The Sun.
London, England, 1859-05-17 00:00:00

THE CHANNEL FLEET.

Several of the vessels whichb wered originally in-
tended for this service haveeenespatched to the
_eyn ianincleu7de, five line-of-battle
ships and one c
1 the Royal Albert,
Mediterranean,
oarnvdettthe
Admiral Sir Charles Howe Rice,
bearing the flag of Rear.
Fremantle, K.C.B. ;the
121, screw, Captain
the Victor Emmanuel,
Captain Wallace Houston ;
Renown, 91, Captain A. Forbes ; the Orion, 91,
91, Captain Willcox,C.B.'
Racoon, 21, Captain
Captain E. Ommaney ,
• and the
however, as Rear-
Admiral Mundy has been appointed secand in
uadron.
lity is that Admiral Fremantle will shortly return
to resume his command of the Channel squadron.
The Hannibal, 91, Captain Connolly, will bear the
flag of Admiral Mundy, and will shortly sail to join
the Mediterranean fleet. She is now only about
100 men short of her complement. Therefore, for the
immediate defence of our own shores, in addition to
the Royal Albert, there are the St. Jean d'Acre, 101,
Capt. Thomson; the Exmouth, 91, Captain Stopford;
the Hero, 91, Captain G. H. Seymour, C.B. ; the
James Watt, 91, Captain E. Codd ; the Algiers, 91,
Captain G. W. D. O'Callaghan ; the London, 91,
Captain H. Chads ; the Cressy, 80, Captain the
Hon. G. I. B. Elliott, C.B. ; the Cesar, 91, Captain

C. Frederick (now on special service n the West
Indies), and the Agamemnon, 91, Captain T. Hope.
Of frin'ates there are thiLiffey, 51, Captain, G. W.
Preedi ; the Emerald 51, Captain Arthur Cum-
ming; the Mersey, 40,:ilaptain Caldwell, C. 8.; the
Diadem, 32, Captain Miorsom, C.B. (also on special
service); the Doris, 32,Captain E. Heathcote ; the
Curagoa, 32, Captain T.Mascnt the Termagant, 25,
Captain R. Hall ; and he Cadmus, 21, Captain H.
S. Hillyar, C.B. Of siialler vessels, there are the
Brisk, 16, Captain Algernon F. R. de Horsey ; the
Falcon, 16, Commander!. G. Fitzroy ; the Pioneer,
6, Commander C. H. Mly ; the Flying Fish, Com-
ma ider C. W. Hope ; the Intrepid, 6, Commander
G. Marryat ;
,and the Atsurance, 4, Commander C.
M. Aynsley-all of the beforementioned ships being
screws. Then there are,of paddles, the Firebrand,
6, Commander James AL •• Bruce ; Virago, 6, Com-
mander M. B. Dunn; anl Gorgon, 6, Commander
B. C. F. Pim. The majoity of the ships composing
this important fleet have been commissioned during
the past few weeks, and are, for the most part, fully
manned. There is also a powerful reserve ready to
be commissioned, including the Duke of Wellington,
131, Royal Sovereign, 131, Royal George, 102,
Edgar, 91, Colossus, 80, Goliath, 80,. Meanee, 80,
Majestic, 80, Mars, 80, Melpomene, 51, Imperieuse,
51, Orlando, 50, Dauntless, 32 ; and also, for the
purpose of home defence, there are the screw block
ships Nile, 91, Captain A. Wilmot, C.B. ; Corn-
wallis, 60, Captain Randolph ; Pembroke, 60, Capt.
Charlewcod ; Blenheim, 60, Captain Scott, C.B. ;
Russell, GO; Captain Storey; Hawke, 60, Captain
Crispin ; Ajax,- 60, Captain Boyd ; Edinburgh, 60,
Captain Iryncourt ; Hastings, 60, Capt. Mends ;
Hogue, 60, Captain Moore, C.B. ; and the Arrogant,
47, captain L. G. Heath, C.B. The number of
vess in commission, therefore, on the home sta-
..

tion exclusive of the TN7.I 41hert. Calsar. and
Diadem, are—ships of the line, 17; frigates, 8 ;
smaller vessels, 9. Line-of•battle ships ready for
commission, 10 ; frigates, 3.
The following appointments were ma le yester-
day at the Admiralty :
Lieutenants—John Gunn Robins, to be harbourmaster
at Falmouth; George Naylor, R.M., to be adjutant at the
Woolwich Division of Royal Marines, vice Fraser, pro-
moted.

