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

Admiral BERKELEY sail as the recent Admiralty
Board, to which he had the hennue to belong, had been
subjected to an enormeue qusreity of abuse by Hon.
Members of the Ministerial aide of the House and the
public press, he mina express his astonishment tbat the
present Board of Admiralty had had the audacity to take
up and propose their estimates to the House. As re-
garded the case of the Megssra, he thought a most com-
plete ateswer had been given to the infamous sTrei. s
respecting that vessel. Another charge made ugaiest the
Admieistration was that, respretiag stinking meat.--
(A laugh.) The Hon. Gentleman who brought it for-
ward said that, instead of leaking to the c,•nitorts of the
men, the late Board had neglected their duty. The beat
answer he could give to the charge was this, that the
Hon. Gentleman by whom the contract had been made
ei been taken out of their ranks and pieced in a similar
office by the new Government. Agin, with regard to
the treespoi t of troops, it was ries, rted that the late
Admiralty had so conduced that service as to euve l- " •
meet sacrificed a tieble regiment. Why, it wes
eaell
known That the regiment bed been recruited in Ireland
during the famine, end that the result Ras that cholera
broke out on board, end the colonel c mmandieg erated
that he had never been um thing equal to the vessel,
the
Apollo, for cleanliness, comfort, and accommodatien.
IC
Was said that the Admiralty was so imbecile and inetfl-
cient that it could not ciuvey
troops from England
the Cape in safety, while the French could traretort
10.000 men from Toulen to Civits Vecchia without an
accident. Why, the difference was the same between
.
the two voyages as between walking up Primreee-hill
to
and ascending Mont Blanc. During the last winter they
had sent six ships with troops to the Care without an
accident. It wee said that they managed matters so badly ,
that they could not ssred out a steamer without her break.
ing down. The Committee was aware of the large fleet at
steam-ships that were kept at sea, and the whole number
of those that had broken down during the last tvvela°
months was only three. He had °tenant d returns from
of the largest private steam companies, the wholer
whose vessels did no,. amount to one-third the numbe
kept afloat by the Admiralty, and it appeared tbat
in the same period the number that had broken down
was no less than twenty. So much for Admiralty.
mrs-
management. The Hon. Member fir the AVeet Riding,
a " man of peace," rushed to the rescue, and would faiAn
tell the Admiralty how to manage the navYa-t
laugh.) Really, he reminded them of the Quaker cap
of a West Indiaman, who raid to the mate when 11';
vateer approached," Strike thy colours, friend," to wli.jite
the mate replied, Strike he d—d, run her down!
(Laughter.) Upon this the captain said, "Vire!), s"..
stand by the helm," and as the privateer approached
hailed her and cried out," If then be'st bent on mischief,
be
friend, starboard thy helm a little;" which he sccer
ingly did. and bad the desired effect; the Indianian gn"
ing right over the privateer.—(Laughter.) The lift
Member would teach the Admiralty to send this 5%4'
there and that one here, and so on. Why, it was aina
ing to ob erve the gullibility of the public!—(Held
hear.) How could it be imagined that a set of na
to
ia
men could sit at the board and permit things to come
such a pass as that (ss was supposed to be the eases
they could scarcely man a single ship. Why at t't
time of all the outcry—although the board did not wan-
to add to the alarm, nor to melee a fuss about it"--„,
had the Government said, " want to look out been
twenty-four hours the Channel would have bet
covered from the North Foreland to the Channel Isla Ss
with a
notfle n
areceeaehtsroas.oumn—fgnashen(ttley,
tioaoemus steamers within sight of sob other! °
much for surprise. But still be admitted that there
i
ahghri
ought to
et as
ollsb
betm
eeah
neaorpae olaiaurocggne,h,
rwtotaff osThtehae
refugeav
tteoib
nebfetaoin
cr7:heasolicf
twtwhheaearrteettt
hth,
friendly flag, and a hornet's nest for an enemy—(taels-Ter
country was too weak
and a laugh.) He believed there was one point e-se
which —not through the fault of the Admiralty,but e'
the House—the c • ought
have a reserve of seamen at all times ready, to the tune.
