Star.
London, England, 1810-04-05 00:00:00

YARMOUTH APRIL 4.

Yesterday, P.M. arrived in these Roads, to join the
ships sailed for the Baltic, the VANGUARD, 74 guns.
Two men of war are now (one P.M.) working into
these Roads. Sent in by the PANDORA, the Hoffisung,
J. P. 'rims, from the Texel, bound to France. 'Me
PRINCESS A uGysTA is appointed to take the trade from
this port to-morrow for Heligoland.

HARWICH, APRIL 3.
This morning sailed ror Heligoland the Beauvoir Packet,
Captain NORRIS, and the LARK, Packet, Captain Nayler, for
Gottenburgh, with Mails of the 30th ult. Sailed also the FR RE-
IMS bye-boat, S. HART, Master, for Heligoland, with goods
and passengers.
GAAvzsEND, APRIL 4.—No arrivals. Sailed the Lord Shef
told, Surr, for Trinidad ; Crescent, Gardner, for Madeira ; An
tonio for Teneriffe ; Harmony, Clapham, for Malta;
Dolphin, for Lisbon ; and the Comet, Kerr, for Rio
Janeiro.

INDIA.

The following is a List &the Passengers to Eng.
land in the undermentioned Ships :

PER LItAL STEW cr.—Mrs. Hirrington, Mrs, Prender.
gat, Mrs. Hewitt, hir. Kennedy, Mrs. Branson, Lieutenant-
Colonel Vesey, 2d bat. 10th Regiment Native Infantry, Mr.
&rote A. Kennedy, Mr. Turner, Assistant-Surgeon, 33d Re-
giment, Lieutenant Bette,worth, lstllat. 15th Regiment Bengal
2itive Infantry; Lieutenant Scott, 6th Native Regiment ; Lieu-
tempt R. G. Wilson, 14th Regiment ; Lieutenant M'Laron, 2d
bat. ath Regiment Native infantry ; Mr. R. Stanley, late Captain
Honourable Company's service; Mr. F. Godfrey, ditto, ditto ;
Slr. J. Jackson, late Lieutenant Royal Navy; Mr. James Murray,
aster Royal Navy ; Mr. G. A. Delvalle, late Midshipman of
the itinwici Castle ; Mr. Oxholm, and Mr. W. Garrison.—
Chliren, Misses F. Hewitt, Caroline de Grenier, Louisa Ann,
Amelia Martha Harrington, Dorothea Prendergast—Masters
limy Lyng Harrington, Harris, Thomas and John Prendergast,
=I Philip Anstruther.

Pt. s. Weir, Mrs. O'Reilly, Lieutenant• Colonel
Weir, Captain W. C Fraser, 10th Regiment Native Infantry ;
Lietnenaa; M.Clure, his Majesty's 2d bat. of Royals ; Lieutenant
C. 3oye, likla Regiment Native Infantry; Comet O'Reilly, 3d
Regiment Nazire Cavalry ; Mr. James Alexander Master, Royal
Navy; Mr. J. Chihon, and Mr. J. P. Inglis Free Mariner.—
Children, Misses Mary Jane Nuthall, and Meredith Maria We-
therill.

Pts WARREN HASTINGS.--Mll. Brown; Lieutenant T.
Truer, Engineers; Lieutenant White, sth Regiment Native In-
fantry; Lieutenant Robert Andoe, Royal Navy ; Lieutenant E.
Pillow, ditto; Mr. H. E. Suggate, Surgeon, ditto—Cliikireu,
Muses Martins Brown, Elias Casamajor Brown, and Adelaide
Wahalr—Alavers John Read Brown, and James Brown.
PER Boy N t.—Mrs. Strachan; Lieutenant Utterson, of the
lonlids; Lieutenant James Crosby, of the Royal Navy; Lieu-
tuant lames Stanton, ditto; Mr. Thomas Lewis, Surgeon, ditto,
Mr. Charles SclialL—C.hildren, Miss Anne Strachan and Master
I.mrachan.

