The Sun.
London, England, 1859-04-08 00:00:00

THE NAVIES OF ENGLAND AND

FRAN CE.

A valuable report of the committee appointed by
he Treasury to inquire into the navy estimates from
1852 to 1858, and into the comparative state of the
navies of England and France, has just been issued.
It is stated in the minute of Dec. 1, 1850, that the
attention of the cabinet had been drawn to the
serious increase which had taken place of late
years in the navy estimates, while at the same
time it was represented that the naval force
of the country was far inferior to what it ought
to be with reference to that of other Powers,
and especially of France, and that increased efforts
and increased expenditure were imperatively called
for to place it on a proper footing; and it was in
consequence of these statements that the committee
was appointed. It appears from the report that the
total amount voted for the navy for the year 1852
was £5,835,588, and in 1858 the amount was
£8,851,371, showing an increase of £3,015,783, or
51 per cent. on the votes of 1852. The increase
arose mainly from the excess of the sea wages,
victuals, artificers, stores, new works and transport
of troops, under which heads the increase over 1852
is put down at £2,752,285. The number of men
and boys in 1852 was 40,761, including marines ;
and in 1858 the number was 55,580, exclusive of
3,880 coastguard men employed on shore. Of this
increase 9,162 men were sent to the East Indies.
The increase on the other stations is stated to arise
principally from line-of-battle ships having been
substituted as flag ships for frigates. In 1852 the
average pay of all ranks in the navy was, per man,
£39 14s. Bd. per annum, and in 1858, £43 3s. ; and
the report shows that this increase of pay and the
wages on the additional number employed in 1858
amounted to £837,044. The victualling of the
navy in 1852 was £544,507 ; and in 1858 it was
£1,027,357 • an excess of £482,850, or 881- per cent.
Various other items of increase are shown, amongst
which is that under the head of " establishments
at home." This item in 1852 was £132,647, and in
1858 was £151,634. The cause of this increase is
the larger number of officers requisite in the dock-
yards, victualling, medical, and other establish-
ments, to superintend the additional men employed.
The cost of artificers at home in 1852 was £666,929,
and in 1858 it was £966,921 ; giving an increase of
45 per cent. The naval stores for 1852 are set down
at £882,495, and for 1858 at £1,389,742; an in-
crease of 57! per cent. In the year 1852 the navy
possessed horse-power to the extent of 44,482 ; in
the last six years it has been more than doubled,
amounting now to 99,512 ; the number of steam
ships has increased from 177 in 1852 to 464 in
1858 ; the tonnage from 182,562 to 457,881,
and the guns from 3,045 to 8,246. The report states
—" An increased ratio in the cost of maintenance
appears to apply to smaller vessels. Every addi-
tional ship, therefore, brought into commission in
consequence of the mote which increases the num-
ber of seamen in the navy may be taken as entail-
ing an annual charge varying from 8:1, to 91 per
cent. on its original cost, which is expended in the
purchase of stores and wages of artificers for main-
taining it, thereby rendering necessary both an in-
crease in the quantity of stores and number of
artificers. It is stated by the surveyor of the navy
that at the end of 15 years, on an average, the hull
of each ship requires a complete and expensive
repair; that the duration of a ship cannot be esti-
mated at more than 30 years; that during the last
10 years 35 ships of the line and 46 frigates have
been removed from the effective list of the navy ;
and that on an average three line-of-battle ships
ought to be produced every year merely to main-
tain the navy on a proper footing as respects line-
of-battle ships. The surveyor of the navy states
that the present force in the dockyards, which com-
prises 4,000 shipwrights and apprentices, is not
more than sufficient to build three line-of-battle
ships, three frigates, and six sloops per annum,
besides oxecuting the necessary repairs to all the
ships in the navy. If, therefore, the naval supre-
macy of Great Britain is to be maintained, it is
impossible to deny that a large force of artificers,
and a large quantity of stores, materials, &c., must
be kept up in our dockyards."
The report further proceeds to set forth that " in
the year 1851 the expenditure for steam engines
did not amount to £103,000. In 1852 it exceeded
£200,000 ; in the last six years £3,423,021 has been
expended, giving an average of £570,503 a year.
The money votes in the six years from 1852 to 1858
for labour, timber, and stores, for the purposes o
building and converting ships, and keeping the
navy in repair, exclusive of the purchase of steam
engines and cual, and building vessels by contract,
amounted to £14,105,096 ; the amount provided
during the late war for building gun-boats and
floating batteries, and other vessels was £1,633,147',
but a sum exceeding £3,000,000 was actually
expended. The whole sum expended between
1852 and 1858, and voted in the latter year
for labour, including superintendence and ma-
terials, but not including ordnance, amounts, it will
be seen, to about £24,000,000.
The concluding part of the report is devoted to an
elaborate comparison between the navies of this
country and France. The committee premise that
although they are enabled to obtain tolerably accu-
rate information as to the numbers, tonnage, and so
on of the ships in the French navy, that it is impos-
sible to ascertain their real condition and efficiency
at sea. The number of line-of-battle ships absolutely
complete is the same, 29 in both cases ; 21, however,
are in process of construction in this country, while
France possesses only 11 in this condition. England
has 26 frigates complete and 8 in process of con-
struction. France has 34 and 12 in process of con-
struction ; 17 of the complete English frigates are,
however, screws, while only 15 belong to this class
in France. France, again, has four iron-plated
ships building, while this country has none. It is
stated that these iron-sided ships, of which two are
more than half completed, will be substituted for
line-of-battle ships ; their timbers are of the scant-
ling of a three-decker ; they are to have 36 heavy
guns, most of them rifled 50-pounders, which will
throw an 801 b hollow percussion shot ; they will be
cased with iron ; and so convinced do naval men
seem to be in France of the irresistible qualities of
those ships, that they are of opinion no more ships
of the line will be laid down, and that in ten years
that class of vessels will have become obsolete. In
1852 the horse-power of the engines belonging to
the English navy was 44,482 ; to the French navy,
27,240. Since that year England and France have
advanced pan/ passu in the increase of the horse-
power of their steam navies, and consequently Eng-
land has not at present the same relative superiority
over France she then possessed. The additions, also, i
made to the horse-powers of the two navies, has been
in France principally with the larger class of vessels,
in England with the smaller. As regards sailing
vessels, England has 35 lime-of-battle ships, of
which six are proposed to be converted into steam
ships. France, 10, of which only two are con-
vertible; England has 70 frigates (of which 27 only
aro reported by the surveyor as effective sailing
ships), France, 32, of which it is supposed that 9
or 10 will be•converted into steam transports, the
remainder being too old for conversion ; there are
in both countries several other vessels which, being
too small for conversion, it is not necessary to
notice. The total number in the two sailing navies
is, England, 296 ; France, 144. The expense of the
French navy for the last seven years has been
£38,935,384, that for England, £3 5,17 9,586. The
present dockyard area of the two countries is al-
most the same, 866 acres in England, 865 in France.
The committee, in conclusion, say.—
" We beg also to direct your lordships' attention
to the prospective outlay contemplated by France
to complete her steam navy and her naval establish-
ments.
" According to a report of the Minister of Marine,
prefixed to the French navy estimates for 1859, it
appears that it is intended to raise the French
steam navy to 150 vessels of war of various classes,
built after the best models, with ongiueo of full

