The Sun.
London, England, 1839-02-27 00:00:00

port be allowed to remain on the table of the House, a
dead letter, uninvestigated, unread, and unnoticed? Mr.
O'Connell stated in the House tsl Commons that the deei-
stun cf the cloistered crew had already deprived me of an
i eons,' of too eon/ when I leek at toe irsignificesec,
(; nr- ft:Cl sC4 Utiti,
to any of them. I never heir Air. Law, she Recorder, speak
either in the House of Commons, or in the Court, but I
feel my own great superiority, end if to-morrow I were
called the bar, I would be happy and not afraid to meet
him or any of them on the circuit. and see which is the
best. When I was thus robbed of my possession ; what
did I do? A man is not to be driven over by any legisla-
tive constable who may choose to do it. The native ener.
gies of man will rise up against oppression.—( Heer, hear.)
I should not have thought of going into the borough to sell
hops ----( Laughter.) I appliedto be re-admitted as an attor-
ney. Now mark the next illustration of petty oppression. A
notice ;vas exhibited in open Court, calling upon any per-
son to show cause why he objected to my re-admission.
What are attorneys and barristers ? You hall a cab-
driver, you get into his vehicle, and give him a shiilinsr or
two—you care not for his charscter. Well, so with a
barrister; you hold up your heed —( A laugh)—you give
him a guinea or two, you secure his tongue—often giving
the more for it because it is the fouler.—( Loud laughter.)
Now, what is an attorney? He is the confidential adviser;
he settles your deeds, he adjusts covenants, which are to
bind not only you but s our descendants ; he comes creep-
ing to the side of the dyi,g man, and he receives his last
instructions, by ehich the accumulations of his industry
are bequeathed towards whom his affections, yet warm with
undiminished ardour; be may put himself in as executor,
as legatee ; years may roll away ; he stands forth as a
moral agent, unassailed by the breath of calumny ; when
at last something breaks out, and opens a series of criminal
acts, rendered the darker and the deeper because they have
been committed in secresy and in confidence. Well, thong
up a notice in the Courts of Westminster Hall, that I was
about to apply for re-admission as an attorney. Did any
of those who were sitting in the cloistered chambers of the
Temple—those irresponsible tyrants, clad in the costume
of their interested privileges—did they come forward and
say, " We have prevented this man from becoming a bar-
rister—we call upon you, the Chief Justice of these realms,
to prevent him from becoming an attorney." No; they
did not do so ; they dared not do it—(Cheers)—for they
would have had to state their charges, and I should have
been heard in open Court in my defence ; and I could
have hurled a thousand such creatures to their merited dis-
grace.—( Hear, hear, and loud cheers.) I am going
to apply again next April, and a notice will be exhi-
bited in the Courts of Queen's Bench, Exchequer, and
Common Pleas, to that effect ; and I challenge the grave
Recorder of London, or any other person, to show cause
why I should not he readmitted.—( Loud cheers.) Well,
so on with the history of persecution. I directed my
attention to Parliamentary agency ; I had plenty of busi-
ness. One of tiffs: first things put into my hands was either
to support or oppose a Canal near Birmingham. I was
upon the Committee. I did not leave the Committee
because I was a Parliamentary agent. I went upon the
Committee, and did all I could for the parties; and those
who were afraid of my becoming a barrister, soon began
to tremble for my superiority before the Committee ; and
two Members who were deeply interested in a rival
canal, and were beating up all the support they could for it,
got that great depositary of musty prededents, the Right
lion. Charles Watkyn Williams Wynn, to bring the case
before the House, and they came to a resolution that
no Parliamentary agent could sit in that House.—(
bear.) I said I did not think it correct that persons in-
terested should sit upon Committees—( Hear)—and I pro-
posed an amendment, that no Member directly or indi-
rectly interested in a question should be allowed to sit on
the Committee appointed to consider that question.—
