TOPICS OF THE DAY.

NAVAL RETIREMENT.

Main attention, in a degree commensurate with the national importance of the subject, seems directed to the state of the Navy; and the Government is at last aware that great changes respect- ing officers is absolutely necessary. As might be expected, its intentions have excited much interest in the profession ; and suggestions, remonstrances, and complaints, fill the pages of the professional journals. No Captain seems satisfied ; though we 'believe it will be found that the dissatisfaction manifested is ge- nerally.in inverse proportion to the merits and services of the complainants. It was once a favourite maxim in the Navy, to gg get all you can, and keep grumbling"; and, from the reception which the Government's plan of retirement has met with, it appears that the rule is not yet obsolete. With a list of about 160 Admirals, it is undeniable that, in consequence of age and infirmities, very few are capable of com- manding a squadron ; and that similar disability prevails among the senior Captains,* some of whom, according to the present sys- tem, would be included in the next flag-promotion. An easy chair, Warm flannels, and soft repose, have naturally succeeded, in men from sixty-five to eighty years of age, to the quarter-deck, laced uniforms, and the bustle of a seaman's life. like the ships which they commanded, they are worn out ; and must be content to be laid up " in ordinary " for the rest of their lives. In such retire- ment there is nothing dishonourable—nothing to lament. " Non sum qualis eram " is the inevitable lot of mortality ; and a veteran officer who gracefully gives way to younger men is entitled to the admiration of his countrymen ; while he who querulously insists upon performing duties for which he is unfit—who selfishly desires to impede the advancement of others—and who would thereby risk the glory of his profession and the national safety—must be as destitute of patriotism as of respect for his own character.

No Government would dare to allow the Navy to remain in its present condition ; and, as one step, though (as we shall after- wards show) an insufficient one, towards improvement, Ministers have brought forward a plan of retirement for Captains. The Admiralty propose that there should be

" a retired list of 300 Captains; of fifty-five years of age and upwards, with increased half-pay, power being given to the Admiralty to allow infirm officers of fifty to retire, if the number required of the age of fifty five should not be found willing to do so, and that the officers so retiring should be,placed on a separate list between the Flag-Officers' and Captains' lists.

That this list should be allowed to diminish, by death, to 100, and be here- aTterlemianently maintained at that number. " That general promotions should no longer he resorted to as the means of re- cruiting the list of Admirals, butte replaced by a system of continuous promo- tion as death-vseanciesatiee on that list; and general Fomotiens be reserved for the eelebration of im ..rtant national events.

." That the Flag- Si. cers' list should'be limited to 150, and the captains' list to 40, to be retained at those numbers by promotion to every vacancy. This limi- tation is intended to be permanently applied to a state of peace, but it is impos- sible to say what the exigencies of a -war might require."

The inducement to -accept the offer is, that all Captains who may retire shall receive 5s. 6d. a day in addition to their present half-pay, and in addition also to such half-pay as they would hereafter have become entitled to had they remained on the list. The 100 senior Captains now receive 14s. 6d. a day as half-pay ; the 150 next in seniority, 123. 6d.; and the rest 10s. 6d. a day. More- over, such Captains as are now within 100 of the top of the list, who may retire, are to assume the title of " Rear-Admiral" ; and the others are to do so when they would have obtained their flag by seniority had they continued on the Active list. The widows Of all retired officers are to have pensions of 1101. per annum ; being.201. more than they would now receive in the event of their husbands' death, and only 101. less than if their husbands were to die Rear, Vice, or even full Admirals. The half-pay of a Rear- Admiral is 1/. as.; of a Vice-Admiral, 1/. 12s. 6d.; and of a -full Admiral, 21. 2s. per diem. No Englishman desires to see -old officers treated unfairly or illiberally; but, in our opinion, the pecuniary part of the present plan of retirement is (with a slight exception) fair and liberal. The Naval Service, and especially Admirals and Captains, are peculiarly favoured by the country. Though their pay is not large, it is enough to insure a sufficient number of com- petent and hunourable officers ; and the country, instead of deriving any advantage from the ships and other property taken by its ships and servants from the enemy, (as is done by private individuals or -companies in the case of privateers,) gives the whole produce to the captors. Where an enemy's Ships have been destroyed in •battle, the country has paid the value of them ; and for every man taken in a ship of war, an allowance called "head-money" was paid. Of these monies, Admirals and Captains have had the lionYs share; and they had, moreover, all the advantages arising from freights,—namely, an allowance per cent for all money, public or private, conveyed in a ship of war. Thus, besides .regular pay and provisions, an ad- ditional payment is made by the country whenever particular • "The total number of Captains now on the list is 714: .of these 376 are sixty; 171 are between -five and sixty, and 138 between fifty and-fifty-five; thole fifty-five years of.ai; among whom 50 are above seventy and 205 above and 9 only under the age o forty--fivesre twin found of a seniority higher than 1827. The retirement of 100 Captains from the top of the list would remove ofli,, cewhaveraging sixty-seven years of ,age, to bring up others averaging sixty- four. If even 200 were retired, the average.age of these advanced to the top-of the list would be sixty; either of such schemes, therefore, would leave the evil untouched."—..idniiralty,Statement. service is rendered to it,—to the officers and crews foam prisons= are taken or ships destroyed; to the Admirals and Captains exclu- sively when public money is placed on board the vessels; nder their command. When no longer on activeservice, they (properly) retain great part of their pay and their rank ; and their widows receivoa small but decent competence. These are the advantages of ties service; against which are to be set the uncertainty of em- ployment, prize-money, and freights, disappointment in gaining promotion, and the chance of never obtaining the higher honours

