The Sun.
London, England, 1844-02-27 00:00:00

occasions were very frequent) the least duty connected
with his important office was required. So important
were the duties of the master that he (Sir C. Napier)
would not enter upon the command of any ship
unless he had a master upon whose skill and
knowledge he could rely with the greatest confidence ;
yet so badly were things managed that this important
officer in a first-rate vessel was actually paid less than a
similar officer in a small craft. He hoped the Board of
Admiralty would re-consider the position of those
officers. He next came to his own proposition. He
repeated, he approved of what the Right Hon. Baronet
had done, and he only wished to make the Right Hon.
Gentleman's plan a little more perfect, which could be
effected with very little trouble. He would now read to
the House what was his own opinion in the year 1828,
previous to the Right Hon. Baronet's being in the
Admiralty, respecting the constitution of the Board of
Admiralty. Those opinions were addressed to a
Member of Parliament, who in the year 1830 became
First Lord of that Board. (The Honourable and
Gallant Member then read the following extracts:—
" As it is generally supposed the office of Lord High
Admiral is too high a situation for an individual, re-
course must be had to a Board, which, though an irres •
ponsible body, may be constituted much better than it
now is. If a civilian must sit at its head he should be
First Lord ; if an Admiral, Commander-in-Chief of
the Fleet ; he should be assisted by the Vice and Rear-
Admirals of Great Britain, which situations should be
abolished as sinecures, and conferred on the two senior
naval Lords, thereby causing a saving of 900/
a-year. Their duties should be the same as
they now are ; an Admiral as superintendent
of the Dockyards, another admiral to superin-
tend the victualling and medical departments ; a cap-
tain of the fleet to assist the First Lord of the Admi-
ralty in his inspections, and be the man to whom
officers should address themselves, instead of to his pri-
vate secretary, and he should be accessible at all times.
The Treasurer of the Navy, who should be a good
financier and speaker, and who should bring the esti-
mates before the House • the two lay Lords should be
abolished, and if they really have any duty to perform,
let our naval officers do it. Attached to this Board (be-
side what there now is) should be a surveyor of the
navy, storekeeper-general, accountant-general, superin-
tendent of transports, physician of the fleet, purser of the
fleet, and adjutant-general of the marines. All cor-
respondence should be carried on with the members of
the Board charged with the department you had busi-
ness with, and, if dissatisfied with his decision, a letter,
addressed to the Secretary of the Admiralty, should be
submitted to them on board-days, and each individual
member should also bring forward such subject as he
did not think himself competent to decide on. When the
First Lord of the Admiralty had not time or in-
clination to make his inspections at the different
naval stations, the vice or rear-admirals should be dis •
patched, they should hoist their flags, and, for the time
being, be superior to all admirals; the chiefs of the other
departments, in like manner, should be paramount in
the dock-yards, victualling departments, and hospitals,
but should have nothing to do with the fleet. The First
Lord, accompanied by the captain of the fleet, to in-
struct him in the particular parts which he did not
understand, should be commander-in-chief in all the
departments.") The Honourable and Gallant Member
then went on to say that he wanted to see the naval
Board conducted in the same way as the Board of Ord-
nance was. It was quite impossible that the Accountant-
General could attend to all the things imposed upon
him—such as the description of the fleet, courts-mar-
tial, the management of the various stations throughout
the world, &c. It was thereupon necessary that some
remedy should be adopted for the present state of things.
In respect to the building of ships he admitted there was
a great deal of talent displayed. He gave to Captain
Symonds great credit for what he had done, but Captain
Symonds, like every other man, had his crochets, and re-
quired the superintending eye. There was no doubt he
had built some of the finest ships in the world, and the
Admiralty in employing him had done quite right. They
were right to secure six or seven builders, in order to
have the best work in the end that the country could se-
cure. But he must tell the Admiralty plainly that in
their building they were not so clever as they thought
themselves. The French had a far better class of steam
vessels than England, and the Navy Board ought to be
ashamed of such a fact. Even the Royal steam yacht,
the Albert and Victoria, was a failure in its construction,
and could not sail steadily and properly until 100
tons of ballast had been placed in her. Take the Albion.
She was to be the largest in the British navy,
and it was boasted she should be superior to the
Rodney. Experience had proved that she was not to
be compared to the Rodney. He had now finished the
observations he had to address to the House, and he
apologised for detaining it so long.—(Hear, hear.) It
was not his habit to trespass on th House, and he had
occupied its attention much longer than usual. But he
hoped what he had said would be received indulgently
by the House, and, command the consideration of the
Board of Admiralty.—(Hear, hear.)
Mr. WILLIAMS said a few words, which were in-
audible in the gallery.