" The proposed annual grant of £2,600,000 would
amount, in 13 years, to £33,800,000. Maintenance
and renewal will absorb nearly three-fourths of this
sum, leaving the above sum of £8,840,000, or rather
more than one-fourth, to be devoted to the increase
of her strength in ships and naval establishments.
The sum granted in England by Parliament in
the year 1858-59 for the same services in the navy
estimates, including £757,000 for naval ordnance
and ammunition provided for in the army estimates,
amounted to £3,754,000, being £1,154,000 in excess
of the increased annual grants proposed by France
for the next 13 years. Before we can ascertain how
much of this sum, or of any smaller sum, can be con-
sidered applicable to the increase of our steam navy
and Naval establishments, it will be necessary to fix
the strength of the fleet to be maintained in com-
mission, fcr the larger the number of ships in com-
mission, the larger must be the sum for mainte-
nance, outfit, and repairs ; and, consequently, the
smaller will be the margin available for the increase
of our existing force. France founds her calcula-
tions upon a return to her peace establishment of
1852, the number of her ships in commission for
1859 being 152, against 175 in the year 1852 ; and
the number of seamen afloat being 25,784 against
25,016 in 1852. Our position is very different. On
the Ist.4.Ncember, 1858, our ships in -commission
mplemeats, as Awnpared with 1852,
were as follows :--

