The royal gazette — [Charleston] S.C., 1781-05-26 00:00:00, page 4

Parliamentary Proceedings.
House ^Commons, Thursday, February I.
MR. Fox rose, and before he proceeded to make the motion of
which he had given previous notice, desired that the charges
exhibited by Sir Hugh Pallifer against Admiral Keppel, Ihould be
read, together with the sentence of the Court-Martial that had tried
him; and also the inftrudions from the Board of Admiralty to the
Court-Martial appointed to try Sir Hugh Pallifcr, and the sentence
"pronounced on that officer.
Having Rated all these proceedings as matters of a publick nature,
he hoped that he might make them the grounds of his speech, and of
the motion with which he intended to conclude it, without giving
room to a suspicion that he was in any wife swayed by personal re
sentment, or personal dislike; he disclaimed every such idea; and
insinuated that never liaving had any acquaintance with Sir Hugh
Pallifer, he never could have received from him any cause of person
al refehtment : but while he disclaimed all private resentment, he
confeffed that as a publick man, and one who wiftied well to his
country, he could not but feel himfelf animated against a man,
whose condud, in his opinion, had essentially prejudiced the cause of
that country.—As he was not actuated by any hatred to the Gover
nour of Greenwich Hospital, so, on the other hand, he gave no
room to the natural affe&ion he bore to Admiral Keppel, in the
conduct he had laid down to himfelf on the present occasion ; he lo
ved that great Admiral; but he never would have undertaken the
business on which he was then going to enter, if the publick were
not concerned in the cause of that officer : it was not because he
wished to eftablilh the character of his honourable relation, that he
was going to make his motion ; that tharader had been established
long before, and confirmed by a sentence of a Court-Martial. He
hoped, therefore, that he ought not to be charged with wiffiing to
prosecute the unfortunate : perfeention could not be more d^teftable
in the eyes of any man, than in his ; but whle he held it mean, dif
honourable, and infamous to become a persecutor, he must hold it
to be the duty of a senator to throw every obßacle in the way of eve
ry man, whose rife would be prejudicial to the commonweal. The
Government of Greenwich Hospital was not very lucrative, but it
was very honourable; and as it might, perhaps, lead to others, he
must oppose it as much a^ he could, in order to prevent an honoura
ble Ration from being disgraced in being filled by a man, whole pub
lick character was branded with infamy; and he thought he Ihould
begin his opposition with the firfl honour conferred on Sir Hugh Pal
lifer, because if it Ihould be conferred unopposed, and that Ministers
ihould proceed afterwards to give him an adive command in the na
vy, they might then bear down every objection with this obferva
tio'n— " The firß appointment was received without murmur or
disapprobation ; it was then opposition ihould have been made: to
make any afterwards, would be nothing less than to persecute."
Hence he deduced the propriety and expediency of his motion at the
present moment. r -
The sentence that had Ramped on Sir Hugh Pallifer, the infamy
which rendered it improper to employ him any more in the service of
the publick, was, in his private opinion, totally unexceptionable :
however, some people had made it a point to obje&to it; and en
deavoured to refeue the Vice-Admiral from disgrace, by contending,
that the part of the sentence of Admiral Keppel's Court-Martial,
which related to Sir Hugh, was extrajudicial. But how was this pro
ved ? Merely by comparing Courts-Martial to courts of law : but
the practice in both was not the fame : for though in the latter the
prosecutor had a right to reply, yet in the former that practice did
not usually prevail; and it was customary for Courts-Martial always
to pass a censure on an accuser who had failed to make good his
charge; he could produce an hundred inßances to support his affer
tion;' but he had contented himfelf with three. In the cases of Cap
tains Cotton and Lee, in the year 1766, the courts did not think it
Sufficient to acquit these gentlemen, but had pronounced the charges
to be vexatious and grounded only in malice. In the case of Major
General Monckton, in 1764, the court made use of the Rrongeft
language in censuring the accuser, charged him dire&ly with malice,
and declared that he must have imposed on his Majeßy's Secretary
at war, to have been able to procure an order for trying the General.
