§ SIR CHARLES NAPIER, in rising to move that the Report of the Committee on Greenwich Hospital be carried into effect, said that the Report reflected great credit upon its authors. Greenwich Hospital was founded by William III. at the request of his Queen. Certain rules were laid down, describing the object and management of the hospital, from which it was evident that Greenwich Hospital was founded for the benefit of disabled and wounded seamen, to provide for the orphans of those who were killed and wounded, and also for the wives, widows, and children of disabled seamen. These children were to be received, educated, and taught to maintain themselves. Subsequent provisions were made that the children of merchant seamen who had been killed in action or drowned should be received in the hospital, and it was also clear that the advantages of the hospital were not to be obtained by any naval persons above the degree of master's mate. In 1705, 100 seamen were entered in Greenwich Hospital under the regulation then made; in 1706 another 100 were entered, and so on until in the year 1814, 2,710 had been entered. The number had been since fixed at 2,642. In 1814 the Government granted pensions to seamen for length of service amounting to 9d. a day for fifteen years' service, and 1s. a day for twenty years' service, and those pensions were given on precisely the same grounds as the half pay to officers after a war. From 1814 to 1829, no less than £2,000,000 of Greenwich Hospital money had been paid as pensions to seamen for length of service by the Government. It was then found out that the pensions were illegally paid out of these funds, and an Act of Parliament was passed exculpating the Government, which had since paid the pensions out of the usual Estimates. The number of vacancies in Greenwich Hospital had gone on increasing from only eleven vacancies in 1848 to 1,124 vacancies in 1860. Would any one believe that if the funds of Greenwich Hospital had been properly administered, there would now be 2190 1,124 vacancies? The seamen of the most valuable class, according to the Commissioners, were unwilling to enter Greenwich Hospital under the existing regulations, and hence the diminution in the number of inmates. It was plain, however, that 9d. or even Is. a clay was not sufficient to maintain men in the same comfort as they would have in Greenwich Hospital if the rules were properly administered. He was not going to find fault with the present or the late Board of Admiralty, but he found fault with all the Boards of Admiralty for the last sixty or seventy years, because they had not paid to Greenwich Hospital the attention which it deserved. But that was always to be expected whenever any Board had too much to do. Those Governments had not even taken the pains to inform seamen scattered throughout the country of their right of admission to the hospital. A poor wounded sailor living in the north of Scotland or at the Land's End knew no more of Greenwich Hospital than the Man in the Moon. Even if seamen did know and wished to enter, they were usually obliged to beg their way up to town, and that was a thing which the defenders of their country ought not to be reduced to. In the hospital all distinctions of rank were effaced, and badges of good conduct carried with them neither emolument nor practical distinction. Was that the way in which the seamen of England—men who had served for twenty or thirty years in all parts of the world—ought to be treated? Another grievance was that when a pensioner obtained leave of absence to visit his relatives his rations were stopped, and he was allowed no payment in lieu of them. The consequence was that he was obliged to beg his way back to the hospital. He thought that seamen and the public were under a deep debt of gratitude to the hon. Member for Gateshead and his colleagues on the Commission for their Report, and the way in which they had laid bare the iniquitous system which had been going on in the hospital for seventy or eighty years. Until he (Sir Charles Napier) brought the subject forward last year, nothing was comparatively known of that system, and even then the Government asked him very hard for a reprieve. Nothing could be more irksome than the lives of these poor people, shut up as they were in a state of idleness in the hospital. It was not very astonishing then to find them flocking to the public-houses when they got out, because after their mere material wants had 2191 been cared for in the hospital, they had no kind of amusement or employment to while away the time. Indeed, the Admiralty seemed to take a delight in depriving these poor men of everything which could make life bearable, for it was not, many years ago that some little employment in supplying small articles to the navy was taken away from them, although they were only paid half what the article cost when it was supplied by others. Then with regard to the wives and widows of the seamen, for whose benefit also the hospital had been designed, the Report of the Commissioners stated that the wives were wholly ignored, that they received nothing but the broken food and offal of the hospital. And even when they washed their husband's linen they received no portion of the money, which was thereby saved to the hospital. He admitted that when an out pensioner went into Greenwich Hospital, he should give up his pension to the hospital in return for the subsistence and comforts he obtained there; but if a seaman had been wounded, and had lost, perhaps, a limb, he maintained that the pension given to the seamen on that account should not be taken from him on his entering Greenwich Hospital. These pensions were given to the seamen in the same way as to officers, and it was extraordinary, if the latter retained the pensions, that the former were not allowed to do so. The Commissioners stated that the officers had no business in Greenwich Hospital as pensioners. By Act of Parliament no persons above the rank of a master's mate had any right there as pensioners or on the foundation, though they might be in the hospital to do the necessary duties of supervision as