1830.] Naval Affairs of Great Britain. CM 



But, as we have already said, the Navy, which ought to be the prin- 

 cipal consideration of government, is scarcely ever thought of by our 

 military rulers. Lord Byron said that 



Nelson was once Britannia's god of war, 



And still should be so, but the tide is turn'd ; 

 There's no more to be said of Trafalgar, 



'Tis with our hero quietly inurn'd ; 

 Because the Army's* grown more popular, 



At which the naval people are concern'd ; 

 Besides, the Prince is all for the land-service, 

 Forgetting Duncan, Nelson, Howe, and Jervis." 



It is, we suppose, to this decline and fall in the good graces of the 

 high and mighty, that the peace establishment of our navy is suffered 

 to continue in so shabby a state. Let us hear what was said on this 

 subject, four years ago,, by an able naval officer (Captain A. J. Griffiths), 

 whose pamphlet on Impressment, from which the following passage is 

 derived, has had little more than a private circulation, having, oddly 

 enough, been published at Cheltenham, which is not precisely the kind 

 of watering-place favourable to the sale of a work on maritime affairs ! 

 We shall be doing a public service, if we can contribute to raise the 

 very able production of Captain Griffiths from unmerited obscurity. 

 Mr. Hume, in particular, should " read, mark, learn, and inwardly 

 digest it." 



" It is self-evident that the demand for seamen on the commencement of war, 

 must be in proportion to the numbers employed in the peace ; and the effects of 

 revulsion on the first burst of war, from the very great supply necessary to be 

 taken from the merchant's service, must be so pressing, as to render it highly 

 important to reduce its numbers as far as can possibly be done. Dependence on 

 the impress to man our fleets, and the reduction of expense during peace, have 

 induced the naval establishment to be placed on the very lowest scale which 

 national safety, and the care of our numerous colonies, would possibly permit. 

 Another reason also for an addition to our present numbers has also been given, 

 in the chapter on " The Inefficiency of future Impress/' among which the pro- 

 bably lessened number of foreigners in our service is a material consideration. 

 We are not sanguine of obtaining consent to such an augmentation as in our 

 opinion would be wise. The navy, which should be the last, has ever been the 

 first service visited by reduction. Lulled in the security of peace, the present 

 saving is all that is considered ; forgetting the old adage of ec penny wise and 

 pound foolish." It is too self-evident to admit of a doubt, that every increase of 

 numbers employed in the peace, correspondingly reduce the demand on the com- 



* On this subject Admiral P. observes, " I am far from wishing to draw invidious com- 

 parisons, or to repine at the superior advantages enjoyed by our sister profession, which 

 leads to, instead of excluding from, the highest honours of the state; yet 1 cannot but see 

 that our naval departments are degenerating into political engines, and the smallest possible 

 number of professional men permitted to take part in their deliberations. 



" Let me only contrast this system with that pursued in our military offices. At the 

 Horse Guards the commander-in-chief is a general officer : all his staff, adjutants and 

 quarter-master-general, and their deputies, military secretary, &c. are exclusively military. 

 The secretary-at-war is a colonel in the army ; the whole of the Board of Ordinance, 

 master-general, lieutenant-general, surveyor-general, &c. &c. are all military men ; not a 

 single naval officer is admitted, although all the alterations and experiments on naval 

 ordnance are tried at Woolwich, and (as I have heard) very great unnecessary expense often 

 incurred from the want of that information which professional experience can alone afford ; 

 all the minor branches, comptrollers of army accounts, &c. are equally filled by valuable 

 officers, whose previous habits peculiarly qualify them for the duties of their station ; but 

 when we turn our eyes towards our naval departments, what an extraordinary contrast do 

 they present !" 



