The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser. — London, England, 1805-05-25 00:00:00

le My other !ittarter, or io*go any thing whatever person a l against any Members of His Majesty's Go ‘rernment. His sole ohjetet was, by investigating, to get at the truth, and to bring before the House and the pub the real state of the case. ina subjeet of the lestim portance to the safety and prosperity of the country. In diressing this, he should he necessaiily led into a emiNarative view of the merits of the late and present Nasal AdMinistrations. And in this view, the fit st thiPg that presents itself was the systemetie practice on the part of the later Board of Admiralty, of pur cliasing vessels almost useless as ships of war, and their aversion from building, from repairing ships of War in His Majeity's dock yards : the investigation he proposed, would enable their Lordshiphto decide Whether this system was praietically wise, or whether the reverie of that 'system, AS ailed upon by the for mer Board of Admiralo,e was, or was not, more to the advantage of the country. And even the papers do the table, def.:Clive in sonic respeas as they were, afforded strong grounds for going into the inquiry he should propose. In considering this very import ant subjea, he should have frequently to recur to se veral of the documents upon the table for purposes of illustration. He should, however, fatigue their Lordships with detailed extraas. One of the most ob- IssaienaLle parts of the system of purchasing vessels from the merchants, or building in their yards, was the imesense additional expense which attended it. In some instances, the enormous expenee of 341. per ton was incurred. He partictilitrised, in re ferring to eh, papers, the cases of the ships flindere Ws, and, as we understood his Lordship, the Me dilter. Of the ill state and condition of these ves sels to bear [hit sea, &c. he quoted certain parts of the documents as proofs ; and he observed, that nearly in a similar condition were found the greater number of the ships purchased. Most of them were, in Ira, toteily unfit for the purposes for which they were bon, st; ins' yet, to fit out such crary hulks, it WAs.,le.rned proprr to dismantle several ships of the line, and to turn over their crews, which, in point of fait left the country in a worse state of defence than it had been in before. Such an immense expense had been incurred, with respeCt to the naval force kept In the Downs by the Noble Earl at the bead of the late Board of Admiralty, and which was so ex claimed against, he contended, that, though the number ut vessels were not so greet as those colleaed there afterwards, yet the former force was so 01 , gsnised as to present a much more e ffi cient force.— In comparing die merits of the two boards, he would desire their Lordships to look at events, and judge them by their fruits. Did they not then know, that two distinct squadrons of the enemy were riding triumphantly in the seas, while some of the most valuable of our ledia Wands mere :eh ex posed to their ravages? Nothing of this sort happened durieg the administration of his Noble friend. Their s y stem likewise, with respea to the internal minAgement of the naval concerns, was equally reprehensible. No less thin 170 ship wrights had discharged themselves from the yards of Deptfad and Woolwich. Referring farther to the documents, he instanced the case of the purchase of a certain number of vessels, which, with proper management, might be built new in the King's yards, for a sum of 24,0001. less. This gross inattention to economy was perceptible in many instances. But one of the most important considerations of the whole WAS.. the departure from the plan, by which the shipwrights were arranged and set to work, in &yin@ clesws, so that every neon could work ac ceding to his ability ; instead of which, the prac tice was now to, blend them, the good and had hands, psemilatunu..ly together. Continuing to ahernadvert upon the plan of internal mehape meet. adopted by the Board of Admiralty, on. snediately preceding the present, he referred copiously to the Report s of the Naval Commis siuners, which, perhaps, the voluminous nature prevented many of their Lordships from perusing I end from this, with pain and regret it was, he canceled instances of the most gross inattention and neglea, with respea to the expenditure of the pahlic money. Indeed, he thought it impossible that such lavish profusion could be suffered to exist in any department whatever, as appeared Ls the Shoal Report ; the Naval Commissioners, who