§ MR. BAILLIE COCHRANEsaid, he had given notice that he would ask the noble Lord the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, whether he will lay on the table of the House, Copies of the Despatches which have passed between the noble Lord and Lord Cowley and Sir James Hudson, since the announcement of the Armistice between France and Austria. After the discussion of last night, however, and the Motion of which the noble Lord (Lord Elcho) had given notice for Monday week, he thought he should exercise a wise discretion in refraining from pressing the question. There was, however, one point connected with foreign affairs on which great misapprehension seemed to exist, and respecting which, it was necessary that the real state of the case should be known both here and abroad. In the Journal des Débats of yesterday 276 there was a most violent attack on this country, and from it he would read one sentence.
England, who inquires about a vessel more or less at Brest, and who votes 300 millions for her navy !—England, who counsels so loudly the Continent to disarm !—is she going to set the example, and withdraw from her order of the day this programme of menace and fear, the fatal effect of which we have been obliged to notice, keeping in view the alliance we should wish to preserve?Now, he wished to point out the great exaggeration which prevailed as to the present state of our navy, compared with its position in former years. He found that in 1793 we had eighty-three ships of the line, ninety-nine frigates, and the grand total, including sloops and corvettes, was 531; in 1794, we had eighty-nine ships of the line, 113 frigates, and altogether 624 pennants; in 1795, 102 ships of the line, 133 frigates, and a total of 744 pennants; in 1796, 108 ships of the line, 145 frigates, and a total of 834 pennants; in 1801, 112 ships of the line, 147 frigates, and altogether 1,070 pennants; in 1803, eighty ships of the line, ninety-nine frigates, making 1,770 pennants; in 1804, eighty-six ships of the line, 200 frigates, or altogether 1,874 pennants. He believed that the noble Lord (Lord C. Paget) hoped to have in the year 1860 about forty-four sail of the line, making 307 vessels altogether. [Lord C. PAGET: We expect to have fifty sail of the line afloat at the end of the financial year.] What, then, became of the outcry of the extent of our naval armaments when we contrasted our present force with the 1,700 pennants flying in 1804? He thought that people were ignorant of the vast naval armaments kept up fifty years since. It was not his intention, however, to draw the House into a discussion on foreign policy, as the noble Lord the Secretary for Foreign Affairs had announced that it was his intention on Thursday next to make a statement to the House.