The Sun.
London, England, 1859-07-14 00:00:00

THE NAVY ESTIMATES.

The House of Commons is once more being re-
galed with the annual platitudes which fill up the
discussion upon the navy estimates. These things
for the most part go by rule. You can easily anti-
cipate what will be said upon any particular vote,
and who will say it. The rigid economist, usually
the lucky representative of a metropolitan borough,
always coincides with the general prejudice in
favour of a useful' fleet, but he does not commit
himself as to details, except in pronouncing them
too heavily charged. This time Mr. Williams com-
bines a horror of the cat-o'-nine tails with his
pecuniary scruples, and as far as the power of a
single individual to inflict corporal punishment is
concerned he is undoubtedly right. Admiral Sir
C. Napier lugs in the Baltic fleet; there is no point
to be made, no grievance to be illustrated, without
this Baltic fleet. It was, according to Sir C. Napier,
England's naval effort of the last war, and it failed.
But then we all know that the admiral who com-
manded joined the fleet after dinner. This Baltic
fleet"is
_to Sir C. Napier what England is to Mr.
Bright. 3 These two great commanders take a
special delight in vilifying a number of persons
who have, in some measure, trusted them, aid be-
fore whom they once stood in the light of confiden-
tial advisers and guidas. But instead of exercising
forbearance, patriotism, or any of the cheapest of
virtues, they condemn and misrepresent the objects
of their former trusteeship by uttering the most
miserable complaints. Sir C. Napier's field is not
so wide as Mr. Bright's, but the work is quite as
dirty And quite as thoroughly executed. One's
only consolation is, that the Baltic episode will
never be repeated in any single particular.
The routine discussion upon the naval estimates
of the year has, however, been varied by one very
important difference of opinion. It will be well
remembered that two months ago the late Govern-
ment granted a bounty to persons who joined the
fleet. This has turned out a singularly successful
measure, and has contributed in an essential degree
to the present efficiency of tha navy. Such libe-
rality was by no means without precedent, and was,
moreover, hailed by the country as the best piece
of "public expenditure" remembered for many a
year. The present Government have just signa-
lised themselves by completing a wretched imita-
tion of their predecessors' successful original. They
have granted a bounty to all the seamen of the
fleet who are above 20 years. The sum will, in all
probability, amount to £lOO,OOO, and will include
nearly all the seamen in the service before the last
bounty. This is a very reckless and inconvenient
transaction, and we should be very much surprised
if Parliament sanctions it. Sir John Pakington
condemned the measure with all the authority of
his own judgment and personal experience. It had
been proposed to him, when he granted the origi-
nal bounty, that it should have retrospective ac-
tion ' • but he was firm enough to resist the demand,
and had sufficient sagacity to see that the evils
which were promised from the partial grant would
never happen.—Morning Herald.