232] ANNUAL REGISTER, 1797., 
to Ireland, he must have fallen in 
with the French ; and what account 
‘he would have given of them, in 
such an event, nobody would be 
at a loss to guess. Had lord Brid- 
port sailed, even with nine sail of 
the line, when he first received 
orders so to do, nothing could have 
prevented his falling in with a very 
great part of the’enemy’s fleet, and, 
thereby, totally annihilating all their 
hopes of any successful attempt at 
Invasion. ‘The earl of Albemarle 
concluded with expressing his firm 
persuasion, that the facts to which 
he alluded, and the particulars he 
had mentioned, were amply suff- 
cient to induce their lordships to 
enter on the inquiry he was about 
to prepose. He should, therefore, 
move, “ that a committee be ap- 
pointed to inquire into the measures 
which had been taken by govern- 
ment for the naval defence of Ire- 
land when an invasion was at-~ 
tempted.” 
The earl Spencer said, it was im- 
possible for any government to ob- 
tain, at all times, correct informa- 
tion respecting. the plans and designs 
-of an enemy. In the present i- 
stances the admiralty had acted ac- 
cording to the best of their infor- 
mation. With respect to admiral 
Colpoys’ squadron being long at sea, 
hé confessed, that he was friendly to 
the system of making fleetsfrequently 
change their station; in the present 
case, however, the squadron, under 
the command of that gallant admiral, 
had been kept out of port longer 
than usual, in consequence of sir 
Roger Curtis, who had gone in 
quest of admiral Richery, and who 
was to succeed admiral Colpoys on 
the Brest station, being a fortnight 
later of arriving in ‘port than was 
expected. He affirmed, however, 
that that fleet was not forced to 
come into port by a want of neces- 
saries, but that it was driven up the 
channel by tempestuous. weather. 
After the French fleet had eluded 
the vigilance of admiral Colpoys, 
to whom he wished to give every 
degree of credit, for his active and 
enterprising services on his station, 
he had adopted the wisest course it 
was possible for him to take. His 
lordship next proceeded to vindicate 
the conduct of the fleet under lord 
Bridport, As soon as the admiralty 
received intelligence of the sailing 
of the French fleet, orders were 
sent lord Bridport to prepare for seas 
with all possible expedition. The . 
ships under his ;command, how- 
ever, could not be got ready till 
the twenty-fifth of December, five 
days after the date of the order. 
The earl Spencer read extracts 
from several letters from sir Peter 
Parker, the port-admiral at Spithead, 
the substance of which was, that the 
ships, destined to joi lord Brid- 
pert, at St. Helen’s, could not sail 
on account of the adverse winds. 
From all these circumstances, it so 
happened, that lord Bridport could 
not put to sea till the third of Janu- 
ary ; and it so happened, also, that 
the enemy eluded his vigilance : 
he could by no means allow, how- 
ever, that Ireland owed its safety 
to the winds; on the contrary, it 
was the winds, and the winds only, 
that prevented the French fleet 
from being destroyed, either by 
admiral Colpoys, or lord Bridport. 
Having entered into this expl.na= 
‘tion, he was persuaded their Jord- 
ships would consider the paper upon 
their table as superseding the neces- 
sity of an inquiry. He should there- 
fore give his decided negative to the 
motion of the noble lord. 
The 