unmasked these Practices, deserved the thanks of Parliament and of their country. He particu larly called their Lou dships attention to instances of charges made at certain distinct times, for the same proportion of work. &c. where these charges were widely different in the amount; and yet they were allowed and suffered to pass without investigation, by those officers, whole express duty it WAS to watch over, and correct such abuses. He particularly instanced the case of the repairs of the Amelkyst frigate, of 24 guns, for which the charge was immense ; yet, she was reported by the carpenter, in a short time afterwards, as unfit to ride at anchor in her then state. He was nor the pane gyrist of the Noble Earl at the head of a former Board of Admiralty; yet, it was with indignat ii in he heard of his having been calumniated, and in a certain quarter described as the greatest enemy the country ever saw. In his mind, those who supported those enormous abuses which the Noble Earl to honour tidy exerted himself to reform, were the real ene mies of their country. He wished merely to render ' J ustice to that Noble Earl ; one who had been vic torious over the foreign enemies of his country ; but who had the virtue and the courage to at. tack that more dangerous, that secret cud lurk ing domestic foe, who, by his malversatioes, under mined the strength and power of the country ; perhaps he might have, with too rough and seaman-like hand, tore aside the veil which skrreued them. Drawing try.cirds a conclu sion, he pressed the consideration of the great im portance of the 'Oka to their Lordships, one which involve! not only the wellies and prosperity. but even the safety and independence of the coon. ley ; arid, even in justice to the Noble Earl to whom he had frequently occasion to allude, an investiga tions:mold be entered upon. Ile then moved, that " the various Papers, documents, &c. relative to the state of the Navy. upon the Table, be referred to the consideration of a ticket Committee, to consist of a number of persons," whose names were hastily run over by the Noble Eari ; but among whom, we massed tho s e of His Royal Highness the Duke of Clarence. the Marquis ot Buckink i hann and hall VOI test. ue. Oil the Question being put ; Lord Viscount ILLE rare and observed, that by what fell from the Noble Ear 1, it was to he colleded, that his principal objea was an enquiry into the comparative merits of the late Board of Admiralty, and that which immediately trreced rd it. Of these, the Noble Lord described the official conduet to differ in many material respeets ; but principally, in what is urged AS matter of accusation against that, at which he had the honour to preside; the purchase, unnecessarily, of many useless vessels. which could not be well applied to the service of the Navy ; and also, to the bottling of ships of war preferably in the merchants yards, contrary to the usual pradice of their predecessors. The subject, extensive, various, and complicated, as it Was. was one to which, for more than one reason, he had paid particuler attention. Wishing that their L o rdships, in general, might have an oppor timity of doing the same, he not only had agreed to the production of almost every one of the papers required by the Noble. Earl, but laid before the House many additional documents, upon his own motion. With resped to his objection to the pro ducing e copy of the correspondence between the Admiralty and Navy, and other subordinate boards, he had apptised the Noble Eatl of its complicated and voluminous nature, and that it would tend to throw very little, if any light, on what he wished to illustrate. From all these, it appeared, the only use the Noble Earl could make was, to refer to the cases of the ships Rini/often and Mediator, respell ing which he made some quotations. It would defeai the objea of the Noble Earl's inquiry, did he confine his comparisons to that of the late with the termer Board of Admiralty. He should compare that with the condud of the Boards of Admiralty for twenty years back ; and, on that ground, he would freely join issue with him. The part of their conduet so much arraigned by the Noble Earl was, in point of fad, founded on the example of every respedable Board of Admiralty for twenty years past. He was astonished at the Noble Earl's now laying so great a stress on the Sixth Re.. port; that document lay near twelve months upon the table, and now, the 23th of May, it for the first time occurred to him to come forward upon it. This. from what he understood, was not the pur,sort of the Noble