The Express.
London, England, 1861-06-04 00:00:00

1861.

vice of his country, and who distinguished himself equally
in every sphere in which he was called upon to act. He
was eminent for the good discipline and order of the ships
which be commanded ; he was distinguished by the gal-
lantry and judgment with which he conducted every naval
operation in which he was engaged • he was most valuable an
• public servant in the direction of naval concerns of the
Admiralty, and in the council board, and upon the quarter-
deck, his merits were equally distinguished and hie ser-
vices equally valuable to his country. (Hear, bear.) It
would haveheen an omission which we should have been
sorry to hove been gully of if we, upon this occasion of the
chairman leaving the chair upon going into committee of
supply upon the navy estimates, had not expressed a deep
sense of the loss which the country has sustained, and had
not paid • tribute of respect to the memory of so distin-
guished and valuable • servant whom we have so unexpect-
edly lost from the public service.
Sir J. PAKINGTON—I cannot add to what hen been
said with so much feeling by the noble loid more than the
expression of the very deep regret that I felt at hearing
this morning of the loss the country ban sustained by the
death of my gallant friend Sir IL Dundee. During the
time that I bad the honour of being at the head of the
Admiralty I had the advantage of the assistance of Sir R.
Dundee, and I am sure that every one who was acquainted
with that gallant officer will acknowledge bow utterly im-
possible it was to be connected with him in an intimate
manner without forming the highest opinion of his cha-
racter, and feeling for him the warmest friendship and
attachment. He was a distinguished member of the naval
profession, be wan an honourable, frank, and straigh:-
forward man, and I deeply lament his loss, not only on
these accounts, but as • private friend for whom I felt the
greatest value.
Admiral DUNCOILEE—Perhaps the house will allow me
to say one word 'emerging the death of my old and valued
friend Admiral Dundee. Many years ago I had the pleasure
and the honour of serving under the distioguisluxi admiral,
and I am convinced that his death must be felt an a great
national loss, because, as the noble lord has justly said,
whether upon the quarter-desk, or at the council board, his
sage ads :oe and sound judgment were such an to make his
loss • very difficult one to he supplied.
Sir M. SEYMOUR said that having served with the late
Sir R. Dundas on many occasions he might perhaps be
allowed to reiterate all that had been said with respect to
the great loss which the country had sustained by the death
of that distinguished &Boer.
Admiral WALCOTT also expressed his sincere sympathy
with those who lamented the loss of his late distinguished
friend.

--icehouse, having resolved itself into a committee of
supply, resumed the consideration of the navy estimates,
beginning with vote 10, which Mr. LINDSAY proposed to
rcduce by 100,C701. in the item of ISOD,OCX. for the 'pur-
chase of steam machinery
In the course of a long discussion,
Lord 0. PAGET stated what were the interlions of the
government with regard to ironvased ships, and repented
what he had said on Friday—that they had determined to
prepare Eye more of those vowels, which would raise the
number to twelve.

Sir J. PAKINGTON considered this statement not satis-
factory , looking at the number of iron-oovercd ships built
or building in France.
Viscount PALMERSTON said that the subject which
bad been started by the right hon. gentleman was one of
infinitely more importance than the ireri.a of an anchor or
the best mode of getting steam-engine boilers. He could
usere the house that it bad not eacisind the attention
of the government, and that it still occupied their intense
consideration. It was one of vital importance to this country,
kcause everybody must see at a glance that if any other
power were to acquire a superiority at sea it would be fail
to the interests of this country. (Hear, bear.) The ques-
two, therefore, was, what her Majesty's government could
do this year to meet the eTorts which other countries, and
especially our nearest neighbours, were making to acquire
iron.clad vessels? The right bon. baroret had stated the
other night with great accuracy the number of iron-clad
saws of war which the French government had already con-
structed or had ordered to be constructed. The total
number, so far as her Majesty's government were informed,
was 15. The right hon. gentleman said there was another,
but of that he (the noble lord) vu not aware ; and the
largest portion of them had only recently been ordered to
be kid down. (Hear, hear.) It would therefore take a
very considerable time before those 15 ships wens ready
and Bt for sea. We had already built or were building
seven. It had been ttai.ed by hie noble friend that her
Majesty's government had been considering what would be
the best and readiest method of providing a considerable
and valuable addition to our iron clad Beet, and it had been
thought that the shortest and meat effectual plan would
be to take advantage of the preparations which had been
made for constructing a certain number of wooden line-of-
battle ships, and covering them with iron. It would be
obvious that by that plan we should be able to mike use of
the materials that, to a certain extent, were ready prepared.
We should thus obtain 5 ships. The new French vessels
were chiefly built of wood.
Sir J. PAKINOTON—AII but two.

Lord PALMERSTON—Our five would, therefore, be of
exactly the saws descripticri as those which the French
were building ; and as they would be armed with guns of
the heaviest possible calibre, they would really be very
formidable vessels. The government trusled also that
they would be sea-going ship as well as Posting batteries.
Is addition to these five we had already seven completed or '
commenced, and so we should have twelve as against the
fifteen French vessels. They had also a certain number
of floating batteries • but we had also vessels of
the same class to set evilest them. (Hear, hear.)
He wished the house clearly to understand that although
the government bad announced the measures they were pre-
pared to undertake, that did not preclude them from taking
other measures with a view to the construction of ships of
iron of a larger end more formidable description. (Hear,
bear.) From what had occurred in the present discussion
it was clear that it would be unwise to undertake the build-
ing of these ship until they had acquired some clear and
definite plan of construction and form of these
vessels. No doubt they would involve a very large
expenditure, but when exnenditure must necesearily be very
great, it became of the first importance to ascertain
beforehand how it should be laid out in the best and moat
economical manner. These ships must be built by con-
tract ; they could not be built in the government dockyards,
and before the government gave large orders for iron ships,
they thought it best to delay until they found out by ex.
penance the best and moat useful mode of construction.
The country however would soon possess five iron clad ships
of the most excellent description, armed with the heaviest
guns. His opinion was that they would be ready sooner than
those five which the French were beginning to lay down.
They had prepared materials, which they had reason to sup-
pose the Frisch had not ; and they believed their ships
would be ready and fit to put to sea as soon as those of
the French.

kir. LINDSAY ultimately withdrew his amendment,
but moved to reduce the same vote by 140,0001. for two
troopships, and 60,000/. fur machluery for those ships,
mating together 200,0001.
After some discussion, the committee divided upon this
amendment, which was negatived by 85 to 61.
The vote was agreed to, and the chairman was then
ordered to report progreos.
'The report of the Committee of Supply was brought up
and agreed to.
The other orders and remaining businets having been
disposed of, the house adjourned at twenty minutes to
2 o'clock.