The Sun.
London, England, 1850-04-06 00:00:00

CHARGE.

Permanent Debt •• .• 105 e.," • •••• 11•••••••••,•• ••••• &&&&& ••••••••••••••
Terminable Aunuities...... .... .
Interest on Exchequer-bills issued to meet the charge on the Consolidated. Fund ...... •• •• •. •• .• •• •• • .....
Sinking Fund ........ .
The Civil List .......................,............... ...... .............••••••••• ...
Other Charges on the Consolidated Fund .
For Advances ..........

Total Charge ......

The. Surplus-- .......

M 1 •
The Surplus Revenue at sth January, 1850, after providing for the Charges en that Quarter, wa5......... .....
To which is to be addel the Surplus of thiCohselidated Fund, as above stated in the present Quarter

The Amount issued in the Quarter ended bili`kpril, itso, for Supply Services ........................ • • ......
The probable Amount of Exchequer-bills required to meet the Charge on the Consolidated Fund, Quarter ended
April 5, 1850. ......

I grieve to say, however, that, for,all useful pur-
poses, they might as well have been kteping high
Carnival, for, in spite of all promises, there has been
laid upon the table of the House of Commons " A
Supplementary Estimate of Excess of Naval Expen-
diture over the Sum voted for the Financial Year
1849," amounting to no less a sum than 211,1591. 3s. 7d.
The history of these supplementary bills upon the
country is curious, and may possibly be instructive.
In former times their visits were as rare as those of
a comet, and created nearly as much sensation when •
they did occur ; nor is it until recently that they have
narrowed their orbit so as to appear regularly once a
year. Their existence is now ascertained to be
co-existent and contemporaneous with that mild
and beneficent sway which " succeeded the ty-
ranny and terrorism of Peel and Welling-
ton ; and although, of course, every right-minded
man must rejoice at our emancipation, and
be willing to pay largely for the blessings of a pure
Whig Government, it would not a little enhance our
satisfaction if we could prevail upon the Admiralty
to be contented with something less than a quarter of
a million for the annual stultification of their own
calculations; and I must here remark that the whole
of this sum is to be regarded as essentially and ex-
clusively departmental, no portion of it being included
in the costs of that African squadron, which is in-
tended to propitiate supermundane influences in favour
of the whole Cabinet. _

For the financial year ending March 31st, 1847, a
bill for excess of naval expenditure was presented,
amounting to 245,4101. 19s. 7d. For the year fol-
lowing, we had to pay 323,7871. Gs. 10d. ; and for the
one ending in 1849, as before stated, 211,159/. 35. 7d. ;
being a total of 780,3571. 103. in threee years. Those
who live to 1851 will probably see a similar, if not a
larger, deficiency to be made good for the expenses
incurred in 1850— _ _

