§ MR. SETON-KARR (St. Helen's)asked the First Lord of the Admiralty, If he has seen a statement in The St. James's Gazette of the 9th instant headed A Danger in the Pacific, and in which attention is directed to the great disparity between the Russian and English Squadrons in those waters, and which, in the words of the article—
Is known in Singapore and Hong Kong, where they excite the gravest uneasiness, and in Russia, where they excite a corresponding degree of satisfaction;and, what measures he proposes to take in order to raise the British Squadron to a strength sufficient to restore public confidence in those commercial centres?
§ THE FIRST LORD (Lord GEORGE HAMILTON) (Middlesex, Ealing)The 42 article in question purports to give with great detail and authenticity the relative strength of the Russian and English Squadrons in that part of the Pacific which is comprised in the China. Station; and it draws from the statement so given certain conclusions that are affirmed to be endorsed by the great commercial ports of Singapore and Hong Kong. Both these statements and conclusions are equally fictitious. The article asserts the Russian Squadron to be at this moment composed of four ironclads and 10 cruisers, and that it is about to be re-inforced. The real strength of the Squadron is one ironclad and five cruisers, and this Squadron is far inferior both in numbers and strength to the British Naval Force on the China Station alone. There are two other English Squadrons in the Pacific, one at Esquimalt and another at Sydney, making a total of three Squadrons. It is needless to add that these facts are well known, both at Singapore and Hong Kong. Sir Richard Vesey Hamilton, the late Commander-in-Chief on the China Station, has recently returned to England, and he is satisfied with the adequacy of the force on that Station.