The Sun.
London, England, 1865-06-17 00:00:00

LONDON, SATURDAY, JUNE 17, 1865.

The motion of Mr. SEELY last evening found a
good many supporters, and it will probably be ap-
proved out of doors as well as in the House ; but as
it interfered with the patronage system always in
favour at the Admiralty, the Government contrived
to prolong the debate until they had recruited their
ranks, collected their scattered forces, and reversed
the minority of two by a majority of twenty-seven.
Nevertheless, Mr. SEELY had reason on his side, and
was able to support his motion not only by argu-
ment, but by fact. There can hardly be a difference
of opinion as to the enormous expense yearly in-
curred in our dockyards, and the Secretary of the
Admiralty and the Junior Lord have often had con-
siderable difficulty in defending the mismanagement
of their subordinates, and in making the worse
appear the better cause. Mr. SZELY attributes a
great part of this extravagance to the incompetency
of the superintending officers, who are always naval
men, and consequently, in his opinion, not qualified
to supervise h
mac inery and shipbuilding. Without
casting any 'aspersion on the intelligence and public
spirit of these gentlemen, he considers that the mere
fact of there being naval officers did not necessarily
constitute them judges of the efficient and econo-
inh..al management of the dockyard;;. The hon. mem-
lwr did not object to the appointment of naval men
0-willed they were duly qualified, and lie urged that
t ;icy should be possessed of the requisite technical
knowledge to enable them to exercise a sharp super-
vision over the proceedings of their subordinates.
" It was not his wish to confine such appointments
to civilians, but if given by preference to officers of
the Navy, it ought to be seen that they possess the
requisite qualifications. They should not be ex-
cluded, but the most competent men, whether
sailors or civilians, should be selected to control and
direct the expenditure of the Royal dockyards."
This is only the language of prudence and common
sense, and the terms of the motion were equally so
That it is inexpedient to continue the practice
of appointing naval officers who are not possessed of
a technical knowledge of the business carried on in

When people take up ideas they are very apt to
make mistakes and run into extremes. The dogs
in the metropolis seem likely this year to fall vic-
tims to the fears and fancies of certain prejudiced
parties. Last night Mr. DAMER went so far as to
ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department
whether he did not think it advisable to bring in a
bill to enable the police to destroy by strychnine or
other means " all dogs going about without collars
and the addresses of their owners thereon." Sir G.
GREY replied in a proper manner to this extrordi-
, nary proposal. He said that the Metropolitan
Police Act already provided that if any dog was
allowed to go at large, if it was in a rabid state, its
owner might be fined five pounds, and also the
owner was amenable to common law for the injuries
inflicted by such dogs, and the right hon. baronet
added that he did not see what further provision
could well be adopted. He did not say that the
" fact of a dog having a collar round his neck, with
the name of the owner, would render him less dan-
gerous," nor can any one else see it, we should
imagine. Sir G. GREY said that a good plan would
be to enact that dogs at large should wear some
kind of muzzle which would prevent them from
biting without confining their mouths. The French
have a very ingenious kind of muzzle which answers
this purpose, and it would be well if those owners
of dogs who can afford it would procure this desir-
able requisite. The manufacturers and tradesmen
might also, with advantage, avail themselves of this
idea. It naturally suggests itself to the mind, when
hearing and reading of all these complaints and
tirades against the dogs of the metropolis, that
if more care and consideration were adopted
there would he less risk to the public, and
infinitely less likelihood of so many dogs going mad.
What is more likely to produce a rabid state among
these animals in sultry weather than the cruel man-
ner in. which they are often treated? Boys and
men hunt and drive them about for their amusement
in the most reckless fashion, and get up a cry that
some poor creature is mad, until they create the
evil they pretend to dread. The manner in which
dogs are treated at race-courses is disgraceful, and
reflects the greatest discredit upon all the authori-
ties of those places of public resort and amusement.
The neglect to provide the animals with water is
often carried to a culpable degree, but it is satis-
factory to know that by the latest arrangements at
the cattle-markets the cattle are enabled to quench
their thirst ; but until very recently they were
kept for hours in a wretched state, suffering greatly,
and all from their mismanagement and gross care-
lessness. If the police direct their energies to put-
ting down the cruel sport of hunting about stray
dogs they will be more usefully employed in de-
stroying them causelessly. There is nothing so
absurd and .unreasonable as to go to such extreme
lengths without taking the trouble to consider over
the matter a little. According to the theory of
these alarmists it would be safer and better to de-
stroy all dogs, and thus the most faithful and intel-
ligent animal that the CREATOR has bestowed upon
man would be sacrificed without a cause, for want
of due precaution and necessary vigilance. Such
folly is quite beneath the intelligence of the present
day, and it would be more profitable and praise-
worthy for social and domestic reformers to enter
upon a crusade for the extinction of cruelty than
to wage warfare against t rue of animal whoets

