The Sun.
London, England, 1802-12-20 00:00:00

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DIVE ML PARLIAMENI.

HOUSE OF' COMMONS.
SATURDAY, DEC. 18.
THE SECRETARY at WAR. moved the Order of
the Day on the English Militia Amendrnent Bill ;
which passed a Committee of the whore House.
The Report was received immediately, and the Bill
I.VaS ordered to be read a third time on Monday, if
then engrossed.
The Woollen Manufaccture obsolete Law sus-
pending Bill was read a third time, and passed on
the Motion of Mr. VANSITTART.
NAVY ABUSES.
Captain MARKHAM moved the Order of the bay
for the third reading of the Bill for " Appointing
Commissioners to inquire into Abuses in-the Navy.'.'
The question being put, "'That this Bill be now
read a .third time,"
Lcrd FOLKESTON said, he did not rise to
()hien to the third reading of this Bill, but to
move an Amendment to the Motion, " 'That the-
Bill be now read a third time." He saw great ob.
jeCtions to this Bill at 'first, but he was glad to ob-
serve that m4ny of them were obviated in the Com-.
mittee last night ; but he thought it would be ad-
visable- to put off the further proceedings on it
until after the Recess. The Right Hon. Gentleman
opposite to him (the CHANCELLOR of the Ex-
CHEQUER) had assigned reasons for not proceeding.
upon this measure formerly, arising from.the situa-
tion of the Country being in a state of War.
That mode of reasoning appeared to him to apply
to the present time, for we were in something like
a state of War at present ; and although the Right
Hon. Gentleman did not .agree with him in that,
yet this was a reason with him for postponing this
matter; and this, -in the way in which he viewed
it, was reasoning. on the authority of. that Right
Hon. Gentleman. He, assumed the Lift, that the
Country was not in a better state than if it were
in War. He should, for these reasons, bag leave
to move, " That the further consideration of this .
business be postponed until after the Recess." To
assent to this, would be only a continuance of that
candour which he admitted the Right Hon. Gentle-
man had hitherto manifested in this proceeding;
this would afford to many Gentlemen who ,had not
hitherto been able to attend, an opportunity of
delivering their sentiments, which it was as much
the interest of the House lo hear, as of the Gen:
tlemen in Administration. For these reasons he
moved, " That instead of the word ' now,' be
. substituted the Bth of February next."
Mr. LEMON seconded the Motion.- He said,
he was under the necessity- of leaving the House
last night earlier than he could have wished, or in-
teodedi so that he did not hear what sasso-endirmstts-
- in the Clauses ; he could have wished to
know how these Clauses stood now, because, pos-
sibly, that might have superseded his objection ;
hut he did not precisely know how the Clause em-
powering the Commissioners to examine parties up,
on oath, stood ; he-objeaed to parties being called
upon to criminate themselves. •
The SPEAKER said, he was very sorry to in-
terrupt the Hon. Member, but he was bound to do
so,• as it appeared to burn, in point of order. The
argument used by the Hon. Member, would be per.
fee-fly applicable on an Amendment moved to the
Bill after the third reading was disposed of. The
question before the House was, whether this Bill
should be now read a third time or not ? He ap-
prehended it was not regular to enter on such matter
on such a question.
Mr. LEMON said, that in his view of this Bill,
it was an ex post file7o measure. He was one of the
last men in the House to vindicate any abuses what-
ever ; but then he could not assent to that which.
appeared to him to be injustice, for the, purpose of
putting an end to some abuses. He apprehended,
that not only the persons who might be examined by
the Commissioners, but also third persons, might
be materially affefted by this Bill. In his opinion,
an ex post fago Bill was harsh and dangerous. He
wished to be understood as considering the effea of
the Bill only, likely to be dangerous ; he admitted
that the objea of it, as explained last night, by the
SOLICITOR GENERAL, was very good, for it was
then stated, it was only to prevent abuses in future ;
but he was apprehensive it would have the effea of
over-turning the rules of evidence, and this was not
better than destroying the principle of all evidence;
besides, this might ruin individuals on a sudden.
