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consequence of affording a valuable support from the middle of the continent to the British colony of New Caledonia .
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OUR MERCANTILE MARINE . There is nothing of which Englishmen are more proud than the national supremacy at sea—and a very complete supremacy it is , and something to be proud of . The ¦ more , too , that it is ours in the face of the world—that we maintain it in open competition with all nations , and spite of the disadvantage that , as yet , but few foreigners have had either the common sense , or the common fairness , to place our flag upon the same footing of equality in every branch of trade as we have long since placed their flags .
There is no nation upon earth has so many ships , such large ships , ships built to stand so many years A 1 . at Lloyd ' s , or that has so vast a total tonnage as our own , or so many sailors—or better or braver sailors . Of late years we have increased the size of our ships , we hav ^ e improved their form , their speed , their capacity for cargo , their power to endure for years the incessant battle with wave and storm . There is no need to inquire whether this improvement have come of competition , or of downright admiration for " a beauty of a ship / ' or from sheer recklessness and a mere empty desire to have
the fastest , the biggest , the strongest , and the finestlooking ships in the world . We have for ourpresent purpose to do only with the fact that England and her dependencies own some 36 , 000 ships , that their united tonnage exceeds 5 , 000 , 000 , that she lias upwards of 30 , 000 captains or masters of merchant ships , and more than 300 , 000 sailors . Such a merchant navy never before existed in the , world , and not many years have passed since whoever had ventured to predict our ever having such a merchant fleet , or such a class of ships at ally either under sail or steam , would Lave been counted little better than a madman .
We are proud , too , of our sailors—proud of "the fearless spirit of enterprise and endurance that carries boys and men from home and land to dare the dangers of the sea , and face every climate upon earth . In nothing do our schoolboys so much delight as in stories of shipwreck and the perils of the deep , and the more they read of storms and risks ,, and of th « privations and hardships of mariners , the -more firmly does the Idesire seize them to go to sea and face them all ; the very children love to make paper boats , and sail them in mimic races down the street streams . We are all lovers of the sea—all at heart sailors—and " we
should be savages ice were not sailors , " and yet how sorely we neglect bur sailors , and how bitterly burden our seamen and our ships with excessive legislation . Hear us speak of our ships and sailors , and would any one believe that / islanders as we are , united "with the rest of mankind by our ships alone , rich , great , powerful by virtue of ships only ,, we yet tax our
ships to light our coasts , tax them for the support of' Jbarbours of refuge the majority never do enter , and that numbers of them never could > entcr , that we tax a good deal of the very timber of which the ship is built , that we come between the owner and the master and the seamen , and beset their mutual engagements witli each other , their qualifications , their employmentj their pay , with taxes and restrictions P Would any one believe , to hear us boasting of the seas , and sinking of how " Britannia rules the waves , " that the saalor ' s homo in age and in decrepitude is but the workhouse ? that our masters and
mates , seeking to establish their fitness in their profession before certain officers of the Government , must actually pajy a heavy fee for the certificate of having passed tfie examination P And is it not somewhat wonderful , that being so eminently practical a people , having amongst us so many men who have men . to wealth and eminence by force of their downright practical qualities , we yet allow bookknowledge and glibness of answering in seamanship to obtain better certificate than ten
a , twenty , thirty years—ay , a whole life—of service upon the sea , in all quarters of the globe ? And is it not altogether unaccountable that hi these limes of free-trade and universal acknowledgment of the principle of noninterference with labour and its markets , and when , too , men may employ anywhere any number of tailors , shoemakers , shiponrpenters , or bricklayers without interference of any sort , they iviay not employ sailors , unless at n slapping-office , constituted under act of Parliament ,
and that there not only the agreement between the employer and employed must be signed , but there , too , and there only , the sailor must be paid his wages , and that for being employed , and being paid , he must in every case put down a fee ? And does it not serve well to cap all this climax of contradictions and absurdities , that in cases of casualty or loss of life at sea in passenger ships we impose a ruinous scale of penalties upon bur own ships ; whereas the foreigners with whom we must compete hi carrying emigrants and passengers are subject to no penalties ? True , our seamen have at all times been , one way or another , pretty well looked after
both oy law and contrary to law . The Government las never forgotten to tax the sailor . He was taxed many a long year for the Merchant Seaman ' s-Fund , and whether the fund went to Davy's locker , or to whose locker it went , neither Jack nor any one else ever knew , or is ever likely to know . He was registered , too , was Jack , and , in case of war ( except the last war , for before that broke out impressment was gone by the board , and for ever abolished ) , was knocked on the head , handcuffed , and carried off by force or fraud to serve his country as might please the Admiralty , whether he pleased or not . A good deal of all this , if not
indeed all , did shipowners , masters , and sailors bring- upon themselves by continually going to Parliament with Ttheir troubles , and petitioning , and having committees of both Houses , and piles of Blue-books , and laws upon laws to protect , defend , Comfort , and cure them . At last , however , they have taken the bull by the horns ; they have constituted an association of their own ; shipowners , masters , and sailors have , as they ought long ago to have done , determined to unite , to act as one interest , to befriend each other , to work together for riddance of their grievances and burdens , to labour for the elevation and
advancement of the profession of the sea , to labour for the disentanglement of the whole law about sailors and shipowners , and to strive in right good hearty earnest and with such help as the public may be disposed to give—and it should be and will be amp-le—to secure a charter ofV incorporation , not for any party . object , not with any political view , not to amend the law and to carry bills through Parliament , but to give , by the very name of the charter , a worthier and better position to the merchant service , and to secure in the constitution of the corporate council men whose position " shall be a guarantee for the faithful administration of the funds of the corporation , and for its sincere efforts to' mend the condition of the British mp . rnliant
seamen of all grades , and to improve the efficiency and discipline of the service . The association has now been about a year in existence , and has made good use of the time . It has held numerous ' meetings in London and the outports—has established *~ associations at about thirty outports , including Bristol , Plymouth , Falmonth , Cork , Waterford , Dublin , Belfast . It has prepared and presented by deputation to the Board of Trade the memorial for the charter of incorporation , with the following objects : — 1 st . To elevate the social position of the officers and men belonging to the mercantile marine , by taking means for their superior education , and the advancement of ability and character , and the better discipline of the merchant service .
