130 



ANNUAL REtJISTER, 1804. 



many severe and strong animadvfir- 

 &ious,which finally induced Mr. Pitt, 

 as we have seen, to take up the mat- 

 ter in a far more serious manner. 

 But, even on the occasion to m liirh 

 we allude, that gentleman seemed 

 unwilling to enter too minutely into 

 the most material errors of the 

 marine administration ; doubtless, 

 through the apprehension of betray- 

 ing to the enemy (were othcial do- 

 cuments produced) the deplorable 

 and disastrous deficiency, wliich must 

 then appear to exist in all our naval 

 equipments. 



It had been the proud boast of 

 the minister who concluded the 

 peace of Amiens, and of every other 

 person who spoke or wrote in de- 

 fence of that ill-starred measure, 

 *' thatwcmi£;ht avert any threaten- 

 " ing storm by the terrors of a na- 

 " val war, l)y which we could al- 

 '• ways humble the arrogance of 

 " France, and produce in her ade- 

 " sire of continuing the peace." 

 If such were the firm and unshaken 

 basis upon which England was to 

 build ; if this were the elevated 

 ground, whence Mr. Addington 

 was to wave " tlie olive-branch" 

 to the world ; miserably disappoint- 

 ed must the country and the mi- 

 nister have been, when they wit- 

 nessed the dilliculties which at- 

 tended the equipment of a sufli- 

 cicnt armament to thwart the 

 views of France on the decla- 

 ration of hostilities, from the defi- 

 ciency of stores, the very nerves 

 and sinews of naval warfare. To 

 .such a pitch had this wretched sys- 

 tem been carried, that even the 

 hemp, which the vigilance of the 

 former admiralty had amassed, was 



sold upon the peace,* under the 

 (Economical idea of not paying the 

 expences of the warehouses in which 

 it was stored ! 



By such, and other means, equal- 

 ly detrimental to the naval exertions 

 of this country, were the ministers 

 deceived, (for surely it is charity to 

 suppose Mr. Addington was deceiv- 

 ed, when he confidently promised 

 to the house of commons, that fifty 

 ships of the line could be equipped 

 in a month), to the very moment 

 they had determined to declare war, 

 when, instead of having a well-ap- 

 pointed fieet, with a regular supply* 

 of every necessary? to keep up its 

 equipment, they were equally asto- 

 nished and dismayed at imding the 

 royal arsenals thorotighly exhaust- 

 ed, even before the first part of the 

 intended armament was fitted out : 

 and such was the hurry and demand 

 for ships, and so urgent the want of 

 timber, and stores of every kind, that 

 many were sent to sea, which were 



a(^tually in course of repair ! To 



complete the calamitous situation of 

 the fleet, so strongly had the suspi- 

 cion of fraud and this principle of 

 mistaken reform, pervaded every 

 branch connected with the naval de- 

 partment, that not only the exer- 

 tions of the merchant ship-wrights 

 were totally suspended, (nor were 

 they allowed to finish the men of 

 war they had contracted to build,) 

 but even those which were upon the 

 stocks, in the king's yards, were left 

 imperfefl^, as the hands employed 

 upon them were dismissed from 

 work! Thus, when his majesty's 

 message was delivered to parlia- 

 ment, scarcely a ship of war was in 

 any forwardness, and not a new one 



* Agents from France were the principal purchasers ! 



could 



