The Sun.
London, England, 1860-05-02 00:00:00

THE NAVAL RESERVES.

Lord LYNDHURST rose to call the attention of the
house to the state of the Naval Reserve, and to ask the
Government for an account of its present condition and pro-
bable future progress. He said—My lords, lam anxious to
call your attention to a subject that appears to me to be one
of great importance —the actual state of our navy, more
partie.ularly that branch of it which is distinguished by the
title of the Royal Naval Reserve. If any noble lord more
acquainted with the details of the naval profession than I
can pretend to be had undertaken this task, I certainly
should have remained silent ; but, fading there was no pro-
bability of any member of this house undertaking to bring
this subject before your lordships, I have felt it my duty, at
no little inconvenience to myself, to present it to your no-
tice. (Hear, hear.) I shall endeavour, in what I have to
state, to confine myself ekeempht.narrative ot-ttre fetter;
for the purpose of placing before you as clearly as I can the
actual state and future prospects of the navy, and for the
purpose of conveying information which I think ought to
be possessed by every man in this empire. It must not be
supposed that I am about to state anything that can be at
all prejudicial to the public service. Almost everything
that I am about to state may be collected from public docu-
ments ; and I believe I may say generally that foreign Go-
vernments, rivals to this country, are more minutely ac-
quainted with the condition of our army and navy than the
great mass of our own people who are not within the official
circle. Upon the strength of our navy the character, the
influence, and, I think I may say, the existence of this
country depend. When I say the strength of our navy, I
mean thereby the comparative state of the English navy as
contrasted with that of foreign Powers, for that is the essen-
tial consideration. I was informed the other day that a
very able man, an engineer, and a member of the Fortifica-
tion Commission, being asked, " What defence do you con-
sider the beat for oxr country ?" answered shortly and
emphatically, " A powerful navy—a powerful fleet." My
lords, I am old enough to remember the whole history of
the revolutionary war, and of the war which succeeded
it with the Empire of France. Step by step, and victory
after victory, notwithstanding all its efforts—and every one
must recall the gallantry displayed by the French navy—
that navy was by the great victory of the Nile, the victory
of Lord Duncan, that of Lord St. Vincent, and the great
and splendid victory of Trafalgar, reduced at the termination
of the war to such a state that for 20 years after that period
we remained, so far as our navy was concerned, in a state
of perfect tranquillity. That state of things was always
galling to the French, and they have at different times ex-
pressed themselves in terms of great feeling upon the subject.
When Admiral Lalande lay with his fleet in the Bay of Sa-
i'amis, expecting orders to follow our squadron to the coast
oi." Syria, being continually disappointed and receiving no
such orders, he, in a moment of irritation at the manner in
whiel he was treated, expressed himself in the strongest
terms' upon the subject. I mention this as a specimen of
the feeling entertained by the members of the French navy
with regard to the state to which they were reduced by the
triumphant victories of the British. After expressing his
indignation at the conduct of the French Government in
not giving him the orders which he anticipated the admiral
said, among other things, " England inflicted upon us a
series of cruel defeats and humiliations, which caused and
ever will cause every French sailor's heart to beat in pre-
sence of the English." Such, my lords,
,was the result of
the efforts made during the great French war. Very little
change took place until after the memorable event to which
I again recall your attention, I mean the accession to su-
preme power of the present Emperor of France. In the
year 1848 he was elected President of the Republic, and in
the following year that celebrated commission was appointed
for the purpose of considering the reorganisation of the
navy of France. That commission was composed of 15 or
more of the most able men selected from the navy and from
the civil service of France, and they have framed a most
complete code of regulations for the purpose of stimulating
and directing the efforts of the French navy. I have
stated one remarkable date with respect to the issuing
of that commission. There is another date equally remark-
able. No report was called for from that commission until
after the celebrated event of the 2d of December. About
12 or 14 days after that coup d'etat—viz., on the 15th of
December, a report was called for by Louis Napoleon, and
from that time the most active exertions have been made
to carry all the recommendations of that commission into
effect. I mention these facts in order that your lordships
may see how far you can reconcile the dates and facts which
I have stated with a certain conversation which is sup-
posed to have taken place between a Frenchman and an
Englishman, and which was published to the world some
time back. My lords, needs I say that the commission
was in terms directed against this country ? If you look
to the evidence of the persons who were examined before
that commission, and to the remarks of the members, you
will see that England was at that period almost the sole
object which Louis Napoleon had in view. Mr. Collies,
who was the secretary to the commission, says :
" The first thing to establish is the number of ships
France ought to and could put to sea the day war is de-
clared ; for this the basis is certain, the enemy is known ;
there can be no question but of England."
