1830.] Naval Administration of Great Britain. 625 



Scotch economist,, whose eloquence knows no bounds when demonstrating 

 the value of a ha'porth of twine and a penn'orth of tar ; a Land lord or 

 two., always at sea upon professional points, and a sea-]ord lording it 

 over the lords of the land. But Admiral Penrose's pamphlet is 

 a formidable criticism on this dramatic performance; and it will go nigh, 

 we think, to damn it, notwithstanding the long run it has enjoyed. 

 " If," says the Admiral, "any of those members of the House of Com- 

 mons who watch vigilantly over the public expenditure do me the 

 honour to read these pages, let me advise them to scrutinize our Navy 

 Estimates more rigidly than they have hitherto been accustomed to do, 

 to call for more detailed accounts, and to ascertain satisfactorily in what 

 manner the sums voted have been actually expended ; whether in the 

 repair and construction of those classes of ships which I have recom- 

 mended, or in improvident and injudicious expenses on those of inferior 

 and objectionable descriptions. Above all, let me advise them not to be 

 silenced or mystified by any official replies which they do not perfectly 

 understand ; and to be assured that there is nothing mysterious or unin- 

 telligible in naval affairs where a disposition exists to explain them 

 openly and candidly." This is well put ; and we wish that the Admiral 

 had, in pursuance of his own recommendation, been a little more candid 

 in the style of his own pamphlet, and had not suffered himself to be se- 

 duced into little flatteries, which involve him in ludicrous dilemmas, and 

 which are utterly inconsistent with the bold tone of reprehension every 

 now and then assumed by him. In page 2 of his pamphlet, Sir Charles 

 says, " I am perfectly aware, that at no period of peace was the British 

 Navy, in many points, in so satisfactory a state, or in better preparation 

 for any sudden emergency." This is not true, as we shall presently 

 show : but how is the reader to reconcile it to the following words, oc- 

 curring in the very succeeding page ? '" I write with all the advantages 

 which my having been an eye-witness of former errors and mismanage- 

 ments can confer. I remember the commencement of the two last wars 

 in 1778 and 1793 ; and the circumstances which I shall presently state 

 will, I think, convince my readers that, at both the above-named periods, 

 many opportunities of achieving brilliant successes were lost, and in- 

 calculable injury was inflicted by our enemies on our commercial marine, 

 in consequence of the vicious system which at that time prevailed to the 

 greatest, extent, and which is even now far from being totally eradicated" 

 Far, indeed ! We are now in a worse condition, as regards our navy, 

 than at any former period of peace. In the first place, English seamen, 

 in those days, never thought of emigrating to America ; they were to 

 be had in shoals upon the most sudden extremity. Not so now. It is 

 true that twenty thousand blue-jackets might be raised in the short space 

 of a fortnight ; but it is not every man who wears a blue jacket that can be 

 considered a thorough seaman. There is no nursery in the present day 

 for British seamen ; and instead of our merchant-ships being navigated 

 by the men of our own shores, the prevailing rage for economy induces 

 our ship-owners to provide their vessels with seamen of any and almost 

 of every nation on the globe Danes, Swedes, Portuguese, Negroes, 

 Lascars, and we may add even Chinese, those coy Asiatics from the ce- 

 lestial empire ! 



In reference to the Admiral's compliment touching the present state of 

 effectiveness of our ships on the peace-establishment (we particularly al- 

 lude to those of the line called " guard-ships"), we may observe that those 

 M. M. New Scries. VOL,. IX. No. 54. 4 L 



