The Sun.
London, England, 1844-11-21 00:00:00

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7

THE ROYAL NAVY.
The I oisterous state of the weather, though by nee
means unusual for the time of the year, has causeefl Ps
to be apprehensive for the safety of the vessels COlfe•
pos-ng tt.e experimental squadron. If ever there mere
an Admiralty who exhibited an incapacity for office,.
the present is that one, for their whole course of pro..
seeding has been marked by the most decided proofs
of imbecility, and in nothing has that been more
conspicuously displayed than in their arrangements
with these vessels. What set of men but themselves;
would have ever thought of acting as they have done?'
They had the brigs fitted by the riggers and the men,
belonging to the Ordinary, apparently for the sake of
ecom my, 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 off
and turning adrift, had been driven by hard necessity
to shift for themselves. They then commissioned
them, when the men had got scarce in the autumn;
and lastly, sent them to sea for trial in the beginning;
of the winter, when the weather was most likely to.
turn out, as it has done, boisterous and stormy. Again,,
with respect to the guard-ships, have their proceedings.
been a whit more reasonable ? They were ordered to,
be prepared for an experimental summer cruise. They
were ready for sea the beginning of June. After foolishly
delaying six weeks at the outer roadsteads of their-
respective ports, which would have been much better
employed in cruising, the French attack Tangiers,
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, for what earthly
purpose no one can conjecture, where she lies three
months, and then returns to Spitheed, never having
been at sea the whole time, except in passing from
one port to another. The Catnperdown 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 to 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. Shethisenthtehne
sent to sea ? No !—to Plymouth. Nell,
two proceed from that port on a trial cruise ? No such
thing ! They come to Portsmouth again ! t 0 snake a
parade of our strong naval force in the presel:ce of
the French squadron attending on their monarch, to
augment which strong force all the steamers that
loan be collected are gathered together. As SOODI
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 overmasted. We
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 self-
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 snore 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 eea
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.—Hampshirc
Independent.

MARYLEBONE SAVINGS' BANK,
76, WELBECK-STREET.—Established July 5, 1830.
COMPARATIVE STATEMENT OF PROGRESS, AT SPECIFIED
PERIODS, DURING THE LAST SEVEN YEARS.
Sums invested vsitb
Open Deposit National Debt
Accounts. Cattimissioners.
On November 1838 £11,278 £19d,334
1839... 11,935 223,353
1840........ 12,680 253,167
1841........ 13,004 9.66,407
1842 13,349 285,382
1843 14,130 319,496
1844 15,124 350,089
D. FINNEY, Secretary and Actuary.

ATTEMPTED earrwast Or GAMBLERS.—Consider.
able commotion was caused hest evening by an attempted
capture of gamblers, in the neighbourhood of Leicester-
square, by the police, under the direetioi; of the superin-
tendent of the C division of police. To effea3 an entry
into those dens of infamy, the police have genei:dly to
resort to stratagem, in order to prevent an alarm being
given ; but, although their plans are usually well organ-
ised, they were not successful on this occasion, in ef-
fecting their object, for before the caption and breakinr,
into the establishment could be effected, the whole of the
inmates succeeded in making their escape. The house
in question adjoins Mr. Burford's Panorama, in Leices-
ter-square, and it appears that the gamblers, having by
some means received intimation of the intended visit,
lest 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 lie would, probably, have been killed on the
spot ; as it was, he broke several iquares 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.—PARISH OF HAMMERS
SMlTH.—Yesterday no fewer than sixty appeals againgt
a poor-rate in the parish of Hammersmith were appointed
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.
Mr. Bodkin, M.P., appeared as counsel for the appel-
lants, :and Mr. Ashurst for the parish. On the eases
being called on, a lengthened discussion took place be-
tween Mr. Bodkin, Mr. Ashurst, and the magistrates,
from which it appeared that a new 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, consequently, 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 property 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 ACCT'
DENTS.—A large field attended the meet yesterday
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 'axe Coburg and Gotha, not arriving at Windsor
Castle till the afternoon, the Prince Consort was neces-
sarily absent. The celebrated " Hampton Deer," which
was selt eted for the day's sport, had not been hunted
during the past season. Upon the last occasion (row
two years since) of the " Hampton Deer," being hunted,
the place of meeting, being near Uxbridge, is was taken,
after a tremendous run, in the Regent's Canal,. near
Primrose Hill. Upon the deer being uncarted yester-
day, at Po'e 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 of er the same line of country to
Hayes (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-chaie 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.
TILE LATE INCENDIARY FIRE IN SUSSEX.—Our
readers will remember that a young man, named Led-
better, had been taken up by the East Sussex constabu-
lary on suspicion of knowing something of the origin of
this fire. Ledbetter made a voluntary statement to the
police, that, as he was standing in the field when the
fire took place, two men came from the barn which was
on fire, and threatened to blow his brains out if he gave
an alarm. Ledbetter has since undergone two examina-
tions before the Lewes magistrates, and it is believed
now that his tale was an idle one, as he was proved to
be drinking at Patenham public-house when the fire
broke out. He was severely reprimanded by the ma-
gistrates, and discharged. No clue has been obtained
of the incendiary.
The Gazette issued yesterday is, as usual at this
season of the year, extremely voluminous; and of course
nearly filled with notices respecting railway Bills. The
notices of Bills for improving, paving, and lighting towns
are comparatively few; amongst the principal
notices of this class are those relating to Hull, Taunton,
and Sheffield.

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