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

Citefling

LONDON, SATURDAY, APRIL 19, 185

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 to 120 guns each, besides four steam-
screw ships of 58 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 cheeseparing parsimony, in a matter

wherein genercsity 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-

utions.

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 vessels. 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

mportant branch of the national service.
___

We hope that every Reformer who has a seat in
the House NI, ill 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 forward.

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 hor 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 corn
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 any 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
universal consumption, the raw material for the pro-
ducing 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 iute
rested in the manufacture of cane sugar that
beet-root sugar could not be produced at
a rate which would enable it to compete
with cane sugar without a high protecting duty,
rig
andivestthiiaatinsoiertion has been taken for granted without
competition between
; but w
canehen ininquiries ared
beetroot
in France, the contrary is found to be the fact. In
a sugar
s t o the
France beet-root sugar has no protection ; for many
years past the duty the
Production of Prance, and
imposed on beet-root sugar,
OA cane sugar from the

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 exhibi'.ed 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 he required fur 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
I outlay. It is, however, unfortunately but too noto •
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