The Sun. — London, England, 1858-04-13 00:00:00

It was true we were carrying on hostilities at Canton, but these were not of such a nature as to call for so great an extra expenditure. He believed that there was a great de sire on the part of the higher classes in this country to keep up as large a standing army as they could, and they took advantage of the state of feeling which the recent ex ploits of the army in India bad created in the minds of the people, in order to f urther their ends. Public attention had recently been directed to the state of our barrack ac commodation, and the Duke of Cambridge had taken ad vantage of that to call upon the people to exert a pressure upon this house, in order that more money might be ob tained. If the Commander-in-Chief had taken the trouble t o see what barracks had already cost this country, he (Mr. Williams) doubted whether he would have pressed for more money. He (Mr. Williams) had moved some time s i n ce for a return of moneys expended in barracks. Through the destruction of papers which had taken place when the Houses of Parliament were burnt, he bad obtained returns only'. from the year 1834, and by these he found that since that time 7,4L0,000/. had been expended upon barracks. In addition to this it should be borne in mind that there was in England, at the close of the war, barrack accommo dation for more than twice the number of men which had co mposed our army. And he woull also remind the house that, this 7,000,0001. included neither warming the hos pitals, furniture, nor barracks for marines. Into these matifers there should be inquiry, for it was clear that had $ notsystem of jobb ing prevailed, the soldiers ought now to be furnished with proper accommodation. There was another point too to which he would venture to call at tention. There were at the present time no less than 3 , 6 generals in the army, and 33 in the marines. A few years lance and there were but three in the marines. These 346 genetals did not include those of the Indian army. He was always willing that men who had served the country in any department should be duly rewarded ; but these men were promoted to the rank of generals simply through favour. And the same state of things prevailed in the navy. In 1846 there were 153 admirals ; in 1851 there were 235 ; last jell, there were 316, an d the number n ow to be pro vided for in these estimates was no . less than 345. us we had two generals for every regiment, and an admiral call and a half for every, large ship afloat. Ile wou ld a lso attention to the subect of the army clothing. The esti mates were not even made out so as to show what the re sult of the recent change of system had been, with the ex caption of the case per he Guards, and there we found that the clothes cost 30 p cent. more than they did when the Duke of Wellington was colonel . of the regiment. H e b e . lieved that in this matter gre9l jobbing and bribery pre vailed. 'Upon many other points he could have addressed the house, but he would not weary them with details. He h o ped that the noble lord who was lately at the head of the government would give some reason for the recent rapid increase of the estimates, and that the right hon. gentle man opposite (the Chancellor of the Exchequer) would re member that it was this very question of providing for the estimates which cost him his office when he was last in power. He believed that these matters ought to receive the careful investigation of the house, and he therefore moved that the army and navy estimates be referred to a select committee. He merely proposed that this commit tee should inquire into the extraordinary increase in these items, and report the result of their, investigations to the house. Mr. KERSHAW seconded the motion. Sir J. PAKINGToN declined following the hon. mem ber through his statements, many of which had, in his opinion, little or no reference to the motion. He felt bound to oppose that motion, and he trusted that the house would agree with him that it would not be expedient to refer the military and naval estimates of England to a select com mittee. The house divided— For the motion For Mr. Williams' amendment 23-137 THE NAVY ESTINIATEi. The house then went into committee on these estimates. Sir J. PAKINGTON said,—lt will be in the recollec tion of the committee that when I moved certain votes on account of the navy estimates I then stated that I should consider it my duty, before any further grants of money were asked for, deliberately to consider the amount of the estimates which the late Government had submitted, and to submit them on the part of her Majesty's present advi sers in such a shape as we, after full consideration, might think Parliament ought to sanction. We have since given our best attention to the subject, and now I trust I may receive the indulgence of the committee while I proceed to explain as briefly and clearly as I can in what respect we are of opinion that some reduction may be made in the estimates of the late Government, and in what respect we think it impossible with prudence to make any reduction, in which case it will be my duty to ask for the whole ex penditure they proposed. The committee will understand that I referred principally to the first vote which I shall have to place in their hands--namely, that for the number of men and for the wages of seamen and marines. Now, undoubtedly, the hon, gentleman who just divided the house on the question of referring these estimates to a com mittee is perfectly right in saying that the naval force pro posed by the late and adopted by the present Government is a very large one. It is, in fact, a larger force than that submitted of late years; it is a larger one than was proposed last year; but I am bound to say, after full consideration, that in the opinion of the present Government our prede cessors took a bold and wise course in making that recom mendation to Parliament, and we cannot consistently with our sense of duty propose any reduction in that force. (Hear, hear.) I think 1 shall best discharge the task which now devolves upon me by being perfectly frank and open with the committee. I propose, then, to lay before them the reasons which influenced the present Government in adopting so high an estimate ; and when I have stated what is the course we think neces,ery on this most important subject I believe the committee will not hesitate now, and never will hesitate, to vote whatever money may be neces sary to uphold the naval power of this country. (Hear.) On a former occasion I explained the real difference be tween the votes proposed by the late Government for the wages of seamen and marines in this and last year. The number of men proposed for 1858-9 is, in fact, 3,000 more than the ultimate strength which was taken last year. The vote originally moved this time twelve months by the right hon. baronet opposite was for a force of 33,0..0 seamen, 15,00: marines, 2,000 men, for surveying purposes, and, I think, 5,700 men for the coastguard service. At a subse quent period of the year the late Government moved a sup plementary note for 2,000 seamen ; so that the total force for 1857-8 amounted to 35,000 officers, seamen, and boys, 2,000 men for surveying purp oses , and 5,700 fur the coast guard, amounting in the :whole, 55,700 men. The late Government have proposed, and it is now my duty to pro pose, that this force shall be increased by an addition of 2,000 officers and sailors to man our ships, and of 1,000 for the coastguard service. Hon. members will observe that on the face of the vote the number of men for the coast guard service appears to [be raised from 5,700 for last year to 7,380 for 1858-9. I wish, however, to explain that, although there is an apparent increase to this extent, the real difference, as I mentioned amounts only to 1,000. The addition of 680 men is owing to a transferfrom the civil to the naval portion of the coast guard service. It. was the policy of the right hon. gentle man opposite, and I believe a wise policy, to get rid of the civil portion of the coastguard establishment; and there fore this apparent increase of 680 men only consists in a transfer from one branch of the coastguard service to the other. The whole adliion, as I have said, is 2,000 sailors and 1,000 coastguard men, and the vote which I shall have to place in your hands for pa, ment of the wages amounts to 2,401,509 t. The state of the case as respects the men borne on the books of the ships is this :—When I move& th • vote on occount I stated that the men actually on the ho , ks Note considerably beyond the number voted for 1857.5--I think to the extent of something like 1,000. That number has increased, and we have now actually en board our ships 1,621 more men and boys than were voted last year. Assuming, therefore, that the committee will grant the vote which I shall now propose, there will, in fact, remain a balance of only 879 seamen out of the addi tional 2,000 to be voted. On the other hand, at this pre sent moment, in order to complete the manning of our ships in commission, we want 1,313 more sailors than we now have in those ships. The first topic to which I shall call the attention of the committee in connexion with the proof I hope to give as to the necessity of the large increase proposed in the number of men will be the present state of our forces in East India and China. In 185 ii only two years ago, our f orce i n th ose seas c onsisted of 17 ships, carrying 333 guns, and manned by 3,151 sailors. The force in East India and China at present consists of 75 ships, carrying 953 guns, with a force of 11,8e3 men. Several of these ships are now coming home, and six are on their way home, carrying 154 gun s , w ith 1 , 607 men; but that will leave on the East India and China station a force of 61 ships, carrying 789 guns, and manned by 10,206 sailors. It will be seen that this is a very large increase up on the force we have had at any previous period in th ese sea s, and, in fact, amounts to a large proportion of the wh o l e force which we are now about to ask the committee to grant. I am happy to say that a very great increase in our torce has also taken place on the African coast for the suppression of the slave-trade. I am quite sure that no disposal of our n ival - force could be more acceptable to this house or more in accordance with public sentiment in this country. Nevertheless, in calling upon Parliament to vote the neces sary supplies for the naval service of the year, this is an item which we are bound to take into account. In 18,55 (to go no further back) we had upon the coast of Africa 20 ships, carrying 134 guns and 1,929 men. We have now there a foi ce of 29 ships, with 21b guns and 3,353 men, so that, in fact, out of the whole naval force in this country there are at this moment, including the craws of ships which are on their way home from India and China, be. tweed 15,000 and 16,000 of our sailors ow upon the tAhfiroik can and the East India and China stat .. ione . Wh ile l lt will be satisfactory to the committee to ear of the strength of these !squadrons, I shall not conceal from them that the position of this country at home has not been fully satisfactory. I think it far b e tter to make this avowal and ask Parliament to deal with it as they think fit than to attempt to conceal facts which must li be known to every Government in Europe, and are, I beer,only unknown to members of this house. (Hear, hetsr.) Until s of war within a very recent period we possessed no hip s which were not employed on foreign station s or In distant portions of the empire. We had as a consequence no vessels the services of which could be madeiminediatsly avails We. Now, however, we have in our harbours some o f the most noble ships that ever floated upon the ocean—(hear) and we are adding rapidly to their number. (Hear.) I cannot, nevertheless, too emphatically call upon the committee to bear In mind that ships are quite useless unless we have the means wherewith to man them. (Hear, hear.) To the difficulties by which this important question is beset every one wlaohas filled the post which I have now the honour Ip="Yihas had his attention most earnestly directed. the most noble