§ MR. FRENCHsaid, he wished to ask the right hon. Baronet the First Lord of the Admiralty if the report were true that the second in command of the Baltic fleet—Admiral Seymour—with several of the men, had been wounded by the explosion of the machines sunk by the enemy? And he would take that opportunity of calling the attention of the Government to the letter recently published by Lord Dundonald, in which he offered to strike a blow at the military power of Russia more fatal than the capture of Sebastopol. He begged to ask if the Government were prepared to afford Lord Dundonald any practical means of testing that discovery?
§ SIR CHARLES WOODsaid, the Government had received information that forty-six explosive machines had been taken up in the Baltic, and that by some accident—how it occurred was not stated—Admiral Seymour and other persons were hurt, though not seriously, but that no injury whatever had been done in any other way. The Government were not prepared to carry into execution the scheme proposed by Lord Dundonald.