That gentleman does not stand alone in the evidence which
he gave before the commission. Some of your lordships,
perhaps, may have read the opinions appended to the report.
The President of the Commission, M. Darn, discussed the
manner in which a French fleet, with a proper military
force on board, might make a successful attack upon the
shores of this country. Admiral Dupotit Thours, a well-
known name, goes in much greater detail over the same
ground, stating how easily a landing might be effected, and
showing to demonstration the view with which that com-
mission was appointed and the object to which its result
was directed. My lords, the result of that commission and
of the admirable system which was formed under it has
turned out to be a formidable navy, a formidable navy
of steam vessels, to which alone I confine my observa-
tions. What were the Government of this country and
the Admiralty doing in the meantime ? For a considerable
period they were absolutely supine. No notice was taken
of what was being done on the other side of the Channel,
util at length, alarmed at the progress which had beenmade,
they began to exert themselves, and by a most extraordinary
effort and expenditure of money they have at length suc-
ceeded in forming a fleet, I believe at this moment about
equal, but not more than equal to that of France. As I un-
derstand the matter—and I have it from the reports upon
the table—at the beginning of last year our fleet consisted
of 29 sail of the line, and the French fleet of precisely the
same number. Although we were at that time equal in
ships o f the line, the French were far superior to us in what
they con eider of infinite importance—the number of frigates.
While we had only 26 frigates, they had 34. What addition
has been ne, 'tele to our fleet since the commencement of last
year lam not'. informed. We shall perhaps hear of it from
,the noble duke, but I do not imagine that at this moment
see " fleet exceeds— -or if it does, only in a small degree—the
stea,'u naval force of France. And now, my lords, allow me
to ma, \ e an observatioe I founded upon this supposed equality.
If your steam navy is nominally only equal to that of
France, i.t is in reality metch inferior to it. I speak the
opinion of every naval man with whom I have communi-
cated ; I speak the opinions of the members of the French
commission. They all say,. "the English have so many
points to d efeeed, that with aet equal navy they can never
bring the force. to compete with us that we can bring against
them." And I have heard it stated by mere than one naval
authority that he order to place ourseives on a footing with
the navy of Franteke we ought to have nearly double the num-
ber of ships which th,ey can bring into action. But it is some-
times said that our emenen are so much better that they give
us the superiority. My lords, let us not delude oureelves in
that manner. The than ge in the mode of navigation has
very greatly altered the vhole system. And, although I
agree with Sir H. Douglas ti 'eat seamanship is of considerable
importance, still it is very el, Verent at this moment from
what it was at former periods. I have stated the comparative
force, and also the amount of thkl, material, of the French and
English navies. Let me call peter attention for a few mo-
ments to what is still more import e net, their personnel. By
the inscription maritime, which-, is ;lea of the French sys-
tem, every seaman. in the mere leant service, of whatever
:rank, common seaman, master, lend ma,:e, must be entered
upon the register and pass through the navy ; and an au-
thority, whose name I dare say is familiar to the noble duke
opposite, M. de Fleurian, states that at the time he wrote
there was not a sailor in the French marine thai had not
passed through the navy.
,Independently of this inscription,
there is another measure o f great importance adopted, called
the levee pe'cmanente, einde r which a very large class of men
have to pass seven years' in the navy. What is the result of
this state of things ? that the moment a French ship
is built they have a tra inked crew ready to put on board ;
whereas we have to wait mon the after a ship is in commission
before we can send her to sea. Again, if any great or sudden
emergency calls for the o fittinee out of a fleet. France has
trained seamen ready to et ebark upon any enterprise. And
how are her seamen tr: sine 1 ? They are regularly educated
in seamanship, in gunnery., in everything that is necessary
for the purposes of WI irfare. The French regulations require
that 10 ships shall al ways tot m a squadron of evolution, and
shall, at all COD veiftent and proper times, go to sea with a
view to exercise the ,seaurp4, . It was, I learn, stated the