26 JANUARY 1839, Page 14

BARROW'S LIFE OF ANSON.

AMONGST the literary drawbacks attending the mechanical facilities of printing, announcing, and distributing books, must be reckoned the prejudice in favour of making them of a certain bigness. When a work circulated only in manuscript,—or even when news- papers were few, communications slow, and every thing was done in a leisurely manner,—a man who had any thing to tell, told it without eking out essential inatter by all the eircumhendibuses re- lating to it. For at one sera, the nature of the impression rendered the smallest volumen of a tolerable size ; and in a later age, the rarity of appearance made people satisfied with a thin book, though a close examination might show that compositions increased in length with the material means of making them long. Hence, the biographies of classical times arc so brief, that many would be short for a magazine article ; JOHNSON'S Lives of the Poets, including the elaborate criticisms, arc not longer than the "Life of Charles Mathews, Comedian," will be, if so long ; and the letters of Cientto, public and private, diffuse and self-complacent as the great orator was, do not probably contain more type than one volume of the Duke of WELLINGTON'S " Despatches."

Dad Sir Jonx BARROW undertaken the Life of ANSON in the good old times, we suspect the result would have been a substantial pamphlet, instead of a bulky octavo of more than 400 pages : for he tells little more of his hero than was known already, and that little chiefly relates to his administration at the Admiralty,—the energy of which, tradition and anecdote have attributed to time elder Pimr. Nor, indeed, does there appear to he much known to be told, notwithstanding all the researches of Sir Joins, and the public and private advantages which his position gave him. It is known that ANsox was born in 1097 ; but it is not known where he was educated, or how ; though it is suspected, from his aversion to writing, and other circumstances, that his scholastic acquirements were meagre. His entrance into the navy, and his earlier service, are buried in a like obscurity ; but dates show that he was ap- pointed Lieutenant in 1717, and Commander in 1722. From this period till his celebrated voyage round the world, his life was spent in different ships upon foreign stations : but the only incidents of the whole time are, that he seized a seditious fellow at Carolina, and made himself very agreeable when stationed there ; the only evidence of it being two letters—one from a colonist to ANSON when Lord of the Admiralty, apparently fishing for something; the other from a lively and agreeable but - not very profound- judging lady, who saw " Captain ANSON at balls, plays, Con- certs," &c. and " sometimes " conversed with him. The disasters, losses, mortality, and disappointments of the squadron under his command, in the expedition against the Spanish possessions, and the subsequent luck of ANSON in falling in with one of the Spanish galleons and taking it, are well known to every reader of' nau-

tical adventures. But, notwithstanding the wealth which this capture gave him, and the halo it threw round his name when the public were little accustomed to war on the scale with which we are now familiar, and the Spanish Indies were deemed mysterious El Dorados, AxsoN was unable to make it the basis of future great- ness. It was the alpha and omega of his naval fame. He was made, in 1744-5, a Junior Lord of the Admiralty ; in 1757, by the management of Lord Haanwleise, his father-in-law, he became First Lord, on the formation of PITT'S Ministry : and he died five years afterwards. Throughout this period, with two wars and such appliances, all that Aissox did as a naval hero, was to engage, with fifteen ships, a French fleet of nine—beating them of course : and, though he displayed promptitude in directing his whole fleet to pur- sue the enemy, and attack them without any regard to the line of battle, when, the convoy being nearly out of danger, he found them edging away,—yet some naval critics have given the pahn of strategy to the French.

His administration of the Navy was distinguished by order and reform. Ile improved the regulations for building ships, esta- blished a better mode of rating them, and first introduced the plan of sheathing their keels with copper. He organized the corps of' Marines; effected some beneficial changes in the manner of promoting officers; and distributed his patronage without regard to interest. During his continuance at the Admiralty, a searching examination was made into the abuses of the Dockyards, (then very monstrous,) and something like a remedy applied to the grossest; but the merit of this should perhaps be shared with Lord Sasinwicri, ifhe is not entitled to the whole. When ANSON was First Lord, the naval administration was at a pitch of regularity and promptitude which it had never before attained; but much of this must be attributed to PITT.

Such are the "heads" of Sir Joins BARRow's work, so far as ANSON is concerned. The remainder, and by far the larger part, is occupied with various digressions,—sketches of naval expedi- tions during the time, forming in fact a species of nautical history of the wars of GEORGE the Second ; minute accounts of the Ad- miralty regulations on a variety of subjects ; and a long account of

the conduct, trial, and execution of BrRo : beside which, the reader has a passing view of the Ministerial intrigues of the period, and occasional glimpses of the manners of the day.

In addition to printed works and the records of the Admiralty, Sir JoHN BARROW has derived his materials from collections of manuscript letters addressed to Lord ANSON and the notorious Lord SANDWICH ; and though these have not always much direct biographical relation to the hero, they are among the most charac- teristic parts of the volume. The following points out one method by which underlings strive to worry the head of a department into their views. The object was to prevent two frigates from joining the fleet; the captains, with relation's at the Board, wishing to cruise by themselves. The Duke of BEDFORD, whose wife writes the letter, was then First Lord of the Admiralty.

