23 MARCH 1867, Page 3

A scandal was exposed on Thursday in Parliament. Sir J.

Pakington has, it appears, promoted Lieutenant Yorke, son of the Earl of Hardwicke, to be Commander over the heads of about 350 senior officers, some of whom, at all events, must be more competent. Mr. Hanbury Tracy wished therefore to know why. Sir John Pakington in reply, admitted the charge, confessed he had promoted Lieutenant Yorke simply because he was his father's son, but pleaded and proved that Whig First Lords had been just as bad, the Duke of Somerset having in the same way pro- moted sons of Sir James Graham, Sir Charles Wood, and the Earl of Munster. Sir J. Pakington evidently thinks that two blacks do make a white, proverbs notwithstanding, but Mr. Glad- stone was not disposed to see the Navy turned into an aristocra- tic preserve, and intimated that he should support a future motion for papers on the subject. Seniority, pure and simple, would de- stroy any Navy in the world, but the First Lord ought not to be allowed to depart from it without printing his reasons for the departure underneath the notice of promotion in the Gazette.