2 nd . To reward officers and men of the mercantile marine for longhand able service , for brilliant acts of seamanship , for saving life or cargo , for discoveries , inventions , or other contributions to the service . 3 rd . To provide refuges for aged and worn-out officers and men of the mercantile marine . 4 th . To establish schools , afloat and on . shore , for the education and training of boys and men for the service . 5 th . To establish institutions for the advantage of seamen ; and to publish , or assist in the publication , of any books , ninps , charts , plans , or other works , for the use of the mercantile marine .
Cth . To raise funds for the carrying out of these objects . It has issued upwards of twenty tliousniul publications , and has enlisted the zealous co-operation of upwards of forty members of Parliament representing ports and port counties , and ai huge number of the most influential shipowners , and the ablest merchant captains in the kingdom . Nor have the other portions of the -work in hand beeu neglected . Notice has been given by Mr . Crawford , M . P . for tho City , to move early in the next session for a committee to inquire into the operation of the " . Merchant Shipping Act , 1853 . " We have reason to > believe the notice lias the hearty approval of Mr . Henley , and we are certain that in tlie hands of Mr .
Crawford , who is chairman of the association , and who possesses an intimate knowledge of all matters in the interest of shipping and sailors , the inquiry will be full , complete , and such as must lead to sound legislation . ^ leanwhile , it is for the association to persevere in its efforts , -which are certain at no distant date , to be crowned with success . '
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" WHEN DOCTORS DIFFER . " The metropolitan public are indebted in no slioht degree to the assiduous Committee of the House of Commons , whose highly condensed but lucid report upon the state of the Thames , and Mr . Gurney ' s plan for its amelioration , was published on Thursday last . From that document , which will be condensed in another part of our impression , the reader will learn that the system advocated , by Mr . Gurney was to bevil off the foreshore of the river between , high and low water marks to a slope of about 1 in 12 ; to scoop out a channel at the foot of such slope which might carry off the sewage , and to destroy by combustion in appropriate furnaces the noxious gases generated in the sewers themselves . This scheme is totally rejected b y the committee . We are not prepared to adip . it that the proposed embankment would not valuably promote the scour of the stream , and improve the navigation ; but we entirely agree with the committee in the rejection of the dredged lateral channels . The permanence of these would , in the first place , be problematical ; next , tliey would , if maintained , tend to the increase of banks in the centre of the
stream . Then * effect would be to close the mouths of sewers discharging into them , converting each into an hermetically-sealed cesspool , which again would necessitate the gas combustion shafts and furnaces . The very partial operation of this latter expedient was well and modestly illustrated by a witness in whom the utmost reliance may be placed , the Civil Engineer to the City Sewers Committee , Mr . Hay wood . That gentleman informed the committee that the combustion of gases would entail in his comparatively limited district alone about eight sets of very costly apparatus , aud an annual working cost of 50 , 000 / . to 60 , 000 / . at the very least . It would demand ventilating arrangements equal in magnitude to those of coal mines , which
the necessity of hermetically-sealing some 40 , 000 or 50 , 000 inlets would render impracticable . The report of Lord Palmerston ' s Sewage Commission , appointed in January , 1857 , of which Lord Essex , Dr . South wood Smith , Professor Way , Mr . Simon , Mr . H . Ker Seyrner , Mr . J . Bennet Lawes , and other gentlemen , were members , has also fallen still-born during the re « ent Thames panic . The object of inquiry submitted to that commission was the best mode of distributing the sewage of towns and applying it to , beneficial and profitable uses . The somewhat stale conclusions they seem to have arrived at are , that deodorizing and precipitation of sewage are rather practicable , as is also its application to land by irrigation ; that the former processes may perhaps be improved upon in
course of time : and that tliev can be nraccourse of time ; and that tliey can be practised without creating much nuisance and at no immoderate expense . But these gentlemen have done more than report . They have yielded to the almost irresistible temptation which afflicts Government referees in general . After so long consorting with scliemers and their schemes , they cannot escape the infection , and , without ostentation , tliey append , to the report a little outline project of tlieir own for dealing with the sewage of the metropolis , which looks something like a cross between those of Mr . Lionel Gisbornc- and sonic
other gentlemen who gave evidence before Sir Benjamin Hall ' s referees in 1856 and 1857 . They propose to construct embankments , detached from the shore , in the form of advanced terraces , continuous on the surface , ljut affording , at convenient distances , entrances to tho inner basins they would form . Within these lengths of embankment they would encase a series of deodorizing and precipitating reservoirs , into which the whole of tlie sewers now discharging into the Thames would have their outfall . It cannot be doubted that the
construction of tho gigantic inland intercepting sewers to which wo are now pledged will present engineering difficulties of magnitude , and will involve serious danger to many buildings . Wo arc not without anxiety for St . Paul ' s Cathedral itself , iu tho immediate vicinity of which the low level intercepting sewer will encounter very treacherous ground . A river terrace , too , is in inany respects desirable . But in the absence r » f information as to
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712 THE _ - ^ ^?' - _ "_ ffi o . _ , July 24 , 1858 .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), July 24, 1858, page 712, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2252/page/16/
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