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our fleets been fo fortunate as to have met the enemy! He much complained, at the conclufion of his fpeech, of Mr. Fox's inflammatory language refpecting the ftate of Ireland-efpecially of the catholics, who never had had more indulgencies granted them than within thefe few years, and the allegation he declared was untrue, that they had been oppreffed under the prefent government.

Mr. Whitbread animadverted on the arrival of admiral Elphinstone in Ireland, whilst the French fquadron was in Bantry Bay; which, as he afforded no affiftance against them, demanded explanation.

Lord Keith (late admiral Elphinftone) faid he had always difcharged his duty to the beft of his abilities, and for the fervice of his country. If he conducted himself ill as an officer, he was amenable to a court-martial; if he had offended as a member of parliament, he profeffed him felf ready on any proper occafion to answer any inquiry which might be demanded of him.

Mr. Whitbread difclaimed the leaft intention of throwing out infinuations against the character or fervices of the gallant admiral, for whofe valour and merits he profeffed veneration. The circumftance which he had flightly mentioned, incidentally occurred among other facts which he thought it his duty to bring forward, without perfonal cenfure to the admiral, who was clear from all blame in the tranfaction alluded to.

The houfe divided on the previous question.--For it 201, against

it 62.

The fame fubject was brought under the confideration of the upper houfe on the 16th of the fame month. On that day, the order of the day for their lordfhips being

fummoned having been read, for an inquiry into the naval defence of Ireland, during the late attempt at an invafion. The earl of Albemarle rofe to make the motion of which he had given notice on a former day-alluring the house, that he did not mean to hint the fmalleft difrefpect to the officers, or to the admiralty. The object he had in view was, inquiry. The opinion that confiderable blame lay fomewhere was univerfal: it was neceffary to afcertain where, and to whom imputable. The great importance of Ireland as a component part of this empire, admittedno doubt: minifters must have been informed long before the meeting of the prefent parliament, that an invafion either of this country or Ireland, or both, had been meditated by the enemy. It is evident they did know this, from the language they held forth to the public in the commencement of the prefent feffion. How came it then, that with a perfect knowledge of this intention fo early as September laft, when an armament of the enemy was openly preparing at Breit, no fleet of ours thould be ftationed on the coast of Ireland for its protection?

Facts attefted, that' the French fleet, confifting of eighteen fail of the line, feveral frigates, and numerous tranfports, all full of troops, actually failed from Breft, anchored in Bantry Bay, remained there, fome of them during eleven days, and af terwards (with inconfiderable lofs, the whole of which was owing to ftorms) returned to their own ports without falling in with a single ship of the English navy to impede or moleft them. His lordfhip faid, he did not doubt the anxiety of admiral lord Bridport to fail as foon as poffible, and therefore his failing

down

down the channel must have been in confequence of orders received from the admiralty. Another thing which appeared extraordinary, was, that after the admiral had found the whole of the enemy's fleet had left that coaft, he still continued cruifing off Bantry Bay for a day and a half before he proceeded any where elfe in queft of them. It here ftruck him forcibly as negligent and blameable, that, after minitters had fo long been informed of the armament, at Breft, the fleet under lord Bridport was not more numerous, and all realy. He then adverted to that under admiral Colpoys; many of his fhips were in want of thofe effential articles on hip-board, water and fuel, Laftly, he adverted to the fquadron under admiral Elphinstone, which, inftead of joining the fquadrons then at fea, came to St. Helens the very day lord Bridport left it. He moved an inquiry, therefore, into the measures of government for the defence of Ireland, when an invafion was attempted by France.

Earl Spencer replied, in vindication of the ad iraity, that a government might fometimes have too much as well as too little information refpecting the plans of an enemy, and when from different quarters they derived different intelligence, it became a matter of uncertainty how they were to act. He confidently affirmed, they had acted in the best manner from the information they had received. He denied that the fleet of admiral Colpoys was obliged to come into. port for want of neceffaries; it was driven up the channel by tempeftuous weather. Water, indeed, they had not in any great abundance; but in fome hips more was used than in others, and in this manner more confumed than was

neceffary-though he did not mean to reflect upon the gallant commander. After vindicating the conduct of lord Bridport, whe could not (he faid) know that there were feven fhips of the enemy in Bantry Bay, nor put to fea owing to adverfe winds, he gave his de cided negative to the motion of the noble lord.

