i:m '(IE, HARBOURS OF. 



REGALIA. 



100ft 



which the temperature would increase in descending would be about 

 sixty times M groat as at present ; that i, there would be an increase 

 of 1 * C. fi r little more than 1 foot nf depth." 



" It mutt be recollected that thin state of terrestrial temperature, if 

 due to the cause we are considering," that is, to the refrigeration of the 

 globe, " could onlv have existed at times which, even in a geological 

 KDM, must have been extremely remote. The important peculiarity 

 of this state of the earth would seem to consist in the simultaneous 

 existence of a superficial temperature, and therefore of climatal con- 

 ditions, very nearly the same as at present, with an internal tempera- 

 ture at the depth of a few hundred feet and upwards, immensely 

 greater than at present." 



With regard to the reason assigned by Poiason for the higher tempe- 

 rature below the surface of the earth and its changes, as cited above in 

 Dr. Whewell's observations, Mr. Hopkins remarks : " What may have 

 been the possible effect of this cause in the lapse of indefinite time, it 

 is impossible to say ; but I cannot understand how it could be very 

 considerable without a totally different distribution of the group of 

 tars to which the sun should belong, or the near approach of the solar 

 system to some individual star. The latter hypothesis, however, would 

 be inconsistent with the integrity of the solar system as it now exists, 

 if we suppose the proximity to any single star to become such as to 

 produce any material modification of terrestrial climate ; and perhaps 

 it may be difficult to conceive how the first hypothesis should escape a 

 similar objection. At all events it may be regarded as certain that 

 according to neither of these hypotheses can any considerable effects 

 have been produced by this cause on terrestrial temperature within the 

 later Tertiary period, and that we cannot thus account for the cold of 

 the glacial epoch." 



With respect to the third supposed cause of changes in the earth's 

 superficial temperature, we need not follow Mr. Hopkins, as it does 

 not belong to the subject immediately before us ; his masterly ex- 

 position of it will be found iu the papers already cited. For the 

 special history of the glacial epoch, we may refer to Sir C. Lyell's 

 ' Manual of Elementary Geology,' hfth edition, ch. xi. and xii. Mr. 

 Hopkins, in continuing his researches in physical geology, has inves- 

 tigated the effects due to the remains of the earth's " primitive heat ; " 

 an account of his results, together with the principal known facts of the 

 earth's internal temperature, will be given in the article TI:MI i u.\- 

 TURE. TEBBESTKIAL, DISTRIBUTION OF. 



REFUGE, HARBOURS OF. In the year 1840 a commission was 

 appointed " to visit the coast between the mouth of the Thames and 

 Selsea Bill ; to examine the ports on that coast with reference to their 

 being rendered available as places of shelter for vessels passing through 

 the Channel in cases of distress from weather, and also as places of 

 refuge for merchant vessels from enemies' cruisers in time of war, and 

 more especially as to their being made stations for armed steamers 

 employed for the protection of our trade in the narrow parts of the 

 Channel," The commission made a report, but no measures appear to 

 have been taken in consequence. 



A select committee of the House of Commons on shipwrecks, in a 

 report presented in 1843, recommended the formation of harbours of 

 refuge in the British Channel, at the same time stating that they 

 refrained from pointing out any particular situations for such harbours, 

 from a conviction that such situations would be best decided by a 

 body of scientific and experienced persons whose attention should be 

 specially and exclusively directed to the subject. 



On the 2nd of April, 1844, the Lords of the Treasury, on the 

 suggestion of Sir Robert Peel, then First Lord of the Treasury, 

 appointed a commission consisting of twelve experienced naval and 

 military officers and civil engineers to inquire into the most eligible 

 situations for a harbour or harbours of refuge in the Channel. 



The report of the commissioners is dated August 7, 1844, and was 

 presented to the House of Commons pursuant to an address dated 

 March 6, 1845. The treasury minute under which the commissioners 

 acted assigned three principal objects of investigation : 1 , the selection 

 or formation of harbours of refuge for the safety and convenience 

 of vessels navigating the Channel ; 2, that in times nf war, such 

 harbours might become stations for ships of war ; 3, the expense of 

 constructing new works, as compared with the public advantages likely 

 to result from such works. The cummissioners express their unani- 

 mous conviction that additional means of protection for the south- 

 eastern coast of England are absolutely necessary. The harbours 

 between Portsmouth and the Thames are only tidal harbours, and 

 none of them are at present accessible to large steamers. The report 

 recommends certain ports and positions as harbours of refuge and 

 roadsteads, and certain breakwaters and military defences iu con- 

 nection with them, so as not only to afford shelter to merchant ships, 

 but also to provide means by which, with the advantages of steam by 

 sea, and railroads and telegraphic communication by land, the naval 

 and military force of the country may be thrown on any point of the 

 south-eastern coast in a few hours. 



