The Sun.
London, England, 1844-11-22 00:00:00

THE ROYAL NAVY.
The boisterous state of the weather, though by nc
means unusual for the time of the year, has caused ut
to be apprehensive for the safety of the vessels com-
posing the experimental squadron. If ever there was
an Admiralty who exhibited an incapacity for office,
the present is that One, for their whole course of pro.
ceeding has been marked by the most decided
proof.
,f imbecility, and in nothing hth more conspicuously displayed than in their
aat been
rrangeent;
with these vessels. What set of mai but t•;:e,l,selve,
would have ever thought of acting as they have (Ina.
They had the brigs fitted by the riggers and the men
belonging to the Ordinary, apparently for the sake of
economy, in the spring of the year. They deferred
commissioning them all the summer, for no apparent
reason whatever, until the greater part of the seamen,
whom they had all the time been recklessly paying on-
and turning adrift, had been driven by hard iieces+ity
to shift for themselves. They then commissi.niai
them, when the men had got scarce in the autumn :
and lastly, sent them to sea for trial in the begoo!iii
of the winter, when the weather was ino,t to
turn out, as it has done, boisteriius and sti Tiny. Agair;,
with respect to the guard-ships, have their proct.edingc: been a whit more reasonable ? They were ordered to.
be prepared for an experimental summer cruise. The
were ready for sea the beginning ofJune. After:be: o,lyy delaying six weeks at the outer roadsteads of their
respective ports, which would have been much better.
employed in cruising, the French attack Tang,rie,rs,
and having left the Mediterranean withoUt an ade-
quate force, our Admiralty are compelled to send the
Caledonia to Gibraltar as a reinforcement. The St_
Vincent is then sent to Plymouth, fbr .w hat earthly
purpose no one can conjecture, where she lies three
months, and then returns to Spithead, never having
been at sea the whole time, except in pas,ing from
one port to another. The Camperdown is in the
meantime sent to Portsmouth, and it is then disco-
vered that she is too crank to be an efficient three_
decker. How it is that this was not found out last
year has not been explained. Orders are then given
that she is t 3 be stripped and paid off, and her officers
and crew transferred to the Queen. This is accord-
ingly done, and by the time the latter vessel is ready
for sea, the end of September arrives. She is then
sent to sea ? No !—to Plymouth. Well, then ti'•
two proceed from that port on a trial cruise? Nu such
tiling ! They come to Portsmouth again ! to make a
parade of our strong naval force in the presence of
the French squadron attending on their monarch, to
augment which strong force all the steamers that
can be collected are gathered together. As soon
as this bustle is over the experimental squadrons are
sent to sea—hear it, Englishmen—in the latter end of
October, to cruise for two months, with every pro-
spect of severe and continued gales, with new and un-
tried crews, in new vessels, and all overnmsted.
suppose the Admiralty did not calculate on the return
of the little French cutter, and her spying out " the
nakedness of the land." If this conduct be not proof
positive of insanity, or at any rate of a want of com-
mon sense, we know not what will be considered suf-
ficient. We do not mean to say that our naval offi-
cers and seamen should not be "inured to hard gales;"
on the contrary, we are advocates for their having a
great deal more practical experience, and think the
ships on all stations should be kept much more upon
the move than they have been of late years, to keep
their hands in ; but knowing as we do that the sea
service of our officers has been for a long period al-
most purely theoretical, we do strongly object to the
mad project of risking 4,000 lives and half a million
of property, at the most hazardous time of the year,
for no purpose that we or any one else can under-
stand. It is high time for an alteration.—Hampshire
Independent.

MARYLEBONE SAVINGS' BANK,
7G, WELBECK-STREET.—EstablithedJuly 5, IMO.
COMPARATIVE STATEMENT OF PROGRESS, AT SPECIFIED
PERIODS, DURING THE LAST SEVEN YEARS.

Sums invested with
Open Deposit National Debt
Accounts. Commissioners.
On November 20, 1838 £11,278 £196,334
1839 11,935 223,153
1840 12,680 253,167
1841 ..... 13,004 266,407
1842 13,349 285,382
1843 14,130 31,,496
/ 844 ......
D. FINNEY, Secretary and Actuary.

