islands lately discovered near the south pole, than submit to military power; and your best hope will be, to begin to colonize that vast and fertile continent quite anew, and for more auspicious ends, with your Hessian and Brunswick hirelings, who escape the conflict, and their fruitful trulls. Mr. Luttrell asked, if what the earl of Chatham had foreseen last season had not actually come to pass? He told you that the fair promises of the vernal season would surely end in autumnal disappointments. Mr. Luttrell then compared the conduct and catastrophe of general Burgoyne, at the head of the northern army in America, with that of Charles the Bold, duke of Burgundy, when he issued the most severe proclamations against the brave Switzers in the canton of Berne, looking upon them as already conquered; he carried with him chains to lead them captive at the feet of his cavalry, and he gave them notice, that he would cause to be erected the most stately monuments to his martial fame, in the very heart of their country. Sir, he fulfilled his promise: a monument they erected for him in the form of a charnel-house, filled with the skulls and skeletons of the invading army, which was totally overthrown through the intrepidity of the Swiss peasants near the town of Morat, and the victors furnished his monument with this emphatic inscription: "Carolus Burgundiæ dux inclitus hoc sui monumentum reliquit," &c. Mr. Luttrell said it was probably but in vain to hold up such bloody scenes, in terrorem, before the hardened authors and conductors of this unnatural quarrel; Mr. Speaker might as well put an hungry leech on the richest vein of his body, and counsel with it not to draw blood, as to talk with these contractors, pay-masters, treasurers, commissaries, and a long list of et ceteras, who traffic thus lucratively with the calamities of their country, to relinquish their hold, and confess their ambition and their rapacity satisfied. The minority therefore, of which he should certainly be one, had only to lament, that a sovereign, so moral and pious as ours now on the throne, so humane and so generous, so capable of governing a free people with honour, prosperity and renown, should already have sacrificed one half of his dominions, and desperately hazard the loss of the other, to cherish and aggrandize a more immoral and profligate, a more tyrannical and sanguinary, and in short, a more weak set of ministers, than ever tried After So it passed in the negative. which the original Address was agreed to. Nov. 21. Lord Hyde brought up the Report of the Address. On the motion, that it be read a second time, Mr. Turner declared, that he could not agree with administration in their ideas of pursuing the present war. That he had, during the recess, taken the sense of his constituents, at one of their most general meetings at York, where he candidly asked them, whether it was their opinion that the war should be prosecuted? If it was, they had only to inform him so, and he would ever be ready to receive their instructions. However, their opinion was, that peace should be concluded at all events. He wished he had a piece of Latin to express his sentiments more fully; but, as it was, he begged leave to put a negative on the question. Mr. H. W. Hartley objected to the question on the same principles, and intreated administration to seize the only moment they might ever have of stopping the calamities of this civil war. Earl Nugent said, that the contest now was, not whether America should be dependent on the British parliament, but whether Great Britain or America should be independent? Both could not be so, for such would be the power of that vast continent across the Atlantic, that was her independence established, this island must expect to be made a dependent province. General Conway took a wide range through the whole system of American politics; said he had been uniform in his opposition to the measures that occasioned the war, and should remain so in opposing those measures which led to a continuance of it. As to the minister's idea of the Americans laying down their arms in order to be treated with, it was the height of folly for as a soldier himself, and bred to arms, suppose he was investing a town, the gates of which he found shut, and the walls manned, would not the proposition of 66 open the gates, and let me in, and then I'll treat with you," be received with the utmost astonishment and contempt? It was exactly the same, considered nationally. After condemning the use of the Indians, he concluded by declaring, before God and that assembly, that though the Americans might be culpable, yet, in his opinion, we were far more so. The Attorney General admitted there was something like an argument in the general's investiture of a town; but would it not be equally ridiculous on the part of the forces without, to receive a similar proposal from those within the citadel? As to the use of the Indians, painful as such a service must be to every mind, necessity loudly demanded it; for in a contest of this nature, such is the nature of man, that every step is taken to annoy his enemy; but so far from this being the only barbarity of the present war, he had heard an hon. member boast of that enthusiasm of the rebels in Canada, who swore alle giance to the King, and then turned upon a detached party of col. St. Leger's, and cut them to pieces. The measure, he said, was advised by a noble lord (G. Germain) in the King's closet, and was approved of by the rest of administration, as an effectual means of subduing the rebels. ment, till he came to the matter of