of 5,000 men.—(Hear.) ;theyoa,
Mr. WILLIAMS avid, any one looking over theca-
countsac-
of expenditure for the past year, and the 0130,11:
tion of it, would be at a loss to imagine the grog d„
the eulogium passed upon the navy by the Gallant ".d.
miral (Berkeley). The Gallant Officer had actually sal
they were ready at twenty-four hours' notice, to cover_
the Channel with steamers. Why there were nOP
twenty-two vessels in commission in any of our ports id
this country, or anywhere rear it, of which there wer
wily six bail of the line (and four of these were port ad
mired ships, not properly manned), and three or fetir
steamers. The fact was, that the people of this cOtintrYr
who had from the age of Alfred, for about 1 000 'ears,
been accustomed to leek to the navy as their main defenc e.
bid ceased sea° regard it, and had been led to eel/
rather upon a military force of protection. Since tbee
close of the war 220,000,000/. had been voted for the.
support of the navy (besides the armaments of the ord-
nance), 9,000,0001. bud been spent in the dockyardsil
50,000,000 t had been spent on sleip-building, of wbiet,
30 000,0001. might have been spared, and better We"'
1,500,000/. had bean spent on Keyham Dock akar?
which was not finished yet. And, after all, while at t:1;
end of the war we had 666 ships in commission, we 13 gross
bad not 1501 Now all these were evidences of
_.
mismanagement on the part of the navy administrat.Vaau
And there was on obvious reason for it, that a cl_lol
was at the head of the Admiralty, and that tbeirese
officers who belonged to it had to attend that
from four till twelve, or one or two the
stead of having (as they required) regular rest aneueasa
heads in the morning to do their work well.--e
hear, and laughter.) Last year 5,600,000/• wereeegetit
pended, yet we had only 142 ships in commission, °Lee,
sizes, from the lowest, including vessels of two or %Tv
guns, and the great majority under 20 guns, aeitlih°o‘...
17 sail of the line, of which four or five were port con'
mirals ships, only half-manned. He could not a
ceive how the money was expended. It was clear tan:as
lear
only 2,000,0001. of it went for the pay of the 12:21,3,i For
the rest-3,600,000/. was to a great extent wanted' and
instance, a vast deal was expended on the balf-Pyish..
morunildigc,
pensions—of the non-effective part of the estabt 35
went, which was the greater now after upwards of
it
years' peace than it was at the end of the war. Then s
was 1,340,0001.,1
now it was 1,350,000 .
And this wa
not wonderful, when the list was looked at. It CO
prised 245 admirals (two to each ship consulissbl°3t
and 80 over), 584 captains, and 911 commanders—t _
is about 10 captains or commanders to each shitalP_
commission. Then, again, of the amount voted on this
head for pay of the men, only about 250,0001. was e,
pended ; the rest—about 1,100,000/. was absorbed
the inferior officers. And after all this' we could nhok
cot_ e
man a line-of-battle ship without waiting two al °I
Yet the Americans could obtain at any time any numb
of our best seamen. The reason of this he believed vat.a!
that though our navy included many excellent officers, it
also comprised a great number of such as were unfit-forthe power they were entrusted with, and often exactsea e
very improperly, as in the instance cf the marine whrcs,
WAS shot summarily by order of the captain, under „
cunastabees he had recently detailed, and which he bad
since been assured he bud truly stated.
Now. th
Mr. TRELAWNY said he wished to submit this
short..
statement. The sum asked for the navy was
toe beet
Of this only 2,000.000/, was for pay. 501. a year, at
seamen could be had for 1/. a week, or
which rate 40,000 able seamen could be had. Again,
000/. remaining ten brie-
fer 1,000.000/. out of the 3;60,00,100
Now,
each, reckon-
of-battle ships could be built f a
..ne f
-0 - battle
ing at the rate of 1,000/. a gun. ea
ship would last 70 years.
