COMMODORE LAMBERT CENSURED BY THE ADMIRALTY.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 14, Issue 724, 7 October 1869, Page 4

COMMODORE LAMBERT CENSURED BY THE ADMIRALTY.

(From the Evening Post, 17th September.) Nothing has given us more pain lately, than the fact that the Admiralty Las been pleased to censure Commodore Lambert for the part he took in reference to the return of the Himalaya to Australia, without the troops she was sent here to embark. A few words only are necessary to recall the circumstances. On the 13th of February last the massacre of the White Cliffs occurred, and at that time the troops at Taranaki were under orders to concentrate at Auckland, for removal to Australia, Their removal at such a juncture occasioned the greatest alarm, not only in Taranaki, but throughout the whole island. Deputations and appeals of the most urgent character failed to induce his Excellency to assume the responsibility of ordering tijejbto remain, and the Airedale left this port actually under charter to convey them away. Immediately after the Airedale had sailed, information was received by the Com jnodore that Captain Piers, of the Himalaya, had received a telegram from the Admiralty, ordering him not to call at New Zealand. The Airedale was instantly telegraphed to at Nelson, and the troops remained at Taranaki. A day or two afterwards the Himalaya steamed into Wellington harbor under orders from General Chute to remove the five companies stationed at Wauganui, Taranaki, and Napier, Sir Trevor considering himself justified in countermanding the Admiralty's telegraphic instructions. His Excellency still declined assuming the slightest responsibility, and the troops would certainly have gone had not Commodore Lambert stepped in and sohed the difficulty. He sent Captain Piers back empty as he came. The Commodore asked him why he had disobeyed the Admiralty orders nut to call at New Zealand, and bade him return to Australia immediately. " I have now to inform you [wrote the Commodore to the Gcvernur] that in consequence of tin suggestion of the Major-General, Cap!. * Piers left Melbourne on the 20th Feb., and arrived here on the 27th, As the instructions contained in the telegrams received at Galle by Captain Pier: cancelled all former orders to him, lu therefore ought not to have coinj here. I yesterday sent H.M.S, Himalaya direct to Brisbane, with orders to proceed from thence, in pursuance o! instructions received in the Jelegram above referred to." It was naturally to be expected thai the Governor, whose every despatch draws historical parallels of the evih likely to result from the removal oi the troops, would have supported the Commodore to the utmost. Instead oi doing this, however, his Excellency very particularly pointed out, in hie letter of the 3id March to General Chute that Commodore Lambert hau come to this decision ' ; without reference to myself or the Colonial Government;" and again in his despatch tithe Secretary of State, of the Bth of the same month, " that it had been done, without reference to myself or to any other civil authority;' hi both these letters the Governor takes the opportunity of plainly hinting that he would have done nothing under the circumstances, had the Commodore not acted as he did. Both to the Ger.erai and the Secretary of State his Excellency conveys his determination never to take any responsibility ; but after first stating his own opinion, then always loyally to carry out whatever instructions may be given to him. In consequence of having no support from either the Governor or Colonial Government, the Commodore had the following letter addressed to him by the Secretary of the Admiralty; — Admiralty, 17th June, 1869. Sir—ln reply to your letter of the 12th March, No. 18, reporting the circumstances under which you had ordered the Himalaya to icturn empty i'rom New Zealand to Australia, I am directed by the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty to acquaint you that their Lordships are of opinion that you, committed an error of judgement in so doing. "You were aware that the Himalaya proceeded to INew Zealand in compliance with a requisition l'rom the Major General Commanding in the district, who, having before him not only the telegram to Captain tiers, but also that of the same date to himself, giving him discretionary power as to the detention of the 18th Foot in New Zealand, liad after consideration determined to remove the j-egiment, and wished that the Himalaya should be employed for that purpose. Under any circumstances you would have taken upon yourself grave responsibility in over-ruling this decision the greanfo stated, in your letter to General Chute, hut

before doing so you should, in any case have consulted the Governor or principal military authority of the Colony. My Lords regret to find, by inquiry at the War Office, that you acted in this matter without any such consultation, and entirely on your own authority, I am, &c, J, H, Briggs. Commodore Lambert, C.B,

It must be a satisfaction to the Commodore to know that although he has been censured by the Admiralty, he saved the Colony, and that the following quotation from a speech of the Hon. John Johnston, in the Legislative Council, aptly expresses the feeling of gratitude which pervaded New Zealand at the time: —"I cannot forget how, very recently, on the arrival of the Himalaya in these waters, to take away the Imperial troops the Commodore, by the course he took brought relief to every inhabitant of Wellington, Wanganui, and Napier. There was one unanimous feeling of gratitude towards him in this particular section of the North Island, and I know houses in which, when the course he took became known, cheers were given for the Commodore. In my own house, that night, the old English custom was re vived of drinking to the health of the Commodore after dinner ; and I know, too, the feeling was so general that the same thing was done in many parts' of the North Island," The Commodore showed himself fit to be placed iu a position of responsibility by his willingness to assume a grave responsibility in a moment of peril, and thus saved the Colony from sad disaster. It is to be hoped that in some way or other our sense of his having done so will be plainly manifested.