The Sun.
London, England, 1856-04-25 00:00:00

THE NAVAL REVIEW.

Lord RAVENSWORTH said that as he saw in their
places the noble lord the President of the Council, and
many other noble lords who had suffered with himself
from the inconveniences and delays which had arisen i
the conveyance of their lordships t 4 and from the naval
review on the previous day, he might perhaps be per-
mitted to call attention to the defects in the arrange-
ments which had led to those unpleasant circumstances
' and to ask some explanation from the Government. It:
was intended that her Majesty should, during her pro
gress through the magnificent line of ships, be attended
by her faith'ul subjects, the Lords spiritual and tem -
coral, and the Commons. Nothing could be better in
theory than this idea of the Government, The misfortune
was that it entirely failed of realisation. Although he did
not wish to attack any noble lord who might be consi-
dered responsible for the failures of the day, he thought
they had been mainly if not entirely caused by the want ,
of proper discrimination on the part of the Lords of
the Admiralty, whose duty it was to select'a proper vessel
for the conveyance of their lordships. The first thing that
occurred after starting at 7 o'clock in the morning was a
delay of at least two hours occasioned by the breaking down
of two engines. For this he attributed no blame to her
Majesty's Government. (A laugh.) After great delay and
inconvenience their lordships arrived at Southampton,
where there was but one large tender, the Harlequin, for
the conveyance of the members of both houses of Par-
liament. In consequence of this it was at least au hour
before they all got on board the tender, and then the
crowded state of that vessel occasioned further loss of
time in embarking them on the two steamers Transit
and Perseverance. At length, between 12 and one
o'clock, and after they had been informed by some
noble lords who had gone down on the previous
night that the most imposing part of the display was
over, the salute on the arrival of her Majesty having
been fired an hour and a half before, the Transit, which
had been appropriated to the conveyance of their
lordships, got under way. She had not, however, pro-
ceeded far before she was passed by the Perseverance,
having on board the members of the House of Commons,
and the second estate of the realm became the third, in
which position it continued during the remainder of the
day. (A laugh) In the course of time the Transit, not-
withstanding the defective engines with which she was
supplied, reacbel the pivot ships at the eastermost point
of the line, from which position they witnessed that
grand and magnificent motion, the advance said wheeling,
--of the lino of ships, the only spectacle which they had to
repay them fur the fatigue which they had undergone.
This ship, the Transit, had been supplied with engines
which were originally made for our late enemy the Em-
peror of Russia, and which were so defective in construe-
tien that on her last voyage to the Mediterranean the
whole of her machinery gave way; and had not sine,: been
put into proper condition. The result was that in a short
tune this immense ship of 2,400 tons burden, became
almost like a log upon the water. By orders from
high authorities it was forbidden to make any smoke ;
without making smoke a fire could not be made
sufficient to get up the steam of the Transit, and the
result was, that on the return she hardly made any way.
Little as was the way she made, it was., uefoitunatety,
enough for her to run down a gun-boat, by which col-
lision both vessels were seriously damaged, and a me-
rit e received injuries so severe that he (Lord Ravens-
worth) did not knoW whether they might not be fatal.
Although she did this, however, she did not make way
enough to enable their lordships to r,Aca the herbour of
Southampton until 10 o'clock. At that time the return
was effected by means of a very active but very email
steamer called the Monkey, owing to the disproportion
between which and the Transit, and the consequent
crowding of the
afm
ernosaorrsmtoedpaeaerab, there was a great deal of in-
convens
ience
yhees
eerai
there
railway
A
cvidl er nt,tfti liheffitehedeftalal
difficulty
Monkey
that,arl
Ikde lnlisaer
yos t ehe
wor
nearedwhiv ra)
in
ailwasysosotantiaosns.he Lw aasd
itevsh aarnf
de dg
et
nh
telreemwena!
noble lordsnlasf ast anda sproisg,liibtler.ev.rpirreslta.teelas,ssalclamrraiadgeefsowr
were
ee
soon
spercelnadt ecai ands ao npersi
vwyeer eoui
nn
ociru itsoiotiko nr,e
faungde
ao lne
lorcicguhpti er de
v,
it ni
ea
railway third -class
carriage,tation
nt
th(rAee o'clock
laugh
in
laugh,) At
At
the
tutihnerntirnagin :.
reached Lon lon, and their lordships were deposited at
Thus the termination of this day's pleasure w is, that
noble lords and ladies were running about the platform
without a carriage or cab to take them home. How
many of the ladies reached their residences he could not
say. Fortunately he had himself none under his own
care. The blame of all these delays and inconveniences
rested, in his opinion, with those by whose management
an improper vessel of enormous size and without sufficient
means of propulsion was appropriated to their lordships.