" He takes my life, who takes away the means
whereby my life's sustained." For these reasons,
'he could wish that time were allowed at least;
for the further consideration of this important sub-
jea.
Mr. COURTENAY observed, there had been no
objection made to the reading of this Bill a third
ttime, but Gentlemen had wished some further de-
lay in it, at the same time they allowed the Bill to
be unexceptionable. He never heard any reasoning
of less force than this ; for if the Bill was good,
and the evil which it was intended to. prevent
great, the sooner it was passed the better : while on
the, other hand, delays might produce great incon-
venience ; within the period of six weeks,, much
alight be done of the very mischief which .this Bill
was intended to prevent An Honourable Gentle-
man had objeted to the Bill, on account of some-
thing he fotind in one oldie Clauses of it. That
Honourable Member appeared to him to be perfealy
io order, (with due submission to the Chair,)- when
he was interrupted, and though the SPEAKER had
decided the contrary ; for it might fairly be ob_
jetted against the third reading of a Bill, that
some part of it was such as ought not to pass ; this
he said in vindication of that Honourable Monter,
not that he agreed with hiin in thg obleCtion itself;

. . ,
on the contrary, he 'thought it unfounded, fur thte
very persons who might, by their evidence, .shew ,
that they had been guilty, of any misdeeds,
Were, LaY the Amendment in the Bill, exempted
from punishment. The oluth of the matter was,
that this Bill was intended as a measure to discover
faults which have long been felt in the concerns of
the NaVy, for the purpose of preventing them in .
future. It was a Bill excellently calculated for that
purpose, and did the Noble Earl (ST. ViNc ENT),
who recommended it to the attention of Parliament,
the highest honour. After signalizing himself in
so many glorious anions for the honour of his Court_
try, he now turned his mind to the abuses which
tended to disgrace it. The Noble Earl, now at the
head of the Admiralty, had- compotined of these
abuses ; he had felt that these abuses were disgrace.,
ful to this Country ; he had • said so. This Bill
was . recommended by him, and this Bill really
skewed that he thought so. Who could doubt the
necessity of passing such ti Bill as this without de.
lay rthere were soo Navy Agents all over the
Kingdom, and it was
.impOrtant that their contract
should ii*-watched..---He was extremely.
.glad,. that
sortie of them seemed so fastidious. ,about it. He
thought that some part of the discussion on this Bill
proved it was men, and not measures, that. some
Gentlemen objeaed to. This Bill was said to vt_
tend the patronage of the Crown : he admitted it
did so, tint that was-an aft of necessity, and there.
fore, ought not to be objected to. In one word, he
thought this Bill, amended as it had been, was one
of the best measures he ever saw brought forward
in Parliament; to answer the purpose for which it
was intended, and did the• Noble Earl who et.
commended it to-the Houseohe highest honour.
Lord,Foniessroia explained; by observing, that ,
he never said that this Bill was perfediy Onex-
ceptionable.. On the contrary, he thought there
were exceptions to it, and that some further time
ought to be allowed for considering them.. - ..
- ,
The CHANCELLOR of the EXC HEQUER said,
that the objedion of. the Hon. Gentleman tinder
the Gallery, went the length of objecting to any
inquiry, fur he said, that this Bill was objection.
able on account of its being an ex- test faeo idea..
sure. Every inquiry mustain the nature.of things,
be ex post -fatia. It was an Inquiry-into abuses
that have past, - in 'order to prevent their recur.
recce. The Hon. Gentleman objected to a Clause
to which he alluded. He wished that non. Gen.
tieman had staid in the House until the Committee -.
Went through the Bill, for theh he would-have seen
there were in it- amendments, so considerable, as -
most probably to do away even his. objcaion ; but .
it was a little too muck to exped of Ministers to,
explain every thing that took place in the Corn.
mittee, in the absence of those who Were unable to
at-teno at. A aoatue room • no COtIMCMI VI, ris•
sent time .as no less perilous than a time of war,
when he had himself alnico:al i,t would be unwise to
attempt to carry into execution such a,measure as
this, and the Noble Lord referred to what he, (N'lr.
