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our naval operations. The Houfe was reminded, that four years before, an adjournment of fix weeks had coft the nation thirteen provinces; and they were now cautioned, as they had loft America by one recefs, not to risk the lofing of the Weft Indies by another. The conduct of the Earl of Sandwich was defended in a long and able fpeech by Lord Mulgrave; but his doctrines relative to the refponsibility of official minifters, was ftrongly reprobated. He had argued that the noble Earl, against whom the members on the other fide had been fo liberal in their charges, acted in two diftinct capacities, that of a cabinet-minifter, and of a first lord of the admiralty; and therefore, that it was unfair to make him folely refponfible in his official character for faults which might have originated in the cabinet council, of which he was only one member. Thus, he faid, with refpect to the blame imputed to the noble earl for fending out Admiral Kempenfeldt with only twelve fail of the line, the charge ought in juftice to have confifted of two branches: the first question should have been, Whether the cabinet had acted right in ordering out twelve fail of the line to watch the motions of nineteen? And the fecond, Whether the board had been neg

ligent in equipping and getting this force ready? For the first, he contended Lord Sandwich was not more refponfible than any other lord who fat at the council; for the fecond, he was, in conjunction with the reft of his colleagues at the board, undoubtedly respon fible.

This doctrine was condemned as being of a most dangerous and novel kind, and totally incompatible with the principles of the British conftitution. The conftitution, it was faid, knew of no cabinet council; but in whatever department caufe of complaint fhould exift, the minister at the head of that department was fpecially accountable to the public, whether he acted on his own judg. ment, or by the directions of others. It was not merely for the equipment of fleets, but for their arrangement and destination, and in fhort, for every thing that related to the management of the naval forces of the country, that the first lord of the admiralty was by the conftitution refponfible.

A compromife at length took place on the queftion before the House, by which the day of adjournment was altered to the 21ft of January, and the call of the Houfe, which had been ordered for the 31ft, altered for the fame day.

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CHAP. VII.

Mation of Mr. Fox, for a committee of the whole Houfe, to enquire into the caufes of the want of fuccefs of his Majefty's naval forces during the war, and more particularly in the year 1781. Debate on the ordnance estimates. Motions by Mr. Barre and Mr. Burke. Motion for the recommitment of the report negatived. Motion and debate in the Houfe of Lords relative to the execution of Colonel Haynes. Committee on naval affairs. Refolution of cenfure rejected by a Small majority. Motion and debate of the House of Lords on the intended advancement of Lord George Sackville Germaine to the peerage. Motion on the fame fubject, after his creation. An addrefs to the King, to put an end to the American war, moved by Ge neral Conway, and rejected by a majority of one. Committee of the lords on the lofs of the army at York-town. Refolution against the American war carried in the House of Commons. Addrefs to the King. The King's anfwer, and addrefs of thanks. Second refolution against the American war. Refolutions of cenfure on his Majesty's minifters moved by Lord John Cavendish, and rejected by a majority of ten. Motion by Sir John Rous, for withdrawing the confidence of parliament from his Majesty's minifters, loft by a majority of nine. Intimation, by Lora North, to the Houfe, of his Majesty's intentions 10 change his minifters.

Jan. 25d, T
HE first object
that engaged the
1782. attention of parliament,
after the recefs, was the long
meditated enquiry into the con-
duct of the first lord of the admi-
ralty. The lead in this bufinefs
was taken on the fide of oppo-
fition by Mr. Fox, who opened
his motion for a committee of
enquiry, in a very long and able
speech.

He began with acknowledging the inconfiftency of the part he was about to act, with opinions that he had delivered frequently, and without reserve, both in that House and elsewhere; namely, that enquiries of the kind he meant to inftitute, ought ever to be the fecond (and not the firft) ftep taken by parliament in their Proceeding againft a minifter, into

whofe conduct circumstances warranted an enquiry. This opinion arofe, he said, from a conviction of the impoflibility of procuring a fair and impartial body of evidence, whilft fuch a minifter remained poffeffed of his employments. An address therefore to the throne for his removal, was, in his judgment, the first step neceffary; and this, not only from a regard to public juftice, but to the character and reputation of the minifter himfelf, which, he contended, could not, on any other ground, ftand honourably acquitted.

