The Sun.
London, England, 1859-11-14 00:00:00

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THE SUN.

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 1859.

Saturday last was a proud day for the Royal
Navy of England. The QUEEN, herself, and her
beloved daughter, our late PRINCESS ROYAL,
honoured the launch of the Mistress of the Seas—
the VICTORIA—the finest, and by far now the
largest ship in the Royal Navy. It was, indeed, a
grand day for Portsmouth to witness such a splen-
did sight. The scene was truly magnificent as it
was auspicious for the future fortunes of British
freedom—the good will uf the Emperor NAPOLEON
to the contrary, notwithstanding !

Yes ! let NAPOLEON build as many ships as he
can for the time being, and let him plate them
with iron or steel, or more appropriately with
brass, and let him try his luck at coming over
here as an invader, instead of a beggar and a
runaway scamp or fugitive, as in other times
he sought our generous hospitality, and he
and his braggart Colonels, with all their
myrmidon rapacious rascals to boot, will,
one and all, receive a far warmer reception
than even the Imperial Guard or the Invincibles
met at Waterloo. Of that let them be well assured,
and let them con it well, and take it to heart with
a sad souvenir of bygone days. We are no brag-
garts--we think, prepare and DO. Therefore we
advise the Man of Destiny to think twice before he
acts once.

That he does intend to invade England, and it
may be Ireland too, there seems now to be little
doubt. To avenge Waterloo and St. Helena may
be a splendid " idea " in the French mind, but to
accomplish so desirable a feat may prove a more
chivalrous idea than he has yet bargained for.
He may believe in destiny, and feel, or suppose
be feels, certain of 'his purpose. We, too, believe
in destiny—but with a firm determination to bring
destiny to book if ever she attempt any mock
oracular tricks with hearts resolved and arms pre-
pared to "do or die." That the French are
unquestionably brave we fully admit, while we
admire their spirit—but we are no cowards, either
on sea or land—and if the French invaders find
us to be cowards on British ground, why then we
shall forgive them, and pay the penalty as a
matter of course.

And now a ward or two to the Lords of the
Admiralty and Sir BALDWIN WAKE WALKER, the
best surveyor of the Navy ever yet apppointed.
We recommend that Instead of building so many
three-deekers, they should build ships of 100 guns
on two decks, such as the Conqueror, Donegal, and
others. These ships with heavy metal will be a
matchgor any three-decker in the world. They
will besides be better sea boats—roll less—and be
infinitely
.more handy in rough weather. Let us
have some twenty or thirty of them—and a few
scores of 91's—the best of sailors, and the more
manageable of fighting ships.
Then as to our old sailing ships lying up idle in
ordinary—a prey to the worms and old time to.
gether—they have been good ships in their day,
and may be made very available in. oar day of
coming danger. They can be made very useful as
guard ships in harbour, and even in the offing, as-
sisted in their movements by tug steamers. Let
them be jury rigged, well armed and manned, and

if NAPOLEON break through their rough nursing
we will forgive him.

Why should we not have a large proportion of
seamen and marines to man our chief naval
arsenals instead of soldiers ? The cost of ono is no
more than that of the other, while their value upon
an emergency is incomparably greater. They can
handle heavy artillery on land as well as afloat ;
and, if need
,be, they can man our ships with a
will and a readiness equal to the occasion. They
are handy on land, and

" Their home is on the deep !"

Let the Admiralty look to it, and we will answer
for the consequence.
And now, a word of advice to the Coming In-
vader—" You may build as many plated steel ships
as there are stars in the firmament, but when the
day of battle comes, your evil star will darken in
its destiny, and, instead of shining in its present
ascendancy, will serve to lure your hosts to
disaster and yourself to ruin."
Steel-clad ships may be all very well, if othership%
be so foolish as to waste powder and shot in firing
at them. Has it occurred to NAPOLEON that
British seamen " make no bones" of iron or steel,
but " close to and board the enemy in the smoke ?"
Aye, blow all his boarding trappings and nets to
the winds by a broadside of chain-shot, then with a
good hearty cheer sweep his decks with a whirl-
wind rush of battle—and all is over ! Let NAPO-
LEON and his sabreurs ponder over this. Ho had
better clothe his men in steel--but what of their
hearts ?