Fatima:otos), had said last night on the subjed of
the Order of His Majesty in Council. He hoped,
.however, that very few. would concur with the .
Noble Lord in what he considered to be the present
state of this Country; for he considered it as being
now in a state as perilous as it was in the year t7O,
or at any other- period of the War. Granting,
however, (what he certainly 'was not dispOsed to
grant, except for the sake of the argument), that
our peril in point of situation was as great as
during the •War, it was enough to state that
our danger, (whatever it may be) was of a different
description from that of the War, especially as to
.what related to our Dock-yards, - and subjeCts
)6 connedecisvith em, a reform in-which was
much more -lik : to be practicable now. than
in time. of \ .4 : ' and then he would beg
-leave to ask l'ilie • -Noble Lord, whether he
~..
thought that the"' danger which -threatened ,this
Country at the present time, and which, in his
view of it, made it-improper to carry-on this Bill,
would he. so altered in the course of six weeks, as
to make it adviSeable to pursue this Bill ? Whether
the state of this COnntry, conneaing irwith the
rest of Europe, would be so altered in that period,
as to render that measure proper six weeks hence,-
which was improper at the present moment ? That
an Inquiry into certain Abuses was improper now.
but would be proper six weeks hence ? And yet
that must be she wn before the argument for delay
could be consistent. Indeed it appeared to him,.
and he hoped it -appeared to the House and to the
Public, that the Noble Lord's view of the situation
of this Country was much too gloomy, and such as
could not be justified•by-reason. At all events, it
was not likely to be so materially changed in six
weeks, as to render a legislative measure fit then,
which was unfit at present. With regard to the
observation of the Hon. Gentleman opposite to him
(Mr. COURTRNAII, it was one in which he most
heartily concurred ; far it certainly was to-the wise
advice of the Noble Earl now at the head of the
Admiralty, founded on the sentiment of His Ma.
jesty's late servants, that this measure now before
the House was submitted' to Parliament'. It castle
recommended by the Noble Earl, and he had no
hesitation in saying, tl4t' whenever the services' of
that Noble Earl, as a Minister of State, 'shall Iva
come the subject of discussion, he would be the 0b,..
jest of Public admiration; and that this very mea.
sure -would be'marked as one of the distinguishing
proofs' of his exalted merit; .that..as his condud in
Battle. was -followed by- glory, so his advice in
Coeuncil was dictated by wisdom. " These," said
he," are my sentiments on this Bill, a Bill, (let the
House recoiled), which is not to inflict penalties,
but to institute inquiry :
.a measure against which
there is no better argument than that which tends
to deny the propriety o£ an Inquiry into, 304 tu.

tune prevention of Abuses, the existence of which
admitted."

Lord FOLKESTON explained, and observed,
that he never said, that the Bill should stand Over
for six weeks, in order to he passed then; but he
had said, it would be proper to delay it for six
weeks, in order to consider whether it should be
passed then or not.
Me K/NNA/RD said, he agreed in the senti-
ment which had been uttered respeEting the Noble
Lord now at the head of the Admiralty ; and he must
say, he felt• himself by no means liable to the censure
which:seerned to be ready to he cast on the oppon-
ents of this Bill, " that they objected to Men and
not to Measures :" He disowned the idea of op-
posing this Bill for the purpose of gaining popula-
rity. He begged leave also to say, in justice to the
Framers of the Bill, that he believed them to be .
