APPENDIX to the CHRONICLE. 



565 



my sovereign ; having for the last 

 10 months been employed on a 

 most severe and critical service, 

 without once being in port, and 

 having, in the course of it, M'ith a 

 very inferior fleet, forced a superior 

 one of the enemy, who had the ad- 

 vantage of wind and situation, into 

 action, and obtained a decisive vic- 

 tory over them, 1 felt myself im- 

 pelled to solicit the present inquiry, 

 for the purpose of vindicating my 

 honour and my character from a 

 variety of injurious and unfounded 

 aspei'sions which have been cast up- 

 on me, in consequence of the not 

 having renewed the engagement 

 during the two days that the enemy 

 afterwards remained in sight. The 

 consciousness of my having done 

 my duty would, however, have in- 

 duced me to treat tliese aspersions 

 with contempt, had they not be- 

 . come so general, that I was appre- 

 hensive that silence on my part 

 would be construed into an acknow- 

 ledgment of their truth, and an ad- 

 mission of my own misconduct ; I 

 found myself, therefore, under the 

 necessity of applying to the lords of 

 the admiralty, to order an inquiry 

 into my conduct, that 1 might be 

 enabled to state publicly the rea- 

 sons whi(-!i actuated it throughout, 

 and to refute the illiberal and un- 

 founded assertions which had been 

 made against me. — To this they 

 have been pleased to assent; and 

 although, in a subsequent letter to 

 that which accompanies the order 

 for your assembling, I requested that 

 the court might be emj)owercd to 

 enquire into the whole of my con- 

 duct, even prior to my falling in 

 •with the enemy, while in their pre- 

 sence, and subsequent thereto, they 

 have thought it right to confine it to 

 the 23d of July, and my subsequent 



conduct and proceedings, until I 

 finally lost sight of the enemy's 

 ships, and to direct mc to be tried 

 for not having done my utmost to 

 renew the engagement, and to take 

 or destroy every ship of the enemy, 

 Avhich the charge asserts it was ray 

 duty to engage. — I consider this, 

 therefore, as a declaration by their 

 lordships, that this is the only part 

 of my conduct upon which any par- 

 ticle of doubt can, by possibility, 

 attach, or of which any explanation 

 can possibly be requisite. At the 

 same time, however, I cannot but 

 lament that the inquiry is so limit- 

 ed ; as it prevents ray giving evi- 

 dence of the circumstances of the 

 action, which I have no doubt I 

 should have proved to have been 

 such as to add to the reputation of 

 the British navy. 



As, in defending myself against 

 this charge, I trust 1 shall be abla 

 to satisfy the court and the public, 

 tiiat the not renewing the engage- 

 ment, if it v.ere practicable to have 

 done it, was not only justifiable, 

 but the most proper and prudent 

 course, under all the circumstances, 

 to be adopted, and that the attempt- 

 ing to force a renewal of the action, 

 might not only have endangered the 

 safety of my own lleet, but even- 

 tually that of the country itself, I 

 shall request the indulgence of the 

 court, to bo permitted to enter fully 

 into all the circumstances, and to 

 lay before them the particular situa- 

 tion in which I was placed, the or- 

 ders I had from time to time re- 

 ceived, and the reasons Avhich in- 

 duced me not to attempt a renewal 

 of the action, confident that when I 

 have done so, all the prejudices 

 which have been hitherto entertain- 

 ed will be dissipated, and that, by 

 your judgment, I shall be restored 



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