Mr. Fox here adverted to a doctrine, which he did not wonder to find zealoufly propagated by the adherents of the prefent miniftry, that to addrefs the King for the removal of a minifter, be[K] 4

fore

fore any proof of mifconduct was fubftantiated, was to condemn a fervant of the public unheard, and to proceed to pass fentence, without allowing him the liberty of entering on his defence. Against fuch opinions he begged leave moit folemnly to proteft. Parliament, he contended, had a right to advise the crown to difmifs any of the public fervants, with or without affigning a fpecific charge; with or without intending to proceed to any farther measures against them. But when great national calamities called for an enquiry into the caufes that duced them, parliament, which was bound to fee juftice done to the public, was neceffarily competent to take fuch previous fteps as fhould lead to a full and impartial investigation.

The pretended injuftice of requiring the difmiffion of a minifter without affigning any caufe, or of removing him previous to enquiry into his conduct, muft, he faid, be founded on an opinion as falfe as it was abfurd and ridiculous; that minifters held their offices as a fort of eftates, or franchises, of which they ought not to be difpoffeffed but by due course of law. He knew that no member could venture to avow in terms fuch an opinion; and yet the Houfe had fo long been in the habit of acting upon it, that he found himself under the neceffity of giving way to the prejudice of the times; and, confequently, of proceeding in a manner totally contrary to his own decided judgment.

He next proceeded to ftate the difficulties which he would unavoidably have to encounter in the

profecution of the intended en quiry. The influence arifing from the official fituation of the first lord of the admiralty, was, he said, fuperior to that of any other minifter whatever; and befides this, the noble earl was supposed to eajoy, in the highest degree, the favour and confidence of his Sovereign. From thefe, it was alfo well known he had acquired a third and no contemptible acceffion of influence,-a predominant and irrefiftible weight in the direction of the affairs of the Eaft India Company.

The length and complexity of the inveftigation, if carried to its full extent, he was apprehenfive would alfo prove a very ferious difficulty. He knew that the zeal and induftry of the House of Com mons, collectively confidered, was too feeble to fuffer him to entertain a hope that they would attend to the dry detail of official evidence; that they would examine into a variety of tedious documents, and acquire that full knowledge of their contents, which might enable them to pronounce with juftice on the merits of the queftion before them.

The fubject matter of the enquiry, he faid, naturally refolved itfelf into two heads; the firft, Whether the first lord of the admiralty had availed himself of the means in his power of procuring a navy adequate to the occafions of the ftate The fecond, Whether he had employed the force he actually had to the beft advantage?

With refpect to the first of these queftions, though he was most firmly convinced that the noble earl would be found not lefs cri

minal on that ground than on the latter, yet, for the reasons he had already ftated, he did not mean to enter, at that time, into the inveftigation of it. It would require a long detail of parole evidence; all the witneffes to be examined would come from under the noble earl's immediate patronage; the points to be difcuffed, being many of them matters of opinion, would afford occafion for the undue exertion of that influence which he was known to poffefs; and laftly, the length of time it would neceffarily require, left him little room to hope that gentlemen would give it a proper attention. He fhould content himfelf with making a few general oblervations.

That the navy was inadequate to the occafions of the state, was a fact allowed and confeffed on all fides. In excufe of the admiralty, it had been afferted, that it was fuperior to that which Lord Hawke left when he went out of office. But this, he faid, even if true, which, nevertheless, he would undertake to prove was falfe, could not be admitted as an exculpation of the prefent board of admiralty. It was with the ftate of the French and Spanish navy that the comparison ought to have been made. It was the duty of the first lord to keep the fleet in a condition to meet that of the enemy, whatever it might be; and when he saw the armaments preparing in the French and Spanih ports, it was his indifpenf. able duty to have taken the alarm, and to have exerted every nerve of the country, in order to keep pace with them, Would any man venture to say that the means had

been denied him? Would any man venture to flander the House of Commons with the charge of parfimony? He believed no one would.