actuated by the best motives. He approved of the
principle of the Bill, as a measure intended for the
CorreElion of Abuses ; at the same time he miglitbe
allowed to say, he did not approve of the mode in-
tended to be adopted for that purpose : he might he
convinced of the existence of an evil, without being
bound to approve of any measure which might be
proposed as the remedy for such evil. That was
his case now ; he admitted that the evils. Com-
plained of did exist, but he did not approve of the
manner in which these evils were proposed to •be
remedied by this Bill ; he hoped, therefore, that
the House would not order it to be read a third time
to-day. It was a Bill of great importance, end
required great attention. It was stated, 'that the
Bill was brought forward without previous commu-
nication to His Majesty's Law Officers, and to.
which, therefore, their attention had not been
directed ; and this, he thought, he was war_
ranee' in repeating, for had the Bill been shown in
time to these Learned Gentlemen, it would not
have beee - brought forward in so crude a state as it
was i.ll, when . first presented to the House ; of the
truth of this, the amendments in the Committee
less night bore testimony. He did not say that
the Bill was not greatly correCled, or that much
of that corredion was not owing to the labours of
those Learned Gentlemen last night in the Corn.
mittee ; but he did say, that it ought to have re-
ceived much more than it did, of the attention of
these Learned Gentlemen, before it was thought be-
fore the House : it was a Bill of too touch import-
ance to have been thus condoned. He had had the
honour to move for the produCtion of the Admi-
ralty Patents, for the purpose of seeing whether
they had the power to correct the abuses here com-
plained of, He was anxious that these Patents
should be duly considered, before the Bill now be-
fore the House was past. He did not, perhaps,
move for every Document which was requisite for
a due consideration of this Bill ; bet he recom-
mended to the House a fuller consideration of all
the fats to which this measure related, than they
had hitherto had an opportunity' of entering into.
He maintained that the spirit of the Patents to
which he had already alluded, and which were now
before the House, went to the full and compieet
correCtion of all abuses that could exist in the Navy
in every one of its Departments. It contained,
not only the desire, but also the injunetion of His
Majesty, for this Board to institute inquiry into,
anti remedy abuses in every depai cment of the Ad_
miralty, so that the Board of Admiralty really had
the power which was to be given to the Commis..
sioners by this very Bill. In opposing the Bill he
was influenced by another very important conside-
ration, that of keeping entire the responsibility of
the Board of Admiralty ; if they really wanted
power to correct some abuses in the departments of
the Navy, let Parliament give them the power
they wanted, and then the Public would look up
to them as the natural guardians of that deportment ;
they would continue responsible for that purpose ;
but when a new description of persons had a part of
the charge delivered to them, as was proposed, the
responsibility would be divided between the Admie
ralty Board and the Commissioners, and it might
riot be always an easy thing to distinguish on
whom it attached in each particular ; whereas by
keeping it entire, and attaching it solely to the
Board of Admiralty, the Public would always
know where to look to ; and it was with regret he
saw a departure from that policy which made the Of-
Acers of the Crown responsible for every thing that
was done inoffices that were immediately under the
Crown ; for in this case, the Commissioners were not
under the appointment of the Crown, because they
were nominated in the Bill, He had not heard yet,
Whether these Commissioners were to be compensated
by any emolument, but it would be in vain to sup-
pose that any Gentleman would take upon himself
the labour which this Bill would impose on a Com-
missioner acting under it, without the expeCtation
Of .very considerable emoluments. 'I his made him
prefer the old established jurisdiction of the Admi-
ralty. For these reasons he really hoped the
House would agree to the Motion.
Mr. COURTENAY explained.
Mr. STURGES said he could not help advert-
ing to what had been said on the opposition which
had taken place to this Bill. It -was an opposition
not to this Bill now before the House, but to an-
other Bill ; for the alterations which took place in
it last night in the Committee, had made another
Bill of it : and Gentlemen, by comparing the Bill
as it now stood, with what it was before the
Amendments were made in it, would see the pro-
priety with which it had been opposed ; and
be owned lie looked .back with satisfaction on
She part, he took in opposing the Bill, in..
asznuch as the opposition to it had been the means.
