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

THE

believed that we could no longer rely for the manning
of our navy on the system of impressmsnt. Any
attempt to enforce that system would most probaely
lead to a coeflict with the civil power, and in the present
state of polio opinion, such a conflict could not ho
carried on successfully by those who might have recourse
to impressmsnt. Re trusted that before the year
should have expired, oe even before the close of the
session, some plan would be introduced by the B ',era of
Admiralty, or their representatives, for manning the
navy in the event of a war, and even for effectually
manning. ;t in time of peace, for they should begin with
4ome mea,nre for that latter purpese. There was greet
dieF"l'Y a. pi ennit in manning our ships, and in conse-
Treece of that ditlieulty, there were ships in consrni,sien
which wee l,k ly to continue for two moeths unable to
leave nu" shores. To' &Tisch had great facilities tor
maitnieg their vessels. because they had ell their men in
hand, and they would bypet means have a great afv_an-
rage tt fhe.oui,break of a star. It eppeered to him then
any Wee for improving our own mode of proccedlng in
that respect ought to eriginste whh too Board of Ad-
mtrahy. .But no should express his beln f teat in time of
peace the plan to which one ought ti tonic; nits that of
coetintepes serene, such as thei which prevailed in the
army. He did ant think, hiseever, that that plan need
at once he made epplceble to the whole of our neval
force. He would suggest that there shettlil be there
periods of ,erenn--one for seven years, one for eleven
years, end one ter fifteen yews. lie woad, es e genre al
rule, allow ale e mail to retire after a certein atnewit of
service; he:. he would not.give them art absolute right to
a discharge; so that they might be come cited to con-
tinue in their ships for any 'period which the safety of
the country lz,i ht re quire. In time of we: he thought
that we ought to sutiefinite a ballot for the syeaern of
impressment. If the ballot were adepfed fur the militia,
he did not see why, it should nut also be adopted for the
navy iu time of war, when every Ulan (Veit to be con-
sidered huund to defend his country. He believed that
the system of shipping offices would afford great facili-
ties for the application of the ballot in the manning of
the Royal navy. He feared that if a war were to break
out, and if art attempt were made to enforce the system
of impressment, many of our seamen in the mercantile
service would leave thiecouetry and pass over to America.
Sir F. BARING said he wished to say a few words
on the manning of the Royal Navy, which was one of
the most difficult and important subjects they could have
to consider in endeavouring to provide for the efficiency
of our naval force. They might have ships in abund-
anoe; and yet it they wanted men the country would
not be safe. The late Board of Admiralty bad, after
much deliberation, devised a plan which they thought
would, to a certain extent, meet the difficulty, and which
would at any rate serve as an experiment. He could not
himself feel very sanguine as to the efficiency of that
plan until it should have been fairly tested. He had
heard it stated that it was difficult to understand the
scheme; but he should say that the present Board of
Admiralty ought either to take it up fairly or to abandon
it altogeiher. There was no conceivable scheme with
respect to which differences of opinion would not prevail
among naval officers; and any scheme which was not
known to have the support of influential patties at the
Admiralty could not succeed It was most important
that the first step in any plan should be taken effici-
ently if it were to be taken at all; and he repeated
that, he hoped the new Board of Admiralty would either
abandon tee schi me of the naval reserve, or would eeti-
ously endeavour to carry it into successful operation
There was another point upon which he wished to offer
a few words of explanation. Formerly if, at tbe out-
break of a war, a h,uuty had been given for the entry
of any one seaman, a similar bounty should be given to
every man in the service; and that had been totted tow bee
be
a very onerous and inconvenient arrangement. It
at present proposed, therefore, that, without affecting
the rights of existing seamen, those who might euter the
service fur the future should not have the power of
claimieg the bounty in question. With reap. ct to the
system of impressment, he should state that they ought
to make that st stem the exception, and not the rule ;
and in that case he believed that the best plan to which
they could resort would be the adoption of the ballot. He
thought they would have to carne to that. He was aware,
however, that that subject was one of great diffieulty;
and if he had remained in office, he had hate:laded to have
given his beet ceetaideration to the ceatter. •
Mr. A. S rAFFoao said he could undertake to say
that the new Board of • Admiralty would give to the sug-
gestions of the it,ght Hon. elerenet (sir F. Baring) the
attention which they deserved from their importe.nce and
from the kind maunrr in which they had been offered
With respect to the naval reserve, he had to state 'het
the present Board of Admiralty accepted the principles
of that plan as a really •slueble one, end that they were
disposed to carry it fairly into operation Bu, they did
not regard the reeetne as one peculiarly adapted to a
sudden crisis, if such a crisis should arise. He believed
that the good effects of it would hot be perceptible all at
once. It was supposed that it would eusure for her M4,-
jest's service a better character among merchant sea-
men than that which that service had hitherto enjoyed.
