The Sun.
London, England, 1852-03-23 00:00:00

Mosirel BERKELEY said he hoped the Gallant
other would 'let tieey a statement he made on his re-
aPensibility as e,n officer. He pledged hi, character end
tePutation to this—that when he was in office, within 24
boars
after they had been asked for, a fleet of steamers
could have been manned And armed and made ready
f
a'lriava, and would have been at sea, covering the Chan-
'X'. He repeated that statement, and asserted also that
the present Admiralty had it likewise in their power,
and could do is if they pleased. Nor did be take any
e,redit for the system. It had commenced under Sir It.
Peel.
Admiral BOWLES said ho would not dispute the
Gallant Admiral's assertion; and as he stated it, he
would take it to be so.
Mr. WILLIAMS could not see where the steamers
War eto be found. lie saw only a small number in coca-
tateeion,
Sir F, BARING said this only showed that the Hen.
Gentleman
was spsaktng up:at a subject of whit!, h.•
, nothing.—('. Be ,ore hear," :lee laughter.)
1,„?
Xlll Member merely looked at the edition of 'lt,
"Y List, and nut fioding :he stesiners in cum tnision,
Conceived
it imposeible that they ghoul l be ready at ail
hour's notice. Bur the statement of his Gallant Frii-oni
wrse not that they were in commission, but that in 24
eieura the vessels could be manned, armed, and made
ready for sea. In short, ,hey were advanced" vessels.
Mr. WILLIA NIS--Thet is an explanation.
Sic F. BARING (tart 4) —Weil, that is what you
want, isn't ii?—(A leueh.)
Mr. WILLIAMS—Yese but the Gallant Admiral did
1301 give it.
Sir F. BARING—WeII, if you want it, you've got it.
--(Laughter.) The Hoc. Member bad got all his in-
formation from the .Navy List, and did not und r-
stand how ships could be " advanced" and ready for sea
without being in actual commission.—(Hear.) With
regard to lieyham Dock, the delay in the completion of
fe works bad partly arisen from the report ef the Com-
mittee of 1848. He wished to advert to a prevalent
notion that the security of the country consisted in
having the fleet always in the Channel. There was
nothing in the northern ports to create alarm; and the
probable result of calling home all our large ships would
be, that France would follow cur example. We should
not add one jot to our security hy inducing France to
!Zing a large fleet of steamers opposite our shorts.
The present Government could feel no uneasiness with
respect to the northern ports. With respect to the at-
t?eks made on the late Board of Admiralty out of doors,
the time had gone by for dealing with them; but of his
l!ttetessors in the Admiralty, he would say that he
believed them to be animated by the, same earnestness
andc zeal for the service to which they belonged as the
former board. During the time he had been in office he
414 succeeded in reducing the estimates by one million
and a half; but however much the present board might
.7111 to emulate his economy, he confessed he was not
'cry sanguine as to the chances of their efficting so large
ltreduction.
Captain SCOBELL, while he rejoiced to find a naval
Tacer at the bead of the present Board of Admiralty,
ltil be still more gratified to find him unconnected
With Parliament and with politics, for, adop,ing a sys-
*leraewhich, he found in existence, he would frequently
Was
to distribute honours and promotion where there
taOst interest rather than most merit.—(Hear.)
b° trade mote eon hfficient?ad arisen how
Now in the
1795 we lists of ohad fficer9l s coaduld
-
Ultra'
te s. 420 captains, 197 commanders, and 1,395 lieu-
ijants; and we had 101 line-of-bettle ships in cum-
mission. At that date the list of officers, though small,
Was composed of active and experienced men. Could
theZ name thing be said of the present list of admirals?
again
of them, from age and infirmity, would be unable
pin to go afloat, and in order to ensure efficiency, it
:'as his deckled opinion that the list should be still
further reduced. It was proposed to have 100 admirals
°a the list. Fifty, he thought, would have been amply
a_lifficient, the more especially as only twelve were at the
Pr moment employed. Taking the post-captains at
°(:), it would take 16 years to give each of them three
!ears at sea; while the lieutenants would be afloat three
Years oat of nine. Of the 800 or 900 mates,
"gdshi and cadets now in the navy, be-
tweenpm",
300 and 400 were mates, and last year
wont 30 lieutenants were promoted, and 84 cadets
Zanitted to burden the list. But he was afraid
174 system of bevel promotion would prevail until the
4/Y was emancipated from political shackles, and until
some chief watched over its interests not removable at
ever' change of Government. Another question affect-
°g the efficiency of the navy 'Nei the payment off or
.k
ZIP% At present they were generally paid off every
r% or four years, which wen much too frequent.--
(Hear. He would also assimilate the term of enlist-
,7," in the navy to that of the army, not taking a man
uo would not serve over five years, and giving a bonus
those who enlisted for seven, ten, or fourteen years.
--(,_llPar, bear.) Under the present system the first and
--nd years were taken up in teaching the men their
daises, and the third in making men of war of them.
that as soon as a ship became capable of action,
Port admiral came on board, complimented ever) -
lie' on his efficiency, and torthwith dismantled the
did
With regard to the naval reserve, be
• be at
not think it was sufficiently large. There should
ar least 10,000 seamen (2,000 petty officers, and 8.000
able-bodied seamen), so that 7,000 or 8,000 effective men
mould be had when wanted. A good navy, in good
,4 °!king'order, was the best security against invasion;
4,,
hep ventured to say that if 24 steamers of various
zes, mounting 528 guns, and manned by 8,000 marines
,
1:14 officers, were to sail about the Channel for practice,
f t also as a check upon attack, there need be no
. of invasion so long as the naval forces of
other nations remained at their present standard.
tTop many of our vessels were now at foreign stations.
