The Sun.
London, England, 1861-07-10 00:00:00

IRREMOVABLE POOR BILL.

In reply to Mr. HENLEY,

Mr. VILLIERS said that as this bill had gone through
a good deal of discussion during the day, that was a reason
why it might be brought on late at night. (A laugh.)
Mr. HENLEY—After what hour at night would it not
be taken ?

Mr. VILLIERS would not bring it on after two.
Laugbter.)

THE WEDNESDAY SITTING.

In reply to Mr. HENNESSY,

Lord J. RUSSELL said, as the Queen was not in Lon-
don, it was not the intention of the Government to adjourn
over to-morrow. (Hear.)
NAVY RESERVED LIST OF CAPTAINS.

Mr. B. COCHRANE, in rising to move that the case of
the captains placed on the reserved list by order of council
in 1851 be referred to the Attorney-General for his opinion,
said that previous to 1851 there was promotion by brevet,
and when that was discontinued it was felt to be a great
hardship on the officers of the navy. They asked therefore
to obtain permission for a certain number of captains to have
their names placed not on the retired list but on the re- I
served list; that was to say they were to be considered on the 1
active list as regarded scale of pay and promotion, but were
not to be expected to peform active duties except in time of
war. As a proof that this was the understanding several of
them received the Greenwich out-pension. Now, when 13
of these officers would receive 18s. a day half pay on that
understanding of the transaction, an order came from the
Boardrnetiierendoobfll
lest Admiralty,fria:ndd
(L wereord statingnet
pthat e theyexpect
elle
ta
dwt
heereaodffid
admittedci
additional
rostnhaoalnt
pay.tthhee
had remedied th
order in scruncilwasmost C.
ge
giving 77 of those officers .ambiguous, and the Board of Ad-
, miralty
nattuttoasn,iecee
ofd osni.xepbeyncethoartaorsdheilrlinbyg
raioduasy.meHn.e
11%k:de
ht:ideshomouesPeof themithbeen serving since 1803,
do justice to those nierito-
and they were engaged in all the great actions of the
te by the repre-
war with France. They had
sentations of the Admiralty to inducedaccept the
hrrno s proposed to
opiers
Leh)
to be
them, and they were now told that their
an opinion
had
disappointed. An eminent Queen's counsel
been consulted upon their case, and had given.
Ithat if the contract were within the cognisance of the courts
of law the claims of the captains would be held to be well
founded, and would be enforced. Under these circum-
stances he hoped the noble lord would agree to his proposi-
tion, and refer the case to the Attorney-General.
Admiral WALCOTT seconded the motion. He had always
held that these officers had been treated with injustice. He
would not repeat the statement of the many gallant actions
in which they had been engaged, and they now only asked
for a moderate requital of their services.
1 Sir J. ELPHINSTONE thought it reasonable that the
noble lord should agree to his hon. friend's proposition.
These gentlemen were astonished and horrified at finding
what was the Admiralty version of the contract with them,
and they had referred their case to eminent Queen's counsel.
He thought the Admiralty would do well to accede to their
demands, which appeared to him to be founded upon jus-
tice. If a violation of good faith were perpetrated in their
case, no man would henceforth come into the navy without
taking the opinion of counsel upon the terms offered by the
Admiralty.
Lord C. PAGET said he did not think it was advisable
that her Majesty's order in council should be referred to a
legal opinion. He denied that he had said that the order in
council was ambiguous. What he stated was that these
officers considered that it was open to doubt. The intention
of the Admiralty of that day was that these officers were not
to rise pari passe with other officers. It could never have
been their intention to place these officers upon the same
footing as officers on the active list. With any such a regu-
lation it would be impossible to conduct the business of the
navy. The general question of the promotion of active and