to inquire they tell us is to miftrust. What fort of hope is it then, with which an hon. Baronet (Sir William Curtis) is infpired, which is to difpofe him to retire to his pillow, after the debate of this night, in fo much confidence and fecurity? The long fleep of death feems alone capable of rendering us infenfible to alarm under these representations. If that event thould not tranquillize our feelings, we may furvive only to witness the decay of our marine, the diffipation of our finances, the furrender of the fortunes, the honour and the glory of the country. But let it not be faid I am trifling with the feelings of the Houfe by thefe melancholy views. I believe, with a fit application of the refources, the country may not only be rendered fecure, but triumphant; but with the fpecies of falfe confidence, of delufion, which is attempted to be fupported, I know not what fatal catastrophe may be the refult. I have been very much astonished at the extraordinary turn this debate has taken. Minifters had previously applied to be informed of the nature of the motions I meant to propofe. I informed them, and I certainly understood it was their intention to accede to two of the motions, without any objections being fuggefted. With this perfuafion, as I have lately often intruded very much on the time, and I fear the patience of the Houfe, I thought it unneceffary to enlarge on the nature, circumftances, and object of the motion. Confiftently with this reflection, I merely stated the leading object, from doing which, I had no fooner retired, than the right hon. Gentleman below me rifes and afferts, that I have made out no cafe on which the present application can be founded. I must confefs this is not treating me with that candour I had reafon to expect. A cafe opened, and a cafe proved, are two very different things; but it is not at least a neceffary confequence that these two ftages in the fame caufe fhould not fucceed each other I fhould be very much furprised if the cafe, even as it now ftands, fhould, by any Gentleman, be confidered feeble. The first prominent feature of it is, to poffefs fuch a naval force, under the prefent danger of invafion, as would be fully competent to guard thefe islands. I fay the force ought to be greater; that it is lefs than it ought to be, and that it might, if the means of the country were put in requifition and activity. Are not thefe, then, grave and important confiderations; and are they not directed to provide against the greateft poffible calamity, and for the fecurity, nay, the existence of the country? The next diftinguishing feature of the prefent motion, is to lay a fufficient foundation to keep keep the navy under fuch an eftablishment, that whatever may be its prefent condition, a permanent force may be in future fupported, adequate to the accumulating perils to which the nation may be expofed. Thele preparations are the more neceffary, because the prefent war fucceeds a recent one of great length, in which the naval force had unavoidably received confiderable damage. Can I, confifteatty with the refpect I owe to this Houfe, inquire if thefe natters, which inmediately concern the prefent fafety and future ftrength of the country, are fubjects of importance? or if any materials can be fupplied on which a cafe may be more firmly fupported? The hon. Gentleman below me (Mr. Tierney) has refufed the main object of this motion, and he is to be a powerful fupporter of the prefent measures, Whether his aptitude be as great in the fupport of an Adminiftration, as it is in oppofition, we have to learn-we have yet to learn what his abilities are as a defender. I have been inftructed already in a fevere fchool, but I very much question if he has diftinguished himself, or will do fo under the new character he has been induced to affume; and he certainly has enjoyed fufficient opportunity to remove our uncertainty in this particular, of which, however, he has not been disposed to avail himself. I am told by the hon. Gentleman, I have been feized with a panic to which the gallant heart of the noble Lord could not be liable. Am I to understand that the right hon. Gentleman fpeaks the fentiments of his neighbours on the fame bench, when he affects to ridicule this panic as idle and abfurd? I know that the noble Lord alluded to is above all ignoble fear; but he would be wholly unfit for the ftation he occupics, if he were not to entertain a rational conviction of danger; if he did not know that difficulties were to be encountered under the mighty fyftem of hoftility adopted by France. If Minifters have felt none of these apprehenfions; if to this alarm or panic they have been wholly fuperior, how are we to explain their recent conduct? For what purpofe have they been engaging the time of Parliament, with prolix and energetic difcuffions on the military force, neceffay to defend the facred foil of our country from infult and violation? Whence, if this be the cafe, all this buitle and activity, this voluminous correfpondence with the moft eminent characters in military life; and whence this variety of meafures, which I will not fay they have propofed, but to which they have acceded? Is this too ali vain delufion; or have they, with me, been des graded graded by a panic which they affume when military matters are under confideration, and reject with indignation when the naval force is the fubject of debate? It has been truly faid by my right hon. Friend (Mr. Wilberforce), that the naval defence of the land is our national paffion, in which we indulge all the exceffes of inftinctive pride. With this generous propenfity, let us look to the collective strength of the enemy on the oppofite coaft, which feems to realize the fictions of ancient ftory. Can it be fuppofed, with this view before us, we can for a moment forget all the advantages of our infular fituation; the glories of our maritime ftrength; the navy which has extended our commerce, which has established our authority, which has raifed us to the rank we enjoy amongst surrounding empires, and which has conduced to our command and aggrandizement in every quarter of the earth? Can we, 1 fay, in the moment of danger, fail to remember this grand fource of public fecurity? In fuch a crifis as this, am I, with all the indifference of a cold comparison, to be referred to the commencement of the former war with France, when he was torn by civil diffenfions; when he was encompaffed by hoftile nations in array against her; when all Europe was leagued for her' deftruction? Is that