t ha t we have now in our harbours some of inform the commhietse that ever floated, but then I must that owing to the want of men they - are not readypfroeerseixrliate service. The Renown, for instance, is at she Spitbead with one fri gate and two corvettes; have t e as yet fully manned, notwithstanding that endeavourares: been made to pro curs the requisite number of her for the last four menthe. We have the Marlborough in Portsmouth he"r bour, waiting to relieve the Royal Albert i n the Mediter " m ean, and the Enryalus Devonport—th e two fin est ships of theirrespective classes which were ever constructed but they are unable to proceed to their destinations owing to the want of men. Al thou g h, therefore, the number of mon for the service of the present year exceeds'that voted last year, still it actually falls short by 1,300 of the number required to man the vessels now in commission in our har bours. (Hear, • hear•) While, however, I make that state ment, I think I may confidently say thatin some important respects this country is in a better position with respect to the manning of her navy than that in which she stood some time since, and I believe it requires nothi n g than a fair degree of libera lit y u p on the, pa rt of the t or li m ous e e of Commons Co place that imp ortant subject 'Ton a mos satisfactory footing. (Chcera ) lam also bound in justice to the three Administrations which have immediately pro- THE ceded the present to state that they have taken very im portant steps in this direction. It is but due to the naval administration of the Duke of Northumberland in 1A52 to say that the better m .nning of our navy occupied no small share of his attention. He appointed a committee, composed of the most able and exo,l tenced naval-officers, one of them of the highest standing—Sir R. Dundas—of whose services I am happy to add I now enjoy the advan tage, to inquire into this important subject. That 1 committee made its report very shortly after the D uke of Northumberland retired from office, and in that report were embodied two most important recommendations. The first of those recommendations was the adoption of a system of continuous service men—that is to say, of men 1 who should enlist for a longer period of yea rs than usual and receiving more than the ordinary rate of pay. The second recommendation of the committee was that we should adopt the principle of a marine militia by raisin and g a body of men, enlisting them in the same way as the l that militia, upon the voluntary system, an requiring they should be annually exercised. This force the com mittee proposed should form a body of men who, in case of any national emergency, might at any moment be called upon to man our ships. Both of those recommendations were carried into effect under the naval administration the right hon. baronet the member for Carlisle while in the government of Lord Aberdeen ; and I think I may say, without exaggeration, that they constitute by far the most important steps which have been taken in the direction to which lam adverting. (Hear.) Another important step which I believe I may attribute to the right hon. baronet the member for Halifax, was subsequently taken. I allude to the placing of ships round our coasts in connexion with the Coastguard, and the strengthening of the reserve to be constituted by the Coastguard. By means of the Coastguard 1 and the naval volunteers as they are called -- but which in . . fact form a marine militia—we have at this moment a re: serve which in case of emergency might at once be called out, and I believe I do not exaggerate when I state that, if necessery, we might, owing to that reserve, within a very short period—l am told within a fortnight—l certainly think, at all events, within a month—put to sea a channel fleet of not less than 20 line-of-battle ships. (Hear, hear.) They would, however, consist in a great degree of what are technically called " block ships," which are old 74's, and which are not fit to cope with th 3 more modern vessels in point of cannon. The house will moreover observe that the force to which I have just adverted would be available only in case of national emergency, and that those volun teers could be called out under no other circumstances. Neither could the coastguard for any other purpose be diverted from its ordinary duties ; and I for one maintain that it is not consistent with our national dignity or our national isafety, that we should not have the means of sending ships to sea for any other purpose than that for which the reserve has been created. (Hear, hear.) How, then, are we to deal with this most important point? I am in hopes we may be able to do so in an efficient man ner by the judicious extension of the system of continuous service men. (Hear. hear.) I cannot too strongly lament the course which was taken by the right hon. baronet oppo site last year in allowing no less than 3,000 men serving on board our ships, and enlisted as continuous service men, to be discharged from the navy, and thus lost to the country. (Hear, hear.) I am unwilling to speak of the conduct of the right honourable baronet in the lan guage of censure, and I am perfectly well . aware of the pressure which was exercised upon the Government lest year by the cry of economy which was raised throughout the whole of the ee untry. I cannot, however, help wishing that the right hon. baronet had bad the wis dom and the firmness to say, in answer to that cry, that the great interest of England ought not to be tampered with, and that the nation ought not to have receded from the bargain into which it ba I entered. (Hear, hear.) We had when the right hon. baronet took the step to which I allude a reserve force of between 23,009 and 24,0,0 conti nuous service men. Under the pressure of the cry of economy, however, the Government signified to those men that any of them who wished to have their discharge might obtain it. The practical result wastbat out of 5,000 or 6,000 of them who happened to be in our home ports no less than 3,000 were lost to the country, and that number has never since been made up. (Hear, hear.) But that is not all. The worst consequence of the unhappy step which was taken by the late Government was the moral effect which it produced upon the men themselves. It was regarded by them in the light of a breach of faith. They said, " You have enlisted us for a perio I of 10 years. We are still wil ling to serve you; yet you tell us to go about our business.' (Hear, hear.) The result has been most unfortunate. We must endeavour to retrace our course, and, if possible, to regain the position which we occupied. In the attain ment of that object we have to some extent succeeded, inasmuch as the number of the continuous service men amounts at present to about 22,000. The aim of those who aro intrusted with the management of the naval affairs should be, as it appears to me, while maintaining the minimum amount of force necessary for the pro tection and service of the country, to take oare that all the seamen should be entered for con' i - mous service. (Hear hear.) There must be a margin, for the committee will see that circumstances alter calculations, and, for in stance, if tho pressure upon us on account of the China war were to cease, we should be able to reduce the naval forms in the Indian and Chinese waters to the amount at which it stood four years ago, and consequently we should be enabled to reduce the vote which I shall ask the house to sanction. The strength of the navy must, of course, vary according to the state of public affairs, and there must always be a margin which should consist of non-continu ance service men, with whom we may deal without pro ducing the bad effect which the step taken last year un questionably did produce. Beyond that margin the present Government is decidedly of opinion that the entire force of seamen should consist of men entered for continuous service, and this very day I have given directions that every means should be used to increase the number of men so entered as fast as possible up to a given amount. I must now state to the committee what is the opinion of the pre sent Government upon another point, in which opinion I anticipate the concurrence of every member of the homes, viz., that we ought never to be without a Channel fleet. (Hear.) I do not think it is consistent with our position, with our national dignity or safety, that we should have no naval force at all in the Channel. I remember when my right hon. friend opposite proposed his estimate last yearhe said there would be no Channel squadron on account iof the state of affairs in China. I allow the pressure of affairs in China at that time was severe, but I venture to think that no Government should under any circumstances leave lhe Channel without a squadron. Her Majesty's Government hold it to be their first duty, without any loss of time that can be avoided, to establish a Channel squa dron, not only for the protection of our shores, but for the exercise of our officers and men. The hon. and gallant mem ber Tor Southwark wid agree with me, I am sure, when I say that the introduction of steam into our navy is so re cent, and our officers as yet so unaccusto etel to its appli cation, that it is essential there should be a squadron for evolutions and practice which shall enable officers and men to tocome practic.:Ey a7,,tuairited with the 11JW system. (Hear.) We have an example before us set by our oppo site neighbours in France, which we cannot with prudence neglect. They do not allow their coasts to be left defence less, nor do they allow their officers and sailors to remain without opportunities for practice. On the coetrary, with great prudence, and with his usual sagacity, the Emperor of the French has assembled at Toulon a force which will form a squadron of evolution, and I hope before the pre sent summer has passed away that we shall see in our own Channel a squadron worthy of England and her naval reputation assembled for the same praiseworthy object. Having told the committee the number of men which we shall ask them to grant, I will now proceed to explain how we shall dispose of them. I have said we ask for 2,000 ad ditional men, in order to complete the manuing of our ships. Of those 2,000 men 1,621 are already on board ship, leaving 379 to be obtained. I have explained that, in order to complete the harbour ships in commission we want 1,318 men more than we have. Deduct from that number the balance of 379 to be gainee out of the increased vote, and there will remain 939 more than the increas el esti mate, supposing all the ships to be fully manned. For the Channel squadron, which we hope to fit out in the course of the summer, we shall require 1,500 more men and also 1,000 for reliefs, which must be effected during this year. That gives 3,4:39 mon more than the increased vote for which we ask, but within the next three months there will arrive . to an t d he o t e h m e t r eh s t ta 3 ti , o 4 n B s B ships whose ere , vs will be men. from China, the Mediterranean, Therefore, after having provided for the requirements of the ships now in commission, for such additional ships as we hope to have soon in the Channel, and 1,000 for foreign reliefs, we shall have a balance out of the vote we now ask for of 49 men remaining in England That is the explana tion I have to give of the vote, which is a 'alga one, I admit. I wish I could consistently with my duty have proposed a lower amount, but I trust the explanation I have given will convince the committee that it is not unnecessarily large in order to maintain the navy in a state of efficiency. I hope the policy of this country will ever be, while adapt ing its force to the varying circumstances of the time, to maintain the navy in an effective condition, to keep up an effective Channel squadron, and further to have a reserve of available seamen to man our ships upon an emergency, without therecurrence of so humiliating and unsatisfac!ory a state of things as we have lately witnessed at our ports. (Hear, hear.) With this explanation I shall now proceed to the second vote, for victuals to the fleet, which is 1,027,157/ , being an increase of 165,1591 . up on the vote