To this fact he attributed all the misadventures of the
day, and he thought he had a right to ask from the
Government some explanation of the reasons which led
to the appropriation of so large and so improper a vessel
to this service. Further than this he would at present
express no opinion upon the subject except to say, " Sic
transit gloria mundi." (A. laugh,)
Lord GRANVILLE.—I am afraid I am not the best
personhich have been in the world to ansby er the very serious charges
w mY noble frid,
having myself been one of his fellow-sufferers, and h eav-
ing experienced some disappointment at missing a
consi-
derable portion of the magnificent spectac!e of yester-
day. At the same time lam bound to say that I think
my noble friend has exaggerated the blame which can be
attached to the Government. He certainly made a very
fair exception at the beginning of his speech, when ho
exonerated the Government from all blame for the loco-
motives of the South-Western Railway Company having
broken down ; but I think he has been misinformed as
to the character of the ship which was appropriated to
the conveyance of your lordships. It is a very large
and a very fine ship, and I am sure that all the noble
lords who were on board it will bear testimony to the
great care which had been taken to provide for the com-
forts of your lordships both as to accommodation and re-
freshments. No doubt it would have been very much
better had there been two small tenders to take your
lordships on board, instead of the one large one. When
we did stop it was not from any defect in the engine,
but because the fires had been let out. As no Lord of
the Admiralty bad yet returned to town, I have not yet
been able to make any inquiries as to who was really to
blame ; but, whatever mismanagement there may have
been it is clear that the general Government cannot be
made responsible unless it should neglect, after inquiry,
to punish the persons who are to blame. Several noble
lords on board were kind enough to try to fix the whole
responsibility of the affair on me, which, asyour lordships
may imagine,
did not at all increase my enjoyment of the
day. I was particularly desired by some to go down and
poke the fire, but, with an unusual degree of modesty, I
declined to take the command of even a small fraction
of the Channel fleet, There is one consolation, however
—that the day furnished another proof of the enormous
mental and bodily strength of my noble friend the
Lord Chief Justice, because, though my noble friend
was away from his house for 21 hours, he was able
to attend in his place in the Court of Queen's Bench this
morning, and he has to-night taken part in a discussion
relative to the Scotch marriage law. I can only say that
I will take care, when the First Lord of the Admiralty
returns to town, that all proper inquiries shall be made
on the subject, and that if there leas been any negligence
the persons to blame shall be punished.
The Earl of MALMESBURY—I should not advise
my noble friend behind me to move a vote of censure or.
her Majesty's Government this time, though it certainkj
was a practical joke of the most unpardonable charactei
to ha. e been promised so much pleasure, and to have
been kept 22 hours -in attempting to attain an objecm
which we really •only reached half-way at last. What 1
roae to upon waothe obseive

the, modesty—of the nobla! earl Opposite In answering
my noble friend' behind, gibing your lorctShips to: believe
that he was-present the whole t trial,—that-he saw all our
misfortunes and participated in them. From his high
position, he was of course looked upon by alt on board'
as the captain of the vessel---ineehing, that is, that he
would stick by her so long ass heil.itiiberilield together.
Far from that, my noble Mena,-with his usual sagacity
and acuteness, about. halfliakt.4; seeing how matters
went, and how unlikely it mar:that he should see his
home tbat night, if he eked i'esith 'Us; deserted the
ship—(loud laughter)—an4 having kiwi& very comfort-
able quarters on the coast of the Isle of Wight, to our
great consternation haileda a malt boatamd left us to
oar fate. (Renewed laughter.) _That late .has aot been
at all exaggerated by the noble lord behind me ; for the
rest Of the day we were panted by ship after fillip, by car-
nage after carriage, and moat of us had to walk home
from the Waterloo-station it'belf-past 3.this morning.
Lord CA.MP-SELL—I cid --tiestify to the great cour-
tesy of the noble earl the -President of the Council, so
long indeed as he, remains with :us, but be cer-
tainly did desert us in iv:anoment of difficulty.
