The Sun.
London, England, 1845-05-14 00:00:00

HARBOURS OF REFUGE.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES.
Sir,—l think that I need offer no excuse for troubling
you on a subject in which the lives of so many of our
valuable seamen are concerned. It is probable that the
re port of the Commissioners appointed to select the most
eligible place for a harbour of refuge will shortly be laid
before Parliament. Therefore, the suggestions of indi-
viduals respecting it who, ex-officially, may have devoted
a little time to the consideration of such matters, it is
to be hoped, are deserving of some consideration.
In the report above alluded to, a copy of which ap-
peared in the Times newspaper, Sir Henry Symonds,
Surveyor of the Navy, stands prominently forward as
dissenting from the views adopted by his brother Com-
missioners. We can hardly suppose that. an old captain
in the navy, possessed of so much practical knowledge,
would singly oppose a project for making a deep sea har-
bour at Dover, unless his conviction of its impolicy and
impracticability w.re so deeply founded as to admit of no
compromise with his sincere and conscientious belief,
implied by his dissent, that it would be a waste of public
money, a futile attempt, and a grievous and irreparable
failure. He is like a juryman, who alone risks the
anger of his empennelled brethren and of au expectant
and impatient court of law, determined not to subscribe
to an unjust verdict.
The writer, for one, perfectly coincides with Sir
William in his objections to Dover; and it is reasonable
to imagine, that in rejecting Dover, and boldly stating
his preference for one side of Dungeness, he must (con-
sidering who he is) have group ded that preference on a
thorough knowledge of the localities, the tides, winds,
and currents of the Channel on the S.E. coast. The
reasons that seem to present themselves in favour of
either side of Dungeness are these :—ln the event of a
war, as a naval station, with the general prevailing
Hinds, a harbour of refuge at either of those points
would command Boulogne, Calais, and Dunkirk, if not
IYeppe; and, for merchant-ships, could not, taking the
coast as it is, be at a better place. It may be said to be
almost midway between the Downs and Spithead. It
would be singularly well situated, as being just to wind •
ward of the narrowest part of the Channel; for (and let
this be held in mind) it is more with south and westerly
winds than with any other that a refuge is required, and
more often with ships going westward than eastward.
It frequently happens, during foul weather, that a fleet
of vessels collected and detained in the Downs will, on
a favourable change in the wind, start in the morning,
and by the afternoon get as far as Fairlight, or near
Betchy-head, when the wind gradually gets round to
tt,e S.W. or S., with every indication of a bad night.
In such a case, where could there be a more secure haven
to fly to than one constructed at Dungeness, or a little to
the eastward of it, within reach, before dark ; instead of
having to make for the Downs in the obscurity of the
night, at the hazard of running foul of other vessels and
of getting a foul berth for anchoring ? The writer once
le.erd an old and experienced seaman, for many years
n.aster of a tradirg vessel, say that, in going from London
t Portsmouth, he got under weigh nine times from the
Downs, and more than half the nine times got past
Dungeness towards Fairlight, when he wind headed him.
It is curious that, in the recent surveys made by the
Harbour Commissions, Rye-harbour and Rye-bay have
been passed over unnoticed ; yet Rye-bay might with
It as expense than any of the other places named in the
report, be made the harbour of refuge required, inas-
much as it presents superior facilities for insuring suc-
c, S 3 in the results. There can be no doubt that, it' a
breakwater, were to be extended along the outside of
Rye-bay, from near Fairlight towards Dungeness, a
very sate haven, with six, seven, eight, or nine fathoms'
el..pth of water, might he insured, according to the
greater or less distance chosen for placieg it. More-
oeer, this breakwater-haven would possess, inside of
it, what it must be obvious would be a very desirable
adjunct, namely, a tolerably good existing harbour—
that of Rye—available in its present state on emergen-
cies for ships of 300 or 400 tons, and capable, if some
useful plan were adopted, of being rendered still
deeper and more capacious. The outside breakwater-
haven, in having an opening at each end, would allow
of the passage through of both flood and ebb tides,—
currents that would effectually prevent its silting.
These observations are thrown out with the hope that
no unfair patronage exercised by influential individuals
may warp the judgment of those who are finally to de-
cide on the choice to be made. 2,000,0001. ought not to
ho wasted in making ducks and drakes on the sea.
Those who could give birth to such a blind measure as
that of enclosing such a spacious area in six fathom-
water outside of Dover harbour, where beach and sand
would fill it up faster almost than the walls intended to
surround it could be constructed, should weigh the
consequences of an abortion. It is sufficient that so
gross an error has been committed as to erect the statue
cf Field-Marshal the Duke of Wellington in front of the
forum of British merchants, as if war and commerce
ever could go hand in hand. Symbols of peace ought to
grace the portals of trade. The statue should have
over-looked the parade at the back of the Horse Guards,
for there was its most appropriate site. Let not, then,
the illustrious hero be made the figure head of a harbour
of refuge.
PALINURUS.

MR. D'ISRAELI'S SYBIL.