(Cheers.) " Oh no," said thee, " that will not suit us at
all—we only want to get rid of you ;" and they all (with
a few exceptions) voted against my amendment, and for
the resolution which was levelled against me.—( Hear,
hear.) Would you believe it, one of those very men came
to me and said, " Mr. Harvey, this is the best thing that
could have happened to you. It has published to al! the
world that you are a Parliamentary agent ; we know how
successfully you exerted yourself; you have only to get the.
business done by somebody else ?" My answer was, " I ;sill
never do that by another man which I cannot do myself."
And from that time I have never received a single 6s. Bd.
from Parliamentary agency,—( Cheers.) Having thus
been deprived of the means of subsistence, I turned my
attention to those great nests of corruption—the robberies
effected on the poor and unprotected in the " Charities"
of this country.--( Cheers.) I attacked these monstrous
evils—one of them in this borough—l am happy to say
with great success.—(Cheers.) I assailed those gigantic
frauds which are perpetrated under the name of Company's
Charities in the city of London, where many public Com-
panies have beets for years in the receipt of large funds,
arising from the estates bequeathed by benevolent indivi-
duals centuries ago, to buy bread and faggots for the poor.
When the legacies were given, the funds were quite suffi-
cient to cover the expense of the stipulated quantity of
bread and fuel which were to be distributed. But now
these funds had accumulated to hundreds and thousands.
Now the Companies turn round and say, 'l' True, the tes-
tator—a very good sort of man—but if he had lived longer
he would perhaps have become more prudent—true he left
the produce of these estates, that so many loaves of bread and
so many bundles of faggots should be distributed among the
poor4and we do so ; we give the same number of loaves and
faggots as the testator named, nay, we gave double that
number." But what have you to do with the remainder—
with the hundreds and the thousands ?—" Oh ! we apply
them in eating and drinking."—( Cheers and laughter.)
Well, all the clerks of these Companies clubbed together,
and subscribed their twenties and thirties of pounds, to get
one of my inf,ermations against one of the Companies ; on
what ground ? Why, that the " relator," the " informer"
was unable to pay costs 1 Well, I went down into Court,
single handed, against all the lawyers and the crowd of
clerks who were arrayed against me, and whom you might
hear saying, " We'll do for him I—(Laughter.) I went
to Sir Edward Sugden, and said " I should be obliged to
you to speak for me." He said " You are in a pretty
mess.—( A laugh.) The relator can't pay the costs of
the information if it should be dismissed; you are answer-
able to the Court for it." I said " Am I in danger,
then ?" He said " You are." " Oh, then," rejoined 1,
" I'll not trouble you to speak in my defence."—( Laughter
and cheers.) I spoke myself to Lord Lyndhurst; I put the
question to him, " Will your Lordship decide that Courts of
Justice are open to none but wealthy men—that poverty
instead of being, as I should think it ought to be, a re-
commendation—( Cheers)—is to be a disqualification
from obtaining justice ?"—( Cheers.) I had a host of
Whiglings against me; but Lord Lyndhurst, to his ho-
nour, dismissed the application—(Cheers)—and my oppo-
nents, the clerks, had to pay me a 1001. for costs.
Well, Gentlemen, it did not end here. I will tell you how
they went on with it, and how they endeavoured to dry up
the sources of my existence. Lord Brougham, who knew
as much about these charities as any one, and who put the
country to the 250,0001. expence to have them looked into,
had not been appointed Chancellor 24 hours, before he
sent for me, and he said, " Mr. Harvey,l shall appoint you
Solicitor to the Charity Commission." " My Lord," I
said, " I am very much obliged • to you, I will
soon set them to rights."—(Laughter.) Just see
what happened. Before his Lordship could carry his
object into effect—his was during the time the Reform
Bill was in agitation—there was a dissolution of Parliament,
and I wrote to a Member of Parliament, who had great
influence with the Government, and said " I wish to know
