Volume 2 — CHAP. XXXVII. NAVAL ABUSES.

GREENWICH HOSPITAL.—DROITS OF ADMIRALTY.—PENSIONS.—MY EFFORTS FRUITLESS.—CONTRADICTION OF MY FACTS.—THE MANCHESTER PETITION.—NAVAL DEBATES.—RESOLUTIONS THEREON.—MR. CROKER’S REPLY.—REMARKS THEREON.—SIR FRANCIS BURDETT.—MY REPLY TO MR. CROKER.—RESOLUTIONS NEGATIVED WITHOUT A DIVISION.—SIR FRANCIS BURDETT’S MOTION.—MR. CROKER’S EXPLANATION.—HIS ATTACK ON ME CONFIRMING MY ASSERTIONS.—THE TRUTH EXPLAINED.—ANOTHER UNFOUNDED ACCUSATION.—OFFICIAL CLAPTRAP OF HIS OWN INVENTION.—MY REPLY.—ITS CONFIRMATION BY NAVAL WRITERS.—LORD COLLINGWOOD’s OPINION.—MY PROJECTS ADOPTED IN ALL IMPORTANT POINTS.—OFFICIAL ADMISSIONS.—THE RESULT TO MYSELF.

Soon after the commencement of the session of 1813, I made an attempt to direct the attention of Parliament to the administration of the funds of Greenwich Hospital, in the hope of restoring them to their legitimate purpose of rewards for wounds and long service in the navy. At this period their perversion had become notorious. In place of old retired seamen, not a few of the wards were occupied, and pensions enjoyed, by men who had never been in the navy at all, but were thus provided for, to the exclusion of worn-out sailors, by the influence of patrons upon whose political interest they had a claim.

As the only way to arrive at the full extent of the 274evil, in the absence of definite knowledge as to the specific documents required, I moved in the House of Commons, on the 11th of March 1813, for all papers relative to the chest at Greenwich.

The motion was met by a suggestion from the Speaker—that “if those papers had been laid on the table during the present session there would be no difficulty in granting them, but that if not, I must specify the particular papers required.” This, of course, I was unable to do, but gave my reason for the motion as follows.

“Lord Cochrane then proceeded to express his wish that the state of the funds in Greenwich Hospital should be known, in order to ascertain whether they were sufficient to make provision for that great body of seamen and petty officers who would be entitled to be placed on the establishment at the conclusion of the present war. The House, he was satisfied, could have no objection to this information being laid before them. One of his reasons for moving for it now was, the fact of his having learned that it was in contemplation to devote the Droits of the Admiralty to the current services of the year. The noble lord concluded by moving, ‘That there be laid before this House an account showing the revenues of Greenwich Hospital and the sources whence they are derived, also the disbursements for management and the number of pensioners in each class; distinguishing those maintained within the hospital from the out-pensioners; also an account of the number admitted in each year since 1800, and the amount of the pensioners at that time maintained within and without the hospital.’

“Lord A. Hamilton seconded the motion.

“The Chancellor of the Exchequer said it was perfectly new to him that there was any intention to devote the Droits of Admiralty in the manner stated by the noble lord. He knew of no right which existed in His Majesty’s Government 275to make such an application of those Droits, and if they were so applied, it must be considered entirely as arising from an act of royal bounty. The noble lord had adduced no reasonable ground for the production of the papers for which he had moved. Whether they were of an objectionable description or not he was unable to judge; but he could not see why the table of the House was to be crowded with useless and unnecessary documents. He should, therefore, move the previous question.”

It was true that my having heard of the intention of the Government with relation to the Droits of Admiralty might not be a parliamentary ground for their production, but it was a ground for asking the question. Had I, however, stated my real motives, the only effect would have been prompt denial of the fact by all interested in the continuance of the abuse, which could only be proved by the papers themselves. I therefore endeavoured to procure them on other grounds.

“Lord Cochrane persisted in the propriety of the House having before them the information for which he had moved. There never was a period at which it was more desirable that some steps should be adopted to ameliorate the situation of His Majesty’s navy. Those brave men of which it was composed were subject to the most heartrending oppressions; and, in his opinion, had every cause to complain of their situations. After having been released from the labours of a long and arduous service, they were not, as they richly deserved, suffered to return to the bosoms of their families, but were kept almost to the last hour of their existence in a constant and unremitting state of servitude, unless where they determined to sacrifice that reward which their country had provided for them as a consolation for the buffeting they had undergone to purchase their discharge.