governor or captain. If the whole of the funds of Greenwich Hospital were laid hold of and divided among the men, they would receive a much larger allowance, and would be made more comfortable, than at present. But in a national point of view he admitted that it was proper, by maintaining the hospital, to show the world how well England took care of her seamen. The Commissioners said that unless their suggestions were adopted it would be better to turn the place into an infirmary for sick seamen. But he was far from wishing to see that done, for at present it stood as a noble monument, and as the ships passed up and down the river the sailors might point to it and say, "There is a place for me to go when I am worn out in the service of my country." In 2192 that way men were induced to enter the navy, as the best profession they could adopt. With regard to the salaries of the officers attached to the hospital, the large sum which went in this way crippled the funds of the hospital altogether. There were then the Civil Commissioners, who had been, in his opinion, the cause of much of the mismangement existing at Greenwich. They were supposed to meet once a week, or oftener if necessary; and, in point of fact, they met every Thursday, and passed a couple of hours or so in transacting the business which devolved upon them. Two of these Commissioners resided in London, and could know nothing of what went on at Greenwich. Then as to the schools, the Commissioners reported that now the female school was abolished the female children of pensioners were left uncared for, and in many instances became additions to the unfortunate creatures who frequented the streets of Greenwich. Such a state of things was most discreditable, and ought to be instantly remedied. Then as to the boys' schools he would confine the lower school to the sons of sailors, who would receive a plain education to fit them for the profession of sailors; but if any boy exhibited especial talent he should be removed to the upper school. Upon the question of expense, the Commissioners showed that if the reforms they proposed were carried out, a smaller number of officers would suffice at a greatly diminished cost. Upon one point he did not agree with the Commissioners. He thought the Governor, although he was not the working head, ought to be allowed a house in which he could befittingly receive Royalty whenever the hospital was honoured by its presence. He quite approved the suggestion that the superintendent with the rank of Rear-Admiral, and two captains, should be appointed only for the space of five years, as that would insure active and efficient officers. It was high time something was done to fill up the ranks of the navy, for at present all oar attempts to create a reserve had failed. The new reserve scheme had only produced 1,300 men instead of 30,000 men, and in this great maritime country it was disgraceful to find such a lack of volunteers to man our ships. The disgrace, however, chiefly attached to those who ruled the country, and if the noble Lord would only announce that Greenwich Hospital—the seamen's palace, and the provision of a grateful country for honest services—should be placed upon a proper 2193 footing, such a declaration would obviate much of the difficulty now experienced in obtaining men for the navy.
§
Amendment proposed,
To leave out from the word 'That' to the end of the Question, in order to add the words, "it is the opinion of this House that the Report of the Commission on Greenwich Hospital should be carried into effect.
—instead thereof.
§ Question proposed, "That the words proposed to be left out stand part of the Question."
§ ADMIRAL WALCOTT, in seconding the Motion said, the Commissioners had in his opinion discharged with great ability and fidelity the duties which they had been appointed to perform. From the evidence which was adduced before them there could be no doubt that Greenwich Hospital had long been neglected, and it was, he thought, to be regretted that our seamen should be compelled to come to that House for that redress and encouragement which ought to have been afforded them by the Board of Admiralty, which might, of its own authority, have carried into effect the essential recommendations of the Commissioners. His hon. and gallant Friend (Sir Charles Napier) had gone so fully into the details of the bad working of the present system in the Hospital, that he need not enter at any length into the subject. One fact, however, he might be permitted to state, and that was, in those cases in which an allowance of 10d. a day was made to the seamen having families living out of the Hospital for the purpose of maintaining themselves, they preferred almost dying of illness to going into the Infirmary, because when they did so the allowance of 10d a day was stopped, and their ability to support their wives and children at an end whilst continuing in the Infirmary. He thanked his gallant Friend (Sir Charles Napier) for having brought similar cases of hardship under the notice of the House, particularly in regard to the schools. He wished, before he sat down, to remind him that he had on a previous occasion mentioned an instance in which he said a seaman who had lost a limb had received a pension of a shilling a day only for a year. Now, when his gallant Friend had made that statement he doubted its accuracy, and on subsequent inquiry he ascertained that when men were so disabled, a pension varying from 1s. to 2s. was granted to each in the first instance only for a year, 2194 but then at the end of that time the pensioner was re-surveyed with the view of discovering the extent of his disability, and a permanent pension of 1s., 1s. 6d., or 2s. was conferred upon him, the amount depending upon the extent of power which his injury left him to assist himself. He indulged the hope that all sensible modifications in the conduct, discipline, and management of the Hospital for its better efficiency and the comfort of the Pensioners, would at once be carried out by the Board of Admiralty in the event the Motion of his gallant Friend might not be acceeded to by the House.
