The Sun.
London, England, 1859-03-03 00:00:00

attached to the coastguard ships, and under the
direction of the captains of the coastguard, or the
shipping-masters of the district,-as circumstances
required. A small gratuity might be paid to these
men, which could be increased when the demand
was urgent, or when seamen were required for per-
manent service in the navy.
Presuming the peace establishment to be main-
tained as at present, at about 55,000, inclusive of
marines, the reserve of 65,000 would, if formed,
bring up our force to 120,000 effective and well-
drilled men, available at all times to meet any
emergency. But if it should be deemed advisable
to increase that force to 140,000 men, in that case
a second reserve of 20,000 men could be raised from
amongst the seamen engaged in the over-sea or
long-voyage trade, which additional force could be
raised by a gratuity of 2s. 6d. per 'month, which
would cost £30,000, besides an extra pension of 6d.
per day after 60 years of age. The condition of
engagement would be that these men should per-
sshonipaplliyngo.offices every appeal. and reeeive their gratuity at the
12 or 18 months, and be sub-
ject generally to the same regulations as the men
in the first reserve. As one-third of the entire
20,000 would always be in England, we could rely
upon these in the event of a sudden emergency.
The remaining two-thirds would be either at our
disposal on their return, or would be available to
serve in whatever part of the world they might be
when called Out, if our ships of war on such sta-
tions should require their services. These men, in
some cases, might not be required to be trained or
drilled, in which alternative a corresponding de-
crease of expense w ould be effected.
With regard to the training of boys, Mr. Lindsay
recommends their being entered in training ships,
at the age of 15 for the mercantile service and 16
for the navy. For those who entered for the mer-
chant service he thinks that £4O for an apprentice-
ship of five years would not be too much for
shipowners to pay. As the boys when apprentices
would have little or nothing to provide beyond
their clothes and washing £5 per annum would
amply suffice for their wants, and therefore it
might be stipulated that the £3 per annum, or in the
total £l5, should be paid to the state in reduction
of the £25 which had been disbursed for them
during the year of training. The boys who entered
for the navy would be placed on the footing pro-
posed by Mr. Cardwell ; and those who entered for-
the merchant service would be required to enrol
themselves when the terms of their apprenticeship
expired in either the first or second reserve of
seamen.
The expense in forming these additional reserves
Mr. Lindsay estimates as follows:—" Reserve
gratuity of ss. per month to 18,000 men, £54,000;
pension of 6d. per day at 60, in addition to the ls.
per day from their own fund, £7,940 ; second re-
serve gratuity of 2,. 6d. per month to 20,000 men,
£30,000; pension of 6d. per day at 60, in addition
to the ls. per' day from their own fund £8,800;
cost of training one-third of the reserve, one month
at XS each, £30,000 ; cost of training 2,400 at £25
each (less £l5 each paid back by, say, one-half who
enter the merchant service), £42,000 ; gratuities to
masters and officers in the merchant service referred
to hereafter, and for badges of distinction and in-
cidental expenses, £28,000.—total, £200,740."
With regard to the supply of officers, Mr. Lind-
say after referring to the lists, says :
"I could expatiate at considerarde length on the
necessity of a thorough revision of these lists. The
cost of the naval half-pay is enormous, and is a
heavy burden to the country. I am aware that
many attempts have been made to reduce this ex-
pense, but I am of opinion that much may yet be
accomplished. With that object in view, I have
ventured, to prepare, hastily at last, though the
question has long occupied my attention, a
plan, tables in support of which will be
found in the appendix, and though I dare say
my view may in many respects be looked upon
as imperfect, as it is propounded by one whose
practical knowledge of the navy is limited, it
may nevertheless be found to be worthy of the
consideration of the executive. But independent
altogether of that growing evil, the pension list, „-,
the existing system is made perpetually a ground
of complaint both by the officers and by-the public.
Political influence and favouritism, it is stated,
raise the officer who has friends to rank and dis-
tinction, while they conspire to consign to the
lowest grade during perhaps his whole life the
friendless officer, whatever may be his merit or
good services. If this be a fact, as there is reason
to believe, attention ought certainly to be called to
it, so that a rigorous inquiry may be instituted, and
every effort ought to be made to alter the system.
Some regulation might be devised so as to afford
every officer of merit the chance or certainty of em-
ployment in his turn. A competitive examination
of a discriminating character might be established
at every stage as a test of real efficiency and conspi-
cuous good conduct; and the officers who obtained
distinction at these ordeals should receive encou-
ragement and promotion. In no case ought the
Admiralty to admit into the service any but those
who had a chance of being thereafter employed,
and that employment should be regulated upon a
principle of rotation and merit to the exclusion of
all sinister influences."

Mr. Lindsay then recommends that all masters
now on the active list should be raised to the rank
of lieutenants. He is very desirous that the im-
passable line of demarcation between the royal
navy and the commercial marine should be broken
down, and there are in the latter many well edu-
cated young men of good families who are required
to undergo examinations as stringent as any that
could be instituted by the Admiralty. From the
gentlemen in the mercantile marine he would form
a reserve of officers to be distributed amongst our
ships of war when the reserve of seamen from the
merchant service, the coastguard, and the naval
coast volunteers shall be called into active opera-
tion.

" The formation of a reserve of officers as well as
men from theimerchant service to meet the emergency
we have to provide against, would conduce materi-
ally to facilitate the raising of the necessary re-
serve of seamen. Officers in the merchant service
would naturally induce those seamen who were
serving under them to enter their names, at the
same time, with a view to serving together in the
royal navy. They would, in fact, become voluntary
recruiting officers for the navy, with the power of
exerting their influence over a most valuable class
of men.
" With these and other auxiliary provisions the
organisation of the system might be made so com-
plete, and the union between the two services might
become so harmonious, that a greater body of men
would seek to enter the service than the restricted
limits would admit. The names and addresses of
the excess of applicants could be registered, so that
they
would each stand upon the list for enrolment
by rotation as vacancies might occur ; and on the
contingency of an imminent emergency a large body
of men would be at all times available, greatly in
excess of any reserve at present deemed necessary
to maintain, and thus a resort to impressment would
be altogether avoided, even during periods of im-
minent danger."