The Sun.
London, England, 1839-03-06 00:00:00

too for a few minutes, for the subject was one of
the very gravest importance.—(Hear, hear, hear.)
He (Sir E. Codrington) pledged himself that no
officer anxious to do his duty would not prefer
the worst ships in the Navy, manned as they
ought to be, to the finest ships that could. be
built, manned 'as they were at present. With the
smaller and inferior ships, if manned with such
officers and men as used to form our Navy, he
would go into action against the half-manned
large ships with a perfect certainty of success.. Much
was said about timber and stores, but they were not
much cared for in the Navy, and some of our greatest
victories bad been won by ships very imperfectly stored—
when properly manned.—(Hear, hear.) He would
show that there is no office under Government held
by civilians, the holders of which were not allowed
to retire with. half the servitude and double the pay of
naval officers. He would just refer to the names of such
officers as Admiral Keats, who had been in a great
number of general actions, and greatly distinguished
themselves, and who, after fifty or sixty years' ser-
vice, retired upon a half pay of 7661. 10s. a year.
Out of that half-pay they contributed to Greenwich
hospital, and to a Widows' Pension. Let Gentlemen
compare that with the Pensi'm List, and with the amount
which different Ladies received for pensions, and then
let them say whether justice was done to seamen. He
believed great disappointment had been felt in conse-
quence of certain pensions not having been considerably
reduced ; and when they found that certain pensions
were still continued without any claims whatever, and
that the widows and daughters of an Admiral, who had
distinguished himself for his bravery, would be only al-
lowed 1201. a-year, he thought some revision was wanted,
not only of the Pension List itself, but also pensions
and rewards given to Officers of the Navy. He did not
complain of the amount given to others. His complaint
was, that officers of the Navy should be treated worse
than any other class of persons who served the Govern-
ment.—( Hear, hear.) It would appear, as though it
were a luxury to run the risk of being shot at, and it
had been said, " Oh! but you gain honours." lie
had alluded to this on a former occasion, and no doubt
honours were very pretty to look at, but there was
very tittle substance in them, and when a man was
called upon to pay for them, perhaps they were not so
very desirable. He thought honours ought to be
given without being asked for, and certainly without
being paid for.—(Hear, hear.) He could mention the
case of an Admiral who died a few years ago,
and whose two daughters were obliged to go to a
private charity called the Benevolent Naval Society,
and receive 25/. a-year each, to keep them from starv-
ing. He would ask whether that was the way in which
the children of an Admiral ought to be treated ?—(Loud
cries of " Hear, hear.") This was a question that had
nothing to do with party—(Cheers)—and there was
no man, in or out of the House, that did not feel
ashamed that such a state of things should be allowed
to continue, and who would not express his willingness
to endeavour to have them remedied.—(Cries of
" Hear, hear.") Those whO were in power ought
to come forward boldly, and ask for a sum of
money-requisite for the purpose of meeting such cases.
He would now refer to an Admiral's full pay ; and here
he had to find fault with the mode in which it was put
down in the official documents. The Admiral's pay
and the table money was put down as the Admiral's
pay only. The table money and the Admiral's pay
ought to be kept distinct.—(Hear, hear.) The pay of
a Rear-Admiral was 1,0951. a year, and he was certain
that unless he was always living at sea, or lived in a
very close manner, he must spend a great deal more.
But then what had he to retire on ? He had to retire
on half-pay, 4501. a-year, so that he was expected to
save money out of 1,0951. a-year, and to live upon
4501. per annum. Then, again, the table money was
a mere pittance, and was not sufficient to enable a man
to keep an open house. He thought he had stated
enough to show that Admirals were not paid in pro-
portion to the duties they were called upon to perform
lie called upon the House to consider the situation in
which we were placed and he hoped the Admiralty would
be induced to come forward and remedythose grievances.
He might mention one instance, that of Capt. Fitzroy,
who had expended no less than 7,0001. of his own mo-
ney in performing his duty in an efficient manner.
He could mention a great number of instances
in which officers were out of pocket, but he
thought this an instance which required the attention
of the Admiralty. If they had not the means of remu-
nerating their], he would urge them to come forward and
state. the case, and he was sure the House would not only
give the money, but that the country would cheerfully
consent to it, for it was not right that an officer who
was desirous of doing his duty efficiently should lies, for
the honour of performing it. He had said that Admi-
rals. were very ill paid, whether on full or half-pay. He had
documents to prove it. He now came to the class of
Commanders, in whose situation there was great pecu-
liarity. They did not rise regularly as Post Captains did,
and they had no retirement. Now he could not understand
what hesitation there could be in giving a retirement.
Let them give those gentlemen who had no chance of
rising in the Service an inducement to retire, and it
would be the means of clearing the list. It would
be a most benefical thing for the Government
and the country, if carried into execution,
and be could not understand why it was not, as the
First Lord of the Admiralty fully agreed with him in
opinion. Amongst these various complaints there was
one case, that of the Lieutenants, which he had brought
before the House on a former occasion, and which he
would advert to now.—(Hear, hear.) It was
well known from the quantity of Lieutenants
that it was absolutely-impossible to employ any con-
siderable proportion of them. But there was a time when
the Lieutenants regularly rose on the half-pay list
within a certain portion of time to receive instead of
55., Gs. or 7s. a-day. It took now nearly double the
time to arrive at that sum, but in consequence of many
of these Lieutenants complaining, a boon was given
to them to be allowed to be called Captains, but on
condition that they were to have no more than 7s. a-day.
There were thus several Commanders on the retired
list at 7s. per day. Now, whatever the regulations of
the Admiralty might be on this subject, the
wording of the votes of that House was that
three hundred Lieutenants should have 7s. a-day each,
and he (Sir Edward Codrington) should like to know
by what right that money was withheld from them
which was voted to them by this House. He had
moved, on a former occasion, for the production of the
documents authorising this. Observations had been
made on these Orders in Council. He could not under-
stand why these Orders in Council were not produced.
Why should doubts as to the construction of these regu-
lations exist ? Why should the officers of the Navy not
know what they were? In order to know what they
were it was necessary that the naval officer should buy
every quarter one of those little blue books, which were
so wretchedly printed that they could scarcely be read,
and as he had not for some time past been actively em-
ployed, he really did not know any thing about it. He
thought that these things should be so regulated that
superior officers in the service should have it in their