" Sur hi barbe d'un ful, on apprend a rairo."
The application of which maxim I leave to those who
are just beginning to discover that the instrument is
blunt and the operator unskilful.
The truth is, that the Admiralty know only two
methods of complying with the imperious calls for
cutting down the Estimates ; the one being a reduc-
tion of seamen employed afloat, and the other a ceas-
ing to purchase naval stores to replace those which are
expended.
Now, these are precisely the most important ele-
ments of our service—the personnel and the materiel;
they are the two, most difficult to improvise when
wanted, and necessarily the most expensive when sud-
denly replaced. In the first of these lies the chief
strength of our navy ; and in the second, the means
of directing and developing it to the greatest advan-
tage. And yet they are invariably selected by the
Admiralty to be offered up as a sacrifice wherewith
to appease the honest indignation excited at the spec-
tacle of careless amateur ship-building, or the grasp •
ing cupidity of nautical pluralists.
Why not begin with the half-pay, or non-effective
portion of the service ? There is an ample field
there fur retrenchment; but during the past year
there is only the most trifling difference in this large
vote, as compared with its predecessor.
Twelve months ago there were 4,913 officers in
the receipt of half-pay, at a charge of 732,252/. ; and
now there are 4,878, costing 731,206/. ; showing a
decrease of only 1,046 ; and this, notwithstanding
that in the year 1848, 265 officers f different grades,
and in the year 1849, 270, quitted this world ; by
whose departure an average annual sum of 20,0001.
is placed at the disposal of the authorities, after pro-
viding for the replacement of the departed in the pro-
portion of 1 to 3.
Reduction here would not be palatable, inasmuch
as several silver and other sticks would lose their
half-pay for a time :so the officials endeavour to make
up for it by looking sharply after places where no
amusement nor advantage to themselves can arise
from the expenditure of Government money ; and
then, indeed, a most watchful eye is kept upon the
subordinates, and every expense specified with a jea-
lous minuteness only too deserving of imitation at
home. Thus we have the hire of a canoe at Port
Royal, one of four items amounting altogether to
130/. 4s. 3d. ; whilst under the head of naval stores in
England, sundry expenses are put down at 16,0001.
Incidental expenses there are also, which would be
all the better thought of, if not so carelessly thrown
together in round numbers. One of this class I see
is, " a prison required for the Marine Barracks at
Plymouth," to coat 1,000/. Are the Plymouth divi-
sion of Marines ;so disorderly as to require a whole
penal settlement for their own separate use? Then
there is a trivial vote for 2001. for an ablution room at
Mill Bay Barracks, whilst at ll2slat we only repair a
washbouse. I should not mention this little circum-
stance, were it not from a pardonable pride in drawing
your attention to the spread of education in the navy,
as evidenced by discarding the use of the vernacular.
Whilst upon the subject of the marines, I may
say that I have been struck with surprise at the lati-
tudinarian views upon serious subjects whieh appear
to have been embraced by the different divisions
of this gallant corps, apparently 'influenced by
the local position of each. Thus, -at Woolwich
they would appear to be all Presbyterians, as
the Scotch Church alone is specified iu the ,Go-
vernment grant. At Chatham, the Roman Catholic
priest carries all before him, to the utter exclusion
of his rivals. At Plymouth, it would seem
as if they had, for some time past, no fixed
ideas which doctrine to adopt, as up to this year no
mention is made of their spiritual following; but
more recently they
seem to have decided upon be-
coming Episcopalians, as I see they are under the
charge of the curate of Stonehouse. But at Ports-
mouth it is difficult to tell exactly what the regi-
mental feeling is, the vote not specifying anything
more definite than the accommodation of the Marines
at churches on both sides of the harbour.

These are trifles, I know—quite immaterial to the
Admiralty—but the attention paid to getting up the
navy estimates may be estimated by a few of these
examples.
I cannot here omit paying a passing tribute of
praise to that member of the Government who has for
years past proved himself a most invaluable friend to
the navy, by compelling the Admiralty to keep on
foot a larger naval force than would have been wanted
for mere self-defence. With a Foreign Secretary so
universally beloved all over Europe as the Noble
Viscount, it is not probable
.that our energies will be
suffered long to stagnate, for in all human probability
there is at this moment some little war brewing in
that bellicose brain.
Whether there is to be any hope for the future or
not, remains as dark a problem as ever. I confess
my fear is great that, unless we begin to reform our-
selves, we shall be reformed from without, more
roughly than we like, .much in the same fashion as
the dirty boy in the brig Childers, who refused to
wash himself, was scrubbed with brooms instead of
soap. So much, however, depends upon the First
Lord of the Admiralty, that it is useless to appeal to
any one else, his colleagues at the board only forming
what used to be called a lit de justice for registering
his decrees.
Great opportunities have these First Lords had,
and, with one honourable exception (that of Sir
James Graham), greatly have they neglected them.
The Scotch Presidents were, as may be supposed,
given to nepotism, and the English to extravagance;
so that between the two we are heavily taxed for the
benefit of cousins and charlatans—the over-activity
of the latter being far more expensive than the dull
stolidity of the former.
Under Lord Melville, patronage was confined to his
own country ; and there is an adage still extant as
applicable to that time, which recites that under his