of removing many of the objeCtionable parts of it :
and he wished, that those who might have courted
popularity from the Bill, as it first stood, would
compare it with the Bill as it stands now, and" if
they did, he was deceived if they would not see
reason to be convinced, that their expeEtation of
popularity in that particolar, was ill-founded. For
his own parr, he preferred the consciousness of
laving done his duty, to any hopes of popularity
that might be expeCled to follow the exertions of
any individual in that House ; and he trusted, that
uo notion of popularity, independent of a sense of
4uty, would 'ever aduate hint iii his condsitl in that
EpLtsc!. le thou ,lit this Measure objeCtionable
when it was brought forward, lie seated his •objee...
tions, zhd the House cooeu;red with him in t!'.oks

ing, that these objections were well-foundeti, else
the Bill would not be in its present shape : he could
not, therefore agree, that any censure could be •
justly past on those who opposed this Bill. He
dial not like to say much in vindication of him.
self, for he knew how ungracious a task that
must be at all times, but the turn which the dis-
cussion of this measure had taken had rendered that,.
in some measure, unavoidable. Here he entered
into a vindication of himself at considerable length,
in the course of which he observed, that he had no
objet in view but the performance of his duty : he
had no wish to screen_delinquents in the Navy, any
more than any other delinquents ; he had no con-
nedion with any of -them, nor had he ever filled
any department to give a prejudice to him in his
Way of. thinking, so that whatever judgment he
possessed, it was certainly unbiassed.He admired,
in common with the rest of the world, the brilliant
achievements of the Noble Earl now at the head
of the Admiralty as an Officer in the service, but
did not feel himself hound to have the same esteem
for his conduct in the direction of the Civil Affairs
of State, on which he must be alloWed to speak
freely.—He took occasion to notice the condud of
the late Administration, of which he spoke highly,
particularly of Earl SPENCER, and concluded with
observing, that he beheld the probable assent to the
present Bill with much less regret, than he should
have done, if none of the amendments had been
adopted, and the Bill had past in its first and most
objediouable shape,
Mr. FULLER asked, whether if this Bill passed,
Administration meant to give immediate considera-
tion to the business of Prize Agents, for that would
be a duty which every man would see the necessity
of its immediately taking place, for the Service of the
Country at large ?
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said,
it was impossible for him to say, what proceed.
ing would be adopted by the Commissioners, in the
event of the present Bill passing into a law ; they,
undoubtedly, would adopt that which appeared to
them to be best calculated to answer the purposes in-
tended by the measure.
Mr. WARD spoke in favour of the Bill :—he
contended, • that the necessity of the case called for
some measure of this kind, which was by no means
of an unprecedented nature, as had been stated ; for
independent of the cases alluded to. by the CHAN-
CELLOR.' of EXCIIE'QUER on a former night, if any
Gentleman would look to the Ad of the- r3th and
fth Charles 11. he would find that Commissioners
were appointed with stronger powers than were now
propsed to be given.

The ATTORNEY GENERAL said, that the
Question now before the House, was not whether
this Bill was a good or a bad one ; but whether it
ought or ought not to be postponed. He had listen,
ed with all the attention in his power to the argu.
menus which had been urged, and, he confessed,
he had not heard the slightest reason assigned for
postponing the Bill. The Hon. Gentlemen did not
pretend that they lid nut understand the Bill, nor
that they were not prepared to give their opinions
upon it. Some Gentlemen had expressed their dis-
approbation of the principle of the Bill; others had
disapproved of particular Clauses. These were
very food reasons to induce these Gentlemen who
entertained them, to oppose the Bill altogether, or
to propose to leave out those Clauses ; but they
were surely no reasons why the Bill should be de-
layed. 'lt was therefore obvious that Gentlemen
were fighting merely for the triumph of protrafting
a measure, against which they had been unable to
assign any solid objection. As to what had fallen
from an Hon. and Learned Friend of his behind him,
who seemed to suppo,e that improper motives had
been attributed to him, he, for one, had heard no
imputation of that kind upon that Hon. Gentleman,
than whom no man stood higher in the estimation
of every Gentleman in the House,. who had the
happiness of being acquainted with him. He
could not, however, avoid making one observation,
which was, that the Learned Gentleman's objeftion
to the Bill, was not so strong as it appeared to be
before, although the Clause upon which his objec-
tion was principally founded, still remained unaltered
in the Bill. He then alluded to what had fallen
from the Honourable and Learned Gentleman, re-
speding the Trial of some Officers, which he con-
sidered as quite irrelevant to the present question.