The Times makes the following remarks on these
interesting volumes :
This is another of D'lsraeli's brilliant political novels
ithout being in any way a repetition of "Coningsby," it
hears a close resemblance in many particulars. The
greet
subject-matter is the same, and many of the public
characters who figured in the first work are made again
to play their parts in this. But, though the ground
traversed, the ideas and mode of reasoning, and the lan-
guage, are all very similar, yet, so great is the power of
the author, that the impressions produced upon the
r- ader's mind by a perusal of the volumes before us are
as vivid and fresh as if " ConinOy" had never issued from
the press. The writings of Mr. D'laraeli, as do his
speeches, bristle with points. They display much acute
ascrvation, great knowledge of individual character,
the most uncompromising hostility towards false pre-
tensions and hypocrisy, enlarged and generous sympathy
fn' the poor or the unfortunate, and, as a natural con-
-54 quence, cordial indignation at oppression and wrong.
The great object of the work is to lay bare the frame-
wOrk of modern English society, in the largest sense of
that word. Mr. Disraeli, with a quick perception and
a strung hand, thrusts aside the draperies with which it
is concealed, and exposes to the gage the unsoundness
and deformity of many of its parts. The false position
in which the various classes of the community stand
with relation to each other, the harshness with which
our social system in many respects acts upon the masses.
he discusses with great talent and boldness. He exposes
with biting sarcasm the political science of a certain
class of our public men, who, acting upon no enlarged
Experience, never having deeply studied the true history
and the genius of the people of England, and therefore
ignorant of their real requirements, would rule this
realm upon a hand- to-mouth system, without regard to
any general principles or to any fixed plan.
The author evidently regards the Revolution of 1688
with no favourable eyes. He affirms that the real cause
of the invasion was financial. The Prince of Orange
found the resources of Holland inadequate, and deemed
that nothing but such a Constitution as the English,
could have the credit that is necessary to raise such
sums as a great war requires. When he came; the
result was, that the Dutch system of finance was intro-
duced into this country—namely, that of mortgaging
industry in order to protect property. This might have
done fur Holland, but was injurious to such a country as
Englitncl. It is essentially unjust ; it demoralises and
finally ruins the people. Such is Mr. D'lsraeli's view
of the matter. But in addition to this system of finance,
the Revolution laid the foundations of that aristocratical
influence, shared among a few of the great families of
the kingdom, which gradually augmented to such a
d,:gree, as at length to overshadow the throne, and to
control its occupier. We will allow Mr. D'fsraeli to de-
scriba in his own words the condition of this oligarchy,
called by him " the Venetian party," towards the end of
the last century :
The situation of the Venetian party in the wane of
the eighteenth century had become extremely critical.
A young King was making often fruitless, but always
energetic, struggles to emancipate his national royalty
from the trammels of the factious Dogeship. More
than sixty years of a Government of singular corrup
tion bad alienated all hearts from the oligarchy ; never,
indeed, much affected by the great body of the people.
It could no longer be concealed that by virtue of a
plausible phrase power had been transferred from the
Crown to a Parliament, the members of which were
appointed by an extremely limited and exclusive class,
eiho owned no responsibility to the country, who debated
and voted in secret, and who were regularly paid by the
small knot of great families that, by matins of this
re!ehinery, had secured the permanent possession of the
Icing's treasury. Whiggism was putrescent in the
nostrils of the nation ; we were probably on the eve of
a.bloodless, yet important revolution; when Rockingham,
a virtuous magnifico, alarmed and disgusted, resolved to
revive something of the pristine purity hi
gh-toned
c hi,vh-toned
esnergy of the old Whig connexion, appealed
to his 'new
generation' from a degenerate age, arrayed under his
tanner the generous youth of the Whig families, and
was fortunate to enlist in the service the supreme genius
of Edmund Butke."

MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCE OF A GENTLEMAN.—
The family of a gentleman, named Stoddart, of Lambeth-
nad, Southwark, have been greatly distressed by the myste-
rious disappearance of Mr. William Stoddart, 30 years of age.
It appears that Mr. Stoddart's brother went, on the 7th inst.
to the Paddington terminus of the Great Western Railroad',
and proceeded by railway into Berkshire. When Mr. Wil-
liam Stoddart took leave of his brother he stated to him that
lie should immediately return home, but he has not since
been heard of. Information has been sent to all the police
stations in the metropolis, giving a description of his person
and dress.
OFFENCES IN THE PARKS. —The Commissioners
of Woods and Forests, to prevent, as far as possible the repe-
tition of offences in the parks, either by damaging the shrubs,
Or otherwise, cause (as a warning to evil doers) a list to he
placed at each of the entrances to the inclosure in St.Jamee's
and the other parks, containing the initials of the names,
together with the amount of fine or imprisonment, as well as
{lie nature of the offence of every person convicted of any
Misconduct in the parks during the past month—the list
being altered and renewed on the first of every succeeding
month. This precaution, no doubt, deters many thoughtless
persons from acts of wanton mischief.
• THUNDER STORM.—BRISTOL, SUNDAY EVENING.
=-We were yesterday visited by one of the heaviest thunder
StOrms we have experienced for many years past. Several
flies in the villcips adjacent to the city were struckbinysatliie,e
electric fluid, and a vessel called the Joseph, of K
.4fllich was lying on the Quay, near the Swivel Bridge,t
Nl?eiting to discharge a cargo of potatoes, had her mast split
in two. Some seamen who were on the deck at the the time
narrowly escaped destruction. We have not heard of any
kiss of life ; but there can be little doubt that much da-
mage has been done, of which the intelligence has not as yet
reached us.