5,560,414
1,277,136

98,767
3;0,657
185,554-

7,462,528
3,337,862

10,800,390

5,560,241
1,269,625

524,531
'98,881
• '330,626
296,337

8,00,241
2,716,644

10,796,835

1,682,808
2,716,644

4,399,452
4,525,795

126,343

dynasty there were only four families who could ex-
pect advancement—viz., The Hope Johnstones, The
Johnstone Hopes, The Asses, and The Dundasses; but
this enumeration was far too catholic and universal for
Lord Minto, who confined-his gifts to a county in-
stead of a country, and placed so many of bis own
patronymic on the Navy List, as to realise of it the
anecdote related by Sir Walter Scott, as referring to
a village not far from Hawick, in which the answer
of one of its inhabitants to the piteous appeals of
a mendicant entreating to know "If there were any
Christians within hearing," was given in the words,
" Na, na ; here we are a' Elliotts and Armstrongs."
Since then, we have fallen into simple, or rather com-
pound, extravagance. If we do not now see one fa-
mily monopolising all promotions, it may be taken
for granted that there are no followers ; and as the
public money must be wasted somehow or other, we
give it to those who squander it the most prodigally
upon changes they do not themselves understand.
I am, Sir, your most obedient,
JACK EASY.
Her Majesty's ship Geranium, Portsmouth.

ST. AIDAN'S COLLEGE, BIEICENHEAD.--.The build-
ing is intended for the reception of fifty pupils and fifty stu-
dents (each having a separate study and dormitory), with
power of future extension, with the necessary school-rooms,
class-rooms, professors' rooms, &c. A refectory, sixty feet
by thirty feet; library, sixty feet by thirty feet; museums;
an infirmary; vice-principal's residence, with the necessary
accommodation for matron and servants. The present group
of buildings occupy a, site of 250 feet by 200 feet. A chapel,
connected with the college by an open cloister, is contem-
plated. The building is to bct fronted with stone—the
moulded and dressed work
,with a light coloured sandstone,
of fine texture, from quarries situated about four or five
miles from Birkenhead, and the general face of the walls
with a warm coloured sandstone, obtained in the neighbour-
hood, laid in random courses, and hammer-dressed. The
building will be fire-proof; Messrs. Fox and Barrett's patent
construction being adopted. The style is that of the domes-
tic Gothic of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The
building is from a design by Messrs. Wyatt and Brandon,
and will be carried into execution under the joint superin-
tendence of these gentlemen, and Mr. Henry Cole, architect,
of Birkenhead.—The Builder.

METROPOLITAN SEWAGE MANURE COMPANY.--.
The prospects of this comprany, to which the public are now
looking with some anxiety as the means of purifying the
River Thames, and increasing the salubrity of the metropo-
lis, are thus spoken of in the last report of the directors:—
" Although it might have been contemplated that the greater
portion of the market gardeners would wait to see the results
of the actual experiments before entering into engagements
with the company, it is a remarkable proof of the confidence
of practical men in the advantages of sewage manure, that
already no less than 25 occupiers of land have become cus-
tomers ; and that they have contracted for the supply of the
sewage to above 100 acres of land, at an aggregate rental of
400/. per annum. But the land thus actually contracted for,
and already receiving the benefits of a supply of sewage, is
only one-eighteenth part of the whole area which the pre-
sent works of the company are constructed to supply; con-
sequently, when the remaining occupiers (satisfied by the
evidence of results, as they may see them in the lands of
their
.neighbours who are now using the sewage), shall avail
themselves also of its advantages, the annual revenue in
rental of sewage, will •be about 5,0001. per annum. It is
found, by careful calculation;'. that this revenue would pay a
dividend of 10 per cent. to the shareholders upon the capital
employed in this district, and its proportion of the prelimi-
nary expenses."

AN INGENIOUS DEFENCE.—George Heaton was
placed at the bar, a few days ago, charged " that he, not
being a person of good conversation and orderly life, had
attended Divine service at the church," on Sunday, the 17th
March inst. The evidence in support of the charge was to
the effect that the accused had been placed as a bentinal by
the parties concerned in the Sunday foot-race on Netherton
Moor .; and that when superintendent Heaton and other
constables were approaching the ground, he got upon a wall,
and, by signs and gestures, given the alarm that the con-
stables were approaching, and indicated the course that
the parties were to run away ; and as this could not be
treated as an obstruction of the highway, recourse had been
had to the only other law which would enable the magis-
trates to take cognisance of the case. The defence was first,
that the accused had no clothes lit to go to charch in, having
only those he was then wearing, his working clothes ; that
his four children went regularly to the Church Sunday,
school and to the church ; that he worked hard to maintain
his children, and that if they (the Court) "could do
owt to him they were to do it just nab ;" that so far from
his having given the signal to the race runners to get out of
the way, be had got on the wall to direct Superintendent
Heaton and the other officers where the race runners were ;
and that if these officers had exerted themselves and been
sharp they could have caught them—a defence which, from
its earnestness and assumed simplicity and truthfulness, ex-
' cited roars of laughter in the court. The magistrate held
the defence to be a complete "turning of the tables" and dis-
missed the case.—Leeds Mercury.

