The Sun.
London, England, 1842-03-23 00:00:00

think fit to sanction such a restriction, let them do it in a de-
finite and intelligible manner, but not by such resolutions as

these.

The first resolution was to the effect that in t'.e

opinion of the House, the advantage of having the Naval
Board composed of naval ,officers ought to be fully considered.
He did not doubt. taken assn abstract proposition, the propriety
of that advantage being contidered; butlet that considerwion be
left to the same power whict selected the head of the army.
The resolution went to affirm that the whole Board ought to

be composed of naval men, and that civilians ought to he ex-
cluded entirely from it. If that was the proposition of the
Gallant Officer, he must dissent fro it. Experience, long
usage, and the practice 0f,.a1l Gosier 'ents, showed that civi-
lians should not be so exedasded. If jtt.was only intendel that
the head of the Admiralty'stiiiuld beriiival man, the proposi-
tion was injurious. Supposing he (Sii: R. Peel) had brought
forward such a proposal when Lord Mint() was First L rd—
could he have continued:to 4.lirselia.kge: its duties satisfactorily ?
If the House said that the naval serv:ce should at
a future time be a 12iliva,%;4i; surely it was very in-
consistent that for the present,i4d7;i4eNrary period, that
officer should be a civilian;—(Cries of " Hear, hear.")
The Gallant Officer said he did not wish to cast any reflection
on either Lord !pinto or Lord Haddington. 1:Ie said it would be
impossible to select a civilian, who, in the short time he hal
filled the office, had given so much satisfaction as the present
First Lord of the Admiralty. if he had so conducted himself
as to extort this not reluctant praise from the Gallant Officer,
the House ought not to throw a difficulty in the way of his
discharging his duties satisfactorily, by aprearing divided
in op nion as to the person who should hold the office
That would be a most injurious precedent. and a stretch of
the powers of that House. The Gallant Officer had himself
admitted that the late Noble Lord at the head of the Admi-
ralty, as well as his predecessor, had discharged the duties of
their office as well a's could have been possibly anticipated from
ar.y unprofessional men. It would not follow, either, that if
the House adopted the resolutions of the Gallant Officer, parties
would still be satisfied with the administration of the Board of

Admiralty. The House of Commons had formerly worried
Lord Keppel, and afterwards Lord Howe, with their resolu-
tions, but no general satisfaction was still given by the
administration of affairs at the Admiralty.—( Hear, hear. )
Lord Howe was, indeed, worried out by motions.—( Laughter.)
lie made a motion on the subject, but it was negatived by a
majority of, he believed, 50. He was worried out of the House
of Commons—(Laughter)—he was worried out of the office
of First Lord of the Admiralty—(Laughter)—but he was net
so far worn out that he was not able to fight, and fight well,
the action of the Ist of June, 1794.—(Cheers. ) Would the
Gallant Officer allow him to say, that he'did not see any use,
or any public advantage, in speculating in hypothetical ques-
tions as to the power they possesseii. He heard speculations as
to the result of a naval action with France; but while they
may be proud of their own power, why should they be stirting
up ill-will—: Cheers)—by any speculations whether France
on ihe one hand, would defeat them, or, on the other, whether

they would defeat France?—•( Cheers.) He would enter into
no speculation of the kind.—( Hear.) Theywere now at peace
with France. The misunderstanding which had subsisted betwe, n
them had ceased, and why, then, should they go back to trans-
actions on the coast of Spain and Syria, or speculate on the
results of an action with France ?—(Cheers. ) While he had
the greatest confidence in the navy of the country he did not
think it wise to make any reference to such a subject.—
( ) He hoped the House would pause before it gave its
assent to the motion of the Hon. and Gallant Commodore.

