The Sun.
London, England, 1845-02-14 00:00:00

NAVY ESTIMATES.

Captain PEC HELL said that, upon her Majesty's
Miuisters submitting the Navy Estimates to the House,
he would move that the House do take into consideration
the claims of Captain Clarkson.
WINDOW-TAX.

The IloN. MEMBER also gave notice that he would,
on Tuesday next, move for certain returns relative to
the modes of assessment of the window-tax.
RAILWAY COMMITTEES' BILL,

Mr. WALLACE begged leave to ask the Noble Lord,

the Chancellor of theibuchy of Lancaster, whether it
was true that there were on the present Railway Com-
mittee many persons who were interested, more or less,
in railway speculations ?
Lord GRANVILLE SOMERSET, in answer to the

Hon. Member opposite, begged to say that he would at
once admit that there were such persons
on the Committee ; but it did not appear
to him that much serious objection could arise
from that circumstance ; for this reason, that
one object of the Committee was, to see that the pro-
jected lines brought under the consideration of the House
had fair play; and he really thought that they would not
have fair play unless the parties, who were placed is the
situation referred to by the Hon. Member, constituted a
part of the Committee.

Mr. WALLACE said, having laid the facts before
le House, he felt that he had discharged his duty.
PRIVILEGE.

The order of the day for the consideration of the
statement of the Sergeant-at-Arms having been read,
The SOLICITOR-GENERAL said that, in calling,
the attention of the House to the position of the Ser-
geant-at-Arms, relative to certain proceedings which had
been instituted against him, he was induced to think
that there would be no opposition offered to the mo-
tion of which he had given notice ; and he
was therefore not disposed to trespass upon the House
with any statement of the case. He would propose,
therefore, that the House should on that occasion adopt
the course which was taken in 1843, when a similar ac-

tion was brought against the Sergeant-at-Arms. The
House had then, upon the motion of his Honour-
able and Learned Friend, the present Attorney-Ge-
neral, decided on giving leave to the Sergeant-at-
Arms to appear, and plead to the action. A plea had
been put on the record, to which there was a demurrer.
That demurrer had been argued, and was now standing
for the judgment of the Court. He would now move
" That Sir William Gosset, Kut., the Sergeant-at-Arms,
attending this House, have leave to appear and defend
the action brought against him by Thomas Howard."
Lord J. RUSSELL said he would not offer any objec-
tion to the motion proposed by the Hon. and Learned
Gentleman. He would merely state that he retained the
opinions which he had before expressed as to the proper
course to be pursued under such circumstances.
NOTICE OF MOTION—STATE OF TEIE NAVY.
Sir C. NAPIER rose to move for a Select Committee
"to inquire into the manner in which the money vested
since 1835, for the construction of ships, had been ex-
pended, and if the ships constructed are an improvement
of the old system." The Honourable Member
(who dropped his voice so as to be nearly in-
audible) in commencing his speech, proceeded to say
that his only motive in bringing forward the motion
was to ascertain whether or not the reports in circula-
tion as to the defects of these ships were correct. He
had been told that it was no business of his to interfere
with such a matter; that it should be left to the proper
authorities, by which was meant, he supposed, the Admi-
ralty. It had been left to the proper authorities for a
great number of years, and they had, notwithstanding,
seen the greatest errors and blunders prevailing. This
was neither a political nor a party question, but one
which concerned the well being of the navy and the
proper application of the finances of the country ; and,
in the remarks which he was about to make, he should
he guided solely by such considerations. It would be
necessary to go back for a considerable time. When
he (Sir C. Napier) first entered the service, in 1800, the
navy contained several three-deckers of 120, 110, 98, and
90 guns. The first class generally consisted of good
ships, but the others were so inferior, that they were
found totally unfit for service ; but, notwithstanding
all the representations which were made to the Ad-
miralty, the same system was persevered in.
This country had taken some very excellent ships from
the French. There were the Terror, the Sans Pareil,
and the Canopus. Several ships had been constructed
upon the model of the Canopus, and had been found to
answer extremely well. The Sans Pared was
a most excellent ship, but she had never
been copied up to this very time. He now
came to the frigates of those days. There were forty-
six gun frigates, forty-two gun frigates, and thirty-two
gun frigates, all carrying 18-pounders, thirty-two gun
frigates carrying 12-pounders, and twenty-eight gun
frigates. Those were very good ships in their clay, but
they were found not to answer, and they were superseded
by the thirty- two gun ships. One of these ships was
commanded by at. Ho.;. and Gallant Officer opposite, and
another by himself, 6nd he could say that a more useless
lot of ships had never been constructed by any Admi-
ralty. They were found to be inefficient, in fact, good
for nothing ; and they were superseded by another class
of frigates, called twenty-eight gun frigates. These,
however, like the rest, were not found to answer, and
thus were given up. Another class of ships
were those called sixteen gun sloops, mounting six-
pounders, and those vessels wore persevered in until they
were found perfectly useless ; and there was not a
youngster or boy in the navy that did not know it. The
next class of ships adopted were the eighteen-gun
frigates, which were much longer and much narrower
than the eighteen gun brigs, which every body must have
expected would have failed, and which he looked upon as