Among the many movements to which the philanthropic spirit of the age has given birth, few are entitled to a larger share of public sympathy and support than such as have for their object the well-being and im- provement of those classes whose labour and industry so greatly contribute to the advance- ment of the national prosperity.

Of those classes none we consider have a greater claim on the public than merchant seamen. In the ordinary course of their duties at sea they are subject to privations and hardships of which landsmen have little notion; they have neither leisure nor opportunity for self-culture or improvement of the mind, have no one to guide or direct them, and when they set foot on shore after the toils and dangers of a long voyage, are made the prey of organized gangs of crimps and swindlers who haunt them as long as their money lasts, decoy them into all sorts of improvidence and debauchery, and do not quit them till they have stripped them bare and left them penniless.

Bearing in mind the important nature of the service which our commercial marine is called upon to render, one would have thought that everything that could be done for elevating the condition and mitigating the hardships of men so engaged would assuredly have been attempted. This, however, is far from being the case; and there is no one in the slightest degree acquainted with their history but must be aware that of all the classes of this great social community, none has hitherto been so grievously neglected both by the Legislature and the people as that of our merchant seamen.

It is gratifying to find that public attention is at length directed to the many evils arising from this state of things, and that measures of various kinds for their mitigation and re- moval are already on foot. The Mercantile Marine Act will effect much on board a ship in insuring the kinder treatment of the sailor on his voyage, and in setting him a better example in the master and mate, who must now be men of some education. Amongst the schemes that have been devised for his comfort and improvement on shore, few, we think, are likely to be more useful and valu- able than SAILORS' HOMES, institutions which have already been established in several of our principal ports, and the object of which is to provide for the seaman when on shore, board, lodging, and medical attendance on the most moderate terms, to protect him from the extortion and imposition he is at present exposed to; and by providing an ample library and well-stocked reading-room, to endeavour to rescue him from the public- house, and to imbue his mind with a taste for higher pursuits and moral improvement.

Any who have witnessed the influence exer- cised by a happy, cleanly, well-ordered home, in eliciting all that is good, in repressing all that is evil, and in fortifying all that is vir- tuous and strong in the character of its inmates will, we think, readily admit that a well-conducted institution of this character is admirably adapted to the wants of the sailor, and might do much to advance his mental and moral improvement. In London, Liverpool, Dublin, Portsmouth, Plymouth, and Falmouth, or wherever institutions of this kind have been tried, their success has been most signal—slow at first, but sure in the end.

It was in the year 1828, now a quarter of a century ago, that that true friend to sailors, the ever-to-be-lamented Captain ELLIOT,It.N., first proposed the establishment of a Sailors' Home in the metropolis: he and the devoted men who then united their energies in this great work steadily pursued their Christian purpose, and overcoming all opposition and discouragement, never relaxed in their exer- tions until in 1835, they were permitted to complete the building which now stands in Wellclose-street, London Docks, and open its doors to the seamen of England. Since that period we learn from Captain GEORGE PIERCE, R.N., the zealous Secretary of the Institution, not less than 55,371 men have passed through the Home, and during the last year 4,745 boarders have been received, who have deposited in the cashier's hands upwards of 30,000/. of their money, of which about 8,000/. have been transmitted by the officers of the Institution to meet the men at their own homes, or to their relatives in different parts of the country; and 3,400/.

are deposited in the savings'-bank of the Home.

One very important feature in connexion with the Home is the establishment in the building of shipping offices by the Board of Trade. After nearly two years' experience of their working they are found to answer well and to be beneficial to the seaman.

The facility of obtaining a suitable ship without the intervention of the crimp; the value the seamen attach to the characters they can receive after the termination of the voyage, which are registered for future re- ference ; the protection afforded them of receiving their wages in the presence of an officer who is bound to afford them his assist- ance and advice in case of any error or over- charge in their accounts; these are advan- tages they never before possessed, and will, it is hoped, tend to improve their habits, and elevate their character.

In addition to the board and lodging that is provided at the Home, there are evening schools at which navigation, writing, and arithmetic are taught without any extra charge; and in several cases young men have thus received sufficient instruction to enable them to undergo the public examination now required previous to their being employed as officers in the merchant service. A course of winter lectures on the steam-engine and other useful subjects has been given and well attended; and a well-selected library and a reading-room are attached to the Institution.

And while so much has been done for the temporal well-being of sailors, their spiritual welfare has not been forgotten, and a Seaman's Church in connexion with the Establishment has been open for five years, at which the attendance has been most satisfactory, and which has afforded to many a poor sailor the opportunity of the means of grace, which otherwise it may be feared he might never have enjoyed.

An equally encouraging aspect is presented in the Report of the Portsmouth Sailors' Home for the past year; although yet in its infancy, and chiefly confined to men of the Royal Navy, no fewer than a thousand sea- men have been its inmates during a single week, and a sum of 2,5001. has been placed for safety in the hands of its superintendent.

These are gratifying and encouraging results, and should induce us to go forward in setting on foot similar Homes in all our principal sea-ports.

