The Sun.
London, England, 1861-03-13 00:00:00

THE NAVY ESIIMATES.

The introduction of the Navy Estimates on Mon-
day evening produced a debate of extraordinary
interest. The discussion which was exceedingly
clear, and consequently very instructive, embraced
almost every point of importance, and we have now
learnt on the best authority a great many things
which it much concerned us to know. As the
governing vote for men and their maintenance
passed without opposition, it is plain that no con-
siderable party thinks the proposed establishment
excessive ; while, on the other hand, it has been
argued with some show of reason that the results
will really leave us with a satisfactory naval farce.
Of course, in these matters the standard is neces-
sarily comparative, and it was acknowledged
without the least disguise that our Estimates were
governed by the armaments and preparations of
other countries, and especially of France. The
conclusions established in the course of the debate
we will now explain.
The first and most important fact to be noticed is
the official admission that the invention of the iron-
cased ship is indeed a reality. The Secretary of
the Admiralty confessed that the Gloire was an
almost absolute success. She can certainly steam at
a very great speed, for she outstripped every vessel
of a picked squadron. She can as certainly live in
very bad weather, for she was caught in a heavy gale
in the Gulf of Lyons, and Lord C. Paget himself
saw her a few days afterwards looking none .the
worse for it. It follows, therefore, as a matter of
course, that if iron-cased frigates, besides being
practically invulnerable, can do what the Gloire is
known to have done, they must, within certain
limits, supersede wooden vessels as fighting ships.
In this conclusion Sir Jahn Pakington also, though
doubting the capabilities ascribed to the Gloire, un-
hesitatingly concurred, :and, as no contradictiein
was offered, we must now assume that the izon
ship controversy is finally decided. It may be
true that the use of these vessels will be mainly
confined to the narrow seas, but it is in those seas
that the most decisive battles are likely to be
fought. Here, then, we obtain another deduction
—viz., that the relative forces of two maritime
IPowers must in future be measured, as far as home
squadrons are concerned, by their iron-cased vessels,
and this comparison we are enabled on the present
occasion to institute with considerable accuracy.
Our own fleet of ironsides comprises two first-
rates actually launched, and one on the stocks;
two second-rates, which will be ready for launch-
ing in a month or two; and two others which can-
not exactly be classified, bat which are expected to
be rather larger than the second-rates, but lighter
than the first-rates. How far these several speci-
mens will be actually successful we cannot say,i ti-
asmuch as no ship of the new fleet has yet been to
sea, but in dimensions, power, and speed, it may be
confidently assumed that our three first-rates will
surpass any vessels of this class afloat. That is the
whole of our new Navy. Turning to other Powers,
we learn that France has two first-rates actually
afloat, four second-rates, four third-rates, and five
gunboats, which we suppose we may classify as
fourth-rates. To what extent these last 13 vessels
are advanced we are not exactly informed, but itis
said that the entire fleet could be sent to sea in the
course of the summer ; and we are told, on the
authority of the Prime Minister, that 10 more first-
rates have been ordered on the model of the Gloire.
Spain, again, has one iron-cased vessel on the
stocks; Italy one likewise, and Russia one in pros-
pect. The invention, therefore, is fairly accepted
by the maritime Powers of Europe; but Lord C.
Paget omitted to state the equally remarkable fact
that it still remains without recognition in the
United States of America. Altogether, and ex-
cluding the Russian vessel, which exists in prospect
only, there appear 24 of these new ships of war
either actually afloat or shortly to be launched.
Of these we possess seven, and three of our seven
will be a match, it is said, for any other six. That
is the present state of the case; but we cannot
conclude without observing that experience has
shown how very rapidly we could increase our
strength if it became desirable to do so. When
the Admiralty can make up its mind as to di-
mensions and model, it can obtain from our
private shipbuilders as many ironsides as it
pleases, and at a rate of production which could
not be equalled by all Europe besides. Mr. Lind-
say was perfectly justified in telling the French
that it was of no use for them to contend
against us, for that we should infallibly keep
ahead of them do what they would. It is only a
pity that the moral should not be practically
applied, so as to relieve both countries from the
expense of a struggle in which, though France
must lose, England can only win at a destructive
cost.

Ironsides, however, will not, according to pre-
sent estimate, form the only constituents of a
national marine. For remote stations, distant
cruises, and the general work of the sea, it is
thought that wooden ships must still be employed ;
and in this class of vessels we are far stronger than
France—stronger in the proportion of two to one.
Nevertheless, it is proposed to add some 10,000 to
the tonnage of our wooden fleet this year, princi-
pally in the class of sloops, gunboats, and despatch-
vessels ; and it is further proposed to purchase a
large stock of timber for store as well as use. Will
this be a judicious outlay ? The store timber will
probably be a good investment; for, though it is
surmised that we shall ultimately be able to dis-
pense entirely with wood in the construction of
our ironsides, nobody can doubt that timber will
be wanted in our dockyards, and that it will be
the better for keeping. But it is incumbent upon
us to be always pressing forward wooden ships of
some class or, other—gunboats one year, line-of-
battle ships and frigates the next, and gunboats
again the year after ? We have ceased, as it seems,
to build wooden first-rates, the French having
ceased in 1856, and so saved five years of out-
lay upon an expiring fashion. We have also ceased
to lay down frigates, but we are still going on