GREAT WESTERN RAILWAT.—On Monday this
company raised their second-class fares by express.
GREAT NORTHERN RAILWAT.—This company are
preparing to erect their London passenger-station, north of
the Regent's Canal, by ➢iaiden-lane, in view of the intended
opening of the main line between London and Peterborough,
in July.

LANCASTER AND PRESTON JUNCTION RAILWAY.

—A special general meeting of this company was held at
their offices in Lancaster on Thursday. The report was
read and agreed to. The directors were congratulated on
the amount of the dividend, which' (although a small portion
was drawn from the rest) amounted to something more than
51- per cent.

There lives in Edinburgh a lady, in the use of all
her mental faculties, whose brother
.by the same mother
died 122 years ago, in the 14th year of his age. She is up-
wards of 100 years old. The brother died in April, 1728.—
Edinburgh Post.

Reason and faith are coeval with the nature of man,
and were designed to dwell in his heart together. —Eliza
Cook's Journal.

On Wednesday last, two married females, with
their attendants, went to the Church of St. Sidwells, for the
purpose of having their two children christened. One of them
proposed to have Mr. Flood, the sexton, as sponsor previous to
the commencement of the service, but the Rev. Mr. Courts-
nay refused to accept him, and proceeded with the service,
at the close of which he left the church, without performing
the solemn rite of baptism upon either of the children. Our
informant states that he has heard that the mother of one of
the children took the babe to the Free Church, where the
baptismal water is remarkably pure and unadulterated, and
there had the dear lamb duly baptised by the hands of the
Rev. Mr. Mitchell—that baptism being held as lawful as if
it had been done out of a bishop's slush bucket, and ten times
more agreeable.—Western Times.

A girl, named Josephine Dumas, was found, yes-
terday morning, lying in her room, in the Rue du Chantre,
stabbed in seven places, two of the wounds being through the
heart. Towards five in the morning a woman, who slept in
the next room, heard some noise, but thinking it rag only a
quarrel took no notice of the disturbance. A friend of the
deceased, named Caroline Baugrand, coming to see her about
ten o'clock, found the door half open, and the body of Jose-
phine lying on the ground, bathed in blood. All that has
been known was that a young man passed the night with the
deceased, but was not seen to go out in the morning. None
of the property of the murdered girl was touched, which leads
to the idea that some feeling of jealousy or revenge must
have actuated the murderer. An investigation was imme-
diately commenced, and two warrants, it is said, have been
issued against suspected parties.— Galignani of Wednesday.

Mr. David Small, the worthy tenant of the Milton
of Abernyte, has a cow which a few days ago brought him
two fine calves at a birth, while it is not quite eleven months
since she had other two—four calves within eleven months.
We believe such a circumstance is of rare occurrence, but
what is partly still more remarkable, the fruitful and thriv-
ing animal has had altogether ten calves, while she is not
quite nine years old, and she was three years old before she
had her first calf. Twice she bad one calf at a birth ; then
four times in succession she had twins. We understand she
is originally off Lord Kinnaird's stock.—Dundee Courier.
On the 29th September last the Tribunal of Cor-
rectional Police condemned by default the well-known Cabot.
chief of the Icarian Communists, to two years' imprisonment,
50f. fine, and five years' interdiction of civil rights, on the
charge of swindling ire connexion with his Icarian commu-
nity. Cabet, who is in America, caused an opposition to be
made to this judgment, and by his desire the case was to be
definitively heard in January. In that month, however, his
friends obtained a postponement to the 2d April, on the
condition that he should be present. Yesterday the case
was called on, but Cabet not only did not appear, but caused
a further postponement to be demanded. This, on the oppo-
sition of the public prosecutor, the tribunal refused to grant,
and the condemnation was carnally cousrwed.--Parie paper.