of last year. * The committee will at once see that the amount of this vote depends upon the preceding one, for if the number of men bo increased the amount of charge for their victuals also increases. We do not propose to make any change in reference to the votes intervening between votes 2 and 8, but I have to request the attention of the com mittee while I explain the intentions of Government as to the vote No. 8, and the reasons why we have deviated from the plan of the late Goveinment, and propose a smallervote than they intended to Embroil. We have not arrived at that determination without most anxious consideration. I have endeavoured to impress upon the committee the necessity , of maintaining our navy in a state of efficiency, and I be lieve they will agree with me when I say that that should be done with the utmost practicable regard to economy. (Hear.) With my short tenure of office I have no right to imply anything that might appear to be a censure upon preceding Administrations, but I must own I have an impression that our dockyaris are not conducted with that strict regard to economy which is desirable. (Hear, hear.) ns e I i as thinkffair intrusteda it w i t i h a one twh iet hi most o ot h. t te h l e . a i.firsti affairse o oodnfuottmihe the hop e th e comm i ttee w i ll under stand what I mean. thho with efficie ncy. (H ear, hear.) Extrava gance thatno f a v an i y s t oM consistentiui conduct s te iw . (Hear, hear.) I do no t does not promote efficiency, intend to imply that in proposing 12,190 m en f or th e ser vice of the dock . ards, the late Government laid them selves open to a charge of extravagance. I am unwilling to propose without the clearest conviction of its necessity a vote which has no precedent in our naval estimates. I system,Geat greatly respect the desire of the hon. member for Lambeth for economy, but I think his idea that we can now go back to the n sval estimates of the tim i e m o e f ri t c h a e l. Du ( k ß e e o a f r Welling cechthen in our naval ) changes Welling ton or haveofLordtaGker former days. Let mo remind the naval establishment of . and I am perfectly convinced that we cannot go back to the n ey p i l s ac cl e u s i i t n ° change hon. gentleman ant ze of our men-of-war. (Heal% made in late years in too s: i the committee of the wonderful Caledonia, Britannia, battle ships, such as the No Ptuna lt the grandest over hear.) It was only the other day that our large Britannia, battle St. Vincent, which wo thong Wellineton, Marl our first-rate ships now ? The Doke of launched, were only 2,60) tons, but what the tonnage of borough, Royal Albert, and the ship tocks 4t 3,800 or 4,000 tons. I saw last week on the 8 Portsmouth a new ship, the Victoria, • • which will greatly lately la -, anchc. l are exceed them. At this moment there is a 32-gun frieete, the Diadem, which is 2,500 tons—that is to say, withio 103 tons of the size of our three-deckers some years ego. These great changes in the size of our ships must necessarily be accompanied by a prdportionate increase in the extmt and expenditure of our dockyards. . Next, we must bear in mind the introduction of steam into our navy. A few years i ships are steamships. I believe ago a steamship was the exception, but now all our new agirveetnu return' theeh the committee is scarcely I m steamy hand has g o g f r E eg n a g t l e and.l hold in aware of the enormous power which the introduction of o w it i o n y g al t h na e vy a our :lips in a series of years. In. 1044, onlyl4 horse-power o that power was 23 ,379. in 1852, the last y - ear L e gr s e c. fla ° e' j SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, APRIL 12, 18.58 Russian war, it was 44,250 ; and now, in 1858, it has risen to 99,512. The committee will bear in mind the gigantic expenditure and the vast additional labour occasioned by this change. I am sure the hon. member for Lambe h himself will admit it is abso utely impossible to construct and repair our present gigantic steamships in the same dockyards in which were constructed and repaired our smaller sailing ships of some years ago. In the course of the last six years the machinery for our ships and our dockyards has cost us no less than 3,687,0001. Of course, the Russian war was the main cause of that expenditure ; but we cannot maintain our navy in a proper condition without incurring an expenditure to which we have hitherto been unaccustomed. I have had never beard such a good and clear speech as that just delivered. (Hear, bear.) He had spoken so well of the propriety of maintaining and keeping up the discipline of the navy and its efficiency, that he might almost have supposed him a sailor himself. (A. laugh.) The right horn baronet had also gone far to do away with the stupid no tion that it was improper to discuss these naval estimates for fear foreigners might make use of the informatiod to our injury. The right hon. baronet had stated that the navy never was in a better condition. That was the state ment made by all First Lords of the Admiralty, neverthe less he quite agreed with the statement to-night, that we never had so fine a navy, or a better set of ships than at this moment. (Hoar, hear.) But the navy never would have reached that state of efficiency if they had no discus sions upon its management. There was, it might be re membered, first, the old Navy Boatel ; then there was a surveyor appointed, who built ship without any bnttoms. (A. laugh.) They had the old " tin pot" system ; but then came the appointment of that excellent officer Sir Baldwin Walker, the present Surveyor-General of the Navy, than whom, if they searched the country over, they could not find a better. They had only to look at the ships he had sent out, to see how much the country was indebted to him. 'Upon the efficiency of the navy they might be well satisfied. They had four screw ships of the line, of 803- horse power--the Marlborough, the Royal sovereign, Conqueror, and Renown. They had one of 70)-horse power—the Duke of Wellington. They had six screw ships of 600-horse power, three ships of 500 horse power, and five from 400 to 459-horse power. All t h ese s hi p , were afloat, aryl that was the state of their steam navy. But they had also others repairing, converting, en" build ing. Of these they had two ships (the Victoria and the Howe) each of 1,090-horsepo from wer 0 five ship t shi e ps 40 o 0 f .ho 80 r i s l e power.se power, The wer, - horse h e o n u d se wouldseven chips re adily suppose th a t t o b e very fine navy ; but, notwithsten Hug that, he die p proved of discontinuing the arming and building of ships for the French Goverurnent were on the alert, as they would see trout the following list of the French navy, which he had received from a French naval officer, of which those in commission in February, 1838, were—Bre tagne, 130 guns ; Algesiras, 90 guns ; Arcole, at guns ; Eylau, 90 guns; Prince .femme, 90 guns; Ulm, 90 guns; Austerlitz, 90 guns; Tage, 90 guns; Donawerth, 80 guns; Tourville, 80 guns. The Fleece had two ships afloat of 114 guns, and one of 130 guns. Altogether they had 23 large screw ships of the line afloat, and 15 repairing, con verting, or building. Now, although that fleet might not be so strong as the British, they should recollect that they often required two or three fleets to watch one fleet, so as to : revent it from doing mischief. There should be no re laxation in building screw ships, for sailing vessels were now of no use whatever ; but while they were building these fine ships, it was necessary to give one caution more—via , that they must recollect that probably in ten years' time they would be superseded by new and improved and more formidable armaments. Ships would be built with iron sides and iron batteries against which, if they brought an ordinary threeelecker such as they were now building, she would be entirely useless. Let them take a frigate of 30 guns and fit her up as he had suggested, and then put one of their present three-deekers against her with all her armament, and let them fire away, and see which would get the best of it. (A. laugh.) Yes, hon. gentlemen might laught, but it was nevertheless true. The right hon. ba ronet had said truly that ships were not the navy, and that was true. Io men they they were deficient, and al though it had been denied, an order bad been issued in May, 1857, by the First Lord of the Admiralty, giving per mission for men and boys to discharge themselves from the navy. That was to be blamed; nevertheless the Prime Mini sterrather than the Admiralty was in fault for that step. The Prime Miuister sliould have come down to the house and showed the necessity of keeping this fine force afloat. The Secret cry of the Admiralty had given as a reason for this the large force of the French navy. He (Sir C. Napier) had pointed out the stateof the Fr inch navy to Sir C. Wood in 1856, The hoe. goad gallant officer next complained of the improper discharge of men who had come forward in . our hour of need, and whose places, when thus discharged, it was difficult to fill when occasion arose. The next error of the Government which he pointed out was, that they had not in many places screw ships instead of sailing ves sels in commission, whereas screw ships, he contended, ought always to have tho preference. When he had stated this last session he was pooh poohed ; but before the late Government went out they had begun to act upon this principle, and he was glad to find that the present Govern ment would do the same. All the best ships should be fully manned, so that when a ship was ut in commission she could go alongside the flaeship and receive her first draft of men and marines, and by this means she might be got ready for sea iu one month instead of lying five months. The men to be drafted from the flagship would be continu ous service men ; but it was always best to allow them the opportunity of volunteering if possible. If the crews of ships were reduced, instead of being fully paid off, a great saving would be effected. Certain vessels which he named were paid off in M ay, 1856, and on the 20th of June the news arrived of the rebellion in India. If that fleet lead not been paid off they might have taken out the guns, drafted half their men, and in less than 48 hours they could have sent out 10,003 or 12,000 men out to India; and let them fancy how many lives the timely arrival of such a fleet would have saved. (Haar, hear.) Not only 89, but this could have been done at a total cost of some 4,0001. to 6,000/ , instead of paying at the rate of 401. or 501. a head as we had done. He next combated the asser tion that it was nun messary to give the sailors bounty, and pointed out the good effects arising from the bounty given to soldiers. He complained of the abolition of the good conduct pay given to seamen who had conducted them selves satisfactorily on foreign stations, and asserted that faith should iu every particular be kept with the men. Petty officers should be allowed nut only the stripes but the pay which attached to them. With respect to the coast guard, the present number was 7,380, who were sup posed to be composed of the best class of seamen. But after serving five years in the coast guard they were not obliged to come forward to serve again ; and what was a man worth when for fifteen years he bail been comfortably located on shore? (Hear, hear.) If the coast guard were obliged to serve a portion of their time they would volun teer ; but at present they could get their pensions without cluing so. In the Baltic campaign he had found the coast guards and Welsh seamen most deserving men, always striving to sustain proper discipline, and he was glad that r all the coast guard men for the future were to be seamen, r but this could not be done all at once. The drill of ufty eight days was not enough, and measures should be taken to secure greater efficiency. In case of emergency, France just now would be able to man her fleet before we could man ours. We must have a Channel Squadron, and man it—(hear, hear)—and if our present estimates would not do, we must hove others. What we wanted was a alieis ter who would come down to the House of Commons and say, " Unless you give me money