§ COLONEL SYKESsaid, he wished to ask the Secretary to the Admiralty, Whether it is the intention of the Admiralty to submit the conduct of Captain Roderick Dew, of Her Majesty's ship "Encounter," to the judgment of a court-martial for carrying on military operations in China beyond the thirty miles' radius from a Treaty port, at the siege of Shon-hing, fifty miles from Ningpo, in which the life of Lieutenant Tinling, of Her Majesty's ship "Encounter," was sacrificed, in disobedience of the instructions conveyed in Earl Russell's Despatch to Mr. Bruce, dated the 26th August, 1862.
§ LORD CLARENCE PAGETsaid, in reply, that the Admiralty had received no official intelligence with regard to the death of Lieutenant Tinling, probably because the Admiral was at Japan, the other side of the station. He had, however, seen a private letter from Captain Dew, in which he stated that he and Lieutenant Tiding accompanied the French officers to the siege of Shon-hing as amateurs. Of course the Admiralty could not say what they would do until they received official information on the subject.