Earl's intended motion: he understood from him, as proposing to bring something forward on the papers he had moved for himself The prin cipal charge now made resolved into two leading considerations : firs!, the circumstance and ill died, of purchasing the vessels ; and, secondly. the in creased expellee attending that plan. The build ing preferably in the merchants yards was also another consideration. With resped to these, it may be in the rev ilesfion of some of their Lord ships, the state aril feelings of the country. and of the House, at the time, about twelve months sio .vhen a Noble Marquis (Stafford) was shunt to bring forward a motion upon the state of the defence of the country ; they may recoi led what was said about that time respeding the necessity of con:cling a number of smaller ves sels to aft against the small craft destined for the invasion of the country. A great deal was certain- ly said upon it. Whether that clamour was well or I ill founded, he should not now consider ; but cer tainly trader the prevailing impression at the time, he felt it his first duty to inquire where a large flambee of such vessels could be purchased. To co-operate with these large bodies. of sea fentibles were &eared proper, and these were accordingly col leded. On the other hand, he found thirty-nine ships had been previously contrailei for. He called for the contrads which had been made, and found they were for a longer periad than was necessary —With resped to adual preparations, fifty-one new vessels were procured, and ushers colleded, to an aggregate amount of I7h sail, nearly double the number that were before used in these ser vices. Undoubtedly the additional expense was considerable; but he had no hesitation in saying, that it was necessary to incur it. The impression which prevailed at the time, was properly a consi deration. The measure had its effed in quieting the apprehensions of the people ; for, after that, no frays were expressed. Another measure adopted about the same time, was the providing an efficient force for the North Sea Station ; an object of con siderable importance, which also had its efed upon the mind of the country; it made a part of that system, which was laid down for restoring the Navy of Britain to its pristine vigour. When he first cartse to the office, he required an accurate Report from the Navy Board, respeding the number, the nature, and condition of ships in His Majesty's Navy. Upon that Report he determined to regulate his condud. A leading feature of that Report was the complaint of a want of ships of the line. At the same period, the great accession of the naval force of the enemy, by those of Holland and Spain, was to be considered ; not only the number of the vessels France would thus obtain, but vessels ob viously in a better condition than ours, on Account of their being fresh, and not exposed to service. Correspondent exertions on the part of this country became necessary ; its safety was at stake; and such were made, lu less than ten mouths, ten ship of the line were got ready to replace thoses which were rendered by hard duty unfit for alive service : to keep up the future necessary sup ply, became a more serious consideration, and this necessarily led to a recurrence to the Merchants' Yards. They found in May 1804, that of sir( ships building in the Kr .g's Yards, „ale had adlually been laid down so far back as 17E2, and some of them were not expeded to be ready before 1807. These were fads, they Tors- for themselves.. It farther appeared, that of c. a. ships tar the line determined to be 1)9;4 io the King's cards, even the keels of none of them had then ! , ^eis laid t the reasons alleged were the went of nneerials and of hands. 'they were then compelled to 'lave recourse to the Merchants' yards; they Lead no other moans of supplying the wants of the Navy, .41,d it was their duty to recur to them. Indeed. this de cried system had been some time afted upon by the Board of Admiralty of which the Noble Earl was the head ; but, to his great surprise. on the 13th of January 1803, he found an order expressly pro hibiting the building any more vessels in the Mer chants yards. However, frotr raesta and these only, was it found predicable to supply the wants of the Navy. He would ask, whether, su n particular period of the year 1304, the slips in the King's yards were lit for building ships ter the Navy ? It they were, how came it that none of the keels of the five sltips were laid down Whea the Nine's yards v,•; re in such a state, could any man be so ioia:uated as to look to them for