"sir—As the Duke of Bedford cannot write himself, and. has an affair of sonic consequence to impart, that he does not care to trust to any other secre- tary, I am obliged to trouble you with this letter. s The night after you left London, 3tr. Grenville came to the Duke, and after some other discourse, brought in the Defiance and Bristol being put snider your command, and seemed uneasy lest his brother should be baulked of the 'favourite voyage by your detaining him in the Western squadron, and likewise seemed fearful that, if he proceeded on it detached from you, the Admiral's eighth share might, in case of any accidents happening to you, be chained by your representatives. The next morning, Lord \'ere came to lam and. men- tioned, with souse concern, Mr. Grenville's uneasiness, and very fairly owned to him that he had advised you. to take them under your command. The Duke desired him to explain this matter, and satisfy Mr. Grenville; which be thought would have put an end to the whole a Mt ir ; but, contrary to his expectations:, Lord Barrington came to bins just before dinner, mid told rain that, notwithstanding all Lord Vera had said, iklr. Grenville svas still uneasy ; to which the Duke answered, that no alteration could he made ; in consequence of which, before Lord Vere left the Board, an order was directed for putting the ships under your com- mand. Lord Barrington returned in the afternoon, and, without communicating any thing to Lord Vere, brought an order ill his pocket which he desired the Duke to s:ign to put the ships under your command, with an injunction not to Imp thew abate seven days after you were out of the Channel. This order was trotted with the contempt it deserved, and absolutely refused to lie signed, as highly injurious to you, and what they should deserve to be hanged for if it was dime. Upon this Lord Barrington produces the order you will have received. This, together with another transaction that has happened since, convinces the Duke of the combination Mr. Grenville and Lord Barrington are in, to carry their favourite plots by any means whatsoever, by endeavouring to trepan Lim to sip cider which_ none of his friends could have justified him for dying. " I MD very much yours, Vec. " Saturday night. G. BEDFORD." trim COURT or COMMON PLEAS AND THE COURT-MARTIAL.

A very extraordinary circumstance occurred with regard to time members of this Court-martial, which shows that it is not the Lords of the Admiralty alone who are tenacious of their privileges. While the Court was sitting, the Presi- dent was arrested by virtue of a writ of eapias issued from the Court of Com- mon Common Plots, its consequence of a verdict obtained by Lieutenant George Fry of the Marines, against Sir Chaloner Ogle, Perry Mayne, and others, for alleged false imprisonment and ill-treatment in the West indies, by means of an illegal sentence passed by a court-martial of which they were members. The Court, now sitting, highly malignant that their President, Perry Mayne, should, at such a moment, be arrested, entered into certain reso- lutions, containing disrespectful language against the Lord Chief Justice Willes, which were submitted to the Lords of the Admiralty. Their proceedings were sent by the Admiralty to the Minister, accompanied with a request that they might he laidbefore the King ; and received in reply a notification, "that his Ma- jesty expressed great displeasure at the insult offered to the Court-martial, by which the military discipline of the Nasty is so much affected ; and his Ma- jesty will consider what steps it may he advisable to take on the occasion." Chief Justice Willes was not it man to suffer the dignity of his court to be thus infringed, and his authority called in question ; and no sooner did he hear of the resolutions that had been sent to the King, than he canoed warrants to be issued to take each individual member of the Court-martial into custody ; determined, as be said, to assert and maintain the authority of his office. Tile members, being advised of the strict legality of this proceeding of the Judge, and that, froth character, he was likely to carry it to the utmost extent, thought it best to send him a submissive apology; which was drawn up in the following terms, and signed by the President and all the members. " As nothing is more becoming a gentleman than to acknowledge himself to be in the wrong as soon as he is sensible he is so, and to be ready to make satisfaction to any person he has injured; we, there!fore, whose names are un- derwritten, being thoroughly convinced that we were entirely mistaken in the opinion we had conceived of Lord Chief Justice 11'illes, think ourselves obliged fn honour, as well as justice, to make him satisfaction as for as it is in our power. And as the injury we did him was of a public nature, we do in this public manner declare, that we are now satisfied the reflections cast upon him us our resolutions of the 14th and 21st May last were unjust, unwarrantable, and without any foundation whatsoever ; and we do ask pardon of his Lord- ship, and of tine Court of Commou Pleas, for the indignity offered both to him and the Court."

An anecdote told by Sir JOHN BARROW of WILLIAM the Fourth, shows convincingly, that ANSON'S merits as a naval hero were not of a nature to leave a strong impression even on a mind which took a peculiar pride in knowledge of nautical subjects ; while it illus- trates the love of after-dinner spouting which characterized the late Sailor King.

"The occasion was this. His Majesty, on the anniversary of the battle of Camperdown falling on a Sunday, attended by the Board of Admiralty and certain naval officers, heard divine service in the chapel of Greenwich Hos- pital, and afterwards dined at St. James's. When the queen and the ladies were about to retire, the King requested they would stay, as he hail a few words to say regarding the British Navy. He began with the heading of Julius Cesar in Britain ; which, he said, must hare proved to the nath'es the necessity of a naval force to prevent and repel foreign ; and he went over the main features of all the great battles that had been fought, down to that of Tratiagar.

