The Sun.
London, England, 1854-07-27 00:00:00

THE FLEET AT CRONSTAD±.

The following is a more detailed report of the speech
deliVered by Admiral Berkeley, on Tuesday 'night, in
the House of Commons than appeared in our impres-
sion of yesterday :
Admiral BERKELEY said, he should not have troubled
the house with many words had it not been that the hon.
member for Aylesbury had thought proper, in endeavouring
to ,how his antipathy towards the head of the Government,
to lay about him right and left upon every party belonging
to it He was glad to see the noble lord the member for
Marylebone return to his place. Both the noble lord and
the hon. gentleman had attacked the navy, not sparing that
department to which he (Admiral Berkeley) had the nour
to belong. He would not indulge in insinuations, nor
would he state facts which he could not vouch for. Ho
would not follow the course of the hon. member for
Aylesbur c, who stated things as facts, and, when they were
contradicted was only the more determined in reiterating
them. The hon. gentleman had complained of the Admi-
ralty having conferred a decoration on the gallant officer
who had served at Odessa. He begged leave to tell the
hon. gentleman that the decoration was not conferred

upon that gallant officer for his conduct before Odessa, but
that the late First Lord of the Admiralty had made up his
mind to confer that honour upon him for the services he
had performed at Lagos, and surely there could be no ob-
jection to Odessa being added to Lagos as a ground for that
distinction. The hon. member for Aylesbury had stated
that various sums of money had been paid for demurrage,
owing to the delays of the Admiralty; he stated that
between 20.000/. and 30,0001. had been paid in conse-
quence of those delays. He begged again to tell the
honourable gentleman that no demurrage what,oever
had been paid. It was true that transports which had
taken the troops to Constantinople had been detained
there in order to convey those troops to Yarns ; and
he would ask the honourable gentleman, whether he
would have sent those transports about their business, or
would have retained them till the army no longer required
their services ? The hon. gentleman was also very unfor-
tunate in his remarks respecting the Himalaya. That vessel,
having performed its duty to the Government, returned to
Malta, when it so happened the); the party who had char- '
tered her wished her to go to Alexandria, she not being
wanted by the Government at that time to rettun with
troops to Constantinople. She went to Alexandria, and
then returned to perform those duties for which she had
been engaged. The noble lord the member for Marylebone
said, last night, that although the army as a demonstration
was very good, it was not fit for action, and that the same
observation applied to the navy. Now, he ventured to
tell the noble lord, in the face of the house and the coun-
try, that we never had finer fleets, or admirals more firmly
resolved to carry on the war in the manner which the
country expected it to be conducted.
Lord D. STUART assured the gallant officer he had
mistaken his observations ; he had never said that the
British fleet was not fit for action. What he said was,
that it had not the vessels necessary to conduct operations
in shallow water.

Admiral BERKELEY.—Since the noble lord disclaimed
the language, he would not further advert to it. The noble
lord, however, proceeded to say that
" There was a great deficiency of vessels of shallow
draught of water and of mortars. He was assured that
Cronstadt was accessible on the south side to vessels of
very consider able size, and, that if 20 vessels with mor-
tars were sent there, the place might be successfully bom-
barded, and the Russian fleets and arsenals might have
been laid in ruins before this, had the gallant officer in
command of the fleet been supplied with requisite means
by the Government, and not received orders to hold his
hands.

The noble lord likewise said, "Ho believed it would be
possible to procure steamers of 200 tons, drawing only
three feet of water, which would carry one or two heavy
guns." Now the country would be extremely obliged to
the noble lord if he would teach the Surveyor of the Navy
how to build steam-boats drawing only three feet of water,
which would be able to carry two very heavy guns besides
engine boilers, coals, and stores. (" Hear," and laughter.)
Thn as to the statement that Cronstadt might be suc-
cessfully bombarded by twenty vessels, he begged'to read
to the house an extract from a letter written by the gallant
admiral in command of the Baltic fleet. He had served
with the gallant admiral; he knew his determination, and
he was sure that he would leave nothing undone on his
part to enable him to get at the enemy. (Hear, hear.)
Before the noble lord again talked of knocking down
Cronstadt, let him ponder on the passage he (Admiral
Berkeley) was about to read. Admiral Napier said :
"It has not been in my power to do anyth,ug with this
powerful fleet ; for attacking either Cronstadt or Sweaborg
would have been certain destruction."

This was not all ; Admiral Chads—than whom no man
possessed a greater amount of scientific knowledge—wrote
also in these terms,—
"After two days' inspection from the lighthouse, and
full views of the forts and ships, the former are too sub-
stantial for the fire of ships to make any impression. They
are large masses of granite. With respect to an attack on
the ships where they 'ire, it is not to be entertained."
It was said that the Government was not in earnest in the
prosecution of the war, and that Sir Charles Napier had
not been supplied with everything he wanted. Upon this
point he must trouble the house with another extract
from a report written by Admiral Seymour, who was Cap
taro of the Fleet, and whose duty it was to see that the
fleet was provided with everything necessary for the ope-
rations of war and the comfort of the seamen. Admiral
Seymour wrote :

Wo have never been any time in want of anything,
thanks to the provident measures adopted by the Ad-
miralty."

(Hear, hear.) The passages which he had. read proved
how unfounded the statements were which hnd been made
on the subject, and yet those statements, unless they re-
ceived a positiVe contradiction, such as that he had been
able to give, made an impression on th 3 country. (Hear.)
The Secretary-at-War had completely rebutted the erro-
neous statements put forth respecting the army, and he
trusted that he had done the 50.0. e service for the navy.
Only one observation further he felt it necessary to make
respecting the noble lord's insinuation, that Sir C. Napier
bad received instructions from the Government " to hold
his hands." In the strongest language which man can use
(continued the gallant Admiral) I declare—and as it is
part of my duty to draw up orders for the admirals, I can
speak with authority on this point—that there never was
a British officer who had more completely a carte blanche
to undertake what he pleased. So far from his hands being
tied up by the Government, they have afforded him every
encouragement to proceed. (Cheers.)

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