enough to man the Chan nel fleet, you must get some one else to rule the country, ford won't." (Laeghte , and chess.) Tf a, MiListcr were to make such a speech as that, he would be cheered from one end of the house to the other, and from one end of the country to the other. (Hear, hear.) He believed they might now look forward to better days. (Hear, hear.) The constitution of the Admiralty wanted reforming. The Admiralty was now under a First Lord who o ug ht to be a Secretary of State. He had five advisers at the Admiralty and five other advisors at Somerset-house. The Comp troller of.the Victualling department, the Surveyor of the Navy, the Accountant-General, and the Storkeeper-Gene ral—thme are at Somerset-house; and the gallant admiral paid a high compliment to the character and efficiency of each of them. He urged that they should be allowed to perform teueir own duties and be made responsible for them. The First Lord of the Admiralty and his two naval ad visers should look after the discipline of the fleet and all the public establishments. If he wished to man a fleet of aay ten sail of the line, his course would be simple enough. the st Physician e:ier:iat o ,ryl f ,gpli t to h oti Irto F )eo.: l ik e e at ; f , cit o ra); pro vide He would write to the Surveyor of the Navy to get ten sail of the lino ready ; to the Comptroller of the Victual ling empartinent, to get provisions ready for ten sad of the line; to the Storekeeper-General to provide stores for ten sail of the line ; and t eco o oefm th itranh e medical officers. But the present plan of sending Lords of the Admiralty down to Somerset House was as much as to tell them that they were all rogues, and that there foretc e n y t rt h ohl a e t ty l h es n er o on .t c o n n i , fi e dt Lordea re into the management of the navy anti if it reported that it was well managed, let it remain as it was ; but if it re ported that it was not well managed, no one would then venture to deny that it was time some change was ma Is. As an illustration of the operation of the present routine, an him admiral, he was and e n then i s r e e n ol . f tho gallant rommal related the correspond ent 3 t o w hi c h h e was subjected on being, the ether day, appo i nted a full admiral. The Secretary of the Admiralty sen t hi m a writ hteilleatteprr,itnetlelt latter r i ng ll m (Laughter.) Then came a letter si g n e d by two Lords adt the Admiralty to tell him that he was au a d m i ral. (Re newedlaughter) He then received a letter, telling him to hoist his flag, and subsequently another letter, telling him to lower his fl ,g, with other communications from the Accountant-General and the Admiral at Portsmouth. (Laughter.) It was all nonsense. (Cheers and laughter.) He thought now that there was some chance of matters being looked into and amended. He was gl id to learn that there were men enough in the ships coming home to man the Channel fleet, and that if not, the First Lord Of the Admiralty woul.l come down to the house to ask for more men. [Sir J. Pakington here gave, across the table, some verbal explanation which we could not catch.] Sir C. Napier continued, by observing that he was glad at all events that we were to have a Channel fleet—(hear, hear, and cheers) —and concluded with an expression of his gratitude to the hou-e for having listened with so much aetention to his observations, which he feared were to many members so:newha,t tiresome. SirJ. YAKINGTON said the hon. and gallant admiral had reminded him of an omission. The number of volunteers at present enrolled was 5,800; of that number 4,600 had been actually taken on beard ship—(hear, hear) —and were well practiced io gunnery. (Cheers ) Sir CHARLES WOOD, whose opening observations were inaudible in the gallery "said—The right hoe. and were ereeted with loud cries of " Speak up, speak gen tleman opposite in the observations ho bad ma de regard ing _ the paying off of th e cont i nuous service, appe ared entirely to forgot the circu ms t ances un der which that step had been taken. Ho would rem i n d the committe e that in January, 1857, when th e est i mates were proP°"d' we were in a state of the most profound peac e with every t,he Europeanhouse power, and the number of men then proposed to for the n oval establishment was 33,000, uler which, for a peace being considerab'y in excess of any number ever voted en. establishment, certainly could rot be said to be small, it before, except in 1853, when the country was in actualthe num ticipet ion of war. In the month of April, 40 000 and it House of Commons had sanctioned, it beiog.then P . ee would, he thought, be in the recollection of the committee n itt num ber of men was actu 7,000 in e xcess of what the for Chan cellor of the Ezchequer, and the noble lore the member that the leaders of all the urged upon the the City of Louden, for instance, strongly Government the necessity of economy and retrenchment. nt upon the Under these circumstances it was incumbent lown the Government, as speedily as possible, to bring e House of number of men to what had been voted by t the month of groat parties, the present Commons, which was accordingly men who were anxious to leave the servhree d over Notwithstanding thatproceedirg, however, texcesse the the numbers vc.ted was still about 3,000, and certainly May, by allowing a certain numberdiOnfecointihuor.tios seorviscoe faith. , an Nor was it, as the hon and gallant admira l su pp y in regarding that step as a b rea ch o edis dos_ h .es right honourable gentleman opposite wa f s in no way Justi fied knowledge, accepted their discharge upon one side of for in many cases they, to his own e deck as 'continuous the couragernent to the continuous servic e mon t erns 1 , service hien, but re-entered the service on the other at a lower rato of remuneration, but without th they were in e 10 years' compulsory service, by which d to the pay first-named capacity bound ; and with regae en, 1 of the ing off the ships, there was a reduction theateastiog the condition of and pro found under circumstances promising 1 ty's Government a judgment, and so situated, her )leiee . those could have had no reasonable pretext for keeping all found peace, so fur as it was possible at that time to form ships in commission. The hon. and gallant member urged that had they been kept in comnsis,don troops might him.) been sent with great expedition to India. Into that ques- already expressed my regret that the late Government took, under pressure, a step which deprived us of 3,C00 of our seamen, and I no less regret that under the same pressure they threw out of commission seven or eight ships and several frigates last year, every one of which is now being refitted for commission at great expense to the country. Ido not blame the late Government for having done so, and, in fact, admit that I am responsible for hav ing contributed to the pressure under which they acted ; but if ever there was a case of penny wise and pound fool ish, it was that throwing out of commission ships upon which we are now spending thousands upon thousands to put them in sailing order. (Hear.) The whole strength of our dockyards is now being applied to therepair of those ships which were last year thrown out of commission. I am therefore justified in saying that the present pressure upon our dockyards is exceptional, and that increases my reluctance to propose an unprecedented amount of force in our dockyards until I am satisfied of its necessity. I can not touch this part of the question without requesting the attention of the committee to a subject which I know has for several yeses attracted the attention of naval men as it bas that of the present Government during the abort time they have been in office. I allude to that most objection able and unwise practice of commissioning our ships for only three years. (Hear, hear.) It is most costly and most injurious to discipline. In proof of that I beg to state a few facts as to the refitting of two of our largest line-of-battle sailing ships. I have not been able to ascertain the cost of refitting steamships ; hut no doubt it is greater than that of refitting sailing ships. I have here a statement of the expense of refitting the Queen from the time of her first commission in 1815 down to 1'52, and of refitting the Rodney, one of our largest sailing ships, from her first com mission iu 184) down to the last year she was in commis sion, viz., 1656, and this is the result :—The expense of each refitting the Queen was 19,923/. and of each refitting the Rodney 22,9961. So that the mean expense of refitting each of them was 21,4571. If each of them were refitted three times in 10 years each cost three times that amount : and if refitted twice each cost twice that sum. We find that the mere saving of one refittal of one of such ships in le years is a saving of 21,452/. ; and if to this we add the additional cost of refitting steam-ships we shall easily per ceive that the country would save a vast amount of money if the practice of commissioning for merely three years, which necessitates such constant refittings, were abolished. (Hear.) It is notorious that our large line-of-battle ships are not refitted in less than nine months, and that some of our best naval officers are not satisfied unless the line-of battle ship to which they may have been commissioned requires one year and a-half for refitting. In this way half the time for which a shipis commissioned is often lost, so that we find we are not only losing money by the system, but that a large portion of the time for which ships are commissioned is taken up is putting them into proper order. A point arises here which cannot but be regarded as one of considerable importance. If we were to adopt permanently the system of commissioning ships for four years—my own feeling would be for five years—but, at any rate, if we were to allow the rule of commissioning ships for a longer time than at present, one of the results would necessarily be to produce a material effect on the position and prospects of the officers of the navy. (Ffear, hear.) The number of officers distributed among the ships would be diminished in proportion to the extension of the period of commission, and this raises a question which we are bound seriously to consider. I am not prepared defini• tively to announce the intentions of the Government on the subject, but I think it is unquestionably one of those grave questions connected with the administration of the navy which we are called on to consider, and I may say that it will receive our best attention. We are boon I to take care, not only of the pay and position of the officers, but also of their efficiency, and to promote their efficiency it is desirable that they should be able to go to sea for a fair term of service. We think a longer period of service than at present should be established, but at the same time we see the difficulty arising from the position of the officers. We hope, however, to be able at no distant time to effect the improvement we desire in such a way as to promote economy without injuring the prospects of those pliant officers whose best iutorests we are al a•ays bound to keep in view. (Hear.) In further illustration of what I have said I may mention that there are at this moment nine ships in dock, not one of which has been in commission more than three years, and they have all been refitted at great cost to the country. If the system of five years' commission had been acted on, not one of these ships need have been fitted up as they had been at so great an expense. (Hear, hear.) Having stated our views as to the system of commission, I shall now direct the attention of the committee to what I must call the unprecedented esti mate of 12,190 men for the dockyards. I believe th 3 largest dockyard establishment ever voted by Parliament was that of last year—viz , 10,850 men, being the same as had been voted in 1856-7; but now in 1853 the late Go vernment proposed to vote 12,190 men. I cannot help thinking that, on the whole, these excessive votes for dock yard establishments have been subject to irregularity. I beg to call the attention of the right hon. gentleman the member for Halifax (Sir C Wood) to the fact