ESoh
no.
Canopus Admiral BOWL—het;
the Cuntil
Mr. TRELAWNY w ye
was taken f _ pus, which
ervice, rom
the French during
lately was in b
was fully that age.—(No.) At this rate,
the war, andsplendid fleet'
there ought to be a of battle ships,
been going on at this rate of expenditure for
as we had
re. Yet it
upwards of 30 yea appeared that this was ferA
being the case, and that a great deal of money bra
from
been wasted in usele-s building and altering of ships-
an instance of the useless expenditure, he w ld raentl°-
Keybalal Dock, which, at ter all
the would
expellee
irscurred, was in the Wrong place. enorm enormous expense
first great sums had been „ , • The fact ibea
pen. in filling up a dock fled
wore in di it, out a dock andall • had tur
a ter it
out that it would have been to -
plan which nature bad
designed better to have ltep But if
Keyham Deck were as for the purpose.e_ented,
valuable as had been reps
s _
_ere
why not eemplet •
e it?--(Hear, hear There !vile
tainly neglect,- As one instance he would mention th
ance,
he had himself witnessed of de posit of mud at
the h a system
arbour of Plymouth, tendit to raise breaks which
infallibly founder a fine line-of battle ship some dal.
unless the system was put a stop to. With regarodt,
to the late Admiralty, be thought they were, °ea
responsible for the failure of the reserve steam 03r";
fur the ;preview Board had built them in s
during a panic ; and, of course, what was done inert
hurry was not done well. About 1,400,0001. had bac',
last year expended in the dockyards—a summwhiess
pught to have resulted in the building of hurts:
pew line-of-battle ships, at the rate of 100,0001. a abilie
and what a fleet ought there to have been, the restlet
20 or 30 years' building, at this rate? But the
as, the country had not a quarter of the nureberi. P 0
ought to have according to these calculations, and o
believed instances had occurred of ships rotting in P°
without ever having been to seal a/i•
Admiral BO WLES said the Hon. Member was grsesaye
being
error as to the average age of line•of-battle
eing 70 years;—(Hear, hear)—and as to the inBlStsa
'
pe had mentioned of the Canopus, she was taken "Lae
the French, then quite naw, in 1798. But there
Ica
hardly a timber of the old ship in her, having been else
Pgo entirely rebuilt; and the truth was, that in tsa
00,
years a line•of-battle ship required repairs often et°. g,
.ing in cost to a third of the original expense of build!nus
The Hun. Member must not argue on such fallae
icalculationa.—(Hear, hear.) With regard to lileY"•-eg
Dock, he differed from the Hon. Member, belle cep
it absolutely necessary, and that it would have bend
impossible to find a finer situation elsewhere; Ihre
he thought that the establishment of the dock t7ils
was a remarkable proof of the foresight of the bat
miralty under Sir Robert Peel. He considered t
the works were really magnificent, and he tbougo,
they ought to be completed without delay, end a of
Approved of the course taken by the late First leer ge
the Admiralty in discouraging their conspleti°% rtre"
wished be could agree with the Gallant Admiral (pe'ro..
ey) as to the possibility (at the time the late Gov era
ment left office) of covering the Cbaunel with stea-tae
in 24 hours.—(Hear, hear.) He knew not sabt:rearert
men were to be found.—(Hear, hear.) Lie di" ,70 of
this—that there was not in any English port a 'bed
,war in full force—(Hear, hear)—and if a squadteue -ree
not been ordered home from fore ign service, ours aueite
would have been defenceless.—(Hear. hear.) q for
'agreed with the Gallant Offieer as to the necessity
ore
15,000 additional seamen as a reserve. Nothing wee sing
than for a great nation likcaours, after sfen
between 5,000 0001. end 6.000.0001. on the
grudge a fees leamereds e, blob wooid l'j,„ of
the service really efficient, ate' prevent the' reuartont;;„
any panic from apprehension of foreign aggre"i°ol,
(Hear, hear.) Au to the scheme of the reserve
he thought it a delusion.