Pic
I,Kovintsies.—Lieutenant C. Waddell, of the 21st Native
It-talent ; M.ijor Maitland, of the .51st Regiment ; Captain De-
I4onb, or :he Royal Artillery; Mr. Edward French, late Lieute-
cal: in Lis Majeity's Ist Ceylon Regiment.
CALCUTTA, JULY 24.
Attockce, the New Zealand Princess, and her bus-
liv.vi! at length a prospect of revisiting that
Government having provided them with ac-
on hoard the ship Union, about to sail.
New South Wales, whence frequent opportunity
Lolireyanee offers to the place of their destination.
l',le kindness and hospitality which these unfortunate
have experienced since their first arrival in
w.:11 be long and igratefully remembered
L. 7 Attockoc, in particular, has often been
to express a hope, that she may one day have
an n ppriunity of repaying the goodness of the kind

The state of public affairs on the coast requiring
the immediate presence of the Right Honourable the
Governor-General, his Lordship proceeds round in
the Dover frigate, accompanied by the Honourable
Company's ship General Stewart.
Jinx SO.—The Caroline frigate, which captured
the Streatham and Europe, obtained correct infortna-
acn respecting the fleet, by the previous capture cf
the American ship Silenus, which sailed in company
Nv itn the homeward-bound ships from Bengal. From
tx! ing-bnok of the Silenus, the enemy ascertained
npctly the number, the strength, and value of the
allerent ships composing the fleet.
A few days after the Victor separated from the
feet, she fell hi with the Silenus, then a prize to the
Caroline frigal2, and having a French pnze.master
no board, which she recaptured.
early in the course of last month, a party from
Colonel Ochterlony's detachment had a skirmish with
,-,'rne of the people of Runjeet's Tannah, -at one of
kt&elk villages on this side of the Sudedge. The,
not only refused to suit; our troops, with
but actually fired upon" m. The party was
c°rlsequence, detained a whole night befoie the
They received, in the mean time, a reinforce-
:r:ien,t from camp, and were preparing to assault-the
'4gs, in case the gates should not be opened a
,7-break. Runjeet's people, however, had taken.
lyevantage of the clink to make their escape, and in
2i.drn°rlong the gates were thrown open. One man
,k.., several horses belonging to our party were
"sided but no lives were lost.

LETTER
FROM Till RIGHT HON. LORD MILVILLi
TO TIIE RIGHT HON. SI,ENCER -131.11EEVAL.

We regret that the pressure of other matter pits
vents our giving such ample extracts from ti:is letter
as we could wish. The subject treated is of the first
importance—involving our very existence as a m3ri-
time power, and, consequently, as ' a free and inde-
pendent people :

Whnbledon,sth March, lai o.
" SlR—lmpressed with a sense of the urgent ne-
cessity of the measure of establishing an extensive
naval arsenal at Northfleet, I am anxious to state to
you the most prominent circumstances which have
brought tne tea decided conviction, that there is a
criminal neglect on the part of his Majesty's servants,
every hour thai there is any longer delay, in consi-1
dering and acting upon the information which has
been laid before his Majesty, respecting this great
national object. I shall briefly explain to you, the
reasons which, in consequence of the importance I
attach to the subject, have impelled me to address
you at the present moment.
It is not to be expected, that, amidst your other
various and extensive avocations, you can be minutely
acquainted with the details connected with this sub-
ject. You are however informed, that, in virtue of
the Patent under tile Royal Sign Manual, bearing
date the Bth of January, 1805, a Commission was
appointed to investrette aid report upon the whole
of the conduct of thei Civil Administration of the
Navy, which had not undergone any systematic in-
vestigation since the period, at the close of the 17th
century, - when the of York was Lord High
Admiral. The Commissioners, appointed under this
Patent, immediately commenced their labours, and,
between the Bth of January 1805, and the Bth of
Mardi 1808, they presented to his Majesty no less
than fifteen voluminous Reports.
44 Beforeproceediog to a. more minute explanation
of the proposition wiffs which I wish to impress you,
it is necessary I shobld. guard against the effects of a
mysterious Insinuation, which has been thrown out,
as if there were-some reason, whythis subject should
not be discussed, nor any information respecting it
given either to Parliament, or the public. 1 can only
express my astonishment that such an idea should
exist in any rational mind. No such secret exists,
nor can exist. The Commissioners of naval revi-
sion have never felt the propriety of any such con-
cealment, and they never practised it. A great na-
val authority has, in his place in the House of Lords,
announced the importance of the object, and the dan-
ger of delay. There is not an officer in his Majesty's
navy, nor the commander .13f the smallest trading
vessel in the kingdom, who is not in possession of
this secret, and of the existing dangers which I have
undertaken to detail to you. For my own part, I
cannot be guilty of such gross affectation, as to pre-
tend that I am not fully informed upon it. It is
more than two years, since I read every word of the
15th report, and I am in possession of extracts from
the most important parts-of it, and shall in the se-
quel have occasion to refer you to such passages as I
may think material to elucidate the proposition I
mean to enforce.