§ SIR CHARLES NAPIERsaid, that he had spoken upon the authority of a certificate given to one of the men.
§ LORD CLARENCE PAGETsaid, he was very much obliged to his gallant Friend who had just spoken for having removed the impression which the remarks made by the hon. and gallant Admiral the Member for Southwark on a former evening were calculated to convey with respect to the conduct of the Admiralty in granting pensions. He had unfortunately spoken before the gallant Admiral on that occasion, as he was generally compelled to do before the Admirals addressed the House, and, therefore, he had not had an opportunity of contradicting his statement, that a poor man who had lost a limb had received a pension only for a year—a statement which he was surprised an officer of his experience in the service did not at once perceive must be incorrect. Now, the fact was, that when a sailor lost a limb a provisional pension was granted him, with a view of affording a given time to ascertain whether the injury done him was or was not so severe as to prevent him from doing anything to earn his own livelihood, by the result of which injury the permanent amount of his pension was regulated. In taking that course the Admiralty were actuated by the most humane feeling, and certainly did not deserve to be stigmatized as having committed an act so unworthy of the department as that to which the hon. and gallant Admiral had referred. Passing, however, from that point, he must express his regret that his hon. and gallant Friend opposite (Admiral Walcott) appeared, to some extent, to find fault with the Admiralty for not having taken upon themselves the reform of Greenwich Hospital. If his hon. and gallant Friend, however, supposed they would have time to enter into an investigation 2195 of all the details connected with the working of that old and extensive institution, tie could hardly have formed an adequate idea of the various other duties which they had to perform. For his own part, he thought his noble Friend the Duke of Somerset, and his colleagues at the Admiralty, had taken a wiser course—being aware that there were many matters connected with the Hospital which required revision—in appointing a Commission to inquire into the subject, composed of able men who could give due time to its full investigation, and arrive at correct conclusions with respect to the requirements of the case. To that Commission he could not allude without offering his thanks, and those of the Government, to the hon. Gentleman the Member for Gateshead (Mr. Hutt) and his colleagues, who had devoted much time and attention to the objects of the inquiry, and the result of whose labours was a most valuable and interesting Report.
He now came to the Motion before the House, to which he could not assent in the shape in which it stood. Indeed, the pro-poser of that Motion had himself furnished abundant grounds for not agreeing to it, inasmuch, while asking that the Report of the Commissioners should be carried into effect, he had found fault with several of the recommendations which that Report contained. Her Majesty's Government—he would not say had actually decided—but were prepared immediately to give their attention to a plan for effecting improvements in the schools, a subject which formed one of the most important branches of the Report; and if the gallant Admiral would alter the terms of his Motion to those in which it stood on the Paper a few days ago, he should offer no opposition on the part of the Government to its adoption. Action could be taken in reference to the schools without there being a necessity for any Act of Parliament, and the matter was one that was really pressing and important. In very much of what the gallant Admiral had said as to the defects of those schools he entirely concurred, and he hoped that in a short time the plan which was at present before the Board might be carried into effect. It could not be denied that there was one point in which the Commissioners gave a very favourable, perhaps, too favourable a view—namely, as to the revenues of the Hospital. One of their proposals was that the seamen entering Greenwich Hospital should retain their pensions, but that these should be ap- 2196 plied in support of that establishment. On the propriety of this system he would not offer any opinion, but it was evident that it amounted, in other words, to a proposal for doubling the yearly subsidy to the Hospital, the probable increase being calculated at something like £20,000. The Commissioners, in recommending that very large expenses should be incurred in increasing the accommodation of the building, were clearly calculating on an excess of income, which he could not think Her Majesty's Government would be justified in contemplating without an express grant on the part of the House of Commons. A point demanding the serious attention of the Board of Admiralty, which