The following harbours and positions were especially examined : 

 Foreness, near the North Foreland ; Ramsgate ; the Brake, or Small 

 Downs ; Dover ; Dungvness ; Beachy Head, Eastbourne, and Sea- 

 ford ; Newhaven ; Portland and Weymouth ; Harwich Harbour. Of 

 the.*: plices lour are selected, Dover. Seaford, Portland, and Harwich, 

 of which the commissioners estimated the expense required for the 



construction of the works which they recommended as follows: 

 n.wiiif. ; Seaford, l,25l\00l>/. ; Portland, 600.00W. ; 

 Harwich, 50,000V. It was recommended that Dover Bay should be 

 converted into a Urge harbour by means of breakwaters, with an area 

 of 520 acres up to low-water mark, and an entrance 70U feet wide on 

 the south front and another 150 feet wide at the east end. Its situation, 

 four miles and a half from the Goodwin Sands, and standing out 

 favourably to protect the navigation of the narrow seas, is peculiarly 

 suitable as a station for a squadron of ships of war. It was recom- 

 mended to construct a breakwater in Seaford Road, for the protection 

 of trade and as a station for armed vessels. Portland, as the boundai y 

 of the narrow part of the Channel, and with reference to the Channel 

 Islands, was recommended as another station for a squadron. Tin- 

 construction of a breakwater there, it was stated, would be easy, < 

 and expeditious, as a large part of the island facing the bay is crown 

 property, and contains abundance of stone : the holding-ground is 

 exceedingly good, and the island has abundance of water for the supply 

 of ships. The island ha great natural advantages for defence, and for 

 the formation of a naval and military depot during war to any extent 

 that may be required. Harwich Harbour, formed by the junction of 

 the rivers Stour and Orwell, was stated to have sufficient depth of water 

 and good holding-ground over an extent capable of containing many 

 hundred ships. By the construction of a breakwater and dredging to 

 get rid of certain shoals, the commissioners considered that it might be 

 converted into one of the finest and most useful harbours in tin 

 kingdom. 



The military members of the commission recommended that case- 

 mated batteries should be constructed on the breakwaters themselves, 

 supported by defences on the shore flanking the approaches to the 

 breakwaters and harbours. 



Such is a sketch of the report upon which our government ban 

 acted, and in some of its details it is so utterly ridiculous that tin- 

 nation has reason to blush for the appearance our official science innst 

 bear in the eyes of foreigners ; nor hare the results actually attained 

 by the works executed been much superior to the so-called scientific 

 reasoning on which they were based. The works at Harvviel 

 been completed, and already the laws of the tides on this part of tin- 

 coast have produced the silting-up which ought to have been foreseen. 

 At Dover, the works proceed slowly and with difficulty ; but already 

 it has been found that they have produced an alteration in the 

 flow of the littoral current, and in the advance of the shingle, 

 which has endangered the stability of the present shore of the 

 west side of the bay. Any one accustomed to watch the action of 

 marine currents must have known that such would have been the 

 case ; but then such a person would never have dreamt of judging 

 these questions by the analysis of some bottles of sea-water. Sir W. 

 Syinonds was perfectly correct in his view of the question, and if it 

 were necessary that a great expense should be incurred in the formation 

 of a new harbour of refuge on this coast, it should be plan 

 Dungeness, or at the mouth of the Ouse, near Newhaven without, of 

 course, neglecting the improvement of Dover harbour. The works at 

 Portland have been more successful than those at Dover, or at Har- 

 wich, or at Alderney ; and those undertaken at Holyhead seem at 

 present to enjoy a very equivocal reputation. 



Meanwhile the want of harbours of refuge on the south and the 

 east coast of England continues to be felt ; for between the Tyne and 

 the Humber, and between the Humber and the Thames, there is no 

 safe refuge ; nor can a vessel of great draught of water find any shelter 

 in the British Channel between the Solent and the Thames. This is a 

 national question ; and it is one which it behoves our legislature at 

 once to grapple with, in the interest of our now unprotected com- 

 mercial marine. 



The commission of 1840 recommended three places as suitable for 

 harbours of refuge Dover, as first in importance ; Beachy Head, as 

 second ; and Foreness, as third. 



(Report of the Commissioners upon the Subject of ffarboun of Refuge, 

 1845.) 



REGALIA, the ensigns of royalty. This term is more especially 

 used for the several parts of the apparatus of a coronation. In 

 England, the regalia properly so called are the crown, the sceptre royal, 

 the virge, or rod with the dove, St. Kdward'a staff, the orb or mound, 

 the sword of mercy, called Curtana, the two swords of spiritual and 

 temporal justice, the ring of alliance with the kingdom, the armilke 

 or bracelets, the spurs of chivalry, and sundry royal vestments. The 

 regalia here enumerated, all but the vestments, are preserved in the 

 Jewel-Office in the Tower of London. Before the Reformation, in the 

 time of Henry VIII., they were constantly kept by the religious of 

 the abbey of Westminster ; and are still presented before the king on the 

 morning of the coronation by the dean and prebendaries of that church. 



In 1649 a complete inventory was made out of the regalia in the 

 Tower, a copy of which may be seen in the additional notes to Taylor's 

 ' Glory of Regality,' 8vo., Lond., 1820 ; subsequent to which it is 

 stated that the crowns, according to order of parliament, were " totallie 

 broken and defaced." On the restoration of kingly government in the 

 person of diaries II., new insignia were made for his coronation, and 

 these, with the necessary alterations to accommodate them to their 

 successive wearers, and to repair the injuries of time, have continued 

 to the present day. 