whether I am to have the place before I go back to Col-
chester, where I spent 3,0001. the other day, and where I
shall have to spend 3,0001. more, and where I shall have
the drag chain of a half Tory with me. I wish to know
whether his Lordship means to give me the place?" " Oh,
no doubt of it," was the answer. " But,' said I,
" I have a doubt—(Laughter)—and unless I have
a letter from you, stating that I have been appointed,
I shall not put myself to the expence of contesting
Colchester." Well I received a letter from him,
it, which he said—" I dined with Brougham yesterday—
cobody can speak of another more kindly than he did of
you —you are to have the office." Well, I spent the money,
we four; ht the battle of reform, and though I had the pro-
mise of his Lordship, yet he was overruled—it was said
there were others whose interests were better represented—
there are many barristers claimants for the office, but not
so fit for it as you are—and I am very sorry that you can-
not have the place. This is all part of the same system
of personal persecution. Lord Brougham does not deny
it, but he says they were too strong for him,
and this system is to remain unaltered.—( Hear.)
Then Mr. Baring and other Members from Essex placed
on the table of the House petitions signed by 3,000 free-
holders of the County of Essex, calling on the House of
Commons to institute an investigation into this matter,
knowing what injustice had been done to me, and yet from
that hour to this I base not had justice dealt out to me.—
( Hear, hear, hear.) Well, then, Gentlemen, if I had
been disposed to take this place, I should have said it re-
quired no apology. It was a miserable pittance of bygone
wrongs, and if it is said, " Harvey, why did you take it if
you thought you could not keep it ?" my answer is, I
did not care whether I could keep it or not.—(Hear.)
My object was. miserable as the office was, in regard to
my own pretensions, to serve the people. —( Hear, hear.)
I have been in Parliament for five and twenty years, and
when I see the miserable creatures who are in Parliament
trying to get something or other—and if a dog Billy was
let loose among such vermin they would run at the rate of
twenty miles an hour to escape.—(Great laughter.) I
say, that when I see who and what they are, I can stand
up against any one of them and say—some may call it
vanity and some may call it conceit—but I du not hesitate
to say, that I consider myself as competent to be Chancellor
of the Exchequer as any of them, and I venture to say that
I would give as much satisfaction to the people
in the course of a short time.—(Cheers.) When they
offered me this miserable office, I cared nothing about the
salary or the labour. My friends, who feel for me, said,
‘• Take it, Harvey—it's office, it's office; and it chastises
the insolence of your oppressors, who have been everlast-
ingly whispering that no Government dared give you
office." Now, you see a Government that will ; and I
think, so far, Lord John Russell is entitled to com-
mendation, because I had no personal claims on him ; and
if it were possible for a man of his mind to de-
scend to a recollection of things said or done in
the House of Commons, he might have said I was the
last man towards whom he would have such a feeling. It
reflects great credit on him, and I shall be right pleased
if the policy of the Cabinet and of the Queen's Govern-
ment shall be so far liberalised as will enable me to give it
an honest, a conscientious, and useful support—( Cheers) ;
for the more I see of the Tories the more I loath Toryism ;
they love persecution of every kind—lies are at the very
bottom of their creed—they won't allow a man to think as
he likes—they would place the human mind in ma-
nacles—they r
ewloi
guilocla makefrom a w
hmi
oahn phaey
administtherationsup-
port of
the law.—( Loud Cheers.) Tall: to them of cheap law
for the poor, and they will talk to you of soap arid their
union workhouses.—( Laughter.) Gentlemen, be assured
you must not mind what the Tories tell you.—You hear
them say, why we ourselves are partially penitent,
we havethrown off the dirty drapery of past times, and
have put on the clean clothing of
(Laughter.)Conservatism._
Gentlemen, they are Tories in disguise—