He (Sir R. Peel) had laid down no rule with respect to the ex-
clusion of naval officers—( Hear, hear)—but he did not want to
purchace the abandonment of the motion by the expression of
any hope on the subject. The subject was reserved
for the Crown, and he deprecated the House of Commons
interposing any restriction on the exercise of the prerogatives
of the Crown.—( Hear, hear.) Where were they to stop in
imposing such restrictions, if they began once ? ( Hear, hear.)
His Right Hon. Friend near him moved the previous question,
and he hoped the Hon. and Gallant Commodore would, when
he considered the relation in which he himself, the relation in
which the navy, and the relation in which the country stood
with respect to the Crown, deem it the wiser plan to leave the
Crown to consider what course was best to be adopted.
Mr. CHARLES WOOD trusted that the situation which
he had formerly held at the Admiralty would justify him in
offering a few observations to the House, and they should be
a very few ; in fact, had it not been that his Hon. and Gal-
lant iriend, who had brought forward the motion had, in Being
so, cast imputations on the character of his Noble Friend (Earl
Minto) formerly at the head of tho Admiralty, h- (Mr. C. W.)
would not have troubled the House at all on the question. With
regard to the general terms of the motion, he entirely concurred
in all that had fallen from the Right Hon. 3aronet, the Secre-
tary for the Home Department, and, from the Right lion.
Baronet who had just sat down.—( Hear, hear.) He perfectly
agreed with them in opinion, that the present constitution of
the Board of Admiralty was the one, on the whole, most cal-
culated to be beneficial to the service. Like those Right lion.
Gentlemen, he had no wish to exclude naval officers trom the
situation of First Lord of the Admiralty, but he thought it
wrong and inexpedient to attempt, by a resolution of that
House, to fetter the discretion of the Crown. He also agreed
with the Right Hen. Baronet that it was better not to go back
to consider what might have been the result of a collision in the
Mediterranean two years since. He thought some considera-
tion was due to the opinion of his Hon. and Gallant Friends—
( Hear, hear)--although, he thought that, perhaps, they would
have acted more wisely had they abstained from giving that opi-
nion. He fe.t assured, how•ever,that the honour of the British navy
could have been placed in no hands more safely than in theirs,
and that in their hands the honour of the British' flag would
never have been tarnished.—(Cheers. ). Perhaps it might be
thought that from the situation which he (Mr. C. Wood) had
held at the Admiralty, under Lord Minto, that he could not be
an impartial witness. On the contrary, however, he contended
that he (Mr C. Wood) had been in a situation to form an im-
partial judgment, for, from the moment he had accepted office,
he had laid down a rule for his own conduct, to which he had
rigidly adhered, and that was, never to interfere in any manner,
or to offer any opinion, upon any question relating to the pro-
motion of officers.—(Cheers.) He took no credit to himself
on that account, as he considered he had only been doing his
duty ; but to that rule he had ever constantly adhered, there-
fore, with regard to all such questions, he was merely a
looker on, and he felt hound to declare, as an impar-
tial witness, that if ever there was a First Lord of the
Admiralty who, in the promotion of naval officers,
had looked solely to the merits and professional claims of the
officers, who had taken infinite pains to acquire a knowledge of
those claims, and who had been anxious only to do his duty to
the claims of those officers, uninfluenced by personal considera-
tions, that man was Lord Minto—(Cheers)—and when his
Gallant Friend had alluded to an officer bearing the same
name as his Noble Friend, to an officer of the llama of Elliot,
he (Mr. C. Wood) thought his Gallant Friend must have been
aware that that gentleman was no relative or connexion of the
Noble Earl's.—( Hear, hear.) The merits of that gentleman
had been admitted on a former occasion by the Right lion.
Baronet when discussing the naval estimates, and he (Mr. C.
Wood) could assure his Gallant Friend, that if he adduced
that gentleman's promotion as an instance of the exercise of
personal patronage on the part of his Noble Friend, he (Sir C.
Napier) did that Noble Earl (hlinto) great injustice. That
gentleman was wally unconnected with the Noble
Lord, and had distinguished claims on the [coun-
try, and whatever might have been the appointment
which he had received from the late Board, or whatever might
he the event of that favourable consideration of his services
which he (Mr. C. Wood) understood had been promised him
by the present Board, he owed it all solely to his distinguished
services, and not to any personal or political connexion what-
ever. He thought he should be trespassing on the time of the
House if he was to attempt to go over the points of the discus-
sion, which had obtained a desultory character, and which could
be productive of but little good. He confessed that he did not
agree with what had been stated by many Hon. Gentlemen on
that side of the House, with respst to the naval service, for he
believed that all those matters of detail were infinitely better left
to the Executive department. He would only remind his Gallant
Friend, when he laid claim to the motion that the Noble Lord
to whom he had alluded had withdrawn a motion of which he
had given notice on his (Mr. W.'s) assurance that the subject
would come under the consideration of the Board of Admi-
ralty, althoug'a it was true that on a subsequent occasion a
Committee was appointed in consequence of that motiou, and
when that Committee came to investieate the marine service,
they found that the Board of Admralty had left them but
little to do.

