4602.

of impress

ment now.

Mr. Dunbar says:-
:-

"In the last war we had not men sufficient to bring our ships in, for you impressed every man that you could lay hold of."―(5019.) And Mr. Young, that

"Towards the conclusion of the late war, there was scarcely an able seaman left in the whole mercantile marine of this country, the whole of them having been absorbed into the British navy; protections even to apprentices were, he believes, on three different occasions withdrawn."-(5218.)

These statements are made by way of demonstration, that the Navigation Law nurses men for the navy. To us it seems merely to establish, that the men were carried off from the merchant ships by force, not spare men, made by the Navigation Law, but men who could very ill be done without; there were not men enough left to bring the ships in.

There is no need to dwell longer on this question of ImImpracticability pressment; the truth is, the time has passed when the system could be brought into action. Since it was used in the last war, we have rail-roads, steam-ships, electric telegraphs, cheap publications, liberty of public meetings, newspapers within every one's reach, cheap postage and rapid conveyance of letters, and Members of Parliament responsible to great trading and manufacturing constituencies. The rights of labour begin to be understood, and the liberty and skill of the workman to be respected; and there would, therefore, be no endurance now of such a tyranny as the impressment of the last war. But, even if the public voice would not denounce such wrong, and the people gather round the sailor to protect his rights as a workman, trade has so extended since the last war, that the seamen would have no difficulty in procuring employment under foreign flags, if they left our own ships, because the plague of the slave-trade raged amongst them. We contend, therefore, that for the future, impressment cannot be relied upon, "it has become imprudent and impracticable." But it does not follow, that the Royal Navy must go unmanned, or be in any difficulty for hands, either in peace or war.

4602.

HOW TO MAN THE NAVY.

If the merchant service can find landsmen to fill up the places of the impressed, there need be no impressment. The Royal Navy can get landsmen. There is no need that the merchant ships should be a sort of gangway into the Queen's ships. The number of able seamen is of far more importance to the commercial marine than to ships of war.

"The introduction of steam navigation has rendered a less number of such able seamen as are trained up in the merchant service necessary in the navy; and the change which has taken place in the training of ships' companies, has also made it desirable to take a larger proportion of landmen than we should have been disposed to take in former years. A very great change has taken place in the navy of all foreign states, as well as ours, in respect to training men to the use of the guns, and the consequence of that change has been, that we cannot go into action with the same advantage with mere seamen now as we could formerly, when we had the same description of men to meet; if we are now to go into action, it must be with men who understand thoroughly the use of the guns, therefore we must have them for a longer period in order to train them; we do not, therefore, require the same proportion of seamen to man our ships as we did formerly; we are content with a smaller proportion of seamen, provided we have landsmen sufficient time to train them to the use of the guns."—(Sir. James Stirling, 4684.)

Sir James also states,

"That there can be no doubt steam navigation will still more extend itself, and become used for naval warfare (4685), the consequence of which will be, that a still smaller supply of able seamen will be sufficient for the navy.-(4688.)

"As matter of fact, the navy does not derive a large supply of seamen from the merchant service; and, looking to the exigencies of a war, is not likely to obtain a sufficient supply from the merchant service, even by impressment; therefore some arrangement should be made by which that prospective want may be supplied. In any constitution of the naval force, it would be highly desirable to include a certain portion of seamen brought up in the coasting trade; they are for certain purposes the very best description of men. Very high qualities are created by the life of hard ship and of exertion which those men undergo. Their hardihood, courage, and intelligence render them extremely desirable as a portion of every ship's company in the Royal Navy; but it is impossible to obtain the services of those men at the present rate of remu

We want trained men for the Royal Navy.

The merchant service does not furnish men, and would not by impressment.

Pay the north

men and you will get them.

Constitution of the navy.

Navy should be reconstituted.

It is advisable that the two

services be independent of one another.

neration. With the exception of the men to whom I have referred, the proportion of whom would not exceed one-tenth part of the whole naval force, the navy might be so constituted as to render it entirely independent of the merchant service, even in the event of a war. The navy at present is constituted by an annual vote; the number of men voted from year to year has fluctuated within the last few years, from 15,000 to 45,000. Every augmentation of the force attracts to the service a number of raw and untrained men. Every reduction, on the other hand, throws out of employment a proportionate number of trained and able seamen, who are thrown upon the merchant service, and if the merchant service cannot employ them, they are obliged to seek employment in other countries, carrying with them the fruits of the long training which they have undergone in our ships.