Upon the Ist of January, 1860—now fast ap-
proaching us—the Reserve Force of Royal Naval
Volunteers will begin to be formally enrolled. This
is as it should be—as it should have been long
since. It is a grand step in advance. 'lt is the
next step naturally to be taken in sequence after
the creation of a Channel Fleet. The latter bul-
wark we now actually possess—thanks to Sir JOHN
PAKINGTON. And a Chancel Fleet, moreover,
worthy of its position of awful responsibility. A
Fleet that, although so recently organised, if it
cannot direct the storm, has certainly proved during
the late fearful gales that it can ride [out] the
whirlwind. And now that we have a Channel
Fleet, now that the late First Lord of the Admi-
ralty's promise to arm England with this great
buckler of defence has been promptly and resplen-
dently fulfilled—it is well that the suggestion ac-
companying that engagement should be effectively
and efficiently realised. The suggestion, namely,
that in addition to the regular maritime armament
even thus considerably increased and reorganised,
England should possess, besides a Channel fleet, an
adequate reserve force of Royal Naval Volunteers.
The last-mentioned project is no longer, we
rejoice to think, merely an alluring day-dream or
patriotic scheme purely in nubibus. So far from
this it is at this moment that we might describe it
as a project avert now in 'process of development.
An official notification, published elsewhere in our
impression of this evening, indicates clearly enough
how perfectly well authorised we are in making
this emphatic announcement. It is a notification
to the effect " that any seaman possessing [certain]
qualifications may be enrolled as a Royal Naval
Volunteer in the Reserve Force, and will there-
upon be entitled to the advantages and be subject
to the obligations mentioned"—elsewhere in The
Sun of to-night through the explicit medium of the
Admiralty advertisement. In regard to this
Reserve Force of Royal Naval Volunteers it may
be remarked at once that the qualifications are four,
that the advantages are ten, andthat the obligations
are eight—the whole of these 22 subdivisions
being specified in very plain and comprehen sble terms
consecutively. First, as to the four requisite Quali-
fications, The volunteer must be a British subject
—free from infirmity—not over 35, and, finally,
" he must," we are told, " within the ten years pre-
vious to his joining the Reserve, have been five
years at sea, one year of that time an A. 8." Than
all which clearly nothing could be well more rea-
sonable. Now, as to the ten advantages, There
is, first of all, and chiefly to be taken into considera-
tion, the annual payment or retainer to be
awarded to each of these Royal Naval Volunteers.
Of the reasonableness of this we are not
so perfectly satisfied, and we arc earnestly
in hopes that it may be regarded as the
one exceptional point which may yet be
taken into reconsideration; for the annual payment,
we observe, is fixed at no more than £6, payable
quarterly. Surely, a retainer hardly worthy of the
occasion, or of the high purpose towards which it is
directed. Gladly would we see in place of £6—
£3 as the annual payment to the voluntecre. It
can hardly be objected that £2 a quarter would be
any exorbitant remuneration. And th's difference is
merely the question of a few shillings in each of
these periodical instalments. We must not be hig•
filing over the few coins doled out to our maritime
volunteers when the question is one really affecting
our national safety. Another advantage is thus
set forth before the intending volunteer, " he will,
if he fulfils his obligations and is in the reserve the
requisite time, receive a pension of not less than
£l2 a year ;whenever he becomes incapacitated
from earning a livelihood, or at-sixty years of age,
if not previously incapacitated." According to
another " he will, if called on actual service, re-
ceive the same pay, a:lowances, and victuals, and
have the same prospect of promotion, and prize
money, as a continuous service seaman of the fleet,
and he will, on joining receive the same clothing,
bedding." And, finally, the volunteer is told" he
ma.y quit the reserve, if not at the time called for
actual service, at the end of every five years ; he
may also quit it, when not called out, on paying
back the retainers he has received ; or, without
payment, if he passed an examination as a master
or mate, and obtain bona fide employment as
master or mate." The obligations, to the number
of eight, chiefly relate to matters of discipline.
They testify the care with which this noble re-
serve force is about to be formally and, we hope,
permanently organised.

