre, 260 f.; Great
Northern, 472 f. 50c.; Avignon, 203 f. 75c.; Vierzon,
Strasburg, 368 f. 75c.; Tours and Nantes, 276 f. 25c.
433 f. 75c.; Basle, 145 f.; Bordeaux, 400 f.; Paris and