HC Deb 24 February 1860 vol 156 cc1708-9
SIR MICHAEL SEYMOUR

said, that before the Question was answered, he would request the indulgence of the House on a matter personal to himself, not only affecting his character and honour as a naval officer, but also as a Member of the House. He should merely have to make a reference to a paragraph that appeared in the public journals of Thursday. The statement to which he referred had been made by a noble and distinguished Earl in the most public and distinct manner, and he should, with the permission of the House, read the paragraph in which that statement was contained, with the view of making a few explanatory observations with respect to it. The noble Lord to whom he alluded said:— But I must solemnly say that when Admiral Seymour made to me the communication I have referred to, I stated to the gallant Admiral that it was absolutely necessary, not only for my own vindication, but also in order that Her Majesty's Government might be in possession of the facts of the case, that I should report in the fullest manner to the Government the extent to which, in my opinion, our prospects in the north were compromised by the failure on his part to furnish me with the armament on which I had relied. I added that if he had any counter statement to make, if he thought anything in my conduct, either in the wa of omission or commission, was the cause of his failure, I begged of him to make a corresponding report to the Admiralty, in order that the whole case might be before Her Majesty's Government. Now, having read that paragraph, he desired to impress on the House the fact that it was inaccurate in its purport, and he made that statement on his honour as an officer in Her Majesty's service, and as a Member of the House of Commons. Wishing to use no harsher term than he had employed—no communication such as the paragraph described, or anything approaching to such a communication, had ever been made to him. Had such a communication been made to him it would have been his duty to request the noble Earl to make it in an official form, and thus to give him the power of making an official representation to the Board of Admiralty.