The Sun.
London, England, 1863-03-06 00:00:00

LONDON, FRIDAY, MARCH 6, 1863.

In the House of Lords yesterday there was
nothing of importance.
In the House of Commons Mr. FERRAND said it
was his intention, shortly after Easter, to call
attention to the state of the cotton trale, and to
suggest measures for removing the unemployed
operatives.—On going into committee of supply,
Mr. COBDEN remarked on the large number of
obsolete vessels of war in the British navy. The
hon. member said that by obsolete he meant wooden
vessels. He said that in the present state of things
such vessels should never have been built. They
were no strength against the enemy, and if we went
to war to-morrow he believed that they would
prove inefficacious. He thought that the naval
administration of Lord Derby was responsible for
.£10,000,000 of the £20,000,000 that had been re-
cently spent on this modern navy, which was quite
useless. The hon. member said we could not en-
dure such extravagance. He called it an insult and
an outrage to the common sense of the country to
vote so many men f,r such vessels, and he thought
that the house ought to make a greater reduction in
the number of men than the Government pro-
posed this year. Lord C. PAGET declared
he still kept the same opinion as formerly witk
respect to wooden line-of-battle ships, that they I
would not be very serviceable in a future war. The
hon. member was wrong in stating that 30,000 men
were required to man the wooden line-of-battle
ships; instead of that number, 9,000 only, were
needed. He (Lord C. Paget) thought that Sir
J. Pakington's organisation of the navy was one of
the wisest measures that had ever taken place in
the grand annals of the country, and if the house
followed the advice of Mr. Cobden he thought
that it would prove very disastrous in its conse-
quences. Sir J. PAKINGTON said he was surprised
at the violent attack which had been made upon
him, without any notice that would have given
him an
opportunity of referring to figures, &c.
He recommended the hon. member in future to
abstain from talking about the navy, for he never
appeared before the house to consider this subject
Without recalling to mind the well known lines—
'Tia a pity that charming women
Talk of things that they don't
't nnderatanv,
The right hon. gentleman concluded his speech
amidst loud cheers, by stating that far
from feel-
ing remorse, as the hon. member (Mr. Cobden) had
said, he thought he should always look back with
proud satisfaction to the course he pursued in 1859.
Some further discussion ensued, and the subject
dropped ; the remainder of the estimates were
agreed to. The Tobacco Bill was committed and
ordered to be printed, with the amendments of the
Chancellor of the Exchequer. The other business
was disposed of, and the house adjourned.

The debate of last night will be read with
interest, not for any broad light thrown OR the
state of our Navy, but for the animus displayed
tlrsonhhont. And, first, we must say that Mr.
COBDEN has fallen far short of expectation, for he
advanced nothing
really' new—all his argument
being Dlade up of matter expressed over and over
again in the course of previous debates and in the
press. His speech, however well concocted, was after
a,U but a hashed-up dish of incongruous ingredients--