taken place. Taking the mortality in the force at home, the best criterion, he showed that its rate had diminished in all the different branches; and although this might be owing, he observed, to the army being a great deal younger than it was, in the Household Cavalry, which had never been in the Crimea or in India, the mortality had very considerably diminished. After making some passing remarks upon the Volunteer force, and suggestions as to their organization, he discussed the other Estimates, for the manufacturing establishments; for warlike stores, -shot and shells and ordnance,with the separate and comparative merits and properties of the Armstrong and Whitworth guns; barracks, and other items which he thought required explanation. He repeated that the amount of these Estimates was enormous, but he hoped that the explanation he had given would convince the House and the country that the Government had done their utmost to relieve the public burdens as far as possible consistent with the circumstances of the time, which was a transition period in almost every matériel of war. He concluded by moving a vote of 143,362 meu, exclusive of 92,490 in India. After an amusing speech from Sir R. Peel, in which he cast much ridicule upon the Volunteer movement, the vote proposed by Mr. Herbert was agreed to. The Estimates for the Navy, which were likewise much in excess of those of any former year, were moved by Lord Clarence Paget, the Secretary to the Admiralty, on the 13th February. The noble lord observed that it was absolutely necessary that a country like this, with such extended territories and an immense commerce, should maintain a considerable number of ships, and that, supposing every other country should disarm, we should still be under the necessity of keeping up a large navy. He should confine his remarks, he said, to the present year, and to professional subjects, avoiding all questions of national policy. The navy was now a new creation,-all nations had started fair, and it behoved us, therefore, to make efforts to restore our superiority. In order to give the House an idea of the navies which other nations possessed, he read a list of the French navy, which had 34 shipsof-the-line afloat and 5 building, 34 frigates afloat and 13 building, 5 iron-cased ships building, 17 corvettes afloat and 3 building, besides gunboats and small vessels, making in all 244 steamships; and most of those building might be launched in a few months. Russia had 9 steamships of the line afloat and 9 building, 18 steam frigates afloat and 3 building, 10 steam corvettes afloat and 11 building, and a number of smaller vessels, making 187 steamships afloat and 48 building-a total of 235 vessels. Unlike ourselves, both France and Russia could call out sailors to man their navies in a few weeks. He then stated the number of steam-vessels we had in commission on the 1st of December last (excluding sailing vessels) at 244, of which number the force at home and in the Mediterranean consisted of 27 line-of-battle ships, 14 frigates and corvettes, and 29 sloops and gunboats, in addition to blockships, the number afloat and building, and the number he expected would England.] be launched before the end of the The Government felt bound, therefore, to continue their exertions to put our navy on a sound footing. At the same time, although these large Estimates were asked for, they did not think themselves under an obligation, if the state of Europe and the world should justify a reduction of our naval force, although the House of Commons granted the money, to expend it. He moved the first vote of 85,500 men and boys in the fleet and coastguard service, including 18,000 marines. After some remarks from Sir In regard to the Civil Service did not show the same disposition [K 2] tain charges upon the Consolidated Fund, which, he thought, should be removed to the Estimates of the year. The motion was seconded by Mr. A. Smith. Mr. Laing admitted that the subject was a very important one, and excited great interest out of doors. It was most desirable that economy should be introduced into the Civil Service expenditure, and if this proposition for a Standing Committee would effect that end it would be of great advantage. He doubted, however, whether a measure that would divide the responsibility between the Committee and the Government would attain the object. He gave detailed explanations regarding certain items, with a view of show ing that there had been a fair amount of administrative economy in the expenditure, and pointed out the difference between the action of a Committee and that of a Government, the former sometimes increasing, instead of diminishing, expenditure. With respect to the Woods and Forests, he reminded the House of the nature of the property, which could not be dealt with as if the country had the power of alienating it. He believed that the management had of late been improved. Upon the whole, agreeing with Mr. Wise in the object he had in view, he doubted whether a Standing Committee was the best mode of attaining it. He could assure the House that the attention of the Government during the recess had been most earnestly devoted to the subject, and he hoped that when the Estimates for the year were before the House, it would be seen that their exertions had not been alto gether fruitless. Mr. Baxter said he was satis fied with the speech of Mr. Laing. He believed that the expenditure could be greatly reduced without disadvantage to the public service, and it was the opinion of the country that it should be checked. The Chancellor of the Exchequer said he hoped, when the Estimates were upon the table, it would be seen that the Government had given their best attention to this subject. The vast increase in the Miscellaneous Estimates was due to a small number of items, some of which it was extremely difficult to control; but the Government had endeavoured to ascertain the reasons of the increase, and to make every possible diminution. With regard to the motion, he was of opinion that it was not one that should be adopted by the House. A Select Committee appointed every year would not only be not a good measure, but would be a decidedly bad one, taking away responsibility from the Executive Government. Mr. Bright said he believed that by a Committee, fairly appointed, an effectual check might be given to many items of expenditure; but unless the Government, contrary to past examples, backed the Committee, and acted upon their report, there would be no change in its extravagant and growing amount. If there was any