Sir T. TROUBRIDGE said he hoped the House would
indulge him fur a few minutes, while he alluded to one or two
points in the debate on this subject. The first point was with
respect to the Board of Admiralty as it was at present consti-
tuted. He did not believe that the present system could
be changed to advantage.—.( Hear, hear.) He thought
that the First Lord of the Admiralty was one of the
most important of the Cabinet Ministers, and he thought he
should be borne out in this. His opinion was, wherever there
was a man of high character and standing in the country,
wherever that man could be found, that was the man most fit-
ting for the First Lord of the Admiralty. In saying this, he
did not exclude naval officers ; a naval man of high standing in
the country was as fitted for the station as any other. If he
were to give his opinion as to that man, he should probably name
Lord de Grey, not for the'same reason as the Hon. and 'Gallant
Officer behind him (Captain Pechell) did, but for his high
standing and position, for his talent and rank. He thought,
where an officer of this description could be found, he was the
man to be First Lord of the Admiralty, in order that
he might be a guarantee to the public that the duties
of the office would be properly performed. The second point
was one with which he was rather more intimately connected,
that was, that a naval officer should form one of the Board of
Ordnance. When he happened to be Secretary to the Admi-
ralty, that department was under his control ; therefore he
spoke confidently, and he believed that great advantage
would arise from a communication between the Board of Ord-
nance and the Board of Admiralty. He formed this opinion
upoa experience. Now with respect to the situations
at the head of the dockyards being filled by naval men,
he thought that this was a subject which ought not to be
brought before the House. The next point was with respect
to the retirement of officers, and he had no hesitation in
saying that he should bo glad to see officers retiring
if there was a probability of increasing their allowance.
But at the acme time, he thought it was not to be lost sight of,
that many of the Hon. Gentlemen whe supported tl,at motion
came into that House pledged. He had had the honour of
coming into that House, many years ago, pledged to unflinching
economy. If there was any money to spare, he did not hesi-
tate in giving his opinion that there was another class of the
navy which deserved increased pay, and that was the petty
officers. He should say, that the best mode of remedying the
inconvenience attendant upon manning the navy, would be to
increase the pay of the petty officers ; and he should, there-
fore, rather give any surplus money for that purpose, than to the
allowance of retiring officers. This was his opinion, and he
gave it with perfect confidence to the House. Now, the next
subject to which he would allude, was the state
of the Mediterranean fleet. He thought a great deal too much
had been said on this subject, but he felt called upon to
say a few words. The Gallant Officer had said that from the
men being ashore, and the inefficient state of the fleet, if the
Egyptian fleet had come down upon them they would have
been overpowered. Be (Sir T. Troubridge) would say that
when the ships came home, and he would mention the Asia,
several Members went down to view her. They told him
themselves that they were delighted with the regularity of the
discipline, and more particularly the gunnery of that ship.
He would also mention the Rodney, which was a brilliant
sample of what a man of war ought to be. There
was the Princess Charlotte, and he would mention
the Thunderer. Well, here were four line of battle
ships, all of which had the highest encomiums passed upon
their discipline and gunnery ; how then was it possible, with
such ships, they could be captured by the Egyptian fleet?
With respect to patronage, he was afraid he was on delicate
ground, for it had been, in all Admiralties and in all Govern-
ments, but he ventured to say that with respect to private pa-
tronage he knew nothing of it, nor was he responsible for it ;
but when they came to the coronation, or general promotion,
his friends, Admiral Adams and Admiral Parker, had a great
deal of trouble in looking over the lists, in order to do justice to
all parties, and they ought not to have been so attacked in that
House. No set of men could have taken more trouble, or have
shown more anxiety than those gentlemen. Once more,
he begged to sate that he thought the Boatd of Admiralty
could not be changed with advantage, and he thought
that great responsibility was thrown OA the Prime Minister of