After making feveral other pointed obfervations on this fub ject, Mr. Fox proceeded to the fecond branch of the enquiry. He enumerated in their order the fe veral inftances of mifconduct with which he meant to charge the no ble earl, in the committee, as the grounds of a string of motions, which he afterwards brought forward, for the production of the papers and documents neceffary to fubftantiate his criminality. As these facts were afterwards urged more at large in the committee, where the advocates of the noble earl alfo made their principal defence, we fhall, in order to avoid unneceflary repetition, reserve both till we come to speak of the debate which then took place. It is only neceffary, on the present occafion, to add, that the Earl of Mulgrave and Lord North, after having replied to feveral of the obfervations made by Mr. Fox, expreffed their cheerful concur rence in the motion he had made, not without fome fevere ftrictures on his having narrowed the ground of his enquiry, and omitted one of its most effential objects.

Feb. 1ft.

The ordnance eftimates for the current year, amounting to the enormous fum of 1,644,2421. underwent a ftrict and fevere examination. The parts principally objected to were the anticipation of the annual fupply of falt-petre furnifhed by the Eaft India Company; the contract with Mr. Townson;

Townfon; the transport service; and the charges for building fortreffes and fortifications.

With regard to the first and fe cond articles, which were chiefly adverted to in the debate, it ap peared that the Eaft India Company were bound by their charter to furnish the board of ordnance with 500 tons of faltpetre annually, in time of peace, at 451. per ton; in time of war at 531. But government having had occafion, during the war, for a larger quantity than the Company were bound to fupply, had, at the end of the year 1781, received 3, 100 tons, or fix years in advance of the annual fupply. For two of the anticipated years, up to 1783, the board had agreed to pay 731, without intereft, the prime coft, to the Company; and as their charter would then expire, the Company had demanded 1187. alfo without intereft, being their fale price, for the additional four years advance. The price at the merchants market was at this time about 152/, a ton. On a further application to the Company, they declared they could not furnish any more on credit, and demanded the market price. With this the board did not think proper to comply, but contracted with Mr. Townfon, a member of the Houfe, and a director of the Eaft India Company, for 400 tons, at that time lying af Oftend, for 1201. per ton, duty free.

On the ground of thefe facts, the board of ordnance was charged with having fuffered a debt of 242,000l. to the Eaft India Company to accrue without the knowledge of parliament; and with

having counteracted the wisdom of parliament in providing an annual fupply of falt-petre, by an improvident anticipation, and thereby left government at the difcretion of the Company. The contract with Mr. Townson wa: alfo feverely reprobated. It was afferted, that the average price of falt-petre at Oftend was only 831. and confequently, that a profit of 371. a ton, ready money, was fecured to the contractor. At the time that this enormous advantage was given to a private individual, the propofals of the East India Company, who had been fupplying government on credit, and at a confiderable loss, were rejected, though the market price, at which it was offered, had then fallen to 110. a ton; fo that deducting from this 71. 35. the discount re mitted, and 67. 10s. the duty paid by the Company, their price was 231. 13s. lower than that of the contractor.

On the part of the board of ordnance, it was urged, in reply to the first charge, that they had delivered in a statement of the debt to parliament as foon as ever the payment of it had been demanded; and that as to the improvidence of the anticipation, they thought it more than coun terbalanced by the faving it had brought to government. With refpect to the contract, it was al leged, that the board could not fafely inform themfelves of the market price at Oftend, because any report that the English go vernment was about to purchase, would have immediately raised it. It had therefore been neceffary to make the contract with fecrecy;

and

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