man in that house of a truly Conservative spirit, he could not show it more or better than by helping any Chancellor of the Exchequer to lessen the vast expenditure and taxation of the country. Sir H. Willoughby supported the motion, which he thought had been misunderstood. The appointment of the Committee would not touch the responsibility of the Executive at all, since the object was to inquire into the expenditure of the past year. Upon a division, Mr. Wise's motion was carried against the Government by a majority of 121 to 93. The subject of manning the navy, which had recently been committed to the investigation of a Royal Commission, was on several occasions referred to in both Houses of Parliament. On the 16th February, Admiral Sir Charles Napier, who always took a prominent part in these discussions, moved a resolution in the House of Commons in these terms: "That the recommendations of the Commissioners on Manning the Navy ought to be taken into consideration by Her Majesty's Government, with a view to carry out the principles of such recommendations." He considered it, he said, a great dereliction of duty on the part of the Admiralty that, as far as regarded the recommendations of the Commissioners, we were almost in the same position as last year. He went through the recommendations, and asked what was the use of appointing a Commission, unless their recommendations were followed up. He laid particular stress upon the expediency of maintaining an efficient reserve of men, a cheap expedient, which would enable us, he said, to dispense with a large fleet, contending that we had not at present such a reserve. He found great fault with the Board of Admiralty, which, he thought, worked excessively ill, and declared he should do all he could to reform it. Mr. Henley suggested reasons why we had failed in obtaining a reserve. The terms offered to the seamen, who were a suspicious race, he said, were not sufficiently distinct and intelligible, and were framed in a spirit of mistrust, which made them hesitate. Mr. Liddell said there was no doubt that the plan of volunteering for the navy had not worked well, and he assigned several reasons for its ill-success, one of which was that urged by Mr. Henley, that the terms of enrolment were not sufficiently clear. Mr. Lindsay said it was not in his power to support the motion, for this, among other reasons, that he had dissented from all his colleagues on the Manning Commission. He had thought the scheme for inducing men to volunteer into the Royal Navy would prove a failure, and it had so proved, which he regretted, as it was a very serious matter that a scheme of the Government should fail. He developed his own views on the subject of manning the navy, which he had ineffectually pressed upon his fellow Commissioners. Lord C. Paget said he did not mean to oppose the motion, but he should be able to show that the Government were, as fast as they could, carrying out, one by one, the recommendations of the Commis. sioners. Previously to this, however, he replied to the objections of Mr. Henley and Mr. Liddell, observing that it was only six weeks since the measure to which they referred had come into operation, and that it was hard to condemn a scheme after so short a trial. He was glad to say that the delusion which had taken possession of the seamen was disappearing. He then proceeded to show that the complaints of Sir C. Napier were not well founded, and that the Government had not neglected the recommendations of the Royal Commissioners, but were actually carrying them into effect. Sir J. Elphinstone pressed upon the Government the necessity of carrying out the recommendations of the Commissioners as to schoolships, which he considered of great importance. Sir M. Seymour was glad to hear the assurance given by Lord C. Paget that the recommendations of the Royal Commission would be carried out. He believed that the improvements in the navy had broken down the objections of seamen in general to the service. Among the available resources for the navy was the Coastguard service, which he found of great value in the Russian war. Mr. Bentinck urged the desirableness of re-constructing the Board of Admiralty. Admiral Walcott supported the motion. Mr. W. D. Seymour insisted on the importance of training-ships, as affording a permanent source of supply to the Royal Navy. After a short reply from Sir C. Napier, the motion was agreed to. Shortly afterwards, the same subject was mooted in the House of Lords by the Earl of Hardwicke. The noble lord, in calling the attention of the country to the state of the naval reserve, thought that the present number of that reserve was not sufficient for the defence of the country. The total number was 8000 men in the Coastguard, of whom only 4000 were seamen, and about 7000 Royal Naval Coast Volunteers, instead of 30,000 men as recommended by the Commissioners who had recently deliberated on this subject, and sanctioned by the Act of Parliament passed last session to enable Her Majesty to carry out that recommendation. He was sorry to see the little which had been as yet done to provide the country with an efficient reserve, and condemned the practice of allowing the Coastguard service to be deteriorated by the indiscriminate admission of persons who had been engaged in the coasting trade. The Duke of Somerset, in reply, explained the steps which had been taken by the Admiralty to establish a supply of boys for the Navy by means of training-ships stationed at the naval and commercial ports, and proceeded to point out what improvements were contemplated on the present system, in order to make the education given to lads for the Navy efficient for reudering them good and able sailors. One of the modifications of the present plan was to keep the boys at school on shore, instead of placing them in a hulk, and thereby injuring their muscular development by excessive crowding, and to send them now and then to learn the duties of a sailor in brigs attached to the establishment. The Admiralty was only waiting for the passing of the Estimates to carry this scheme into effect. Great liberality had been lately shown to seamen; the quality of provisions supplied to them had been improved, their bedding and clothes were to be presented gratuitously, and several alterations had taken, or were to take place, in regard to the appointment of warrant and petty officers, and means were now under consideration for the quicker and more frequent payment of wages. The naval reserves at the present moment numbered between 11,000 and 12,000 men, |