But some gentlemen might fay, are recriminations always unjust,
and must they be nceeforily dictated by malice? In the case of Sir Hugh
Pallifer, there were circumft^nces that demonstrated malice, in the
recrimination. Reports had charged the Vice Admiral with negled:
of duty on the 27th of July ; he applied not for a Court-Martial to
try him, but to his commander, for a certificate of his conduct on
that day ; it was denied; and then in order to make guilt from his
own shoulders, he preferred five charges against the Admiral, three
of which affected his life : he pretended, from the day of battle, to
that on which he had preferred the accusation, that his commander
in chief had not done his duty; he pretended that for the publick
good, he had been silent on thefubjed so long, and yet so little re
gard had he Hewn for the publick, that he failed a second time with
a man, who, in his opinion, either was unequal to the command of
a fleet, or had betrayed his duty : was this the conduct of a patriot ?
Ought he not, on the contrary, to have seized the very firft oppor
tunity, to drag rhe traitor or coward Admiral to trial ; and not have
fuffered him to have a second opportunity of disgracing the British
flag by his ignorance, his cowardice, or his treachery ? This would
have procured him the publick esteem : but when the world saw
that private consideration, not publick good, had swayed him; that
he accused his commander, merely to screen himfelf; then, surely,
every one must agree with the Court-Martial, that the charge was
iU-famded and malicious. The Vice-Admiral himfelf seemed to think
with the judges of his commander : for instead of returning to his
feat in parliament, and arraigning their conduct, he resigned his
Lieutenant-Generalship of the Marines, his feat at the Admiralty,
his Government of Scarborough, and his feat in Parliament; and
in return, accepted of the valuable Cbiltern Hundreds. Was it not
fair to cohclude, that confeious guilt, and a dread effacing the world
any more, was the cause of all those resignations ? He was afraid,
certainly, to meet his Commander in that House; he could not bear
to be a witness to his triumph : He at firft had endeavoured to com
promise the whole affair with Admiral Keppel, when a compromise
would have been difgraceful; and, when he Could not succeed
in that, he had recourse to recrimination, which favoured of the
highwayman's argument, " If you don't give me money I'll blow,
your brains out : if you don't certify that my conduct was what it
ought to have been on the 27th of July, I will charge you with
crimes that shall affe& your life." Here,furely, was ground fufficient
to pronounce, that the motives of the accuser were not honourable,
and that a gratification of his malice was all that he had in view.
As it appeared then, that the Court-Martial had adfed according
to the practice of the navy, and had ascribed the prosecution to those
motives, which every man must fee who is not wilfully blind, no
thing could juftify Administration in conferring any mark of distinc
tion on the Vice-Admiral, unless another sentence, reverting the
former ! —Had such a sentence been puffed on him ? No! for he was
rot unanimously, or honourably acquitted; nay, he was absolutely
conyi&ed of neglect of duty, in not having made known the Rate of
his snip to his commander.——He did not mean to find any fault with
the gentlemen who composed the second Court-Martial; but the
manner in which the court was conßituted, was highly reprehensi
ble: according to the opinion offome great lawyers, those who had
been witnesses on the firft trial, ought not to have been judges on the
second : and yet this very thing had taken place, which ought not
to have ' been permitted; and three Captaine of the Blue division,
who were implicated in the guilt of the Vice-Admiral, had fat in
judgment upon him : nay, Capt. Walters, his ovn nephew, not
choosing to avail himfelf of the leave that had been offered to him to
absent himfelf, had been one of the court: nay, an officer who ought
to have been one of the members, and who, if he had, must have
excluded Capt. Walters, as he was senior to him, and had been
summoned as a witness for Sir Hugh, but was not called by him to
give any evidence : so that the Summons appeared to have been issued
solely for the purpose of bringing forward Capt. Walters, by making
the Hon.. Keith Stewart (the officer he alluded to) a witness. Capt.
