The Sun.
London, England, 1845-02-11 00:00:00

HARBOURS OF REFUGE

There can be only two questions as to the recommen-
dations of the Harbours of Refuge Committee, first,
whether Dover should have been chosen at all, and, se-
condly, whether, supposing only one work can be under-
taken at a time, the order of preference is judiciously
settled, first in favour of Dover, next of Pcrtland,:and
thirdly, of Seaford, by Beachy Head.
Of ell the plans, that of Dover is of the most doubt-
ful success, and the most costly. The estimated expense
is 2,500,000!,
into,sOO, theooo/ sea.
The which will be, we apprehend, literally
flung
The Surveyor protests against the recommendation,
and contends that Dungeness would be a better choice in
evely respect ; and we think he is right.
Dungeness is nearly twenty miles to the south-west of
Dover, but with
,a steam navy it would Command the
straits almost as effectually as Dover, and it has income
parably superior, capabilities for a harbour.
Next as to the order of preference. Why is Portland
placed before Seaford ? Portland is an excellent shelter
as it is. It is protected from all winds but the S.E., and
even in -a south-easter vessels can ride out a gale as they
ride in Portland-roads up hill, and are, therefore, not
likely to drag their anchors.
But between the Isle of Wight and Dungeness there
is no shelter. The harbours are all small tide harbours,
ww
ihvni(ciehisseaewl
snhnetonhtattbh;:a-8
have
efreebifor refuge in on-shore
,ye wantedat attempted.d own
hannel to the :Owen',
perhaps nearly to the Isle of Wight, and that making
bad weather, are then obliged to bear up and run, Imre
to put back to Dungeness at the least, losing all The
ground they had gained. So the other way,'vessels' that
have beat up Channel almost to Dungeness, and then
encountering bad weather are compelled to seek shelter,
have to run back all the way to the Isle of Wight. To
recover the distance so lost will take ships of ordinary
sailing qualities, with contrary winds, several days.
Seaford would save a considerable part of this loss,
it being about thirty miles from Dungeness, and about
sixty from the Isle of Wight.
For the coasting trade a harbour of refuge at that
point would be of the greatest convenience.
At present there is no other such distance in the
Channel, thirty league., without some Place of shelter.
A dozen leagues from the Land's End is the fine
shelr,er of Falmouth ; about the same distance from
Falmouth is Plymouth ; about seven leagues from Ply-
mouth, Dartmouth ; anti about fourteen leagues from
Dartmouth, Portland ; six leagues from it the shelter of
Swanwich, and a little farther Studland bay ; and fire
leagues from them, the Isle of Wight. But from the
Isle of Wight and Portsmouth to the next place of
shelter, Dungeness, is the long distance of thirty leagues.
To break this dreary interval is surely a matter of
urgent importance.
The capabilities of Portland for a harbour are match-
less—it is all but a laßbour by nature, shut in on three
sides.; but as it already affords such good shelter, it
is of less importance to complete its security than to pro-
vide shelter where it is at present so much more defec-
tive and so much more wanting. If; therefore, all the
plans cannot be commenced at once, and we confess we
see no reason why they should not, Seaford has a claim
before Portland.

All the harbours of refuge proposed, Harwich,
Dover, Seaford. and Portland, are also to serve us naval
stations, defending the sea-board, and commanding the
Channel.

It is a happy thing for England that she can thus
make her outworks of defence more available still for
humanity and the convenience and security of her na-
vigation, instead, like our neighbours, of having bul-
warks sterile of other uses than those of war, and actual
detriments and nuisances in peace.
The fortifications of London will be in the Channel,
our moat ; and the same works that provide protection
in the event of war, will be serving the daily interests
of our merchant navy and commerce, and diminishing
the toil and dangersof our seamen.
These, indeed, are works, the cost of which cannot be
grudged.—Examiner.

SPORTS AND AMUSEMENTS OF
THE PEOPLE.