period to be affimilated to the prefent, when we are to meet her fingle-handed, without the cooperation of one ally; and are we to limit our exertions to what they were at the time when circumftances were thus totally different? Yet it will be recollected, that then the navy of this country, at leaft, was fo far prepared, that icarcely one fleet ventured to forfake the ports of France that did not fupply new laurels to the gallant defenders of their country, on the tempeftuous element by which we are furrounded. The enemy, who have loft their internal trade, their exterior commerce, their fifheries, the very foundationof their navy, have, in the profecution of a gigantic enterprize, created an artificial marine of prodigious extent; and are we not to proportion our means to the new circumstances in which we are placed, to the new perils to which we are? exposed; and are we to have the ardour of all our generous paffions diffipated by the application of this "cold comparifon" truft, therefore, I fhall not be accufed of dif graceful fear, of idle panic, if I contend our exertions ought at this moment to exceed all former precedent; becaufe the dangers by which we are encompaffed exceed all former peril. Unless I am much mistaken, the kind of min r marine I have recommended, is a force easily prepared, neither neither of tedious or expenfive conftruction. But, Gentlemen have argued, as if I wished to lay afide the floating. caftles by which this country is protected, and to disband the British navy. I was forry to hear an honourable Admiral (Sir Edward Pellew) deviate into this grofs misapprehenfion. True it is, I have expreffed fome confidence in gun-veffels, for a particular purpose; but have I ever been infane enough to exprefs a doubt, that for the blockade of Breft, Toulon, Ferrol, and the various ports occupied by the ships of the enemy, our men of war and our frigates fhould not be employed? Even fhould the flotilla of the enemy venture toward our coafts, I have no doubt that a wide destruction and general confufion will be occafioned by the annoyance they will receive from our regular navy; but fome will probably escape among the vaft multitude; and am I culpable in recommending that this leffer navy fhould be prepared, under fuch an emergency, to render certain that fecurity which would otherwife be only probable? Our first defence is then by our larger fhips; our next in the shallows by our flotilla; the third expedient is, to prevent the landing of the enemy; and the fourth and leaft convenient is, when they have gained a footing on English ground, to meet them in the field of flaughter. Will Gentlemen, who affect to despise these gun-veffels, not admit, that between the ports of Harwich and Portsmouth, there are numerous banks and fhallows, where ships of the line are incapable of approaching the fhore? I am not afhamed to say, before profeffional gentlemen, however eminent, that if we neglect to provide against contingencies, by the kind of force to which I have now adverted, we do not do all in our power to conduce to the national.fafety. Terms of derifion have been employed to render this fpecies of marine defence contemptible, and it has been called a Mosquito fleet; but when Gentlemen are preffed a little more on the fubject, then we are told there are 500 or 700 volunteer gun-boats. These boats, we are to recollect, are not under the immediate command of the Admiralty, and have actually been forced into its fervice by the enthufiafm of the people. A great proportion of thefe are engaged on an extent of coaft with which I am particularly acquainted, and I know this force would have been ready much fooner, and would have been in a much better condition, if the Admiralty had given them due encouragement. Honouralle Gentlemen have dilated on the diftinction of gun-boats and gun-brigs, and the latter have, it feems, received fome commendation commendation from high profeffional authority. It is to gun-veffels of this laft defcription that I have all along adverted; and twenty of thefe, which have had the foremost duty under Lord Keith, are thofe which were fitted out in the time of Lord Spencer; fo that the utility of these is acknowledged by Lord St. Vincent; and as a further proof, thofe that have been lately ordered, under the circumftances ftated, are precifely of the fame kind, and differ only in the delay, I contend, needlefs delay, in their conftruction. I have then the fatisfaction to reflect, that my fentiments are fanctioned by the approbation of the Admiralty; and all [ regret is, the procrastination But we are amused with a brilliant flash of eloquence (not lately a fource of ordinary entertainment in this Houfe), and we are told by an hon. Gentleman, all this fcheme of gun-veffels is a job. This fentiment, cloathed in a wandering meteor, which fixed its ray of indignation upon me, fhall not fo far dazzle my organs of vifion, as to prevent my difcovering the way by which I may relieve myself from the terrors of its effulgence. It is not neceffary to conclude, becaufe a fervice has been converted into a job, that it is a useless service. If pernicious food have been given to the hon. Gentleman, he would not conceive it to be a reafon for abstaining from all nourishment; fo in the former cafe we must learn to diftinguish between accident and substance, and rejecting what is injurious, retain what is valuable. But as Minifters have boafted of the comparative force, let us for a moment examine what it is. In 1801, we had 101 iloops, we have now 84; we then had 69 gun-veffels, we have now 37; we then had 101 cutters, we have now 52. It is conceived to be a fatal objection to these fmaller veffels, that they will engage thofe men who would be more ufefully employed to fupply the crews of the regular navy. Does it occur to the Houfe how fmall a number thefe veffels require? How many that are free from the imprefs would gladly engage in a fervice of this kind. When the enemy approach, it is highly probable we shall have fome days notice, for fo vast a machine cannot be put in motion without giving us full opportunity of obfervation. This notice would give us ample means of fupplying this flotilla from a thoufand fources. If Minifters have not a fufficient number of feamen, they might have applied to Parliament for more, and no hesitation would have occurred in a compliance with their re queft. It is faid much has been argued on this frivolous fubject of twenty-three gun boats, and that it did not deferve VOL. II. 1803-4. natice, U |