would be given to it the moment they had time at their disposal during the recess, was the question of providing accommodation for the wives and children of the pensioners. Various proposals had been made by the Commissioners, one being that part of the hospital should he appropriated towards the residence of married pensioners and their families; another that model lodging-houses should be built; and a third, that certain houses in the town of Greenwich, forming part of the property of the hospital, should be allotted to the wives of pensioners. These were all valuable suggestions; but there was one point in the Report with which he was unable to agree. There seemed to be throughout a feeling on the part of the Commissioners that because the hospital was capable of containing 2,700 persons it was necessary that it should be always filled with that number. It ought to be borne in mind that the institution was one not calculated exclusively for time of peace, but mainly for seasons of war, when, after great battles, enormous numbers of wounded sailors, maimed and crippled in every way, came to Greenwich to find a home. It therefore seemed advisable to him that the hospital should not be filled all at once, but that regard should be had to its purposes of ultimate utility in the event of war. Recommendations with respect to the constitution of the establishment and the redistribution or diminution of the officers were embodied in the Report, but in the opinion of the Admiralty it was very doubtful whether these arrangements could be carried out till an Act of Parliament had been obtained for the purpose. They could scarcely be charged with neglect of duty in not having carried out all the suggestions contained in a Report which had 2197 only been two months in their possession, and which it was only due to the officers of the hospital to submit in the first instance for their consideration. As ho had already mentioned, the Admiralty had prepared a plan for the improvement of the schools, which lie hoped before long would be carried into effect, and during the recess the questions of the model lodging-houses and other matters for the comfort of the pensioners would be taken up; and when Parliament met again the Board would be prepared to state the course they would adopt in reference to this Report.
§ SIR MICHAEL SEYMOURsaid, that he shared the feeling of regret expressed by the Commissioners in their Report that a noble institution like Greenwich Hospital had fallen so far short of the intentions of its founder. He found that in 1805 the charge for salaries and maintenance of the institution amounted to £21,800; it supported 2,460 pensioners, the expenses in connection with them being £69,700. In 1859 the amount of salaries and maintenance had increased to £55,700; only 1,600 pensioners were sheltered by the hospital, the cost of whom had fallen to £44,000. The upper school too was far too predominant in numbers, and he thought that patronage had much to do with the increase. He had the greatest pleasure, therefore, in supporting the Motion of his gallant Friend.
§ MR. BRISCOEsaid, that although he had not the honour of belonging to the profession of the navy he wished to say that he thought the thanks of the House were due to the gallant Admiral who had brought this subject under their notice, and also to the Commissioners who had investigated it with so much ability. Their Report ought to be studied by every person who took an interest in the welfare of the navy. As to the answer of the noble Lord, he could not receive it with entire satisfaction. He was glad to hear that the Government intended to consider the subject of the schools and model lodging-houses; but the most important question was the proper application of the funds of the hospital. He was sure that no one who had read the Report of the Commission could come to any other conclusion than that there had been a scandalous misapplication of the funds of Greenwich Hospital, and that great injustice had been done to the seamen of the country. He believed that there was no necessity for an Act of Parliament, and that the Board of Ad- 2198 miralty had full powers to carry out the main recommendations of the Commission, which was all that the gallant Admiral required. He wished that the Government had promised that the funds, amounting to £156,000 a year, should in future be applied faithfully to the benefit of our sailors and of their widows and children. There could he no excuse of want of money, because there was a surplus of £28,000 a year, and the expenditure of that surplus in mining operations was, to say the least of it, very doubtful. There was little difference between the Resolution to which the noble Lord the Secretary of the Admiralty was ready to assent and the Resolution of the gallant Admiral. If pressed to a division, he should give the Motion his cordial support.
