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

NAVAL ADMINISTRATION.

Captain SCOBELL moved for a select committee to inquire
into the naval administration, and the lists of officers, pa-
tronage, promotion's, and retirements, and the efficiency of
the service iu all the grades belonging to it. He hoped the
committee would be granted, because if it reported in favOur
of the existing system the result would be satisfactory to the
Government, whereas if it came to the conclusion that that
system was harsh and cruel in its operation upon a large
body of officas, some remedy for it ought to be devised by
the house. He had brought forward this question last year,
towards the end of the session, when it was got rid of by a
little amicable manoeuvring,' in a manner which, in his opin-
ion, was an insult to the navy, and the First Lord of the Ad-
miralty had then made a speech, some of the errors in.which
he would take this opportnnity of correcting. One expres-
sion used by the right hon. gentleman was, that " the sub-
ject had already been most fully considered by as able a com-
mittee as ever was appointed." In the first place, it was
eight years ago since that committee sat ; the report and
evidence occupied about 1,000 pages, and, excepting the
official men, ho supposed that not more than half a dozen
members, of whom he was one, bad read that most volumin-
ous affair, which referred not merely to the question to which
he would now confine himself, but to dockyards, coieracts,
ship-building, and a thousand things of that sort. No doubt
it was an able committee, but there was not a single naval
man on it; and he must say that,- with reference to the no-
mination of committees to inquire into naval matters, the
naval members of the house were used very ill. At the
conclusion of their report. that committee recommended
further investigation, and therefore his present motion was
not without justification. The next thing the First Lord of
the Admiralty said on the occasion referred to was, " that
the House of Commons was apt to take at one time a view
totally different from what it did at another ; at one time
it could not do enough for the members of the naval
profession; great promotions were asked for, and afterwards
perhaps the house complained of what had been done." That
was all declamation ; the country liked the navy, and wished
it to have fair play, and would refuse it nothing in reason.
What the country wished was, that one set of men should
not be pushed on at a fast rate, and another set at a slow
rate, but that the advantages and promotions should be fairly
and equitably apportioned. (Hear, hear.) The right hon.
gentleman went on to ask, " Did his lion. friend want ships
to be built for the sake of employing officers 1" Certainly
not ; but when ships were built lie wished every man of skill
and merit to have a fair Chance of commanding, and not
merely the men of great family and Parliamentary influ-
ence. The right hon. gentleman also said that if any
ono would devise a better system of promotion than
the present he would bo a great public benefactor. Well,
he offered himself to be in this respect a public bene-
factor. One remark made by the right lion- gentleman was,
that if it were desirable that officers should attain the rank
of admiral at an early period of life, it would be indis-
pensable that young officers should be promoted for distin-
guished services. Who could object to such an arrangement ?
The complaint was, that officers were promoted' without dis-
tinguished services. Again, the right hon. gentleman stated -
that, "if they took the aristocratic names in the navy it
would be found that, with the exception of Lord Dundonald,
they were almost esclusively on the retired list," but lie
(Capt. &obeli) would show that, besides that noble lord,
there wore a great many aristocratic names that partook
largely of the favour of the Admiralty. Taking only the ac-
tive list and the admirals, he found a Fitzroy, who from the
time of being a lieutenant to becoming a post-captain passed
only 4 years ; a Percy passed only 2 years ; a Cadogan 5 years ;
a Radstock 3 years ; Crofton 34 years ; a Berkely 4 years ;
a Dundas 3 years; a Stopford 34 years; a Grey 4 years, &c.
Ho found on the same admirals' list men of the names of
Brown, Dillon, Hornby, and so on, who from lieutenant to
post-captain had passed respectively 10, 11, and 16 - years.
Taking 20 of the last-made admirals and 20 of the slow-made
admirals, be found the average time of the former from lieu-
tenant to post-captain wag pi years; and of the latter 12
years and a fraction. The reference to Lord Dundonald's
name put him in mind of that gallant officer having won his
honours not because of his aristocratic name, but, at the can-
non's mouth, and no finer career than his was to be found in
the British navy ; and yet that noble lord had oil a late occa-
sion been neglected, in not being allowed to explain before
the Admiralty his plan for the benefit of the country. Taking
the active list of commanders the same result presented itself.
He trusted that to correct these evils in, the navy recourse
would never be had to the system of sale and purchase, as
had some years ago been suggested, The constitution of the
Admiralty was most faulty. In four years and a half there
had been tour different First Lords, and it certainly was im-
possible that any service could he properly governed under a
system of sock rapid changes. Three of these, too, were civi-
lians, and they, of course, for come time after their appoint-
ment, from their ignorance of professional details, m :st have
been perfectly unable of themselves to transact much of the
business brought before them. The noble lord at the head of
the Government some time ago, in speaking of the army, said
it ought to be commanded by a soldier, and that if the patronage
of the army were dispensed by any one sitting on the Treasury ,
bench the number of complaints would be very much multi-
plied. What was good for one service was good for the other,
and if the army ought to be coniiiiiinded by a soldier, why
should not the navy be commanded by a sailor? Whir was
that system of distribtiting patronage which, if it were to be
adopted with regard to the army, would be open to such
great objection to be persisted in in the case of the navy.
