, 1865-03-17

batteries OF every battery armoured and
unarmoured of the British iron-clads,
some to every vessel, and that with the
full and avowed knowledge that they
will not penetrate the sides Of an equally
armoured opponent. So that 'if the
emphatic deniaIs put before Parliament
as TO the intended use of these guns
against iron plates be true, then the Wa Of
flee, by its own Under-Secretary stands,
self,convicted of an expenditure of GER
tainly not less than G3, 600, 1000 for mo-
dern improved guns, Of which no single
class ordered were so much as intend
ed 10 arm the fleet for modern war; and,
consequently, EugIand's Navy, for any
such purpose, is now '~unarmed,' not by
gross mismanagement only, but by long,
wilfuI and culpabIe neglect" To which
stern accusation Rear-Admiral L. Pellew
Halsted signs his name, thereby stalking
all his professional reputation, to say MOTH
ing of putting in the direst jeopardy all
his professional hopes, on the accuracy
of his Indictment. We do not fear great
-. Iy the preparations made on the other
side Of the Atlantic or the proves of an
American commander who is so fond of
riding before his horse to market; but
we own that we have the utmost dread Of
the ]caIlous lmpudence Of our W Naval
administrations, putting us off with shams,
in the hope that they will not be exposed
TO a terrible trial before they are replaced
by something else, and the waste of their
cost is forgotten. wv are not terrified
by the Yankee fleet, but we are "horribly
afraid" of the seIfsatisied official humbug
that serves to mar our own. Admiral
Porter could not brave the British feet
as it easily might be, but, with the help
of our perverse n~oodledom, we will not
answer as to what he might do with it as
it is.
We should have no right to suppose or
to suspect this wretched betrayal Of our
strength, even with all the experience of
our disastrous unreadiness in former wars,
the effect Of the very prcsumptuous effete-
ness now alleged, eyen with such an au-
thentic document before us as Admiral
HalSted's letter, but for the corroborative
circumstances which are continually aris-
ing to show US how the strength of our
Navy Is Sapped by the corruption of class
preferences. On the very same day APP
pears a letter from Captain Sherard Os-
borne, giving US the true motive that
makes him so eager to employ the dis
tinguiShcd energy of the Naval service in
Arctic adventure. He wishes to open
some path to distinction which oligarchic
caste will not attempt to monopolise. He
discIaims all personal views in the adven-
ture. "My field Of fame, for some years
to come" he writes, "wiIl lie in a very
different direction; bat, whether in India
or in England, | should be false to my
profession and to that branch of it which
has saved me and so many others, not
born to the good things ofthe Royal Navy,
from being to-day poor half pay lieute-
nants, if failed to urge that the road to
advancement which lies through the con-
slant employment of expeditions for the
purpose Of geographical research should
be always left open to the Joneses, Browns
and Robinsons of the service" He adds
that he does not deny that the success of
such an expedition would interfere with
the usual patronage of the Admiralty, and
that that may be a reason why such ex-
petitions are unpopular at Whitehall.
And he concludes; after mentioning the