The Sun.
London, England, 1867-03-15 00:00:00

talked-of measure, it would be a very unwise

arrangement ; and since the First Lord is entirely
new to his present post, however familiar of old

with the details of Admiralty management, we can-

not help feeling surprised that Mr. GLADSTONE
should have thought it necessary to interrupt the
course of public business on such a plea. The

Chancellor of the Exchequer had, however, a very

ready reply to the right honourable gentleman's

objections, and one which even Mr. GLAD-
STONE'S ingenuity could not escape from.
" The right hou. gentleman," said Mr. Disr.AELI,

" was a member of a Government that for seven

years regulated the destinies of the country, and

during those seven years the Navy Estimates were
always moved by the Secretary to the Admiralty."
This reminder was received.with loud cheers ; and
Mr. DISRAELI further said, in answer to Mr. GLAD-
STONE'S objection, as to the absence of the specially
responsible Minister, that every Minister was, in
fact, responsible for the Estimates. An untoward
accident, the non-arrival of the writ, prevented
Sir JOHN PAKINGTON from taking his seat. Mr.
DISRAELI, however, did not fail to remind the
House that if no exception bad been made
to General PEEL'S moving the Army Esti-
mates, as intended, the late First Lord
would have moved the Navy Estimates before
resigning bis office, and the embarrassment of last
night would have been entirely avoided. Gentle-
men of the Opposition have, therefore, themselves
to thank for any deviation from the ordinary routine;
and it is only fair to 54 that the general feeling
was decidedly in favour of allowing Lord HENRT
LENNOX to proceed with his statement, which,
after some time, was done, though on the very first
vote Mr. GLADSTONE renewed his protest, and Mr.
DISRAELI consented to its postponement, as he
had just heard by telegram that Mr. CORRY would
be in his place on Thursday next.
Lord HENRY LENNOX acquitted himself
of his difficult and somewhat ungracious
task very creditably. The sum of £10,926,250
will be asked, which is very nearly half a
million in excess of last year's estimate. The
effective services would cost £9,867,750—being an
increase of £480,000—and the non-effective ser-
vices £2,000,000; but over many items in the latter
amount Lord HENRY LENNOX explained that the
Admiralty had no control. The expenses of repairs,
we are glad to find, are less by £60,000 than the
building estimates,whereas last year they were nearly

as much in excess of it.
In the matter of shipbuilding Lord HENRY
LENNOX tells us that the Admiralty intend
to build four new ships of the Amazon class,
also steamers to replace the old paddle-
wheel steamers, ten gunboats, and a new class of
gunboats intended specially for the suppression of
piracy, much wanted in some quarters. The lat-
ter are intended to use up the machinery of the
Crimean gunboats, which have been lying idle and
neglected. Three hundred and fifty thousand pounds
are to be spent on iron shipbuilding—a sum,
which the Secretary argued, was by no means ex-
cessive, considering the large sums recently spent
by other European countries in this matter. All
these details will no doubt be fully discussed before
the votes are taken, and we must hope that no
more frivolous opposition will obstruct the course
of public business.
The Admiralty have just now enough on their
hands, for rumours have been current of an intended
descent on the Irish coast by more of the Fenian
worthies from America. A telegram was accord-
ingly despatched to Portsmouth directing that the
whole of the available seagoing vessels in commis-
sion in that port should proceed to Ireland early
yesterday morning, so that the Fenians, should they
come, will find a ready reception. We are glad to
find that our naval as well as our civil authorities
are determined to be prompt and vigorous in their
repression of Fenianism.

The subject of recruiting for the Army came
on last night in the House of Lords, the Earl of
DALHOUSIE calling the attention of their lordships
to the report of the commissioners appointed to
inquire into the recruiting. First of all, he defended
the commissioners with great animation from some
charges which had been brought against them as
to not sending out to the public a full report of
matters. As the chairman of the commission the
noble lord was well qualified to speak on the sub-
ject, but he did much in his attempt to show the House
that the Government bad acted unwisely in their
proposals based upon the report of the commissioners.
He was averse to the plan of increasing the pay
of soldiers in place of an abolition of stoppages
and improvement in rations ; but Lord LONGFORD
stated several weighty reasons in favour of the
course proposed. The noble earl created some
amusement by stating that accidentally he ap-
peared on both sides of this question, for he was
a member of the commission, and he was also a
member of the Government, which had partly dis-
agreed with the recommendations of the commis-
sion; but he got out of his difficulty by saying
that he agreed with both. In general he concurred
with the commissioners, but he did not think their
attention had been directed so much to the question
of obtaining recruits as to those matters that
affect the condition of the soldier. No doubt Lord
LONGFORD is right in his opinion that the recruiting
should be the first object, and all that tends to
make that more popular and successful should be
attentively studied by our authorities, for it is a
matter that has far too long been neglected, and
the service has suffered in consequence. It stands
to reason that an addition to the pay, how-
ever small, will be a powerful inducement,
and be far more easily understood and ap-
preciated by those whom it concerns than other
and more remote advantages. We also think
with the noble lord that it will be very desirable to
. make recruiting more respectable. During last
year the efforts in this directio❑ were more suc-
cessful, but that was in consequence of work being
so slack, and hence too much stress cannot be laid

upon it.
Lord DALHOUSIE made oue suggestion that would
never answer if carried out, and which, indeed, is
directly opposed to the feeling of the people of this
country. He said that the service in the QUEEN'S
Army was voluntary, but that the Militia was
a compulsory service. " lhe compulsion had
been suspended from year to year, but the
power of compulsion was not dead." lie
therefore proposed that the militia should be in-
creased, and that if the voluntary system failed, the
compulsory one should be resorted to ; but this
would never do, and we do not believe that any
Government would try it. Let everything be done
that can possibly improve the condition of the :ser-
vice, but nothing that is directly contrary to the
general feeling of the country is ever likely to
answer.

The Duke of CAMBRIDGE made a few observa-
tions, and said that the Government had had many
difficulties to contend against, and that they must
consider the House of Commonswas not very willing
to increase the military expQnditure, which was not
to be wondered at. His Royal Highness was of
of inion that an increase of pay would ba the most
likely thing to advance the recruiting of our army.
On the whole, we think that the public will be