The Sun.
London, England, 1856-02-08 00:00:00

his opinion at the time to the right hon. baronet the First
Lord of the Admiralty (Sir J. Graham), and his was, " If
you refuse the service, I will get somebody else." With the
natural feeling of a British Admiral, he did not decline ac-
tive service ; but never did a fleet go to sea in such a state
as the Baltic fleet of 1854. In those stormy seas, it was not
equal to meet au active enemy. It might be said that
he ought not tell this to the house and the country ; but he
felt the danger to the honour of the country was so great
that it was necessary it should be known to be guarded
against it in future. He managed to scramble into the North
Sea and the Categat, and it blew a heavy gale of wind ; and,
would the house believe it, such was'tho state of the fleet
that half of the ships could not furl their sails. Was that a
state for a British fleet to be sent to sea in? Many people
had said be was wrong for crying down the navy. He was not
doing so, but endeavouring to prevent the recurrence of these
evils. At the time of the American war, such was the state of
our sloops and war frigates, that they were obliged to go into
the American ports because the Admiralty did not man the
ships sufficiently. What would have been the state of things
if our Baltic fleet had met with an enterprising enemy in the
Gulf of Finland? Let it be remembered that the Russian
fleet was 28 sail of the line, besides frigates and steamers,
though it never went to sea except for the purpose of afford-
ing the late Emperor the spectacle of a naval sham fight. So
well were the men trained to the guns, and so well in fine
weather did they sail in double line, that only one ship—
commanded by a Scotchman, Captain Moffat—was able to
break through the line, whereupon the Emperor ex-
claimed, " Bravo, Moffatt !" and he was appointed to the
flag of a Rear-Admiral in the Russian service. Now, the
last of our Baltic ships manned was the Nile. On the first
Sunday the men went to Divine service, the clergymen and
officers on the poop, the men were on the quarter-deck. To
the captain's astonishment, when the men took off their hats
and showed their bald heads, and at the same time putting on
spectacles—some of the men positively did not know their
captain. He well knew the gallant admiral opposite (Admiral
Berkeley) made great exertions to man the fleet, but such
trash were they that came to Tower-hill, that two Lords of
the Admiralty were sent down to inspect them, and what
were the directions given for the selection of the men by the
right hon. baronet opposite (Sir J. Graham)? With regard
to selection from this trash; "Don't be too particular."
(Laughter.) That-was the way in which the honour of their
country had been jeopardised. lie had suggested that a
bounty should be offered, butthe suggestion was not attended
to, and the fleet was manned in the manner he had described.
The fleet was now, he was happy to say, well manned, but if
they wanted good seamen they must offer a bounty. The sol-
dier receiveda bounty, butthe seaman did not, and many of
the people came aboard without shoes and stockings. If a
bounty had been given, that would have gone to clothe them.
If money was lavished in this country, as it was, surely they
could spare something for seamen, to enable them to be dressed
as they ought when they came on board. A seaman had a
pride in himself, and did netlike to be seen in rags. Hestated
these things to prevent them occurring again. He would say
something for the coast-guard and the riggers. They came
on board well dressed, and entered with zeal aid alacrity into
the discipline of the service. The fleet never could have been
got into the order it was in during the time he had the honour
of commanding it, and when it came home, had it not been for
the zeal and alacrity of the officers and men onboard the ships,
and he could not sit down without giving his full 'need of
praise to the admirals, commanders, and captains of the Baltic
fleet, who, by their zeal, and indefatigable exertions, had
brought the fleet into that satisfactory state in which the Go-
vernment had found it on its return to onr shores. The coast-
guard and riggers proved highly useful. He never saw more
zeal than whilst he commanded that fleet, and he was glad to
see that the present First Lord of the Admiralty had set ajnst
value on the services of Admiral Chide, who had been dis-
missed without any cause, but whet had now an appointment in
Cork. The First Lord of the Admiralty had only done an
act of justice to the gallant admiral by giving him that ap-
pointment. - He (Sir C. Napier) had said so much then, that
it was toe late to bring on hit motion in reference to the Bal-
tic fleet, and ho would, therefore, reserve it for to-morrow, on
the motion for bringing on the estimates. (Hear, hear.)
Mr. OSBORNE said the hon. and gallant admiral 110, he
believed, made the speech which he had intended to Nalco in
moving for his Baltic committee, on that evening.
Sir C. NAPIER—No, no.
Mr. OSBORNE—If that were not so, how was it, he begged
leave to ask, that the gallant admiral gave the house the
story of the Nile, with the bald-headed seamen who wore
spectacles? (Hear, and a laugh.)
Sir C. NAPIER—It is true.
Mr. OSBORNE—We will see about that presently, and I
will read to the house the report of the hon. and gallant ad-
miral—the report which the hon. and gallant admiral sent to
the Admiralty himself—(hear, hear)—respecting the condi-
tion of this very ship, the Nile ; and then, sir, when the
house has beard that report, it will draw its own conclusions.
Nor would he anticipate what these conclusions would be,
even supposing all the rest of the gallant admiral's state-
ments rest upon the same foundation. Now, sir, he would
come to the report.
Sir C. NAPIER--State the date.
Npir. OSBORNE said ho would hand the paper to the hon.
and gallant admiral when he was done.
Admiral BERKELEY—No, no. (Great laughter.)
Mr. OSBORNE—Oh, there is some other matter in it of
which the gallant admiral might make an imprudent use.
(Oh, oh.) Well, now as to the Nile—let us hear what the
report says :—" The Nile was put in commission on the 6th
of February, 1854, and, said the inspector, it was in a very
creditable and satisfactory state." (Hear, hear.)

