The Sun.
London, England, 1861-12-09 00:00:00

,LITERATURE.

the United Service Magazine.
In the introductory chapter, which is on " The
Royal Military Academy," we find a short account
of its foundation in 1741 and its subsequent history
up to the present time. The discipline is generally
considered of the various military colleges through-
out the country, and likewise the probable cause of
the recent disturbances at Woolwich, and it is
maintained that rebellion against authority is a
chronic disorder that has long pervaded the German
and other Continental universities, but there it is
( generally of a political character; that there is
no fear of danger to the State in any outbreak
amongst English students, but that, although natu-
rally predisposed to order, it is requisite that those
in authority over them should be firm and moderate,
but, above all, just. Theseus, in a paper on
"Training-ships for Boys," congratulates the coun-
try on the fact that the Admiralty are extending
the practice of training boys for seamen, as the only
true way to effectually man the navy; and he very
fusty complains that the navigation laws have
greatly reduced the number of the seamen in the
mercantile navy. A treatise on " Warming and
Ventilation of Barrack, Hospitals, &c.," is written
with a view to show how much the sanitary condi-
tion of troops and other large bodies of men collected
together depends on proper ventilation and warmth,
and contains many medical statistics on the subject.
There is a long chapter on " Admiralty Instructions
—Old and New," in which the following seems to
imply that the Admiralty, in endeavouring to im-
prove the regulations of last century, in which the
instructions were somewhat primitive, have over-
done the thing completely :

It is a great mistake to suppose that our ancestors were
bad men of business because they were not so diffuse in
their language as our administrators in the present day.
Some of the old Acts of Parliament, usually considered
loosely enough put together to admit of the free passage of
a coach and six, nevertheless form the ground-work of the
most important principles of common law. It has become
the fashion now in the navy to lay down laws so stringent,
and so much in detail, as to take away from officers every •
thing in the shape of discretionary power. They in fact
bind them hand and foot. The Admiralty legislators ap-
pear to think that all good sense must be centred in and
emanate from Whitehall, and that no admiral, captain, or
other officer can be trusted to exercise his reasoning facul-
ties in matters of administration.

There is much truth 'in this. The old regula-
tions were simple and to the point, although
they no doubt gave too much power to the com-
manding officers ; but it is not the conduct of naval
officers that we condemn for the bad treatment of
our seamen during the French War, but the culp-
able neglect of certain officials of the Board of
Admiralty, and the ignorance, inefficacy, and dis-
honesty of those who had charge of the hospitals,
stores, provisions, &c. The effect of the present
stringent regulations, carried, no doubt, to the ex-
treme by our late pro-Ra.siau Administration,
added to the wilful neglect of the Admiralty, pre-
vented the late gallant Admiral Napier from doing
any material service in the Baltic. Under the head
of " Ships, Docks, and Harbours," these all impor-
tant matters are duly considered, and the writer
shows that our dockyard accommodation has by no
means kept pace with the increasing size of our
ships, and that but for our mercantile ports we
should be badly off; efforts are, however, being
made to rectify this. What has been the increase
in size, and cost of our ships the following will
show :

Before the conversion period, when ships were propelled
by wind, which costs nothing, instead of by mighty en-
gines, which are very expensive, and which require to bo
accompanied by coals, that are also expensive, the money
spent was about half what it has been since the system of
reconstruction commenced. Thus, in the three years 1849,
1850, and 1851, the dockyards consumed rather more than
six millions. During the last three years they have taken
13 millions. A first-rate which, then required 4,150 loads
of timber in its construction, now takes 6,068 loads; and a
ship which formerly cost £70,000 could not now be built for
that sum. The convenient old rule of calculating the value
of a man-of- war, when ready for sea, at £l,OOO a gun, must
be considered as obsolete, as the following table, the cost of
some of the crack ships of the old and new school, will
show :