Liverpool, as might have been anticipated in that city of merchant princes, has reared a magnificent building, devoted to the comforts and welfare of seamen. Its citizens have shown by their liberality that they feel how much they are indebted to sailors for the wealth and luxuries they enjoy, and they have repaid it by providing for them a noble Institution, worthy of the first commercial port of the empire.

At Dublin a Home for Sailors has been established chiefly through the influence of the late worthy Admiral DUDLEY OLIVER, and the labours of Captain W. H. HALL, R.N., the latter of whom has been indefati- gable in his exertions to keep the subject before the public, and has visited many of the principal sea-ports of the United King- dom, with a view to establishing similar institutions. The Dublin Home was opened in July 1849, and has continued in operation since that time. Negotiations are on foot for establishing a Home at Belfast, a port which by the public spirit and enterprise of its merchants, and a free and judicious outlay of money upon improvements in its harbour, has a large and rapidiy-increasing foreign trade. The beautiful and spacious port of Cork, too, in the south of Ireland, is an appropriate spot for a Home, and we hope ere long to see one established there.

In Scotland, Homes have for some time been opened for sailors at Aberdeen and Dundee on the east coast, and there seems a fair prospect of similar institutions being established at Glasgow and Greenock on the Clyde, and at Stornoway in the Hebrides.

Of all places Glasgow, with its large foreign trade, needs an asylum for sailors; Greenock, and Leith the port of Edinburgh, should not be without them.

In England, as before mentioned, Homes are established in London, Liverpool, Ports- mouth, Devonport, Falmouth, Sunderland, and Dover. At Falmouth, where great diffi- culties had to be contended with, a Home has recently been opened, with the important feature of a sick-ward attached to it, and sovaluable has this offer of medical aid been found, that already it has become necessary to extend the accommodations from twenty- eight to forty sleeping berths, owing to the number of sailors arriving in the port after a long and harassing sea voyage, many of them debilitated by scurvy and other complaints.

This appears a valuable feature in Homes, which should not be lost sight of in other similar establishments, and it is one that a sailor is likely to appreciate. At Dover, a Home with a reading-room, and sick-ward for the fishermen of the place has been temporarily opened; we hope a savings' bank will be attached to it; there is nothing that fishermen require more unless it be a system of mutual insurance against loss of nets, gear, and boats, yet not so much at Dover as in the north of England.

A central institution in London, with an office at 35, Craven-street, Strand, has been established for the purpose of furnishing in- formation on all points connected with Sailors' Homes; and we learn from thence that Mr. MONEY WIGRAM, the well-known ship- builder, has recently contributed one hundred guineas towards the erection of a Sailors* Home in Poplar. The Homes at Devonport and Portsmouth, as being specially devoted to the Naval service, have received liberal donations from many naval Officers, but particularly from the DUKE of NORTHUMBERLAND, who, as First Lord of the Admiralty, has earned for himself the proud title of the Sailors' Friend. His Grace not only contributed 2,001. to each of these establishments, but visited that at Portsmouth by night as well as by day, to be an eye-witness of its orderly and excellent arrangements.

At Bristol a large house has been pur- chased, and will shortly be ready for the reception of seamen ; and at Cardiff, in South Wales, there seems a prospect. But while noticing these public establishments, we must not overlook the first private Home set on foot by Mr. GREEN, the eminent ship- builder and ship-owner, who has built a comfortable Asylum for the men employed in his numerous fleet on their return to the Thames, and where their wants and wishes are carefully attended to. This establish- ment, which was opened in June, 1841, is supported entirely at the private expense of Mr. GREEN, at a cost of not less than 5001.

a-year, and yet is open to all sailors. There is a spacious hall or reading-room, separate cabins for 200 men, and a chapel and schools adjoining; it will well repay a visit to all who take an interest in the welfare of sailors* We were told, when there lately, that one of the most recent visitors was the DUKE of NORTHUMBERLAND.

The above institutions do honour to the country. In looking over the list, however, one cannot fail to be struck at some remark- able omissions. Where is Hull—the birth- place of Wilberforce—with its large Baltic trade, and its princely almshouses for decayed master mariners, does it not need a Home for the poor sailor ? Where, too, is the Tyne ? In a port possessing one-eighth of the whole tonnage of our island, with arrivals and sailings of upwards of 40,000 vessels a year, thus exceeding both London and Liverpool; with the wealthy towns of Newcastle, Gates- head, and North and South Shields on its banks; with its high level bridge, the admi- ration of Europe; with the statue of Colling- wood on the Tynemouth heights, as a memento of what the sailors of the Tyne have done for their country; in such a port shall there be no Home for the sailor ? We are thankful to be able to answer in the affirmative. The " Sailors' Friend " has again come forward; the DUKE of NORTHUMBERLAND, who has just supplied the coast with life-boats, has most munificently offered to bear half the expense of erecting and fitting up a suitable building for a Sailors' Home, provided the remaining part be made up by public contribution. This truly noble offer has at once been accepted, the merchants and ship-owners of the Tyne have responded to the appeal, and at a public meeting lately held at North Shields, a sum of 1,300/. was at once subscribed, and plans for the building are to be prepared forthwith.—May we not reverently add in the words of the Psalmist, " Prosper Thou the works of our hands, O Lord ! O prosper Thou our handiwork!".