The Sun.
London, England, 1821-04-11 00:00:00

Oporto

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'Portugal Gold in-Cc''o, - -I:0 0 0 pc.) Os.
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`itandarit

1. .t t

ON THE NAVIGATION SYSTEM

In a country situated as is this, the Navy is so indispensable a
part of its defence, that no hesitation can occur as to its being a
primary duty of the state to support the navigation in its best
source, its ineecantile marine. The public advantage is so in.-
timately united with our shipping interest, that every reason-
able encouragement becomes` a paramount necessity., The
economists. who would sacrifice navigation to the increase
of wealth, should consistently abandon the establishment
of armies as seill more detracting from it, without pretence to
production. A naval pre-eminence is happily preserved in,a
numerous mercantile shipping, while foreign intercourse
commercial instruction, and general wealth are, at the
same time, promoted. The two great principles of our navi-
gation laws, that foreign commodities shall lie brought from
the place of their growth, and in Bela* shipping manned by
British seamen, seem to be the happiest thoughts of legislatior,
operating upon and regulating human actions in their widest
range. The effects are, at once, moral and political. Did riot
the law force the use of native ship Ping, it is probable other nat.
Lions would become the carriers, who, with habits formed to the
sea, have cheaper means of navigating. The depreSsion of navi-
gation, beiides the loss of mantirne power, would be a priva-
tion of much knowledev to the country. It cannot be doubted
that the necessity of visiting foreign countries, imposed by the
navigation laws, gives rise to intelligence of every kind far more
Valuable than the expence of dearer conveyance. The masters
and mariners enlarge their ideas, the ship-owners, merchants,
manufacturers, and even cultivators, visit connections abroad,
and return with instruction and a fostered love of enterprise :
these qualities might, if .not thus raised and kept awake, long
remain dormant by being left to the undirected course of pro-
gressive. wealth. Further, the advancement of society in afflu-
ence depends upon the habits of mankind : a torpor may exist
for ages which nothing but legislative interference will shake
off, and give a disposition for exploring and ascertaining the
resources of distant climates, and of proving fortune in a va-
riety of shapes.. The frequent success of reflecting mariners is
obseriable in the number who become capable provident ship-
owners and valuable merchants, plain, practical, , informed,
and neeful: It is the step by which they, improve their condi-
tion and find, in 'proceeding to that kindred sp.here, a natural,
active, serviceable asylum as they get for*ard an the progresS
of years and affluence. It. is not. enough to Consider, the naviga-
tion laws as cheap or expensive methods of carriage, but as in-
ducing habits and Character. We are not. -to look back since
the period of their institution and make up the pecuniary ac-
count Of the expense we-have incurred through them, and the
apparent retardation 'of.wealth so proceeding but to calculate,
if we can, the enterprise, knowledge, active virtue, and the con-
sequent wealth to which they.have given birth, by forcing, and
afterwards alluring numbers of our countrymen across so many
aeas, and to so many remote. regions.—The favourite idea of
-'our political economists is to banish regulations, and to leave
-every species of industry to its own direction. They dwell on
the course which wealth naturally takes in its free progress to
its greatest height, through the various stages of society, from
the hunter, through the pastoral, agricultural, manufacturing,
and cunimercial State. They hold every interniptiOn to per-
efeet freedom:to baiorejudicial to the speediest advance. They.
. beg the question, of a never-failing activity and love of accumu-
ittdon ; flies 'COurit hot isri the diSpositionto indolenCe, the con-
. tentnient with Hate, taught-tontactuallypractised by 'so many ;
the calls:of
,religion ; the lave of:pleasure; the passion for ho-.
iieur overcoming that for wealth all which May arrest the ad-
Vance of public opulence in its free course through the early
Bind middle stages., IV e would call into ~action more-motives
than one. Individual exertion, on our adoption` of liberty of
nifty not be allowed 'free play ; if home tegulations 'do
not cramp it, external arts and rivalry will. If we look into.
history, we find that changes have not been effected in society
',Without some strong application of external restraint. The
.elinerican savage would scarcely be reclaimed but by absolute
compulsion.' The Tartar ,cannot be brought to hut by regula-
tion orforce, .from ranging his wilds with his flocks and herds,
to take.d step towards civilization by applying to agriculture.
The attaelimeneto husbandry is often found to predominate over
the :confinement, uncertainty, and Artificial life of manufac-
turers and traders.; and we have just obserVed how necessary
may be the interference of the law 'to add tO domestic indus-
try the adrantagea of: enlarged navigatione--(QuAll TERI, Y
REVIEW.). .