ge The following short statement will remind yon
of the establishment of the different Royal Dock yards
now existing in the kingdom. They are six in number,
beptford, Woolwich, Chatham, Sheerness, Ports-
mouth, and Plymouth :
" Deptford was built in the reign of Henry VIM under whose
sway, history tells us, this country possessed the first fleet com-
posed of ships of war, belonging to the King :. although I have
heard that some archives, recently discovored in the Tower,,prove
the existence of a fleet of that kind in the reign of the preceding
Monarch, Henry VII.
" Woolwich Yard was formed under the auspices of the same
Monarch.

" Chatham was founded by Queen Elizabeth, where the gun-
wharf now is, and where there was only one small dock ; but that
being too confined a spot, it was removed about the year 1622 to
its present situation.
" Sheerness was formed in the reign of Charles
" Portsmouth by henry VIII. being the third Dock-yard
founded by him.
" Plymouth by William 111. about the year 1691, and in 1693
money was voted by the House of Commons for completing it.
" The progressive advance of our Navy, will ap-
pear by attending to the following recital of its ton-
nage at different periods, from the reign of Henry
VIII. to the present time :
-

Year. Tons about.
"At the death of Henry VIII. - 1547 12,400
Edward VI. - 1553 11,000
Mary - - 15.58 7,000
Elizabeth - _ 1603 17,100
James I. 1625 19,400
Rebellion - 1641 22,400
Charles 1. - 1949 uncertain
At the Restoration* - - 1660 57,460
Death of Charles li. - 1685 103,658
Abdidation of James 11. 1688 101,900
Death of William 111. 1702 159,000 -
Anne - * 1714 167,170
George T. - 1747 170,860
George 11. - 1769 321,200
On the 31st December, 1788 . . 413,660
5806 - - 776,000
'X 1 609 - - 800,000
" Thus it appears, that, notwithstanding the vast
increase of our navy, not a single Dock-yard has been
added to it since the reign of William 111. about 119
years ago, at which time the tonnage of the Naval
Force of this -kingdom amounted to near 160,000 tons;
it is now near 800,000 tons, or about five times as large.
" And when we attend to the limited state of our
Navy in those ancient times, compared with the num-
ber of Dock-yards provided for its accommodation,
we must be ashamed to confess that, even then, more
attention was paid to those great national interests,
than we can boast of at the present period, when
every man is under the necessity of acknowledging,
that not merely our prosperity, but our existence as a
nation, depends on the preservation of opr. Maritime
superiority.-
It is true, that some enlargements-have been
made to our yards, within the space of time I am
speaking of. Some few Docks and Slips have been
added, andisome store-houses built ; but these' addi-
tions have by no means kept pace with the augmen-
tation of our Navy, and, unfortunately, in other very
important respects, (as I shall presently have occa-
sion
to spew), our Dock-yards have, of late years,
become less fit for the purposes of the navy than they I
were even at the time when our navy was upon a very!
small scale, both in point of number and in size of,
ships, and its wants more easily provided for, than
they can be at present.
" I now proceed to call your attention to the con-
:
• Cromwell is known to have paid great attention to the Navy.

