The Sun.
London, England, 1859-08-06 00:00:00

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HOUSE OF COMMONS---(YEsTRADAY.)

The SPEAKER took the chair at 12 &clock.

SAE OF GAS LL.
Several petitions were presented inßlfavour,of this bill.
THE. KINGSTON-UPON-HULL ELECTION.—
ARREST OF COL. F. GREVILLE.
The SERGEANT-AT.ARIKS announced that, agreeably to
the 'order of the Speaker, he had given instructions that
Col. Greville, a member of that house, should be arrested,
and he was at present in custody.
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL for IRELAND said
that he was auhorised by his hon.. and gallant friend, the
member for Longford, to say that he was absent from the
helm on what he conceived important public duty, and that
immediately on receiving a notice at his seat, in Ireland
he came over, and on his w:y he met the Deputy-Serjeant.
He was also authorised to :..ny that his hon. and gallant
friend had not intended to neglect his duty, or to commit
any disrespect to the hotise. The hon. and gallant mem-
ber regretted extremely the inconvenience and expense
which the parties interested in the petition had been put to
by his absence.

Sir F. BARING said he hoped, from what the house
had heard, that it would not be considered necessary to
proceed further in this matter. It was not necessary to add to
the painful feelings of the hon. and gallant member, and
therefore he would move that he should be discharged from
custody on the payment of the fees.
The motion was agreed to.
The committee appointed to try the merits of the King-
ston-upon-Hull election petition was then sworn.
SUPPLY.—CLEANSING THE SERPENTINE.
On the 'report of the Committee of Supply, agreed to
yesterday morning, being brought up,
Sir J. PAXTON said he thought the vote of £17,000
for the purpose of purifying the Serpentine had been agreed
to rather hastily, and he thought it was quite impossible at
present to say what the actual expense of the undertaking
would be. Besides the steam-engines and filtering appa-
ratus that were to be erected would disfigure Kensington-
gardens.
Sir J. SHE LLEY offered some observations to the
same effect, and drew attention to the state of the bed of the
water, in whicth there were holes to the depth of 24 feet,
which, from the facilities that existed for obtaining rubbish,
might have been easily filled up.
After a few words from Mr. 'WALTER,
Sir M. FARQUHAR said the proposal agreed to in this
case was merely a half measure, and would prove ineffec-
tual so long as the mud at the bottom of the water was per-
mitted to continue in its present condition, or the Ranelagh
sewer was allowed to empty itself into the Serpentine.
Mr. FITZROY said that he could only repeat the state-
ment he had made yesterday. When he came into office
he found there were two plans to be considered, and one of
them involved an expense which it would have been im-
possible to estimate until the water was cleared off. The
pumping machines would be used for 200 days in the year,
and the expense would be only D. a-day.
The report was then agreed to, as well as the report of
the votes of last night.
RESERVE VOLUNTEER FREE SEAMEN BILL.
On the motion for going into committee on this bill,
Lord C. PAGET, in moving that the house go into com-
mittee on this bill, said that, as it had been read a second
time without discussion; he might take that opportunity of
explaining the provisions of the measure. Many hon. gen-
tlemen might think that at a time when they read in the
Moniteur that a general disarmament was about to take
place in France, both with regard to sea and land forces, it
was somewhat inopportune to bring before the House of
Commons a measure with the object of strengthening the
British navy ; but he could only say that in his opinion, as
a naval man, this was the best opportunity that could be
chosen for taking such a course. The object of this bill was
not to increase our fleet, but to provide a militia force for
the sea, as a reserve for recruiting our navy. The principle
of a militia force was generally adopted in all countries, and
it was to him a perfect marvel that a nation whichdepended
so much upon the sea for its security as England did not
possess anything in the shape of a naval reserve. It was
true that, of late years, the Coastguard, which was, as far
as it went, an efficient reserve force, had been increased, but
the number of men belonging to it and disposable as a re-
serve was lesstham4,ooo. They had besides, a force called
the Coast Volunteers. Great doubts had been expressed by
many persons, and by the Royal Commission which sat
last year on the subject of manning the navy, as to the effi-
