The Sun.
London, England, 1844-08-07 00:00:00

k RON rinil EVENING PAPERS OF YESTERDAY.

GLOBE.—A short but somewhat sharp discussion arose
last night in the House of Lords, on Lord Minto's motion
" for returns of the comparative strength of the navy in the
years 1842 and 1844, and of the force stationed at Otaheite dur-
ing that period." Although the motion failed of its apparent
purpose, its real object will be achieved. The clamour that was
raised within and without the walls of Parliament against the
late Government, because of an imputed neglect of the naval
. force of the country, is now shown to have been utterly
groundless. More flagrant violations of truth than those
perpetrated by the party now in power, in support of that
imputation, were never practised upon the feelings of a
generous nation. The absurd alarms which were raised at
that time will not be easily forgotten. Among other bugbears,
raised to excite the alarms of the timid, and to supply topics
for the journals which echoed the falsehoods these great
statesmen employed as stepping-stones to office, it was
actually pretended that a Russian fleet was likely to come up
the Channel, land troops on our coasts, and desolate the country!
Had then been the slightest cause for the alarms they
spread when in opposition, respecting the defective state of
the naval force of the country, one of the first acts of the
vresent Ministry would have been to increase its efficiency.
isteglecting to do this, they voluntarily incur the blame they
sought to fasten on their predecessors; and they tazitly
admit that they had raised an accusation without ground.
But this does not exhibit the entire of the inconsistency
and self-convicted destitution of truth, by which the conduct
of the present Ministers, with reference to this question, is
demonstrated. To have maintained the navy in the same
state in which they found it upon obtaining the Government,
would have been an admission that their predecessors had
done all that was required for the defence of the country, and
that, notwithstanding their fulminations, when in opposi-
tion, no necessity existed for increasing the strength of
the navy for its protection or defence. But what will
be said when it is found that the present Ministers have
materially diminished both the number of the ships, and
the means of employing them with advantage ? Yet such
is the fact—a fact which seals their condemnation. They
stand convicted, upon the indubitable evidence of their own
acts, of faction and dishonesty, when attempting to obtain
the Government for themselves; and of neglect in that very
department of the Government with respect to which they
raised an unfounded outcry against their predecessors. A re-
ference to Lord Minto's speech will show the inadequate force
in commission for present purposes ; a force certainly dis-
proportionate, as compared with that kept up by the late
Ministry, of which the present Government uttered such loud
complaints. When the late Government vacated office there
were eighteen ships in commission. That number has been
diminished to nine—by the very men who held that
eighteen were not sufficient for the adequate defence of the
country ! What will be thought of Lord Haddington's depre-
cation of such discussions as that which Lord Minto had
raised by his motion ? " Such motions as the present were
inconvenient, and were calculated to disturb our rela-
tions with foreign Governments !" Much did his Lord-
ship, and those with whom he now acts, regard the
inconvenience and the danger of such discussion,s, when
they assailed the late Government upon the same
topics, in a tone much more virulent, and on grounds mani-
festly much less sustainable. There is, however, one con-
sideration that was not adverted to by either of the Noble
Lords who undertook to defend the Government ; but which
will excuse the neglect of the navy with which it
is chargeable. As our Foreign Minister seems willing
to submit to whatever insult may be inflicted upon
the British flag, or injury perpetrated against British in-
terests, there is the less occasion for providing the power of
resenting the one or protecting the other. The man who is
content to be kicked, will see no necessity for securing means
for defending himself against insult.
STANDARD.—Lord Minto raised a long debate last night
upon the state of the navy, contrasting the present force of
our marine with what it was when the present Government
came into office, and complaining of the inconsistency of the
present amount of the naval establishments with the com-
plaints made in 1839 by Conservative Members. We have no
objection to the most constant vigilance being bestowed on
the state of the navy, whatever Government might be in office.
The navy is the great constitutional defence of the em-
pire, and the expense is the only objection to maintaining it
at the highest possible degree of power and efficiency; but
the more frequently the deficiences, real or imaginary, of the
service are exposed, the less the public will grudge expense.
As to the details of Lord Minto's complaint, they have been
sufficiently answered again and again, by ourselves as well as
others. We have shown that the number of ships in commission,
when the present Government came into office, is no correct
term, because the late Government, while under sentence of
death and awaiting execution, employed the interval in
lavishly commissioning its ships for its friends and dependents
—Lord Minto's son with others. The charge of inconsistency
was happily met by the Duke of Wellington, who
reminded Lord Minto that in 1838, 1839, 1840, the Go-
vernment was carrying on war in three quarters of the
world, with (we may add) a reasonable prospect of a war
in the fourth (Europe), and it was then on good grounds
complained that the Government was carrying on a war
with a peace establishment; whereas now there is no war
anywhere, and the establishment is, notwithstanding,
stronger and more efficient than it was four years ago.
This is the truth. The present Government has
more men and many more ships ready for prompt
service than the late Government had, particularly
double the number of war steamers, the force
soonest available in war. If the number of ships of the line
in commission is less, it is in order that the substantial force
may be the greater. Ships of the line in commission are not
only the most expensive description of naval preparation,
but the least easily applicable upon any sudden emergency;
but the ships of the line are ready, and the men are ready,
though not on board of them. The men are where they
can be more efficiently employed on any sudden call,
should unhappily such a call be made ; and when they are
wanted for ships of the line, they can be drafted into them
at an hour's notice. These ships of the line are in fact just
as available for instant service as if they were cruising in the
channel, at an expense which would either enormously inflame
the estimates or seriously cripple a more necessary branch of.
the naval service. We should rejoice to see ten or twenty
ships of the line majestically sweeping up and down the
Channel, if the other branches of the service did not pay for
the display ; but when the choice lies between this noble exhi
bition and the construction of a dozen first and second class
steamers now on the stocks, we must vote for the steamers.
Let our Government, continue to augment this description
of force at the rate at which it has been augmenting it,
and in a few years England will possess a steam navy
that may place our sons very much at their ease
upon the subject of any imaginable war. The Duke of Wel-
lington treated precisely as it deserved the Whig Lord's re-
ference to the eccentricities indulged in in the Pacific.
" The eccentricities," and all serious allusion to them,
merit nothing but contempt, though they have been made
the subject of a grand display in the French Chambers, by
persons who, as the Journal des Debats says, seem to think
that a Frenchman has been roughly treated by an English-
man, not an Englishman by a Frenchman.