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

in his calculation. It should he recolleded, that
Parliament had voted 100,000 Seamen, which they
deemed sufficient for the defence of the Country ; it
therefore became the duty of Lord ST. VINCENT to
consider how those too,ooo men could be disposed
of in the most useful way 'for the service of the
Country ; and he thought the Noble Lord had acted
wisely in first blocking up the great Fleets of the
Enemy, and in protecting our Commerce ; and he
could not help thinking that Lord ST. VINCENT
was upon the whole a better judge of the distribu_
tion of the Naval Force than even the Right Hon.
Gentleman. The next charge was, that the Ad,
mii-Alty did not build Ships in the Merchants' Yards.
The
,Right Hon. Gentleman had said, that it was
impossible in time of War to build Ships in the
King's Yards ; but he had been told by persons
conversant in the subjed, that that was not the
case ; bur upon that point he would not pretend to
decide. But did the Right Honourable Gentleman
know, that the Merchants' Yards had not been
tried and that it had not succeeded Did he ne.

ver hear that Contrattors did -not always corn-

ply with their Contratis ? Did he never in his
seventeen years experience, find that ContraCtors
were not always to he depended upon ? He did not
know whether it might not be made a Charge
against LordST. VINCENT, that he was anxious to
sate the Public Money ?—And he should not be sur-
prized if such a Charge should come from the Con-
traitors, who might feel hurt at not being employ-
ed. • He did not know where the Rightion. Gen.
Tiernan got his information, but it smelt strongly of
a Conti-ad, Did the Right Hon. Gentleman never
hear of a vessel built by contract in a private yard,
which cost, in the first three years after it was built,
17,0001. for repairs l These were all subjeas
which he supposed the Right Hon. Shipwright he.
hind him considered, as he laid down the law so de-
cisively upon the subjea. He wished to ask, whe-
ther the Right Hen. Gentleman had laid before the
House sufficient grounds to induce them to record
their suspicions of one of the greatest Characters
this-Country had to boast or ? The Right Hon.
Gentleman sometimes favoured the House with
Speeches, the objet of which was to raise the Public
feelings to a pitch of enthusiasm; but did he think that
these kind of charges were of a nature to raise
the feelings, or to excite the despondency of the
People ? Could they have any other effAt but that
of exciting suspicion? With regard .to the number
of Seamen, he had no objetliori to granting the
account the Right Hon. Gentleman had called fur ;
but he could not agree with him in the comparison
he had made about the number of Seamen raised
in the first years of the last and the present 'War.
He had stated that there were so,coo men raised
in the first year of the last war : if he had said
there were 50,000 men voted, he would have been
correct, but in fa& there were only 37,000 men
raised. But it should be recolleeted, that they then
began last War upon a very low establishment, that
they began after a. very long Peace, that there were
then a great number of manuladurcrs unemployed,
that there was then no Supplementary Militia, no
Army of Reserve to be b,tllotted for, that there
were not then 4.00,000 Volunteers embodied. The
fart was, that in the present War Parliament had
voted 100,000 men, and that at this moment that
number was completed within 1700 men ; for there
were now out of the too,ooo. men voted, above
98,000 men raised including ?Shrines, exclusiVe
of 25,000 Sea Fencibles. He asked whether these
exertions, which he contended had never been
equalled, afforded any ground of saspiciop against
the Noble Lord ? What would be the conseyience
of these suspicions going abroad, -except that of in-
spiring the Enemy with additional hopes ? They
had already been told, that cur Militia was a defec-
tive force, that the Army of Reserve exited only
upon paper, and the best thing that could happen
to our Fortifications would be, that they should
tumble down.; and now they were to be told in ad-
dition, that our Navy was in a had state. He
appealed to the House whether, under such circum-
stances, they would concur in such a •Motion,
brought forward without any parliamentary grounds
whatever ? He concluded with stating, that with
regard to two of the Papers, he should agree to
them, as he had before stated., because they would
not, if produced, require farther explanation ; but he
should certainly oppose the others. He then moved
an Amendment to Mr. Pt TT's Motion, which,- after
mentioning Ships of the Line, so Gun_ships,
gates, Armed Cutters, and Sloops) to insert the
words and all other Vessels employed on the pub-

lie service."
• 'Sir CHARLES POLE said, the objeft of the
Right 'lion. Gentleman appeared to be to excite a
distrust of the capacity and conduit of the Ad.
miralty ; a distrust for which, in his opinion, there
was no foundation. He had no recourse to Papers
or Documents, he spoke as a plain professional man.
He believed that it was known, that within forty-
eight hours. after the commencement Of hostilities,
Admiral CORNWALLIS sailed for Brest, and; from •
that time to the present, that and all their other
Ports had been completely blocked up. He' should
be glad if any body would tell • him at what time
the exertions of the Navy had been so great as they
bad been, in the short time that had elapsed since
the commencement of this War; and when there
was a greater spirit 'of enthusiasm and enterprize,
from the Admiral down to the common man ? He
really did not think such another instance could
be found in the Annals of. the Country. Much
had been said about the Gun-boats ; that was
entirely a professional question, and when. it
Was ,left to the Public to determine which was
the better judge upon that subjed, the Right Hon.
Gentleman or Lord St. VINCENT, he believed they
would not be long in making up their opinion.
The Right Hon. Gentleman had talked of the num-
ber of Gun-boats that were employed last War ; all
he knew about them was, that the greater part of
them lay useless in our harbours, and he believed
they were in general mere jobs ; and therefore upon
this suojed he thought tie Admiralty had ailed
wisely. Whatever the Rt. Him. Gentleman might
think upon the subjeCt, he was sure no seaman would
ever say that Gun-boats ought to be resisted by
Gun-boats ; thy must be resisted by Men of War
and Frigates. He should therefore resist every
iVlosion which tended to throw any kind of doubt
or suspicion upon the condud of the Admiralty,