her MAJESTY'S dockyards to the office of superinten- fidelity and devotion should inspire interest and
dent thereof, and the practice of limiting their tenure clai m "protection.
of office to a period of five years." Mr. SEELY
pointed out that the successive Boards of Admiralty
had been perfectly aware of the mismanagemeßt
prevailing, for they have been constantly appointing
commissions and committees ever since 1796. They
would not, however, adopt the true remedy of put-
ting a practical man of business at the head of their
works, and perhaps this shows that the fervour
of their reforming spirit is not very great. Mr.
SEELY, in the long list of figures which he
quoted last evening, gave ample evidence of the
extravagance going on in our dockyards—a fact
with which the taxpayers of this country are already
painfully familiar. Quoting from. the last return
on Dockyards and Steam Factories, he showed that
at Chatham boats were fitted out at half the rate
book price, while at Portsmouth they cost double
the rate book price, or four times as much as at
Chatham. But his revelations of the cost of the
Lead Mills were more extraordinary, of which the
following is a sample :—The labour in making
11,730 cwt. of melted load, Admiralty cost 2s. 6d.
per cwt., was equal to £1,466 ; ditto, in the market,
would be 3d. per cwt., equal to £146 ; 3,322 cwt.
pipe lead, Admiralty cost 4s. 10d. per cwt., equal
to £BO2 ; ditto, in the market, 3d. per cwt., equal
to £42, difference £760. So that the loss to the
Admiralty, and the consequent waste of the public
money on these heads alone during 1861-2, was no
less than £2,080. The other items are, for the most
part, on the same scale, and when this goes on in
all the Royal Dockyards we need not wonder at the
ever-growing estimates. The prices paid for the
articles bought correspond to the outlay at the mills.
The Admiralty are now paying for anchors of a
certain weight 60s. per cwt., while the average
price of four makers is 335. 4d. Mr. SEELY
made a calculation by which he showed the
House that 25,400 cwt. of anchors cost
the Admiralty £60,330, while the same
size anchors, bought in open market, would cost
£36,458. If we are to go on spending £20,000 too
much in every £60,000, there is not much hope of a
reduction in the estimates ; but when we come to
the repairs and alterations, matters are even worse.
The case of the Wasp, built in 1850, which has
since cost in repairs over £46,000, and might be
bought now for £40,000, is a fair sample.
It is very clear that vigorous reform is needed;
and when Mr. SEELY estimated the annual waste at
the Admiralty to be nearly a million of money, he
was probably not far from the truth. Yet
we go on, year after year, complaining and remon-
strating, but doing nothing towards amendment.
Even after Mr. SEELY'S industrious exposition,
Lord CLARENCE PAGET'S unsatisfactory answer,
and Mr. BRIGHT'S vigorous and sensible address, the
House consented to negative the motion. As Mr.
BRIGHT very justly pointed out, nothing could
be more reasonable than the motion, which did not
stipulate that civilians must necessarily be at the
head of the dockyards, but merely that when a
naval officer was appointed he should be fully com-
petent to discharge the public duties which he un-
dertook. If the House, observed the hon. member
for Birmingham, rejected this motion it would be
tantamount to declaring that it was right to
appoint a naval officer, who knew nothing of
the business which he undertook. Mr. BRIGHT
recommended the Government to accept the resolu-
tion, and certainly, considering Lord C. PAGET'S
reforming antecedents, it would have been more
consistent to have done so. It was easy, however,
to escape on general grounds, and to talk about the,
importance of getting good articles rather than
cheap ones—only the unfortunate thing is that there
is no proof that the articles purchased or produced
by the Admiralty are any better than the cheaper
ones elsewhere. The matter now rests with the
electors, who, we hope, will obtain from their repre-
sentatives some definite pledge of bestirring them-
selves to effect some substantial reform.