..."'"ldid not speak of the Mediterranean, but of North
875ISouth America and the West Indies; and be thought
43-Ps might be recalled from each of those stations with
,
17vantage. He had read in a newspaper the other day
five English vessels being at Rio Janeiro at one
time,. If we made our navy our bulwark it would be
utterly
impossible for an enemy to land upon our shores;
everything depended upon the sufficiency of the
rkelice. He was himself present at the landing of Sir
L°_urt Moore's troops, but that general was compelled to
re his cannon behind him. He remembered the
Ifre;tened invasion of England by the first Napoleon.
,e we were to have an invasion by Napoleon
second, it would be found a much more
",„`mgult matter for the invader. England was
net so vulnerable to attack now as formerly. We now
possessed a steam navy, and whereas formerly the men
Woad
have been landed on our shores in a calm, it
ventured
now be necessary to land them in boats; and he
:Inured to say they would all be as sick as dogs before
ZeY effected their purpose.—(Laughter.) If this noun-
"rY possessed a sufficient force the enemy must be cut to
Pieces either
Was mainly wanted was a larger amount of able-bodied
~,7111en on ships afloat. Considering, also, the rapidity
elth•whieh intelligence was conveyed, and the aid at-
forded by the electric telegraph, it was advisable to
make England the head-quarters of her navy Revert-
ing to the question of invasion. he could not forget that
most alarm had been expressed by soldiers. From the
illustrious Duke, the commander-in-chief, downward, to
Sir Francis Head and the Swiss colonel, it should be re-
membered that fears of invasion had emanated trom the
military profession; nod for this reason, that, keep
marine officers-on board as long as you please, and they
Could never learn to steer a boat. Our colonies were
renderedi secure from attack, but our own coasts were
filsotesks this respect.
(Sir F. Baring) said when the Right Hon. Baronet
reduction of g) claimed. credit for having effected a
his tenure of l'lLll.ion and a half in the estimates during
the. Government of te should have remembered that
had caused to be built no fewer Peel, between 1841 and 1846,
28,000-horse power antd-i4tewer than 72 steamers, of
retirement from office 11,4.0.00 tons; and, before their
B.3:4ered upon some impor-
tant works in our docky„d
rhea tter employ
nt of Sir R. Peel had been better thought the Govern-
ed in pro-
'. tiding an efficient steam nays
possessed a steam navy
bleats. We now in making experi-
dinere powerful
itutt,,e:l that the
than that of France, although he a
smaller steam navy of that country
was
gßtoathe
for attack than our larger fleet for defence, c,:ia:ailable
Partial absorption of the latter by our colonies.
importance that we should be in reedit
,Pas of the first
aless to men our reserve force. France had the advan7
44° of us in this respect,in consequence of the aYstem
under which enlistment for the navy was carried on. In
that country every man took his turn to serve, and
having served a certain period, left the navy; but on an
emergency these men might be called out, and he be-
lieved that in the maritime districts of France there were
St least 23,000 seamen available for such a crisis. Of
the 5.300 marines proposed in the estimates he under-
stood on inquiry that only 3,000 would be available for
°lnbarkation, and hessuggested, therefore, that this num-
ber Should be increased by 3,000 men. This augmented
ee . would cost 100,0001. a year. He also recom-
mended,i. to the adoption of the Government the scheme
"L Sir Thomas Hastings for organizing a coast militia.
Captain BOLDER() regretted that the resolution of
the
*Rouse of Commons, declaring that better cabin
cilonsodation should be afforded to assistant-surgeons on
hoard ship had not been more faithfully acted on. Ad-
mitting that the position of those gentlemen was lea-
'raved in this respect, he still must contend that the
• ,rresent regulations were an insult to the medical
em'ofession. No young man, whatever, might be his
It.ltteationtlias entitled to cabin accommodation until
e bad undergone a probationary service of three
Years,
and during this period he had to associate
manyong boys in the cock-pit. He knew that in
4 i instances the captains of ships had refused
e° Burgeons the accommodation which they might
eiltsilY have afforded them. He trusted that that subject
Quid undergo the favourable consideration of the new
'‘'‘lso4
I.Bu. rd of Admiralty. It should be remembered that the
kolgeons of the navy often rendered the most valuable
*.= "lees. At the recent desperate action at Lagos, it
,?Peared from the report of the commanding officer that
tie could exceed the devotion of toe officers of
-`e medical staff—that whenever a seaman was struck,
the
medical man was immediately at his side—and that
e medical officers set their own lives at nought when
euo 17°Pared with the safety of their brave companions in 4,._
If this country was threatened with an invasion
ere could be no doubt that we should mainly rely for
safe t Y on our naval force; and the more efficient we
Pt that force, the more certainly should we promote
eourtid own highest national interests. We enjoyed the
,:s*antage of possessing a vast steam mercantile marine
kOne far greater than that of France, because where
believed
send out one ship we could send out ten. He.
%,,,I_eved that if a war broke out, and if letters of marque
7urre., given to s%%e of ourm i g fineh. mercantile
eeu
s e
w old
Ito
not have a tradiug vsssel on the ocean. iatieys
~aesein edd wiseed to udireet a few
rds to the Commute() on the subject of manning the
th Y6l Nevy. He was glad to find that the country and
e
ict *Rouse and the Board of Admiralty.seemed at length
a allroileite Vie grssl *mime of tkot giusigtiou. H.