" Assembled in the drawing-room after dinner, he beckoned me to lam, and

said, fear I forgot to mention the name of Anson, and the action he fought off Cape Finisterre : I am not sure I know the details correctly ; pray send The all account of it to-morrow.' He added, ' Anson was a good man, and new his business well; though not brilliant, he was an excellent First Lord, improved the build of our ships, made more good officers, anti brought others forward in the Seven Years' War, than any of his predecessors had done.'

A " Supplemental Chapter " is devoted to hints on several sub- jects of naval improvement, and to an exposition of the present

state of the Navy, as well as to a defence of the Admiralty from the charges of neglect that have been brought against it from various quarters. This part of the work is written with soreness, and a strong spirit of zeal for "our" department : but its state- ments suffice to show that the Navy has not outwardly deteriorated ; that the numbers of the French and the Russian are not superior to ours ; and that, whilst they have not increased their strength, we have. The following quotations contain the pith of the defence.

TABULAR VIEW OF TI1E NAVIES OF ENGLAND, FRANCE,

AND RUSSIA.

SHIPS OF 'inc LINE.

and upwards

24 Cla.,:--F,,,,,, so to 100 gong

3d Class—From 70 to

80 guns

FRIGATE:5.

of 60 gaits 2(1 Class--50 and 52 guns 3(1. Clas,:--From 16 to 50 guns

Ships of War

Swarners on Foreign

Station. Post-olliee l'Aiots

ENGLAND. II FRANCE.

RtY,SIA.

_ In Commission. In Ordinary.

.4 I

' . ,..

;, = 5 =

, 1 0 u 1 - — 1 :, i

• I ' . • 1

.76 I .1 '51 i

_, . 1

... " .:

5 . .

Z 1,

=1 .4.,

-.,

. .-

7 23 20 50

1St ciass—or 100 guns

4 4

-- 20 1 1 7

12 13

-- 55 3 19

7 24

2 47

—

12 90

' 2' 4 16

' 5 i 2 11

, ,

,' 3 4 2

10 • 10 f.9

3 2

5 ..

lot Class—Ilazi,es and 10 , .

57 1

74 STEANIERS.

7 I .. 11 2 10 8 I 72

10 : 93

, 0 r 8. 9

5 • 7 8 6 ' 7 . 5

16 22 1 22

20 19 60 37 ..

4 i

' 20 I 1 24

. 8 j i. ..

.. .. .. .. ..

., .. 1 1. ..

.".

• • !

5 1 12 • • 28 22 1 6 1 9 H • 1 •• i • .

1•A5T AND till:SENT STRENGTH Or TIIE NAVY.

In the year 1820, t mere were in commission 14 sail of the line; and men voted, 23,000 seamen, 'mil ailing marines.

In the year f S30, IS sail of the line ; men voted, 29,000 seamen, including marines.

In the year 1838, 21 sail of the line ; men voted, 34,000 seamen, including marines, and 2,000 boys. And if' he wishes to go back to the year 1792, antecedent to the Revolu- tionary War, he will find thattwelve sail of the line were in commission, and 16,000 men voted, of whom about 12,000 only were borne for a great part of the year.

Without passing any judgment on the propriety of the present strength of the Navy, let us note the difference between the pure times of the Reform Ministry and the corrupt times of CASTLE- REAGH and rotten boroughs. It is against purity by as much as 34 exceeds 23.

THE RUSSIAN NAVY.

When Commander Craufurd talks of the progress made in the Russian Navy, he is ignorant of the fact, that a Russian fleet in the Baltic has been a sort of hobby since the days of Peter the Great, who had not less than twenty to thirty sail of the line—small, it is true, in comparison with the present ; and, with regard to the vaunted increase at the present time, what is the fact? The Russians have not a single ship of the line in the Baltic nor in the Black Sea, more than they had fifteen years ago, except those now on the stocks, in- tended to replace the old ones; so little has Russia increased her fleet. If young officers would take the trouble to read what their seniors and superiors have seen and said,—if Mr. Craufurd had done this, he would have found that, in tale year 1623, an intelligent old. Captain of the British Navy saw at Cronstadt twerdy- seven sail of the Thee, and many qf than V the largest class of three-deckers; that he was on board one of the latter, the Leipsie, and says, " she appeared to me, as did most of the ships, to be hogged ; for when standing on the after- part of the lower deck, it was impossible to see more than one third forward." This ship has long since disappeared from the list. The Russian ships, in fact, last but a few years : they are built either of Casan oak, or larch, both of which species of timber are of short duration. If Mr. Craufurd will look still further back, he will find that, in the year 1801, Russia had sixty-one sail of the line, thirty of which were iu commission in the Baltic, three of them carrying each one hundred and ten guns ; fourteen in the Black Sea ; the re- mainder building or in ordinary. Captain Jones also visited Sebastopol, where he found the exact number of ships that are now there, with the exception of those building—fifteen sail—three of them carrying one hundred and twenty guns, and the rest eighty-four. It is certain, however, that as the old omit break down, new ones of a superior class are built.

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BARROW'S LIFE OF ANSON.