The Sun.
London, England, 1869-12-30 00:00:00

PRICE OF GOLD.

i'ne quotation of gold at Paris is about at par, and
t to short exchange on London is 251. 151 per £1 sterileL
• In comparin,r these rates with the English Mint price of
lis.lo4d. per ounce for standard gold, it appears that
gold at the alma prig@ 111 11431114 *GM j. 13 jPUII tin ie
14111110 g.

Among the reports presented to President Grant at the
opening of Congress was a very interesting and important
one by Mr. Robeson, the Secretary of the Navy. The Ameri-
can navy has five cruising stations, the North and South At-
lantic, the Pacific, the European, and the Asiatic, comprising
within their limits most of the ports and sea-coasts of the
known world. The present Government on assuming
offica found, however, that the in !ans employed were
quite inadequate to the ends aimed at. Franca had on the
same seas 150 ships, with a tonnage of 250,000. England
had 191 ships with a tonrage of 328,000, and her
flying- squadron ready to reinforce them when required;
while of the forty-three vessels comprising the American
fleets, not more than eighteen were in a con lition for real
service, and their efficiency was le.-;sened by the fact
that most of them were steamers without ade-
quate sail power. The monitors and ironclads laid
up since the war, were rapidly deteriorating, and not one
could have been ready to resist a sudden attack. The
Administration has, therefore, exerted itself to repair and
restore the efficiency of the navy as quickly as possible,
and a great deal has already been accomplished. All the
steamers susceptible of it have been . given full sail
power, and re.rigged, so that, without interfering with
their speed under sail, they are entirely inde-
pendent. of • it. The monitors and ironclads have
been put in repair, four of the largest sent on
cruise, and the rest kept in order in readiness for service
at a week's notice. The Secretary strongly recommends
the building of sea-going ironclads suitable to cruise on
foreign stations, and able to protect American commerce in
any emergency. Ten such vessels are requisite, four of which
he would build at once—one for the Asiatic, one for the
Pacific, arid' two .fer the European-sepia-droll. "It isAiot
doubted," he says, " that any war with a foreign enemy
• must-be a maritime one. Yet we have not, at this time,
on any foreign station a squadron whose combined force
would avail for a day against the powerful seagoing iron-
clads which both France and England have on the same
stations. It is true our best monitors would, if brought
into action, be powerful against anything that floats, but
these are steam batteries, not seagoing cruisers."
The depression of trade has produced a sensible
effect on the American Mercantile Marine, which
compares unfavourably with that of England and France.
Mr. Robeson speaks plainly on all these topics, and openly
declares that America can profit largely by the experience
of the European Powers. He dwells at some length on
schemes for the improvement of the personnel of the navy,
and especially recommends the rule strictly enforced in
English ships, by which no seaman can be shipped without
chewing an honourable discharge from his last ship. By
this means the English marine secures the best American
as well as the best English sailors. In the French navy
the crews are native born, in the English they are made
up of English and Americans, in America they are cosmo-
politan " waifs of the ocean," with no attachment to the
flag, and only held in the service by convenience or
necessity.