Duncan indeed had been on the trial, and he could not be supposed
to be partial to Sir Hugh Pallifer; but then it was mere accident that
had placed him in that fit-nation; for if a kind of mutiny had not
happened on board his Hip, which had prevented him from failing,
he would net have been at Portsmouth on the day of trial. These
were objections that might be made to the constitution of the court ;
and yet, constituted as it was, it did not acquit the Vice-Admiral,
either unanimously or honourably : and when the sentence bellowed
eulogiums for exemplary and meritorious conduct in many inflates, it
might be implied, that there were other inßances that did not deserve
so much praise.
Ministers, therefore, could not find in the second sentence any
thing that could efface the infamy conveyed in the firft ; and tho'
the second Court-Martial Ihould have placed the bravery of the
Vice-Admiral in the higheß point of view, yet they could not
by that take away the difgrace.attending a conviction of malice.
The consequence, therefore, that would naturally attend his pro
motion would be, that in future, officers would not look for fa
vour and preferment from a due difeharge of their duty; and
must necessarily be discouraged frem pursuing a line of honour
and reputation, when they saw a man, convicted of a crime whicli
militated against both, become an object of court favour. The
consequence to the country might be dreadful ; for if the navy, on
which it depends, Ihould once become spiritless, then dur gredtnefs
and glory must expire.
Admiral Keppel had no fault to find with Minißers, as far as he
himfelf was concerned; for his character had been confirmed in the
mod glorious manner; he had received the nioft diftinguifned marks
of honour from that House; and the persecution he met with at
Windsor, had only served to Show how high his reputation Rood in
the eyes of the people, by causing his return to that House for the
county of Surry : but, as a publick man, the Admiral must lament,
that his country Ihould be exposed to the loss of its navy, or that, at
least, its exertions would be less worthy of its renown ; that the most
able officers Ihould be driven from the service, and that a man Ihould
be promoted, who had rendered himfelf unworthy of a rank, in a
profellion which is the bulwark and palladium of this country.
Recapitulating in his peroration, all the arguments contained in a
speech that laßed an hour and a half, Mr. Fox concluded with a mo
tion, that the House Ihould resolve, “ That the appointment of Sir
Hugh Pallifer to the government of Greenwich Hospital, who had
been declared by a Court-Martial to have preferred a malicious pro
secution against his commander in chief, was deftru&ive of the difei
pline, and derogatory to the honour of the Bpitifh navy."
Lord North replied to Mr. Fox. His Lordihip said, he had insu
perable objections to the motion in its present form, and consequent
ly he could not give his aßent to it. In the firft place, it was so
worded, that any man who Ihould read it, must be induced to think
that Sir Hugh Pallifer had been tried for malice : this was not the
case, and consequently no man could support a motion that had a
falfehood for its only foundation. In the next place, it asserted that
a conviction had taken place : this likewise he denied; because a con
viction without a trial was no conviction. It was repugnant to every
idea of reason and justice. His Lordship assured the House, that he
had no intention to arraign the members who composed Mr. Keppel's
Court-Martial ; he would impute no blame whatsoever to them; but
he would remind the House, that they were then going to a6l in
their judicial capacity ; and to convict Ministers of having advised the
Crown to bellow an employment on an unworthy object, or to ap
plaud them for having rewarded a meritorious fubje&.— -The ques
tion before them was not, whether Sir Hugh Pallifcr had been con
victed of malice, but whether he had been tried for it ? If he had been
tried and conviCted, Ministers were highly blameable for having re
commended him to Royal favour, and the Hon' . Gentleman would
no doubt follow up his motion with others, to which the present was
only preparatory : but if he had not been tried for malice, then every
conviction must be extrajudicial. That no trial for malice had taken
place, and that the Vice-Admiral had never been heard on that head,
was admitted by the Hon. Gentleman, who justified the sentence
only by the practice of Courts-Martial ; but certainly it was not the
usual practice of such courts ; for whenever a convi&ion of that na
ture was in contemplation, the judges always allowed the accuser to
defend himfelf on the motives of his accusation, as in the case of Ad
miral Knowles against his Captains, and of his Captains against him.
