The Sun.
London, England, 1850-09-12 00:00:00

[PRICE SD.

-N THE touND.—Albion, 90, Captain W. J. H.
Johnstone; Nautilue, Lieutenant Dolling.

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.
FROM THE HORNING PAPERS OF THIS DAY.
TIMES.—The magnificent array of line-of-battle
ships now assembled at Cherbourg can scarcely fail
to excite in the minds of Englishmen those unplea-
sant reflections which have so often found utterance
-in these columns on former occasions. That the
greatest maritime -power in the world—a power,
moreover., that possesses the largest and most complete
private establishments for the building of ships which
Athnedr
3u,
ei osuusche sips
are any where existence, should yet be remarkable
t
fez. the cluinsinss of its naval architecture, and for
enseofits
undoubtedlyd kthje'srpd,l'i
the -French are our
which no victory can prevent from being humiliating
It has long been a proverb that
to her ciuz.us and di.graceful to her G,,vernwent.
best ship-builders, end that we are indebted for our
best models to the bravery of our sailors rather than
to the skill of our naval architects. Endless reckless
and vexatious experiments, directed by mo method and
guided by no principle—a vast outlay incurred
"without the adoption of the commonest precau-
tions that such outlay shall not be misapplied
are the ordinary routine of this department
of Government. If a ship sails well, she is
subject to a succession of re-riggings, curtailments,
enlargement!, and alterations of ballast, which seldom
fail to leave hr as dull .a sailer as our worst enemies
can desire. A whole steam fleet has been built of
iron without taking the trouble to ascertain how far
this material is fit to endure an enemy's fire—a ques-
tion which experiment, when too late, has answered
in the negative. Imagine Mr. Stephenson, instead of
first patiently experimenting on and ascertaining the
power of a tube to support weights, constructing
without investigation his immense aerial tunnel and
going to the expense of fixing it firmly in its position
--imagine that tunnel breeicirwriown for want of the"
requisite strength in the requisite place, and you will
have some faint. idea of the way in which this
scheme would have been carried out had it been
'entrusted to a department similarly constituted to
that which presides over the building of the fleets
of Great Britain. There is no sight more distress-
ing to a tax-payer than that which is presented
by a row up Portsmouth harbour between the floating
streets of men-of-war which never have been, and
never will be, commissioned ; which were built to rot,
and are rotting accordingly. If we ask to what pur-
pose is this lavish waste of labour and capital, we are
answered that we must be always building in order
to keep our hands in practice, and that the expendi-
ture of so much labour and material is a cheap price
to pay for our nautical superiority. If this be indeed
so—if blundering and wastefulness be the iiidis&n-
sable cericlftions of Access, we are too'Weiracquainted
with the-value of the-wooden-walk anti Bngistriti to
'quarrel with the sacrifice:which, is ,required-for their
perpetuation ; but it is worth inquiring what manner
tiisoa:ohfeEnnomenon
of igstem that is, rhich #emancil,s fpr,its„succeos,pro-
ceZalings as anoinaloui as the" consiructing a rail-
way without a terminus, or setting up the wires of
an electric telegraph without the telegraph itself.
The system on which our navy is built has at any
rate the merit of simplicity. Hiram, King of Tyre,
himself did not conduct his ship-building in a more
rudimentary manner. Hiram grew the cedars in
his forests, and his servants fashioned them into
ships. The Queen of England grows her own oaks,
and then the Royal timber merchant turns manufac-
turer and works this raw material into. 'ship's. It is
difficult to understand why the rule which "excludes
trade and manufacture from the province of Govern-
ment should be considered to apply to everything
except shipping ; or why the maxim that Govern-
ment can never compete successfully, • either in
cheapness or quality, with the private producer
should be considered as true in all cases except the
most important of all-Lthe manufacture of ships. If
the Sultan of Turkey, the Pasha of Egypt, or the
Emperor of Russia require anything particularly
novel or excellent, they apply to the private ship-
builders of England ; an instance of such an applica-
tion on the part of the last-named potentate may be
read in our columns this morning; but the Govern-
ment of England is itself a brother manufacturer,
disdains to enlist in its service the skill and en-
terprise of its subjects. Doubtless, when this system
was first instituted it was one of necessity ; if the
Government did not build its own ships, no one
else could. But that necessity has long since passed
away. Who can doubt that Government could ob-
tain by contract ships in every respect equal to those
which, under the present system, it builds for itself ? We
can hardly speak too highly of the advantages of such
a change. The burdensome and costly item of dock-
yards-would disappear- from- oar estimates of expen-
diture. The cost of each ship would be greatly les-
sened to the public by the substitution of private for
official superintendence. The probability of im-
provement would be greatly increased by availing
ourselves 4,f the experience of men like the private
ship-builder, whose intellects have been sharpened by
competition, and who have studied their art, not as a
matter of official duty, but a personal and private in-
terest. The building of ships for the sake of practice
would become unnecessary when the public had at
its disposal the practical skill of private manufacturers
trained in supplying the never-ceasing demands of
private enterprise ; and the public would be a gainer,
not only by the experience of its own officers, but by
that of every ship-builder in the kingdom. The
principles of political economy, as at present under-
stood, limit every one to his appropriate employment,
and on abstract principle it appears almost as rea-
sonable to make a ship-builder into a Minister as a
Minister into a ship-builder. We do not wish to be
misunderstood. The greatness of England doubtless
depends upon her navy, and the question we are con-
sidering is, by which of two systems can that great-
ness be preserved and maintained ? One of those
systems is condemned by political economy, is
ruinously expensive, and full of failures, anomalies,
and miscalculations. The other is at any rate scien-
tific in its principle, and promises to be cheap in its
working ; but prove to us that the dearer system now
in force, with all its imperfections, is best calculated
to perpetuate our naval superiority, and we admit at
once that it ought to be continued. If, however, it
has nothing in its favour but the inertness which
shrinks from changes, however salutary, from the
mere fear of change, or the selfishness which seeks to
perpetuate a large amount of lucrative patronage, or
the professional superciliousness which refuses to res
cognize merit beyond the narrow limits of her Ma-
jesty's service, we trust that such feelings will not
be permitted to obstruct a great practical improve-
ment.

