OSBORNE,
_August 2, 1858_.
The Queen feels it her duty to address a few lines to Lord Derby on the
subject of the reports made to Sir John Pakington on the subject of the
French naval preparations, to which she has already verbally adverted
when she saw Lord Derby last. These reports reveal a state of things of
the greatest moment to this country. It will be the first time in her
history that she will find herself in an absolute minority of ships on
the sea! and this inferiority will be much greater in reality than even
apparent, as our fleet will have to defend possessions and commerce
all over the world, and has even in Europe a strategical line to hold,
extending from Malta to Heligoland, whilst France keeps her fleet
together and occupies the centre of that line in Europe.
The Queen thinks it irreconcilable with the duty which the Government
owes to the country to be aware of this state of things without
straining every nerve to remedy it. With regard to men in whom we
are also totally deficient in case of an emergency, a Commission of
Enquiry is sitting to devise a remedy; but with regard to our ships and
dockyards we require action and immediate action. The plan proposed by
the Surveyor to the Navy appears to the Queen excessively moderate and
judicious, and she trusts that the Cabinet will not hesitate to empower
its execution, bearing in mind that £200,000 spent now will probably
do more work during the six or nine months for working before us than
£2,000,000 would if voted in next year’s estimate, letting our arrears
in the dockyards, already admitted to be very great, accumulate in the
interval. Time is most precious under these circumstances!
It is true that this sum of money would be in excess of the estimates
of last Session, but the Queen feels sure that on the faith of the
reports made by the Admiralty the Government would find no difficulty
in convincing Parliament that they have been good stewards of the
public money in taking courageously the responsibility upon themselves
to spend judiciously what is necessary, and that the country will be
deeply grateful for the honesty with which they have served her.
The Queen wishes Lord Derby to communicate this letter to the Cabinet.