§ LORD JOHN RUSSELLsaid, he did not think that his hon. Friend (Mr. Briscoe) exactly understood how this question had arisen. His hon. Friend seemed to imagine that this Report had somehow fallen from the skies, and that the Admiralty felt great unwillingness to carry it into effect. But the facts were that the Board of Admiralty themselves deemed the subject fit for inquiry, that they appointed the Commission, that the Commission had only just reported, and that it was the intention of the Admiralty to consider that Report. No one said that every recommendation of the Commission ought to be literally carried into effect, and the only pledge therefore which the Government could properly give was, that they would consider the Report with a view to carrying it into effect in a manner most conducive to the public service. There were two questions of great importance to be considered. One was whether an Act of Parliament was necessary. His hon. Friend said that no Act was necessary; but, with great submission to him, he thought that if the Admiralty had any doubt they would do better to consult the Law Officers of the Crown rather than trust entirely to the opinion of his hon. Friend or of any one not learned in the state of the law upon the' subject. The other question was, whether the House should be asked to vote a considerable sum of money in addition to the' revenue of the hospital. Those points certainly required consideration. They were not to be decided at once without a moment's thought, and therefore his noble Friend the Secretary to the Admiralty said, that having appointed the Commission themselves, having just received their Report, and being perfectly ready to consider 2199 it with a view to carry its recommendations into effect, the Board of Admiralty ought to have time to do so, and that the House ought not to pledge itself by a vote that every recommendation should he carried into effect without regard to the amount of money required or whether an Act of Parliament was necessary or not. He thought that reply perfectly reasonable, and that to adopt the Resolution was not a practical mode to attain the end which the gallant Admiral had in view.
§ MR. ALDERMAN SALOMONSsaid, the proposition of the noble Lord the Secretary to the Admiralty was a very reasonable one, as they had come to the discussion unprepared, and really expected a discussion of a very different nature. As to the schools, the funds might be appropriated in respect to them with much greater advantage to the public service. There were some parts within the hospital which were capable of improvement, and with regard to which it was in the power of the Board of Admiralty to take immediate action. Of this kind was the case of petty officers who were compelled to mess with those who had been common sailors in the same ship. Then there was a mixing up of sailors and marines, and as they never agreed very well when on board ship, it was a matter of no surprise that they did not agree in the hospital. The means of admission might be facilitated, and many minor restrictions might be removed which operated as a hardship on the sailors. It certainly was too much, however, to force the Report on the Government before the Board of Admiralty had a full opportunity of considering its details.
§ SIR JOHN PAKINGTONsaid, he believed that the hon. and gallant Admiral had done no more than his duty in directing the attention of the House to the important and interesting Report on Greenwich Hospital. He trusted, however, that after the statement of the noble Lord opposite the gallant Admiral would not press his Motion to a division. It had been said that the Motion must not be construed literally; but they could only look to the words of the Motion as it stood, the fair and reasonable interpretation of which was that all the essential and important recommendations of the Commission were forthwith to be carried into effect. He for one was not prepared to go that length. The impression on his mind when at the Admiralty was that the state of the hospital was not satisfactory, and that an inquiry should be 2200 instituted. The present Board of Admiralty, adopting the same view, appointed a Commission, and he concurred most cordially in the tribute of admiration that had been paid to the full and able Report which they had prepared. They had now before them a full aad able Report, and they had heard from the noble Lord opposite what were the intentions of the Government. Still that Report had not been in the hands of the Government more than two months, and therefore he thought that the noble Lord had met the Motion in a perfectly fair spirit, when he pledged the Board of Admiralty to take the Report into consideration, and at the commencement of next Session to state how far they were prepared to carry its more important recommendations into effect. They could hardly expect the Admiralty to say more than that, nor was he prepared to pledge himself absolutely to support all the recommendations of the Commissioners. He would, however, strongly press on the Admiralty the question of the pensions and the destitute condition of the wives of our seamen. Nothing had created a stronger feeling of indignation in his mind than to find that numbers of the wives of seamen in Greenwich Hospital were actually receiving parish pay, and that applications were frequent to the hospital to discharge the husbands, in order that their wives might be discharged from the unions. There were various other portions of the Report which he thought well deserving their attention, and he sincerely hoped that steps would be taken to place this fine institution on a satisfactory footing.
MR. LINDSAYsaid, he thought there ought to be a material change, which should be carried into effect as soon as possible, but he did not think it right to bind the Government down to details by Resolution. However able the Report was ho could not agree in all its provisions, and he would propose that a change should be made in the terms of the Resolution to the effect that the Report should be taken into consideration with a view to carrying the recommendations into effect in such a manner as might be most conducive to the public interest.
§ MR. SPEAKERsaid, an Amendment could not be moved to the Motion of the hon. and gallant Admiral.
MR. LINDSAYsaid, he offered the Amendment as a suggestion to his hon. and gallant Friend with a view of preventing a division.
