The Sun.
London, England, 1826-04-20 00:00:00

[MORNING HERALD.]

It is now some time since Van Tromp, the Dutch
Admiral, hoisted a broom at the mast-head, to signify that he
would sweep the English fleet from the ocean. He was not as
good as his word, though his intention was very sincere. There
were some obstacles in the way of the accomplishment of his dales',
which his courage and perseverance were unable to overcome.—
The hardihood of our sailors.-.the fearless spirit, and gallant emu.
lation of our naval commanders, retorted so unpleasantly ou the
coarse joke of the Dutchman, that he soon relapsed into the gra.
vity of his race, and never indulged in the 4‘ merry vein" again.
—There is a way, however, of effecting what. ♦'an Tromp I r •
other enemy could achieve, and that is to he done in course t f

time, by such a system of promotion es the naval returns ree, ntly
laid Lefore the house of Commons disclose. it is this system of pro-
motion that is calculated to repress the heroism and bumble the grar
deur of the British navy, and to be more tffective in sweeping our su-
premacy frt m the ocean than the broom of Van Tromp. The meritori-
ous of :er, who, after great exertions and lorg service, sees some
"mate itr;Prms, whji has not yet alquired the rudiments of war,.
placed in comer wol ov r him, eanrot be expected to pursue the ca-
reer of toil and danger with a heart full of devotion to his country..
enweious that his services have been held in no estiMati", and
that he is under the orders of theta wham he ought to instruct,
hie spirit must droop, and his confidence in the Prowess of kis
s =menders cease au inspire the assurance of victory. Beside'.

these who are raised without merit, do in their turn exercice a
vicious patronage with regard to those below them. They do not
like the talents and the knowledge which are a reproach to their
own ignorance or incapacity. They are apt to discourage the
honest manliness of those who cultivate the genuine qualities of
the British tar. The sturdy, frank disposition of such men is very
apt to shock the delicate constitutions of the " Captain Whiffles"
of the day, whose honours flowered in the hot-bed of Admiralty
patronage. Heyde the oily words of the flatterer, and artifices of
those who study intrigue more than honourable deeds, make the
way straight to preferment. The example becomes contagious, till
that gallant spirit that covered our fleet with trophies, moulders away,
and some more hardy enemy at length arises to wrest from our
enervated mariners the dominion of the ocean. That day we would
wish to hope is far distant, but it is certain it must come, or the
present system of promotion in the Navy be thoroughly reformed.
Let us not forget how, in the last war, the despised frigates of
America—those " fir vessels with bits of striped bunting," as an
applauded orator in the House of Commons called them, endan-
, gered our naval reputation. And what reformation has been
adopted since?--Name it not in Oath l—why the naval costume
was ordered to be changed ! Instead of the old blue and buff, in
which Blake, and Rodney, and Jervis, and Duncan, and Howe,
and Nelson, gained that succession of battles which might be said
to have chained victory to the British Standard, it was resolved
that the Spanish dress—that uniform of which our brave seamen
had so often seen the rear, should be adopted. ' In that uniform
our Naval Officers would have looked as gay, and, perhaps, as ri-
diculous as the carpenter bird of Java, with red thighs and
breast, and blue legs and back. The ungenteel sarcasms, how--
ever, which the 'first intimation of this Spanish improvement in
dress produced, caused the design to be abandoned, and the re.
form was limited to adding the magic of gold lace to the blue
coats, in place of the original and antiquated buff. Whether this
change will produce great and glorious results in the event of
another war with the Americana, is yet to be determined.—
There may be much virtue in gold lace, but our tars have yet
to find it out. We have already made some remarks upon the
lists of Lieutenants promoted to the rank of Commanders,
and of Commanders promoted to the rank of Captains; we
will now refer' to the list of Midshipmen, raised to the rank of
Lieutenants in the last year, and advert to a few of the names, and
their relative times of service, as they appear in the list which we
subjoin. It will there be seen that Richard Napper, David Steel,
and William Walter Oke, entered the service in 1808, and remain-
ed Midshipmen until 1825, when William Broughton, Thomas R.
T. Thompson, Henry Lister Mr.we, Thomas Pownell Pellew Bar-
row (" I like," says Dr. Primrose, " to give the whole name"),
Charles Hotham, John Alexander Duntze, the Hon. John Frederick
Fitzgerald De Roy, and Tollett Pennell, were made Lieutenants,
who had not entered the service until 1818, or ten years af-
ter the former Officers! Some of the names of the latter
gentlemen are known as being connected with high families
—that of Mr. Pennell is . obscure, but he has the advantage,
as we understand, of being, by marriage, a near relative of Mr.
Croker, Secretary to the Admiralty. Again, we see that Chas.
Blyth, Joseph William Brown, George Whiehelo, George Gold-
finch, and several others, who were not promoted until last year,
entered the service in 1807 ; also Charles Goldsmith, Sandford
Miles, and Henry Joseph Hill, entered the service in 1806, and
William Squire, Thomas Lorey Roberts, and Robert Robinson,
were Midshipmen, as far back as the year 1805. Contrast with
these, Richard Freeman Rowley, William Wellesley, and the Hon-
ourable
Fred. William Grey, who did not enter the service until
1819, and we would be il,a&to hear what claims they had beyond
those of fortunate connection to entitle them to a promotion in
six years, for which others whom we have mentioned were ob-
liged to wait twenty years! Here is encouragement to those who
have shed their blood end confronted every danger through the
awful struggles of the last sanguinary war ! We have never heard
of those exploits of Lord George Paulett, that gave him a claim
for preferment in the eighth year of his service, or what made him
more distinguished (except hil name) than Dennis Gladwell or
Richard Setford, who underwent the probation of 'lB years-7 of
which were during the period of a conflict in which we fought for
our existence as a people. Look to the case of J. Bradley. He was a
Midshipman in 1800, and was not made a Lieutenant until 1825,
in which year also Richard Byron was promoted to the same rank,
who did not enter the service until 1819—or 19 years after the
former. Thus Lieutenant Bradley was doomed to a probation of
25 years, or a quarter of a century, as Midshipman, during which
period he must have seen 1,1, years of active war-service, while
Lieutenant Byron experienced only 0 years of peaceful service
altogether, and could never have seen a gun fired on board a Bri-
tish ship but on the occasion of a salute. This system, or the
glory of one flag, niustiesssamt-to exist !

