The Sun.
London, England, 1840-02-07 00:00:00

got help thinking that advice might be given in a tone
less tinctured with party spirit, and more characterised
by real and impart►al patriotism than that which had
prevailed during this debate.

- The. Earl of WICKE begged to say a word
in explanation. What he had stated was, that officers,
when called upon to act, ought to have an affection
towards the Government, but that he did not think the
way in which the patronage had been bestowed of late
in the navy was likely to create that affection.
The Duke of WELLINGTON must say a few
words on this subject. The Noble Earl at the head of
the Admiralty had stated, very fairly, that the proper
time for adverting to this subject, in order to ascertain
whether the fleet was equal to perform the service
required of it, was after the papers should be
laid on the table of the House,—(Hear, bear.) That
was not the only question which came before their Lord-
ships on a discussion of this description. They must
look a little at the state of the service for the last three 1
or four years, and that would be an acswer in a great
degree, not only to what had been stated by the Noble
Lord at the,becid of the Admiralty, but likewise an, an-
swer to the Noble. Viscount, who thought proper to dravi
their Lordships' attention to the state of Europe' and
the world, in the years 1827, 1828, 1829, and 1830.
He (the Duke of Wellington) had alwayi understood
that in the year 1830 the navy was fully equal to the
performance of all the services required of it.—(Hear,
hear.) He had never heard that the navy was smaller
or less efficient than it ought to be at that time. Indeed,
so efficient was it, that he believed the Noble Words
opposite, when they succeeded to office, in 1830, made
a very large reduction in it (Hear, hear) and
therefore the Noble Viscount's speech, begging
his pardon, did appear to him to be one of the most
ridiculous speeches he had ever heard in that House.
In 1828 and 1829 the fleets of the principal maritime
powers were in co-operation together in the Mediterra-
nean, and, he was :not aware that there was any notion
of going to war, or that the navy was not sufficient`to'
perform all its duties. In December, 1837, the Noble
Lord came down with a message from her Majesty, in-
forming Parliament that a revolt in an important part:
of her Majesty's dominions in North America had
taken place. He (the Duke of Wellington) at the
very moment took the liberty of giving a little bit of
advice to the Noble Viscount opposite, he had desired
and entreated him not to consider that in ' which
he was engaged as a little war, but recom-
mended him to form his fleets and armies
upon such a scale as that he could carry on the war
in a manner worthy of a great country, while, at the
same time, he would be enabled to perform the peace
service of the empire so as to give protection to the
commerce of her Majesty's subjects, prevent insults to
her Majesty's flag, preserve her Majesty's subjects from
.the consequences of illegal. and improperly-esta-
blished blockades, and at the same time be enabled to
perform all those services which the Government of
1827, 1828, 1829, and 1830, had performed during a
period, as the Noble Lord had said, this country was
threatened with war, without either complaint or re-
proach, or misfortune, or disaster, or distress. First of
all, he (the Duke of Wellington) contended that the
service was neglected ; and next, that at this moment,
that was to say, more than three years after the period
at which that revolt was mentioned to the House, the
Noble Lord was not nearer to a settlement, as far as
his military means were concerned, than he was three
months after it commenced. The cause of that was,
the neglect of Noble Lords opposite to provide suffi-
cient means, first, to settle that affair, as this great
country ought to have it settled ; and, next, to call on
Parliament to provide the means to en-
able them to perform the peace services
of the country as it was their duty to do. That was
proved by their being obliged to call ships from the
Gulf of Mexico and other stations. He admitted there.
was a necessity for attending to Buenos Ayres and
other parts of the world, but at the same time there
ought to have been large fleets and large armies upon
the coast of America, in order not only by military force
to put down any rebellion existing within her Majesty's
dominions, but likewise to give that political and moral
support to her Majesty's officers within her colonies, so as
to prevent any interference of any description
whatever. If a military and naval force had been
kept up, as it ought to have been, we should not have
had impending over the country, in 1840, that same
contest which had been impending over it three years
ago at the commencement of this affair. But was that
all? At the same time that they went to war in North
America they were at war in Asia, and more particu-
larly were they carrying en a maritime war in that
quarter of the world. They were at war in the Per-
sian Gulf ; nay the Admiral himself was in the Persian
Gnlf with the greatest part of the squadron ; and he
believed that the Admiral was in the Persian Gulf car-
rying on operations at the very moment that those af-
fairs were under discussion in China, which had led to
our recent disasters there in 1839. At that time the
Admiral, instead of having been, as he ought to
have been, in the Canton River, was at that time
engaged in the Persian Gulf, and they bad now
got under their consideration accounts of trans-
actions in the Canton river up to September, Oc-
tober, or November, seven months after the period at
which this contest had occurred. These mattere were
known in this country in July or August. There was
but one frigate there—she was totally unable to do any
thing ; since that arrival another disgrace had occurred.