let them call themselves what they will, they are to the
very core cheats, and it is the duty of every man, even to
relax some of his own strong partialities, to express his ab-
horrence of their deeds, and to exert himself to expose
teem on all occasions. Gentlemen, my friend near
me has allude i to my opinions—they are the same.--
( Cheers.) We are a long way off good government.
Great changes must take place before we can
realize what is meant by that comprehensive
term. I am not disposed to take shelter under that
easy system of patriotism, which induces some
men to say, " Oh ! I voted the other night for a stringent
naolion, and I have done so and so." Be assured that is
all mock patriotism. Defective as the House of Commons
is in many respects, it possesses in itself the machinery of
doing good, and, if a member of Parliament will only de-
vote his time and attention sedulously to two or three
things—not trying his hand at too many, he will do some
good. Let him endeavour to give a name to hinise:f when
he shall cease to breathe, let his friends be proud
of reading his history in bygone ages.—( Cheers.) Why,
Gentlemen, if I had left your service to-day, I trust you
would not have forgotten those advantages which
I have secured for the public when they were dragged
into that dark den of Exchcquorisin to which I have
alluded, and the efferts I have made, and so successfully to
capes:, the enormities of the Pension List.—( Loud
cheers.) These things pass away. But I was also the
means, and let it be known to your children, of securing to
you the right of reading, day by day, whet I:asses in the
Chambers of Parliament. You saw reports stuck up in
Law Bookseller's shops which it would require a child,
that you would not find in our Union Workhouses,
to carry; being a Report of the Agricultural Com-
mittee, or the Hand-loom Weavers, which would
take a man half a century to read and more time
to understand—(Great laughter)— but now, from my
exertions, those reports are published from day to day—
you have every question put and every answer given,
and how did you obtain that right ?—because
when I had the press at my command—though
Wynne might have said it would affect any pro-
perty.— ( A laugh.) I dared all consequences, and se-
cured for you what I consider to be a great benefit. But
this only shows how rapidly labours pass away. I was
also the author—and though opposed by Lord Alttiorp,in the
first instance, it was eventually adopted by the Govern-
ment—of having the list of majorities and minorities pub-
lished every day.—( Hear, hear.) These are advan-
tages secured to you by a man who means and wishes to
do well. I shall pursue the same course.—( Cheers. )
I will never take an office, whatever may be its emolu-
ments (and God knows emolument would be acceptable
enough to me), I will never take office unless it ►s to
advance some great principle and in connection with
some important object which tests the liberality of
the Government and tends towards the improvement of the
people.—( Cheers.) Gentlemen, I have detained you a
great length of tirne.—(Cries of " No, no.") lam pleased
with having the opportunity of showing what a victim of per-
secution I have been, and I do trust my Hon. Friend who sits
here (Sir P. Laurie) will not allow many hours to pass be-
fore he communicates to the great and learned head of his
Court what he has heard here to-day, because let it
not pass away: as a mere idle exposure on the bust-
ings.—( Hear, hear, hear.) I have told you of
the deeply felt injuries and wrongs under which
I suffer, and I do say it becomes the duty of an en-
lightened Government and of every honest man, to do all
he can to correct so deep an evil. Gentlemen, 1 thank you
sincerely for the distinction you have again conferred on me,
Be assured it stimulates me in the career of well doing
—he assured that nothing is so grateful to my heart
as to feel that I live in yours, and be assured that
during the dark hours of night, when you are quietly
slumbering and enjoying repose from your fatigues
and labours, I shall be the vigillant guardian of your
rights.—( Hear, hear.) Whether it is to protect your
local rights or to advance great national interests, however
feeble my pretensions and abilities, be assured that I shall
be faithful to you to the end.—The Hon. Gentleman sat
down amidst the most enthusiastic cheering.)
Sir PETER LAURIE, as soon as tine Hon. Gentleman had
concluded, asked him for a frank.