At present the greater portion of those who lent the
royal navy for the merchant service were persons of bad
character, who represented her Majezt)'s service in
worse colours than it deberved; and it was hoped that
under the system of the naval reserve, men of good
character would leave the It ,yal navy and speak fa-
vourably of it to the companions among whom they
would afterwards mix. We had at present in the mer-
chant seamen's service about 230,000 men, besides about
50,000 men who disappeared in distant parts of the
world, and were not seen again until after the lapse of
three or four years.—(Hear, hear.) If the plan should
succeed, it must still be obvious that so small a body
among so large a mass must work but slowly. The ques-
tion with regard to naval surgeons was at this moment
occupying the attention of the Admiralty, who were not
unmindful ofthe necessity which existed for carrying out
the order of the House upon the subject. They felt that
that order ought to be carried out; but at the same time
that some discretion should be left to the officer in com-
mand, and allowance made for the amount of accommo-
dation on board ship. It was impossible to apply an
abstract rule in this case. All he could say was, there-
fore, that the animus of the board was to treat the sur-
geons of the navy as gentlemen, and to give them every
facility for prosecuting their studies on board that the
arrangements of the ship would admit of.—(Hear-)
Sir G. PECHELL hoped the Admiralty would also
take the case of the junior class of surgeons, whoa` ted
as clerks to captains, into their consideration, wih a
view to putting them on a different and an improved
footing; and recommended that officers in the coast-
the
guard service should be rewarded by promotion,
rewards they at pre,out received at the and of the year
not being, in his opinion, adequate to the great and
valuable services tilt), performed its saving life and pro-
perty and protecting the revenue.
The vote was agreed to.
The next vote proposed was the sum of 50,3531. for
the salaries of officers and expenses of the ecientfic
brand of f he navy.
Mr. WYLD took exception to the inefficient mode in
which the charts of the Admire.ity were published,
of thae
s
compared with the great expense of this portion
establishment. Any Hon. Member who kept a yacht
knew no charts were more voluminous and more incom-
plete than those of the British Admiralty. As a con-
trast to our works of this kind he drew attention to the
charts of the United States Government, which were all
on a uniform scale and plan, and gave much better
results, marking, among other things, the course of the
winds, which the British charts omitted h
to do,
of the though it
was necessary
_to know them as the dept sea.
The same superiority was visible in the charts of the
French marioe. He hoped some amendment would be
made in this branch of the service, which cost 60,000/,
a-year, and gave very little return.
Mr. STAFFORD—It was with this as with most of the
other suigestions which had emanated from the opposite
side of the House to-night—the principal difficulty which
stood in the way was that of. s
expense. The Hon.
Member was of
,opinion that the expense might be re-
imbursed by the sale; but that appeared to him (Mr.
Stafford) to be very problematical. As far us it had
gone, he believed the service bad been very eati,factorily
conducted, though he was ready t ) admit that he should
be glad if there were a more speedy publican in.
Sir G. PECII ELL said, the fact was the whole thing
was conducted uteotaisfaetorily. There was not suffi
cient eccortimodaOon tor carrying on the business. The
First Lot d's house ought to be given up for the hydro-
graphic department.
The vote wee agreed to; as were also 132.647/. for the
Varies of officers and the contingent expenses of her
'i"tra naval establishments at home; 23,263/. for the
salaries of officers and contingent expenses of her Ma-
jeaty's naval establishments abroad; 666,9291 for the
Wages of .
e.e•earttificere, labourers, and others employed in
ehmerployed in he
350,3.317the11°: beattYh'ea votes7nieal?ls
eooef,stablishments at home; and
artificers, labourers, and others
ie:ty's naval establishments ahroed•
for naval stores,
~ erettlea:: laulldAg ;04
,repaiz. of
PEEL was surprised that, in
shicpas,lo&ace.l,
presence. of
namely,t
he eo, coarse Ao9f allsl
these discussions upon the navy
defeated every in
the
had been said upon the sabjeet o.
aeaftimatea, not a word
last year, come to this country, ancireign vessel having,
her Majesty the Queen
tended for the prizes at the Royal Yacht Squadron which
con-
tended
Now, if it had happened that a
foreignquadron Re-
had been sent hero, and had carried off the Ascot horse
he believed there was not a breeder in the countrycot CuP'
would not have incurred any amount of who
expense with
the view of recovering the laurels. He (Colonel Peel)
had always entertained the impression that Britannia
ruled the waves; but be should like to know what bad
become of her figure-head now? They were constantly
exercising the vessels of what they called their experi-
mental squadron; but that was only sailing their own
vessels against their own vessels. It appeared to him that
they should throw the matter open to competition, and
offer large prizes for the best sailing vessels. If they
thus afforded their own shipbuilders an opportunitea of
seeing what was to be delta, he bad no doubt that .
ire
the course of a year or twig they would cif.ct im-
provement that could be desired in the sb,
Ipe of this
country.
Alderman THOMPSON said that the much-vaunted
American clipper-ship Oriental, whose quick voyages
from China had been so highly
and home
spoken of, had bleb
out
beaten by British ships in the voyage
tihina, and he could assure the
House that BO far were
we now from being behind other countries in stop-build-
ing improvements, that there never was any period at
which more zeal and a Y rmlet had
at present, both by builders and owners,
manifested than
mer-
chant ships to the utmost; andners,to improve
we bad not been excelled by up to the present time
nation in the world. the Americana or any other
Sir G. PECHFLL
e said the Am
had not succeeded in buildieg erican Government
ane; is:ae gesa Fre.,ieh..:(s,,ps hatter than ere had;
ville's report would inform them'-' Prieee Jtro-
three-decker under his command that not a single
or tack. could be made to wear
lOX MAIJI.4 said thsi there'?" li regular 001 -