treaty with the rebels while in arms, to bring them back to dependence: when he begged them to consider the case of Oliver Cromwell, and ask themselves, if he had been informed that matters were accommodated between the prince and parliament, whether he would have gone back to dependence? Certainly not. After paying Mr. Fox a compliment on the exercise of his talents, when he avoided personalities, he concluded by giving his hearty concurrence to the question. Mr. Fox defended himself, and insisted upon it, that so long as the freedom of debate remained, his arraigning the public conduct of a minister could never be deemed personal; that he had attacked the only man responsible, the secretary of state for American affairs, though he attempted to screen himself, by saying, he was only one of the ministers who advised the measure, for in the conduct of the last glorious war, who was responsible but lord Chatham? Would the duke of Newcastle, Mr. Legge, or the chancellor, have been called to an account for the consequence of mismanagement or ill-successes? No! none but Mr. Pitt, the then secretary of state for the southern department. He thanked the gentleman who spoke last, for the compliment he intended him, and, in return, assured him he had more wit than Lucian or Swift, in bringing those opposites into the same point of view, which Mr. Addison calls the test of wit. He ridiculed his historical proof of Cromwell, Sir George Savile dissented from the in inferring he would not have done a thing, question, from the same motives that had because he had not done it. After this he hitherto occasioned him to vote against replied to some of the Attorney General's government on the American war: he arguments, clearing some mistakes respect. said that the idea of convincing the Ame-ing his account of the enthusiasm of the ricans of their errors by their swords at treacherous rebels in Canada, and then their throats, put him in mind of a passage sat down after dissenting from the question. in Shakespeare, where lady Macbeth says, The Solicitor General declared the ob"I will with wine and wassel so convince, &c."ject of the war was peace, and every man in Britain, he was sensible, wished for that. It was not the aim of administration to procure it, by the unconditional submission of America. Their aim was, primarily to oblige them to lay down their arms, and then to treat of condition. Not a hundredth part of America was in arms. those armed, however, it was necessary to talk with arms. The honour of Britain required that they should submit without condition. He inveighed against the bitterness of the invective that marked the modern oratory of the House, and wished they would learn the art of glossing it over That his mind was fully made up upon the grand point in dispute, and though on the arrival of the late joyful news he had seen Washington shot, and hanged in effigy in the country where he had been, which made him believe the present measures had their advocates also out of doors, yet he would express his detestation of them, and wished, but for the honour of his friends, that his protest could stand single and alone upon the Journals of the House. Mr. Adam spoke next, upon the old ground in general, in defence of govern To with meekness and ingenuity, and make it at least more palatable. Mr. Burke expressed no surprise that a gentleman, so conversant with the art of meek evasion and gentle simulation, should wish to introduce such new fashioned rhetoric; and yet he remembered the time when a gentleman, of nearly his appearance, dealt in as bare-faced invective, as language could compose, and that too against a noble lord, now his best and closest friend. He praised the gentleman's humanity for first cutting the throats of the Americans, and then wishing to truck up a conditional peace; and paid particular regard to an argument he had used, "that he knew the Americans had as far back as 1762 aimed at independence, as a Mr. Morris had told him so." Then, with manly emphasis, he asked, if that was known; if the ministry were apprized of that; then they were guilty of baseness, deceit, and cruelty, in sending a few loose troops, avowedly to quell a puny riot. The House then divided on the question, That the Address be read a second time: "I return you my hearty thanks for this dutiful Address.-The affectionate part you take in the happy recovery of the Queen, and the increase of my family, is highly acceptable to me.The steady and zealous support of my faithful Commons, will, I trust in God, enable me to put an end to this unhappy rebellion. Whatever strength you shall place in my hands, shall be employed only for the good of my people, and the welfare of my kingdoms; and be assured, that I wish for success in this great national cause for no other purpose but that it may enable me to restore peace and happiness to all my subjects." Debate in the Commons on the Navy Estimates.] Nov. 26. In the Committee of Supply, Mr. Buller moved, that 60,000 men be employed for the sea service, for the year 1778, including 11,829 marines. The number of ships of war to be employed was 263. In the Mediterranean two 4th rates, two 6th rates, two sloops, and 1,200 sea men The Attorney General here said, it would be very improper to let our enemies know our particular weakness or strength; that if a rupture should happen, it would disclose our whole plan of military enterprize; and would instruct our enemies, if they entertained any hostile intentions, to assail us in the weakest part. So many vessels, of so many guns and so many men, stationed here; and so