263 



exists a great, but an alarming deficiency* 

 of this article, for the supply of the 

 Navy ; and if so, the yards of the mer- 

 chants, we may be certain, are but scan- 

 tily supplied. Now, supposing this the 

 fact, (and we think the document insert- 

 ed below, reduces the matter to certain- 



* The following is extracted from a report of Lord 

 Melville's speech, in the House of Peers, (1805), re- 

 specting the State of the Navy. 



*' He would say one word on the supplies of stores 

 ** in his Majesty's 5'ards. He wished ever to have 

 *' three years' supplies in hand. He had used his ut- 

 " most exertions with that view ; but all that he or 

 " any one could do, for the present, was only palUa- 

 " tive. The evil which threatens the Navy is prodi- 

 *' gious ; — one great cause of it is even connected 

 *' with our prosperity and greatness. The growing 

 ** state of agriculture is injurious to the nurseries of 

 *' timber; whose slow produce is not so tempting as 

 << the produce of grain and cattle. The danger 

 ** presses hard. All men should come to it with one 

 ** hand and one heart ; willing to make sacrifices, not 

 " only of their other interests, but even of their par- 

 « tialities." 



