§ MR. NEATEsaid, he wished to ask the Secretary to the Admiralty, in reference to a passage in the Address recently published by Captain Pim, the Conservative Candidate for Gravesend, in which he says,—"as your Member and a Naval Officer, it would be my duty to urge upon Government (and I have every reason to hope with success), the great natural advantage your Borough possesses "—i. e., for the formation of a Dockyard and Arsenal, Whether he is aware of any communication between the Admiralty and Captain Pim which would have authorized the latter to hold out such an expectation to the Electors of Gravesend, or whether the idea of such an arrangement is now or ever has been entertained by the Admiralty?
LORD HENRY LENNOXsaid, he could not help expressing his regret that the hon. Member for the City of Oxford, who felt himself secure in his seat, should have thought it his duty to interfere with a gentleman who was a candidate seeking to secure a seat in Parliament. He should have thought that the House and the country would view with leniency any statement made by candidates who were anxious to win the favour of this new and numerous constituency. The hon. Gentleman asked him whether the gallant Captain had had any communication with the Admiralty with regard to the establishment of a Dockyard and Arsenal at Gravesend. He had not seen the whole of the gallant Captain's Address, but the extract which had been read to the House by the hon. Member led him to suppose that the gallant Captain had not even suggested ouch a thing, but that the project having been suggested by the constituency had been favourably received by him, and that he hoped that his powers of persuasion, if returned, would be such as to enable him successfully to plead their cause in Parliament. No doubt it would be a great loss if they did not in the next Parliament have Gentlemen returned who possessed those powers of persuasion which the gallant Captain believed he possessed.