many more there; what was that, but plainly pointing out the very secrets which are of most importance, and constitute the very soul of military enterprize? Colonel Barré complained that the House should be called upon to vote a supply so great, without official information, respecting the present strength of the navy. He thought parliament had a right to know, as well what they were voting for, as that they were voting. The gentleman was proceeding to satisfy the House; but was stopped just as he had informed the committee that we had 263 ships and vessels of war. The learned gentleman was partly right, if he dreaded any information coming out which might be injurious to the nation; not but he was justified in having the question answered in the very terms the hon. gentleman in office seemed ready and willing to do. He was authorised to say, such a procedure was contrary to the usage of parliament; and trusted, however compliant the House was upon every matter relative to the American war, it would never endure such a refusal, without properly animadverting upon it. He observed, that the very same gentleman, who was now interrupted in his detail, had uniformly heretofore given it, whenever desired; and he remembered that king William, with a magnanimity that does his memory honour, in one of his speeches to that House, speaking of a naval expedition to the coast of France, which miscarried, so far from concealing his intentions, promised that he would make a similar attempt the very next year. The Attorney General said there might be policy in that; that he did not wish to hold back any information, consistent with the safety of the motion. He acknowledged his own ignorance of such affairs, and he only took it up as a matter of state; nor had he any objection whatever to the hon. gentleman in office proceeding as he thought proper; but, by what had fallen from the gentleman who pressed the detail, he understood that the distribution only was what he sought. Mr. Burke remarked, with great severity, upon the attempts now made to hold back every thing which had the least appearance of information. Lord Mulgrave supported the objection of his learned friend. He treated the conduct of king William as a conduct not at all applying to the present subject-matter of debate. He said the magnanimity and candour attributed to that monarch was the effect of policy, not of magnanimity; it was done, most probably, to mislead his enemies, not to put them on their guard, and into a state of preparation. He said, to be sure it was a matter of no consequence. The French are well acquainted with our force, and its particular distribution he was glad they knew it: he believed it was the best security for a continuance of their pacific dispositions. considerable augmentation of force, as the removal of 10 or 12,000 stand of arms from the Tower to Whitehall, if his Majesty had no prospect of being able to raise the men who were to use them. Till within these sixty or seventy years last past, it was the uniform business of parliament to specify the rates of the ships of war to be employed, and the number of vessels of each distinct rate. Now, indeed, that part of the naval arrangement was entrusted wholly to the executive power of the state: yet, to commission men of war for a costly, useless parade, when they could not possibly be sent to sea, was highly reprehensible in the ministers for our marine department. By his calculation, the seamen and marines employed at this time in the naval service, scarcely exceed the 45,000 provided by parliament for the service of the current year; and he was sure it would be demonstrated, by the returns lately moved for, that at Midsummer-day last they were fewer by many thousands than the number for which the nation had been charged. The fleet in America might possibly muster about 14,000 men, and he would allow between 5 and 6,000 more for the East and West Indies, Mediterranean station, discoveries in the South seas, &c. Are there consi Mr. Temple Luttrell began by observing that his Majesty, in the Speech from the throne, the first day of the session, had informed parliament, "that he had thought it advisable to make a considerable aug-derable more than 26,000 men now emmentation to the naval force;" and the ployed at home for the defence of this Commons, in their Address thereupon, country? If not, explain to parliament "acknowledge, with equal gratitude, his what is meant by the naval augmentation Majesty's attention to the security of his so much applauded by the House of Comkingdoms, and the protection of the exten- mons. sive commerce of his subjects, in his having made a considerable augmentation to his naval force, on which the reputation and importance of this realm must ever principally depend." He did not find this augmentation of the naval force particularly noticed in the Address of the other House; he hoped and expected some one man belonging to the group of ministers facing him would rise up and shew to the House what considerable augmentation had actually been made in the royal fleet; carrying, at the same time, in his recollection, that 45,000 men, including marines, had been voted above a twelvemonth ago, and paid for by the nation, at the rate of 41. per month each man, ever since the 1st of January, 1777. He presumed, that to convey the empty hulls of ships, without any essential article of military equipment, a few miles down a river, or into a dock, or along-side any of the royal yards, could with as little propriety be deemed a He had found, upon a thorough and candid investigation of the