sideiatiOn of the material defects which attend our
present Dotk-yards, as the most forcible ground for
i:nducing you to apply the only effectual reinedy,
b v the establishment of a new and extensive Naval

•
" The first great defect is the want of a sufficient
depth of water in the vicinity of the present Dock-
yards—a defect which is the more alarming from the
consideration that the same causes which have com-
bined to produce it, continue to operate, and to pro-
duce their highly injurious effects in an accelerated
de tee.
" The want of a sufficient depth of water at all the
principal dock-yards has been ascertained by the tur-
veys and xeports of Messrs. Rennie, Milne, Huddart,
and .letlop,
,able engineers, and by documents and
reports obtained from various authentic sources, as
well as by a comparison, in many cases, of soundings
recently taken, with those laid down on ancient maps
of authority, altogether forming a body of concurring
evidence, not only of the present deficiency of depth
of water, but also of the alarming fact or the har-
bours becoming rapidly more shallow, so as to threa-
ten speedily the total unfitness for large ships, of no
less than three out of the four Eastern yards of this
kingdom, namely those of Dept-Cord, Woolwich, and
I Chatham.

64 The gradual decay of the royal harbours of this
kingdom, and the diminution of depth of water, are
imputable to various causes : Ist, To the mud thrown
down by the floods-2d, To the deposition •ot sand,
and the mud from the tides-3d, To the numerous
mooring chains which intersect poi harbours and
catch the leaves and vegetable substances brought
down by the rivers which run into them-4th, To
the accretion of matter from decayed vegetables—
and, lastly, to the embankment of the mud lands
around or near the harbours, thus diminishing the
quantity of water whith flows in or ebbs out of the har-
bours, which of course occasitais 2 decrease of its ve-
locity, and thereby renders it less able to remove or
scour away the sand, mud, and gravel so deposited,
when it ebbs out of the harbours.
" It would occupy more of your time than neces-
sary, were I to enter into a minute description of the
degree in which each of the above causes has opera.
ted for many years past, and still is operating, to the
decay of the royal harbours of this kingdom. I have
therefore confined myself to the general result of the
whole, declaring, at the same time, that any state-
ment of mine will appear feeble in proportion as you
examine the subject more minutely, as it iv clucida-
ted by the Commissioners of Naval Revision, who
have never failed to refer to the authorities by which
their opinions are supported.
" The very pernicious consequences arising from
the want of depth of water in our Royal harbours,
are numerous and important—whether considered as
relating to the great expellees they give rise to, or the
delay which they occasion in the equipment of our
ships for service at sea. No ships of the line, fitted
out either at Deptford, Woolwich, Chatham, or Ports-
mouth, can receive their stores on board, without first
proceeding to a considerable distance from each of those
ports. Those fitted out at Deptford and Woolwich, I
must go to Long Reach, Northfleet, or Gravesend,
in order to lie in sufficient depth of water to admit of
their receiving their guns, stores, and provisions on
board : those fitted out at Chatham, must proceed to
Gillingham ; and those fitted out at Portsmouth, to
Spithead, for that purpose.
" In order, therefore, to supply-ships fitting out
for sea, with their guns, stores, and provisions, those
articles must first be put on board lighters and other
small craft, to carry them to their respective ships,
from which they are afterwards to be hoisted on board ;
sometimes the weather is such as not to admit of those
small vessels going off to the ships, and, when they
do reach them, the wind and sea are frequently so
high as to make it unsafe to venture alongside, for-the
purpose of delivering their cargoes on board the ships
in want of the supplies they contain: but, even in
the most moderate weather, and under the most fa.
vourable circumstances, the stores are subject to da-
mage and waste, in' being thus loaded and unloaded,
and transported from place to place in small vessels.
" The cost of the numerous craft necessary to
convey them from the Dock-yards, from the Ord-
nance wharfs, and from the Victualling premises;
the money expended in keeping those vessels in re-
pair, the expence of wages and victuals for their
crews ; all these circumstances combined, though not
capable of being accurately estimated, create a con-
stant annual expenditure to a very great amount.
" But, besides these unavoidable expences, arising
from the want of sufficient depth of water in the Royal
harbours of this kingdom, the depredationstowhich the
public stores of every description areexposed, is another
great disadvantage attributable to the same cause.—
When ships are first fitted out, there complements of
officers and men are rarely complete ; they are gene-
rally, indeed, very deficient in their proper numbers.
Regular watches, therefore, cannot always be kept,
and the facility of embezzlement is thus rendered. the
greater, when the ships are receiving their stores on
board, at a considerable distance from the dock-yards.
44 To such an extent, indeed, have depredations of
this nature been carried, that I can state from indis-
putable authority, that ships, fitted out and supplied
with all their stores from the magazines in the river,
and which ought to have lasted them eight months
at sea, have, on their arrival at the Nore, stood in
need of fresh supplies, the whole of their first stock
having been made away with."
Ills Lordship, after pointing out other inconvent'
encies at the time of outfit, points out evils of great
magnitude, experienced when ships come into port to
be docked, repaired, or paid off—and then states a
fact which, in our present circumstances, cannot but
excite an uncommon degree of anxiety for the speedy
establishment of a new Naval Arsenal :

