The Sun.
London, England, 1859-09-20 00:00:00

excitement, like—

"The poor Indian, whose untutored mind,
Sees GOD in clouds or hears him in the winds "
They dream and write, and—then, they think, ac-
cording to the adage of setting the cart before the
horse. And who can blame them ? Perhaps, people,

as presumptive as themselves. In fact we all think
ourselves much wiser than our neighbours feel dis-

posed to give us credit for. The only saving clause
is that we mean better than we act. The fault lies
chiefly in our inability. But what can we say for
those who assume much and perform little—or less ?
Why, in charity, we may let them puff on, as the
wind blows heedless where it listeth. And so with
all those who say too much, and perform less.
Now our National Defences, in case of invasion,
concern every one who has a stake in the country,
or a drop of true patriotic blood in his veins. And
every one who can really point out a good means
of meeting so general an evil deserves well of his
country. It is in this spirit that we readily give
the opinions of several intelligent men with respect
to that question of all others the most vital to our
national safety—manning the Navy. Each of
these gentlemen has a singularly keen eye to his
particular " craft "—and is specially eloquent on
matters beyond his own sphere. " There's nothing
like leather! " seems to give an " unto" good
sauce to his goose, and so we have the biased
opinions of each in his own particular calling.
Now, all plans must be, more or less, good so far
as they go, or can be carried into effect. But the
question is, how far such and such a plan to be
carried out in its efficiency, will militate against
,he rest.

For our own part we would fain be loth to
stigmatise any suggestion, however hastily formed
or imperfectly expressed. But there's a limit even
to good intentions if their exercise be left to in-
different capacity. Again, people sometimes, in
their grasping at too much, catch only shadows.
The idea was good, but the event having mis-
carried, was met with scorn under the mask of
bitter envy and jealous malignity. So it is in
public as in private experience. No man is safe
who endeavours to outvie his fellows. The crowd
will immolate individual genius, unless they have
a feather in the plume.
Colonel SIMMONS of the Royal Engineers seems
to have brought a hornet's nest about his ears with
respect to Manning the Navy. Taking as his text
the crew of the Great Eastern being divided into
parties of so many navigators, so many waiters, and
so many stokers, he therefore deduces that our
Navy might be composed of so many seamen with
a large preponderance of Marines both as sol-
diers and Marine Artillery. This he thinks
would get over the difficulty of manning our Navy.
So far so good. But in getting soldiers for sailors
you would be getting out of the frying-pan into
the fire ; for, however good soldiers undoubtedly
are, they would be fish out of water to do the
stormy work of sailors. Every one to his quar-
ters, and help those who need it, is the order of the
day in the hour of danger; but when you attempt
to blend the labours of many in one the task will
prove too much, or be indifferently done. No doubt
steam has greatly superseded the necessity for sea-
manship ; but suppose steam to burst its bounds
and become of no avail, you must look to
sails for salvation either on a lee shore, or in face
of the enemy. " Two strings to our bow" was
never more apposite than in seafaring life—espe-
cially when at war. Want of time and space pi e-
vent us from working at our idea to-day, but we
shall endeavour to do so to-morrow.

The excellent inaugural address recently deli-
vered by his Royal Highness the PRINCE CON-
SORT, as President of the British Association, will
have been read by this time, far and wide, among
all ranks and classes of our population. It is some-
thing for a body of scientific inquirers to have a
real, live Royal Highness in the chair, presiding
over their proceedings, more especially when that
Royal Highness happens also to be the Consort of
our august and beloved constitutional Sovereign.
But it is something still more when his Royal
Highness can, by a speech so admirably well con-
sidered, and so admirably well expressed, justify
his selection,:though a Prince, to preside over the
deliberations of some of the foremost of living phi-
losophers. " I," exclaimed the PRINCE, himself
wondering at his own temerity, "I, a simple ad-
mirer and would•be student of science, to take the
place of the chief spokesman of the scien-
tific men of the day assembled in further-
ance of their important objects !" Adding, " The
thing appeared to me impossible ; yet, on reflection,
I came to the conclusion that, if not as a contributor
to or director of your labours, I might still be useful
to you, useful to science, by accepting your offer.
I felt that I could, from the peculiar position in
which Providence has placed me in this country,
appear as the representative of that large public
which profits by and admires your exertions, but is
unable actively to join in them, that my election
was an act of humility on your part which to reject
would have looked like false humility—that is, like
pride-;-on mine." Besides, continued his Royal
Highness, " I reflected further, and saw in my
acceptance the means, of which necessarily so few
are offered to her Majesty, of testifying to you
through the instrumentality of her husband, that
your labours are not unappreciated by your Sove-
reign, and that she wishes her people to know this
as well as yourselves." All this appears
to us not simply graceful, courteous and
princely greeting on the part of his Royal
Highness. It appears to us yet more agreeably
as a frank and manly exposition of the plain truth.
It required words like these to indicate clearly at
the very outset, and without one particle of affecta-
tion upon either side, the reasons which had led to
the proffer to and the acceptance by the PRINCE
CONSORT of the Presidential Chair for 1859 over
the annual proceedings of the British Association.
Otherwise, in some cynical quarters, the very
simple and entirely honourable reasons upon both
sides might have been very painfully misconstrued.
The selection made by the philosophers themselves
might have been interpreted as a most unphilo-
sophical evidence of court-toadyism. While the
amiable concession of the PRINCE to this extraor-
dinary request might have been deemed quite as
erroneously as an evidence on the part of his
Royal Highness of vainglorious dilletanteism
and pococuranteism ! After those few but suffi-
cient words of m inly and princely explanation,
already given, no room hatever is left even to the
more perverse lovers of pasquinade either for mis-
apprehension or misrepresentation.
The exordium of the PRINCE CONSORT'S
Address having been thus apologetic and explana-
tory—the sum and substance of the Speech itself
was in many respects not unworthy of the occasion,
and was throughout eminently worthy of the
speaker, even to the last earnest and reverential
words of the really impressive peroration. Several
themes had, of course, to be touched upon in
the
sayings
harangue.
and
suc-
cession during the course of the inaugural
Aberdeen, the scene, this year, of
doings of the Association, elicited from the PRINCE