The earl of Carlisle and the marquis of Abercorn voted for the inquiry; the latter obferving, that for the juftification of minifters four points ought to be proved;→→→ firft, that this country had a fufticient fleet ready for fea; fecondly, that admiral Colpoys' fleet was ftrong enough to keep the fea; that it was provided amply with stores; and fourthly, that he had received particular orders to turn his a tention to Ireland, and proceed thither as foon as he had intelligence that the French fleet had failed. None of thefe points had been provedbut, on the contrary, it was evident, a fufficient fleet was not ready; the admiral had been too long at fea; he was not provided with stores, and, above all, no pofitive orders had been given him to make the fafety of Ireland his principal object.

Earl Spencer considered an inquiry as a cenfure on the admiralty board, to which no blame was imputable. If admiral Colpoys' fleet, together with lord Bridport's, had gone to Ireland, the channel would have been left open to the Dutch fleet, in which cafe the noble marquis would not have fpared the lords of the admiralty. He contended that a difcretionary power ought to be vested in thofe who had the management of naval affairs in this country.

The earl of Moira faid, that the generofity of the noble earl had involved and perplexed his own de

fence:

fence: he had combined with it the impracticable attempt of like wife clearing the character of his colleagues. The point to be confidered was, why admiral Colpoys had not received orders to proceed to Ireland as foon as he received information that the French fleet had failed. If the beft means for fecuring that country were not taken, it was the fault of adminiftration in general; orders must have iffued from the council: they had certain intelligence of the enemy's design, and it was a criminal neglect that no proper modes of defence were adopted. Of any blame on this head he fully acquitted the first lord of the adniiralty. What was the ftate, what were the refources, what the profpects of this country at the prefent moment? If we are to go on with patience, to call it by the gentleft name (faid his lordship), the nation never will rife from its degraded fituation. To be ruined it is not neceflary that the island should be funk in the fea, or that its inhabitants fhould difap. pear-but when the adve fe circumftances in which it is placed, involve confufion which no longer allows things to move in their ufual courfe, or to be managed as they have been for centuries paft, then that country may be faid to be ruined: they fhould learn to appretiate their real fituation; and he fhould vote for the inquiry, in the hope that they would proceed farther, and fhew to whom the difafters of the war were attributable, and examine why the minifters did not improve the favourable opportunities prefented to then?

The carl of Liverpool, upon the whole view of the matter, profeffed himself perfectly fatisfied that every thing had been effected which human prudence could fuggeft.-His

lordship threw all the blame upon the elements, and could not agree to cenfure any part of adminiftration, by affenting to fuch an inquiry.

The duke of Bedford examined very difpaffionately every branch of the fubject, and concluded with cafting the blame upon the minifters. He thought the house had nothing more to do, than to read the papers upon their table, and to attend to the fpeech of the first lord of the admiralty, in order to be fatisfied of the necefity of inquiry: and the queftion was, whether, upon an evident neceffity, their lordhips would inquire for their own fakes, and the fake of the public, or continue a blind confidence in minifters, and deceive the public?

Lord Hood expreffed his decided opinion, that fuch a motion could be of no good, and would produce much harm: that this was a time when the hearts and hands of every man fhould unite in the fupport of the country. He faw no blame in his majesty's minifters, and could not, therefore, affent to the inquiry. He hoped, by means of our naval power our wifhes would foon be gratified by a speedy peace. He fhould have been glad (he faid) to have served in this just war, if he had been permitted to do fo.

Lord Auckland oppofed the motion. He could fee no reafon for terming this a mifcarriage on our part. The enemy had failed in the expedition, and bad loft one fourth of their fhips, and nearly five thoufand of their men. Our country had fuftained no calamity by fea; fhe had rifen to glory, and in the courfe of the conteft deftroyed 100 fhips of war belonging to the enemy.

The earl of Guildford faid, that

having more than once in the prefent war (which all perfons now, he believed, would join with him in afferting to have been calamitous) propofed inquiries fuch as this, he thould now go over the fame ground again, in the fame line of unfuccefsful argument; but he could not refrain from addreffing thofe lords who had been in the habit of prevailing fo often upon the judgment of the houfe. He would put it to others alfo, whether they could refufe to inftitute an inquiry. That fome was neceffary upon the occation, was not denied; for no fooner had the fubject been mentioned, than the noble earl at the head of the admiralty was ready to produce papers, which had been laid upon the table. That they had been garbled, he would not fay; but he would contend they had been, for the purpose of conveying information, very badly felected. He could find no good reafons in them for the admiral being kept fo long at fea. Ireland obviously ought to have been the first point of defence, and it had not been protected.

