MANNING THE NAVY.—QUESTION.

HL Deb 15 June 1858 vol 150 cc2088-9

LORD BROUGHAM

wished to put a question to the noble Earl the Foreign Secretary with reference to a subject upon which he felt great anxiety. That question, he thought, he might safely put at the present moment, considering the perfectly good understanding which, God be praised! prevailed between us and our ally the Emperor of the French, and respecting which good understanding he might observe that the passing cloud which for an instant only was created by violent language on both sides of the Channel—the violence of a multitude armed on one side, and the violence of a multitude unarmed on the other—had disappeared, and the good understanding between the two countries completely restored. That, then, was the very reason why there could be no harm, but a great deal of good, in their Lordships ascertaining whether or not proper steps had been taken—as he doubted not they had been—by his right hon. Friend the First Lord of the Admiralty for obtaining a good supply of men for the navy. There was no doubt that the country possessed a magnificent fleet; he wished he could add that the manning of that fleet was upon the same scale of efficiency. He begged to ask his noble Friend whether the Commission, which he understood was promised a few weeks ago to inquire into this most important subject, had yet been issued?

THE EARL OF MALMESBURY

said, that a Commission had been issued to consider the best way of manning Her Majesty's Navy at the shortest notice possible. He should be sorry, however, if any of their Lordships supposed, in consequence of what had fallen from his noble and learned Friend, that the navy could not, at the present moment, be manned in a very short space of time. Men were now ready at the shortest notice to come forward and man any number of ships that Government might consider to be necessary for the purpose of defending the Channel.

LORD BROUGHAM

was very far from doubting the possibility of manning the navy at the shortest notice; but what he stated was, that in point of fact, the navy was not at present manned.