of the profession. Much as these depended on good fortune and on interest, they depended also on the state of the country. Peace has caused the inactivity and prevented the advanoement of hun- dreds of officers ; but while they remained quietly in their homes and stationary in their rank, age and infirmities crept stealthily on, and the painful truth has become evident to others, if not to them, that they are no longer fit for arduous naval duties. A wise man yields to circumstances; an honourable man avoids placing himself in a situation where he cannot do his duty ; a patriotic officer prefers the interests of his country to his own; and a proper government takes care that the state ',hall be served by efficient servants. Assuredly, therefore, the complaints of neglect and injustice which naval officers so often pour forth, if not without solid. foundation, are greatly exaggerated. We have no wish to depreciate their professional merits, or to deny their legitimate claims ; but there are two sides to every medal, though officers are too prone to see but one. That, in the old, if not present system of promotions, merit has often been passed over, is quite true ; but favouritism has been more flagrantly shown by Admirals towards their own sons and nephews than by any Prune Minister or Board of Admiralty.

Whatever may be the objection to the Government's plan of re- tirement, it holds out, (with one exception,) we repeat, sufficient pe- cuniary advantage ; and 260 Officers have prudently. accepted it.

We advisedly say " prudently," because it is highly improbable( that any other plan would increase those advantages : 1001. a year

at once, and 20d. additional to their widows, is to most officers a

great boon, and is far preferable at fifty-five years of age to the chance of other things, and to waiting for five, ten, fifteen, or twenty years, for their flags. Besides the immediate certainty of receiving 100/. per annum, a,calculation should bemade of the amount which they will receive before they could have obtained the half-pay of Rear-Admirals ; and the possibility of their dying in the interval, and the consequent loss of 201. a year to their widows, ought not be forgotten. The only improvement in this part of the plan we would suggest, is that those Captains (only twenty or thirty at the most) who would hale been included in the next promotion, should receive the half-pay of Rear-Admiral,

1/.58. per diem, -because theywould in a vary-short time obtain it.

Captains-should remember that -Six Robert Peel intimated, with great fairness, that if they did not accept the retirement now -of- fered them, he was prepared to adopt other measures : and, cer-

tainly, it seems difficult to understand why the Crown should not promote any distinguished Captain to the rank of Admiral, as

well as raise any of it thinks proper from one inferior -grubs

to another. It was done in the instance of the Duke of Clarence; and why not as the reward of merit, and for the -benefit of the State?

The Government has been less liberal with feathers than with realities, and has not evinced much -knowledge of the naval cha- racter. To officers, rank and.title are invaluable ; :and when with-

drawing them for ever from the possibility of -gaining other distinctions, it would have been gratifying to their -feelings if

higher rank had been bestowed upon them—were it only to prove to the 'world that no stigma or reflection was connected with their retirement. It is proposed by the Admiralty, that those who retire

from among the first 100 Post-Captains on the list shall be "per-

mitted to assume the title of Rear-Admiral." This is equivocally ex- pressed, and has given rise to cavil and doubts. They should be promoted to the rank'of Rear-Admiral, in the same manner asthe

old "Yellow Admirals," to whom we shall againallude ; and the plan would have been much more palatable to the parties, withaut

costing the country a shilling, if this part of it had stood thus::

" Every Captain who may accept the retirement shall now, met the expiration of twenty years from the date of his commission, receive the rank and title of Rear-Admiral ; after he has borne that

designation ten years, he shall receive the rank and title of Vice- Admiral ; and after he has borne that designation ten years, he shall receive the rank and title of Admiral." Such an arrange- ment would have afforded these gallant men something te look forward to. The blank in their future lives would have been filled—with a shadow indeed; but are not all honours, all titles, and a large proportion of the other objects of human am- bition, as empty and unsubstantial? With this slight alteration,

and the increase of five shillings a day to such Captains as would have been included in the next flag-promotion, the-present retire- ment -would be a great advantage to allCaptains, and be likely to produce much 'benefit to the country. But we have said that we consider the plan itself, as a general measure, defective : it may therefore be expected :that we .should state our objections to it, if not suggest a moreafficamous arrange- ment; and we shall, next week, attempt -both.