The Sun.
London, England, 1859-01-17 00:00:00

THE NAVY.

From Australian letters and papers which have
just been received at Chatham by the friends of
officers belonging to her Majesty's missing ship
Sappho, 12, Commander Fairfax Moresby, some
intelligence has-been obtained relative to the sup-
posed loss of that vessel. A few days previously to
the departure of the mail for England a letter had
been received at Melbourne by his Excellency the
Governor, from Commodore W. Loring; C. 8., of
her Majesty's ship Iris, 26, dated Sydney, Oct. 16,
1858, in which the Commodore reports that ho had

•
just learnt from a merchantat Sydney that her
Majesty's sloop Sappho, 12, was spoken on the 18th
Feb. last, 20 miles south of Cape Nelson. Further
information was promised, but had not been re-
ceived at the date of the departure of the mail.
Commodore Loring states that he believed the in-
formation to be correct, and that the inference was
that the Sappho bad either foundered at sea, or
that she had been wrecked in the vicinity of King's
Island, which lies immediately in her track from
the Cade of Good Hope to Bass's Straits. The first
supposition—that the vessel had foundered at sea—
was not entertained by nautical men in Australia,
as none of her Majesty's ships are ever allowed to
go to sea in a sinking state, and from the fact that
the missing ship was spoken so near the Australian
coast there is little doubt that she has been wrecked
on' one of the islands, probably the one mentioned.
King's Island lies about 90 miles from Port Philip
Head, off Cape Otway ; it has no lighthouse Upon
it, and is not believed to be inhabited. Hopes are
entertained that she might have gone ashore at the
spot indicated, and that some of her officers and
crew, which numbered 140, were saved. The Go-
vernor had given directions for the despatch of a
sloop-of-war from Melbourne to search along the
shore of King's Island and the adjacent coast for
any fragments of the missing ship, and also with
the hope of rescuing any of the crew who might be
found alive.

A letter from Malta, dated Jan. 10, says—" The
Medina surveying steamer, arrived from Cerigo on
the 2d inst.. The Coquette steam gun-vessel left for
Candia on the 3d. The Caradoc, steam vessel,
which left for Cagliari on the 30th December, re-
turned on the sth January, and left again for the
same destination on the 10th with the India tele-
grams to be sent from Cagliari. Her Majesty's
steam-frigate Euryalus left for Tunis on. the sth of
January, since which we have had no arrivals
thence./'

• Her Majesty's ship Shannon, M guns, Capt.
Francis Marten (acting) was paidoff at Portsmouth
Dockyard on Saturday. Capt. George Henry Sey-
mour, C. 8., of the flagship Victory, was the officiat-
ing:officer. The crew received £9,000 among them.
The *arrant-officers, stewards,. and petty officers
received certificates for good conduct.
Mer Majesty's store paddle-vessel Dee, Mr. Thos.
C. Pullen in command, arrived at Portsmouth from
Cork •on Saturday, freighted with old stores and
provisions; she left Cork on Tuesday last; The
Racoon screw frigate, Capt.. Pay-nt er, was nearly
'ready to come out of dock; the. Dee touched at
Plymouth on Thursday.. The Victor Emmanuel,
91,gun screw, Capt. James Wilcox, was in the
Sound, with royal yards across, awaiting sea orders.
The following appointments have been made at
the Admiralty.; Commander Ed and H. Shaw to
be Inspector of the Coast Guard service, vice Scott,
whose period of service has expired; Commander
J. W. Vaughan, additional, Commander to the
Victory; and S. Barnett, Actip g_
additional; to the Impregnable.

