The Sun.
London, England, 1865-03-09 00:00:00

NAVY ESTIMATES.

The house went into committee of supply.
On the first vote for making up the complement of men
for the service of the navy,
Sir M. PETO resumed the debate which was adjourned
last Monday. He thought that the noble lord (Lord
Clarence Paget) had afforded honourable members
more ample information in regard to naval matters
than some of his predecessors, but at the same time he did
not consider he had succeeded in rendering his information
quite intelligible. Ho contended that the army was not ill
a state of efficiency, and referred w Bermuda, which •Ras
left without dock accommodation ; and he adverted s:zso to
Sheerness and Chatham, which he asserted were not in a
satisfactory condition. He referred to the Royal Sovereign,
the Royal Alfred, and some other vessels recently con-
structed. He thought it had become a very serious ques-
tion how far it was desirable to carry out the system of
fortification beyond the extent the house had already
sanctioned. The expense of supplying ordnance for the
armies of the forts under course of construction would
amount to £17,624,304. (Hear, hear.) He called the
attention of the house to tho decision of the case of the
Queen v. Fennell, in which the mind of the Lord Chief
Justice was satisfied as to the right of the Government to
plead the Royal prerogative in regard to the invention of
Mr. Fennell. He thought it was most unfair to i-
ventors to press the Royal prerogative, the effect
of which might be to induce them to offer
their inventions to the Governments of ether countries,
where they would be rewarded for them if they were ap-
proved. He referred to certain competent authorities to show
that in adopting new inventions the administration of naval
affairs was defective, and that in many instances the conduct
of the Admiralty was most reprehensible. The Admiralty was
slow in adopting those inventions, and they ought to have
a scientific board to decide on their merits without leaving
them to be determined by any naval authority, however
eminent. He denied that there was any false economy
on the part of the house in voting estimates for
the purposes of the navy, for during the last five years
they had voted £58,000,000, and they were entitled to be
satisfied that the navy was not in a state of efficiency.

[LEFT SPEAKING.]

Bank of England Return,•--This Evening.

An Account, pursuant to the Act ith and Bth Victoria,
cap. 82, for the week ending Wednesday, March 8, 1865.

111BUIS DEPAIITMENT.

Notes iseued

Government Debt X 11,015,1( 0
Other Securities .. 3.6.31,900
Gold Coin & Bullion 13,910,5:0
Silver Bullion ....

£28,56),590

X28,1;00,5',0

BANKING D
oprietors' Capi-
tal £14.553,000
acs!
Public Deposits (in-
cluding Exche-
quer, Savings'
Banks, Commis-
missioners 01 Na- -
tional Debt, and
Dividend Ac-

Government Secu-
rities (including
Dead Weight A-
n..

nuity) £11,023,211
Other Securities 19,828,885
Notes
Gold and Silver 818,017
Coin

counts) 7,677.721
Other Deposits
Seven Day and
other Bills 450,525

£10,429,773
V

I X1\429,773
MILLER, Chief Caahicr,

March 9, 1865.

The Southern Confederacy•

The following letter from Captain (now Admiral)
Semmes, written to a friend in England, though
prior to recent events, gives an interesting account
of a part of the Confederacy little known in this
country :

" Alexandria, Louisiana, Dec. 7, 1864.

I "My Dear—,--You perceive that lam not yet
at home, after more than two months of wayfaring.
You heard of me from Broomsville, Texas. From
this place I have travelled all the way hither, by
coach and railway, and arrived nearly a week ago.
My journey thus far has been in every way satis-
factory; my only inconvenience being that I was
not master of my own person, but was forced to
become public property. All the towns on the road-
side turned out to meet me ; some with formal ad-
dresses, to which I was obliged to reply and all with
demonstrations, not of kindness only, but of appa-
rently real affection. My name and that of the
Alabama, which seemed to be known by every
woman and child in the country, were the open
sesame that unlocked all doors and hearts. Hotel-
keepers refused to receive payment of their bills,
and my way was franked in the coaches and in the
railways. This was all very gratifying to me per
sonally, but I was still more gratified at the temper
and disposition of the people with reference to the
war. Never was a people more united in their re-
solution to be free. All the burdens imposed by the
war are borne, not only without murmer or com-
plaint, but cheerfully. The man gives freely of his
substance to the government, and lays down his
life, if need be, in the battlefield, entrusting his fame
to posterity ; and the woman yields to the grim-
visaged monster her husband, father, son, and
brother, with the resignation and faith of a martyr.
Glorious, glorious woman !

" The state of Texas, through which for the
most part I have been travelling, has not only
not felt the ill effects of the war, but has even
( prospered by it. The enemy attempted an inva-
sion of it at two points, but was beaten at both,
and driven back with disaster, and has not
atllhehisrefmoraciensdefrorofthtehecwaraarp,aasignhseinisircofrngciennia-
since renewed the attempt ; nor is he likely to do so
tdruarintingg
and Georgia, having vainly imagined that if he could
capture Atlanta and Richmond the war would be at
an end ; the fact being that even Richmond is of no
more importance to us than any
other frontier town.
You will see this when I tell you_ that we are not
now dependent, as we were in the beginning of the
war, upon two or three points (of which Richmond
was one) for the production of arms and other mate-
rials of war, but that these necessary articles are
produced all over the country, and that the produc-
tion of them is annually increasing. The state of
Texas alone has within her limits all the materials,
and is fast getting the appliances for equipping and
maintaining armies, and when you reflect that she
has three times as much territory as the empire of
France, and that countless herds of horses and beef
cattle wander over her boundless prairies, you can
well imagine with what contempt this warlike
to-morrow across the Mis-
our armies were driven
we could still
cxas alone. So dismiss all fight the enemy for a
century
people regard the insane threat of subjugation. If
SiSSin
ippi rtiuverc,ome
your fears,
my friend. Our independence is an
accomplished fact, let the war continue as long as
the Yankee pleases, and with what varying results
it may. One of the most frequent questios asked
me on my journey has been as to the disposition of
England towards us. I found a good deal of igno-
rance and some prejudice among my countrymen on
most
this subject, and one of my pleasing duties has
been to set them right
upon it. And when they had
learned, as they always did from
me, that nine-
tenths of the English
people are not only our fast
friends, but our warm admirers, great, indeed, was
anticipated the rejoicing. I have had the ' plea-
sure of meeting my son, Major Semmes, here.
He has had the good fortune to 3CC a great deal of
active service in the field, hay ing been in eleven
battles and some forty skirmishes. I was proud to
hear from all quarters such good accounts of him.
All being quiet here just now, he has obtained a
furlough, and will go home with me to visit his
mother and sisters. It may be a long time before
you hear from me again, as the enemy is pressing
the blockade of Wilmington with great vigour, and,
indeed, may even capture it.—Yours,
44 it. SEMMES."

The quotation of gold at Paris is about 2 per mille pm.. an
the short exchange on London is 25.15 per .£1 sterling. On
comparing these rates with the English Mint price of £3
17s. 104 d. per ounce for standard. gold, it appeArs that gold is
about 3-I(ths per cent. dearer in Pa.ria than in London.