Mr. STURG ES explained.
Lord TEMPLE said, that there had been insi-
nuations, that those who had opposed this Bill,
meant merely to obtain a triumph over the Mini-
sters, and to throw obstacles in the way of the Public
Service. He wished to acquaint those Gentlemen
who threw out such insinuations, that it was
highly disorderly to attribute improper motives to
any Member of that House, and that it was equally
improper to say that any Gentleman wished to
throw obstacles in the way of the Public Service.
He agreed with the Noble Lord who had 'made the
Motion for putting off the Bill. If there was any
necessity that this Bill should be passed before the
Recess, it ought to have been brought in earlier in
the Session, and then it would not have been ne=
cessary to have been hurried, in a manner that
appeared to him to be indecent, through the House.
He was far from wishing to stifle any inquiry, or
from contending that no abuses existed ; but' he
maintained that this was an improper manner of
getting at them. Before he sat down, he wished
to put two questions to His Majesty's Ministers :
The first was, whether the Gentlemen who had
been appointed to aft as Commissioners under this
Bill, had signified their assent to their nomination?
And, secondly, to what extent it was to be retro-
spedive ? He wished to knowl if the Commis-
sioners were at liberty to call upon the Descendants
and Representatives of people who might have
committed abuses in the reign of James IL ?
Nr:S#EPIDAN said, he agreed "perfectly with
what had fallen from the Noble Lord, on the im-
proptiety of attributing improper motives to Gen-
tle Ten, and he thotight the observation came with
great weight from the Noble Lord, because he al,
vfays illustrated it by own pradice and ex-
r •
ample. Th
e,Noble Lord Complained of persooali-
which he was the More ,justified in doing,. be-
-cause he never indulged in personality himself;
be'sure he'had sometimes Called Ministers " YlluNt
Condullors, Milk and Water Ministers, a Marwhipii

tn;xttire," 844. &c. ; but the Noble Lord did not
mean this for personality, but as good sound logical
reasoning. The Noble Lord objected to improper
motives being ascribed to Gentlemen, but it certainly
was equally improper in the Noble Lord to say, that
Ministers had brought forward this Bill upon un-
true grounds. With respect to the Bill itself, it
was, in his opinion, entitled not only to the appro-
bation, but to the gratitude of the House, and he
had not heard one word of argument either against
the Bill itself, or to shew that it. ought to be put
off. An Honourable Gentleman (Mr. KINNAIRD)
who had moved for the Patents of the Admiralty
and Navy Board, now states that they were not
sufficient for his purpose. But even if it appeared
that these Boards did possess these powers, still
when it was known that they had never been acted
upon, it was the Strongest reason for the Bill. This
was very far from being, as it had been insinuated,
a contest for popularity, between the late and the
present First Lord of the Admiralty ; they were,
he was sure, incapable of being actuated by such
motives. The abuses which existed were flagrant
in their nature, and enormous in their extent, and,
he believed, that, for the last ten years, no less a
sum than three millions a year had been lost to the
Public by peculation and embezzlements of various
kinds. He had no doubt but that if the Noble
Lord who was lately at the head of the Admiralty
had remained in office, this very Bill would have
been brought forward, and in that case the House
would probably not have heard of the Noble Lord's
(TEMPLE) objections. Some objections had been
made against this Bill, because it was retrospedive,
but as one of its objects was to detect abuses which
have existed, if it was not retrospective, it would
be absurd and nugatory. An answer made by Lord
Burleigh, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, appear-
ed to him rather applicable on the present occasion.
