The Sun.
London, England, 1839-03-05 00:00:00

the Member for Kilkenny would not divide the House.—
( Hear, bear.)
Mr. C. WOOD said he hoped his Hon. Friend the
Member for Birmingham would not thing him disrespect-
ful in saying that had he been allowed to go on with public
business, he should have answered by anticipation a great
deal of what had been advanced.—( Hear.)
Mr. BROUGHTON said he must protest against the
tone which some Members had adopted upon this subject
in this discussion. It was much easier to get into a war
than to get out of one —( Cheers.) There might be a de-
claration of war by the Creivn, but it was the manufacturers
and labourers who had to bear the expenses.—( Hear,
hear.) When the Hon. Member for Kilkenny ;spoke of
the heavy burdens entailed upon the country, it was net
well to hear the tone of some of the naval and military
officers in that House, who seemed quite willing to entail
fresh expenses on the country, and he thought the Go-
vernment ought not to be led away by their statements, but
ought rather to encourage the arts of peace than to produce
the miseries of war.

111 r. HOME would not divide the House then, but
would reserve to himself the right of doing 40 rjri a future
occasion.

SLAVE TRADE.

Captain PE C HE LL said it would be in the recollection
of the House, that at the close of last Session an Act was
ra3sed,enabling the Treasury to advance bounty money inthe
shape of tonnage on all vessels captured, that had not
slaves on board. He was given to understand that that
Act was rendered useless and inoperative, and that the
Treasury Lords refused to entertain the demand, and he
wished to ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether
that was the case ?

The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER had
never heard of such a complaint before, but would inquire
into the circumstances.

The House then went into Committee on the
NAVY ESTIMATES.

Mr. C. WOOD said, that on former occasions when
he had the honour of offering the estimates to the House,
he bad considered it necessary to occupy but a short
period of its time, and he had done so not from any un-
willingness to afford information, on any subject connected
with the department to which he belonged, but because
he was unwilling to trespass unnecessarily on the atten•
tion of the Hon. Gentlemen, and because he believed that
by saving time he would be best consulting their conve-
nience. On the present occasion however, it would be
necessary for him to pursue a very different course. He
need hardly recall to the recollection of Hon. Gentlern-n;
that for the last six months, unceasing attacks have been
made against the Naval department, and statements had
been issued from the press representing the state of our
naval force to be one of the greatest destitution.—( Hear,
hear.) It was not to be supposed that those who
were so deeply implicated in this question, could
have been indifferent to what had taken place, or that
they had not suffered from these statements having gone
forth uncontradicted ; but they believed that in that House
alone was it meet for those who represented public de-
partments, and who had a seat in that [louse, to defend
their conduct.—( Hear, bear). He knew that that oppor-
tunity would be at last afforded ; and, deeply as he felt
his incompetency to the duty, he had looked. forward with
no slight anxiety to that occasion for endeavouring to vin-
dicate their character, and to remove from the minds of
the people of this country those very natural impressions
to which the Hon. Member for East Kent alluded the
other night, and which were very naturally formed by a
people so jealous of their maritime power. He was afraid he
must draw somewhat largely on their attention, but in the
position in which he was placed, he was compelled to
throw himself on the attention of the House, and the same
statements and the same arguments that were necessary for
their vindication were those which he trusted would remove
from the public mind any apprehension and any idea which,
naturally enough, though without reason, they had enter-
tained as to the efficiency of our naval force. The charges
that had been made against the Government for the last
six months certainly were not those which the Hon. Mem-
ber for Kilkenny had made that evening. They had been
charged with having lowered the efficiency of the naval ser-
vice, and they were afraid to come to the House to ask for
money, and in the language of one of the Tory
papers, a shameful reduction bad been made
by the present Ministry, in the Navy. His answer to that
was simple, and he trusted it would be satisfactory. They
had made no reduction in any expenditure affecting the
efficiency of the Navy : on the contrary, they had made
considerable increases. Then they bad been accused of
reducing the number of men. The estimates of 1835 gave
17,500 men and boys. The estimates of 1836 (the first he
bad the honour of moving), gave 22,500 men and boys,
exclusive of the ordinary. They had been accused of re-
ducing the naval force. On the Ist of January, 1835,
there were eleven sail of the line in commission ; on the
Ist of January, 1839, there were twenty. ( Hear, hear. )
They had bees accused of reducing the work in the
dockyards. The vote for labour, in 1835, was 300,000/. ;
the vote, in 1838, was 384,0001.—( Cries of " Hear.")
They had been accused, by their reductions, of creating
discontent in the minds of the dock-yardsmen. The
yearly earnings of shipwrights in 1835 were 52/ , in 1838
621. Bs. Last year the Government was accused of re-
ducing the stores. The vote for stores in 1835 was
383,0001.; the vote for stores in 183 M was 593,0001. He was
astonished, as he thought the Committee must be, that
measures such as these should have been termed reduc-
tions. True it was that reductions should be made, but
they were not made by the present Government. The
number of men was reduced by the Tory Government of
the Right Hon. Baronet the Member for Tamworth. The
present Government had been accused of reducing the
Marine Artillery, but that reduction was made in 1832.
They had been accused of reducing the number of
men employed in the dock-yard, but that reduction
was first made by the Duke of Wellington, and afterwards
by the Right Hon. Baronet the .member fur Pembroke.