Mates—C. R. Buckle, R. G. Pasley, and E. G. Jermain,
to the Royal yacht Victoria and Albert, for special service.

SIR C. WOOD ON POLITICAL PARTIES

After the official declaration of the poll for the
West Riding, at Wakefield, on Thursday last, the
newly-elected members (Sir J. W. Ramsden and
Mr. F. Crossley) and a large party of their Liberal
suppor
speechesters took
wereluncheondelivered. eli tioed.
together, after which
several In
the course of
the proceedings.
Sir CHARLES WOOD gave "The Literal Electors
of the West Riding," and was loudly cheered. e
congratulated them on their victory, and expressed
his conviction; that the gentlemen they had chosen
would faithfully represent the united opinions of
the West Riding. (Cheers.) He congratulated
them on having escaped the mongrel state of having
one Yellow and one Blue, and thus neutralizing the
voice of their representatives in Parliament. (Hear,
hear.) He congratulated them on having escaped
being represented by one who, if he represented
them as he did history on S irday, would repre-
sent them most unsatisfactorily. (Cheers.) Their
right hon. opponent taunted Sir John Rarasien
with gathering his information from books it t to
occurrences which took place when he was a child,
but he (Sir Charles Wood) was prepared to say that
Sir John showed a more accurate knowledge of
those events than the right honourable
gentleman himself. (Hear, hear.) Sir John
was right in going back to events. which
occurred before his birth, because he wished to
identify himself with the great principles of the
Liberal party—principles which had been
held by a Milton, a Morpeth, a Goderich, and now
by a Ramsden and a Crossley—(cheers)—those glo-.
rious principles which had animated the breasts of
the Liberal party, in the kingdom from the time of
the Revolution downwards. (Cheers.) Sir John
was right in identifying himself with the prin-
ciples which they had held, advocated, and would
carry to still further triumphs in the future. (Cheers.)
Ho must confess that he was astonished at the his-
tory which they heard on the hustings. (Hear,
hear.) It was his fate to enter Parliament at a
time of great importance, and one ch.
votes he gave was for the first alteration in the old
corn laws. The second vote he gave was for the
repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts. (Cheers.)
There was no important measure since that time in ,
which he had not borne a humble part. (Hear.)
He spoke, therefore, not of what he had read, but
of what he had seen, in relation to those great ,
measures of civil and religious freedom which had
been accomplished by the efforts of the Liberal
party. (Hear, hear.) There were also the eman-
cipation of the slaves, and the removal of those
shackles upon commerce which were struck off at
the last moment by a Tory who abjured his prin-
ciples, but which removal had been advocated by
the Liberal party under much more unfavourable
circumstances, and who had borne the heat and
labour of the day. (Hear.) There was no credit
due to a man who passed that at the last moment
which he had opposed all his life, and that not
from a sense of duty, but in the one case from fear
of civil war in Ireland, and in the other from the
dread of famine. (Cheers.) Well, they had now
returned two gentlemen who had been identified
from their youth upward with those great prin-
ciples which they as Liberals maintained. (Cheers.)
They need fear no backslidings on their part; they
would advocate their principles, and maintain them
at all hazards ; they would not wait until the tide
turned in their favour, but under adverse circum-
stances, as well as properous ones, would maintain
the principles which Liberals now held in com-
mon. (Cheers.) He congratulated them on the
answer they had given to the appeal of the Govern-
ment. (Cheers.) When defeated on the Reform
bill, Government appealed to the country to reverse
the decision of the House of Commons. Their
answer, at least, could not be misunderstood.
(Cheers.) The Government were anxious to escape
from the issue which the decision of the House of
Commons raised. They said they did not appeal to
the country on that bill, but on the merits of the
Government.GGovern
men
everin e
t on such
( I-I e ar, h ea r) . Well, let them weigh
the grounds. There were three
measures of importance which they brought before
the house, and what was the result ? There was,
first, the India Biil, which was rejected with con-
tempt and ridicule—(hear, hear)—next they brought
in a Church-rate Bill, which satisfied nobody, and
it was thrown out—(hear. hear)—the third measure
was the Reform Bill, of which he would say nothing
but this, that if it had been passed they would have
been better without the Reform Bill of 1832.
(Cheers.) Did it ever happen to any Government
in this country, or in the world, that upon three
great questions their measures would be so ill-con-
sidered, sq ill-calculated to meet with the approval
of the people, that every one of them failed ?
(Cheers.) Before the dissolution they were told that
the Government ought to bekept in power, because
there was only one man who could maintain the
peace of Europe, and that was Lord Malmesbury.
(Laughter.) IVell, the voice of England in Parlia-
ment, which might have had some weight, was
silenced by the dissolution, and within 10 days war
was declared. (Cheers.) Did they approve the
appointments of the Government when they put
into a high judicial situation a man who knew little
or nothing of law, having only held a clerkship in
an office, and the very mention of which appoint-
inent caused him to give it up ? (Loud cheers.) Did
they approve the manner in which a great depart-
ment over which he had once the honour of presiding
was made the arena of political jobbery? (Cheers.)
These were probably not the grounds on which the.
Government appealed to the country, but they were'
at least the facts most patent to all men, and he
congratulated the electors of the West Riding
on the answer which they had given, by sending
two men who would say, " Forbearing have we been,
long suffering have we been, a fair trial have we
given you, but your own acts are the strongest
condemnation which could be passed upon any
Government." (Loud cheers.) Let the Government
take it which way they liked ; they had asked the
constituency of the West Riding what they thought
of the Reform Bill, and what they thought of the
Government. (Hear.) There could be no doubt as
to the answer. (Cheers.) They rejected the one and
condemned the other. (Loud cheers.) Before he sat
down he would allude to one other topic to which
reference had already been made—namely, the
means of future victory. (Cheers.) They had now
two members, as they ought always to have had.
Why had they two? Because they were united.
(Cheers.) He had worked in these West Riding
elections for many years, and one thing upon which
he prided himself more than another was that he
had contributed something towards bringing about
a reunion of their party. (Cheers.) Had his advice
been taken there never would have been any schism,
and he trusted that past experience would teach
them that union was strength. (Hear, hear.) They
ought to have men connected with the two great

