132 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1804. 



several to fly to foreign service, in 

 complete disgust, rather tiian ser\e 

 on board the king's ships ; nor could 

 bounties, nor the impress, procure 

 men for a service become odious to 

 them. 



It was in vain that the high pro- 

 fessional character whicli the first 

 lord of the admiralty foruierly bore, 

 was urged by the minister, as a suf- 

 ficient refutation of the complaints 

 which were poured in against him 

 from every quarter : it was in vain 

 that the talents and the eloquence of 

 his best friends, the " old opposi- 

 tion," were exerted in vindicating 

 him personally from the accusations 

 levelled against him. The tottering 

 situation of the navy, the disgust 

 and dissatisfaction of its officers, 

 and the total want of ships and men, 

 as well as the methods taken to cm- 

 ploy those few which existed, ilash- 

 *d conviction upon the most incre- 

 dulous, and the truth could not 

 much longer be concealed from the 

 public. 



The war was scarcely determined 

 upon, and declared, when the navul 

 force of the empire, upon the exer- 

 tions of Mhich ministry placed its 

 greatest dependence, to carry trrror 

 and dismay upon the shores of 

 Trance, was called upon to execute 

 a project, which the inexperience of 

 Ike cabinet concluded would be fa- 

 tal to the views of Bonaparte. — 

 This was, the blockading the ene- 

 my's ports, or, as it Avas more 

 quaintly termed, in some of Hie 

 speeches made in parliament, by the 

 partisans of government, " the her- 

 inetically sealing up their harbours 

 and trade." It is but justice to the 

 Boble lord, at the head of the admi- 

 ralty, to suppose that he was far 

 from really approving this ridiculous 

 and impracticable scheme of his col. 



leagues;;— expericncehad taflght him 

 its futility. But that, whatever his 

 reasons might have been for not op- 

 posing it, he did not choose that either 

 his professional science or his former 

 conduct, when he commanded th« 

 Channel fleet, should be implicated; 

 and, therefore, that while he si^ 

 lently acquiesced in its execution, 

 it must have been the object of his 

 contempt. 



In placing admiral Cornwallis aj: 

 the head of the Channel fleet, the 

 first lord of the admiralty was well 

 aware that he entrusted it to a man 

 whose i)erscvering character w ould 

 attract the eyes of the public : h« 

 well knew that gallant officer would 

 never retire to Torbay ; and, that 

 while it was possible to keep the 

 sea in his own ship, he never would 

 issue his orders to a second in com- 

 mand, to encounter and endure the 

 fatigue and hardships of a winter's 

 campaign in the narrow seas. Well 

 and M isely, therefore, did he choose ; 

 nor could his election fall upon a 

 man better calculated, in every re- 

 spect, to keep up the spirits of both 

 officers and men, on so irksome a 

 duty. 



It is surely matter of wonder and 

 surprise, that it never occurred to 

 the promoters of this plan, that the 

 want of ships to prosecute it, and of 

 the materials to repair them, would 

 be sooner or later severely felt. One 

 of the lords of the admiralty had, 

 indeed, once intimate^l, in the house 

 of commons, that " the enemy had 

 no fleet ;'' which, if true, was cer- 

 tainly a happy circumstance for the 

 country, but certainly aft'orded no 

 reason that every ship which could be 

 equipped, should be dispatched to a 

 station in the blockading squadrons. 

 It was urged, repeatedly, by every 

 professional man, whose experience 

 1 had 



