Star.
London, England, 1806-05-15 00:00:00

two years which followed, what 'addition had been
made to our navy ? Why none that was effective.
Orde►s had been given to bond (hips, bat there flaps
would not, even according to the contra& be ready
before 1809. It was trite that come purchafe► had
been made, but what were they ? sic EA It Indiamen,
to (loops, form brigs, and 52 fire teffels. Of the
firth, four were found unfit for (entice, and one more,
which colt a 6,0001. was after a tingle voyage, dif-
charged as unfit for any purpofe whatever ; the In-
dia Company refuting to take it back again "n al-
moll aoy terms; and yer 'heti %Ferrets aare h..tight
at the rate of 331. per ton. Of the t.i.n brigs four
were found to be unfit for fervice ; of the flo ,p.• re vets ;
and of the fire tenets ts. Now if thole .provideet
bargains, and the fpecies of atltivity which they be
trayed, were compared to the condat of Lord Si.
Vincent, what inference was likely to be dray n. and
to whom !bottld blame attach ? 'Lord St. Vincent
had ordered eight fail of the line, and 103 veffels of
men of war defciiption to be built. Of there 84, ;4
of which were frigates, were now in atqual fervice.—
Very Porn indeed. so t.f the fmallett fized nails or-
dered by the Noble Earl would be in readied's, and
this would form ag more than had been produced, of
ths Ame fort, for the to years preceding his admini-
Oration ; and all this was done, the Fintsfe would
bear in mind, in the King's yards, which were alfo
equal to the repair of 61 vefels, 40 of which were of
the line. Yet the Honourable Mover alerted that

it was happy for the country the Noble Earl had
'quitted the Admiralty, as, if he had remained thee,
the battle of TratAar would never have been won.
Bartle fallacy of this affertion would be obvious to
my man who examined the papers on the table, for
by none but Earl St. Vincent, had that addition been
made to our Navy to which the Honourable Mover
thought proper to afcrihe the refult of that glorious
:engagement.—lf the fhips ordered to be built by Earl
St. Vincent were not.yet laid down, if his orders were
not fully executed, he begged to obferve that the
ratth was in the Navy Board, whofe duty it was to
have fuel: orders flailed. The Noble Vifeount anis
Midverted do The periods chofen by the Honourable
M6Ver for thofe comparifons as to the number of our
de% which he feemed to think a proper criterion
from which to judge of the comparative merit of dif-
ferent Naval Adminiftrations. But no criterion could
be more erronbons: For inflance, he had only to
obferve, that although very little merit comparatively
belonged to the capture of Co many (hips at Toulon
and the Helder, in the cunrk of the fail war, yet how
great an addition to our Navy front thole events,
compared to the Voir (hips which we had from the
battle of Trafilgail We fought not, however, for
flips, but to deliroy the enemy's fleets, and the Inc
eels of our obje& might a' little depend on a mere in
creafe in the numerical force of our navy, as that in.
creek might determine the comparative merits of the
different Naval Adminiarations under shich increafe
mould arife.
With rtgard to the propriety of building King's
(rips in merchants' yards, for himfelf, he fhould ray,
that not having yet had fufficient time for an enquiry
upon that flabjett, he !tmid not pledge himfelf to
any fyllem. But as to Lord St. Vincent, he had no
hit-Italian in Rating that his conduet was perfectly
jußifiable t far that Noble Lord entertained an opi-
nion open coming into office, that to build in met-.
chants' yards Would be advifable ; but this opinion
was sliflOdged by the reprefentations of the Navy
Board. For the grounds of that reprefentation, the
NM* Vircount referred to the fads quoted by his
Hon. Friend, particularly refpelling the Ajax, Achil-
les and Lion. The Noble Vircount went into a cal-
colation, to thew that although the number of (hip-
Weights employed in the King's yards amounted to
2581, while thofe in the merchants' yards amount.
ed to but WI, yet the work done by the latter .ex-
ceeded that of the former in the proportion of three
to one. Indeed Mr. Wells, an eminent Ihip builder,
had Rated in a letter to Earl St. Vincent, that in hi:
own yard only, more work by SOOO tons was done in
one year, than in three of the King's yards. Such
an inequality could proceed only from the want of
Come fuch efficient regulations, as it was the great
object and endeavour of Lord St. Vincent to intro-
duce, and for attempting to introduce which, the
Noble Perfon had incurred fo much abide. But
fuels abufe could have nn other effect upon that
Noble Lard, than to raife him Rill higher in the
opinion of thole whole opinion was of any value ;
he meant all the honed, thinking part of the coun-
try. That the King's yards, under proper arrange-
ments, were capable of doing more for the Navy
than had hitherto been effected, he had little doubt,
and that any reference to the Merchants' yards &mild
be avoided, unlefs where the neceflity was prefliag,
Teemed to be the general fentiment among them who
were capable of judging upon the fubjeS. But what-
ever might be the femiments as to this point, it was,
at all events, a mere matter of opinion, and furely
that which was bet a matter of opinion could not he
alledged againft Lord St. Vincent as the ground of
a criminal charge. Here the Noble Vitcount
cuffed that part of the fuhjett which related to the
building in Merchants' yards, and proceeded to chi-
n:fa the Honourable Mover's allufion to the flock of
timber in the King's yards, the limited amount of
which, the Honourable Mover feemed to attribute.
altogether to the mikotteitift of Lo.d St. Vincent.—,
Now it happened that the fupply of the article relied
entirely with the Navy Board. An order had been
made in 1785, that a return fhould be annually made
to the Board of Admiralty of the Rate of the timber
in the dock yards, in order that care Ihould be taken
always to keep up a fofficient Rock for three years
tonfumption. Since the year 95 this order had been
difpenfed with ; in confequence of which, when Lord
St. Vincent came into office, he had no opportunity
of knowing the quantity of timber In the dock yards.
That article was, no doubt, rather limited, but not
more Co than during the latter years of Lord Spencer's
Adminifiration. But the limitation in both cafes prn-
ceeded from the fame caufe, namely, an order of Lord
Spencer's, that the timber taken into the d,Kk yards
fhould be mot: carefully examined. In ceafequenec
of this examination, the timber of the yards became
Itfi in quantity, but fo much better in quality, that
he onderflood there was more capable of ore than
when the Rock was flinch larger. However, as.
Coon as Lord St. Vincent was appalled that the'
Rock was not fo large as was deferable, he took
' merifnies to provide an adequate fupply ; with that
'kw he fought to obtain timber from New South
Wass t ardenl (hips to be built In the Eaft Ladies I