The Etoile, a French Ultr...
The Times, 1824-03-16T00:00:00

The Eloile, a lrenchUl t7ra new-papaer, is, it seems, anxious to go once more a crusading. And wvhat is the new enemy about to be attacked by the Etoile ? Nothiing but the British navy! that's all. The poor writer has gone raying mad, because the Ministers of the Spatiish con- s-itution were fools, andl its Gencrals, with one or two ex- ceptions, traitors; whence the Etn'ole very logically con- clutlea, that the men of war of Englan! are rotting in her ports, and that a BoUIaBos Cabinet need only speak the word, to " cover the seas witfi the French Rag." and of coursc to chase away the flag of Great Britain from the ocean.0 *N-ot being particularly mnoved bv aniger oin such occasionqs eve shall not enter the lists of controversy with an antagonist like this wiseacre of the Efoile. We shall not so far forget what is due to the sense and gallant spirit of a neighbauring nation, as to put those Frenchmen w'no are .,ot lunatics on a level with one who is little less ; nor can we prevail on ourselves to wound their prile for the sakc of chastising his currisli insolence. If the Councils of' France were capable of being ruled bv politicians giftedl tith no better rmemorier. or with no more exemplirv pmn- ,dence, .han the Etoile, we would only beg to assure them. lhat -Mur ships are not rotting in their several h,trbo,ars-that if the French, or any otherPower, should fancy our lueO of war to be fou ftnt for the task as- signed to them. Englanid has an 'awkward custom of adding to her Navy List a numnber of ships which have not been built in English dock-yards, and which, there- fore, may not possess toat unlucky predisposition to the lry rot, which the Etile so charitably deplores. It is true, we would remind a forgetful French Minister, that mnen Or war, once French, did indeed " cover" the ocean dluring all the latter period of that war, the first naval hattle of whicb was fougbt by Lord HowE, and the last by Lord NFLSOn ; but if the vemsels of France covered the occan in security, it was after Itkey 'were coveredI by a Bri- tish flag; f'3r under no flag hnt that of Britain ce,ulA a French-built ship, froni a three-derker to a gun-hoat, dare to show herself beyond her own port. with any greater ,ha,co of escApe than a crow pounced at by an eagle. If, ag.in, it were necessary tro lecture a foolish French- man like the E/oile, on the manning of the Bri- tish f'eet,. vw would remindl hbim, that in the worst seasons of imprCiSMent and ill discipline, our ineffi- cient and dissatisfied crews contrivqd some how or other to dt the business. flt"t we do not teny, far from it, that grcat, extensive, and well-cansiderod alterations ought to be mawle, anti Irronpflty, iit the mode of obtaining seanmen-in their treatment while they -ssrve-in their con-, dition afterwards, and in the general encouragements held out to them; otherwise the country may, in an evl1 hour, find that she has neither the hands nor hearts on which alone she can reckon for lher safety. Parliament must take up this vital subject-the sooner it is dispose(d of the better for the Stste - if left to Boards of Admiralty, nothing de- cislve will ever be attempted-if to those wbo boast of being, what they call themselves, " practical men," nio com- prehensive view will ever be taken of the fit relations be- tween the sca4ferin_cmnmuit and the country.