The Sun.
London, England, 1839-03-12 00:00:00

the other night, that they were not there because British
interests were threatened, but because they would 1w better
there than at home. Now, he did not think so.---( Hear,
Lear ) Either the squadron in the Me6iterranean was
necessary or it was i,ot ; if it was necessary that eleven
sail-of-the-line should be in the Mediterranean, and
two at Lishote al be would say wss that the remain.
ing seven stub of. the-line appeared insdequato for
the protection of the coasts of this country, or to me: t any
difficulties that might arise. But if these eleven sail were
not necessary in the Mediterranean, he would ask why
we, cireunistaner d as we were, should not have fire or six
of them ready fer our protection at home?—( Haar, bear.)
He wanted to have this riispropottionate distribution ex-
plained. They had said that the ships in ordinary might
be fried nut rapidly enough to meet any emergency, but
he denied that. The rapidity with whiali the Malabar had
been fitted out, to replace the Implacable on the North
American coast, had been alluded to; but if a fleet could
be so rapidly fitted out, he much doubted whether they
would have withdrawn the fleet from North America.—
(Hear, hear.) Now, he would refer to the state of our
Navy in times of peace for the proteetion of the home
coast. In 1792 we had twelve sail of the line for the home
service. On the Ist December, 1634, excepting- he sta-
tionary ships, we had not one ship for the protection of
the home coast, of the first, second, third, fourth, firth,
or sixth rates.—(Hear, hear.) Referring again to the
absence of any force of ours on the coast of Mexico,
he asould say that if our ships were not wanted there for
opposition or protection, they would al least be necessary
to sustain the moral influence which this country ought cc
possess, and which he feared would be diminished if we
continued to act upon such a system. The eleven sail of
the line would certainly have beet' better employed if, in-
stead of making useless demonstrations in the Mediterra-
nean, they had been employed at Mexico, and showing our
fellow-subjects that they had not been forgotten.—( Hear,
hear.) He trusted that the act of taking the pilot from
the Express Packet, would not give rise to the least mis-
understanding between the two great powers—he would
not say one word to place a difficulty in the way of a satis-
factory explanation—he felt the utmost confidence that a
great country like France, jealous of its own honour would
be amongst the first to respect the honour of another country.
He had the fullest confidence that that eminent and
distinguished man who now ruled the destinies of France—
who filled the throne of that country—who exercised an
influence on its councils less because he was King of a ,
great people, than because he was endowed With vast quail-
ties of mind and powers of command which constituted
him the first man of the day since Bonaparte—because he
was a man who through the greatest vicissitudes of pros-
perity and adversity had acquired a great fund of sagacity,
and had encountered the most wonderful opportunities of
displaying both personal and moral courage ; and had
shewn a combination of fortitude, experience, and pru-
dence which he firmly believed would induce fu-
ture generations of Frenchmen to regard him as
the most eminent man France had produced since
the great conqueror he bad named—on those ac-
counts he- (Sir R. Peel) believed that whatever arrange-
is were entered into wins respect to that affair, Would
he perfectly satisfactory to the people of tins country.
Hear, hear.) He was sure that in taking the pilot it
would be seen that there was no intention of offering an
insult to this country. But then for the satisfaction of tbis
country it should be seen how the occuerenee
had actually taken place.—( Hear, bear, bear.) It
was necessary that we should learn why the
Captain of the Express had made no opposition to
the taking away a pilot of a neutral vessel. He did not
mean to say that the Captain of the Express should have
hazarded the lives of his men by a chivalrous fight against
overpowering numbers, but he ought to have protested
against the act—he ought to have taken his stand
on deck, and have asserted that to superior force
;done he would yield.—( Hear, hear.) No doubt the Ad-
miralty
were informed of all these particulars already from
Lieut. Croke himself; but the public would not be satis-
fied unless they had, all the facts of the case laid before
them. He (Sir R. P.) took it for granted that an ample
apology had already been given to this Government ; but
he trusted that for the sake of upholding the sanctity of the
lows of nations and to prevent the enormous evils that must
ensue if the British flag, or the flag of any other nation, :
sh Lead be insulted by takeing a pilot out of a neutral
vs ssel, thereby leaving it in a state of peril—he hoped
fer the prevention of any such awful coesequences, that
the full particulars and the result of this transaction
would be amply recorded.—( Hear, hear ) And now ho
would conclude his observations. He would not quarrel
with the present amount of force; but if the Government,
who had the best means of judging, should come before
the Parliament for the means of iticreasing our naval
strength and for widening the foundations of our naval
power by having a regular supply of ships to be built from
time to time, the application should have his cordial support.
He would not_ withhold his sanction from the present Esti-
timates. The second point to which he addressed himself
was, the defence of his own Government for not proposing
larger estimates; and the third was a statement of grounds
on which he imputed to the present Government negli-
gence and misconduct towards British interests in South
America, and particularly on the coast of Mexico, it' it
were true that a bombardment took place of San Juan
d'Ulloa on the 27th of November; that the port of Vera
Cruz was attacked on the sth of December, but that the
British squadron did not arrive till the 31st of December,
and that in the mean time we had only one ship of war,
the Satellite, when San Juan d'Ulloa was otficked, and
even when Vera Cruz was attacked there was no larger
foree.—( Hear, hear.) He should give his support to the
present Estimates, but lie trusted that the time was now
come when. on these points it would be felt they had a right
to require full explanation, and also on the other point rela-
tive to the insult to the national flag; and he sincerely trusted
that they would have the pleasure of leering that nothing
had been left undone by the present Government to give
full satisfation to the feelings of the country.—( Cheers.)
Mr. L ABOUCH ERE would not prolong the discus-
sion on this subject to any extent, but as allusion had
been made by the Right Hon. Baronet to the conduct of the
Board of Admiralty of which Lord Auckland was at the
head, and as allusion had been made to that subject by
the Noble Lord, the member for Dors,tshire (Lord
Ashley) the other night, he would beg to say a few words
in explanation. He did not understand that his Hon.
Friend the Secretary of the Admiralty, had made it a re-
proach, that the administration of the Right lion. Baronet
had thought fit to reduce the service by 1,000 men, but had
merely mentioned that in answer to the loog torrent of
abuse against the present Government, which had bees-,
so indefatigably got up during the last six Lianas-a-
(Cheers) —and when, not only through the esd'Atary 'chan-
nels of the public press, but at public dinners, non. Gen-
tlemen opposite had given expression to strong expressions,
he thought his Hen. Friend was justified in eating, that
when it was made a charge asrlinst tlie Government of
Lord Melbourne that, tiey had systematically depressed
the Navy diminished its strength—he was justified in
Zt'ilingVhe attention of the House to this undeniable fact,
that toe Estimates presented by the present Government
were higher than those presented by the Government of
the Right Hon. Baronet.—( Hear.) The Right.'Hon. Bee
ronet had said that he had never given encouragement to thd*is
attacks, but a great portion of those attacks had 'be'en,
encouraged by those who supported him.—( Hear, hear,
from the Opposition benches.) Was there no gentle-
man of great weight and authority who sat on the other
side of the House who had expressed those opinisns ? He
would refer to a speech of his Right Hon. Friend, the
Member for Pembroke, made at Glasgow, amid any ex-
pression falling from his lips in reference to this subject