An objection, somewhat similar to those now start-
ed, was made to some measure proposed by that
Noble Lord. His answer was, " If,, in going a
long road, you found you had dropt your purse, and
wished to find it, would you turn back, or walk
forward." He confessed he was both surprized and
concerned to hear the insinuation which had been
thrown out against the Noble Lord at the head of
the Admiralty. If any charge could be brought
forward against,the conduct of the Admiralty, let it
be fairly and distindly brought forward ; but he
strongly disapproved of these indirect insinuations.
Much had been said about the Dock-yards, and
about persons being improperly dismissed ; he was
sorry.that any answer had been made to these ob.
servations, because, if they were true, they ought
to have been made. the ground of a charge ; because
if the Noble Lord had been guilty of the conduct
that was imputed to him, he was not fit for his situ-
ation. Nothing, he thought, could be more un-
candid than these indirect attacks. He wished
Gentlemen would at once move for the dismissal
of that Noble Lord, and they would see what
sort of- a reception such a motion would meet with
in that House. He was perfedly convinced
that the Noble Lotd would not use the :powers'
entrusted to him in the manner that had been Sug-
gested, but it was very possible that he'rnight feel
it necessary to dismiss a man upon. information..that
he. might not choose, and which.it might be very
improper to lay before the Public.
Mr. ELLISON approved of the Bill, which he
thought. was called for by the abuses that were
known to exist, and which was perfectly caleulated
for the detection and prevention of these evils,
.He
thought the present Administration entitled to great
praise for their conduct upon this and other occa-
sions ; they had ;hewn that they had possessed both
the suaviter and the fortiter.
Mr. lIARBORD said, he was enabled, from his
own observation, to say, that this Bill was very
much wanted. He had had opportunities of know-
ing that abuses to a very great extent had been car-
ried on, and therefore he gave his hearty support
to a measure the object of which was to suppress

Mr. ALEXANDER suppoited the Bill.

Thf CHANCELLOR of the • EXCHEQUER
rose to answer the two questions which had been
aut to him by the Noble Lord : he begged, how.
ever to observe, that the,first of his questions, viz.
Whether. the persons who were • appointed Corn.
alissioners by the Aft before the House, had signi-
ied their acceptance of the nomination, was not one
which the Noble Lord was. entitled to put. It was
not always presumed that the consent of the indivi.
dual was obtained, because in the Ad, 26 of the
King, there was a provision made in case the Com-
missioners should not accept their office, which could
not have been necessary, if the consent of the indi-
vidual was in every case to be obtained previously
to his nomination.. He had, however, no objec -
tion, in the present instance, to state, that in this
case, of four out of the five Gentlemen who had been
nominated, their acquiescence had been obtained ;
with regard to the fifth, his consent certainly had
not been obtained ; he was not in town, nor was
he acquainted with his appointment.,
Captain M4RKHAM said, that after what had
fallen from an Hon. Gentleman (Mr, Sheridan) it
was not necessary for him to take up the time of
the House; he wished merely to observe, that if
any Gentleman had any charge to make against
the Noble Lord at the head of the Admiralty, they
should dolt at once, fairly and openly. But it' was
ungenerous to attack that Noble Person for aas, as
if they were entirely his own, whereas they were
ads of the whole Board. All the Admiralty wish-
ed, was, that those who disapproved of their con-
dud, would bring forward their charges openly and
fairly ;
.the- Admiralty did not wish to screen any
part or their conatlet; they had nothing to hide. If
they were'iO be attacked, he hoped it would be
openly, and not in' a snake-in-the-grass kind. of
Way.

Lord PROBY said, he had upon a former occa-
sion alluded to the case of a person who had been
dismissed from one of the Dock-yards, after thirty
years service ; he confessed he did think this was
a hard case when he brought it forward, because he
had always entertained the highest opinion of the
map.—He felt, however, no difficulty in retracting
the charge he had made, because he had since found
that` this- person had had an opportunity of defending
himself, which he had not thought groper to do ; it
•