Shall we give up further search for records and
even for survivors of the FRANKLIN expedition P
To both parts of this question Dr. KING replies,
" No—send me ;—you have spent £2,000,000 of
money in ill-advised Government expeditions ; you
have spent a large sum in private expeditions ; even
one of these latter, which came nearest to the spot,
turned back with little but rumours, one of them a
calumnious report, in its possession ; the last and
most successful of all, could not accomplish all that
was desirable, because it was a naval expedition ;
—send me, send me by land—l will go for £l,OOO
—but one two-thousandth part of what the Ad-
miralty has thrown into the sea."

We cordially and hopefully accept Dr. KING'S
proposal. lie may have four times the money he
asks, so far as we are concerned ; and wo shall
commend not blame the item in the next Admiralty
estimates, and Mr. GLSDSTONE'S next bill ; the
money is nothing, and the object one of superlative
interest. We must own, indeed, that we can hardly
bring ourselves to believe that airy of the 105 noble
fellows raerificed to cffieial obstinacy can yet sur-
vive amongst the Esquimaux. But, Dr. KING
thinks this possible, and the existence of records
not yet obtained, almost certain. This is enough

for us. In this business of searching for Captain
FRANKLIN, Dr. KING has proved himself an
enthusiast, not only in the currant, but in the etymo-
logical sense of the term also. His reasonings, in-
deed, before the Death of FRANKLIN, seemed con-
clusive ; but his confidence in them, in face of the
cold, formal array of professionals and officials par-
took of inspiration, of the divination of genius in
the line to which he had devoted his best thoughts
and energies. He foretold so precisely where Cap-
tain FRANKLIN and his crew, as it is now known,
would have been found, that it almost seems as if he
had had a prophetic commission from Heaven to
convict the officials of the day of manslaughter.
His advice, let it be remembered, would, if
hearkened to, have saved one hundred and five of
the best British sailors who ever trod the deck of
a ship. That advice was spurned—spurned with
mean inuendoes, only to result in numbering the
Arctic search for FRANKLIN, with the winter in
the Crimea, amongst the proofs of aristocratic in-
competency.
.We shall, of course, in well-known quarters,
have solemn lessons on the folly of any further
efforts amongst the ice and snows of the Arctic
Circle. Men in office will be reluctant by their
acts to discredit the fatal. inaction of their prede-
cessors ; and there may be oracular-speaking jour-
nals which will sustain them in their course. Bnt
one unanswerable . argument is—Dr. KING him-
self. It is now on record that he could have saved
the crew themselves ; and it is on record, too, that
had the cold-hearted counsels of some journalists
been heeded, poor FRANKLIN and his brave men
would have sunk into oblivion, their fate unknown,
their memory uncared for. Lady FRANKLIN'S
heart was wiser than editors, and Cabinet Minis-
ters, and Government boards ; and the result is,
that we have the partial relief afforded by M'CLIN-
TOCK'S discoveries. We dare not take the respon-
sibility of refusing, under such circumstances, what
such a man as Dr. KING asks. He has prayed so
incomparably the best adviser, that we feel bound
to take his advice now. But one man restored to
his country would be a superabundant compensa-
tion for all the expense the Doctor proposes to in-
cur ; should he recover records only, we shall be
fully satisfied ; and should he find nothing, we
shall, even then, be thankful that the last effort
was made.

What Dr, KING now desires, as we learn from
his speech at Brighton, which appeared in The
Sun of Thursday last, is to have the opportunity
of thoroughly inN estigating by a summer land ex-
pedition the course of the Great Fish River. For
that he predicted the crews of the Erebus and
Terror would make ; and they did set forth to seek
it. The doctor, whose predictions have hitherto
proved .so correct, is confident that " a summer
survey down the course of that river would throw
an entire light on the history of the missing crew."
This does at least seem highly probable ; and lives
there, we may ask, the man or woman in England
who would not rejoice to bear his or her inappre-
ciable share of the small expense requisite to make
the required exploration ? The question, as we
suppose, is in the hands of the Chairman of the
Brighton meeting, Mr. CONINGIIAM, and the sub-
ject will therefore, we may be sure, if necessary, be
brought before Parliament early in the spring. We
hope, howeyer, that our Colonial Minister, to whom
the authorisation of an overland journey belongs,
will be able to rise " in his place in Parliament,"
and tell an applauding House that Dr. KING has
received at the hands of the Government all the
aid he desires for his object.