P ttIOE 4D. STAMPED, 51).

with the class below, though Lord C. Paget con-
fessed that the French were building even their gun-
boats of iron, and with such success as to give them
a " very formidable character." Why, then,
should we build eight sloops and five gun-vessels
all of wood, while there is stall, as Lord Palmer-
ston remarked, " one point in which our Navy is
not in a sutisfactory position—viz., that of iron
ship ?" Would it not be better to direct our efforts
towards strengthening our weak point, instead of
expending them on a point where we are over-
whelmingly strong.
In respect of men, there was certainly a good
account given. The proposed reduction, nominally
of 7,000, but really of 6,000 sailors, will not affect
our defensive strength, having been rendered prac-
ticable simply by the conclusion of the Chinese
War. Our reserves, it is once more affirmed, are
now really coming on, and it is officially stated
that in case of emergensy we could call upon 25,000
good seamen—a force sufficient to wan a powerful
fleet. Added to the actual effectives, this gives
us nearly 80,000 men, whereas it is admitted
that France could only raise a similar Lumber
by impressing almost every soul of her entire sea-
faring population. True it is, as the Prime Minis-
ter observed, that this is precisely the step which
she might be expected to take; but still, if we have
easily and promptly at our command as strong a
force as our neighbours could raise by the most con-
vulsive and exhausting effort, we cannot be badly
off in this respect. We must express our hopes,
however, that Sir J. Elphinstone s hint will be
taken, and that the fleet may be rather weeded
than reduced in the proposed diminution of its nu-
merical strength. The Secretary of the Admiralty
could give but an indefinite contradiction to the
reports of the bad discipline said to prevail in the
navy, and if it be true that we have two very dif-
ferent classes of seamen, it would be a thousand
pities to lose U. good and retain the bad. How-
ever, upon the whole, this exposition of our naval
affairs has not been unsatisfactory. We are unap-
proachably strong in wooden vessels, though the
mode: is unluckily going out ; we are making some
progress in iron vessels, which are coming in, and
are fairly in a position of advantage, taking the
two together. Above all, we have at length a good
supply of seamen ; and, if the reduction of the esti-
mates is not so considerable as it might be, we can
only trust that the economical problem will be
solved along with that of Admiralty administration.
—Times.

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.

HOME CIRCUIT.--MAIDSTONE, March 12.

Emmanuel Thomas Pope, 23, a private in the sth
Dragoon Guards, was charged with wilfully and
maliciously discharging a loaded gun at Margaret
Carter with intent to do her grievous bodily harm.
Mr. Addison conducted the prosecution.
It appeared that the prisoner, who was stationed
with his regiment at Shorncliffe camp, had been
for some time in the habit of " walking out," as was
stated by the prosecutrix, who is a young girl living
at Cheriton, in the neighbourhood of the camp, and
they were on friendly terms at the time the trans•
action took place that was the subject of inquiry.
About half past one o'clock on the morning of the
26th February the prisoner went to the cottage
where the prosecutrix was living, and where she
was in bed with another young woman, and he
called out to her and told her to get up and come
out to him. She refused, and said that if he came
at a proper time she would go out with him, but
she would not do so at so late an hour. The prisoner
upon this threw a stick at the lattice win-
dow, and broke several small panes of glass, and
the prosecutrix asked him what he meant by acting
in such a manner. The reply he made was, that he
could pay for any windows that he might break,
and he still urged the prosecutrix to come down to
him, but she persisted in refusing. She then saw
the prisoner take up his carbine and apparently
load it, and he at the same time asked her if she
knew what he had got there. She replied that she
did not, and the prisoner then called out, " I have
got my carbine, and if you don't come down to me
I will send a shot: through you." The proscutrix
upon hearing this retreated from the window, say-
ing that she wished the prisoner a very good night,
and got into bed, and the prisoner then threw
another stick at the window, and immediately
afterwards discharged his piece through the win-
dow, but the prosecutrix did not receive any in-
jury. There was evidence that the frame of the
window bore a mark apparently made by a
bullet, but this fact was not clearly established,
and it appeared that no bullet was found.
The prisoner was taken into custody by the picket
shortly after the occurrence, but a day or two after
wards he contrived to make his escape from the
guard room, and he was met by Pyne, one of the
Kent county constabulary, several miles from the
camp, going in the direction of Ashford. The con-
stable asked him if he had got a pass, and he replied
that he had got his discharge ; but when he was
asked to show it to him, he endeavoured to strike
him with his carbine, and they struggled together
for nearly half an hour before the prisoner could be
secured. When under examination before the ma-
gistrate the prisoner said that he had been drink-
ing, and he knew nothing of what had happened
until he found himself in custody.
Mr. Justice Wightman, upon these facts, left it
to the jury to say whether they believed that the
prisoner really intended to do any serious mischief
to the prosecutrix, taking into consideration the
facts that she had left the window and was in bed
at the time the gun was fired; or whether the pri-
soner merely intended to vent his ill-feeling at her
refusal to go out with him, and to alarm her by dis-
charging the piece in the direction of the window.
The jury, after a short deliberation, returned a
verdict of not guilty.
There was another charge against the prisoner of
common assault, arising out of 019 same transaction,
but no evidence was offered in support of it, and he
was ordered to be at once discharged.