BES TORY |OFCO EUROPE 
or for Portugal, and that the chance 
was, equal, Now he would ask, 
whether, supposing the chance to be 
equal, there was a man in this world 
who thought it would be wise in 
‘us to put Portugal in the scale against 
Treland? Whether there was a man 
i earth rash enough to put these 
wo chances upon an equality? 
With regard to the interest of this 
‘country i in thwarting the expedition, — 
admiral Colpoys, he had no doubt, 
acted well, according to the infor- 
‘mation and instructions he received ; 
‘but he must contend, that from the 
nformation which miinisters recei- 
wed, he ought to have had positive 
orders to sail toTreland : and here it 
“Was notorious, from the documents 
which ministers themselves had laid 
upon the table, that this fleet ought 
to have been in Ireland when the 
French were there; for ministers 
had early information of the Brest 
Bs being to sail, and probably, at 
Teast, that they were destined for 
Ireland ; ; indeed they could not even 
y that they had information, or 
that they ought to have had it, con- 
ering the vast sums of money that 
they were allowed for obtaining i in- 
lligence. They might have judg- 
, they ought, indeed, to have 
hown, fiom the arms that were on 
ard, and from the nature of the 
‘quipment, that it was destined for 
‘eland. 
_. Lord Hood expressed his con- 
viction, that the motion, if adopted 
their lordships, could be of no 
service, but, would do mischief. 
© was convinced that every possi- 
Ble measnre had been adopted, du- 
ing the couse of the war, by the na- 
val department, for the good of the 
tion. He said that, while his 
~ Muental faculties, such as they were, 
» edntinned, he should have been glad 
di, 
to serve in the present just and ne~ 
cessary war, if he had been. per- 
mitted to do so. 
Lord Auckland could see no rea- 
son for considering what had hap- 
pened on the coast of Ireland, as a 
miscarriage on our part. The ad- 
vantage was-all on our side. The 
enemy ‘had failed in their expedi- 
tion, and lost one-fourth of their 
ships and nearly five thousand of 
their men. 
The earl of Guildford observed, 
that some sort of enquiry bad been 
judged to be necessary even by ad- 
ministration : for no sooner had the 
subject been mentioned in the house, 
than the noble Jord, at the head of 
the admiralty, was ready to produce 
the papers that had been laid on the 
table. That these had been garbled, 
he would not say: but he would at 
least contend that, for the purpose of 
conveying information, they had 
been very badly selected. He could 
not find, in those papers, any good 
reason for admiral Colpoys being 
kept so Jong at sea. With respect 
-to the real destination of the Brest 
fleet, the ministers were, he be- 
lieved, the only: persons who enter- 
tained any doubt... He concluded 
swith observing, that, unless their 
Jordships felt the propriety of the in- 
quiry proposed themselves, from the 
papers themselves, and the speech of 
the noble earl at the head of the ad- 
miralty, nothing that could be said 
on the subject, could have any effvet 
on their Jordships’ minds. ; 
Lord Grenville, after declaring . 
the harmony and concert that so 
happily reigned among the ministry, 
and the share he himself had taken | 
in the transaction in question, and 
his readiness to take also his share of 
responsibility attached to it, com- 
plained, that whenever any expe- 
dition 