The manner iu which the patronage in the navy was dispensed
was anything but satisfactory ; many promotions were made
from motives of mere favouritism, and howas afraid that there
were sonic officers—not many certainly—who had got on so
rapidly from one rank to 'another—and that, too, in a time
of peace—that they were really not fit for the situations
which they now filled, Such rapid promotions were unfair
to the officers themselves, for they did net give them time I
to learn their duties. The late Sir G. Cockburn, who was 17
years at the Admiralty, when he died left behind him a paper
on the government of the navy, in which he denounced the
constitution of the Board of Admiralty as most unsatisfac-
tory, and the least efficient for the purpose that could possibly
be devised. A noble lord in the other Heine of Parliament
(the Earl of Malmesbnry), when speaking on the subject of
army reform, declared his conviction that if the administra-
tion of the army were assimilated to that of the navy it would
become a hotbed of political jobbery. The right hon. mem-
ber for Kidderminster, too, and the Secretary of the Admi-
ralty had both strongly denounced the evil effects of the pre-
sent corrupt system. Fortified by these opinions, he thought
he had made out,a case for the inquiry for which he asked.
He had also received numerous communications from naval
officers who were personally unknown to him ; awl he could
assure the First Lord of the Admiralty that, however well
the favourites with whom alone he habitually came in con-
tact might be satisfied with the existing state of things, the
feelings entertained in regard to it by five-sixths of the officers
of the navy were those of disappointment and chagrin. To
these suffering men an inquiry into the state of the navy
list and the system of promotion would give the greatest
delight. From a sreturn which he obtained towards the
close of 'the last session of Parliament, and the results of
some further investigations, he had compiled some important
facts in regard to the different classes of officers which he
would state to the house. In the year 1800 we had in com-
mission 167 sail of the line; and there were in the naval service
120,000 seamen add marines. The number of admirals was
99, and out of these most of them were fit service. At pre-
sent we had in commission 44 sail of the line. The number of
seamen and marines in the fleet was 50,030, and the number
of admirals 91 on the active, and 215 on the retired list. He
did not object to the existence of a retiree list ; but be did
most strongly object to the system which obtained as to put-
ting officers upon that list. Since 180 there bad been made
45 acting admirals ; and 141 had been placed on the retired
list. What he objected to:was, that a man should be put upon
this retired list because he had not served 6 years as a post-
captain ; although he might have been asking for employment
all the time he had been on shore. The result of the present
was, that of 4 officers promoted to the rank of admiral last
year one, who was made an active admiral, was 70 years of
age, while those who were only between 51 and 60 years of
age were placed upon the retired list. The remedy for this
state of things would be to count a man's years of service
not in one, but in all grades ; a course for the adoption of
which there was the greater reason, because it was in the
lower ranks that a man learnt the most of his profession.
(Hear.) Of post-captains he might tell much. the same story
as he had related of admirals. . There were upon the list
many men bearing aristocratic names who bad got ou exces-
sively fast, while the holders of such common names asJohn-
-50 officers were made post-captains, of whom
son, Kidd, or Brown got on equally slowly. In the year 1847,
131 hB4Ba,dand l 8
a' s commanders only from 2 to 5 years, while
servedl7 had served in that rank from 32 to 17 years,
and of these
14 had medals. In 1846, 100 captains were allowed to
retire. They had most of them been some 30 years or
more commanders, and their half-pay was 10s. a-day.
They retired with the rank of a lieutenant-colonel in the
army, and an additional 6d. a-day pension. A marine
officer of similar rank obtained, upon his retirement, a pen-
sion of 14s. a day. Was that just to the navy ? There was
also another list on which the favourites were placed, and
when on that they received an addition of 2e. or 2s. 6d. a-day
to their pension. In the years 1847, 1848, and 1849, 80
officers were promoted to the rank of commanders. Of these
43 had served as lieutenants only from two to seven years,
while 23 had served from 12 to 44 years, and of these 11 had
medals, There were now 549 officers on the commanders'
list, of whom only 196 were employed. Some of the bestmen
were shelved on this list and never got any further. A me-
morial had been addressed by the commanders to the Admi-
ralty, and he hoped that it would receive the serious coital-
deration of the First Lord. The lieutenants were also a most
numerous body of officers, and the state of their list was most
disheartening. 1113 knew that nothing could be done to im-
prove the condition of the old men; but he wished to avoid
the continuance of such a state 40 things for the future. • He
could mention many cases in illustration of the heartless
treatment to which naval lieutenants were subjected, but no
ease was more glaring than that of Mr. John Greene, a most
deserving officer, who, having entered the service in 1800,
and distinguished himself by his gallant bearing in several en-
gagements, was appointed to a lieutenantcy in 1809, and,
never having receive& a single step of promotion from that
hour to this; had the honour of being a lieutenant at the pre-
sent moment (Hear.) There were in a similar position
some 600 or 700 other officers—men whose promotion had
been brought to a deadlock, and whose service as lieuten-
ants ranged from 30 to 50 years. (Hear-) Last session he
called the attention of the house to the fact that there were
then afloat 12 sub-lieutenants, each of whom bad on an
average been a lieutenant for 30 years. Ho was happy to
add that the allusion lie had made to their erases had not
been without its effect, for all of these officers had been since
promoted—a circumstance which he had learnt with extreme
gratification' and for which much credit was due to the
First Lord of the Admiralty. (Hear, hear.) "Were it not
that he feared to trespass on the attention of the house, he
could read a list of officers whose service averaged from 50
to 55 years each, but who, not having family interest or po-
litical influence, had failed to obtain that adv ancement to
which from their merits they were entitled. -It was to be
hoped that the claims of these ill-used gentlemen, would re-
ceive the attentive consideration of the Admiralty, and that,
with a step of promotion, an increase of half-pas r would also
be awarded them. • By an order recently issued, from the
Horse Guards, military officers were permitted to. retire with
a step of rink, and, under certain circumstances, they even
received the promotion after their retirement ; but nothing
of this kind was known in the navy. He truster l- that it
would not be always so. Patronage was still, as it o7er had
been, the bane of the service. Start two half-dozes lof mid-
shipmen from the same point, awl it would be ft:ind that one
half-dozen would have reached the grade of postes ptain in
the course of five oi, six years, while the ethers would be -20