Mr. HARVEY said he would give it with great pleasure,
but it would not be good till to-morrow.
Mr. HARVEY then moved a vote of thanks to the High
Bailiff, pronouncing a high eulogium upon his public, con-
duct, and his attention to the comfort and accommodation
of that great meeting and of the public press. His conduct
on all occasions had shed lustre on a very useful office,
and merited the best thanks of that meeting.
Mr. VOUSLAY seconded the motion, which was carried
unanimously.
The HIGH BAILIFF briefly returned thanks. He was
much indebted to them for that mark of their attention, and
if they were satisfied he was gratified.-_( Cheers. )
Three hearty cheers were then given. for Mr. Harvey—
three groans for Mr. Wynn, the loser—and three cheers
for Mr. Jervis, after which the return was signed by several
of the freeholders, and the meeting broke up.

CLERICAL INTELLIGENCE.

Pi.EFERMENTS AND APPOINTMENTS.

The Rey. John Clark, curate of Leeds, to the incum-
bency of Rawcliffe, in the county of Lancaster. Patron,
the Rev. W. Hornby, vicar of St. Michael's. on- Wyre.
The Rev. Thomas Ludlam, A. M., fellow of Peter House,
Cambridge, and late curate of Astley, to the vicarage of
Ellington, \Worcestershire.
The Rev. Thomas Case, curate of Cranborne, has been
presenteil, by the Earl of Shaftesbury, to the vicarage of
Horton, Dorset, vacant by the resignation of the Rev.
Charles Thomson. _

The Rev. Charles Francis New•march ItLs been prc sented
t.,) the rectory of Pilhatn, Lincolnshire, vacant by the death
of the late Rev. W. Dunkin.

The Rev. Levi Walton, to the perpetual curacy of
Wending, Norfolk, on the nomination of the Earl of Lei-
cester.
The Rev. G. Cotrerill, A. 8., to the vicarag. of Earl-
ham with Bowthorpe annexed, in the county of the city of
Norwich, on the pre3cntation_of F. 8.. Franks of Oakley,
in Suffolk, Esq.

OBITUARY.
At Louth, the Rev. John Horner, rector of South Res-
ton, vicar of Tathwell, and formerly fellow of Clare Hall,
Cambridge.
At the rectory, Checkley, Staffordshire, in his 85th year,
the Rev. S. Langley, M.A.
At Stockton-upon-Tees, of which parish he was curate,
in the 29th ear of his age, the Rey. G. Newby, of St.
John's College, Cambridge.
The Rey. John Dakins, M. A., 40 years rector of St.
James's, Colchester.
At L;amington, the Rev. [lane Hamilton, D. D., rector
of Knoektopher, Ireland.

THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY,-EVENING EDITION,

.FEBRUARY 27, 1839.

NAVY ESTIMATES.
An ESTIMATE of the SUMS required to meet the EXPENSES which may be incurred in the NAVAL
DEPARTMENT in the Ycar 1839-40, under the following Heads ; viz. :

and if the Commons do not choose to vote money, come
what may, no blame can be afterwards laid on the Go-
vernment.

My second charge, That during a long peace no
step, with the exception of the Registration Bill, has
been taken to man the fleet in the event of war, is a
serious one, and a reflection on all Administrations.

