The Connecticut courant, and the weekly intelligencer — Hartford [Conn.], 1781-05-08 00:00:00, page 1

LONDO N.
HOUSE or LORD S,
Thursday, November 16.
TH E order of the day being called for, the
Duke of Bolton begged leave to trouble
their Lordships with the proposition behad given
them notice he should move. The present de
plorable state of the British empire, the noble
Duke observed, was at this time truly diftrefling,
and particularly the condition of our trade. In
his'opinion it became every man seriously tocon
fider ofit; and, infignificant as he might be
held, he trusted he fliould not be thought imper
tinent in animadverting upon it. The language
of the times, as well as the times themselves,
had of late'beeri Strangely altered. It was in their
Lordship's recollection, for all might remember
it, that the speeches spoken from the throne had
ufitally represented the state of the nation, and
its profpeas; but from the late speech his Ma
jesty had delivered to that house, nothing had
been said of our present circumstances, or what
we might reasonably expert to meet with. For
hi? own part, his Grace was unable to fee what
the issue of the present war might be, or indeed
that it was likely to have any issue at all. A
language had of late been held with their Lord
ships, which he could not but reprobate in the
fevered: terms. The junction of the house of
Bourbon had been derided and fcoffcd at, as of no
ccmfequence to this country; The late Earl of
Chatham, however, for it was yet freih in his
mind, had a far different opinion of that alliance,
and was never, ashamed to bid us be upon our
guard against its politics and operations. How
far the noble Lord and those who thought with
him, were right in what they had advanced, or
were well founded in their conjectures, a variety
of events had since determined. Another dis
course, equally fubjeCt to animadversion, had
also of late been too generally held, and that was
that we were this year much better than wewere
the last year. But how was the assertion made
out? Or was it by any means the faCt ? Were
we better now in America than we were ? His
Grace apprehended not ; we had loft the only
port that was worth keeping.
The French had taken possession of Rhode-
Island ; and had fortified it in too strong a man
ner for us to attack with any kind of success,
should we be inclined to do it. A great deal in
deed has been said of our lite victory by Lord
Cornwallis, but it surely could not be thought
equal to the loss of that island. Much too had
been said of the defcrtion of General Arnold,
Who had lately come over to us. But what was
the utmost of all that could be made of it? No
thing more than that we had loft a good man and
found a bad one ; for the loss we had sustained
by the death of Major Andre, was much more
than the gain we had reaped by the acquifiton of
General Arnold. How too were we better this
year than the last in rhe Weft-Indies ? The last
year, at ieaft for two months, from June to
August, we were masters in the Weft-Indies ;
and since that time their Lordships well knew,
the enemy had been very considerably reinforc
ing themselves in that part of the world, while
our fliips were becoming every day more and
more out of repair, and consequently unfit for
service.
Those were circumstances, his Grace said, he
could not but animadvert upon. Did not their
Lordships know, that at this time we had not so
much as a single ally left us ? Portugal, the only
/=^<S^^^ OOf-PX —
WEEKLY INTELLIGENCER.
HARTFORD : Printed by H UDSON and GOODWIN, near the Great Bridge.
TU ES D~ AY, May 8, 1781.
But beyond all this, we had loft outtrade, and
our name as a great naval power was gone. His
Grace did not mean to point out any particular
officer underthe crown, as inattentive to bis duty,
but he was, for his part, diffatisfied with the
present management of the navy. There cer
tainly was great blame somewhere, and particu
larly for the loss of our fleet of merchantmen and
convoy on the 9th of August last. To institute
an enquiry into this misfortune, a misfortune
unparallelled in the annals of this country, his
Grace particularly rose ; hewould net fay where
the blame was due, but certain it was that admi
niflration knew that the combined fleet lay at
Cadiz, for upwards of two months, ready to fail
at a moment's warning ; and what precautions
were used ? The fleet indeed had a convoy, but
the grand fleet here at home should have con
voyed it through the several latitudes, till it got
beyond Cape St. Vincent. How it happened
that the merchantmen touched at the island of
Madeira was another object bf his enquiry, as it
appeared to. have been the cause of their capture,
but he would fay no more on that head, till he
knew how it was that the step was taken.
His Grace spoke with great concern on the
heavy loss of the above fleet, and estimated it at
above twenty millions of money, besides the
stores it had on board would enable the enemy to
continue the war another year. This his Grace
thought too serious a bufirtefs to pass over in
silence, and though no blame might be incurred,
that a minute enquiry into it was the duty oftheir
Lordships, and what had been the usage of both
houses of parliament, under cases of a similar
nature.