But the Hon. Member finding the argument drawn from what he
called the practice of the court, too weak, and feeing the injustice of
convicting a man of having motives into which no enquiry had been
made, took another method of gaining his point, by demonstrating
the malice of the motives, from the antecedent conduct of the Vice-
Admiral. The recrimination, is called a demonstration of malice ;
but ought that to be admitted as a demonstration ? certainly not; for
it is very poßible, that innocence, integrity, and recrimination,
might go hand in hand together. The Vice-Admiral finds, that his
conduct is censured; he applies to his Commander to bear testimony
to his behaviour, and fails in his application ; feeling then, as a man
of spirit Ihould do, who fees himfelf pointed out as the cause why an
inferior fleet of France had escaped from a superior British squadron,
he appeals to the publick, and lays the blame where, in his opinion,
it ought to rest. Where is the demonstration of malice in this? If,
after the many attacks that had been made upon him, from quarters
that seemed to point out that they were not infignificant people who
were concerned in the attacks, he had remained silent, he would
have deserved much praise for his Christian forbearance, and brother
ly love : but surely the part he had taken was so very natural, that
there was no necessity to look for malice in it : he did not bring falfe
charges; at least the juris were not falfe ; for the Hon. Admiral had
not denied, but juftified them. Where then was the ground for a
conviction of malice ? The Hon. Gentleman deduced it from the Vice-
Admiral's resignations: The resignations might be good, had, or
indifferent ; but if the Hon. Gentleman's dodrine was carried to its
full length, every man who resigns (as the gentleman himfelf might
do) a valuable employment, might be said to acquiesce in a charge of
guilt, and thereby furnifh ,evidence against himfelf. The Vice-Ad
miral might perhaps have resigned for the most laudable purposes;
he might have wished not to disturb the peace and harmony of his
Majefy's fleet; or perhaps there might have been something person
al in his resignation; he might have seen a Rorm gathering, and
fnuffed the tempest from afar; to seek a shelter from it, therefore,
was prudent ; in fad, it was more than prudent, it was necessary.—
There was a madness in the times ; the three nights illuminations
shewed that the people were seized with phrenzy, and that it was
madness to contend at that time against the Rorm : The Hon. Gen
tleman knew well how furious the times had been, when he and his
friends had been obliged to go out on a raw night (in February) to
endeavour to QUELL the tumult, and to difterfe the mob. To resign on
such an occasion. was a mark of prudence; bot it must be Rrange
logick indeed, that could demonstrate malice from it.
The acquittal of the Vice-Admiral was cavilled at ; and pronoun
ced not to be honourable, because the word honourable was not co be
found in it : He never knew that there was such magick in that
word, that the idea could not be expressed as well by others. The
Court-Martial had found the Vice-Admiral gallantly ranging along
the enemy's line, backing his fails that he might be longer in their
fire ; and afterwards wearing to renew the action : To this bravery,
to this laudable zeal for his country's honour and his country's good,
they paid ample justice, by pronouncing his conduct to have been in
many inßances highly exemplary and meritorious. Ought then Mi
nisters to have neglected so brave, so deferying an officer ?—one who
was an example to his profeffion, and deserved well of his Sovereign
in the opinion of his judges?
As to the constitution of the second Court-Martial, whenever the
the Hon. Member Ihould think fit to make a separate question of it,
he would readily meet him upon it : at present it was rather extrane
ous, where in fa& the House was trying Ministers for the promotion
of Sir Hugh Pallifer, and not the Admiralty for the conßitution of
his Court-Martial : indeed, as so many ships daily arrive and fail
from Portsmouth it was absurd to think of moulding a Court-Martial
that must necessarily depend upon chance :—lt was chance, according
to the Hon. Gentleman, that had made Capt. Duncan a member of
it; it was chance also that had featad Capt. Walters in it : for, as he
was the youngest in the court, so he could not have been in it, if an
elder Captain had not been taken ill. -The business of the election
for Windsor might also be made a separate question, and he was rea
dy to meet it : but if Ministers could interfere in elections, Gentle
men on the other fide of the House, who had done so much to in
fluence elections, ought not to be the firft to complain.