interests in the Riding, because the wealth, the
intelligence, the importance of the Riding depended
equally upon both, and he was proud to see that
they had now two such representatives; (Cheers.)
He was proud of it, because those gentlemen would
express the united opinion of the Riding, and not
of one section alone. (Hear, hear.) He was as
glad to see one as he was to see the other—one was
his neighbour, the other had lately- been his col-
league, and willingly and gladly did he trust both
or either of them with the advocacy of those prin-
ciples which he professed in common with that
assembly. (Cheers.) They must, however, remem-
ber that great as was their victory, so would be
the exertions of their enemies to retrieve their
defeat. (Hear, hear.) The Tories- would, no
doubt, now attend to the register more than they
had done, and if the union of the Liberal party
was to be cemented by future success they must
be even still more active in watching the
registration. (Cheers.) Mr. Crossley said that in
a neighbouring county the Liberals had lost the re-
presentation because they had neglected the register,
and that here they had won because they had at-
tended to the register. (Hear, hear.) It must not
now be neglected, and if they only worked \for the
future as they had worked in the past, not forget-
ting their experience, depend upon it the next
election, and the elections as far as he could look
'forward to, would be like the present, and that the
constituency would not be disgraced by a divided
representation, but that they would have their two
members going to Parliament to give expression to
the opinions of the vast majority of the electors and
inhabitants, to declare that freedom should be their
watchword, and progress and peace their greatest
glory. (Cheers.) He gave them " The Rice-tors of
the West Riding." (Renewed cheering.)
• Mr. HARRISON, of Wakefield, returned thanks on
behalf of the electors.