§ MR. BRADLAUGHI beg to ask the First Lord of the Admiralty whether he has yet received any Report from Admiral Sir W. Dowell, K.C.B., as to the inquiry held into the conduct of Commander Annesley on board the Icarus; and whether he can state the result of such inquiry?
§ *THE FIRST LORD OF THE ADMIRALTY (Lord G. HAMILTON,) Middlesex, EalingThe Report of the Court of Inquiry has been carefully considered by the Admiralty. The investigation was a full one, and both officers and men had every opportunity of giving evidence upon the charges formulated in a letter written by the hon. Gentleman, which placed in a tangible and compact form the various allegations made by certain newspapers against Commander Annesley. Evidence was produced in support of the charge, that a punishment not recognised in the Service had been inflicted upon a writer named Cecil Dean, though it was asserted that the writer had been guilty of grossly insubordinate 1573 and mutinous conduct. I have therefore directed a charge to be made on this count against Commander Annesley, to he tried by Court Martial, in order that the whole facts of the case may be elicited. The other charges were either not supported by reliable evidence or were of such a trivial character as not to call for further action.