44 I am borne out," says his Lordship, by the best
authority, in stating that if the number of ships
which we should not know where to place in safety
(in the event of peace) against another war, were
reckoned at 130 line of battle ships, 100 frigates, and
450 sloops, gun-brigs, and small vessels—total 680—
they would not be over-rated."
By some quotations given in this letter from the
15th Report (not yet printed), it appears that the
Commissioners have strongly recommended the esta-
blishment of a new Dock-yard. They express them-
selves thus:
44 But, we consider a new Dock-yard to be indispen-
sably necessary to supply the place of such of the
44 Eastern Yards, (Deptford and Woolwich) as are

" use of a Dock-yatd is requiredi arid are
<< even new 'Mgt for most o the purposes
dant be.
•for tle
" coming less adequate than the.k were formerly, to serve
" the purpose ot our Navy, even if it did not require
" more extensive means for its support, than it did a
" century ago. But, considering the increase which
" has taken place in the Navy of thii Kingdom within
" the last century—ztbe magnitude to which it -hag
' " now arrived—and the additional means Which will,
" in future, be required to support it—considering
" also how small a portion of those means the present
" Yards afford; and the vast additional expence, and
" numerous other disadvantages, which attend the
" present practice of making up for the deficiency of
a those Yards, by having recourse to Contractors,
ft for so large a part of the wants of the Navy, we .
" hate no hesitation in declaring our opinion, that,
" on every ground of true policy, prudence, and eco-
" nomy, no time shottld be lost in the construction of
" a new Dock-yard, of the first magnitude, in the
" most eligible situation."
His Lordship, after pointing out the inconveniences
attending the bad situation and other circumstances
of some of our present dock-yards, proceeds to state
the benefits that would result from the formation of
an extensive and powerful Naval Arsenal at North-
fleet.
The particular advantages of that situation may'
be thus described : that, without being situated so tar
up the Thames as to be subject to the inconveniences
to which Deptford and Woolwich are liable, from the
intricacy of the navigation of that river, it, is fir
enough from its mouth, to be sheltered from the effects
lof stormy weather ; that, it is on a weather shore, in
respect of the prevailing winds in this country that
there is sufficient depth of water to admit of ships of
the largest size sailing to or from 't, with all their
guns and stores on board, with any wind, if not too
strong ; that an abundant stream of excellent water
flows through the land in question, and in the most
convenient and desirable part of it ; that there will
be plenty of good brick earth, after leaving enough
of the excavated soil to raise the ground allotted fur
buildings to a sufficient height above the level of spring
tides; that the subsoil is of the most desirable kind
for making good foundations for docks and building;;
that it is not so far from the Metropolis as to render
larger vessels necessary to bring the stores from
thence, than what are now used in carrying them to
Deptford and Woolwich ; that the situation is ex-
tremely healthy, and in the midst of a fertile and pro-
ductive country ; that, from the natural advantages
of the surrounding ground, it is capable of a strong
defence, both on the side of the river and on that of
the land, thus not only being in a well-protected place
itself, but forming an advanced military protection to
the Capital ; that the extent of the level ground is
such as to allow of the arsenal being made en as large •
a scale as can now be desired, with the capacity tor
