wards of 20%., he understood, had been given for a man; a circumstance which had greatly injured the recruiting for the navy, and which the country might afterwards have occasion to rue. It was the true policy of this country to encourage as many landmen as possible to enter into the sea service. When he heard talk of an invasion, an event which he had not been accustomed to regard with great apprehension, he must own that he would feel much more secure from a certain superiority at sea, than from any number of land forces. When to all the disasters we had experienced at sea, he added the glaring deficiency of intelligence, which had appeared in so many instances, he must own, that he could not give to the noble person lately at the head of the admiralty, credit for all the diligence that had been ascribed to him. He always understood that the French ships sailed faster than ours; in this idea he was confirmed by what had fallen from the gallant admiral. He had learned both from him and from the honourable captain, that we owed to French models the improvements in the construction of our ships. We were indebted to both the gallant officers for bringing French prizes into our ports, and thus enabling us to improve by the superior ingenuity of the enemy. But, it surely was not very flattering to the science, industry, and glory of the country, to be obliged to improve by others, and to be content always to imitate. He was told, that it did not belong to the admiralty to attend to the construction of ships. He did not care to whom it belonged; he had a right to expect attention to this particular from the executive government. He always understood, that the admiralty had the superintending power with respect to whatever related to the navy. He was entitled to ask them, why measures had not been taken sooner to improve the construction of our ships? The period of war was urged as an argument why these measures could not be taken at present the very circumstance which, in his mind, weighed most powerfully that they should be adopted without loss of time. He was told, that no improvement could be introduced with respect to ships already built, or that were now upon the stocks; but he should deem it a most criminal neglect, if care was not taken to set on foot the building of new ships upon the improved construction, in every dock in the kingdom, and indeed whereever it was possible; and this, he trusted, would be the first measure of the new board of admiralty.

To all that he had stated, he had heard no other answer than what had been given last year, an enumeration of the ships taken, including those we had got by capitulation at Toulon. But it was not a pleasing circumstance, that one of our own ships of the line had fallen into the hands of the enemy, 4A

VOL. V.

[Jan. 21.

a circumstance which had not often happened in former wars to this country; only one had been taken during the whole course of the American war, when we had to contend against the combined naval force of Europe, and that had been retaken. With respect to the admiralty itself, the character of the noble lord had been more injured by his colleagues than by any other person. It had been said, that nothing would be more pleasing to that noble lord, than to have an inquiry instituted with respect to his public conduct. A general wish of that sort had so often been expressed, and the particular proposition when brought forward defeated by some particular consideration, that much stress would not now be laid on such a declaration. If the noble lord was, indeed, the able and dili gent character he had been held out, it could only be said, that he had the most injurious colleagues, and served the most ungrateful public, since the former must have consented to remove him from a situation which he occupied with so much credit, and perhaps no change was ever so generally approved by the latter.

Mr. Fox concluded with declaring that the navy of England was of more importance now, than at any former period. The whole of the campaign ought to teach ministers the inefficacy of military operations. He had been told, that there were ships ready to be sent to sea, if sailors could be got to man them. He trusted that this was not the fact, that steps would be taken immediately to procure more ships and more men for the service, and that no diminution of the military force would be considered as too great a sacrifice, in order to extend the scale of our naval exertions.

THIS

ARMY ESTIMATES.

January 21.

HIS day Mr. Windham, the new secretary at war, presented to the House the estimates of the army. These amounted, including the regulars, the militia, and the new levies, to 150,000. The expence of maintaining it was computed at 6,652,000l. He accordingly moved, in the committee of supply, that the army establishment for the present year should consist of the number stated. The motion was opposed by General Tarleton and Mr. Hussey: the latter gentleman moved, That the chairman do leave the chair and report progress. Mr. Pitt said, that in order to en

able the navy to make a proper impression on our foes abroad, we ought to place ourselves in a state of complete security at home, which could be done only by keeping a formidable army on foot. The expences arising from this necessary measure were, doubtless, great, but the dangers thereby averted were much greater. True it was, that the confederacy had suffered severely; but this country not only maintained its superiority on the seas, but had, in the midst of every pressure occasioned by the war, increased both its commerce and its resources, in a manner that opened the most promising prospect of being able to carry it on with the utmost vigour, and that afforded the strongest presumption of terminating it finally to our honour.