Mr. SYDNEY HERBERT said the Hon. and Gallant
Officer had at considerable length criticised the manage-
ment of the Board of Admiralty, with respect to the
construction of different classes of ships and other mat-
ters; but he should recollect that these defects existed
in former Boards of Admiralty.
Sir C. NAPIER said he had admitted that to be the
case.
Mr. SYDNEY HERBERT—He did not wish to mis-
represent any thing that had fallen from the Hon. and
Gallant Member, but those defects ought not to be
charged entirely on the present Board of Admiralty.
With respeet to the statements made by the Gallant
Officer, the first related to the patronage of the civil
department of the Admiralty. As a general principle,
it would be intelligible to say that where naval men
were necessary, naval men should be employed in the
civil department, and were civil men were necessary
they should employ civilians. But they had gone much
farther than this; they had made 612 additional appoint-
ments of that kind to the civil departments of the dock-
yards. He was not opposed to the principle where it
was practicable, that naval men should be employed in
the civil services. He had himself introduced it into
Somerset-house. But he was not blind to the fact that
some inconvenience had arisen from it. If a naval
man was taken as a clerk, he was still looking out for a
ship, and when they went to sea there was a continual
interruption, so that they were constantly teaching men
what, as soon as it was learned, the service could derive
no advantage from. He defended the special promotions
for particular services as absolutely necessary, as rewards
for the dangers not only of war, but of such pestilential
climates as the coast of Africa. With respect to the
Coast Guard, all names for promotion in that service
were sent up to the Admiralty by the Comptroller, and
his selection was always adhered to ; there was no in-
stance of the Admiralty having chosen any others than
those so selected. There was, besides, an objection to the
principle of giving promotion in the navy for services
that were not naval. With regard to the masters in the
navy, he should not dwell on the particulars of their
keeping the stores in small vessels, but he might state
that no class of officers occupied more of the attention of
the Admiralty than the masters. They had been
promoted to the rank of commissioned officers ;
one had been promoted to the rank of Com-
mander, and two had been made Lieutenants.
—(Sir C. Napier—" Out of 450 1") With regard to
the construction of vessels, no one had a higher admira-
tion of Captain Symonds than he had ; but the Board
of Admiralty did not consider any man to be infallible.
In addition to the ships constructed by him, the Board
had allowed other builders to compete witk him, and
they had at that moment no less than nineteen experi-
mental vessels building, on lines laid down by different
persons ; that competition induced the greatest anxiety
in all of them to give the greatest attention to the
science. With respect to the alterations that had been
made in the ships with round sterns, and the altera-
tions in the bows and magazines, he contended they were
necessary, They must recollect that as time advanced
science e.deanced also, and if the Board of Admiralty
confined itself to the present plans of construction only,
they would be behind other nations. Those changes
and experiments could not be made without expense, but
that expense was no more than necessary. He believed
the Hon. and Gallant Officer's own plan of placing the
magazine on board vessels had been reported on, and
stated to be very dangerous. With regard to the
steamer, Penelope, though many accusations had
been made against her, yet on reading the reports
from'the officers on board of her, he found her per-
formance highly spoken of. She was stated to have beaten
every war steamer she had met. With respect to the
Albion, he read a letter from Commodore Bowles to
Captain Symonds, expressive of admiration at her con-
struction, and stating her to bo the finest three-decker
in the world • he also read another letter from Mr.
Northcote, the master, who stated that he rejoiced at
the opportunity of refuting the diabolical assertions with
respect to their noble ship.—(Laughter.) The report of
the particulars of her depth of water when loaded, &c.
contradicted those of the Hon. and Gallant Officer. He
did not quite see what the objections of the Hon. and
Oallant Member to the present system were ; he did not
see what advantage his plan would have over the present
system. The Gallant Officer said, that the Board was
changed at every change of. Ministry, and those who
came in were obliged to depend on the Information of
the inferior officers, The same objection applied to
every department ; it applied to the offices of the
Secretaries of State. If it was an evil, it was the neces-
sary result of their representative system, which
created frequent charges of parties ; but it did
not apply to the Board of Admiralty more
than to any other department. It was a mistake to sup-
pose that the members of the Board of Admiralty con-
'mod themselves entirely to Whitehall; there was also a
regular n
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40414 pgp#4l. said, the argument that no or-
ganic change Ought to 1)P InaclP till the 444 astem was
proved not to have worked well, waypott Ili ,
Honourable Baronet opposite, and the charii
Officer next him, when the sweeping measure
liciform was proposed, which they both resisted.
The tratlailt, Q*4-94 k-Pt complained of the con-
struction of the Boar of mir44. 144 Pf %fiffiP
pursued by them. He always looked 'on these" Mauers
without any reference to party. The Board of Ordnance
bas arranged in a different manner, and it worked far
utter awl the 844407 Bog* There waft po re-