§ LORD RAVENSWORTHsaid, that, as he saw in their places the noble Lord the President of the Council, and many other noble Lords who had suffered with himself from the inconveniences and delays which had arisen in the conveyance of their Lordships to and from the naval review at Spithead on the previous day, he might perhaps be permitted to call attention to the defects in the arrangements which had led to those unpleasant circumstances, and to ask some explanation from the Government. Nothing could be more perfect in theory than the plan which was originally devised by the Government, by which the yacht which convoyed Her Majesty on her progress through the magnificent line of ships was to be followed by one which was to contain Her Majesty's faithful advisers, the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and this was to be succeeded by the vessel on board of which were the Members of the House of Commons—symbolising the monarchial, the hereditary, and the popular estates of the realm, the representatives of which were to float together in the midst of that great display of the naval power of Britain. The theory was perfect; the misfortune was that it entirely failed of realisation. Though he did not wish to attack any noble Lord in that House as being directly responsible for the 1385 failures of the day, he must say that they were mainly attributable to the want of proper discrimination on the part of the Lords of the Admiralty, in selecting a proper vessel for the conveyance of their Lordships, together with the mismanagement that was so evident on the part of the railway functionaries. The first thing that occurred after starting, at seven o'clock in the morning, was a delay of at least two hours occasioned by the breaking down of two engines. For this he attributed no blame to Her Majesty's Government. After great delay and inconvenience their Lordships arrived at Southampton, where there was but one large tender, the Harbinger, for the conveyance of the Members of both Houses of Parliament. In consequence of this it was at least an hour before they all got on board the tender, and then the crowded state of that vessel occasioned further loss of time in embarking them on the two steamers, Transit and Perseverance. At length, between twelve and one o'clock, and after they had been informed by some noble Lords who had gone down on the previous night that the most imposing part of the display was over, the salute on the arrival of Her Majesty having been fired an hour and a half before, the Transit, which had been appropriated to the conveyance of their Lordships, got under way. She had not, however, proceeded far before she was passed by the Perseverance, having on board the Members of the House of Commons, and the second estate of the realm became the third, in which position it continued during the remainder of the day. In the course of time the Transit, notwithstanding the defective engines with which she was supplied, reached the pivot ships at the easternmost, point of the line, from which position they witnessed that grand and magnificent movement, the advance and wheeling of the line of ships, the only spectacle which they had to repay them for the fatigue which they had undergone. Now, it appeared that this ship, the Transit, had been supplied with engines which were originally made for our late enemy the Emperor of Russia, and which were so defective in construction that on her last voyage to the Mediterranean the whole of her machinery gave way, and it had not since been put into proper condition. The result was that, in a short time, this immense ship, of 2,400 tons burden, became almost like a log upon the water. By 1386 orders from high authorities no smoke was to be allowed on board; but without smoke there could be no fire, and without fire the steam power could not be increased to make those defective engines do their duty, and the result was, that on the return she hardly made any way. Little as was the way she made, it was, unfortunately, enough for her to run down a gunboat, by which collision both vessels were seriously damaged, and a marine received injuries so severe that he (Lord Ravensworth) did not know whether they might not be fatal. Although she did this, however, she did not make way enough to enable their Lordships to reach the harbour of Southampton until ten o'clock. At that time the return was effected by means of a very active but very small steamer called the Monkey, owing to the disproportion between which and the Transit, and the consequent crowding of the former, there was a great deal of inconvenience and not a little danger. The latter was considerably increased by the fact that, as she neared the pier, the tiller ropes of the Monkey broke, owing to which there was much difficulty and delay in wharfing that vessel. As soon as she was wharfed there was a rush to the railway station. Ladies and gentlemen, noble Lords and right rev. Prelates, all made for the station as fast as possible. First-class carriages were soon all occupied, second-class ones were in requisition, and one right rev. Prelate and a Privy Councillor took refuge in a third-class carriage. At last the train reached London, and their Lordships were deposited at the railway station at three o'clock in the morning. Thus the termination of this day of pleasure was, that noble Lords and ladies were running about the platform seeking in vain for a carriage or a cab to take them home. How many of the ladies reached their residences he could not say. Fortunately he had himself none under his own care. The blame of all these delays and inconveniences rested, in his opinion, with those by whose management an improper vessel of enormous size and without sufficient means of propulsion was appropriated to their Lordships. To this fact he attributed all the misadventures of the day, and he thought he had a right to ask from the Government some explanation of the reasons which led to the appropriation of so large and so improper a vessel for this service. 1387 Further than this he would at present express no opinion upon the subject except to say, "Sic transit gloria mundi."
