The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-04-11 00:00:00

THE BALTIC FLEET.

Sir Charles Napier's "order of the day" has been com-
municated by telegraph.: It is as follows ;
" SIR DIIARLES RAPIER'S ADDRESS, MADE BY SIGNAL, TO
THE FLEET IN RIDGE RAY.
" Lads,—War is declared. We are to meet a bold and
numerous enemy. Should they offer us battle, you know
how to dispose of them. Should they remain in port, we
must try to get at them. Success depends upon the quick-
ness and precision of your fire. Lads, sharpen your cut-
lasses, and the day is your own."
Some of the gallant admiral's friends regard this as
worthy to be placed alongside of the signal of the immortal
Nelson—others insist that it was cut and dried at the
Reform Club banquet. The style is certainly after-dinner-
-like, and the construction of the short-breath sentences
looks hic-cuppy. It will be remarked that the "lads" are
told that " success depends upon the quickness and preci-
sion of their fire ;" therefore the "lads are to sharpen
their cutlasses, and the clay is their own." This puts one
in mind of the famous comedy of the Rivals, in which cut
and thrust pistols and double-barrelled swords are recom-
mended, We shall next expect to hear of an order sent
home from Sir C. Napier for a supply of these well-known
weapons for the use of the fleet.

TIIE DEATH of .Sir Richard Armstrong, colonel of the
32d Regiment, and late Commander-in-Chief at Madras,
took place on his passage to England.
APPROA.CIIING Mkanl AGES are announced between the
Earl of Mountcharles, eldest son of the Marquis Conyng-
ham, and the Lady Jane St. Maur Stanhope, daughter of
the late Earl of Harrington ; the Hon, Augusta Chiches-
ter, sister of Lord Templemore, and Robert Edward King,
Esq., grandson of Viscount Lorton; and the Hon. Miss
Hobhou.se, daughter of Lord Broughton, and Captain
Carleton.

E LIVERPOOL STANDARD, AND GENETIAL COMMERCIAL ADVERTISER.

possessed by the (jape settlements, in climate, fer-
tility, salubrity, and situation, and the vast amount
of capital which here is almost unproductive might
there be beneficially employed in plantations and
other establishments, by which employment would
be secured to the poorer class of settlers and com-
mercial intercourse promoted. As a station for
raising provisions for ships' use, it can hardly be
equalled ; and, if its resources are still further
developed by raising supplies of wine, cotton, and
other products, under efficient management, Cape
Colony, including Algoa Bay and Natal, will be by
no means among the least important of the British

possessions.
We alluded, last week, to the attempts which
had been made to obtain a supply of cotton from
India, and the difficulties with which the question
was surrounded, owing to the baleful system of
management pursued by the East India Company.
Another great want is a more ample supply of Tea,
which experience has proved may be cultivated
with great success in the district of Assam. Use
has rendered this article almost a common neces-
sary of life, and we are under no such particular
obligations to the Chinese people as to confine our
immense demand to them, if we can obtain it from
our own possessions. If tea were cultivated to a
large extent in India, it would necessarily give
profitable employment to considerable capital, and
greatly increase the consumptive demand for our
exports, which is now chiefly confined to the ser-
vants of the East India Company. What is re-
quired is the breaking up of that exclusive system,
by which all independent exertions have been fet-
tered, and the opening up of the vast resources of
this magnificent Empire to the capital, the enter-
prise, the skill, and the industry, by which English-
men have become virtually the masters of ihe-globe,
and the pioneers of civilization, extending the arts
of commerce and the blessings of Christianity
amidst Pagans and barbarians.
Our exertions for the increase of British Com-
merce need not be confined to the dependencies of
the Crown, but may be extended in other directions,
with manifest advantages to both parties. How
little has been done to avail ourselves of the vast
facilities for successful trading afforded by the
numerous islands in the Indian Archipelago and
the fierce Malay races, although the individual
enterprise of Sir JAMES BROOKE, the Rajah of
Sarawak, would show how much may be done by
judgment and enterprise. Almost alone, he boldly
ventured among a 'race which had been noted for
their ferocious violence, and devoted himself so
earnestly to the work, that he became the indepen-
dent sovereign of .a petty state ; and we have now
the advantage in the supply of a substance called
gutta percha, which, for its applicability to almost
every purpose, is perhaps surpassed by none. The
same locality presents an almost exhaustless field
for enterprise of a similar nature, and from which
we have hitherto been deterred through fear of the
savage violence which had long made those seas a
terror to peaceful traders. The example of Rajah
BROOKE should not be without its uses, and, now
that his gdllantry, aided by the British navy, has
struck a blow at the piracy which formerly raged
there to such a fearful extent, some progress may
be made in•availing ourselves of the opening, and
the wholesome dread of the British arms, to show
these people the advantage's of mutual interchanges
of products. There are few insensible-to the desire
of gain, When restrained from acts of violence ;
and, though it would not be exactly a realisation
of the old•formula of conversion—the Bible in one
hand, ancl,a sword in the other—it might at least
be a proffer of friendly negotiations under the pro-
tection of sufficient force to repel violence or
treachery. America has already commenced oper-
ations to extend her trade in this neighbourhood
by the expedition which is to compel the EMPEROR
of JAPAN to open his ports to their merchant ves-
sels ; and it will be seen that not many years will
elapse before she will prove a powerful rival to us
in those seas, which the eminent commercial spirit
of the SpaniSh and Portuguese found so profitable.
Great Britain must, therefore, not be behind, for,
though, in the first place, there will be many diffi-
culties to overcome, our means are ample, if we
have but the to employ them.