further ificrease hereafter, if ever it should be thought
necessary ; and, lastly, that the shape of the peninsula
is perhaps the most desirable and convenient for the
purpose of general arrangement that could 'be wished.
for."
On the expence which this great national object
may require his Lordship says :
66 Amidst all their other Investigations, the ques-
tion of expence, did not of course escape the atten:
tion of the Commissioners of Naval Revision, as you
will perceive, on an accurate examination of their
Report on this part of the subject; and I make no
doubt that the result of such an investigation will be
a conviction in your mind, that the object of economy
will go hand in hand, with the attainment of all the
other important advantages which I have stated.
" It was once in my contemplation to have entered
into a detailed discussion of this topic, but I found it
impossible to do so, without extending this letter to a
most inconvenient length. It would have been ne-
cessary to have minutely examined the comparative
expence, and durability of ships of the line, and of
all other classes built in a royal arsenal, constructed
with all the advantages of modern improvements for
the saving of labour, contrasted with a similar expen-
diture, both in the present dock yards, and in those of- •
private individuals; and it would have been neces-
sary to have estimated, in like manner, the immense
saving on almost every other article manufactured
for the use of the navy of this kingdom.
" Some of these heads of saving have been inves.
tigated by the Commissioners of Naval Revision,
and I shall therefore, in the first place, observe, on
their authority, that there is reason to expect, that,
supposing the expence of the new dock yard at North-
fleet, to amount to between Five and Six Millions,
saving, to that extent, will be effected every fifteen years,
on suck of the items of naval expenditure as they have
estimated ; but, there are numerous other very important
articles of comparative economy, which, though not
estimated minutely by those Commissioners, are men-
tioned by them, in general terms, as forming the
basis of considerable additional savings, beyond those
which they have comprized in their statement.—
Among these, the advantages to be derived from
mooring ships in wet docks, instead of in open road-
steads, as at present, are most forcibly urged ; and I
have no doubt you will find that the saving, which
would result from the proposed wet docks, in render-
ing unnecessary the expence, which must otherwise be
incurred, for moorings and bridles for fastening the
ships, and the wages and victualling of the men to
take care of them (none of whom are evergood sea-
men) cannot be stated, if all circumstances are con-
sidered, at much less than Three Millions more."

We cannot dismiss this extract without expressing
a hope, that a measure so indispensably requisite to
the safety of Great Britain, as that recommended in
this letter, will meet with a speedy adoption. The
expence is no object. The people, so far from grgdg•
ing it, will hail the demand as a peace offering for
numerous defalcations.

The extensive cotton mills of Messrs. Jenkins and
Cudford, Langley, Wilts, were entirely destroyed, by
fire on Tuesday morning. Several head of cattle were
destroyed, and such was the rapidity of the flames that
very little was saved. The fire was occasioned by the
negligence of a man setting fire tb some flax in the mill.
An alarming fire broke out on Tuesday morning in
1 Hull's-buildings, New-road, at the house of a milk-
I man, which consumed the same. An extensive tins-
' ber-yard hid caught the flames for a few minutes,
but providentially the fire was stopped before it got
to a great beightc

•
al*
Of