Star.
London, England, 1814-11-15 00:00:00

"PRICE SIXPENCE-HALMS SY.

,

bent on the Noble Viscount (Melville) to Answer.—
What was his object, then, in moving for this p4per?
It was to give the Noble Viscount an opportunity of
defending his naval administration. An opinion pre-
vailed in the country, as the Noble Viscount must
be well aware, that the war with America had not
been duly prosecuted. The Noble Viscount had on
a former occasion stated great number of law,
from papers taken out of his pocket, and then imme-
diately returned into his pocket again, for the put,
pose of justifying his conduct in the administration o►f
the navy, and appeared to wonder that his Noble re-
lation (Grenville) was not perfectly convinced, by
such a display of facts, that the naval department.
had been well managed. These facts the Noble Ikea- .
count bad offereclos prove to their Lordships. Hire
then wAs a case to be answered...a case depending
not on mere Assertion or vAgue rumours, but a case
supportcl by the solemn declaration of intelligent
and honourable den, deciding apt* the =duet and
character of a brother officer. and sworn to decide
according to truth and substantial justice. On what
grounds then could this motion be opposed ? The
object was to she that the flotilla on L rice Erie was

not adequate to the purposes for which :it was inten-
ded. It the production of this document should be
refused, what must the conclusion be ? It could be
only this—that the case, as far as coucerned the naval
administration, was one which could not bear tile
light. The Noble Viscount, as had already been
stated, had defended himself by documents taken out
of his pocket, and then immediately returned into bie•
pocket: but what were they to think of that mods of
proceeding if this document were to be refused?-r,
After what had been said by the Noble Visonnt era
a former night, he waited with impatience to hear by
what arguments the present motion was to be op-
posed. The motion with which he would conclude
was-64 That an humble Address be presented to his.
Royal Highness the Prince Regent, praying that he
would be graciously pleased to order to be laid before
their Lordships the Minutes of a Court Martial, held
on the 16th of September last, on Captain Barclay,
the surviving officers and men of the flatilla ou Lake
Erie, together with the sentence of that Court."
Lord BATHURST,---lis oifjection to the pre.
sent motion did not Kneed from any apprehension
of the result, •as far as respected the naval adminis-
tration of the country and the conduct of Ministers:
his opposition to the minim] rested upon very diffe-
rent grounds. But the Noble. Marquis was entirely
mistaken in point of f.ict, when. ke said that the Mi-
nutes of the Crur: Martial had been published m
Newspapers and Magas.ines. Toe parole testimony
might perhaps have been published, but not the writ-
ten'evidence. This written-evidence he wan
ing to have-at present piaititia,r ; and even if it had
been published, as the Noble Marquis had stated, he
should still have objected to the production. His
•*ection rested upon this ground, thatif the .Mioutes
we're produced under the present circumstances and
state of information on the subject, and entered on
the records of the House, they night be fiejudicial
to certain officers of the army and navy before th• y
had an opportunity of making their defence. The
publications of the day perished with the day ; but if
these Minntes were entered on their Lordships' Jour-
nals, they might, be a lasting monument to the preju-
dice of certain officers, before 'they had an opportu-
nity of stating what they had- to say in their own via-
&cation. It had become necessary for Cap;ain Bar-
clay, in justification of his conduct, to skew that he
had been compelled to adopt the course which he had
pursued. But Sir James Yea had written two levers
to Sir John Borlase Warren, in which he stated, that
there could have been no want of provisions, oec,use
General Proctor had been obliged to destroy a maga-
zine of provisions on his retreat : VA, that the requi-
sition had not been made to him in time: Sd, that
the supplies were actually on their way when the flo-
tilla had come our. Captain Barclay had said that
he had acted on the representations of General Prot.
tor, and it therefore became necessary that General
Proctor also should be tried by a court martial.—
rhere were, besides, two extracts of letters from Sir
George Prevost; in the first et which there appeared
to be some encouragement Kivu -to the attempt of
Captain Barclay, while the other was of a different
tendency. When the whole case could be brought
forwatd, these letters might be reconciled; but that
was a reason-why th 4 subject should not Ire- toe pre.
sent be investigated by their Lordships. There was
besides a gri;eral order by Sir George Previmt„ in
which he reflected in the strongest language on the
conduct of General 'Proctor and anither otfizer.—
'chat might have been written under a sh.irp sense of
disappointment, and it might be improper to enter it
on their Lordships" Journals, until it could be ascer-
tained what defence G.:in:nil Proctar could make lob
himself. Sir .fames Yeu :tad said, that Captain Ilan.
clay did not apply in time. Captain Barclay's an-
.swer was, that he did apply in time iatidit contained
a strong recrimioatiun on Sir James Yco;'and it was
necessary, thnelsre, that Sir James Yco should have
an opportunity of making' some deleace. • The effect
of Sir James Yeo's letter was, not th.tt he could not
spare the supplies, but that the requisition hid not
been made in time. The blame, if there was any,
did not therefore appear to rest with the Government,
the representations certainly not having reached them
in time. In the mean time, considering the manner
in which the characters of certain officers were impli-
cated, the objection to the immediate production of
these Minutes appeared to rest upon very solid
grounds ; and no advantage which could be gained
by that production could compensate the inconved
nience that must result from laying these Papers use
their Lordships' table before the whole matter had
been fully investigated. When that investigatian
was completed, their Lordships would have the
whole subject before them, and then only could they
come to a sound and just conclusion on the subject.
Lord GRENVILLE —He had certainity ex-
pected that the grounds 01 this opposition, since an.
loppositiun was to be made, would have heea'atated