that this question of dockyard establishments was the subject ef inquiry before a committee of the House of Commons in 181, and that that committee made a distinct recommen dation that there :hould be a permanent dockyard esta blishment of 9,621 men, which recommendation was au thorized by an order in Council passed in 1850. Notwith staneing that order in Council, however, we had last year an establishment of 10,850 men, and this year we have had a proposal for 12,190 men. Now, I cannot but think that it would be better either to repeal the order in Council or to have an annual order in Council passed, and thus to go on in a business-like manner, than to be exceeding the fixed number of 9,621 men, thus practically setting aside the order altogether. (Hoer, hear.) It is not the inten tion of the Government to ask in the present vote for more than 10,850, being the same as last year. The committee will see that for the reasons I some time ago mentioned the present pressure on our dockyards is exceptional. I am of opinion that, notwithstand ing what I have said as to the increase of our ships, the establishment will be found to be sufficient. What I propose, then, is that, instead of increasing the establishment, we should take a vote of 50,0001. to be spent on hired labour, and in making up extra hours. I ought to state that during the last three or four years, when we hare hid ao teitels:ishaisaiL ea 10,6;3 men, that number has been exceeded by the employment of hired labourers, sometimes to the extent of 400 or 500 men. My proposal now, however, i 3 that 50,0 01. shall be expended on hired labour. This is 100,0001. more than the vote of last yea • but the actual increase is only 50,0001., there being a diminution of 50,000/. upon the amount proposed by the late Government. (Hear, hear.) I must add this remark, however, that if at the close of the summer we find that the money taken for this purpose is not enough, I shall have no hesitation in coating to the house before Parliamentthat any iinjury ury prorogues should t a o c a e sk tu e f or to other ep u 5 b 0 1 ,020 ,3 e / r v r i a c t e h . e ( r H t e h a a r n , hear.) The next vote to which I shall refer is that for naval stores. The vote for naval stores in 1857-8 was 1,395,4501. The vote proposed by the late Government for 1858-9 was 1,164,7421. From this increased vote the present Government proposes to deduct 7 e OOOl (Hear, hear.) This sum of 75,0001 is divided into three items. In the first place, there is 15,0001. which it is proposed to take off whet are called general stores. There is next 10,0001. for ships to be built by contract or procured by purchase. I cannot learn from all the inquiry I can make that there is any prospect either of building ships by con tract or of purchasing them, so that there seems to be no necessity for any such sum. (Hear, hear.) The largest portion of the amount deducted is 50,000/. for steam ma chinery. The vote proposed by the late Government for steam machinery was 300,0001. We propose, as I have stated, to reduce it by 50,000/., making the whole sum 250,00.1. (Hear, hear.) During the last six years we have expended nearly 4,000,000/. on steam machinery. Now, I say, let us by all means expend as much money on steam machinery as may be really required ; but I beiove that all the ships now being prepared for launching this year may be completed, and yet a reduction of 50,0031. be effected. (Hear, hear ) Before quitting this subject I wish to state that the Govern meat are of o, iuion that, considering the enormous amount of property which the country has acquired by au expendi ture of nearly 4,0 , 0,0001., including the present veto, we are bound to see that it is properly cared for, and that the country receives the fullest benefit from it. It is therefore our intention to issue a small commis ion of scientific men to investigate the condition of the machinery, and to re port upon the best course to be taken with regard to it. I do not mean to imply that there is any neglect on the part of those who are charged with it. On the 0 , ntrary, during the short visit I recently made to the dockyard everything I saw was of a nature to convince me that the greatest care is taken of it; but I do not thine that any thing but good can arise from the dockyard officials being male aware that they aro liable to have their conduct oc casionally overlooked and supervised, sod it is only a wise elution on our parts to institute some inquiry as i to the best means of preserving in an efficient state that which has cost the country so much money. (Elear, hear ) The next vote is vote 11, for new works. The vote in 1857.8 was 578,4151.—the late Government proposed to make it for this year 694,61 q., but after having carefully gone through all the items, it appears to us that it may be re duced to 585,8621, which will be a saving on the original estimate of 108,756/. When we get to the vote in com mittee I shall be prepared to give further explanations iu regard to it, but it consists of a great many small items, and I will only now allude to three of the largest-25 o''ol. for the purchase of land near Davenport, 15,000/. for the purchose of land near Haslar, and-15,00 1. for the dockyard at Malta. I am not prepared to say that these votes may not ultimately be lessened, hut having inquired very closely into the works inj each case, I do not see any reason why this money should be taken this year, or that any harm will be produced by the postponement of the vote, The next vote on which we effect a reduction is vote 17, for,the transport sot vice. In 1557-8 207,5001. was voted under this head, and the late Government proposed this year to take 495,0001. The great difference between these two sums exists only in appearance and not in reality, for the vote of last year was found to be greatly insufficient, and 200,000/., I think, ha i to be taken oat of a stun voted for the Chinese war, and therefore fairly ;applicable to the conveyance of troops to China, to maim up the deficiency. The pres en t governmen t ar e of that we may reduce this vote by 85,000/.-45,0001. on freight, and 40,0001. on t au he p n p the saving in coals consequent on that reduction. We are e ol o n7 a ,r b oo l f e t d Bes t l, o oth do this by paying off several of the bird steam transports employed this 13y oahoitien-7rsMt, voteoh a e j o e wlB s . la t ,7 y o ' ole s enp t r r rev o odo o pu p toec s s t h e ; oa p in s. employed in China, the places of which will be a of reduction O h m B e , w o i n th v t o li te e estimates of the late government be s ir e i o 318 , 7561. The excess of the original estimates those g 932,6017., not including the over of 3 1-8 was reduc tions which we make bring packet service, but the reduc- I have now stated the generalthatexcess dowu to 613,8 E/. Government have arrived as p7gase r6noelef.dr,e., , r o e oo s result, t, ; results l at which her Majesty's could without any appearance, cleallrely and concisely as I views of the late Government, but solely' of cen'uring the with the ce ect of explaining to the committee what I coec • to be required by the service of the country. stioir sly believe In the office which I have the honour to oil ear, hear.) am assisted by some of the ablest and most distinguished officers and I ma y say for them, as well as for myself, that we hav ' e but one object in view, to secure economy, to avoid unnecessary expenditure, but, above all, to maintain the naval force of England the point which is required for the honour, dignity, and safety of the country. (Hear, hear.) The hon. baronet concluded by moving the first vote, that the naval force for the year 1 ,4 58 be 59,380 men and boys. Sir CHARLE NAPIER said, that of all the state. mints he had heard trona First Lords of the Admiralty, he tion it was not his intention at present to enter, but the only mode by which ships could be made available for .4nch unforeseen necessities would be the some. hat costly plan of keeping up iu time of peace a wsr establishment. ff such a policy was desired, or would be sanotioned by the House of Commons, he felt sure that there would have been no difficulty either on his own part or on that of the right hon. gentleman now at the head of the Admiralty, in keeping up an efficient fleet, and getting the requisite number of men for the service • but it would involve vast and endless expense, such as the house would hardly sanc tion. As far as the naval branch of the service was con cerned, the late Government had maintained a larger peace establishment than was ever before proposed. He had to thank the right hon. gentleman for the mention made by :rim of the encouragement given by the late Government o the coast-guard service and the naval volunteers. It had always been a matter of great difficulty to maintain such a body of men in efficient order, as a reserve in times of emergency, awl to this point he had devoted a great deal of attention. Such a body of men now existed, and he could not but regerd has the greatest boon to the country. He did not wish to take the credit of it himself, for his predecessors were equally entitled to do so. It had been the subject of much care, and the result had realised all the expectations he bad ever formed respecting it. (Hear, hear.) During the last year the c e t i a - g n u s! r d T amountedThese h t a o, d e o b oo s e q m u e e n n , t loyf fallen l e o nt 0 ,0 2,3 , 00 were in other words, there had been au addition of 600 seamen to that trench of the service, awl in the course of the last year he had inspected a large number of them, and he was hound to say th .t a finer or abler body of men he had never seen in his life. They had a reserve of 6,000 picked seamen, who served at least five years each, and they torneed the best possible nucleus of a first class naval esta irlishment. He was sorry to fin I that the right hon. gen leman proposed a reduction of 10,0001. for the additional , ccommodation required for these men. It was indispen sable that the accommodation should be made complete, and that the men should be well treated, The naval coast volunteers formed the cheapest and most efficient branch of the service, and the results from their incorporation ex ceeded all expectation. He regretted to find that an alte ration of the votes 8 and 10 was propose I. (Hear, hear.) It was not necessary, in his opinion, to reduce by i'so,o 01. the estimate for wages, and 59,01)0/. for steamship build ing purposes. (Hear ) Th increase in the number of hands was continue . ' down to March last, anti the reductions were effected slowly. When the number was reduced to what it had been at the beginning of the war, he thought be had amply provided for the adequate performance of all the work, yet he was surprised to find that from every yard there was a cry that the work was getting behind hand, and from no yard was that cry lender than it was ' from that of Portsmouth. Under these circumstances, the reduction now proposed took him by surprise, especially as it was well understood that if we are to keep our maritime supremacy, we must maintain our naval establishments in a thorough state of efficiency. Sailing ships would now be no longer employed in warfare, and when he was at the Admiralty, he had been most desirous of giving an impetus to that portion of the dockyard d titles. It was for that rea son he proposed an increase of 100,0001. iu thelest estimate, end a corresponding, increase of si,ooo men. He was a firm believer in the alliance, but the effect of their cea-ing to build would be felt five years helve, and who could say what would be the state of things five years hence? He was opposed, then, to the reduction of the votes for build ing ships, and the purchase of steam machinery. During the Russian war they built a largo number of ships in private yards, which, for vessels of inferior tonnage, could be done more cheaply than in the dockyards. Indeed, the builders must have lost money by the transaction, for they did the work without regard to expense, under the pressure of a great national emergency. Larger vessels could not be so advantageously built in private yards, for it would not suit the purposes of many builders to keep large timber