'The Upper House of the Diet in Prnmia are now
car ryi ng on the game with vigour, and seem re-
solved to show that they can exhibit as much de-
termis iation on their side as the Chamber of Depu-
ties h. ave done. In yesterday's sitting all the
proposals of the committee on the Budget were
agreed to by a large majority. Before this decision
was arrived at the Minister of Finance addressed
the House, and declared that the Cabinet believed
that the question of the Budget was of very great
importance. They do not go on as if they thought
so, it must be confessed, but, of course, it is a very
convenient excuse to say so in order to gain their
point. In consequence of this notion the intention
of the Government is to fix a nominal sum for the
public expenditure, it being deemed impossible to
accept the Budget voted by the Chamber of Depu-
ties. This new affair is to be considered the State
Budget in the absence of the one voted by the
Chamber. The estimates of the expenditure will be
regulated by an understanding between the Minis-
ters, and submitted for the KING'S sanction, and
published after the end of the session, but not as a
law. This intelligence was partly anticipated yes-
terday by the receipt of the manner in which the
Upper House took up the question of the Budget,
but not less must it strike every one as the most un-
popular and impolitic course which the higher
branch of the Legislature can pursue. It is flying
in the face of the representatives of the people, and
proclaiming in an unmistakeable manner that they
are sworn enemies to the path of progress, and
intend henceforward to oppose it might and main.
This King's Budget is a signification of the style in
which Herr BISMARCK and his coadjutors intend to
carry on affairs now that they think they are esta-
blished in their places. They may, however, reckon
without their host, and had better remember that
pride goes before a fall. The Prussian people are
slow and lethargic—they want the spirit of the
French, and they lack the fire of the Italians—but
when their patience is exhausted they will prove
dangerous customers to deal with. It is a very
dangerous and desperate game which Herr Ms-
maßeK is playing, thus to trifle with the rights of
the Constitution and to fling away the liberties of
the people in so reckless a style and inconsiderate a
fashion. The day of reckoning will surely come,
and none will pity him and his colleagues the dis-
grace and obloquy which will fall upon them. It
is quite unnecessary to resort to the extreme mea-
sures they have now decided upon, and it is only
surprising that they do not see the absurd figure
they make before the world in thus exhibiting the
want of unanimity that exists in Prussia concerning
the Danish war. The wrong and unseemly style
which characterised the conduct of their undertaking
has already brought most unpleasant consequences
to its authors and projectors. They are now trying
by bold and unscrupulous acts to carry to the end
their unwarrantable scheme of last year ; and
though the final issue of the affair is veiled in the
mists of futurity, we may safely predict a most un-
satisfactory and discreditable end.

PARLIAMENTARY DIVISION.

HOUSE OF COMMONS-JUNE 16.
THE BALLOT.

On the motion for going into committee of supply,
amendment proposed, to add after the word " That" in the
original question the words "as a general election is
impending, and as we have no law which can put down
the intimidation of voters nor prevent bribery, it is there-
fore expedient that a trial should be given to the vote by
ballot." Question put, " That these words be there added."
The house divided—Ayes, 74 Noes, 118.

LATEST INTELLIGENCE.

(REUTER'S TELEGRAMS.)

AUSTRIA.

VIENNA, JUNE 17.

In yesterday's sitting of the Lower House of the
Reichsrath, Herr von Schmerling gave some re-
assuring explanations relative to Art. 13 of the
Constitution, which empowers the Ministry, at the
time the Reichsrath may not be sitting, to take
certain urgent measures, for which they are, how-
ever, bound to render an account to the House
upon its reassembling. The Government, said the
Minister, will pursue the same course as hitherto,
by not abusing the power conferred by this article
for legislative purposes. The guarantee for this lies
in the repeated promises of the Emperor to uphold
the Constitution. Neither does the Government
contemplate impairing, on the ground of this
article, the legislative powers of Hungary and
Transylvania.

The Lower House of the Reichsrath agreed to-
day, by a very large majority, to the proposals for
the modification of Article 13 of the Constitution,
in such a manner as to secure Parliamentary rights
during the recess.

MEXICO.
NEW YORK, JUNE 6.

Mexican advices received here state that the
intelligence of Dr. Gwin having been appointed
director of the mines in Sonora is authentic.
American emigrants will be invited to that pro-
vince, upon the understanding that those coming
with peaceful intentions will be protected, and those
presenting themselves in arms will meet a hostile
reception. The Emperor Maximilian is understood
to have granted France the right of working, but
not of possession. It is reported that the French
will not leave Mexico until the development of the
riches of Sonora will pay the expenses they have
incurred in the war. The constitution given to the
province will be of the most liberal kind, and based
upon that of California.