The earl of Scarborough quoted an expreffion of fir George Saville, "that to vote for an inquiry into the caufe of difafter, was not to vote cenfure." The prefent moment demanded it: every thing had been facrificed to confidence; he took fhame for having gone fo long in that track, and now voted for inquiry.

Lord Grenville declared he had liftened with aftonishment to the mode in which the noble lords had fupported this motion: and more than once was in doubt whether they were not wholly mistaken in the facts upon which they were to decide. Whenever any expedition failed, the whole blame was thrown

upon minifters, without ftopping to afcertain whether they were guilty or not. It was fuppofed they could at pleasure command the winds and waves, and fend a fleet up and down the channel at a minute's warning! but it would be impoffible to conjecture the truth of this tranfaction from what had fallen during the debate. Though without any lofs on our part, it had been reprefented as a national difgrace: whatever failure had been, was upon the fide of the enemy, who actually had loft near five thousand men in this wild attempt.

In no

A ftranger might imagine the French fleet had completely triumphed over ours, whereas they merely had efraped it! And their efcape was in confequence of events which it was not poffible for us to forefee, or to prevent. former war had this country ever been able to keep two fleets in the channel, nearly equal to that of the French; and yet in this war two conftantly had been maintained, one ready for failing, the other blocking up Breft. As to Ireland, his lordship admitted its defence must reft upon the fleet, as well as England; but they were by no means in fuch a ftate as to render fuch an invafion alarming. The French affected to have fome hopes of being joined in Ireland, but the event thewed how much they were miftaken. Whatever might be regretted refpecting our mifcarriages on the continent, in our naval attempts there was nothing but fuccefs and glory-whereas the only triumph of our enemies was efcape!

The marquis of Lansdowne ftrenuously enforced the neceffity of an inquiry. He spoke of the new fubject of difcontent which had arifen in Ireland: gentlemen

who

who had formally taken the part of government, now acknowledged that that country had been neglect ed applications had been made for protection, and it had been abandoned. Minifters had pledged themselves to keep up a great land force, which had been withdrawn; and that a naval force fhould be kept up on the Irish coafts in ail future wars, was a ftipulation made in the last war. Were he minifter at this time, he would ftation a fleet in the Cove of Cork immediately. The marquis cenfured the minifters and the admiralty concerning their whole conduct in the late attempted invafion-their procraftinations -their neglects; and their miftakes were likely to be as fatal as they had been difaftrous. The fubject, he faid, lay to-day between the house and the minifters; tomorrow it would lie between minifters and the public, who would not fail to fee the inability imputable to the admiralty.

Earl Fitzwilliam thought the conduct of our marine, as to its great operations, belonged equally to all the cabinet. There had been blame, and there ought to be inquiry.

Lord Grenville affirmed, that Ireland, fo far from having been neglected, had been the object of particular attention!

The house divided on lord Albemarle's motion, contents 14, noncontents 74.

Notwithstanding the defeat of the oppofition party in this effort, the ftate of Ireland was again brought under the confideration of the upper houfe, by a nobleman particularly acquainted with that kingdom, and as particularly interested in its welfare.-On the 21ft of March, lord Moira made a motion, of which he had fome time

before given notice, respecting Ireland: he began with obferving, that where two feparate and independent legislatures exifted acting each within its own sphere for the happiness of two countries united under one common head, and identified by a common intereft, it cer tainly was of the utmost importance for them mutually to refpect the line by which their authority was bounded. They ought to be careful not to exceed the line of demarcation, and to employ the utmoft delicacy in agitating queftions in which the privileges and independence of each other were involved. Although this general truth could not be difputed, circumftances might occur in which it might be meritorious for them mutually to manifeft their attention and anxiety for objects in which their common interests were concerned. Upon thefe grounds, he therefore rofe for the purpose of moving an addrefs to his majefty, "that he would graciously be pleafed to interpofe his paternal interference, to remedy the discon tents which prevailed in Ireland, and created the moft ferious alarm for that country and the dearest interefts of Britain." This was no queftion of internal regulation, it was a point of common concern and mutual intereft, upon which both countries had an equal right to ftand forward. He did not with to make any odious allufion to any former difcuffion: but fuppofe, as a poffible cafe, that fuch a difpofition of the British fleet was intended as fhould leave Ireland defenceless, might not the Irish house of lords interfere, by addrefs to his majefty, praying, that fuch a meafure might not be adopted? If in the courfe of negotiation with France, any conditions were ftipulated

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