in stock, His objection extended, moreover, to the mode in which the reduction was to be made. In ordinary times the wages of dockyard labourers were kept a little below the wages given in private yards, but the men had regular employment, and some other advantages, so that a constant supply of shipwrights was had. Iu private yards 12s. a day was often given to shipwrights, and they would not hope to be able to compete with them. It was good policy, theresre, to maintain, during peace as many men as would do the ordinary work at ordinary pay, and to employ their resources in increasing both the work and the pay in time of war. If the right hon. gentleman, then, expel led that power in time of peace, he might de pend upon it that, having made a reduction then, he would not be able to make the increase during war. He trj '.std, likewise, to his reductions to the extent of 15,0001. for hemp and other stores. The right hon. gentle man, he thought, was also unwise in delaying the pur .'ha-e of land for dockyard purposes, for by so doing he would find that he was increasing the ultimate outlay. He hoped the right hon. gentleman would take into consi deration the points he had submitted to him, anti the only object of which was to secure the maintenance of the navy in a state of efficiency. Mr. H. DRUMMOND said that the right hon. gentle man had. spoken of the folly of keeping up the expenses of war in time of peace. As a general proposition, there was no denying that ; but what was the meaning precisely of a war establishment and being in a tate of peace, and keeping up your relative position with other nations f (Hear, and laughter.) In all those questions it was not necessary that there should be a declaration of war. A gentleman iu the country was more likely to quarrel with a neighbour than with some one who lived in another country ; and so, if we quarrelled at all, it would moat probably be with a neighbour. Now who was our nearest neighbour? Was he a eull, slow, lieavy, matter-of-fact, red-tapist sort of gentleman like ourselves or the Germans? They need not fear a sudden attack from the Germans, but this was a lively gentleman. (Rear, and laughter.) They roust judge of his probable future conduct by his nest, and in times past he hr.d acted by coups de main. Would he make a declaration of war, and then give them a month's notice to bring their coastguards on board their ships? Never. He was much too wise a man ; he understood his business too well. Now, it ought to be observed that a maritime force was not an essential condition of any coun try but this, France was not a whit weaker for losing Tra falgar ; but if we lost the mastery of the sea, there was an end of us; or if our ships of war were prevented from coming from Plymouth to Portsmouth, or from Porta -1 mouth to the Thames, it would be all the same. We must be ready for action at all times. Yet it was a pity they weld not believe fair-spoken honest people. He believed the Emperor of the French was above board with us, and ever since he had come to the Throne he had acted toward us in the most straightforward manner. He quite agreed with the right hon. gentleman the late Lord of the Admi ralty in many of the reasons he had shown against the re duction in the estimates, and concurred with him in the opinion that any cutting down of our naval defences under present circumstances was a most unwise economy. Mr. CURRY, in replying to the various objections, regretted that these men had been discharged from the service. Objection had been taken to the reduction of his tight h OOO. in the wages thlo. friend ha of been e the en artificers, misunderstood k f such b ul i eihnut falling es h nh cl to contingencyrt ht l o , is g iut h be t ewdeua is t es. a T el te o r e e n w t inntoh the chance h d a e n c e k e y a o r f d the b e w t or ikf likely to arise, the Government would ask for an additional vote. The plan of permitting men to work overtime was intended to operate temporarily, not permanently. tie was much impressed with the importance of increased activity in repairing and building ships of the line, more especially screw ships. Of late years there had been a diminution in the number of ships of the line ; but the cost of building these armed vessels was considerably greater than in for mer years. He fully agreed in the opinion that the work in the dockyards ought not to be relaxed. The reduction in the amount asked for hemp had been made in accord ance with the report of the Storekeeper-General. Sir G. PECHELL should leave the question of the for mality or informality of these revised votes to be settled between the present and the late First Lord of the Mini ralty. But he rejoiced to find it announced from the Trea sury bench that many of those reforms for which he had eentearied for so many years, were to be carried out. The present First Lord had frankly declared that he would listen to complaints, and he had no doubt that the case of the half-pey officers of Greenwich Hospital would receive censideration. But he feared that the co tinuoue service men Wen likely still to lab .ur under a disadvantage Th e services oLthose men, raised into importance by his friend Sir G. Berkeley, had been much misunderstood. These tuen, on the cessation of the Crimean war, had entered the againvmerchantservice triedwith tthe enterconsent of the e navye !ul r t a h l e t y y , l when ut were met w kinds of difficulties. The First Lord had spoken of the d ifficult y of raising men in Portsmouth. (" No, no," from S ir J. Fakingtou.) The real difficulty lay in the stasidarri of height set up. All our sailors did not like to serve fo r five or ten years, and this operated with they ailer of Cube and thisA.frice he prejudicially to the raising of men. On the subject of the 1 sums ac count on ewxePrereLked, an assurance would be given that. what was done with a view to the extinction of the abo done was • bier trade iu slaves. He had long urged that gun boats o for se ( Irm a cruisers hope thoant the ai n coastsc e s e Id not navigate some of these waters. The honourable could gallant admiral also contended for the necessity of and limiting the Board of Admiralty to naval men. t a le should supersede the ships of large draught, which Mr. BENTINCK bad listened to the speech of the First Lord with considerable pleasure, believing it to be the first indication that imp , ovement was to take plans in the ad ministration of the nave. He regretted that reductions likely to affect our naval efficiency were in contemplation, although the Government had frankly stated that these reductions would not be persisted in if they were found prejudicial. He rejoiced to hear that for the future we ought to have an efficient squadron, (Hear, hear.) But this conertry, if it deserved its reputation, ought fo be prepared for emergencies. As a matter of commercial prudence he asked whether it would not be wise to pro vide against even the contingency of the landing of foreign troops on our shores. (Hear.) The late First Lord now spoke of the necessity of our keeping up our naval de fences, but he did not think that the right hon. gentleman's Administration had acted up to this newly-born zeal. With regard to the means of raising men, he feared they would fail if the continuous service system were aban doned. He rejoiced that the present debate had no t b een defaced by any oneof thoce absurd cries for e c onomy w hi c h were rife some years ago. He h a d no h es it a ti on i n say i ng th At naval, owing in ff 40,000,030/. had been wasted i n th e course of the Russian war. But he should despair o f an efficient administration of the r focus of political patronage, and civilians ruled its destinies. Admiral WALCOTT sincerely hoped that the reductions propos d might net impair the service, and relied on the promise of tie First Lord, that he would proceed with caution ; but he could not but think that retrenchment at this moment was ' unwise. It would be well for the future to adapt our naval strength to that which might be opposed to us, but this could not be done by building only one class of ships. He had no fear of invasion. (Hear, hear.) The Thames alone would supply us with men to line our southern coast to meet the invader if he came. (Hear, hear.) Still a state of preparation was the best safeguard against war. (Hear, hear.) He implored the house to maintain an efficient navy, in order to avoid any possible disaster. Lerd CLARENCE PAGET thought it would be wise for the Government to pause in the construction of enormous battle ships. He did not believe the French were acting in the construction of ships. they were waiting to see what we should do. He did nst believe that in any future wars line-of-battle ships would teas any prominent part. He be lieved that in ten years there would be no three-deckers, and t . erefore he thought a wasteful expenditure to go on build ing such ships. He recommended the right bon. gentleman to call the naval officers together, and consult them as to the best means of constructing ships, and what ships should be substituted for line-of-battle ships. There was a fal:acy at the Admiralty that the navy did not desire to carry troops. Why, that was a libel on the navy. They considered it a great honour to carry troops. What was required was an improved construction of ships. The chi s ought to be con. structed to carry sixteen days' coals and six months' pro visions for 500 men, and such ships could be constructed. With regard to manning the navy, he thought that when men were sent home to their friends after the return of a ship to port they should be taken back to that ship after the expira tion of their leave of absence, an d not sent to str 'nge shi p s, where they beeame what the Sailors called " ktupid-nume• Lord PALMERSTON said he entirely agreed in the great importance of having an efficient naval service. It was ab solutely necessary for our security that our navy should be in an efficient condition. There were three great naval powers —France, Russia, and the United States—all of them almost without colonial establishments—all of them so far indepen dent of naval war, that even naval reversesdid not materially affect them ; while on the other hand, our insular position made naval protection essential for our security, and we had vast colonial possessions scattered over the face of the globe, all which required naval protection for their defence. In considerine, however, what should be the application of the funds which parliament might place at the disposal of the government for naval purposes, it seemed to him that, be tween the provi ing of a large number of men, and the providing of what might be called the materials of oefence, preference should be given in ordinary tines, to the latter over the former of those demands. In periods when there was no immediate danger, if the amount of our shipping and the state of our dockyards and stores was not such as it ought to be, it was a more wise and prudent application of the funds at the d sposal of government to apply them in building ships, in organising dockyards, and in filling them with stores, rather than in having a greater number of men actually employed. And the reason was obvious. We were not et all the more secure next year in consequence of having had a greater number of sailors employed this year ; but we were mote secure next year if ie the present year we increased the number of our ships, and placed our dockyards and stores in a better and more efficient condition. That was the prii ci e le on e hick the late Govern ment ha l acted. Last year, when the war with Russia was over, there was a great item md, not only in that house, but throughout the country, for the cessatioe of the war income tax. That render() iit necessary for the Government to re duce the a.oount applicable to the war services ; and Sir. Charles Wood had properly judged that it was better to re duce the number of men actually employed, and to go on with those other applications of public money to which he had alluded. Therefore, when they were told that it was an unwise and imprudent act to reduce the number of men last year, he said that it was the inevitable result of Government acting