(Laughter.) As I found it impossible to haslet in the ad-
ministration of justice- in We on this. great
day, I thought it was my duty .to show my respect to
her Majesty, and to join those Who were to follow in her
wake when making this great progress through her naval
forces. I certainly met, in common with all of your lord-
ships who were there, with great disappointments. I
acquit her Majesty's Governmealt of all blame for our
late arrival at Southampton, and,, although neither my
noble friend nor. the'First Lod of the Admiralty, nor
the Government generally, can --tte held responsible for
what followed—for the 'plan tinned out for us was excel-
lent in itself—yet there certa3oly was gross misconduct
somewhere which really giVis one an idea of what hap-
pened at Balaklava. (Heart;' NothingbappeWed except
the breaking down of, the railway engines, which could
not have keen=guroi"d- --There,svas gross -mismanage-
In
ent in having so small tender to act with such an
enormous steamer as the Transit. It might have been
easily seen that, under the most favourable circum-
stances, it would have taken an hour or more to transfer
the passengers from one vessel to the other ; and bad
there been anything of a swell we never could have all
got from one vessel to the other: The Transit at last
weighed anchor, but it was necessary for two learned
judges who were on board to work at the capstan.
(Laughter.) We had three right rev, prelates on board,
but I do not know whether they lent a hand or not.
One of the Apostles, I believe, was acquainted with na-
vigation, and I have no doubt under similar circum-
stances be would have assisted in the operation. We
really had great reason to complain of the Transit, which,
though a very large vessel, was quite unfit for the ser-
vice. She had two engines, but one of them was per-
manently disabled—(hear)—and the other was soon
made useless by the fires being let out. It was 11 o'clock
before we left Southampton, a!though we ought to have
left at six o'clock, and such a scene of confusion I hope
I shall never witness again. It certainly reflects very'
little credit upon those who ought to have made better
provision. Judges, prelates, and ladies of high rank were
scrambling together for places in the train—one would
have thought it was an excursion train to Manchester. I
had the good fortune to get a place, but I was not able
to get home before 4 o'clock this morning. Thanks to
that strength to which my noble friend has alluded, I was
able to attend in my place in the Queen's Bench this
morning, and I am happy to say, therefore, that no ill
consequences ensued to the administration of justice.
The Earl of CARDIGAN wished to know if there was
not some subordinate official at the Admiralty who was
responsible for having selected a vessel in so unfit a
state as the Transit was for the conveyance of their lord-
ships? It was most discreditable that their lordships
should be placed in a vessel which could not make more
than 31 or 4 knots an hour. He was informed that that
vessel had been ordered to the Crimea to convey a por.
tion of the army there home, but he hoped that would
not be done until she was put into better condition.
' Earl VANE asked why it was that the two Houses of
Parliament bad been sent down to Southampton instead
of to Portsmouth ? • •
EarI.GRANVILLE said that it was thought desir-
able that some portion of the persons going to the naval
review should embark at Southampton in order to pre-
vent too great a pressure at Portsmouth.
THE DUCHY OF PARMA.
The Marquis of CLANRICARDE then rose to move
for copies of the reports and correspondence of her Ma-
jesty's diplomatic and consular agents' in Italy relating
to the occupation of the territory and the assumption of
the executive Government of the duchy of Parma by
Au,trian authorities, and for copies of any communica-
tion thereupon between her Majesty's Government and
the Cabinet of Vienna. He said that in asking for these
papers it was not his intention to express any opinion him-
self, and still less to call upon their lordships now to pro-
nounce any judgment on the events which bad taken
place in Italy, because he thougbt it would be premature
to ask for an expression of opinion on matters about
which they were imperfectly informed. All that he rose
tetask for was information, and he hoped that it would be
in the power of the Government to give some informa
tion on the important facts and events which had oc-
curred, for he believed them to be of 8..) grave a character
that it, was necessary they should be considered not
merely by the servants of the Crown, but also by the
Parliament of this c iuotry. Their lordships were aware
that the state of the Government in the northern part of
Italy—in the Duchy of Parma—had been for some time
unsatisfactory and 'feeble, as had been shown by the
results. Great discontent and political dissatisfaction
prevailed among the people ; and, more than that, there
had arisen a contempt of law and a general aversion
from recognised authority and order of such a character
as had led to lamentable consequences and threatened
graver result'. It was on these pretences, and in some
degree, it might be said, for these reasons, that the Aus-
trian forces bad occupied the Grand Duchy of Parma.
