The Sun.
London, England, 1855-02-17 00:00:00

In the Government would have been the commencement
of an era in which the war would be vigorously prosecuted.
He could not, however, see in the speech of the Premier
any signs of a change in the course which was previously
adopted. He saw nothing, in fact, but small changes in
the personnel of the Government, and in the measures
which had been taken before. He regretted to see the
noble lord (Lord Palmerston) surrounded by so
many
of
the former Administration. The first thing he had hoped
to see the noble lord do, was to infuse a little more
new blood into the army. But what had been done ,An
octogenarian had been appointed to the command ofthe
army in Ireland, and the admiral who managed things
in
such a shameful manner at Constantinople had been sent to
Balaklava. He regretted that the appointment as Under-
Secretary of War of his honourable friend the member for
Aylesbury (Mr. Layard) had not been made, because from
the beginning of the war his honourable friend had given
many proofs of his long experience in the country which
had been the scene of a considerable part of the contest.
If Admiral Dundee had been the cause of the honourable
gentleman not being appointed, he (Mr. Danby Seymour)
thought the admiral—who had certainly not merited the
thanks of the country—had a very heavy responsibility laid
at his door in having, from a personal motive, deprived the
country of the services of the hon. member for Aylesbury.
He trusted the noble lord (Lord Palmerston) would give
them a reasonable hope that he would carry on the war
with a commensurate degree of vigour this year. If such
energy were shown in its prosecution as characterised the
era of Nelson and of Wellington, it might easily and
speedily be terminated. He regretted that up to this time
the blockade of Russian ports had been a mere nominal
operation. (Hear.) The lead for the -very bullets which
had destroyed so many of oar brave soldiers was, he believ-
ed, exported from this country to Odessa since the com-
mencement of the present war, and that through the
neglect of the admirals of the feet in the Black Sea. He
had been surprised to hear the reports which had been
made by the Admiralty as to the state of the harbour of
Balaklava. He himself thought the deplorable state of
things there was very much to be attributed to the circum-
stance of the masters of the transports going there being
paid demurrage for every day they remained at Balaklava.
Every day they were left there resulted in:so much money
being put into their pockets. He heartily deplored the
horrors of war. No one could wish more cordially than he
to see an honourable peace concluded, but he could not say
he had confidence in the present Government that they
would conclude such a peace as would be honourable to the
country. He thought it derogatory to this country that
a statesman in the position of Lord John Russell should
have been sent to the congress at Vienna, to meet no other
statesman of equal rank. He considered, at such a moment
as this, that the mission of the noble lord was peculiarly
inopportune. He would only add that he (Mr. Seymour)
was net an opponent of the Government of the noble lord.
He earnestly desired that the noble lord might succeed ;
but until the noble lord held out some definite intention of
making a more extended system of reform in the various
departments of the State, he (Mr. Seymour) could only
give him a qualified support.
Admiral BERKELEY, with respect to the charge
against Admiral Dundas of keeping the hon. member for
Aylesbury out of the Ministry, wished to observe that,
when the thanks of the House were voted to Admiral Dun-
dee, if the hon. member for Aylesbury believed that the
accusations ho had made against that gallant admiral were
founded in truth, it was his bounden duty to his country
and his constituents to have stood up in his place and re-
sisted that vete being carried unauiraoesly. (Hear.)
Lord HOMAN wished to know whether the Govern-
ment intended to take the whole of the navy estimates and
then the army estimates, or whether they proposed to ask
for a vote for men and money, and to limit themselves to
tholes votes ? If the Government would so limit themselves
he should not object, but, in the absence of a most impor-
tant document which had not yet been laid on the table, it
was impossible that the remaining votes could be discussed
With justice. He referred to the Royal warrant founded
'upon the commission issued upon the state of promotion in
the army, which had not yet been printed.
Sir J. GRAHAM said it wasnot intended to proposeany
vote this evening relative to the army, if the house would
consent to go into committee on the Navy. Estimates.
AdmiraIWALCOTT had regrettel that Odessa had been
spared and suffered to remain the granary of Sebastopol,
that the army had remained so long upon the plague-
stricken shores of Yarna, that the strength and means of
resistance of Sebastopol had net been better known to us,
and that the supplies necessary for the reduction of the
place had been so tardily thrown into our camp. Let us
deal to our chiefs an impartial judgment and a generous
confidence their honour was dearer tothem than life, and
their anxiety at this moment must be intense. We had other
battles to fight, and, if we sustained and supported them,
he trusted they would add to the fame of Alma, Balaklava,
and of Inkernsan. When he thought of those battle-
fields, in which soldiers, sailors, and marines had shown
the highest qualities of man, risLing all for the glory of
their country—when he thought of the dangers they had
encountered and the privations they had endured without
desponding, he gloried in his native country, and he never
knelt down but he invoked the blessing of God on their
arms.

