The Sun.
London, England, 1853-04-20 00:00:00

THE LATE BOARD OF ADMIRALTY.

Sir BENJAMIN HALL then rose to call the atten-
tion of the house to the contents of three Parliamentary
Papers, Nos. 67, 271, and 272, of the present session,
intituled Dockyards, Dockyard Appointments, and
Dockyard Promotions, and to move that a select com-
mittee be appointed, to inquire into the circumstances
under which a " ciroul;:r sent to the superintendent of
her Majesty's Dockyards, dated September 26th, 1849,"
was cancelled on the 19th day of April 1852, without
any order or minute the Board : also to inquire into
the circumstances under which a letter addressed by Sir B.
Walker to Mr. Stafford, as Secretary to the Admiralty,
in which letter Sir B. Walker tendered his resignation
as Surveyor of the Navy, was withheld from the board.
Also, into the circumstances connected with the appoint-
ment of Mr. James Wells as master smith in the dock-
yard at Portsmouth, the subsequent cancelling thereof,
and the appointment of Mr. George Cotsell in his stead :
And generally into the exercise of the influence and
patronage of the Admiralty in the Dockyards and Go-
vernment departments connected with the several Par-

liamentary boroughs, since the 19th day of April, 1852,
at which date a circular was issued from the Admiralty,
signed by the secretary, cancelling their lordships' order
of the 26th September,lB49,which directs that "all reports
and correspondence on the subject of vacancies, promotions,
or changes of the officers and workmen of the dockyard,
shall be forwarded through the Surveyor's department ;"
and ordering that " in future such reports and correspon-
dence be transmitted direct to the Secretary of the Ad-
miralty." It was important that the patronage of public
departments should be distributed with impartiality, and
inasmuch as there was reason to suppose that this rule
was departed from by the late Board of Admiralty, he
felt it to be his duty to bring the matter under the at-
tention of the house. It was hardly necessary for hint
to remind the house of the circumstances under which Lord
Derby took office. That noble lord promised to dissolve
the Parliament at the end of the then session, and he
was bound to say the noble lord studiously fulfilled his
promise. Parliament was dissolved, and the question
which the electors were to decide was not whether free
trade should be continued, for that had long previously
been settled, but whether the noble lord and his
Government should be allowed to continue in
office and conduct the affairs of the country upon
conservative principles. Upon the result of that elec-
tion, then, was to depend the fate of the Government,
and it had come out in evidence before an election com-
mittee that the patronage of the Admiralty was used by
the late Board for the purpose of influencing the
result of the election. Now, in 1847, a circular was
issued by the Admiralty, stating that promotions in the
dockyards in future would be regulated by merit only ;
but for the purpose of serving the turn of the late
Government at the election for Chatham the Board of
Admiralty of the day set this circular aside, in order to
promote parties in the Dockyard who were not entitled
to such promotion by merit, but who found favour in
the eyes of the Board of Admiralty, because they were
in possession of the, elective franchise. In 1849 a second
circular was issued by the Board of Admiralty, making
the Surveyor of the Navy responsible for promotions,
and the filling up of vacancies, and the result of that
course was a saving to the country of no less than
Sir
Frederick 190,0001. No less than four promotions had taken
of
kcnpll
in consequence. The great orator andta.d
t Sheerness,
ee r
waseq
s Frederick Smith was sent to Portsmtoiuhes,a candidate,
hav-
ing voted plumpers for the Conservative
sent from Woolwich to Chatham. Forbes,
who had friends at Chatham, and they having memorial.
ised in favour of him, was sent from Sheerness to Wool-
wich ; and Thomas Bailey was sent from Woolwich to
Sheerness, vice Forbes, Bailey having been an active
committee man of the Conservative candidate for Wool-
wich, and his brother having plumped for that gentle-
man at the last election. He was, therefore, right in
had been
conclude
ed politi-
calbfyor
s aipurposes.
this
(up aetarrorg He
e
inquir-
ing how the influence of the Admiralty had been exer-
cised in the dockyards ? A system had been pursued by
the hon. gentleman—and a very effective one, standing
at the gate of the yard where the men delivered their
time-tickets, along with the Conservative candidate, in
order that all the men might know who were the parties
that were associated with the hon. gentleman. (Hear,
hear.) That took place at Deptford. Every one was
aware of the visit which was made in June, 1852,
to the dockyards in Devonport and Plymouth by
the honourable gentleman in the Black Eagle. On
Wednealay, the 22d of Ji'n!, the honourable gent7enan
walked round the dockyard at Devonport with the two
Conservative candidates. He stood at. the Muster-
office, so that every man must pass by him, and see with
whom he was connected. There was a dinner given in
the town : the two Conservative candidates were there ;
the chairman of their committee, their solicitors, and
election ageeti were there. It was, in fact, an election
dinner given by. the hon. gentleman : it assumed that
character. (Hear, hear.) If it was necessary for the
hon. gentleman to make this visit and supervision of the
dockyards' he ought to have gone there as a public ser-
vant, and kept himself front all political electioneering
alliances. (Hear, hear.) He would feel it to be hits
duty to inquire whether the expenses of this dinner to
the Conservative candidates and their agents had been
entered in the Admiralty contingencies and accounts,
because if they were to be found in the public ac-
counts, it was using and prostituting the public
did
not for political and party purposes.
(Hear, hear.)
uNootwotianndat hei -offi
Portsmouthtltwttherehocti sand did notio;urahl.igent havenleia n
the