The Sun.
London, England, 1854-05-06 00:00:00

certainly he had used his influence with tke Porte to miti-
gate the severity of the proceedings that had or were to be
taken against the resident Greeks of Turkey.
Mr. BRIGHT reminded the noble lord that, shortly be-
fore the recess, he promised to lay on the table the papers
relating to the Greek insurrection. Could the noble lord
say when these papers might be expected?
Lord J. RUSSELL said the papers were about ready,
and they would be shortly forthcoming.
COURSE OF PUBLIC BUSINESS.
Lord J. RUSSELL moved that the standing order re•
lative to the days on which the committees of supply and
ways and means shall be fixed be repealed; and, also, that
the committees of supply and ways and means shall be
fixed for Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and for any
other day on which orders of the day shall have precedence
of notices of motions ; that the said resolution be a stand-
ing order of this house.
Mr. DISRAELI objected to this course as inconsistent
with the public business.
Mr. HUME hoped the proposition of the noble lord
should be understood to apply only to the present session.
After a few words from Sir G. GREY,
The motion was agreed to.
Lord J. RUSSELL gave notice, that on Monday he
would move that Government orders of the day should take
precedence of other orders on Thursday.

ADDITIONAL NAVY ESTIMATES.
The house went into a committee of supply upon the
navy estimates.
Sir J. GRAHAM said that it was now his duty to pro-
pose to the committee a considerable increase in the naval
estimates already voted. They would remember that when
he proposed the adoption of the former naval estimates the
declaration of war had not taken place. Still, the state of
public affairs at that moment was such that her Majesty's
Government thought it expedient to propose a very consi-
derable augmentation in the number of seamen, and also a
large addition to our naval forces. Circumstances were
now materially changed, for war had actually been de-
clared. He thought that, for the purposes of this discus
sion, he might make three assumptions which would not
be considered by the house as either gratuitous or violent.
Ho should assume in the first place that the war in which
we are now engaged is a necessary war ; in the second.
place, that war having been declared it is expedient to con-
duct it with vigour and energy in the hope of bringing it
to a speedy and honourable conclusion ; and, lastly, that
the servants of the Crown, in whomsoever it might be that
that house should place confidence, should as the executive
be intrusted with the administration of the means voted by'
t
andedmre.esHtaevintghe house,thusshortlye psrhefeaulcedd
proceed ,a-hat he
awtaesnaebeouvrtittg
the details of the estimates.h The first vote which he
increase of
fworagetsheof
proposed to take was an addition of 461,7001. on ac-
countof Weuhrennhaveallasftermczlehae pro-
positioniib.
mit 'ed to the committee the policy of adding 10,000
men to the entire number of seamen afloat. He did
not then anticipate that it would be possible to raise
the entire increase proposed within the first six months,
and he therefore laid before the house an estimate for an
increase of 5,030 men for the whole period of twelve
months, and for a further number of 5,000 men for the
last six months of that time. Since war was declared—
or rather since, in the opinion of the Government, war
seemed to be quite inevitable—increased exertions had
been made to levy the whole additional number of men
sanctioned by Parliament within the shortest possible
time ; and he had now the satis:aetion of stating to the
committee that at the present time—that was within a
month from the commencement of the financial year—the
Government had been able to add 11,030 men to the navy.
They had done this partly by acting upon a statute which
gave the Executive Government power, when the services
of the State required, to call upon the coast guard for a
reserve of men to serve afloat. Of the additional 11,000
men, 2,500 bad been drawn from the coast guard ; while
8,500 had been raised by voluntary enlistment since the
Ist March. He should, perhaps, in justice to his gallant
friend the member for Gloucester (Admiral Berkeley),
state that this success was in a great measure attributable
to his efforts. The exertions of Capt. Henderson, the com-
mander of the coast guard, had been above all praise ; nor
should he forget to mention that the services of a young
officer, Commander Phillimore, who had visited every
port in the kingdom, had also largely contributed to the
favourable result he had announced. Something had been
said with respect to the capability of the coast-guard to
perform active service afloat. Now on that point he had
the satisfaction of holding in his hand a letter from
his friend Commodore Seymour to Admiral Napier,
in which the former, speaking of the Baltic fleet, said :
" My visits of inspection enable me to form an opinion of
the qualities of the ships' complements. The masked
superiority of the coastguard men, where they are in any
numbers, over other portions of the ship's company a
striking. They fill many of the highest of the petty
officers' ratings, which without them it would be difficult
to find properly qualified officers to fill. Taking them as
a body, notwithstanding that some are verging beyond the
prime of life, and that their vocation on the coast has
robbed them of some of that quickness that should belong
to men-of-war's men, they retain qualifications indispen-
sable to the efficiency of the fleet, and they are well-con-
ducted." (Hear, hear.) This was a most satisfactory
statement, fulfilled the anticipations which he had formed,
that the coastguard would in time of war be found a most
efficient reserve for the navy. The first item of 110,0001.
in the vote No. 1, was then accounted for in the way he
had described, in order to meet the expense for twelve
months of the 5,000 seamen whose wages had in the last
estimates been taken for only six months. The next item
of 51,7001. was in order to meet the extra pay given to the
2,500 coastguard men now employed in the fleet. There
remained an item of 220,0001. for men, which was con-
nected with the question that it was most important for
the committee to decide. He had now to propose that,
in addition to the 100,000 sailors and 3,000 marines voted.