The sports of a people are so closely interwoven
with the national character, that whatever change is
experienced by either affects the other. The history
of our own country will fully illustrate this assertion,
for we have broken up the national holidays and ath-
letie pastimes of our forefathers till in some counties of
" Merry England," both are utterly unknown. We
have in a great measure, by these means, changed for
the sturdy independent yeoman and contented labourer,
a servile and dogged race; whilst a sickening mawkish-
ness and effeminacy, utterly foreign to the English cha-
racter, has followed the amusements we have intro-
duced instead of those which have passed away. But
we have calculated and economised too long, for we
have at last found that the greatest amount of labour
at the lowest possible cost is, after all, the dearest—
that " all work and no play" cannot last ; and, though
custom has broken the observance of those holidays
which our Church and our laws have appointed, we
have at last awoke to the truth, that such things are
necessary to the moral as well as the physical condi-
tion of the country.
There is still the feeling and the taste for these
things, especially in rural districts; and they want
but the propsr encouragement and facilities, again to
bring about our old English games. If we neglect
this, and allow the growth of such weeds as the
amusements which the metropolis, and which
all large towns, more or less, afford, a filthy
and illegitimate taste and feeling will usurp the
place of the honest and healthy tone it is our interest
to I.ultis te. Whilst the rural poor—by the covet-
ousness of their employers and their own necessities
debarred from the means of enjoyment to which they,
as all other men, are entitled—will sink to that
wretched, sullen, and degraded state which is the
root of half the crimes that terrify the world.
Amongst the sports and pastimes of our forefathers
are some which the advancement of civilisation and
humanity would suppress; but there are few even .of
those whose effects would be so pernicious as the
ludicrous contortions of a Surrey ballet, and the clap-
trap music of a promenade concert—two fair samples
of what the amusements of the lower orders now are.
It is objected to such of our old English sports
as now exist, that they have become the exclusive
amusements of the lowest of the community—that
they are inseparable from pot-houses and a certain
slang and coarseness which would exclude them
from all respectability. The game of " shovel-
board," or, as it was afterwards :called, " shove
halfpenny," may be remembered by some of our
readers as a very " vulgar game," played only in
" low" public-houses; this, however, was once a
courtly game. We simply quote this instance, which
occurs to memory as an illustration, and will serve
for the rest, without going into any antiquarian
detail. Driven from !be upper classes by a certain
cant refinement, which has accompanied the pro-
gress of every age, and upheld only by the fre-
quenters of beer-shops, where alone now exist the
means of playing them, the sports of the rich have
become the exclusive property of the poor, and the
worst kind of poor—the idle and the profligate—
whilst they naturally inherit the patois or slang of
their masters. The few of the higher orders who
still uphold them seem to pride themselves
on their conventionalism ; and, with a sort of
innate propensity for that, which is coarse and
low, they do not hesitate to frequent the vile
places in which these things are to be found. The
only chronicle, also, which exists of car games,
unfortunately carries out the same idea ; and, al-
though conducted with a praiseworthy spirit and in-
telligence, panders too much to the tastes of those to
whom it is addressed. The true, friend of the people,
and of their sports, would see them divested of their
vulgarity and villanies, and so recorded that they
should net offend the nicest ear; for it is a false
notion that even boxing, the most questionable of all,
is inseparable from blaekguardism and ruffianism.
Such are the intentions with which we commence
our task ; and we trust we shall succeed in the
attempt. Future papers will be devoted to stlgEfes
tions for " reviving many of our old sports, and piai
for the establishment of play-grounds and
„associations
apart from beer-shops, in villages and town; whilst
others will contain remarks on the evils of the present
system and the vices they lead to.—young Engiand.

MAN.—With reference to the Act
t hrrannEd ItisttEVoicFtoriaAv
,- chap. 43. by Which the trade be-
tween the Isle of Man and the United Kingdom is to be
deemed coastwise, except as to articles liable to duty, the
Commissioners of the Customs have caused directions to
be issued to their officers in London and at the several
otitpor ts of the kingdom, acquainting theta that it will
be requisite, in respect to the article of corn, that the
record of such unportaticns should still be kept up, con-
forluablv to the precedent established in the case of corn
imported from Ireland, as communicated to theta in the
Board's general order of February, 1830. The officers
of the several departments have, therefore, been in-
structed to take came that an exact account of all corn,
grain, meal, and flour imported from the Isle of Man be
recorded and included as heretofore in their periodical
returns of imports transmitted to the inspector-general
of imports and exports ; observing, that, if any quanti-
ties imported since the passing of the Act before-men-
tioned have been omitted iu the returns ulalch they
have already furnished to that officer, a special state-
ment, affording the necessary particulars in respect of
the quantities so omitted, is to be prepared and. forwarded
to the inspector-general with all practicable th‘pa cb.