Ships.
Dec. 1, 1858 .. 267
Dec. 1, 1852 . . 203

Increase ..

Guns. Complements.
4,649 .. 47,953
. 3,584 . . 36,372

64 .. 1,065 .. 11,581

" This number is exclusive of a further increase
of 3,302 marines on shore, including 1,800 employed
on shore in China, also of 3,880 seamen employed
in the coastguard on shore; making a total increase
in 1858, as compared with 1852, of 18,763 seamen
and marines.

" It is clear, therefore, that although the sums
voted on our navy estimates for labour and mate•
rials are greater than those expended in France, a
much smaller proportionate surplus is available for
building new ships.
" It is desirable to refer to a programme of engi-
neering works which has been laid before us, in
which it is estimated that to complete the new
works considered necessary in the several naval
establishments a sum of £1,351.000 will be required.
This sum, if spread over six years, will render it
necessary to provide annually £50,000, to cover the
cost of new works, alterations, re-constructions, and.
ordinary repairs. The amount voted for 1858-59
for new works, improvement, and repairs, was
£585,862.

" The progress which France has made and may
hereafter make in the formation of a steam navy is
a consideration which cannot be overlooked in de-
termining the amount of our future naval expendi-
ture,"

It appears from the appendix to the report that
the number of seamen and marines voted in 1852
was 41,166, and the expenditure £6,527,811. The
number voted in 1853 was 45,500, and the expen-
diture £7,197,804. The number voted in 1854 was
63,500, and the expenditure £15,017,591. The
number voted in 1855 was 70,000, and the expen-
diture £19,590,833. The number voted in 1856
was 61,000, and the expenditure £14,664,514.
The number voted in 1857 was 55,200, and the ex-
penditure £9,962,839. The number voted in 1858
was 55,500, with the addition of 8,880 coast-guards
on shore, and the estimated amount of expenditure
was £9,839,589 ; but the actual expenditure is
Stated to be " not complete." The excess of expen:
diture over grants in 1853 was £77,099 ; in 1854 it
was £204,982, £211,820 in 1855, and £133,383 in
1857. The surplus of grants over expenditure was
£177,935 in 1852, and £1,904,100 in 1856. The
number of ships employed on the Ist of December,
1852, was 203, the guns 3,584, and the men 41,165 ;
while the number of ships in 1858 was 267, the
guns 4,649, and the men 56,048. A foot note to
the report states—" It has been considered right to
omit from this report various passages founded on
confidential reports and communications made to
the Government. The statements respecting the
French navy have been derived from authentic
sources."

LONDON AND EASTERN :BANKING

CORPORATION.