;

Mr. Fox said, that if the right honourable gentleman had had the good fortune to be minister of this country in the reign of Queen Anne, when we had, by the wisdom of our measures, gained such military reputation, and which he hoped, we should never lose; if he had been minister, as his illustrious father was, at the end of what was generally called the seven-years war;-if he had the reputation which his father had established for securing North America to this country for a time; if he had gained in proportion as he had lost;-if he had acquired as much glory by his political conduct as he had entailed upon himself disgrace, he should then, Mr. Fox said, have had some doubt whether the stile and tone of the right honourable gentleman could have been justified: prudent it could not be in any man, at any time, under any circumstances; but what would the House think, and what would the people feel, when they found such a man coming forward under such circumstances? What was to be said of a minister who asked, and that with a tone of authority, for the confidence of the House in this prosecution of the war? A minister who had been so unfortunate, at least, as to see every one of his predictions reversed by events; who had year after year, regularly and constantly, pursued measures the most wild, extravagant, and dangerous, which experience taught us to be so, and which had brought us into a situation that, in point of real calamity, was, perhaps, never equalled in this country at any former period. That such a minister could have the hardihood to claim further confidence was astonishing. It was adding insult to injuries. It was telling us that what the country suffered he regarded not; that what defeat, disgrace, or disaster befel us, he minded not; for, that under them all, his spirit remained unbroken.

Nor

was he content with this, for he affected to cast ridicule on those who opposed the war, by saying that it was the fashion with them to call this war calamitous and disgraceful: Now, he should be glad to know, if it was the fashion, who was the

cause of it? Would the minister deny any one of the statements that were made of the disastrous events by which the war had been so unhappily distinguished? Would he deny that the object for which the war was undertaken on our part was lost? Would he deny that we had met with dise appointments and defeats, misfortunes and disasters, which were unequalled in the history of the world? Would the minister shew one event in the whole course of the present winter that could be construed in our favour? Not a week had passed without producing a gazette giving some account of our misfortunes. But what reply had he made, what colouring or excuse had he offered, for the numerous disasters which had been quoted even in the course of that day? The rich territory of Flanders had been lost in the last campaign; not by a sudden incursion of the enemy, but by a series of battles and sieges, bloody on both sides, and disastrous to the defeated armies beyond all parallel. The whole of Germany, on the southern side of the Rhine, had been lost, with the single exception of Mentz. A great part of Spain, and of Italy, was now in the possession of the enemy; and some of our West Indian conquests were recovered from Did these losses, either collectively or individually taken, amount to nothing like disaster? This was the man who asked for the confidence of the House in future, and who affected to treat with levity the sentiments of those who did their duty to the public, and who said what they thought, that the present war was calamitous and disgraceful.

us.

And what was our prospect at this moment? The minister said, that in some sense, this was our last stake. What did he mean by that? Had he the same object now in view, as he professed to have at the commencement of the war? Would he now seriously tell the House, that he had any hope of effecting a counter-revolution in France? Was not that object lost for ever? Was it not given up by every power in Europe except Great Britain? Had not every one of them virtually, by their actions, acknowledged the French government, while we stood alone, vainly and foolishly attempting to prevent it, by which we had brought ourselves to the verge of ruin? He remembered in what manner the minister, some time ago, used to answer objections that were made to his administration: he affected, with a manner half modest and half assuming, to say, that with all the defects that might be urged against the conduct of the government, the country was in a prosperous condition. Little merit as there might be in such a declaration, when urged by way of argument, yet it taught us to reflect on our condition now, and to make us feel that if any merit of the minister had brought us to a

state of prosperity, there must be some fault in the same person who had brought us to the verge of ruin.

He remembered, he said, the calamities of the American war, and, at the time, he thought them great, but now, when he compared them with the calamities of this war, they sank into trifles. He then said, that ministers were to blame: such appeared to be the general opinion, and Lord George Sackville and Lord Sandwich were removed: something of this kind was the case with regard to the late first lord of the admiralty, but that was not the case with respect to the minister at war, on the contrary, a third secretary of state was appointed, seemingly for the purpose of keeping the conduct of the war in the hands in which it was before; and to the same hands which managed the last glorious campaign was to be entrusted the care of the next. And what were the people of the country to expect from all this? The ministers themselves, or their friends, continually told us, that the British arms had been well conducted; if so, our hopes must be at an end; for, with all the advantage of such good conduct, the result to us had been only calamity and disgrace. By whose fault we had been brought into this situation was not a matter of the same importance as the question, what means we should pursue in future? He, for one, was ready to declare, that all the blame appeared to him to be attributable to ministers; for, if ministers were accused, and some general, or any other officer, was to blame in the conduct of the war, it was an easy thing for ministers to say so; but if, with brave troops, good generals, faithful allies, and good conduct, this was our situation, there remained, with respect to the prosecution of the war, nothing but complete despair. Having said this, he came to take notice of the situation of our troops in Holland. Whether the Dutch entered into negociation with the French with or without our knowledge, was a matter that must be explained hereafter; but when we knew that such was the case, it was the duty of ministers to take care that the British troops should not be left in a situation where they might be sacrificed: the best thing that could be done in that case, was to give the army as good winter quarters as could be provided, and as speedily as possible bring it back to England.

With regard to the effect of the proposed vote, he was one of those who were willing to assent to it if necessary, provided that could be done without crippling the navy; but as it possibly might have that effect, the better way would be to enquire into that fact previously; and therefore he should support the motion of his honourable friend, that the chairman should leave the chair, report progress, and ask leave to