“This had frequently been the case; and he had received 276constant applications complaining of this species of hardship. Two men had lately applied to him, who, after a service of seventeen years and a half, as petty officers, had been sent to perform that most scandalous of all duties—harbour duty; where there was no distinction whatever between petty officers and private men; and, who, rather than submit to be longer disgraced, had expended 80l. or 90l. each, to obtain their discharge. These men were entitled to pensions of 12l. or 14l., a year; and he was convinced that there was not an insurance office in town that would not have given, at their age, for the sums they had paid for their discharge, annuities equal to their pensions. Instead of Greenwich being a source of advantage and reward to aged seamen it was made a means of recruiting for the navy.

“Unless some alteration was made in this system he should feel it his duty to move for leave to bring in a bill to limit the service of the navy. The House, he was convinced, would see the necessity of pointing out some term at which a seaman’s service was to be brought to a conclusion, and at which he might have some hope of resting his frame, after an arduous and gallant service, in the lap of domestic happiness and retirement. In consequence of the present arrangements, men were employed who were absolutely incapable of performing their duty, and in his own ship he had found men who, if he had the power, he would much rather have discharged than have suffered to remain on board. In other instances he knew men, who had been invalided three times and sent into harbour duty, volunteer into active service three times, in order to avoid that disgrace, and finally die amidst the roar of battle, when their tottering limbs were scarce able to support them to their quarters.

“Mr. Rose could not see that any grounds whatever had been laid for the noble lord’s motion. The statement into which he had entered tended to censure the practice that at present existed with respect to the discharge of seamen. He recollected that this subject had been before under discussion in the House, and that it was then stated that the present 277practice had been introduced in order to exempt the men from the necessity of finding two substitutes, under which they before laboured. This question, however, had no connection with the motion, which referred entirely to the management of Greenwich Hospital. He believed that the affairs of that department were as well and regularly conducted as any other branch of the public service.

“Lord A. Hamilton said he understood the noble lord complained of the present system by which the allowance received by seamen from Greenwich Hospital was rendered useless to them, in consequence of the large sums which they were compelled to pay for their release.

“Mr. Wynn confessed he could see no connection between the matter of the speech and the motion itself of the noble lord. As the case, however, to which he had called the attention of the House, was undoubtedly hard, it was very desirable that information should be communicated in some mode.

“The previous question was then put and carried, when Lord Cochrane immediately gave notice that he would, that day month, move for leave to bring in a bill to limit the service of the navy.”

There was not, in fact, much apparent connection between my speech and the motion, because the Speaker had prohibited me from making the motion in such a way as would establish the connection. Nevertheless, that both the House and the Ministry well understood my aim, was evident from the fact, that the Secretary of the Treasury was sufficiently alarmed by the attempt which had been made, to induce him to come down to the House after I had quitted it, and at the last moment of its sitting, in order to defend the Admiralty from the effects of a motion which had been refused!

278

“Mr. Croker, before the House adjourned, rose to make a few observations upon what had fallen from the noble lord in the early part of the evening, when he did not happen to be present. If, however, he had correctly understood what had fallen from that noble lord, he begged leave to say, that the noble lord had been wholly misinformed with respect to the sums of money taken instead of substitutes for the navy. The fact was, that the grossest frauds having been practised upon the poor men under pretence of providing substitutes for them, the Admiralty had come to the resolution of receiving a certain sum of money from them, and to find substitutes.”

Notwithstanding the want of connection, Mr. Croker perfectly understood the point to which I was coming in the end, and hence his taking the course of flatly contradicting the premises after I had quitted the House. My early connection with this gentleman has been stated in the first volume^[83], as well as the fact, that believing in his sincerity as an ardent opponent of administrative abuses of all kinds, I had, during our acquaintance, without reserve, and in the belief that I had an able coadjutor, unbosomed to him my views with regard to the abuses of naval administration. Now that he was in an official position which required him to defend all abuses, and considering that I stood almost alone in exposing them, he was in possession of all my plans of action! There can, however, be no better proof of the soundness of my views, than the fact, that although he had previously been made well aware of my line of argument, he never attempted to meet me by argument, but always by 279flat contradiction of my facts. We shall presently come to some remarkable instances of this nature.

On the 2nd of June I presented to the House a petition from the inhabitants of Manchester, a petition complaining of ill usage, false imprisonment, and malicious prosecution, whilst peaceably assembled to petition Parliament for a reform. It is unnecessary to advert to these allegations, as they are now an historical record, but that the people of Manchester should have selected me as the exponent of their grievances, only added to the ministerial aversion with which I was regarded.