A blockade had been proclaimed, and that blockade
had been obliged to be raised, and that the Noble
Lord called providing for the exigencies of the peace
service.—( Hear, hear.) This must have been known
;o the Noble Lord as likely to occur before the month
of March last. The Superintendent must have known
that he had this opium question hanging over him, and
that it must sooner or later come to a crisis, and that
he would stand in need of naval protection. He must
have given notice of this to the authorities in India, and
among others to the Admiral on the station, and if the
Admiral had had that notice, he must have gone to
' the Canton river if he had not been detained
by the military operations carrying on in the Per-
sian Gulf. The Noble Lord at the head of
the Admiralty must have known that a fleet could not
go in a few days from the Persian Gulf to the Canton
river.—(Hear, hear, from Lord Melbourne.) The
Noble Lord ought to have provided a fleet for the pur-
pose of carrying on the war in Asia, and besides that to
have provided the means for performing the peace ser-
vice. Her Majesty's subjects in other parts of India
required protection, but they had not the means of
affording it to them. They could not call the fleet
from the Persian Gulf, and therefore they had suffered
this disgrace—therefore they had suffered the loss al-
luded to by his Noble Friend, and they would suffer
still further disasters, losses, and disgraces in the
Canton river.—(Cries of " Hear, hear.") This was
a consequence of the system of a great nation carrying
on a little war—that was, of supposing any war they got
into could be a little war. A great nation had great
concerns pending in every part of the inhabited globe.
k had subjects requiring protection everywhere, and
they forgot that while they went to war on the
coast of Asia, or in North America, questions
would arise everywhere, and that they could
not properly carry on the peace services in all those
quarters in which protection might be requisite.—
(Cheers.) Now he supposed they would call that fac-
tious.—(Cheers.) But after having said that three
years ago he had not manifested any intention to
withhold his assistance from the Government in any
way in which it could be useful, whether by vote or by
advice, or by personal exertion ; he had been always
ready in any way to give them any assistance—(Cheers)
—and therefore ha would not allow himself to be called
factious.—(Cheers.) He had never said anything in
that view.—(Cheers.) He had said all he had said in
order to be of use in any way he could, and he had
only spoken of it now because the Noble Lord had
thought fit, for the purpose of taunting his Noble
Friend, to allude to the state of the navy in 1828,
1829, and 1830. Why there was no more comparison
to be instituted between those points of time that there
was between the present time and 1740, and the Noble
Lord might just as well have instituted a comparison
between the two last as between the two first. He
thought his Noble Friend had been entirely misunder-
stood and misrepresented in what he had stated respect-
ing the feelings of officers in the navy—(Hear, hear,
from the Earl of Hardwicke)—and certainly his expla-
nation had set their Lordships right on that subject.
What he had said was this, that in consequence of the
small number of vessels employed, and the consequent
' small number of men employed in them, there
were not the means for the instruction of officers of
high rank and station in the practice of the service,
and :not having this opportunity of practice and of
seeing the inanceuvres of fleets in large bodies, they
had not the experience that the officers of other ser-
vices had ; and that this deficiency was calculated to
create a want of confidence in themselves. But what
he had understood was, that in foreign services there
was a greater proportion of officers always in the prac-
tice of their profession ; but he had by no means un-
derstood his Noble Friend to state that the naval offi-
cers of this country were either wanting in confidence
in themselves, or wanting in confidence in those over
whom they were placed. On the contrary, he had
known a great many gentlemen in that profession, and
he had always had the highest respect for, and the ful-
. lest confidence in them ; and he had always endea-
-1 voured to emulate them in the service in which he had
himself been employed, and in nothing had he ever wished
to emulate them to a greater degree than in having not
! ally confidence in himself and the officers of rank with
whom he was co-operating, but in all those who were
I under his command. It' would be impossible for him
to enter into all the details adverted to by the Noble
Lord, but he must say, that having sat on that Com-
mission, the Noble Lord at the head of the Admiralty
had stated he must do that Noble Lord and the offi-
cers of the navy the justice to say that it was impos-
-1 sible for men to have taken more pains than they had
done to adopt every suggestion that had been made
in the improvement of the service in every way, so as
to render it more advantageous and desirable to old
officers to continue in the service,so as to give it the ad van-
tage of their experience, but to induce others to enter it
so as to secure to the public every advantage that could