ciency of that force in the event of an emergency. He was
not one of those who entertained such doubts, for he be-
lieved that if the services of that. force should ever be re-
quired, it would be found efficient for the purposes for which
l
it was intended. There was, however, one radical defect
connected with that force—namely, that the Coast Volun-
teers
from their own coast ; and although, therefore, they
they
could not be required to go furtuehtssbhersemtitnehtnananly3oh.h a)d mightmb leens
The subject of a re-
eboeuidverynotsebrveicereagbalrde feodr
greatateheofdefeennyceof thnet.ilictoyasfor
the
e
general purposes of the navy.
these ry e
attention for the
on navy v y
eminent for
men.m
maritime war, the odious system of impressment was
tphaestleoecteugtedt
anyDuyrienargs
y
expressed against
it was almost
and during the last three years of the war
in full operation; ;thabtuetyepteumblthie
atoiptingrioanduwalalys
fellso ts.ntrotontle.
dis-
use,
ineffective. He had the other night made a some-
what curious statement to the house, which showed that the
effect of impressment during the last three years of the war
adT
been
had produced a loss instead of abogufatiim
unotposr
provided for it, and the successive Boards of Admiralty had
abandoned dnoon doubte
never v thater to
ht eigsvytsvteedm,
applied their attention to the adoption of some means by
which, in case of emergency, sufficient reserves might be
provided for the navy. Allusion had frequently been made
to the admirable French system of the inscription maritime,
under which a vast number of seamen °mild at any moment
be rendered available for the navy. So long ago as the year
1834 the late Mr. Hume proposed in that house a resolution
to the effect that the house being well aware of the difficulty
of manning the navy in time of war, and of the evils attend-
ing the impressment of seamen for that purpose, and con-
sidering that a time of profound peace was best calculated
for a full and fair examination of that important subject,
would early in the next session take the matter into their
consideration, with the view of adopting such regulations
to obviate existing evils as might be consistent with the
efficiency of the navy and the best interests of the country.
Since that time various propositions had been made with
reference to this subject. The right hon. member for Car-
lisle
(Sir J. Graham) introduced the Seamen's Enlistment
and Registration Bill in 1835 ' and in 1847 the hon. and
gallant member for Southwark submitted to the house a
motion for an enlistment of seamenwith reference to reserves,
which, however, was not adopted. In 18.52 the right hon.
baronet the member for Portsmouth (Sir F. Baring) was so
strongly impressed with the necessity of forming a naval re-
serve that he asked for a vote for that purpose; but in con-
sequence of a change in the Government that proposal did
not receive the sanction of Parliament. In 1852 a commit-
tee was appointed to consider this question, and it recom-
mended various means of manning the navy, including the
adoption of the continuous service system, the increase of
the coastguard, and the enrolment of coast volunteers, in
consequence of the recommendations of that committee the
system of continuous service was adopted, and although it
had sustained some violent shocks, he believed that ;if there
was no sudden reduction of our naval force it woulel intime
be productive of great advantages. The Royal Ceramisstaion.
which was appointed last year in consequence clfheadmo
madeon
of the hon. and gallant member for Southwark
numerous suggestions for improving the condition of sea-
men in the navy, and many
of their recommend ations had
been carried out by the late and by the preset It Govern-
ments. The recommendation of the commit tee et the force
of Royal Marines should be increased had been adopted, and
before the suggestion
that would elapse it
he hoped no long
that a body of seamen should always be kept at the home
ports would also be carried into effect. The., -principal re.
commendatior of the commissioners was, how ver, that from
20,000 to 30,000 men should be enrolled ass reserve force,
under the title of Royal Naval Volunteers.. The commis-
sioners proposed that these men should ree eive a retaining
fee of £6 per annum, of which should IJe deducted and
set apart for a pension fund. The commissic mere also recom-
mended, at the age of 60 or 55, these men, should be entitled
to a pension of 6d a day, and that they sb
.ould have the op-
tion of either receiving that pension or a smaller amount
which should be continued to there.
_owls and families.
The bill now before the house was va upon that auhry.