On this occasion, an attempt was made by Mr. Bathurst to procure the rejection of the petition, on the ground that the petitioners, if aggrieved, “could seek redress in a court of law, but that the House could not afford them relief!” There was something so heartless in such an attempt that it called up some members by no means hearty in the popular cause.

“Mr. Whitbread supported the motion, contending that to men in the circumstances of the petitioners (some of them being now prisoners for debt), it was a mere mockery and taunt to tell them that the courts of law were open to them, where they might bring actions for malicious prosecutions. It reminded him of a saying of the late Mr. Horne Tooke, who, on being told that the courts were open to all classes, replied, “Yes, and so is the London Tavern, if you have money enough.” As the petition was couched in respectful terms, he thought it would be setting a bad precedent to reject it; it was usual, even though Parliament could not interfere, to see the magistrates did not exceed the bounds of their jurisdiction.

“Mr. Wynn observed that the House had been at all times peculiarly jealous that no obstructions should be given to the 280exercise of the right of petitioning; and as the present complaint related to an alleged obstruction of that nature, it ought to be received.

“The petition was ordered to lie on the table.”table.”

The circumstances which brought upon me the subsequent vengeance of the Admiralty will be found in two debates which took place in the House of Commons shortly before its prorogation—the one on the 5th, and the other on the 8th of July 1813.

As the subject matter of these debates possesses great naval interest, and as the causes which led to them are not wholly inoperative in our day, I shall adduce them at some length, not so much for my own vindication, as in the light of history teaching by example.

The subject matter of the debates being sufficiently included in the reports of the time, very little comment will suffice.

“Lord Cochrane rose, pursuant to notice, to bring forward his motion for increasing the remuneration and limiting the service of seamen. He thought it was his duty to lay before the House the reasons why our seamen preferred the merchant foreign service^[84] to that of their own country, to enter which they discovered a very great reluctance.

“The facts by which he meant to prove this he had compressed into one resolution; as he was anxious that when the members of that House retired from their Parliamentary duties, they might consider these facts at their leisure, and satisfy themselves as to the correctness of the statement, in order that when they met again they might have no hesitation in adopting such propositions, the object of which would 281be the redress of those grievances which were the subject of it. As he did not conceive that any objection could be made to the mode of proceeding he had adopted, he would not occupy the time of the House any longer than by reading the resolution. The noble lord then read the following resolution:—

“‘That the honour of His Majesty’s Crown, the glory and safety of the country, do, in a great degree, depend on the maintenance, especially in time of war, of an efficient naval establishment:

“‘That during the late and present war with France, splendid victories have been gained by His Majesty’s fleets and vessels of war, over a vast superiority in the number of guns and men, and in the weight of metal:

“‘That these victories thus obtained were acquired by the skill and intrepidity of the officers, and by the energy, zeal, and valour of the crews:

“‘That during the present war with the United States of America, His Majesty’s naval service has, in several instances, experienced defeat, in a manner and to a degree unexpected by this House, by the Admiralty, and by the country at large:

“‘That the cause of this lamentable effect is not any superiority possessed by the enemy, either in skill, valour, nor the well-known difference in the weight of metal, which heretofore has been deemed unimportant; but arises chiefly from the decay and heartless state of the crews of His Majesty’s ships of war compared with their former energy and zeal; and compared, on the other hand, with the freshness and vigour of the crews of the enemy:

“‘That it is an indisputable fact, that long and unlimited confinement to a ship, as well as to any other particular spot, and especially when accompanied with the diet necessarily that of ships of war, and a deprivation of the usual recreations of men, seldom fails to produce a rapid decay of the physical powers, the natural parent, in such cases, of despondency of mind:

282“‘That the late and present war against France (including a short interval of peace, in which the navy was not paid off) have lasted upwards of twenty years, and that a new naval war has recently commenced:

“‘That the duration of the term of service in His Majesty’s navy is absolutely without any limitation, and that there is no mode provided for by law for the fair and impartial discharging of men therefrom; and that, according to the present practice decay, disease, incurable wounds, or death, can alone procure the release of any seaman of whatever age or whatever length of service:

“‘That seamen who have become wholly unfit for active service are, in place of being discharged and rewarded according to their merits and their sufferings, transferred to ships on harbour duty, where they are placed under officers wholly unacquainted with their character and former conduct, who have no other means to estimate them but on the scale of their remaining activity and bodily strength; where there is no distinction made between the former petty officer and common seamen, between youth and age, and where those worn-out and wounded seamen who have spent the best part of their lives, or have lost their health in the service of their country, have to perform a duty more laborious than that of the convict felons in the dockyards—and with this remarkable distinction, that the labours of the latter have a known termination:

“‘That though the seamen thus transferred and thus employed have all been invalided, they are permitted to re-enter ships of war on actual service; and that such is the nature of the harbour duty, that many, in order to escape from it, do so re-enter—there being no limitation as to the number of times of their being invalided, or that of their re-entering:

“‘That to obtain a discharge from the navy by purchase, the sum of 80l. sterling is required by the Admiralty, which, together with other expenses, amounts to twenty times the original bounty, and is equal to all that 283a seaman can save with the most rigid economy during the average period in which he is capable of service; that this sum is demanded alike from men of all ages and of all lengths of servitude—from those pensioned for wounds, and also from those invalided for harbour duty; thus converting the funds of Greenwich, and the reward of former services, into a means of recruiting the navy:

“‘That such is the horror which seamen have of this useless prolongation of their captivity, that those who are able, in order to escape from it, actually return into the hands of Government all those fruits of their toil which formerly they looked to as the means of some little comfort in their old age:

“‘That, besides these capital grievances—tending to perpetuate the impress service, there are others worthy the serious attention of this House; that the petty officers and seamen on board of His Majesty’s ships and vessels of war though absent on foreign stations for many years, receive no wages until their return home, and are, of course, deprived of the comforts which those wages, paid at short intervals, would procure them; that this is now very severely felt, owing to the recent practice of postponing declarations of war until long after the war has been actually begun, by which means the navy is deprived, under the name of Droits, of the first fruits and greatest proportions of the prize-money to which they have heretofore been entitled; and thus, and by the exactions of the Courts of Admiralty, the proportion of captures which at last devolves to the navy is much too small to produce those effects which formerly were so beneficial to the country:

“‘That while their wages are withheld from them abroad, when paid at home, which, to prevent desertion, usually takes place on the day before they sail out again, having no opportunity to go on shore, they are compelled to buy slops of Jews on board, or to receive them from Government at fifteen per cent. higher than their acknowledged value; and being paid in bank-notes they are naturally induced to 284exchange them for money current in other countries, and which, it is notorious, they do at an enormous loss:

“‘That the recovery of the pay and prize-money by the widows, children, or relatives of seamen is rendered as difficult as possible; and, finally, the regulations with regard to passing of the examination requisite previous to an admission to the benefits of Greenwich Hospital, subject the disabled seaman to so many difficulties, and to such long delays, that, in numerous cases, he is compelled to beg his way in the pursuit of a boon, the amount of which, even in the event of loss of both eyes or both arms, does not equal that of the common board-wages of a footman:

“‘That one of the best and strongest motives to meritorious conduct in military and naval men is the prospect of promotion; while such promotion is, at the same time, free of additional expense to the nation; but that in the British naval service this powerful and honourable incitement has ceased to exist, seeing that the means of rewarding merit has been almost wholly withdrawn from naval commanders-in-chief under whose inspection services are performed; in fact it is a matter of perfect notoriety that it has become next to impossible for a meritorious subordinate petty officer or seaman to rise to the rank of lieutenant; that in scarcely any instance promotion or employment is now to be obtained in the navy through any other means than what is called parliamentary interest, that is to say,—the corrupt influence of boroughs:

“‘That owing to these causes chiefly the crews of his Majesty’s ships of war have in general become in a very considerable degree worn out and disheartened and inadequate to the performance, with their wonted energy and effect, of those arduous duties which belong to the naval service; and that hence has arisen, by slow and imperceptible degrees, the enormous augmentation of our ships and men, while the naval force of our enemies is actually much less than in former years:

“‘That, as a remedy for this alarming national evil, it is absolutely necessary that the grievances of the navy, some of 285which only have been recited above, should be redressed; that a limitation of the duration of service should be adopted, accompanied with the certainty of a suitable reward, not subject to any of the effects of partiality; and that measures should be taken to cause the comfortable situations in the ordinary of the dockyards, the places of porters, messengers, &c. &c., in and about the offices belonging to the sea service, the under-wardens of the naval forests, &c., to be bestowed on meritorious decayed petty officers and seamen, instead of being, as they now generally are, the wages of corruption in borough elections:

“‘That this House, convinced that a decrease of energy of character cannot be compensated by an augmentation of the number of ships, guns, and men, which is, at the same time a grievous pecuniary burden to the country, will, at an early period next session, institute an inquiry, by special committee or otherwise, into the matters above stated, and particularly with a view to dispensing suitable rewards to seamen; that they will investigate the state of the fund of Greenwich Hospital, and ascertain whether it is necessary to apply the Droits of the Admiralty and the Droits of the Crown as the natural first means of compensation to those who have acquired them by their valour, their privations, and their sufferings.’”