subject, that our present ministers for the important department of the navy, who commenced their boasted administration in error, prejudices and shameful prostitutions, continued it to this very hour on principles of obstinacy, extravagance and deceit. He would not trouble the House with a tedious detail of trifling complaints, but endeavour to make some material observations upon the constructing, arming, manning and stationing the ships and vessels of the royal navy now in commission. The first article, which took in the materials for ship-building, he should say very little to at present; it would require a day of consideration entirely to itself; and unless some better method for seasoning and preserving ship-timber was speedily found out, notwithstanding the illiberal reflections that had been repeatedly cast on the noble earl's predecessor in office for not having been more successful in his attention to this object, he would venture to predict that the men of war built within these last seven years would scarce be longer lived than those built by lord Hawke, although the very advanced expence which had been allowed to the present board for timber went far beyond all former precedents. The Staten oak, for which the Admiralty seems to have a very strong partiality, and which, by very intelligent persons, has been often proved not to answer the purposes to which they have applied it, is yet in use ships of the larger class have been repaired with that oak, and it has failed. I am credibly informed that the Mars, of 74 guns, found this timber so spungy and unserviceable that, while riding at anchor in the Downs, she was under the necessity of quoining, or wedging her guns, to prevent the bolts from drawing out; and where the Staten wood has been introduced to plank the decks of ships of war, the rain has, in bad weather, penetrated through its pores and crevices, and sometimes only on washing the decks, the water has dript in, even to the hammocks in which the seamen sleep. With respect to arming your fleet, when the House shall examine into the government contracts for armed vessels, this subject may, with propriety, be more dwelt upon. I shall just now express my satisfaction, however, that the contract for Scotch cannon is at an end; and those cannon are at length ordered to be converted into shot. Perhaps, in the country where they are made, people know a secret for firing them without bursting: with us, they have only served to kill our own sailors, whose ill fate it has been to be quartered at them. The manning of the royal navy is the grand point now immediately under your consideration. After every exertion for two years, by bounties and lure of American captures, to find seamen enough for the establishments voted by parliament, an impress was held necessary. When a very illustrious sea-commander presided at the Admiralty, in 1770, between the September in that year, and the beginning of February following, there were completely equipped and manned for war 35 ships of the line. In 1755, when lord Anson presided at the board, our impress was rather more expeditious in its effects, or America had been long ago an appendage to France. Your bounties procure few good sea[VOL. XIX.] men; your press-warrants, though enormously expensive, fewer still; while great numbers are daily deserting from your ships and hospitals, to commit robberies and murders in the interior counties; and this must ever be the case, where men are kidnapped into a way of life they are perhaps totally unfit for, or with which they become disgusted. Neither humanity in the commanders of your men of war, nor a withholding of any arrear of pay, can tie them down to a continuance aboard beyond the first fair opportunity of escaping. I am assured that 50 have lately deserted from the Monarch while in dock, 40 from the Hector, and 25 from the Worcester; six of these are confined at Winchester for felonies, and there are two committed to Exeter gaol on a charge of murder. We have been confidently assured by the noble lord at the head of the Admiralty, that there are 35 ships of the line, with their full war complements, ready to put to sea. Notwithstanding the stamp of such high credit and dignity, I will defy the gentlemen of the Admiralty who hear me, to produce a list of 20 ships of the line out of the 35, fit to put to sea, with their war establishment aboard. You have 42 of the line, we are told, in commission; that seven of these being lately taken in hand, have but very few seamen; that the aforesaid 35, have 18,173. Now, Sir, your six men of war out of the 35 carrying 90 guns, two men of war of 80, and twenty of 74 guns each, dispose entirely of the aforesaid number, allowing but their very lowest war-complement. That the Ardent, Bedford and other ships are wellmanned, I readily admit; but what is the strength, or rather weakness, of the Resolution, Terrible, and half a score of the rest? Let us consider the state of the Worcester, a ship which has been many years in commission, and I suppose was as well equipped for service as the others, or she would scarcely have been chosen to go abroad last summer with the governor of Gibraltar. Being a 64 gun`ship, she ought to have had 500 men, yet she sailed with but 387, and she could never have been. manoeuvred, had she not quartered and guarded her American prisoners; only eight men properly qualified to do duty on the forecastle could be found, out of her whole crew, for each watch; and when she returned home with general Boyd, 107 were sent to the hospital. I am well assured, that of the remainder [2 G] |