At a time when the vice of drunkenness has, much to
their credit, become almost unknown among the higher and
middling ranks of life, there is but too much reason to fear that it
has increased among the lower. An awful instance of its dire
effect 4 upon the mind and conduct bast just been exhibited in the
frightful massacre which has just occurred at the north-western
part of the town. To reason with men whose minds become
brutalized by this hateful practice, were as useless as to attempt
to stay the waves by similar persuasion. Legislators can 'do
much more towards its prevention than the whole lives of
divines or moralists can effect. There are two obvious causes, we
inuigini; for the increase of intoxication—the badness of beer and
the cheapness of spirits. The first may appear somewhat para-
doxical, hut when it is recollected that it drives men to the
use of the second, and When the infuriating nature of the
latter is considered, the .inference will not appear so. We do
not say that there may ,not be moral causes contributing their
aid to this melancholy result; but we believe that its great
sources will be found to be, in the metropolis especially, the brew-
ers' monopoly and the public-house system—combined with that
system of finance, which does not hesitate to seek the means of
taxation in inciting and encouraging the worst vices of the
people. It is quite clear that every means have been taken
which could be devised, to invite men to the use of ardent'spirits,
and that too in the face of its natural consequences, the crowd-
ing of prisons and lunatic asylums. Yet, while swallowing such a
camel as this, the Legislature cuu strain at such a gnat as the lot-
tery, and we are building churches, and boasting of our national
piety and virtue, while the mass of the people, which is naturally
moulded to whatever form the hand of legislation and of habit
gives it, are fast sinking into depraved habits brought on by causes
which the Legislature not• only •has failed to prevent, but has, in
fact, itself produced and encouraged.—(lbid.)

(From the LONDON GAZETTE, April IS.)

DIVIDENDS.

May 13, W. Bernen and J. 'Rion, New Bond-street, bankers
—May 9, J. Webster and G. M. Simpson, Tower-street, mer-
chants—May 9, J. Ilungell, Clare-stree4 Clare-market, linen-
draper—May 9, R. Robinson, Friday-street, tavern-keeper—
May 9, A. and M. Brown, Hull, straw-hat-manufacturers—
may 9, W. W. Smith, Holborn-hilt, silk-mercer—May 20, J.
Sandwell, Pittfield-street, Human, victualler..-allay 9, J. Wayne,
Gravel-lane, Houndaditch, wool-stapler--April 25, J. Tboinp-
ion, Wolverhampton, draper—May. 9, 'T. Box,' Buckingham,
banker.