in deference to the opinion of Parliament and of the country. It had been said that a prime minister ough • to come down to that house and say that he required a certain amount of money to be given for naval purposes It was all very well for a minister to hold hat lan_ uage ; but when it was the opinion of Parliament and the country that certain taxes should cease, it was vain for Government to urge their continuance, fur no satisfactory result would be attained. On the contrary, it was the duty of a Government to submit to the opinion of Parliament and the country, ...IA make the most prudent application of the :monies placed at their dis posal. Applying that principle to the course tdo present Go vernment was about to adopt, he confessed he thou ;IA that that course was not the wisest and most prudent for the is te restsof the country, They were right in saying that there ought to be a Channel fleet, and that there ought to be the number of men whirls they proposed. But the proposed reductions in the amount of ship building, of stores to be provided, and of improvements and ulargements in the dockyards, were imprudeut reductions. He could not conceive that there could be any financial necessity for those reductions ; because it was impossible to imagine, when the Chancellor of the Exchequer produced his budget, that that difference in the . xpencliture could make any material difference in the means by which ho might provide fur the supplies of the year. The lest speaker Lad said that the building of line-of battle ships was an antiquated prejudice. But until other nations had abandoned that prejudice, it could not be called antiquated ; and it would be very imprudent in this country to act on another principle, and not provide an adequate sup ply of line-of-battle ships when France and Russia were strengthening their fleet with ships of that descriotioa rhe noble lord s ,id he was informed by naval officers in France that they considered line-of-battle shies useless, and that it was much better to have smaller vessels. He was not sure that opinions coning from the naval service of other coun tries were exactly the opinions by which the government of the country ought to be guided. (Hear, and laughter.) Per haps, if the noble lord had had to advise the French Admi ralty, he might have said,—" Your government ought not to increase your line-of-battlo ships; gunboats are the things you want. Our government may pursue a different course, but it is better for you to have few line-of-battle ships, or none at all." (Laughter.) As long as other naval powers employed an increasing t umber oe line-of-battle ships, it was essential that we should provide ourselves with ships of that description. It might be quite true, as he stated, that though great improvements had been made of late years in the construction of ships, greater still remained to be made, more especially in the points to which he ad verted, the construction of the-pro .vs of ships and those lines which would best cut the wat T. (Hear, hear.) No doub:, those improvements might be made ; but he hoped the Go vernment would not be led away, even by the opinion of the noble lord, to discontinue the provision of line-of-battle ships adequate to cope with those provided by other nations. They knew that the French Government were taking measures which in a few years would give them a fleet of screw line-of battle ships very little in crier "to those we should have at the same time --(hear, hear) —also that the Rus-ian Government were constructing as fast as they could a formidable number of line-of-battle ships. It would be extremely imprudent in this country to lay aside the idea of augmenting the very in adequate Dumber of line-of-battle ships which we now had. The application of the pr 'polling screw as the moving power had rendered it necessary to rebuild in a manner the whole fleet of this cou , try ; and the expense of rebuitding a screw ship of war, as well as of working it, was much more than that which attached to sailing vessels He therefore hoped that the Government would reconsider the course which they i Oended to pursue. The First Lord had stated that if it were found in the course of the session that tool. money was required for these purposes, he would come down to Par liament with a supplementary estimate. But when the Chancellor of the 'Exchequer had submitted his budget, and made his financial arrangements, it would be exceedingly in convenient if, at a later period of the session, any department should co use down to Parliament with au stimate for services which had not been provided for by the Chancellor of the Ex chequer. It ev..s well known to those w:to had attended to the matter, that our dockyards were inconveniently small. Cherbourg alone was as large as many of' our dockyar 'a taken bogether. (llear. The increased length of ships eemsequent upon the application of the ;c: ew, had been such tout very few of our dockyards would hold the large Lne- f-battle ships that were built. It wes, therefore, very nice sary to increase their size. We required factories for steam machinery, cause the machinery by which the screw was driven wee liable to perp tual accidents, and unless we had the means of re pairing losses, and supplying new ships with steam machinery, it was in vain to build the ships. The right hoe gentleman had stated that ships were of no use without men. That was perfectly true ; but men were of no use without ships —(hear) —although mete could be procured in a much shorter time than that in which it was possible to build ships. The most pressing and urgent application of funds to the naval -ervice must be iu providing those things which, when once provide remained, rathei than in employing men, who after the year was over did not add to our strength unless the same nember were again voted. There was a power to take laud by jury assesseaent for the purposes of military defences, but there was no such power for land taken for dockyards ; and if they gave up the purchases that had been made, at a future time they might n -t be able to have them at all, or only at a very enhanced price. He therefore considered that ;he Government had taken an injudicious course in the reductions they had made on these estimates ; they would bett r consult the inte rests of the country by proposing them in their original form. Sir JAMES ELPHINSTONE thought the principle of steam propulsion of ships of war at present in its infancy. He had observed that up to a certain point of speed they could supply the propulsion at a comp ratively small cost ; but to gain a single knot of increased speed would necessi tate an increase of double the expenditure, This was a sub ject, therefore, that required doe° inquiry. He considered the gunboats were a complete failure, as they would neither sail nor steam. They ought to have been mort trboats. If they had been properly constructed they migh, have been now employed on the coast of Africa. Sir J. PAKINGTON had only a few words to say in reply. It was with sincere pleasure lie had listened to the observe.- tions of the noble lord the en mber for Sandwich, and being aware of the high standing of the noble lord in his profession, lie would give th utmost weight to all his suggestions. The I noble lord complained that the Diadem c ,ulcl only carry four days' coal. He believed she could carry six ..ays' coal, but ho must remind the noble lord it aas not desirable that these vessels should proceed at full power The screw was intended to be only auxiliary except on pressing emergencies. Then the noble lord said they ought not to go on building line-of- battle ships He could not agree with him in the . opinion. As long as line-of-battle ships of great s.eam power were built by other n :tions, i would not be wise in England to aban don them altogether. (Hear. hear.) The wisest coarse was to build as many as wore suffi.Seet for their owe( protection, but not to enter into a race of competition with other countries. That would be most unwise. Let us take care of ourselves, and if we set the example of reduction, he believed that other nations would follow in the same course. He had not intended to advert to the qu, stion of the comparative forces in England and France, and should have been sorry to ay one word that would give rise to the idea that the Govern ; met t entertained the slightest feeling of alarm. They felt that at this moment, as at ether moments, England ought to be prepared, and ought to bo adequately protected ; but then nothing could be more erroneous than to inspire a feeling of general alarm. Therefore, he confessed he had not deemed it desirable to enter into the comparison weich the right hon. baronet opposite had done. As he had chosen to do so, however, he (Sir J. Pakiugton) was bound to say that the pie t hon. gentleman's statement was not perfectly correct. The right hon. gentleman had stet4ei that we possessed but two line-of-battle ships more than the French, and this was strictly true if we took the ships that were ac ually built, and altogether excluded what were called the block-slips. But although ho quite agreed that those bloclopehips ought to be superseded as soon as possible by better ones, and that they were not ships which he could wish to send out to compete with the nevy of other countries, still we could not altogether exclude them from our calculations. Out of these nine block ships, four or five were cert-inly in very good condition. They did good service during the Russian war in the Baltic. They Were two-deck ships, of 60 guns each, and he .thought that in a calculation of this kind it would be decidedly wrong to exclude them ; but they would bo excluded altogether if it were asserted that we had only two line-of-battle ships more than the French. Now, if we did that which we were fully entitled ,o do—namely, in clude the ships building as well as the ships afloat, still ex cluding the block-ships, the difference between France and England was much more in our favour than the right hon. gentleman had stated. But the right hon. gentleman had fallen into another error. He had also stated that the French ships were more powerful than ours. It was true that the aggregate horse-power of the French steamboats was greater than our own ; but there was another mode of comparison which was perhaps more conclusive that that. It was to compare the armam nts of the two fleets ;. and if this wero done, it would be found that t he number o' g ns, and he be lieved also the weight of the guns, but undoubtedly the num ber of the gnus in the English fleet was very much greater than that in the French fleet, and far beyond the relative re portion in the number of ships. The same held good in re spect of the frigates. Our superiority over the French navy in frigates was still more decided than in line-of-battle ships (Hear.) He must now be allowed to say a few words with re gard to the statement which had fallen from the right hon. gentleman (Sir C. Wood), and the noble lord the member for Tiverton, as to the reduction proposed to be made in vote 8. The noble lord had made use of the expression that the Government were about to suspend—to put an end to— the building of ships ' • and the right hon. gentleman had held very much the same language. Now, that was a perfectly ereoneons view of the propos ds made by her Majesty's Go vernment. They had no such intention. On the contrary, their proposals would, for the next six months, carry on the dockyard establishments upon precisely the ame footing that they had been Placed by the late government. The only difference ve • s, that the present government proposed to effect that object by continuing the same penile cut establishments and taking 50.0001. for expend ture in hired labour, not in task and job-work. The right hon. gentleman seemed to think that it was intend dto spend the money in task and job-work. Nut at all. It was proposed to spend it iu hired labour, Why, what was the course which the right hon, gen tleman himself had adopted? When We were in the hoightp f ries." The men ought to feel that their ship was their home, the Russian war in 1855, 1856, 1857, the late government did The men and officer in the navy