The Sun.
London, England, 1804-03-16 00:00:00

F

crecy ? Wa,-; T-Thwe sot entirely tichtitete of
means of ialiking Inquiry that th.:r rritegc let n-•t-
-ters go on as they may, though thee thought
;Rein injurious to the Country, for fear of giv-
',rig information to our Enemy ? He thought that
we were in 'no such dilemma, he thought that
might be found, if necessary, of making
this Inquiry, without any of that publicity which
appeared to the Right Han. Gentleman so danger'
nits ; hut where was the alternative ? If there had•
not been a sufficient degree of exertion used in bring'
ing forward the best mode of Naval Defence 10r
this Country—what was•to bedone
finite to go on with a defective mode of Defence'
rather than risk the danger of publicity in adopting
a better ? He owned\that betNveen ,the two, 'ie
found no difficulty in taking his choice, 2°'
he must say, that a prima facie case hats . heel
made for the Inquiry, nor had he heard any.
reason given, or even a prima facie case made .°'%`
against such an lequirv. Another argumeot.
by the Right Hon. &rifleman was, that eerfe6
content reigned throughout the whole Count,,,rf
with regard to the nit tit of our Naval service.
was aware that here he trod on delicate ground'
arel he would abstain from saying a- Word upon
that sohjecA, it he did not" think he should be-
tray the duty he owed to the peele, of this Caine
try, if he past it over. Every mat: must speak °-
(
discontent at the
it condud of any Thaparunent of
,
vernment, as might eppear to pretotil gerie4e'/'ff
among those with whom he had an opporteleiq 0
conversing,' and his opinion must be formed ft"°ll.4
what he heard !ruin such men, and from the opi"i°"A
hr might entertain of the means f iolo:roation on"-
kidgment of such persons. The sUhjeet c'flitcrigt
or discontent with the conduct of aoy Departmenb
under Government oust be thus considered, and tll
had he been endeavouring to consider this subjetit /*-3.
he must say to the House, that he had eat fo"ll'inc
',ogle professional mar in the Navy, who hall
proieed himself privately and confidently to Rita I
Ss of
the highest degree dissatisfied with the curia'''.i
one with whom he CO',nver(
the Admiralt}':. Every
non that sulejat had expressed himself extrealei;
dissatisfied with the general system of conduel
seed by the Board of Admiralty in this War- '
°f
had asked professional men of different the
different classes of life, in the professio
Navy,of different attachment to parties too—no °(ts;
rent connections in life ; same of them of The trig
.)-,0
rank, gained, as he Wished men might :!Ways'a
given extent, gain high stations, where there was
no ohjttiou to them on the score of ability, hYetli.
iilluence of those with whom they bad the gout. Or'
tune to associate ; he had conversed with another
class of men who always were, andhilways would 0,1
respeded by every body, those who had advati6C,
ro high stations purely by their own personal merit:
from ail of whom he had received one and the
sad
general answer. He had made it hip business to eons°
~,
petsons not onlyafthe highest rank, but also of as 11
experience, and as intimate acquaintance with nai:,
subjeas as, Perhap., any person in the setvicela,ed
he must declate, that the terms he had just it
now •-•
were milder than any he heard -froto these office(4"
the terms he used were not only milder, btic,
ttlr
were weak in comparison to those used by
ricers to signify their discontent at the
..,1,5154
adopted by the present Board of AdmiraitY-r.O 1
ferente,to the:tiat7-41.eriyice of this Couritf/ %ion
he would declare most sdleinnly, if he were
evidence upon -thei's,llV4t in a Court of ill3"-eert,
This. was justified by communications that leo
made' to him from persons to whom genera! credit eoc
due from all sides of that House. As to•the argoa Of
that Parliament gave the Noble Lord at the lie'lltrc
the Admiralty no more than looioco Seineen,,,ooe
was nothing in it ; for if Parliament gave the 'N
usc
Lord no more than too,ooo Seamen, it was beef elf
be asked for no more : and here lie could not
wishing that gallant Admiral on the other sid
the House (Admiral BERKELEY) might nut;ere
right when lie said that the 15,000 IVlarines 'die
it
included in the 46,003 Seamen mentioned h3'Right Hon. Gentleman"; but be that as it glep
Was no defence to the Admiraliy that /00,000 pt..
men was the whole number which Parliatnencgf;„iy
el) for had the Admiralty Board asked- facketo;
additional number, or even twice the numhert• lea
liament would have granted them ; but tbac
been a thousand times crated in that House'. -ee
the exalt number of Seam-en voted was nuts''
to be considered as that exact defoire
her t coat
. to "be raised or to be employed, coon
coo
a`g many of them were to be employed 30.11 tlll5
be obtained if wanted, and therefore altllct these
'same vote was only too,ooo Seanien, Yet 000,
had been raised and, employed 130,000, 14.1:'t0.0
or teo,ooo, if wanted, there would have ryas,difficulty, about having a vote for them 'pc
therefore, no defence to the Noble Lord.to;s3Y'ooo'
Parliament granted no more Seamen, than. 10', to
His Right Hai, Friend had also stated, ill ati~ipr~
Line of Battle Ships, the customary mode of.e-
them' built in Merchants' Yards had not beel)ea
sorted'tb, and that in this ch.irn;e of s-.-ito,°.,,torlio.
-siderahle number of Slips in the iVierchan"9...s Dlle•
on the- River were enti,-ely unoecupiei• .Icil„‘t•lA.
jeCtion /e of his rgot rton. Foo w l the: o"t
1110
the 4airriiral:y, required a much be,cter a"sweditfeni
it had received : it required acs answer. ver, e,
ent front that'observation tNas nu!'det°cietit3r
by the kight Honourable Gentleenan, ;4"Y'ortlile
it -atnelt of a Contraet : Right • 11°11( Ile
Friend's Mind and trolhet:' of life were 9131;•
• &Ica
UIG
to reaidei- shelf an obsflrVatian wholly tilaP,f'r arty
to hill; lot he'itiad never been remarkable `-`),intlY
conneXion of this sort : this was a'sort tlel
GO- e.
tion by which he believed the Right- LIOn• t 0 th
man, upon refleaione geilt,
idea that ships built 'by ton'traa ,were bubc thcr
must observe, if they were so, it must
,ent any
fault of the Admiralty, for they could nre' • bf
im that position of that sort upon the the'
merely doing their duty, by taking care and
matters were &Ili: inspettcd at fit ',seasons 3-id sob,
sions ; and therefore when Gentlemen sa a nee
Ships a ere ill built, they only published ": be sore
gencr of the Admiralty. But it mustllCog
posed that two Ships of the Line haore''l3ll Slafr
ill built mint he taken as proof tints lie teCtio
built by Contraelors were bad ; it must mecet
eh
leCted that in the course of seven Years P 3,41 19e •
less than twenty-nine Ships of the Line