the necessary supply ? It was not a wild project of his own. Were he erroneous in that part of his conduct, so were many of the ablest first Lords of the Admiralty the country ever saw. He only followed in the wake of my Lord Sand wich, Adm. Keppel, Lerd Hawke, Earl Chatham, Earl Spencer, and, in some degree, of the Earl of St. Vincent himself ! All these found the necessity of recurring to the Merchants' yards Of one hundred and twenty ships in commission. thirty five ships of the line were so built. In the period of Earl Sandwich's Administration, one necessarily of great exertion, one hundred and twenty-five had been built in the Merchants' Yards, and only forty-one in the King's Yards. In subsequent Ad ministrations, more or less, according to circum stances, were built in the respellive yards, In periods of peace, where no urgency operated, the uni ferm practice was, to build in the King's Yards, and so it was from 17d3 to 1794, when the ex. igencies of the country drove them again •to the merchants' yards: from 1794 to 1801, the proportions were seventeen ships built in the Mer chants' yards to five built in the King's. These considerations rendered the general propositir so clear, that no man in his senses could dispute it. In animadverting on the conduit of the preceding Board of Admiralty, the Noble Viscount referred to some parts of the correspondence between that and the Navy Board, &c. ; and quoted a letter of it A. S. Hammonds. wherein the opinion of the No. We Earl then at the head of the Admiralty (St. Vincent) was for the urgent necessity if build:ng 7lt's in every part of the kingdom where it was predicable. Th s was a strong argument in favour of the system afterwards Si reprobat ed by that Noble Earl himself. Under the same authority, advertisements for building ships in private yards were published. Perhars the in diposition of the Noble Earl prevented him from duly attending to that part of the official business, at the time. To consider the point farther, there was nothing in the then state of the navy, to war rant so abrupt a change of system, and so opposite an opinion, conceived at the end of a fortnight, the interval between the expression of his convidion of the necessity of recurring to private yard., and the issue of an order to build no more in them ; it was incumbent on the Noble Earl to explain this— why there was such a change in sentiment, between the 10th Dec. 180'1, and 13th of Jan. 1803 He rested his case upon the stubborn evidence of fads, and even could quote the authority of the E trl of St. Vincent, ageinst the pradice of the Earl of St. Vincent. Another consideration was, with respeet to the difference between the then first Lor I of the Admiralty, and the Comptroller of the N.tvy. tie would ask that Noble Earl, if he thought Sir A. S Hammond unfit for his situation, why he suffered him to continue in it ? For his part, he thought the greatest harmony ought to exist be tween the Comptroller o f t h e Navy, and the fir .t Lord of the Admiralty. It was essential to the service of the Navy, that a familiar, frequent. and confidential intercourse should exist between them. ‘Vit4 leaped to the loud objedion of expence, as greater in the m erc h ants than in the King's yards, such etas the case, that every pairs were taken on that head, but there was no alter native ; they must either incur that expence. or go without the sh•ps. Another point dwelt upon was, the late partial successes of the enemy, in the West Indies. With respect to this, he would ask, was it wise, or was it possible, eternally to keep up the blockading system ? Were there no fluduations of wind—no changes of weather. to countera,t such operations 1 In the beginning of war, a stria blockade may be necessary ; the ohjefts of it were principally to enable us to enlarge and strengthen our state of defensive preparation, or moans of of fensive Attack, and to rranquillise the minds of the people. during the time ; but it was impossible to keep up always a close blockade ; in the intervals, opportunities are unavoidably Afforded the enemy to slip out ships or small squadrons, and that very consideration should increase their anxiety ten-fold to increase the number of the line of battleships; and bete recurrence to the Merchants' Yards became necessary. In fad, in perils of war or of exigency, there was no doing without them. By the system adopted by the late Board of Admiralty, before the expiration of seven mot ails. the country would have a naval force of from one hundred and fifteen to one hundred and twenty sail of the