HERALD.—The articles we some days since ez-
►raeted from the United Service Gazette, and a letter
in oar impression of yesterday, regarding cabin ac-
commodation for the assistant-surgeons of the navy,
point out the necessity of some more stringent and
less easily evaded order on the subject being issued
by the Admiralty to officers in command of her Ma-
jesty's ships. That order was a consequence of a re-
solution of the House of Commons—to what effect
need not here be repeated. It is sufficient to say,
that the order, although conferring some benefits on
the assistant-surgeons of a certain standing, and thus
rendering an instalment of justice to the class, by no
means fully met either the resolution of the House or
the requirements of the case, and therefore should not
have been by any vagueness in its wording left open
to that further clipping which the prejudice or caprice
of commanding officers might suggest. That it has
been honourably observed in the majority of instances
we are ready to believe and proud to record ; but
that it has on more than one occasion been subjected
to the mutilation we have adverted to there can be no
reasonable doubt. Will it by credited by any one at
all conversant with the matter, that in a steam-frigate
of the first class (the Dragon), in which the offices of
naval instructor and chaplain are united in one indi-
vidual, there is said to be no room for an assistant-
surgeon's cabin ? In that ship the assistant-surgeon,
an officer of ten years' standing, has no cabin. We
forbear for the present to allude to other ships which
might be named, feeling assured that the interference
of the Admiralty will speedily check all attempts to
evade the desire of the Government and the resolution
of the House of Commons. It is well known that
Commodore Martin was one of those opposed to
the admission of the assistant-surgeons into the
ward-room. But no sooner did Sir Francis Ba-
ring's announcement in the House of Commons •
reach the Channel squadron than the qualified
assistant-surgeons were at once, without waiting for
the order, invited to assume their proper place in the
ward-room. The courtesy of the gentleman here an-
ticipated the technical formalities of office, and few
will think that the service suffered from the act.
Men who, like Commodore Martin, have during
their whole career held a dignified attitude in the
service, can easily afford to interpret an order in its
most liberal and enlightened spirit, despite the force
of former impressions. This cannot be comprehended
by some minds. In the absence of those high quali-
ties which best sustain the authority of the chief, we
generally find a carping about petty details, a cap-
tiousness regarding trifh>s, and a constant fear of their
power being encroached upon or subverted by change.
We know of no greater disqualification for command.

SHIP BISCUIT.—A regulation recently approved
by the Customs authorities, as an experimental measure, of
allowing British biscuit, being the remains of ships' stores, to
pass free of duty, upon the master of the importing vessel
making a declaration that the article is British, having been
attended with convenience to the parties concerned, without
risk to the revenue, directions have been given for the mea-
sure to be made permanent, aud extended. to all the out-
ports in'the. tinted kingdom.
APPLE TREE IN FULL BLOOM.—There is ROW an
apple tree in full bloom, in the garden of Mr. Anthony Flint,
farmer, Most Side Manchester.