“Sir Francis Burdett seconded the resolution.”

“Mr. Croker thought that, when the noble lord had adopted his present method of proceeding, he would have acted only consistent with the courtesy of Parliament had he given notice^[85] of his intention to those persons whose duty it might be to take part in any discussion. The honourable member said he would have felt obliged by any information the noble lord might have imparted; but though wanting such, he had come unprepared into the House to meet the noble lord’s resolution. He should be wanting in his duty if he did not state most positively, that, excepting the tribute of 286just praise, which, in the commencement of his resolution, the noble lord had paid to the gallantry and heroism of our own seamen, every other part of it was liable to the charge of being wholly unfounded in fact, or very much indeed exaggerated. The statements those resolutions contained were so astonishing—true it was less astonishing when coming from the noble lord than from any other person—but still even from him they were so astonishing, that surely they ought not to have been so suddenly, and with so little preparation, brought under the consideration of that House. There was no one but the noble lord who conceived that the disasters which we had experienced in the course of the present war with the United States were not to be attributed to a superior force on the part of the enemy, but to a decay of all ardour in our seamen in the defence of their country. Was the crew of the Java then, who had maintained so stubborn a conquest, dispirited? Was the crew of the Macedonian disheartened and reduced by hard-usage to imbecility and cowardice? So far was that from being the fact, that it was in the latter part of the action the spirit of the crew of the Macedonian was most conspicuous, that the spirit of her officers and her brave commander was most conspicuous. So little broken was the spirit of that crew which the noble lord had described as utterly heartless and imbecile, that till the very last they met the attacks of the enemy with loud and repeated cheers.

“Now for another fact on which the noble lord had formed his resolution. He had stated that seamen were obliged to purchase their discharge by no less a sum than 80l., no matter what was the condition of the individual. Now he had to state most positively that this was not the case.^[86] The sum specified might, indeed, be required from able seamen who wished for their discharge; but the sum of 40l. only was required from ordinary seamen; from ordinary seamen transferred to harbour duty, only 30l.; from persons who were originally landsmen, not more than 20l. And he had to state 287further that many persons transferred to harbour duty, and considered unfit for service, were discharged without any consideration whatsoever. The noble lord had stated formerly in the House the case of a harbour duty man who had been obliged to pay 80l. for his discharge.

“When the noble lord had thought proper to make that statement, he had answered in his place that he could not take upon him to vouch for the individual case. He had, however, subsequently been at considerable pains to discover the particular case alluded to by the noble lord, and had examined every document in which he thought it could be traced—but in vain—he could find nothing of the kind; he had then applied to the member for Bedford to procure for him the name of the man from the noble lord, but this had not been done, and he had never had the pleasure of seeing the noble lord since. Now he thought that under such circumstances the noble lord should have abstained from receiving the statement unless he was disposed to give the name of the individual, and thus supply the means of confuting it.

“Our seamen, said the noble lord, were heart-broken; they would indeed be heart-broken had they heard his resolutions; that was provided always, though, he retained so much authority with them, as would impart to his unjust assertions, with respect to them, the power of inflicting pain which they would once unquestionably have possessed. They would be heart-broken if the House passed a resolution which constituted the grossest libel that was ever put forth against them. Formerly, said the noble lord, they were full of vigour and life under a better system; now they were deprived of every comfort, penned up on board of ships which were rendered prisons to them, and their health injured by defective sustenance.