line ; a force adequate to every necessary purpose, to hold the enemy completely in check, and to afford the most perfect security to the country. Indeed, it WAS on its navy that the welfare, the happiness, and the safety of the country depended. There were some topics adverted to by the Noble Earl ; such as the departure of some of the artificers from certain yards, and of that pecttliar nature, as, he thought, could not be safely agitated ; from entering into that pat of the discussion, he must, therefore, refrain. He must say, that it was by no means owing to the preference given by Government to die mer chants' yards. There were some pr lots of subotdinate regulation, where improvement would be desirable, it was felt by all. Ohj lions were easily made, but amelioration was not so facile, difficulties ex isted, which were slot so easily overcome as some Noble Lords seemed to think. Plans were laid down for ameliorating these things. for the better supply of the yards with the necessary articles, for encouraging the produetions of the country ; these, he trusted, would be persevered in, and, he little doubted, would ultimately produce the wished-for effe is. The Earl of ST. VINCF.N r row and said, that he wished for nothing so much as the inquiry which had just been moved tor, as he was certain it would tend to thew which of the two modes of building ships (or the use of Government was the more ad vaniagenus. He bad never hesitated in giving a pteterence to those built in His Majesty's Dock yards ; because he was convinced that, from the na ture of the workmanship, the seasoning of the tim ber. and the superior quality of the various articles used in the construilion of a ship of war, there could be no possible comparison between these provided for the D.ck-yards. and those made use of in the merchants' yards. He had accordingly ales! on that opinion which he believed to be riht, and, on that point, was ready to stan d t h e test o lany inquit y. His Lordship then passed some very severe strictures un the formation of the Navy Board, as coantsfted with the Admiralty ; adverted particularly to the dice of the C umptroller of that Board, which, as -~,~ -. r it been jcp e r e ir twi r li,a t treat, IA . 7 to ► ii Inn : t r_too,i him, g i ns Navy Service ; and e was desfmcs to degree of investigation into his conduit, as F a a n he t twaL( h elo e tt ritli u ldseß t t fel e a l b t p : s ti eee l e luiad: itel°ll: z'bal.yi at rd f Fink, ti;411*11 that, degree the Admiraltc. he him, n nieus h;o ds which had , and since the held that high and important office. The Duke of CLARENCE said he shmild csra tainly vote in favour of the Motion of Ili, Friend, because he th sught Inquiry of every k;ra WAS necessiu y, when it had hero so incontrovertibly proved, that the m rat glaring, hard:iced, infamous and flagitious trellis and puce datioas existed in every department under the Onvet nmeet. Royal 1., nest particularly referred to the Sixth Report relative to the Woolwich Yard ; congratulated the country that his Noble Fi lend near him hal hetet at t i, e head of the Admiralty, by which he had been al& to draw the aussitiuis of His Majesty's elielsurs to the various abuses which existed in that extensive department, the good and efficient condua nf whi-m was so truly essential to the vital safety and h h .‘ 4 ll of this country, and i ts foreign prhse;.it. o ., 0. • no percnn called th e attention of 0 .1 . . , 4.e5: it during the pieseni Se%-ami, lie Would C4Z A I I do early in the next. With re i p c .ft to t .. e questa of shipNg, it h a d [w e t ; a ll owe d from the hen ead closest calculations. th at there we . r t e d no tt t ,a rn t m one t 5,200 shipwri g h ts i n t h e country, n at least of these were engsigrat in the ship y ar d" higher wages than they could poisibly obtain froat private yards; when it was therefor° con.idered, that the other half were dispersed in the var Mus and numerous dock yards throughout the kingd stn , that they worked for less wages, and that the timber grad other articles could not he supp wed to be in any degree equal to those used in His Majesty's Dec: Yards; Ile was, therefore, feelingly alive to thy subjeift, and was sorry to find, from tbo-e who ha.