should he like the men and not come down with a proposal of 12.000 men for the dock officers in a regiment. He was of opini.in that ,t wou d be i yards ; on the contrary, they conten. ed themselves with the wi eto introduce the competitive system into the navy with I very same establish ent wnich t ey now proposed. How did rega d to cadets, they make up the diffe euce ? By hired lab ur. That was the resource to - which the right hon. gentleman himse.f had turned ; and it was the res urce to w .ich the present govern ment proposed to turn, i n order to meet an accidental pres sure. If it proved to be an accidental pressure, they would be justified in the course they had adopted ; if it did not then they would be free to take the course which he had indicated of coming down to Parliament later in the session and asking for an increase of the vote. He hoped • and believed there would be no such necessity ; but if.the necessity did arise, he did not think it would be for the noble lord to object to it, considering that it was the c ur e which his own go vernment had taken last year, when they were obliged to come down at the end of the session and apply to Parliament for an additi.mal grant of 310 men, (Hear, hear.) With re gard to the question of steam machinery, he utterly denied that the Government were open to the slightest charge of neglecting our national def aces He had not proposed any reductions without first making the most careful inquiries, and really ascertaining that i he 50,000/. was not required for the efficiency of the service; that the grant he proposed to take would be enough to cover all necessary expenditure, pro. vide all the engines for the ships about to be launched, and still leave a margin —(hear, hear) —and he thought he should no be justified in asking Parliament for more money then the necessity required. (Hear, hear) The only point that remained to bo noticed was the extension of the dockyards. The item of 15,00 for the purchase of land for naval bar racks at Gosport, he thought, might be postponed, seeing that the Government had already a qu •atity of laud there whic , had not yet be n made any use of. The noble lord was well aware that the state of the public finances was not such as to justify him in asking other than necessary votes. These votes he did not consider to be necessary at present, and therefore he had only done his duty in pos poning them. (Hear, hear.) Sir CHARLES W- )OD, in explanation, said that the state ment which ho ha .l made iu reference to the " block " ships in the service was, that although not as efficient ys the line of battle shies, they were still perfectly good and serviceable ships. He held in his baud a statement prepared for him, showing that the number of ships afloat of screw line of b ittle ships were 25 for England, and 23 for France ; and that the number of ships of the line afloat were for England 42 and for France 10. Mr. HORSHAM said the right hon. baronet the First Lord of t' .-e Admiralty began his statement that evening by saying that he adopted the statements of the late Government ; and he (Mr. Horsman) confessed he was glad the house bad, in some respects, heard so encouraging a statement from the right hon. baronet. It was, however, a serious reflection, when they were told that, n itwithatanding their boasted. pride of hiving the largest navy in the world, they yet bad not the command of the sea.—(Hear, hear.) Allusion had been made to France, and ho hoped that the existing Go vernment of that country would long continue ; but whether it continue or not, it was necessary that the naval power of this co intry should be in a condition, as the right hon baronet had said, to be prepared for any emergency —(Hear, hear ) They knew that in the days of the French Republic, a French admiral had asked for a fleet that he might invade England. They were now in France making the: greatest naval progress and preparations; and they c add not forget in this country that Napoleon the First had said he would not ask more than forty-eight hours command of the fleet in the Channel. He (Mr. Horsman) did not say that that was cause for alarm, but he must say that it ought to operate as a suggestion for precautions on the part of her Majesty's Go vernment, and he begged to add that there w e much in the statement of the right hon. baronet the First Lord of the Admiralty that night, of which he entirely approved, Mr. KINNAIRD agreed in the necessity of being prop'red bet there was one item in the v tee to which he thought the attention of the Committee ought to be directed, and that was the halt-pay list. That list hung as a dead weight upon the resources of the nation, and some means ought, in his opinion, to be devised to place it on a more satisfactory footing in rel tion to the resources and interests of the country. Mr. WILLIAMS said the right lion, baronet the First Lord of the Admiralty had thrown r dicule upon the statements made by him that evening ; but he was prepared to substan tiate all that he had expressed on the slit ject. The question was then put, and the vote for 59,350 men was agreed to. A sum of 1,401,5991 towards completing the charges necessary for defraying the wages to seamen was next agreed to 577,3671. for completing the charges necessary for the seamen and marines, was, after a few words from Mr. WIL LIAMS, also agreed to; as was also a sum of 70,439:. for completing the sum necess try for the payment of officers. The CH AIRMAN, on the suggestion of Mr. WYKEHAM MARTIN, o tained leave to report progress, and to sit again. The House resumed THE BUDGET. In reply to Lord PALMERSTON, Mr DISRAELI said it was the intention of the Government to proceed with the navy estimates on Friday, and, if possible they would also proceed with the army estimates the same evening ; but at all events the budget wou.d be brought on on Monday. THE CUSTOM'S DUTIES BILL. This bill passed through committee. OATHS BILL. On the motion of Lord JOHN RUSSELL this bill was read a third time. CASHEL ELECTION. Ca the motion of Mr. BAGWELL, the adjourned debate on this subject was ordered to be discharged. THE LOAN SOCIETIES BILL. This bill was read a second time. Mr. HENLEY obtained leave to bring in a Bill to effect an exchange between the Commissioners of Chelsea Hospital and the Governor and Company of Chelsea Waterworks, of lands in the parishes of St. iieorge's, Hanover-square, and St. Margaret's, Westminster. The bill was read a first time. The House then adjourned at a quarter to one o'clock. PAhLIAMENTARY DIVISION. HOUSE OF COMMONS-APRIL 12. SUPPLY. Order for Committee read ; motion made, and question proposed, "That the Speaker do now leave the chair" Amendment proposed, to leave oat the word " That" to the end of the question, in order to aid the words " the army and navy estimates be referred to a select commit tee," instead the►eof : Question put, " That the words proposed to be left out stand part of the Question." The house divided—Ayes, 161; Noes, 24. Adderley, C. B. Baillie, 11. Ball, E Baring, A. Baring, T. Baring, T. G. Bernard, T. Beaumont, W. Beecroit, G. Bennet, Capt. P. Kentinck, G. Black, Adam Bonham-Carter, J. Bovill, W. Bramley- Moore, J. Brand, H. B. W. Bridges, Sir B. brown, W. Bruce, sjor Buckley, Gen. Byng, G. H. C. Caird, J. Campbell, R. Carden, Sir K. W. Cartwright, H. Javendish, W. Clai k, J. Close, M. Cobbuld, J.O Coarington, Gen. Collins, T• Conyngham, Lord F. Corry, H. C. L. Crauturd, E. IL J. Dalglish, B. Davie, sir IL R. F. Dillwyn, L. L. Disraeli, B. Lod, J. Dodson, J. Drummond, H. buncombe. A. Egerton, W. Etch°, Lord Ellice, E. Elpbinstone, Sir J. Emiyn, Viscount Estcourt, T. Ea lug, Crum Farquhar, Sir M. Folowee, E. Fitzgerald, W. R. S. Fitzgerald, J. Fitzroy, deny Forde, Colonel AXES-161. Forester, Col. Moffat, G. Frazer, Sir IV. Mowbray, J. R. Gard. R. Naas, Lore Gaskell. J. Napier, Sir C. Gavin, Major New Port, Viscount Gifford, Earl of Nisbet, R. P. Gilpin, Col. H. Packe, C. Gladstone, W. Paget, Lord C. Glyn, G. Pakington, Sir J. Glyn, G. Palmer, R. Gregory, W. Palmerston, Viscount Grenfell, C. P. Patten, Col. Grey, R. Pechell, Sir G. Griffith, C. Peel, Gen. Hall, Sir Benjamin Pevensey, Viscount Hamilton, Lord Claud Proby, G. Hamilton, U. A. Puiler, Christopher Hamilton, Capt. Ridley, George Hankey, T. Robertson, P. Harcourt, G. G. Russell, Lord J. Hardcast.e, Joseph Rust, James Hardy, G. Scholefield, W. Hay, Lord John Sclater, George Ray ter, W. Scott, Major Headlam, T. Shelley, Sir I. Henley, J. Smith, J. A. Hodgson ' K. Smith, Sir P. Hoff°, d, R. Spooner, it. Hope, Alexander Stanhope, J. foreman, E. Stanley, Lord Hotham, Lord Stuart, Colonel Inglis, John stud, 11. Jervoise, Sir J. Thompson, General Johnstone, U. 13. Trelawny, Sir J. Kinglake, A. Vane, Lord H. Kiunaird, A. Vansittart, W. Knatchbull, W. Verner, Sir W. Knatchbull-liaguesien Verney, Sir H. Knox, Col. B. W. Waddington H. Lennox, Lord 11. G. Walcott, Ad miraL; Leslie, C. P. Walpole. S. • Liddell, H. G. Warre, John Lindsay, W. Wickham. H. Lovaine, Lord Williams, S;r W. Lowe, it. Willoughby, Sir H. Lygon, Hon. F. Wise, J. Macarthy, Alex. Wood, Sir C. Macaulay, Kenneth Woods, Henry M'Clinteck, John Wynne, J. A. Malin% Richard Yorke, E. Mangles, R. 1). Mangles, C Manners, Lord J. Melgund, Lord Jolliffe, Sir W. Miter, Taverner Whitmore, H. NOES 2 4. Harris, J. D. Ingram, H. Langton, H. G. I ocke, John Morris, D. Nicoll, D. O'Donoghoe, The Pease, Henry Roebuck, J. TELLERS. Bowyer. G. Brady, J. Col, W. Cr,isaley. F. Daum M. E wart, J. "ox W. J. Gilpin, C. Gregeon, Samuel Sheridan, 11. B. Smith, J. B. Smith, A. Sykes, Colonel Tite, W. White, James TELLYIS. Williams, W. Kershaw, J. [ADVERTISEMENT.]—HoIIo way's Pills an admirable Remedy for Indigestion, Flatniency, and Bilious Com plaiets.—The well-known properties of these excellent pit's arc too highly apprec,ated in the present. day to rsquire any commendation ; the teat of years has proved their efficacy in curing bile, indigestion, flatulency, sick headache, nervousness, and debilitated constitutions. They invigorate the body, strengthen the faculties of the mind, and increase the appetite. • Old and young, rich and prior, resort to them when afflicted with any ail ment, and none are disappointed in their effect upon the system. They msy also be taken with perfect safety by persons of all ages, in every climate, and at any season. —Sold by druggists, and at Professor Holloway's Establishment , 244, Strand, London. BIRTHS. Cum—On the 11th inst., at 9;Pa-crescent, Lady Robert Cecil, of a daughter. Yittamars—On the 6th inst., at St. Truchand, Brittany, the wife of Colonel C. H. Delamain, C. 8., of a eon. NicoL---O ce n the of 1 so oth inst., at 5, Hyd e - park-terrace, Mrs. Dy Nicol, a n. SUARPE—On the 11th inst., at Richmond, the wife of John Charles Sharpe, Esq., of Fleet-street, London, banker, of a 808. MARRIAGES. HARR/S—SrrnEßian—On the 10th inst., at St. Paul's,York phco, Edinburgh, Joseph Harris, Esq., of Bishopsgato Churchyard, Loudon solicitor, to Alexandrina, only sur. viving child of the late Alexander Sutherland, Esq., of Edinburgh. YULE —Bur —At St. Martiu's-in the.F elds, Major-General Yule, Royal Engineer., to the Hon. Ann Louisa Best, only daughter of Lord Wynford. DEAT II S. ADDISON —On the 10th inst., Joseph Addison, Etq., of Dean's Yard, Westminster, barrister-at-law, and Boucher of the Inner Temple. Blus—ln July last, at Lucknow, from a wound received on the 11t1), Mr. Benson. Wood Beale, the eldest son of Mrs. Beale, 1, It.chester-pla :e, Woolwich-common. Nearly at the same time, died Mr. B. W. Beale's wife and his two children. Dcxstzto—On tl e 10th inst„ Joseph Dunning, Esq., Elra• wood Lodge, Leeds, aged 66. Joss —On the 10th inst., at 7, Connaught-square, Hy..le park, William Jones, Esq. MILMAN—On the 11th inst., at Pinner-grove, Arthur Henry, Youngest son of Sir W. Milman, Bart., aged 3. LoNDos : Printed and Published by MURDO YOUNV, of No. 112, Strand, Printer, at Tke Sun Office, No. 112, Strand, in the Precinct of the Savoy, In the county of !aids-Al.:sex, Tuesday, April 13, 185 S. admi Intro num , court Bach ACC, duct MOT, Mr. The vete Booi Equ Run ALY once Eigt EOOl 9th i IiAI to bl COL espe ING Lact Oda trid Inst. w ill Son the ' the anti 61b. I Id. loam