This, at present, was all his Grace would
trouble their Lordships with ; he Would there
fore move for the necessary papers, and when they
should be laid before the house, prosecute the
matter as should appear to be necessary and just.
His Grace then moved, That an humble ad
dress be presented to his Majefty,praying that his
Majesty would be pleased to order the proper
officer to lay before the house, so much of the
orders and inftru&ionsgiven to Captain Moutray
of the Ramilies, as refpeded his touching at the
island of Madeira, as well as any precaution he
was to use in pursuing that track that was most
likely to avoid the enemy ; and also a copy of
Capt. Moutray's letter, acquainting the Lords of
the Admiralty of the capture of agreat part of
the fleet of merchantmen under his convoy.
Lord Sandwich was so little averse to the mo
tion made by the noble Lord, that he rose to
second it ; for he sincerely wished to have the pa
pers called for laid before the house, and to have
every enquiry that could poflibly be made, made
into the cause of the capture of the merchant
men spoken of. No one, his Lordship said, la
mented in a greater degree thatlofs than he did :
But it was a calamity which every nation at war
might exped, and no one had been to blame. It
was an accident, and could not be avoided. The
noble Duke has said that ministry knew the com-
power in Europe that remained with us, we had
wantonly loft. It might still, his Grace said,
have continued with us, but for our own folly.
The loss of it had distressed this nation in a
greater degree, perhaps, than their Lordships
Were aware of, for we had now no port nearhome
to put into. His Grace also highly cenfuted the
fending Sir George Brydges Rodney from Gibral
tar to the Weft-Indies with only four fail of the
line.
His Lordship took notice of the defcriptiop the
noble Duke had given of our present condition,
and did not fee it in so melancholy a point of
view as his Grace, though he confeffed he had
seen pleasanter times. His Lordship begged
leave to second the motion, with the addition,
that there also be laid before thehoufe an extract
of the letter received from Admiral Greaves,
dated the 2d of August last, refpe&ing the Weft-
India outward bound fleet; under the convoy of
Captain Moutray, of the Ramillies. His Lord
fliip also said, that it was rather a lucky circum
dance than otherwise, that a Wronger convoy
had not been sent out, as in that case more
fllips might have fell into the hands of the ene^
my.
The Duke of Bolton answered, that he did not
mean that a stronger convoy fhould^ have been
sent, so much as that more precaution should
have been used to avoid the enemy ; aid farther
observed, that while the combined fleet made
Cadiz their post, our fleet should never touch at
Madeira ; and as to the Spanish Admiral being
furprized at meeting with our merchantmen as
he did, it was nothing extraordinary, when a
fleet was fleering north, to be found a hundred
and fifty leagues to the weft.
The motion, as added to by Lord Sandwich,
was then put, and agreed to, and the house ad
journed to Friday.
The public will now fee whether'Lord Sand
wich has the consummate profligacy to bring Sir
Hugh Pallifer into parliament, as he has threaten
ed, to laugh at and insult the opinions of the
people, and the positive decisions of the navy of
England.-
His Grace the Duke of Northumberland lies
so dangerously ill, that his recovery is much
doubted.
The beautiful Miss Let-—g, of Putney, with
a fortune of twenty thousand pounds, married
a young man of not as many frillings , and be
ing censured by her friends, answered, That flic
knew the sincerity of her lover, and that it was
too little, much too little for his merit. Th<'.
observation is now juftified, for there is not now
upon earth a happier couple, “ Thought meet
ing thought, and will preventing will ;" they
live the admiration of the liberal, and the Gnv y
of the unworthy.
bined fleet lay at Cadiz, and were ready to fail at
a moment's warning. The fact was readily ad
mitted, for ministry really did know of it, and for
that very reason dispatched Admiral Greaves, in
order to intercept the combined fleet, who failed
with the merchantmen as far as he thought it ne
cessary to fail, though the convoy appointed here
confined of three men of war, and two fix and
thirty gun ships; As to their touching at Ma
deira, it was in consequence of an application
from the merchants for that purpose. But the
whole, his Lordship again said, was an accident,
and nothing else ; for the,Spanifh Admiral had
himfelf written home a letter, in which he ex
pressed his furprize that he had fallen in with the
English Weft-India fleet.
His Lordship particularly adverted to the cen
sure the noble Duke had puffed on the fending
Sir G. Brydges Rodney, with four fail of the
line to Gibraltar ; and said, it had been an act of
great utility, for that place was relieved, and
Sir George, in his way, took and destroyed
fix Spanish men of war, besides another, with
some transports, on his return back to the Weft-
Indies.
(No, 850.)