ugust 9, 1838._

* * * * *

_Inadequacy of our Navy._

There is nothing more certain than that, if you come to be entirely
dependent for corn on the countries bordering on the Baltic, you would
have the King of Prussia and the Emperor of Russia (as has been known
before), levying a tax upon the exportation of that article of food to
the Thames, and elsewhere in this country. * * I entirely agree with the
noble and learned lord on the expediency of avoiding any interference
with foreign powers on the subject of commercial matters; but I confess
that I cannot view the state of our commercial relations, and of our
position in the world generally, in connection with these commercial
pursuits, with any degree of unmixed satisfaction. On the contrary, I do
deplore the state in which we find ourselves placed in many parts of the
world, particularly as it has been described in the course of the
evening by my noble friend (Viscount Strangford). What I attribute that
state of our commercial relations to, in a great degree, is, the extreme
weakness and tottering condition of our naval establishments. I do not
mean to complain of the distribution of our naval establishments;
though, at the same time, I by no means intend to unsay what I have said
in respect to the expeditions to Spain, which I cannot approve of; but I
repeat my expression that I consider our naval establishments to be in
too weak and tottering a condition to answer the purpose for which they
were intended, which was to give protection to the commercial interests
of the country in all parts of the world; for the commerce of England
does extend to all parts of the world. There is not a port, not a river,
which is not visited by the ships of her majesty's subjects; and her
majesty's subjects have an undoubted right to protection in whatever
part of the world they may think proper to visit in the pursuits of
commerce. The circumstance of which I complain I do not at all attribute
to neglect upon the part of the admiralty, neither do I include in my
censure the noble earl who is at the head of the admiralty; but those I
do blame are the individuals who have thought proper to reduce the
establishments of the country to such a degree, that protection cannot
possibly be given in all places where it is required.

* * * * *

I will remind your lordships that, since the peace, and particularly
within the last