‘ 
298] ANNUAL REGISTER, 1197. 
Mr. Dundas considered invasion 
as nothing but a bugbear ;, yet did 
not wish us to relax in our precau- 
tions on the one hand, or to de- 
spond on the other. Exclusive of 
our naval forces in the East and 
West Indies, the North Seas, and 
the Mediterranean, wé have had 
fifty sail of the line for the defence 
of Britain an@ Ireland, and up- 
wards of two hundred thousand 
men under arms. Hitherto both 
the government aud foree of this 
country had been calumniated ; he 
hoped he had proved, satisfactorily, 
that no blawe was imputable to 
the admiralty, or to the officers, 
though he by no means wished to 
prevent inquiry; their conduct,, 
he thought, could well sustain the 
Testo 
Mr. Grey took occasion, from 
Mr. Dundas’s lughear, to animad- 
vert, with great severity, that is, 
the severity, not of expression, but 
of truth, on the versatility of mi- 
nisters in conjuring up, and magni- 
fying, dangers, or in deriding real 
dangers as phantoms, just as it 
suited their purpose ; whether to 
gain confidence, or provide for their 
own safety. He then observed, 
that in the place where an attack 
of the enemy was apprehended, 
and where it was actually made, 
there was neither'a cavalry nor a 
supplementary militia bill; in a 
place where there was no apprehen- 
sion of an attack, theretwere both. 
With regard to the instructions sent 
to lord Bridport, to put to seaim- 
mediately, why did he not do so, 
when. the. wind was fair, on the 
twenty-second, twenty-third, aud 
twenty-fourth of December? It was 
no excuse to say, that his squadron 
was not ready, or that admiral Cur- 
tis had not returned from his cruize: 
the admiralty ought to be impeachs 
ed for not having a fleet ready to 
sail on the twenty-second. 
Mr. Wyndham affirmed it to be 
impossible to keep a fleet, for any 
length of time, in such a state of 
preparation as to be réady to sail. 
at a moment’s warning, and that it 
would have been rashness to have 
sent lord Bridport out with an in- 
ferior fleet, when government did 
not know but that the French were 
out with sixteen sail of the line. 
He denied the possibility of Cork 
falling into their hands, even had 
the enemy landed ; complimented 
the inhabitants of the southern 
parts of Ireland on their loyalty ; 
and observed, that it was sinpiilar 
that those very men who were sup- 
posed the most oppressed,, in that 
kingdom, had manifested the most 
firm attachment to government ;. 
while those in thenorth,whowere not 
said to have any cause of complaint, 
had shewn a disposition to. insurrec- 
tion. Hethought this went a good 
way towards proving, that it was 
possible for men to make groundless 
complaints against those by whom 
they were governed. He did not 
absolutely charge the opposition. 
with evil intentions, when they talk- 
ed of these parts of his majesty’s 
dominions most liable to attack, 
but he wished them to recollect, that 
observations of this kind partook of 
the nature of a two-edged sword 3. 
they might happen to convey infor- 
mation to the enemy what place 
might be most successfully attacked, 
as well as expose the negligence of 
ministers. Mr. Wyndham insisted,, 
on the whole, with the greatest 
confidence, on the impossibility of 
our being invaded, when we were in 
possession of so great a superiority 
of naval force. ae ; 
4 Mr, 
