§ LORD ADOLPHUS VANE-TEMPESTsaid, he wished to ask the First Lord of the Admiralty the reason why so long a delay had taken place before employing ships of war for the purpose of conveying troops from the Crimea; whether a correspondence from the Admirals stationed both at Balaklava and Scutari had not long since been received by the Admiralty, 1408 advocating the transmission of troops by ships of war, and whether the First Lord objected to such correspondence being produced? The fact of such ships having at last been sent out to bring the army home naturally suggested the question, why orders to that effect had not been given at a much earlier period. He might state, that on leaving the Crimea at the end of May, the French had already sent away 69,000 men, while all that we had removed was 5,000 Sardinians and four English regiments, leaving a majority on the side of the French that had been sent home of at least 50,000 men. Now, our naval resources had always been considered somewhat larger than those of the French, and he therefore thought that some explanation was due from the Government as to the immense expense which had been incurred in retaining so many regiments for such a length of time in the Crimea, as well as so many militia regiments at Malta and elsewhere in the Mediterranean; and he might also refer to the correspondence or Admirals Grey and Fremantle, in which those gallant officers, immediately on the declaration of peace, suggested that the army should be removed from the Crimea as speedily as possible, in order to avoid the risk of being exposed to the hot season.
§ SIR CHARLES WOODsaid, he had answered the first question of the noble Lord on a previous day. The answer to the other questions would be more conveniently given in moving the Vote for the transport service. No such public correspondence as that to which the noble Lord had alluded was in existence, but the Admirals were certainly of opinion that ships of war should be employed upon this service.