That was a fact which he presumed was notorious, but
if the rumours in circulation were c irrect, it was net
merely a military occupation which the Austrians had
effected over the whole country, but it was, in fact, a
seizure of the Government. If the Austrian Govern-
ment had sent a force, at the call of the reigning family,
to save the Duchess Regent from any personal danger,
such a step would not have been at variance with a
Course of proceeding which had taken place in other
countries; but, if the accounts were true, the Austrian
Government had practically taken political as well as
military posses: ion of Parma. It was stated that
the Ministry of Finance and the Post-office were
under the authority of the Austrians, and that they
occupied such an extent of country as showed that
they were there not for the protection of the reigning
family, but that their occupation amounted, in point
of fact, to a seizure of the whale country. He was
nut going now to discuss the character of such an occupa-
tion, the consequences to which it might lead, or the ef-
fect it would have on the territorial arrangements of
Europe and the balance of power. Nor did he intend to
enter upon the state of Italy, both north and south, on
wbich these transactions must have a great influence.
All he wanted was to have information respecting what
had taken place, and respecting the attitude assumed by
the Government of this country and by the other great
European Powers. If the accounts were true, it did not
appear that the Austrians had occupied the Duchy of
Parma with the view of suppressing any armed insurrec-
ittioiLm d thatforcfsu theirchin forcessurrectiownetrhe so disposed
wasdspne
sue account;da
st
ebe
but
iin
preparation for further aggression against other territory,
taus excluding the idea that the occupation was for the
uetrtirnegb
ealnu
eenn dt
htroe a
tseonmi
negimmediatee
vdeirsnorardeenri
ipnus purpose
or
se
ec
t oof op,
torrutbotetdhe pthaetrsthoen
noerbflaeineialy of the D
ri
theseeruectahre7feo Pm
for Foreign
Fearreiga. He
nAf.
ftrst,hief
ph
reesdhnoeutil
ed
nt heifnpkaipt
enr
se,o sea aurldy tnoe
vreerfuths ee
itechs
se m
beoatibolne
to put their lordships in possession of such information
as it was undoubtedly necessary they should have, for it
would be very lamentable if, after theewelnaidteihseffamcoitngoerhlw,partrhobveyye
same ha
epodreueealddcl
lasting
which
auntgdhhetyi
costlytnht oouatghnhaotnt another
that
would
war,
was
now
happily
b,
ich

The Earl of CLARENDON, who was received with
cheers on presenting himself to 'the house, said—l am
sure my noble friend will not expect me to enter into
any general explanation on the subject he has brought
before your lordships, because the noble and learned'
lord opposite has given notice of a motion which I
understand is of such a comprehensive nature as will
bring the whole subject under consideration, and I
hope shortly to be able to show the house that the
question of Italy has not been disregarded by the Go-
vernment. lam at present unable to lay before
your lordships any correspondence to throw light on the
events which have taken place in Italy; but I am pre-
pared, in answer to my noble friend, to give him such
information as we possess. It appears that ever since the
assassination of the late duke Parma has been in au un-
settled state, for which I do not believe that the Duchess
Regent is to blame. Her Government has been wise and
moderate, and I believe she has displayed great forbear-
ance and good sense ; but the Government is weak in
Partha, which has been the resort of persons desirous
of Promoting political troubles; and it is said that the
agents of secret societies have been particularly active
there. The unsettled state of affairs continued to prevail,
and the person who conducted the investigation into the
assassination of the Duke of Parma, and others employed
in the judicial in vestigation of political offences, appeared
destined to the same fate. A dangerous spirit having
been manifested, and considerable public alarm having
been the consequence of these acts, the Duchess Regent
declared Parma in a state of siege, and the Austrian
general Crenneviile, as senior officer, took the supreme
command. But as I gather from my noble friend, he ap.
pears to think that Austrian interference took place in
consequence of recent events. Such has not been the
case. A treaty was agreed to between Modena and the
late Duke of Parma in the year 1847 or 1848, by which
these sovereigns were entitled to call upon Austria, and
Austria was bound to seed a sufficient force to maintain
order if public tranquillity were likely to be disturbed.
['his was done in 1849, and there has been since that time
an Austrian battalion in Parma or the neighbourhood.
General Crenneville, when the state of siege was de-
clared, Wrote word that he should not require to have
another man sent to him. There was, therefore, no
special intervention, and no increased number' of
forces beyond that which Austria had already in the