"The first point to be attended to, in placing the navy upon a proper footing, would be to induce Parliament to place the navy upon some permanent footing as to amount, from which no unnecessary departure should take place. Upon an average of years, the country would find an ordinary peace establishment of a fixed amount the cheapest mode of dealing with that particular question. I would therefore begin a reconstitution of the navy, with fixing the peace establishment, and the consequence of that would be that a large part, in fact the whole force, would be trained men and able seamen, instead of being as they are now for the most part, inexperienced in arms and in the art of seamanship; and having that basis of trained and organized men, the force might be expanded to a very great amount by the addition of landsmen and marines, without having occasion to the merchant service for a single seaman, even in the event of a war. It would be a great point to render the two services independent of each other, so that if a war should take place, the trade of the country might not be interrupted by taking the seamen employed in the merchant service for the use of the navy.”—(4615.)

The witness goes on to say,

"I think it possible to arrive at a much more efficient force than we have now, without any increase whatever of the present expense; the great expense of the force at present arises from the large number of officers in proportion to the men engaged. A proper apportionment of officers would, I think, be found to produce so great a saving as to enable us to maintain a larger force at the expense at present incurred."-(1616. Sir J. Stirling.)

The following from Mr. Dunbar's evidence deserves attention in connexion with the above.

"Are you favourable to the present system of training up men in

the merchant service for the use of the navy in time of war ?—I am favourable to it while you give us other privileges in return for it. -(5021.)

"Are you favourable to the law as it now stands, which seems to provide, according to your statement, that men shall be trained up in the merchant service during a time of peace, and then be taken for the use of the navy in time of war ?—I am favourable to it while I get privileges in return for it, but if you take away those privileges I am not favourable to it; I pay at least £1000. a-year for apprentices."―(5022.)

Sir James Stirling says,

"I feel convinced that if the shipping interest were exempted from all restrictions and all unnecessary charges; if in other words, the Navigation Act, the Registry Act, and several Acts which impose fiscal and local charges on ships, were repealed, the maritime prosperity of this country would exceed anything that we at the present time have any idea of. I believe that by reducing the cost of ships, and consequently of freights, we should increase trade to an enormous extent. I think we have the strongest proof in the immense traffic which railroads have occasioned in this country, that cheap conveyance on the sea would have a similar effect there, and that we should not only obtain a much larger quantity of the goods which have hitherto come to market, but that we should find new exchangeable commodities, which at present do not come there; we should bring the timber of India or Australia at half its present cost; we should carry on the fisheries to a much greater extent, and be enabled to stimulate every branch of industry in this and other countries to an extent that we have no idea of. All this would be the consequence of the abolition of those laws which enhance the cost of shipping; and amongst those laws, my opinion is, that the Navigation Act and the Registry Act may be classed."— (4684.)

It seems therefore that the privileges of which Mr. Dunbar makes so much, prevents the progress of our shipping; without them, we should have more trade, more ships, more men, and therefore even if we were to keep to the old impressment system, wider hunting grounds for the navy in time of war. But the evidence is before us, that the union of the navy and the merchant service is a mistake, that the commercial marine, to reach its highest excellence must be in free competition with all the shipping of the world; that the Royal Navy, to attain the best efficiency must train its own men; that impressment

If the Naviga

tion Acts and Registry Act were repealed, freights would increase enormously.

must be counted amongst the relics of extinct barbarism, never again to be trusted nor attempted; that such of the brave seamen of the north coast as the navy wants, are to be had for wages proportioned to their worth; that as they are men of great hardihood, great skill, and in constant demand, they must be well paid; that the abolition of the Navigation Law can in no way interfere with them; that their excellence has been made by the dangers and difficulties of the coast, and they need no other protection; that in future, war at sea will, in a great measure, be carried on by steamers, so that the railways and the Thames steam-boats, which by the way have no protection, are as likely to be nurseries of the navy as the commercial marine, and a very convenient state of affairs it would be, if every engineer and stoker must carry an useless boy on every locomotive with him, and all the skilled engine-men were to be abstracted at the first rumour of war, and it would scarcely be a pretext for coming to Parliament for power to charge higher toll on goods and passengers, that their engineers and stokers were liable to be carried off by press-gangs, and that they were compelled by law to take an apprentice on every tender. There is an end therefore in all its branches of the nursery question. No pretext left for the continuance of a Navigation Law on any Royal Navy plea.

So that we have the coast clear for consideration of the question of protection to shipping on its own merits.

Waste by circuitous transport.

BRITISH POSSESSIONS.

To any people having produce to send to market, either by land or water, circuitous or expensive conveyance are manifest disadvantages. If they have the market secured to themselves, high prices may pay for the long voyaging and travelling of the goods, though high prices do not win customers. A basket of eggs that is charged a penny for crossing a ferry on its way to market, must cost more to the consumer by that