( paid due attention to the rith Report, that it WAS the opinion of every intelligent naval ch a raaer, that a' same radical retorm iras not spee lily adop;el in that department, oer naval greatnesa and suaeriathr most speedily moulder away. The Mole count, to his great astonishment, had argued mass forcibly against the blockading system; if that argument was true, he knew no one who was so extensively err ,rig as his L mdship; for, by con tinuing that very system of Isiocka it, in the way he had done, the enemy had slipped out, nil:WT..7i after squadron, and, we have received ;he mosr me lancholy and induhitable accounts of the ravage% some of tho se h„v e committed on c,:r settkmer.:. in the West Indies. The Rochfort squadron has been truly triumphaat in those seas, and yet, hew the commanding officer of that squadron would ac quit hims%lt for not having done more than he did, with such a superiority as he had in those seas, it was to him impossible to guess. This he was sere of, that if an English commander, under such cir cumstances, had d ,ne so little, he mould have beret brought to a trial, and doubtless pani .hed, for los ing so golden an opportunity of distressing the enemy in their most vital part. Ib e t a i was , the French commonder rn , ;ht have nearly de stroyed all our West ludia Island-. in which are contained six nollimis of property ; and, is that was not a subjece of Naval Inctiry, he con fes,ed he was at a loss to know what .vas He shucLi he glad to know whether Minist-rs can lay their hand; o s their hearts, and say, that the great ainl combined fleet is now at Cud's, which was at Cashes some time ago? He was afi aid not. There seemed to have been a most apparent and glaring negligence in that very important dep r.ment, during the ad ministration of the Noble Vii a out and he %mutt, therefore, give his hearty a,,ent to the inquiry moved for by his Noble Friend. Viscount STD NIOUTI I thought no possible public advantage could arise from the agtation of the pre sent question. No charge had been m tie ag unst either the Noble E era (e . r. Vincent), or the Noble Viscount (Melville). He would not enter into the argument, whether the larger or smaller number of ships purchased or employed was more advantageous to the service: tle.t was not called for on the present occasi m The chief point in which his Noble Friend ( Earl St. Vincent) was implicated. was, as to ships belt i.s the King's Dock-yards; and whether those were preerable to such as were built in private Do.k.yards? His Noble Friend, in the very outset of his Administration at the Adre;ralty, had thought it prcper to risk the dock yards, in the c wise of which he was convinced of the necessity of ad ling to the timber; and had, the;efore, allowed that building ships in men chant might be-res. r ed to in a certam de. Free. (hi further consideration and commoinica tion on the subject, his Noble Friead became of opi nion, there Was no chance of destroying monopoly. unless rneaos could be round of employing all the artificers in the Kii,g's Yards is order to preve.a migation. It spa , t eref , r , thought necessary, by his Noble Friend, to have off building in Mer chants' yards; and, in order to oh air as large A supply of timber as p u hie, his Nob e Friend had prevailed nn a certain great somi.erchil body ((be hart ineta ('ompaho) to abstain fri na huildiug for two ye irs, and it WAS only .1 sin 11 psrt ;is Noble Friend's plan to k ee p t h e pr i ce of t i n b e J. wn , and as low as possible. H e e x p resse d h m ae . f r xtr emelr sorry for the misund erstan di ng w hi ch tad subsisted between his Noble F r i en d, t h e ri s Lord f t!.e Ac t e miralty, and the C omptro ll er o f t h e Navy ; but lie objetted to the prnduinion of the pa:•er, muveJ for. as it could not lead to any good inirprse. lie ex pressed himself to he conscious of the necc-oity of a reform in the Dock yards, and he was Certain that • Governmeat was desirous to give every insieht into it through the medium of the Reports of die Naval Commissioners. Lord HOLLAND said, he washed to know why , the Noble Visc ount , w h o h a d j e • t sat d own , s h n old objefi to an inquiry, in which the gallant .Adtairal, whom he stiled his Nsble Friend, might have el' - 1 . partuoity of proving the malevolent charges agaia , t him not to be true ? The Noble Viscount air the Noble Admiral were both in that same Administra tion, which was deteribed as most weak, inefficient, and imbecile. They equally participated in the; honourable description; and what, said he, Its' since happened? IVliat has been the material ale • ration? For his part he could see none further than this, that the Noble Viscount had beets made President of the Council, to assist and support the Administration of that Right Hon. Gentleman, L. ~ ~~ most of was st ei PA atit. Dots 7l beau a ar La, Nis attest r'ire (St. divij Llnt Coe; Pas: • ii fin.. )4r .itc.