22 MAY 1830, Page 8

THE NAVY.

THE MRCS has very usefully called attention to the state of our Navy, and quoted the opinions of eminent professional authorities respecting the inefficiency of the superintending administration. The great defect seems to he referable to the absence of a directing system. It is impossible to see any half-dozen ships of war with- out perceiving how much more depends on the character of the captain than should be left dependent on the disposition of an in- dividual. On board of one ship, the rules of the service are ob- served, and that is all—no point of skill is cultivated ; the com- mander has no pride in his ship, barely exacts the performance of duty, and communicates his own indifference to the whole ship's company. In another ship, a coxcombry in regularity and mi- nute attentions prevails—it is a vessel of a sort of tooth-picking and nail-paring occupation. The crew are trained to all niceties, lay and coil ropes as dandies set their curls, and in short, work as abigails to the toilette of a man-of-war. In a third ship, again, the captain studies preparation for action : the people arc adepts in the business of all manoeuvres, and crack marksmen with the great-guns. Where there an be these and many more variations, there must be a great want of that system which should produce a generally uniform result of disciPline and skill. The essential is commonly nectlected for the formal, the substance for the dress ; and in all martial services the arms anpear to be the last things studied. Our soldiers are • admirably buttoned up ; they march, wheel, and dress with excellent precision ; and are only unexercised in bail practice. How to throw their lire, is the only part of their business which is thought nOt worth preparation and the expense of powder and ball. In the Navy, skill in the exer- cise of the great-guns is indeed required, and some rules exist for the attainment of it ; but the different degrees of deficiency and proficiency on board of different ships, show that the controlling regulation is yet insufficient.

• On this subject the Times quotes the following statement.

" Another most important point to which too little attention has been paid since the peace of 1815, is our Artillery practice. There can be no

doubt that our reverses during the American war are to be attributed, not only to the great superiority of the ships we engaged, but to the imperfect 911 ann e in which our Ittlicers and torn hail been Grained to the use of their guns. It will, perhaps, hardly be credited hereafter, that there was at that time no regular system of exercise established by authority in the British Navy, but that each ship had its own particular plan and method, varying, of course, according to the experience and degree of information possessed by the captain, as well as to the degree of importance which he attached to the subject. I need not detail the fatal negligence which too often pre- vailed, and which becatte only known in its full extent by its unfortunate results. At the conclusion of the peace, however, the officers of the Navy Were unanimous and urgent for the immediate adoption of a better sys- tem, and various suggestions were offered to the Admiralty as to the best method of proceeding. Assuming, as appeared most probable, that our ships would be almost entirely in port, some recommended an exercising- ground at each naval arsenal, in which the crews of the guard-ships, &c., might be regularly trained ; others preferred a ship fitted for this purpose ; but all concurred in the necessity of establishing some uniform practice. In 1817, Sir H. Douglas, an officer who combines an hereditary interest in the welfare of that service which owes so much to his father, with all that science and experience in war can afford, laid before the Board of Admiralty a most valuable work, containing a series of suggestions on this subject, which, if they had been properly attended to and acted upon, must have placed our system of Artillery exercise on a very different footing from that on which it at present stands. It does not, however, appear that be- tween 1817, when he first offered his manuscript work to the Board of Ad- miralty, and 1819, when he requested their permission to publish it, any attention was paid to the valuable suggestions with which it abounds, be- yond issuing, by authority, a sort of uniform manual exercise for the great guns ; and until 1827; when his Royal Highness the Duke of Clarence be- came Lord High Admiral of England, I was not able to observe that any effectual steps were taken to introduce or enforce such a regular system of Artillery practice, especially amongst our ships on the home stations, as might enabl, us to keep:pace with the improvements rapidly introducing amongst our maritime rivals.

" During his Royal Highness's short administration, much was Un- doubtedly accomplished by his own frequent personal inspections of the ships in commission, and the attention he paid to every thing which re- spected their Artillery ; but he was unfortunately too short a time in office to establish any material or permanent improvements in this part of our system; and I cannot therefore do better than give my readers in this place, and as nearly as possible in Sir H. Douglas's own words, a sketch of the plan which he, twelve years ago, suggested to the Admiralty, which, at the moment, appears to have been received with entire appro- bation, but which since that time has n'ot (as far as I can learn) been thought worthy of further consideration."

The writer goes on to argue, that in the war our comparative superiority over the French in naval gunnery encouraged an opi- nion of skill in that important point, which was in fact very de- fective ; as appeared when we were matched against an enemy whose newness in arms was a cause of anxious attention to address in every department connected with the management of them. If comparisons between ship and ship in point of gunnery were frequently made, and the higher promotion of the .Captain and First Lieutenant were understood to depend upon the sufficient dexterity of their crews in all essential duties, the conditions of ships would soon be brought nearer to a proper level. All intelligent officers whom we have heard speak on the subject, complain of the unwillingness of the Admiralty to encourage im- provements, and their bigoted adherence to old usages. Among other instances, we have seen it stated, that Sir HENRY HE ATH- COATE'S triangular or jib stay-sails with difficulty procured a trial, and though at last tried and found successful, have hitherto been denied adoption. The old stay-sail is agreed to be bad, but con- tinued merely because it is the old stay-sail ; for the wisdom of ancestors preserves its sanction on board a ship, as well as in places of sager pretension.