in March last, the fleet should be further increased by
5,000 men. At this moment indeed the fleet was somewhat
in excess of the entire number of seamen voted by the house,
because the Government had been able to raise 11,000 in-
stead of 10,000 men. We had indeed now a large fleet of
nineteen sail-of-the-line in or on its way to the Baltic,
and we had also ten sail-of-the-line in the Black Sea. In
no quarter of the world had the forces of the British navy
been diminished to make this effort; but on the contrary
an augmentation had taken place at some of the most dis-
tant stations. Still he thought it was not consistent with
the honour and with the independent position of this great
country that we should have so large a force exposed to the
dangers of war, and to every kind of vicissitude on distant
stations all over the world, without having also something
like a reserve at home. He did not think the committee
would be of opinion that an additional force of 4,000 men
to complete the home reserve was an extravagant thing to
ask for. (Cheers.) If the committee concurred in the
opinion of tbe Government on this point, then, at the pre-
sent rate of wages, 220,0001. would be required to pay that
additional force. There remained, in connection with this
vote, to give some explanation of the course they proposed
to pursue with regard to the officers and men who served.
with Sir J. Franklin in the Arctic expedition. He had
already stated that, considering no account of the officers
and men serving in that expedition had been received for
eight years, he thought the time was come when the
payment of a double amount of pay to their relatives
should cease. If, however, happily these gallant sea-
men should still be alive, the course now taken would
be no bar to their claim when they arrived at home.
Supposing them, however, to be lost, he thought the
I public had acted most generously to their surviving
relatives in giving them double pay for eight years.
He, therefore, proposed to close that account on the let
April last, and for this purpose to take a vote for 80,0001.
The next vote was one necessarily contingent upon the pre-
ceding, for it related to the provision of victuals for the
additional seamen and marines. The first item of 50,0001.
related to the 5,000 men whose expenses had only been
voted for six months, but had been actually incurred for
twelve months. The last item of 100,00e1. was for the
5,000 additional men he was now asking the committee to
vote. The intermediate sum of 50,0001. required some ex-
planation. The vote in March List was taken upon the
presumption that the cost of the principal articles of pro•
visions would continue the same that it was then. Expe-
rience had, however, shown that this was not the case.
He would take, as an illustration of the rise of price which
had taken place, the single article of wheat. The natural
price of wheat in the Mediterranean was, generally speak-
i
ing, considerably lower than in England; but the Russian
'bited the exportation of grain
Government having prole.
from the north coast Atha Black Sea, and the Neapolitan
Government having taken a similar step with regard both
to the ports of Naples and of Sicily,—the natural granary
of the Mediterranean—the price of wheat and flour had
risen considerably. And indeed, generally speaking,
the extra demand for the prime necessaries of life
consequent upon war had caused them to be rapidly
rising in price ; and as he was most anxious tbat, as
far as foresight could secure this result, these estimates
should cover the entire cost of our naval forces for
the ensuing year, he thought it was most prudent to take
a vote of 50,000/. to cover the rise in price which had
taken place. The next vote was only a small one ; it was
for 5,000/. to provide for the additional expenses of the
establishment at Whitehall and Somerset-house. The in.
creased duty thrown upon the clerks at both these esta-
blishments since the declaration of war had been so over-
powering, that their attendance at the office had frequently
been prolonged till nine o'clock at night. Of course it was
utterly impossible that the clerks could be permanently
worked in this manner ; and it was absolutely necessary
to make some addition to their number. The next vote
was one for 2,0001. to provide for the additional cost of her
Majesty's establishments at home. This
was required by
the
necessity
of making additional provision at Hasler
crease_l
Hospital, and also by the in
expense
of some of the
victualling establishments, where, on account of the trans-
port service, very onerous duties had been suddenly cast
upon the employes. The next item was for a sum of
47,0001., for wages to artificers, &c., employed in the dock.
yards. The Government had not thought it expedient
while we wore yet on the threshold of war to add to our
existing establishments for shipbuilding, and the general
operations of the dockyard would continue much the same
as before. Still, from the rise in the price of provisions, it
was found that the rate of wages in the dockyards was no*
inadequate as compared with the price of labour elsewhere.
He had thought it more expedient to relax the fetters
placed upon the earnings of the men employed, than to
make an addition to their waves. They would now be Raid
in proportion to the work they did, and not by day. The
consequence was, that their earnings would be consider-
ably increased, and to cover this he proposed to take as
additional vote of 50,000. The next item, which was a
small one, related to Malta, the establishment at which
place had been somewhat increased, in consequence of The
large number of steamers which now repaired ther andTh
next vote was one for naval stores for the building
1. re-
pair of ships. The first item here was one of 160,tee for
the purchase of fuel and coal for her Majess s
the mp.
sail of ling
When the house remembered that, of the 19
in the Baltic, 13 bad the great advantage of ascrew_ants pro.
peller ; and out of the whole number 00
of 50 orpendants
now .'
now in that sea, a large proportion acre
a quantitere moved by
s of
steam, they would readily imagine hou quantity
of
coal was required, and how expensive the supply of such p
force must necessarily *be. When they added to that that
we were obliged to send a supply to the most distant sta-
tions, even to China and the Cape, where steamers were
employed, they would see that the expense under this head
must be very great- Still he was convinced that, when
they regarded the efficiency of the public service, it was
true economy to expend this large sans of money upon coal;
for not only did the employment of steam power enable a
given service to be performed by a numerically smaller
force, but it secured its performance in a better manner.
The next item was one of 252,6714. for the purchase and
repair of steam machinery. This expenditure was ran.
dered necessary by the efforts which the Admiralty were
now making to apply that power, which experience had
proved indispensable, to all the ships of the now con'
struction, as they were launched. The house ap-
peared, too, to be of opinion that it was expedient to
have a reserved force at home, and the Government
had come to the conclusion that all the vessels of that
fleet should he furnished with steam power. Mei