MR. HENLEYsaid, that the Report of the Committee disclosed a very extraordinary state of things. No one could peruse it without being satisfied that unless some interference had taken place the whole proceeds of that noble establishment would have been swallowed up by people for whom it was never intended. The misapplication of the funds, the enormous expenditure of the establishment, the unfavourable contrast which it presented to similar institutions on the other side of the water, were all set forth in the Report; and, with these facts before them, the Government could have no difficulty in determining what course to pursue. He thought it should be left entirely to the discretion of the Government to devise a remedy, and that they ought not to be tied down to any particular plan. When the noble Lord expressed his fear that the Report gave too sanguine a view of the revenue of the hospital, he was sorry no hint was given that the pruning knife would be vigorously applied to the establishment, which had a tendency to expand in a very rapid manner. The question was full of interest, and from the Report of the Committee on Greenwich Hospital on the one hand, and the Report of the Manning Commission on the other, it was not difficult to understand why seamen were disinclined to enter the Royal Navy. The present state of things was one which, to say the least of it, left ample room for amendment. He hoped the gallant Admiral would amend his Resolution, or, better still, withdraw it, leaving the whole matter to the responsibility of the Admiralty. If they did act, then would be the time for the House to express their opinion on the Report and the conduct of the Government.
§ VISCOUNT PALMERSTONSir, I think what has fallen from the right hon. Gentleman who has just sat down is really the good sense of the matter. I should hope the House will concur with him; that this discussion may now be considered closed; that you, Sir, may now leave the chair, and that we may go into Committee of Supply. If this were a case in which an important recommendation had been made by a Committee or Commission to which Government had paid no attention; if there were good grounds to suppose that it was not the intention of the Government to pay any attention to it, and the Report had been lying a long time on the table, there might be good reason or opportunity for hon. Members to interfere and press 2202 by Resolution on Government the necessity for action. But this is not a case of that kind. There is a Report of a Commission appointed by the present Board of Admiralty; the Report, as stated by my noble Friend, has only been in the hands of the Admiralty a couple of months, if so long, and the noble Lord the Secretary for the Admiralty has declared that it is the intention of the Admiralty at the earliest opportunity to take the Report into consideration, with a view to acting upon it. Well, now, that seems a state of things in which the House need not interpose between the Government and their responsibility, and at the close of the Session dictate to Her Majesty's Government the manner in which they are to act upon the Report. I hope the House will adopt the recommendation of the right hon. Gentleman, and, having received from the noble Lord the Secretary for the Admiralty an intimation of their intention to act upon the Report, they will leave the matter to the responsibility of the Government.
§ LORD LOVAINEsaid, he quite concurred with what had fallen from the noble Lord. He should be very sorry, in such a case, to tie the hands of the Admiralty; but he would remind the House that whatever they did by way of pensions for those serving in the navy, they must do the same for the sister service.
ADMIRAL DUNCOMBErecommended the gallant Admiral to withdraw the Motion, or adopt the suggestion of the noble Lord the Secretary for the Admiralty. He could not support it in its present form. The erection of model lodging-houses for the families of the pensioners was a step in the right direction, but he hoped they would be, in the first instance, adopted only to a limited extent, till it was seen whether they gave satisfaction.
§ SIR JAMES ELPHINSTONEinquired whether the noble Lord the Secretary for the Admiralty would lay on the table the opinions of the officers of Greenwich Hospital with regard to the Report of the Commission. He understood that Sir James Gordon had written a very able statement on the subject, which it was most desirable should be produced.
§ LORD CLARENCE PAGETsaid, he had no objection to the production of that Report if it were moved for.
§ Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.
§ SIR CHARLES NAPIERsaid, he would now move his Resolution with the suggested alterations.
§
Amendment proposed,
To leave out from the word 'That' to the end of the Question, in order to add the words 'in the opinion of this House, the Report of the Commission on Greenwich Hospital should be taken into the immediate consideration of the Government, with the view of carrying into effect the recommendations contained in the Report in such manner as may be most conducive to the public interests.'
—instead thereof.
§ VISCOUNT PALMERSTONsaid, he hoped the gallant Admiral would not press the Motion to a division after the declarations of the Government.
§ LORD JOHN MANNERSsaid, that the gallant Admiral's Motion merely expressed what the Government had already undertaken to do, and he saw no necessity for pressing it.
§ Question, "That the words proposed to be left out stand part of the Question,"
§ Put, and agreed to.
§ Main Question put, and greed to.