“Now he had to state an improvement in the condition of those men whose hardships the noble lord had deplored, which would enable them to form fair conjectures as to the justice of his statement in general. A practice had been adopted 288within these few years of granting seamen leave of absence on a plan more liberal and better adapted to promote their comfort than any that had been previously thought of. When a ship returned from a foreign station, all the men who had three years pay due to them got leave of absence for three months, for the purpose of enabling them to visit their friends; if the individuals were Scotch or Irish the time was prolonged. This practice was now so well understood, that every ship’s company looked upon it as a matter of right, and he was ready to say that though ill effects had been expected to result from it, the expectation had been found delusive. Several officers had anticipated desertion, others a relaxation of discipline; but, he was happy to have to state, that so far from their expectations being answered, the men returned to their duty with their minds refreshed—new strung, and better fitted for the toils imposed on them by their duty; and much fewer desertions took place since the adoption of such a system of indulgence than before it. He stated this to show what a tissue of false promises, as well as false inferences, were contained in the resolution of the noble lord.

“The noble lord’s resolution asserted that there was no fair system of promotion in the navy; that everything was conducted upon a principle of corruption. Was, then, the commission of the noble lord himself given him upon such a principle? Did he obtain the red ribbon, which was before him never given to an individual of his rank, through corruption? Was it through corruption that a relative of the noble lord’s had made his way to the top of his profession, and had been appointed governor of Guadaloupe? Was it through corruption that the influence of the noble lord had had considerable weight in effecting the promotion of those persons on whose behalf he had used it? He was aware that an answer to this last question in the affirmative might be grounded upon the assumption that the naval acquaintance of the noble lord were persons of little worth, and such as could owe their promotion to nothing but corruption. But 289he who well knew the reverse would not allow him even this miserable refuge. Was the promotion of Captain Duncan the effect of corruption? Were the honours which that gallant officer’s father had obtained the result of corruption? The friends of the noble lord had felt the benefit of his interference, and much was it to be wished that it had been confined to promote their wishes, and through them the interest of the country, and had never been mischievously exercised on such occasions as the present. Did not the noble lord recollect, when he had left his ship, that he had been consulted as to who was the fittest to succeed him, and that his recommendation had been acted upon?^[87] If indeed he had never left that ship it would have been well for his own reputation, as it would have been well for the interests of his country. Most heartily did he wish the noble lord had stayed in her to be serviceable to the public instead of coming here to be the reverse. The noble lord loved to deal in generals. He talked loud about corruption, but he wished him to state who paid and who received the wages of corruption.

“He was conscious that he had spoken with much heat, and hoped for the indulgence of the House; but he could not say that he had not meant to reprehend, and that with as much severity as he could use, the conduct of the noble lord; that he did not mean to set in as strong a light as possible the futility of those labours for six months’ duration, which had so engrossed the noble lord, that he had been unable to attend his parliamentary duties; and which he now imagined would enable him to call out in triumph to his constituents, ‘Behold, if I have appeared to desert my duty, I have only appeared to do so; I have not spent my time in idleness. Here are the fruits of my industry; here is the operose conclusion of my labours, and the debt you, my constituents, suppose me to have contracted, you now find fully liquidated.’

“Now, I beg the House to recollect that these accusations of the noble lord have not been couched in fleeting and evanescent 290speech, but have been regularly arranged in a written document, which it is the wish of the noble lord should be studied by every member in the leisure which the cessation of parliamentary duty will allow him. The noble lord, I contend, has taken a very unfair method of conveying his opinion; he would have acted more fairly in making them the subject of a pamphlet. If he had done so, I certainly have not much time for writing, but out of respect for the noble lord, I should certainly have answered him, and I should have been glad of the opportunity of answering him when I could have used freely those terms which he had deserved should be applied to him. I must express my sanguine hope that the house will not, by adopting such motions as those moved by the noble lord, sanction the gross libel which they contain against the navy, against parliament, and against the country. I wish to lay aside all little considerations to suppose that the resolutions are not meant to apply more to the persons now engaged in the management of our naval affairs than their predecessors; but if it be otherwise, still I wish to sink any feeling that might be supposed to arise in my mind in consequence, and to answer the noble lord only as the defender of that gallant body of men who have stood so long forward as our firmest bulwark against the vileness of our foe, and who are well entitled to the warmest feeling of gratitude we can cherish towards them. I hope, therefore, that if the noble lord does dare to push the House to a division, that he will be left in a minority such as will not merely mark their sense, but also their indignation.”

The reader will not fail to observe the way in which the resolution was met by the Secretary of the Admiralty, Mr. Croker. In defiance of the fact that the notice required by the regulations of the House had been given, Mr. Croker openly accused me of discourtesy for not having given proper notice! He then stated that he was “unprepared” to meet the resolution; 291whilst his next words in the same sentence were, that the facts set forth in the resolutions were positive falsehoods, “wholly unfounded in fact!” This being the mode in which Mr. Croker now chose to meet all unpleasant resolutions relating to the navy when originating with myself, well knowing that they could neither be contradicted nor controverted!