§ EARL GRANVILLEI am afraid I am not the best person in the world to answer the very serious charges which have been brought forward by my noble Friend, having myself been one of his fellow-sufferers, and having experienced some disappointment at missing a considerable portion of the magnificent spectacle of yesterday. At the same time I am bound to say, that I think my noble Friend has exaggerated the blame which can be attached to the Government. He certainly made a very fair exception at the beginning of his speech, when he exonerated the Government from all blame for the engines of the South-Western Railway Company having broken down; but I think ho has been misinformed as to the character of the ship which was appropriated to the conveyance of your Lordships. It is a very largo and a very fine ship, and I am sure that all the noble Lords who were on board it will bear testimony to the great care which had been taken to provide for the comforts of your Lordships both as to accommodation and refreshments. No doubt it would have been very much better had there been two small tenders to take your Lordships on board, instead of the one large one. When we did stop it was not from any defect in the engine, but because the fires were let out, by which the steam power was lost. As no Lord of the Admiralty has yet returned to town, I have not been able to make any inquiries as to who was really to blame; but, whatever mismanagement there may have been, it is clear that the general Government cannot be made responsible unless it should neglect, after inquiry, to punish the persons who are to blame. Several noble Lords on board were kind enough to try to fix the whole responsibility of the affair on me, which, as your Lordships may imagine, did not at all increase my enjoyment of the day. I was particularly desired by some to go down and poke the fire, but, with an unusual degree of modesty, I declined to undertake the command of even a small fraction of the Channel fleet. There is one consolation, however, to be derived from the misadventure—that the day furnished another proof of the enormous mental and bodily strength of my noble Friend the Lord Chief Justice, because, though my noble Friend was 1388 away from his house for twenty-four hours, he was able to attend in his place in the Court of Queen's Bench this morning, and he has to-night taken part in a discussion relative to the Scotch marriage law. I can only say that I will take care, when the First Lord of the Admiralty returns to town, that all proper inquiries shall be made on the subject, and that if there has been any negligence the persons to blame shall be punished.
§ THE EARL OF MALMESBURYI should not advise my noble Friend behind me to move a vote of censure on Her Majesty's Government this time, though it certainly was a practical joke of the most unpardonable character to have been promised so much pleasure, and to have been kept twenty-two hours in attempting to attain an object which we really only reached half-way at last. What I rose to observe upon was, the extreme confidence—not the modesty—of the noble Earl opposite, in answering my noble Friend behind, giving your Lordships to believe that he was present the whole time, that he saw all our misfortunes, and participated in them. From his high position, he was of course looked upon by all on board as the captain of the vessel—meaning, that is, that he would stick by her so long as her timbers held together. Far from that, my noble Friend, with his usual sagacity and acuteness, about half-past three, seeing how matters went, and how unlikely it was that he should see his home that night if he stayed with us, deserted the ship, and, having found very comfortable quarters on the coast of the Isle of Wight, to our great consternation hailed a small boat and left us to our fate. That fate has not been at all exaggerated by the noble Lord behind me; for the rest of the day we were passed by ship after ship, by carriage after carriage, and most of us had to walk home from the Waterloo Station at half-past three this morning.
LORD CAMPBELLI can testify to the great courtesy of the noble Earl the President of the Council, so long indeed as he remained with us, but he certainly did desert us in a moment of difficulty and in the midst of evils which he must have seen as much as your Lordships. As I found it impossible to assist in the administration of justice in Westminster Hall on this great holiday, I thought it was my duty to show my respect to Her Majesty, and to join those who were to follow in 1389 Her wake when making tins great progress through her naval forces. I certainly met, in common with all of your Lordships who were there, with great disappointments. I acquit Her Majesty's Government of all blame for our late arrival at Southampton, and, although neither my noble Friend nor the First Lord of the Admiralty, nor the Government generally, can be held responsible for what followed—for the plan traced out for us was excellent in itself—yet there certainly was such gross mismanagement somewhere as to give one a clear idea of what happened at Balaklava. Nothing happened except the breaking down of the railway engines, which could not have been avoided. There was gross mismanagement in having so small a tender to act with such an enormous steamer as the Transit. It might have been easily seen that, under the most favourable circumstances, it would have taken an hour or more to transfer the passengers from one vessel to the other; and had there been anything of a swell, we never could have all got from one vessel to the other. Fortunately, we had fair weather—for which, however, we have not to thank the Government. The Transit at last weighed anchor, but it was necessary for two learned Judges of the Superior Courts of Westminster, my learned Brethren, who were on board, to work at the capstan. We had three right rev. Prelates on board, but I do not know whether they lent a hand or not. One of the Apostles, I believe, was acquainted with navigation, and I have no doubt under similar circumstances he would have assisted in the operation. We really had great reason to complain of this Transit, which, though a very large vessel, was quite unfit for the service. She had two engines, but one of them was permanently disabled, and the other was soon made useless by the fires being let out. It was eleven o'clock before we left Southampton, although we ought to have left at six o'clock, and such a scene of confusion I hope I shall never witness again. It certainly reflects very little credit upon those who ought to have made better provision. Judges, Prelates, and ladies of high rank were scrambling together for places in the train—one would lave thought it was a Manchester excursion train. I had the good fortune to get a place, but I was not able to get home before four o'clock this morning. Thanks 1390 to that strength to which my noble Friend has alluded, I was able to attend in my place in the Queen's Bench this morning, and I am happy to say, therefore, that no ill consequences ensued to the administration of justice.
§ THE EARL OF CARDIGANinquired whether, under the circumstances which had occurred with reference to the steamer which had been granted for the use of the House of Lords, there was not some subordinate of the Admiralty who was responsible for putting the vessel in a proper and fitting state to receive those to whom she was allotted? And ho would also ask, if it was right to have placed at their Lordships' disposal a vessel which in the mid-channel between Cowes and Portsmouth, where the water was almost as smooth as a mill-pond, could only make three and a half knots an hour? It was said that this vessel, the Transit, was about to be sent out to the Crimea to bring back troops. If her performances were always of the character of those of yesterday, it ought to be matter of serious consideration before she was sent out to bring back any part or the army. This was the more important, as there had been great neglect in fitting out the vessels for the conveyance of troops.
§ The subject then dropped.