Sir C. NAPIER,.—That did not contradict what he stated

respecting the spectacles and bald heads.
Mr. OSBORNE.—Was he then to understand the gallant
admiral to say that the inspector would report a ship to be in

a very creditable and satisfactory state, the crew of which had
bald heads and wore spectacles ! (Great laughter.)
Sir C. NAPIER.--What he stated was quite true. (Order,
order.)

Mr:OSBORNE.—But what said the inspector, whose re-
port the gallant admiral forwarded to the Admiralty ?
Sir C. NAPIER.—But what was the date of the inspector's
report? (Order, order.)
Mr. OSBORNE.----June, 1854.
Sir C. NAPIER.—Four months after.

Mr. OSBORNE.—CouId an efficient crew become bald and
and need spectacles in four months? (Loud laughter.) He
would refer to the Majestic. The report of the gallant ad-
miral was, that that ship was " fairly manned with w good
proportion of gallant invn." Then as regarded the St.
George. The report of the hon. and gallant admiral in refer-
ence to that vessel, was as follows :—" The ship's company
efficient, and the target-practice good." He had given three
ships, and the motion of the hon. and gallant member was
brought forward, he would bring forward other reports of the
same character. He had no desire to go into the question
before the house, for lm conceived that no answer had been
given to the speech of his right hon. friend the First Lord of
the Admiralty. lie would only observe that when a naval
officer was at the head of the Admiralty, it gave great dis-
content to the country, and to the profession itself. The
bon, and gallant admiral on the back benches (Admiral Wal-
cott) had referred to the opinion of the late Mr. Burke in re-
spect to the navy, he (Mr. Osborne) would also implore the
house not to tamper with the navy, which was never in a
more efficient state than it was at that moment. (Hear.
Captain SCOBELL replied.
The house then divided, when the numbers were—
For the motion
Against it
Majority
_ _

171
.-91

Admiral NAPIER postponed his motion for a select corn-
mittee to ingnire into the operations of the Baltic Fleet in
1854, until Thursday, the 14th of February.
Mr. ATHERTON obtained leave to bring in a bill to amend
the laws relAtiag to the conveyance of lands for charitable
uses.

Mr. EIVART seconded the motion, which, after a few words
from Mr. lIADFIELD, was nreed to, and the bill was ac-
cordingly brought in and read a first time.

DISSENTERS' MARRIAGES ACT.
Mr. A. PELLATT moved for and obtained leave to bring
in A bill to amend the provisions of the Marriage Acts Re-
lating to Dissenters.
The bill was read a first time.