SIR CHARLES NAPIER.
Captain A. DUNCOMBE rose to put a question to the
right hon. baronet the First Lord of the Admiralty with
respect to the statements which had been made by Sir C.
Napier at a recent dinner at the Mansion-house. The gal-
lant officer had been installed into office last year in a
more formal way than usual, by a dinner at the Reform
Club, at which the present First Lord of the Treasury and
the right hon. baronet were present. In the statements
he had Made at the Mansion-hense the gallant admiral had
passed some severe reflections upon the officers and men of
the fleet he commanded, and he added that during his
command he had received the most insulting anddegrading
letter that had ever been written to an officer. He was
aware that many of the statements to which he referred
had been contradicted by the gallant admiral tie member
for Glocester, but that was only one assertion against an-
other, and it was due to the right hon, baronet, it was due
to the profession, and to the country to know upon which
• aide the truth lay, for if Sir C. Napier had stated that
which was not borne out by the facts, he had himself
pointed out the way in which he ought to be treated—
namely, struck off the lists. He wished to ask the right
hon. baronet what emirs. he ;,esesesae fn I,lr. ~,;+l, --t-
-rona° to the statements recently made by Sir C. Napier at
the Mansion-house.
Sir J. GRAHAM—Ifit had been the pleasure of the house
to go into committee upon the navy estimates, it Iwas cer-
tainly my intention in the course of the few observations
which it would be possible for me to address to the commit-
tee not to have passed altogether unnoticed the subject to
which the hon. and gallant officer has alluded. In any course
which I may think it my duty to adopt, I shall certainly
adhere to that which I think will be the most con-
ducive to the public interest in an emergency like the
present. To enter upon a complete analysis of the state-
ment made by Sir Charles Napier would compel me
to enter into disclosures of discussions which have
taken place with that gallant officer in which the publie
interests aro materially involved. It is impossible, con-
sistently with my duty, to give that refutation to the
statements of the gallant officer which it might be desir-
able for mo to give without the production of correspond-
ence and of despatches, interwoven with questions of naval
preparations about to be renewed in the Baltic as soon as
the weather will permit. It has certainly been the wish
of that gallant officer to heap personally upon me much
obloquy ; it has been nay duty to submit to the weight of
that obloquy, such as it may be, rather than to endanger
in the slightest degree the interests of the profession with
which I have the honour to be connected. (Hear.) It is
quite true that the gallant officer has stated that he was
sent in command of the Baltic fleet with ships' companies
ill-disciplined and ill-constituted. The board with which
I am connected used the utmost exertion in the selection of
officers to command those ships who were best entitled to
the confidence of the profession. I have every reason to
believe that the commanding officers of the different ships
employed did use their utmost diligence, with the greatest
success, to introduce the best discipine into the ships they
commanded. (Hear, hear.) Sir Charles Napier, certainly,
in a despatch addressed to the Admiralty in the early part
of his command, did make an assertion similar to that
which on a recent occasion he repeated—namely, that the
ships were ill-manned and worse disciplined. The course
taken by the Admiralty was to call upon the gallant
officer to specify the ships to which he referred, and they
stated that none of the returns they had received made by
the officers after inspection, or of the accounts given by
the captain of the fleet of the different ships, sustained the
allegation that the ships were in that condition. Sir Charles
Napier was therefore called upon to specify those ships,
but, in answer to that demand, no such specification was
made, and the inference, therefore, I think, remains that
that allegation was, on the occasion to which I have ad-
verted, in the first instance hastily brought forward, and
I regret that it should have been repeated. No better
answer can be given to the allegation than the testimony
of the officers themselves. The hon, and gallant officer who
puts the question refers to a speech I made when Sir C.
Napier undertook this command. I underwent due cor-
rection in this house on the subject of that speech—(a
laugh)—and I can assure the hon. and gallant member that
I am not likely to make any repetition of it ; I have im-
proved in prudence by that corrective. (Hear.) It is
asked whether, considering the language to which the gal-
lant officer condescended, any condign punishment is about
to be inflicted on him ? The hon. and gallant gentleman
is aware that Sir Charles Napier is now upon half-pay ;
and great license is allowed, and very properly allowed, to
the free expression of opinion ou the part of any officer so
circumstanced. It has been somewhere debated whether
Sir Charles Napier has been dismissed or not. Hy hon.
and gallant friend near me assured the house that he had
not been dismissed from his command, and not censured
for the exercsse of his power in the Baltic as commander-
in-chief. Both these assertions were correctly made. Sir
C. Napier was not censured on account of any conduct pur-
l:l'4'4 by him with regard to the fleet, but in his correapon-
"ce with the Admiralty he had recourse to the use of
comments and expressions which were considered not to
be consistent with the deference duo to the authority he
was serving,- and strong comments were certainly
made on the Ala
gentleman ask.: of those expressions. An honourable
dismissed ? rie :whether Sir Charles Napier has been
of the service upon not dismissed. He
was at the close
lower his flag— th.retell he was employed directed to
reference to commanders-inirr dents for that course with
iefef the fleet—and certainly
it is not the intention of
pt!":°.t!sertieslrt beard—l know not
what may be the course
call upon Sir C. Napier to relsoist 11:itiRS'eaal,(
Tilly future board—to
A laugh.) I
must say that the gallant officer in
tsrlsoclaimed
himself a hero. I have the greatest respect
gallantry upen many former ocoasions, but it is nallmroyv'ed
tention to allow him to dub himself a martyr 111.
ass well her as a
(a laugh)—and I have no intention whatever of ad-
visine the Crown to take any further steps in the matter.
Calf lIITTEE OF SUPPLY—TILE NAVY
S ste TE 6.

The house then went into committee.
Sir J. GRAHAM said—lt is now my duty, and I can
assure the committee that I will perform it as briefly as
possible, to bring under their notice the Navy Estimates.
In doing so, in the Ent instance, bsfore we procoed to vote
any sums for the charge of the navy in the year about to
commence on the first of April next, it is my duty to put
into your hands two votes with reference to our past ex-
penditure. The first of these votes is for the sum of
79,0001., which is the amount due on account of excess on
expenditure upon the year ending on the 31st of March,
1854; and the second vote is a vote on account of excess
in the current year of the sum of 1,933,104/, upon the en-
tire sum voted in the course of the current year, and which
would become payable before the first of April next. Now, I
air, I have viewed with great anxiety the trial of the sys-
tem upon which naval votes and accounts have been admi-