" An Unfortunate Creditor" of the London and
Eastern Banking Corporation, makes the following
complaint with regard to the position of the cre-
ditors of that establishment. As the bank was
formed under the old law of unlimited liability, it
affords a fine example of the value of the " security"
imparted by that system :
" is now two years since the London and Eastern
Bank stopped. A large Indian bank tried to mitigate the
wetter by stepping in and taking the liquidation into its
hands. A new law was then brought into operation, by
which the liquidation was transferred to Chancery. Feeble
attempts were made by the despairing creditors to get some-
thing from the wreck by appealing to Bankruptcy, but relief
was not to be got this way. After all the time that has
elapsed, we have now protection of Chancery,' ' two
official managers,' one creditors' representative," Court
of Bankruptcy,' &c., and all shielding the shareholders.
As ,is natural wherever there are Chancery proceedings,
every one has gone to sleep. Creditors not only cannot
take any legal steps against their debtors, but are unable to
hear anything that is going on, and not a sixpence seems
forthcoming. Is this law? Is this justice? The whole
debts of the corporation do not, I believe, exceed £150,000,
and apparently not a step is taken to draw the amount from
a fairly wealthy proprietary ; or, if any money is wrung
from them, who gets it ?"

PROBABILITY OF MARRYING.--A table inserted
in a paper in the Assurance Magazine exhibits results of a
rather startling character. In ;the first two quinquennial
periods, 20-25 and 25-30, the probability of a widower
marrying in a year is nearly three times as groat as that of a
bachelor. At 30 it is nearly four times as great ; from 30
to 45 it is five times as great ; and it increases, until at 60
the chance of a widower marrying in a year is 11 times as
great as that of a bachelor. It is curious to remark, from
this table, how confirmed either class becomes in its condi-
tion in life—how little likely, after a few years, is a bachelor
to break through his settled habits and solitary condition ;
and, on the other hand, how readily in proportion does a
husband contract a second marriage who has been deprived
prematurely of his first partner. After the age of 30, the
probability of a bachelor marrying in a year diminishes in
a most rapid ratio. The probability at 35 is not much
more than half that at 30,-and nearly the same proportion
exists between each.quinquennial period afterwards.
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and moderate the cough, whose paroxysms they ere long
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used simultaneously, soon quell the severest coughing fits.
[ADVERTISEMENT.] SIGHT AND HEARING. SPEC.•
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night glasses in preference to all others ; they are also pre-
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gamekeepers. Telescopes 3 inches long, by which a per-
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had of larger and all sizes, with increasing powers, and
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The Royal Exhibition, 1851. A valuable, newly-
nvented, very small, powerful Waistcoat-pocket Glass,
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ROYAL PRINCESS'S THEATRE.
Under the Management of Mr. Charles Kean_
THIS EVENING, will be produced Shakspeare's histories'
,gay of KING HENRY V.
King Henry V., Mr. C. Kean ; Chorus, Mrs. C. Kean.

!THEATRE-ROYAL, HAYMARKET.
Lessee, if,. J. B. Buckatone.
THIS EVENING, will be produced a new Comedy, en:
titled EVERYBODY'S FRIEND. Mr. and Mrs. Charles
Mathews.

• After which, USED UP.
To conclude with JACK'S RETURN FROM CANTON.

Commence at 7.

NEW THEATRE - ROYAL, ADELPHL
Sole Proprietor and Manager, Mr. Benj. Webster.
THIS EVENING, A CABINET QUESTION. Mr. J. L.
Toole, Mr. Billington, Miss Arden.
MASKS AND FACES; Triplet, Mr. B. Webster ; Quin,
Mr. P. Bedford ; Sir Charles, Mr. C Selby ; Ernest, Mr. Bil-
lington ; Peg Woffiington, Miss Woolgar ; Mabel, Miss H.
Simms.
To be followed by THE MILLINER'S HOLIDAY. Mr.
J. L. Toole. C. Selby, Billington, Misses Woolgar, Keeley,
sand K. Kelly.
To conclude with THE BIRTHPLACE OF PODGERS,
Nr. J. L. Toole, Mr. C. Selby, Mr. Billing,rton, Miss Kelly.