OF THE LATE JOHN CLERK, ESQ. OF ELDIN. 135 



That it was not ignorance of the facts, or of the chain of 

 evidence now brought forward, that prevented a public ac- 

 knowledgment of Mr Clerk's services, is altogether certain. 

 The late Lord Melville, who held so conspicuous a situation 

 in the government of this country during the greater part of 

 the period I have been treating of, was early made acquainted 

 by Mr Clerk himself with his ideas on the subject so often 

 mentioned ; and in the beginning of his political career, when 

 yet King's Advocate in Scotland, was consulted on the best 

 means of bringing forward those ideas, and gave his advice 

 with the readiness and frankness for which he was remarkable 

 in all situations of life. It is apparent, that he never ceased 

 to hold Mr Clerk's discovery in the highest estimation ; and 

 of this, his observation at Walmer Castle (on hearing of Lord 

 Duncan's victory above related) is a sufficient proof, — an obser- 

 vation that conveyed a severe censure on himself, and on the 

 Minister to whom it was addressed, unless they both felt that 

 their power of rewarding the merit in question was restrained 

 by some considerations known to themselves, and invisible 

 to the public at large. 



Lord Melville had particularly studied the affairs and the 

 interests of the Navy j he had been for a long time at the head 

 of the Admiralty ; and there is reason to think, that he was 

 sensible of the improper neglect with which the Author of the 

 Naval Tactics had been treated. I have been assured that he 

 had represented this to Mr Pitt, but when it was too late, and 

 when that Minister was drawing near the end of life. 



If I might venture any conjecture on the cause of an omis- 

 sion which it is impossible to justify, I should be disposed to 

 ascribe it to the fear of giving offence to the Navy, and to con- 

 sider it rather as resulting from an excess of caution, than 



from 



