DOCUMENTS BEARING ON TREATY OF 1783. 205 



not the boldest of us ory out for peace? Was not the object of the 

 war accomplished ? Was not the independence of America solemnly 

 recognised by Parliament? Could that independence be afterwards 

 made a stipulation for the restoration of tranquillity? On an entire 

 view of our affairs at that time, is there any honest, sensible man in 

 the kingdom that will not say the powerful confederacy with whom 

 we had then to contend had the most decided superiority over us? 

 Had we scarce one taxable article that was not already taxed to the 

 utmost extent ? Were we not 197 millions in debt ? and had we not 

 the enormous sum of 25 millions unfunded ? Our navy bills bearing 

 an enormous discount; our public credit beginning to totter; our re- 

 sources confessedly at an end; our commerce day by day becoming 

 worse; our army reduced, and in want of 30,000 men to make up its 

 establishments; our navy, which has been made so much the boast of 

 some men, in such a condition, that the noble Viscount, now at the 

 head of the profession, in giving a description of it, strove to conceal 

 its weakness by speaking low, as if he wished to keep it from going 

 abroad into the world. But in such a day as this it must be told 

 your Lordships must be told what were the difficulties which the 

 King's Ministers had to encounter in the course of the last campaign. 

 Your Lordships must be told how many sleepless nights I have 

 spent how many weary hours of watching and distress. What 

 have been my anxieties for New York ! What have I suffered from 

 the apprehension of an attack on that garrison, which, if attacked, 

 must have fallen ! What have I suffered from the apprehension of 

 an attack on Nova Scotia or Newfoundland ! The folly, or the want 

 of enterprise of our enemies, alone protected those places; for, had 

 they gone there instead of Hudson s Bay, they must have fallen. 

 What have I suffered for the West Indies, where, with all our superi- 

 ority of navy, we were not able to undertake one active or offensive 

 measure for want of troops; and where, if an attack had been made 

 where it was meditated, we were liable to lose our most valuable 

 possessions ! How many sleepless nights have I not suffered for our 

 possessions in the East Indies, where our distresses were undescrib- 

 able ! How many sleepless nights did I not suffer on account of our 

 campaign in Europe, where, with all our boasted navy, we had only 

 one fleet with which to accomplish various objects ! That navy, the 

 noble Viscount was fair to own, was well conducted. Its detachment 

 to the North Seas, to intimidate the Dutch, was a happy and a season- 

 able stroke; but the salvation of the Baltic Fleet was not at all to be 

 ascribed to ability; accident contributed to that event; accident con- 

 tributed to more than one article of our naval triumphs. How many 

 of our ships were unclean ? The noble Viscount has told us the case 

 of the fleet with which he was sent to the relief of Gibraltar. He 

 could hardly venture to swim home in the Victory. How many of 

 our ships were in fact undermanned? Did the House know this? 

 Did they know that our naval stores were exhausted, that our cordage 

 was rotten, that our magazines were in a very low condition, and 

 that we had no prospect of our navy being much better in the next 

 campaign than it was in the present. [The noble Earl, during all 

 these queries, directed his eyes to Lord Keppel, until the noble 

 Admiral called him to order.] Do the House know all this? The 

 noble Lord is offended at my directing myself to him. I have no 