•METEOROLOGICAL
.00.9qRVATIONS

- •
EXTRACT frOpt. a METEOROLOGICAL JOURNAL •
for March 1821 kefit at the OBSERVATORY,
GOSPORT.
This month has been.veiy Wet and Windy; with strong gales;
particularly about theitime of the veinal Equinox , and it hair,-
mg rained on 21. digs, .iduring (.snore or less) the last lunation,
.we may term it a: wet moon:
The welcome fettim of the tpring was visible the first week of
this period, when the•fpuit-trees generally began to break pro-
fusely into buds; and many of the spring flowers were in full.
perfection. At the close of. the month the fruit trees, Sec: had
commenced•leafieg, there having been but two slight frosts early
in the mornings oi. the 15th and 2&1; in the former the thermo-
meter stood within a degree_ of the freezing point, and in the
latter, one degree below it. Fri= a comparison of the mean
commencement of former springs, we find that that the present
spring is'rather forward: - The mean temperature of the air is
1 degree five-fourths higher than the mean of March in the
years 1817, 1818, 11319 .and 1820. The mean temperature of
spring watei is three-fourths of a degree lower than in February.
This we attribute .to the abundance of air.; often mixed with
transparent icy hailstones, which wohalily lessened the tempe-
rature of the ground, and consequently of well water. Indeed,
this month has presented the features of weather that usually
Occur in February.; aneL the aspects in February were strikingly
analagous. to these of March in general, both in regard to the
positions of the t.revailir,g :winds, and the decomposed and pre,
cipita.nt state of tile air :' !epee the lowneas of the barometer this
month, and-its 'unusual mean height, and comparative steadi-
ness la;eternentli.
The atmospheric and meten'ic phenomena that have come
Within our observation this rem: th, are 2 anthelia, 4 parhelia,
3 solar and 4 lunar ludas, 2 hinar. burs, 4 discus coronae, 4
meteors, 7 perfect ritinhows, and .1 aurora borealis, here-
after described. • AlSo 4 gales of wind, oe days on Which they •
have prevailed; ns.raely, 2 frorthS. E. 2.from S. t. from S.W.
and 2.ficirn N. W. • • •
AttltOtA 1130-ar ALis.—At eleven o'clock in the night .cif the
2.5 th instant, an aurora borealis appeared here in-severed upright
beams of gold—celoured light, which rose above the star Ala-
mac in the foot'of itudecraede,, then near the magnetic nieri-
These eolumn,s of light were preceded held followed' by
the gradual rising of a mild white light in a shnicircular form,
to' the height of..2fihtleg. .above the northern hine:zon ; and '
when it had reached its greatest. altituele at thirty minutes past
eleven, two very.bright candated niete•ers fell perpendicularly
over that part where the beams. of light i-peared.. In fifteen
teiraites.after Viet tiene, tbis right, which had spread at its base •
nearly to the mageNtic, east a;hl west, nastily disappeared, but
not by, the late: eention of'clouds, and no intere meteors were
Seen aaerwards. - • •
Gos-PonT, .AParr. 0.-I:T_htellereAßLE BRIGHT SPOTS CM
THE UNII.IaiIINATZU) PART cT THE 11.10014.—At eight
o'cloek`kst eyeaing, two bright s-3:-ts appeared on the opaque
onion of the mean S disc. T:t; fil-st. we obt.wrved vies im-
-mediately under 'that • very hemora he,
of an oblong appeerance, e:,:et of repeeteely
increased and diminished -a: .vo
The other was globular, =e,•t. I, and
through. an t • . •.1 t!••.? :_r,p,..,ranee. of
a star of the sixthheeene r,• surfr.v..‘e of the
inner orb. Whether these h. • , 0: •na.•
te.re, Or whether they aro me. • ~.• 'eculiariy I
sittmted,, so as to to ,• • i• :7.. nof the
sun's rais from- the ca ( ecr_.
tame it is that they were -. • the
lest Moon,. when a grant, • •
~
.ci _
;ervat,..;pns were made a . • • .• . 'dr
T...r:"e„tp,lY
.0'1,11:4 the CLL.: -.I • . ! .tie
w..ry evr.fra.; :
.•..± extra-
.is_ ,•). of her
•G-,31,e11-,.,•,: ur.taed ier such an•6l:-.;