- -
Amidst the genets ,pression that it ontaent4
war is imminent, we British have a special interest
in studying the course, of affairs 'which Seems to be
leading to a rupture of peace, without necessarily
involving us in the quarrel.. Although there is no
desire for war anywhere in Engla ad, from the
highest to the lowest class of society, the proclivity
to War, on the Continent is interesting to us for
other reasons than the immediate questions in dis-
pute. Our attention has been forcibly directed by
circumstances to the facts of our military strength,
positive and comparative ; and we are just begin-
ning to see that, after our fearful sacrifices of men
and treasure in the Russian war, and after our
campaigns in India, and in prospect of keeping a
haze army there permanently, or for some time to
some, we are likely henceforth to hold abetter posi-
tion in face of the military nations of the world than
we have ev.sr held yet, and to be secure under de-
fences better p;oportioned than ever hitherto to the
value of what clams to be defended. It is true, we
are not a military nation by taste or passions. The
age forthat has passed by; and we have plentyto do
that we like better and approve more : but yet we
are a nation of soldiers as far as heart and brain,
courage, and constency are concerned; and there-
fore all that is necessary under any circumstances
is that the permanent, latent military strength of
the nation should be rendered susceptible to appeal
when needed, and that the military art should be
carried to the highest perfection disclosed by the
knowledge of the age. That branch of knowledge
which is called Army Hygiene is that .which Fro_
lathes to secure us our due rank among nations
which are in the military stage of civilisation, and
to guarantee our Safety and digniys-Without such
sacrifices as were formerly suppored necessary for
either the support or repulsion of war. The fact is,
we have beecnne capable of learning by experience.
tooham
It.odeesonnoss is
not concernmore uoswning `to owt
the press, or the letter-writing capabilities-of our
prnoc ofw
soldiers, or to advanced notions of social claims and
duties, or to other causes. The fact remains that
tete,gso ll ,our
sio
the painful experience of the less of armies, which
did us no good formerly, has certainly roused u.s
now to learn. If,we can carry out our new know-
ledge . into act, with good sense and completeness,
we need fear, nothing at home or abroad, from in-
vasion, rebellion, or a continental struggle. It may
be added that unless 'we carry out our lesson into or
ganised practice, we have everything to fear. The
country Once subjected to a drain of soldiery, while
the service .is conspicuously comfortless and perilous
from the constant pressure of disease, we see, and
the world will see, clearly enough,the end of our
resources. We have, happily, no conscription, er
other methods of forcing our fellow-citizens into the
army. Under a strong liability to disease; and the
shortest known -probability of life, our recruits will
be men who can do nothing better, and to whom
our safety cannot be-prudently confided. ,But when
our soldiery everywhere is raised to that quality of
health, comfOrt, and discipline which was-attained
a robust
Weob uhstad
disduringmaldifficulty lesson at Walcheren half a cen-
tuyy ago. There must have been some notion in ti's
minds of our rulers that it was as well not to kit/.
off troops 'by disease, for Lord Castlereagh would
nct confide to anybody the scheme of sending a
force to command the Scheldt and hold Antwerp,
lest he should 'be stopped by objections about the
swamps.
.The objection had deterred Mr. Pitt and
others, and Lord Castlereagh therefore consulted
with the King and the Duke of York alone. Nearly
700 vessels sailed past our Sussex coast, with the
thousands who were never to return.' Among them
was one hoipital ship—the Minister having refused
to supply even 'one more, though the history of a
former lever on that spot was pressed upon his
notice. When 11,000 men were down in the fever
in the swamps, Thames water to drink was sent
over at great cost ; and 100 bricklayers, with tools
and materials, were despatched to put roofs over the
sick ; but they were among the sick before they
had well begun their work. In the last place, the
army medical officers were applied to ; they could
riot agree, and, for the most part, refused to go. In
97 days nearly 13,000 men were sent home, and
less than 4,000 remained effective. After the dis-
astrous close of the enterprise, above 36,000 fever
patients crowded our hospitals ; yet from all this
we learned no lesson ! It is now understood that
by a slight change of position the greater part of
the evil might have been avoided. But a few
months showed how SloW we were to understand.
Our army in Spain was scattered along the roads
in melancholy detachments of sick, so as to need
reinforcements, when its miseries were aggravated.
by those very reinforcements, which were partly
composed of Walcheren convalescents. 'While
25,000 of our troops and, those of our allies were in
4essiiital, only 14,000 could be mustered for duty.
The dreadful details will' never 'be forgotten by
thaserwheistrre-read the "'Wellington Despatches!'
The troops who were employed in mountain forti-
cetion.s and well fed were in high vigour, while so
fearful a contrast was presented by tens of thou-
sands in hospital. Wellington learned the appro. .
priate lesson ; but as a nation we did not. It
was true, all the time, that the flower of
the youth of Britain died like dogs on a
foreign shore; that thousands of widows, and
hosts' of children, became a burden to this over-
taved country; that every sick soldier was
a heavy 'cost to the suffering. tax-payers; that
the Army. became demoralised by sights'of misery
and the attendant spirit of recklesiness ; and that
the military-profession assumed a terrifying aspect
to men at home. And yet we did not learn that
due attention to the soil and water, food, shelter,
and clothing, would have saved our soldiers, and
brought the war to a more rapid and infinitely less
costly conclusion. We may say this because
Napoleon could no more save his forces than Wel-
lington, while others failed to see what they saw.
It was not the fierce cold which destroyed the army
of Moscow. Nearly six-sevenths of the force had
perished from sickness and hardship before the
fierce cold set in. Such was the constant testimony
of Wellington, and we have statistical proof of the
fact. Any party, therefore, which had been able
to act on the principles of Army Hygiene would
have been able to close the war at pleasure by
insurmountable superiority of force. It was not