His Lordship concluded by moving an amendment to the following
purport: " That the appointment of Sir Hugh Pallifer to the
, government of Greenwich Hospital, who had been declared guilty
of malice by the court-martial appointed to try Admiral Keppel,
but had not been tried for malice, or heard in his defence on that
head; and the said Sir Hugh Pallifer, having for forty-five years
served his King and country, both in a civil and military capacity,
with bravery, ability and fidelity, is a measure deftrudtive of dis
cipline, &a"
JOHN and WILLIAM RUSSEL, jun. having entered into
co-partnership, carry on business on Russel's wharf, and beg
leave to tender their service to the publick in general; and being
furnifhed with every necessary for cutting and making of masts and
pumps, Ipars, plank and house timber of every dimension, at a
place nerr Charleftown, can with short notice compleat a bill for
any gentleman on the most reasonable terms.t
RUN away from the fubferiber's southern plantations, in
the month of June, 1779, the following NEGROES, viz.
Tony Leah, now in town
Ely Kate
Johnny Abel, gone with the French
Ben Brutus, at Mr. Blake's plantation at the Saltketchers.
Billy Stepney, at Mr. Smith's, Pocotaligo
Cain Abraham, a bricklayer, now in Cteleflown
Primus Neptune
Dublin Cyrus
Bella Jack
The above is a true lift of negroes belonging to the said fub
feriber. 'WILLIAM MAXWELL,
Who desires all persons indebted to him by bond or note, to pay
off the iatereft, and icrca then bonds. fra.
ALL persons who have any demands against the eßate of
Stephen Miller, Esq; deceased, are, for the last time, de
sired to give in an account of the fame to Brian Cape, No. 84,
Church-Rreet, on or before the firft day of June next, as after that
day the affairs of the said estate will be finally adjusted with the se
veral legatees; and those who negle& this notice will be excluded
from payment.—Those indebted to the above estate, are requested to
pay the fame immediately, or they will be sued without farther no
tice. BRIAN CAPE, )
WILLIAM GLEN, jun.(_
JOHN SYME, ( Executors.
*L ROBERT DANIEL, )
r rHE fubferiber has given up his store in Elliott-street, and
taken a large store, &c. on Greenwood's wharf, facing the
scale-house, where he will be highly obliged to the publick in general
and his friends in particular, for their custom in the few articles he
deals in, viz. Sugar and coffee, rum, brandy, gin, wines, corks, all
forts of glass ware, Queen's ware plates, diffies, tureens, bowls, &c.
also all forts of tin ware, and a neat assortment of camp kettles, filh
kettles, Rew and saucepans, speaking trumpets and lanthorns, codfifh
and potatoes. He has very good accommodation for the Rorage of
tobacco and country produce, and will do the utmost justice to those
that will employ him in the Fa&orage Way. Bread, flour and por
ter very reasonable. Jfa GEORGE THOMSON.
MR. SAMPSON CLARKE, of Charleftown, Merchant,
having assigned all his .ellate, real and personal, as also his
books of accounts, to us the fubferibers, in trull for all and singular his
private creditors; Notice -is hereby given, That such creditors.
are required to furnifh us with Rates of their several and refpedfive
demands, within fix months from the date hereof, as immediately
thereafter a dividend will be made by us among his said credi
tors. Notice is hereby also further given to them indebted to said
Clarke, that unless they do immediately pay their refpe&ive accounts,
they will be put in suit without farther application being made to
them. WILLIAM GREENWOOD,
Charlefto'wn, April 11, WILLIAM DUGUID,
1781. + JOHN TELFAIR.
Lord Kowe spoke next.^As to the practice of courts-martial
he laid he wished, for the fake of all officers, that it could now be
fettled, whether courts-martial ought to censure accusers who did
not make good their charge; he thought, for the fake of com
manders-in-chief, there ought to be some power in courts-martial
to deter inferior officers from accusing them upon flight or fri
volous grounds; otherwise an Admiral would be obliged to soothe
bis people into a compliance with their duty, without daring to
compel them by authority.