Sir John Barrow says we must impress ; but that is
easier said than done ; and indeed I very much doubt
whether impressment ever can again be carried to the
extent it was last war. On a sudden emergency I
really do not see who is to carry it into execution. To
attempt impressment on shore I believe to be inexecut-
able without deluging the country with blood ; and we
most certainly have not men of war at home to impress
men sufficient to man a fleet. What then is to be done ?
Stare the question in the face, and act boldly. Let
Parliament pass an Act to oblige every boy who goes to
sea to serve an apprenticeship of four years in the
merchant service, and three in a ship of war, before he
can become a registered seaman. Had a Bill of this de-
scription been passed twenty years ago, there would not
now be a British seaman who had never passed through
a man-of-war ; and, in that case, I really do believe, in
the event of a sudden emergency, they would volunta-
rily come forward. Men brought up in the merchant
service have a horror of the Navy, whereas those brought
up in a ship of war always prefer it to the merchant ser-
vice. lam quite aware with the present feelings of
the merchants and ship-owners, it would be difficult to
pass such a Bill—but we may make a beginning.
There was an old Act of Parliament of Queen Anne
which authorised parish officers to bind parish boys ap-
prentices in the merchant service, and the Captains
were obliged to receive them. Ido not believe that Act
was ever enforced, and it was repealed the other die. I
would re-enact and amend it, and authorise all Guardians
of Unions to fit out and bind workhouse boys apprentices
for four years in the merchant service, and three years
in the Navy ; I would station receiving-ships at all the
principal ports to receive these boys, and as vacancies
took place in merchant ships, they should be appren-
ticed, and at the expiration of four years.they should be
returned to the receiving ship and from thence passed
into a ship of war for three years ; they should
then become registered seamen, and be allowed either
to remain in the navy, or go into a merchant sip.
In the event of war, a proclamation should be issued,
calling out the number wanted, beginning of course,
with te youngest, and the merchant should be obliged
immediately to discharge them.
I would have no other force used except depriv-
ing them of' the power of going in the mer-
chant service—they might hang back a while,
but I feel satisfied they would ultimately present
themselves ; they should be received in the receiving
ship, be allowed to choose their own Captain, and be
paid a bounty equal to the soldier and marine.
After seven years' service they should be discharged, if
they wished it; and if they re-entered for five years more,
they should have another bounty and an increase of pay.
At the end of fifteen years' service they should be en-
titled to a pension ; but if they continued to serve they
should have a further bounty and an increase of pay : and
at the end of twenty-one years an increase of pension.
The pe,y of the Petty Officers has been lately increased
after fire years' consideration, but it is still too low ; the
first class Petty Officers ought to have double the sea-
men's pay, the second class Petty Officers one-half
more than the seamen.

•. In addition to the foregoing regulations, the maritime
districts should be exempted from serving in the Militia,
and th( it quota should supply the Navy with landsmen,
giving them a bounty to make up for their being obliged
to serve abroad.

If these regulations were once put in force, we need
apprehend no difficulty in fitting out a fleet both effi-
ciently and expeditiously.
Sir John Barrow concludes his supplement by saying,
" At no -former period of profound peace, in the whole
history of Grea Britain, was her Navy so efficient as
to tbt number, condition, and equipment of the ships in
commission, and the number and superior qualities of
the Petty Officers and effective seamen borne on their
books."

I am sorry to be obliged to differ with Sir John,
by observing that the Petty Officers are most de-
' cidedly on the decline, and what is more, they are
very difficult to be obtained ; formerly the Petty Officers
were always the first to be completed when a ship was
put in commis-ion, but nor they are the last. What is
the reason ? Because the excellent regulation made by
the Lord Hirh Admiral that the Petty Officer when
a ship was paid off should be entered in the Flagships
has been discontinued ; as to the seamen being better
than formerly, they are no such thing. Sir John Barrow
says three-fourths of the crew of the ships are able sea-
men—if he had said they were rated able seamen, he
would have been right ; but as to their being able sea-
men, not one half of them arc what used to be called
able seamen; they are borne on the books as such,
because they are the best to be had, and because
they will not enter unless they bare such a
rating—and the truth is, the more steam increases, the
more the s-amen deteriorate, and we have taken no
steps as yet to apply a remedy.
I shall conclude this letter by a remark on the first
reason Sir John Barrow gives of disbelieving- that the
Pamphlet so • much talked of was the production of a
Flag Officer. He says, " Because a British fl tg officer
in possession of information, hostile or injurious to the
Queen's Government and the nation, would feel it to
be his bounden duty to make it known to her Majesty's
Minister, instead of conveying it, to the enemy, or those
whom he treats throughout as enemies."
If by her Majesty's Ministers Sir John Barrow
means the Admiralty, I must tell bins that I never
yet knew, 'during my service of forty years, any
Board of Admiralty obliged to an officer for any
communication whatever, unless he was an influential
man ; on the contrary, I believe, nine times out of ten,
they thought one extremely presumptuous for giving an
opinion at all ; and it was for that reason my letter was
addressed to the Foreign Secretary, and which letter I
did not publish till the Russians were hard and fast in
the Baltic, since when we have had abundance of time
to prepare, and should anything happen either now or
hereafter, no blame can be attached to those who
stepped forward to prepare Parliament to comply with
any demand the Government might make for an in-
crease of force.