In order to show the efficiency of our navy, Mr. Croker then instanced two of our ships, the Java and the Macedonian, both of which were in a high state of discipline; but he did not notice the fact of one of those which had been defeated by the enemy from the inefficient state of their crews and the inadequacy of their equipment, to both which facts numbers of officers now living can testify. I do not know whether I am justified in bringing forward an anecdote which I have heard from Sir Charles Napier, who had the misfortune to command one of these miserable craft; viz. that expecting shortly to engage a United States frigate which bore down upon him, he sat down and wrote a letter to the Admiralty in case of his capture or death, informing their lordships that his frigate had been lost from inefficiency of her crew and equipment, when, to his surprise, the American sheered off, and he was in no condition to follow. I have no doubt the gallant admiral will repeat the anecdote to any one whom it may interest.

Mr. Croker stated, that so far from the Admiralty demanding 80l. for the discharge of a seaman, they only demanded 40l., and sometimes not more than 20l. In the course of the debates it will be shown that in 292some cases the seamen in reality paid 90l. The man who made the former statements should not have asserted that mine were false. Even the stale trick of “virtuous indignation,” the invariable resort of a practised orator when he has nothing better to say, was here out of place, otherwise than to indicate to the partisans of the Government the course to be pursued.

Further, Mr. Croker himself admitted the bad condition of the navy by saying, now that it suited his purpose, “he had to state an improvement in the condition of the men.” The instances which he adduced in proof were unfounded in fact or practice, so that my only way to meet Mr. Croker’s assertions was of necessity to imitate his example when commenting on mine, viz. to deny them in toto.

Mr. Croker’s allusion to my own career as an instance of promotion apart from political corruption, was amusing; the inference being that nothing but actual deeds could possibly command promotion! His adducing the case of promotion by the exercise of my influence, was pure invention, the rule of the Admiralty being that no man, whatever his deserts, should be promoted on my recommendation. In the first volume I gave the instances of Lieut. Parker, my first lieutenant in the Speedy, and Lieut. Haswell in the Pallas^[88], for neither of whom could I obtain promotion till, from my presence in the House of Commons, it was no longer deemed politic to withhold it. Even then, in the case of poor Parker, a mock promotion was given which proved his ruin and that of his 293family, who were afterwards plunged in the lowest depths of poverty.

Claptrap of this nature was considered a sufficient reply to my resolutions, which embraced the whole subject of the abuses of naval administration. The object was to mislead the House, ignorant as it was of facts, and to throw doubt on my statements, though these had been carefully based on the clearest evidence.

The oratorical display of Mr. Croker was met by my excellent colleague Sir Francis Burdett. As no opportunity has occurred in the course of this work whereby the reader may judge of the comprehensive nature of his parliamentary efforts over any to which I could make pretension, I will adduce the speech of the honourable baronet on this occasion.

“Sir Francis Burdett said that the honourable secretary had indulged in a warmth and severity of animadversion which the occasion by no means justified. His noble friend had asserted much, and the honourable gentleman had denied much, and that on a very important subject; but it remained to be seen who was in error. He was willing to admit that the late period of the session rendered the motion inexpedient; but he conceived that if his noble friend was induced to withdraw it, he would feel himself in duty bound to bring it forward at an early period of the ensuing session, when, of course, the present strong objections to it would be removed.

“The honourable member had taxed his noble friend with exaggeration, but it was impossible to conceive anything more exaggerated than the whole of the honourable gentleman’s speech. He had stated his noble friend to have described our seamen as having wholly lost the energy and 294valour which had once distinguished them. Now, his noble friend had never so described them. He had stated that their spirits were depressed by long confinementlong confinement and various other hardships, but he had never stated that their hearts were subdued, or that when brought into action they did not forget everything, but that they had their own character and the character of their country to support.

“The honourable baronet then proceeded to contend that as it was not denied that in some cases the sum of 80l. was taken for the discharge of a seaman, his noble friend’s assertion on that head had not been refuted, and went on to remark on the impropriety of the harbour-duty men being mixed with convicts (“No, no,” from the Treasury benches). He knew nothing of the matter, and therefore would support the inquiry, because the facts stated were of the last importance, and it ought to be generally known whether they were correct or incorrect. He hoped his noble friend would not withdraw his resolutions without giving notice that he would bring them again under the consideration of the House at an early period of next session.”