Governour ‘johtfcne protested foleninly against the exigence of
any power in a court-martial to censure an accuser unheard: at
tempts of that kind had been made often, when he fat as Judge;
but they had been always over-ruled. He beheld Sir Hugh Pallifer
in a double point of view—as a soldier and a politician: as a soldier
he viewed his conduct on the 27th of July with rapture, ranging
bravely along the line; backing his top-fails, that he might remain the
longer in aflion; wearing to renew, it, and Shattered, torn, disabled as
he was, turning upon the enemy like a bull dog: when he saw that
gallant Admiral hobbling through the House in consequence of the
wounds he received in his country's service, he challenged all his
refpe&, all his admiration: as a politician, he could not approve
of his condu&; but he would not deduce an aequiefeence in the
charge of malice from his resignation; for his part, he would not
have resigned; but as the noble Lord had justly observed, the times
had run mad, and phrenzy had seized the minds of the people.
London had been illuminated three nights for the difgraceful 27th
of July; that House had voted thanks for the protection of trade
that had not arrived in the channel till our fleet had been in port
some time; and proofs had been difeovered of the newly acquired
glory of the British flag, nine months after the nation had begun
to weep over its departed luftre. That 27th of July was not 'the
bright^ in the hißory of the Commander in Chief :—there was
blame some where, and when the Admiral praised Sir Hugh Pal
lifer by name, he had a&ed very wrong, if that officer had deserved
reprehension. He was sorry Admiral Keppel was no longer em
ployed; but it was his own fault; if he 'thought his retreat was
the consequence of Sir Hugh's exaltation, he would condemn it;
but if both were in some measure to blame for conduct on a par
ticular day, that was no reason why their former gallant a&ions
Ihould be forgot: he well remembered those of the gallant Admiral
and though he could not recoiled the 27th of July° without indigo
nation, yet he never would forget the many brilliant actions which
counterbalanced that disgrace. Politicks were the bane of the ser
vice, the brave Walton, who had sent home the extraordinary
account of taken, burnt and defroyed, as per margin, had fuffered himfelf
to be carried away by party, and had agreed to the confederacy
formed by Admiral Bembow's captains, to ruin his commander: but
when he saw his Admiral attacked, he could not bear to fee him
torn by the enemy, but breaking through the confederacy, he in
stantly bore down to his relief. Thea& of confederacy being his
only crime, was lorgot, and a pardon granted to him in consequence
of his former services. One ad Ihould not damn a meritorious offi
cer. Sir Hugh Pallifcr in many actions had signalized himfelf in
a service of 45 years. He was the darling of Sir Charles Saunders;
and the seaman-like and gallant manner in which he took a French
feventy-four,would ever be remembered by the fleet. Popular in
fatuation was unaccountable; Sir Hugh Pallifer for an act of which
he was not fairly convinced, was condemned never to serve again!
and London was three days in a blaze for the inglorious 27th of
July! Good Cod! cried the Governour, putting his hands on his
face, the 27th of July ! —Politicks ought never, hefaid, to interfere
with the duty of a seaman ; and greatly as he refpe&ed the Hou.
Admiral, he could not but be hurt, at finding him in a Surry Com
mittee, declaring that the war with America was unjust; and also
declaring that the Dutch war, which he deemed both just and ne
cessary, was founded on a principle of piracy. Thus the officers,
in both these wars, were branded with the odious name of pirates;
and charged with carrying on an unjust war!
Mr. Burke spoke a full hour, and began with questioning Sir
Hugh Pallifer's account of his bravery during the action, by Rating
from tire trial, as it is printed, and which he held in his hands,
the situation of the Formidable at a particular period of the
day.—Mr. Burke laughed at Lord North for being so long in pre
paring his amendment, declaring that he was longer knotting and
Slicing the motion than it ever had cost him before; he added, that
it took him a great while to fjh the mast of the motion, and there
was no occasion for him to have fired a gun to leeward, as a signal
of his distress, it being pretty obvious to the House, that his mizen
topmafts were shot away. Mr. Burke's speech was animated, and
glowing with zeal for his friend Admiral Keppel.
The question being put, the numbers Rood thus;
For the amendment, - - 214
Against it, - . _ l4 ^