I have now done with this subject ; and bad it not
been for Sir John's letter, I should not •have renewed
it, because [think officers actively employed either in
the civil or military branch of the service, have no
business either to praise or blame the Government.
I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
CHARLES NAPIER.
Sheerness, Feb. 20, 1839.

THE INSULTS ON THE BRITISH

FLAG.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

see by the Morning Papers that the subject
of the Prince de Joinville's audacious conduct was again
brought forward ; and it is the surprise and astonish-
ment of the nation at large, particularly the officers of
the Navy, to find that some distinct motion has not been
made for the production of a copy of Licut. Croke's letter
to the British Consul, also to ask what man-of-war was
present (as stated in the House of Lords by Lord Minto),
when the outrage was committed, for had a man-of-war
been on the spot, what right had Lieutenant Croke to
make his complaint to a Consul when a senior officer
was present. Ido most sincerely hope that some Mem•
ber will move that Lieut. Croke should be examined at
the bar of the House of Commons, Is it not strange
the Admiralty have never called on this officer,
who has been some time in England, to render them a
detailed account of this most extraordinary proceeding,
and was it not the commanding officer of the packet's
duty to have laid before Capt. Plumridge a full and par-
ticular account the moment he returned into port, as
this is considered a question of great moment as one of
the grossest insults ever offered to a nation, particularly
to a country which, until this circumstance, has been so
choice of her honour. How did Captain Bingham act
in his little ship when a large American frigate
wished to take away some of his crew ? He fought
the Little Belt against as great a disparity of force
us the packet arid French corvette ; and when he had
made an honourable resistance, he surrendered up his
ship. The country are anxious to know why the packet
did not use her guns in the protection of one of the
crew, for this pilot became for the time being an
English subject ; the moment he took charge of the
vessel his name must appear on her books, and he
received the Queen's pay ; therefore I have no
hesitation in saying that any officer in charge
of a man-of-war packet, with one gun, much less four,
who would allow a French boat to board him (let her he
commanded by a Prince or a devil) for the purpose of
taking a man out of his ship, without using all the force
he possessed, is not deserving of being entrusted with the
nation's honour. I have no doubt had Lieutenant Croke
told the French officer, he was astonished at such
a demand, that nothing but force should induce
him to give up the pilot, and with the pilot he would
surrender up his ship, we should then have a cat ofano-
ther colour, this Prince would not have dared to repeat
the demand, instead of this unfortunate circumstance,
which has only tended to feed the vanity of the
French Navy, .to the mortification and disgrace
of our own. Until we have dater, there must appear
something very mysterious in this affair. The insults
must have taken place nearly two months previous to
the arrival of Commodore Douglas, as our squadron did
not leave Jamaica' until long after the French took the
castle ; it is therefore necessary to know what steps the
Consul took on receiving the Lieutenant's complaint, did
he make any and what representation to the French Ad-
miral? Surely that 'was the time for the apology to be
made, and not when our squadron made their appear-
ance ; if so, in my opinion, it came v.,ith a very ill,
grace after such a lapse of time. Should Licut, Croke
be examined, it will then mine out whether any signals
were passing between the Admiral and Noce 'de Join
yule, ii so tire
°tle
actycecl by
yltvloo to draw is that the Prince
putwas if
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his senior officer, and ;',at' the
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began to
doubt if we felt at; ;nteaest in his proceedings, and