14] ANNUAL REGISTER, I8l6. 



changes Avhich had caused a con- 

 siderable increase on the last 

 peace establishment of the navy. 

 To the force in the East Indies no 

 addition had been made ; but the 

 Cape of Good Hope was a new- 

 station, which was also rendered 

 of peculiar importajice by its prox- 

 imity to St. Helena. To the 

 Mauritius likewise a v«ry con- 

 siderable sciuadjon had bet.n ap-> 

 pointed, amounting' to 11 ships 

 of the line. In the Mediterranean 

 it had been thouj;ht proper to 

 substitute 74 gun ships to those 

 of 50. A small s(piadron had 

 been stationed ofl" South America 

 in compliance with applications 

 for the protection of our trade In 

 that quarter; on which account 

 the force stationed at Jamaica 

 and the Leeward Islands had been 

 somewhat diminished. One frigate 

 had been added to tiic force in 

 North America -. that on the coast 

 of Africa would be c(jual to the 

 same during the last peace ; and 

 the sijuadron on the home station 

 of the same strength with that in 

 179'2. Even had there been no 

 new stations to occupy, an in- 

 crease of men foj" the peace estab- 

 lishment would ha\e become nc- 

 ccssJU'v Irom other circimistauces. 

 One of these was (he general em- 

 ployment of hn-gcr frigates than 

 formerly. It was also thought 

 important that a fourth corps of 

 marines should be kept up, iis 

 being more useful to the navy 

 than troops of the line. On the 

 whole, the total number of men 

 required for the peace estHbli."?!!- 

 nicnt would be 2.'3,v^00 ; but in 

 the piescnt year, for i-easons al- 

 ready explained, 33,000 would be 

 moved for. The lion. baro)iet 

 concluded with moving five reso- 



lutions, of which tljc hrat was, 

 " That 33,000 men bg employed 

 for the sea service for the year 

 ISIG, including 90OO royal ma- 

 rines." 



Mr. Ponsonhy expressed himself 

 I'eluctant to say any thing which 

 might seem to reflect on the 

 services of the navy ; yet he could 

 not abstain from entering his pro'' 

 test against the proposed supply, 

 since it would require nnich 

 strojigei' reasons than he |iad 

 iieard, to convince him of t!ie ne- 

 cessity of such a peace establish- 

 ment. At the close of the Ame- 

 rican war, in which the lleets of 

 France and Spain had rode tri- 

 umphant in the channel, 18,000 

 seamen had been thought sufli- 

 cient for our safety : at this time 

 the fleets of those nations had 

 bceh so much reduced as to render 

 them no object of apprehension, 

 nor liad any other power in Emope 

 a formidable navy. The mere cir- 

 cumstance of having new stations 

 foi' oiu' ships was not suflicient to 

 prove the necessity of an augmen- 

 tation, unless it were .-^hewn that 

 a diminution on the old stations 

 was incxi)cdient. \\'cic the House 

 to consent to vote such an in- 

 crease, it would be idle to talk of 

 economy. 



Mr. Law, on the oilier hand, 

 spoke of the necessity of keeping 

 u)) a resjiectablc naval establish- 

 menl, and l)lauied the secretary 

 of the navy for the precipitancy 

 with wliich he paid off so great a 

 portion of 1 he navy in the last year. 



Sir Gro. f far render made replies 

 to both the last speakers j and 

 after some further debate, which 

 it is not material to particularize, 

 1 he. several resolutions were a- 

 greed to. 



The 