yet time.
This was cruelly proved in the late Eastern war.
We need not recite the fearful facts of the morta-
lity which swept off the best part of all the armies
engaged. We British had not yet learned our lesson •,
but before the war was over we had made a, good
beginning in the task. We knew before that the
deaths by violence make up but a small proportion
of the peril of warfare ; but we were never so
thoroughly aware how small. We knew before how
the fortunes of a campaign hang on the accident (as
it has hitherto been) of the army's health ; but we
could not have conceived, till we saw the thing done,
how a force may be lifted up, as it were, out 9f the
grave, and endowed with fresh vigour to run its
race. The restoration of our army in the Crimea,
during the second season, was the event which
brought our lesson home. We had seen several
armies destroyed; we had never before witnessed
the reverse process, on the same spot, and under the
'same circumstances of climate in which the cala-
mity had occurred. The great question is whether
the lesson is really learned yet. Everybody admits
the facts, historical and sanitary. The important
inquiry is whether the case is to be left to take its
chance of being pursued or neglected. We know
that in half a year in the Crimea while the average
effective force was 28,623, the number that passed
through the hospitals there, without reckoning
Scutari, was 52,548, a mortality far exceeding that
in London at the worst time of the great plague.
We know also that by improved int thods, the health
of the army on the same spot was so restored and
sustained, that for the last six mouths the sickness
and death in our Crimean force was less by one-
third than among the troops at home in England.
We have at length obtained a certain knowledge
that the military profession need not be one of
very heavy risk. It may easily be made more
favourable to health and life than many of the
occupations of any town or rural district in
England. 'We know that the necessary rein-
forcement, so far from draining the country, would,
under good management, be too small to, pro-
duce any appreciable effect on the population, or
even the labour market at home We know now
how small our national debt might have been in
comparison with its present extent, if our rulers
and administrators had understood the care and
manarment of soldiers, as we are bound to see
It is the duty of
nationalmemory owfillto
o
thelessbottt a
that they are understood henceforth. •
the Press to keep alive the
leanndte,rye ketemoowrled
more, to
oruareg(ei
the
full realisation in practice of that.whicli we' have
dearly bought. It is easy to say this in a general
way ; but there is something more to be done; viz.,
to point out the principles of Army Hygiene, and
the main points of the organisation by which the
army at home and abroad may be preserved in the
state of vigour which has been proved possible.
These •matters are under consideration by the
Government; but nothing is done when the national
will flags, or is diverted. The present threatenings
of war in Europe should operate upon us as a
gtimuluS to ,make full use: of our new
science, and
life-saving art of Army Hygiene.