- -
ATTEMPTED QAPTIIRM OF GAMBLERS.—Consider able commotion was caused on Wednesday by an attempted
capture of gamblers, in the neighbourhood of Leicester-
square, by the police, under the direction of the superin-
tendent of the C division of police. To effect an entry
into those dens of infamy, the police have generally to
resort to stratagem, in order to prevent an alarm being
given ; but, although their plans are usually well organ-
wed, they were not successful on this occasion, in ef-
fecting their object, for before the caption and breaking
' Fe
inmates weet,t.
au question adjoins Mr. T-44CC3-
/ ter-aqua:vs, and it appears that the gamblers, having by
some means received intimation of the intended visit,
lust no time in beating a retreat by taking to the roofs
of the adjoining houses, from which they rushed into
the lower apartments, to the great terror of the occu-
pants, and gained the open street. One of the fellows
had a narrow escape, by dropping on to the skylight of
the Panorama, but fortunately he did not fall through,
otherwise he would, probably, have been killed on the
spot ; as it was, he broke several squares of glass, and
did considerable damage, Ile then clambered up the
circular roof of the building, and jumped into the win-
dow of the adjoining house, which was open at the time,
and ran down the stairs into the shop (a bonnet estab-
lishment), where he encountered three young women,
who demanded his business, and by what means he en-
tered the premises. The man offered a sum of money
if they would allow him to escape, but, seeing a crowd
collecting in the street, he suddenly pushed them on one
side, and got clear off, by taking to his heels and running
at his utmost speed down Bear-street. The exact num-
ber of the inmates was not known, but the police in this
instance totally failed in their object, as the whole of
the parties succeeded in eluding their vigilance.
PAROCHIAL ASSESSMENTS.—PARISII OF HAMMER-
SMITH.— Wednesday no fewer than GO appeals against
a poor-rate in the parish of Hammersmith were appoixted
for hearing, at a special petty session for the Kensington
division of the county of Middlesex, held at the Holland
Arms Tavern, High-road, Kensington, at which were
present Mr. L. T. Flood (chairman), and Messrs. Frere,
Prance, Tubbs, Scott, and Percival, county magistrates.
Nlr. Bodkin, M.P., appeared as counsel for the appel-
lants, :and Mr. Ashurst for the parish. On the cases
being called on, a lengthened discussion took place be-
tween Mr. Bodkin, Mr. Ashurst, and the magistrates,
from which it appeared that a now assessment of the
whole of the rateable property in the parish had been
recently made by a committee of the inhabitants ap-
pointed in public vestry, which it was contended, on the
part of the appellants, was made upon nearly the rack
rent, and that in many instances the assessment was
unfair, unjust, and illegal, and that, eons( quently, the
rate ought to be quashed. Eventually an understanding
was come to between the parties, and it was arranged
that a competent person should be appointed by the
Poor-law Commissioners to survey the troperty in dis-
pute, whose decision shall be final, the expense of the
survey to be defrayed by the appellants. Both parties
appeared satisfied.
HER MAJESTY'S STAG-HOUNDS.—SERIOUS ACCI.
DENTS.—A large field attended the meet on Wednesday
morning, which took place at Dawley Wall (near Hil-
lingdon) in the full expectation that Prince Albert would
have honoured the gathering with his presence. His
Royal Highness's brother, however, the reigning Duke
of Saxe Coburg and Gotha, not arriving at Windsor
Castle till the afternoon, the frince Consort was neces -
sarily absent. The celebrated " Hampton Deer," which
was selected for the day's wort, had not been hunted
during the past season. Upon the last occasion (now
two years since) of the " Hampton Deer," being hunted,
the place of meeting, being near Uxbridge, it was taken,
after a tremendous run, in the Regent's Canal, near
Primrose Hill. Upon the deer being uncarted yester-
day, at Pole Hill, it went right away for the feeder of
the Ruislip reservoir, doubling to the left towards Icken-
ham, then round to Ruislip, leaving the village to the
left, and then back again over the same line of country to
haves (where the Earl of Rosslyn mounted a fresh hun-
ter, which was there in waiting for his Lordship), leaving
West-end to the left, and on through Colonel Grant's park
to Dawley Lodge. It then made for the West Drayton
station, and thence to Iver, where it doubled back and
crossed the Great Western Railway between the Two
Bridges, taking away to Ritching's Park, Colnbrook,
and Horton, in towards Staines, near which town it was
taken, after a run of one hour and three quarters, at a
steeple-chase pace, over upwards of twenty miles of
country. The horse of a gentleman who regularly at-
tends the hunt, in taking a blind hedge from out of a
field near West-end, about a mile from Harrow, fell into
a ditch on the other side, and its neck doubling under
him, its death was instantaneous. Its rider fortunately
escaped unhurt. The horse, which was a favourite and
highly valuable animal, has been hunted with the royal
buck-hounds during the last seven seasons. Another
gentleman, in taking the hedge from another part of
the same field, was thrown, and sustained a compound
fracture of the thigh bone, besides other injuries. He
was conveyed to the nearest public-house, which was
above a mile from the spot where the accident occurred,
and medical aid speedily obtained. Several other acci-
dents took place during the run, but we have not heard
they were attended with any very serious results.

SPIRITS IN BOND.—The attention of the Board of
Customs having been drawn to differences between the
strength of several casks of rum, as ascertained at one of
the outports, and that found on their removal to London
under bond ; and as it would appear that this difference
had arisen in consequence of the samples thereof having
been taken without removing the casks from the position
in which they had remained undisturbed for a consider-
able period at the port of importation, orders have been
issued that the officers at the several outports do govern
themselves by the practice observed at this port in such
cases—viz., immediately prior to drawing samples for
delivery, or for any revenue purpose, to require all casks
of spirits, of whatever description, to be broke". up or
removed from the places where they have been stowed
away, and to have them rolled over and made up for re-
gauging and re-trying the strength. Copies of this
order have been furnished to the collectors and con-
trollers at all the ports of the kingdom for the informa-
tion and government of themselves and the aeon of the
various departments under their control.