“Lord Cochrane replied. He said he was not displeased at the warmth with which his proposition had been met. It certainly would be injurious to no one except to the feelings of certain members of that House. The honourable secretary had met his statements with individual instances of gallantry. The existence of these he had not denied. But he asserted that the physical power of our seamen was decreasing partly from the length of the war and partly from the system of harbour-duty established in 1803, from which service decayed seamen re-entered the navy. He had heard that the system was about to be changed; and he should be happy to learn from the honourable secretary that such was the fact.

“The honourable secretary had challenged him to show him an instance of a petty officer having purchased his discharge from such service. He would name a William Ford, who had served with him in the Impérieuse, who had done 295so, Nelson, his coxswain, and a person of the name of Farley, who had been returned to him and died on board completely worn out in the service. These were facts which he was prepared to prove at the bar, as he was all those which had been denied with so much warmth by the honourable secretary.

“To show further that the crews of British ships of war were unequal to themselves heretofore, he would relate what was the opinion of a person not at all likely to be disaffected to the order of things—he was the son of a bishop, who had taken an American privateer, the crew of which consisted of only 130 men; and he had declared publicly, that he would rather have them than the whole of his own crew, consisting of 240. If the honourable secretary doubted this fact, he might inquire, and he would easily verify it. The noble lord had heard that the sailors taken prisoners by the Americans had been found running away into the back settlements; that forty of them had been brought back by force, and that from the manifestations of this propensity the exchange of prisoners had been broken off.

“The lateness of the period at which he had brought forward his resolution had been complained of. He did intend to bring in a bill to limit the term of service, but circumstances had prevented him; but he would carry his intention into effect in the next session. With respect to parliamentary influence, the honourable secretary had asked whether he had found it of service to himself in his profession? He certainly had not, because he had never prostituted his vote for that purpose; but he knew others who had found that influence of great avail!! When he again brought forward the subject he should prove all the facts he had adduced, and he hoped so much ignorance of important facts would not then be found to prevail. He had chosen the present form of his motion in order to put his statements on record in a way not susceptible of misrepresentation.”

“Mr. Croker replied that the Government had at all times been very watchful over the harbour-duty, but that it had 296not taken any new steps^[89] since the suggestions of the noble lord. He had never heard of any disposition in the seamen, taken by the Americans, to run away to the back settlements; nor of forty men being brought back by force. The exchange of prisoners was broken off in consequence of some wrong done to the British seamen, and not in consequence of any fault of theirs.”

The resolution was then negatived without a division.

Astonished at the result of the debate, which, by negativing my resolutions without a division, amounted to a decision of the House that the naval administration of the country required neither amendment nor even investigation, and that the platitudes of the Secretary of the Admiralty formed a sufficient answer to the subjects sought to be inquired into, it was determined by the few independent members of the House that the subject should be renewed during the present session, notwithstanding that the prorogation of Parliament was at hand.

Accordingly, Sir Francis Burdett gave notice of a motion respecting seamen’s wages and prize money, this being the form in which the renewed debate, on the 8th of July, took place.

“Sir Francis Burdett called the attention of the House to the motion, of which he had yesterday given notice, respecting the difficulties which presented themselves to the obtaining by the relatives of deceased seamen and marines the proper information and the means of recovering the wages and prize-money due to them on the ships’ books. The bonds required of the clerks in the navy pay office, to prevent them from giving the necessary information, 297which might be applied for, were, in his opinion, more calculated to produce fraud and mischief than to be of any real utility. They would, in fact, be subject to become the instruments of collusion between the persons in possession of the means and information, and persons desirous of converting those means to their own fraudulent views and emolument.

“If these bonds were of real benefit, and operated, as it had been represented, to prevent imposition, he would ask, why were they not introduced into other branches of the navy department where the clerks were as well acquainted with the sums respectively due as in the pay-office? He could not discover any satisfactory or solid reason for continuing the practice or confining it to one particular office. It seemed to him that the best mode both of preventing frauds and of giving to the relatives of deceased seamen fair and easy opportunities of ascertaining the amount of what was due to them on the ships’ books, would be to publish the names of such seamen and marines every six months in the Gazette, with the sums due to them respectively at the time of their death. He concluded with moving ‘That every six calendar months a list be published in the Gazette of the unclaimed wages and prize-money due to deceased seamen and marines upon the books of His Majesty’s ships of war, expressing the places where they were born.’”

“Mr. Croker said that the honourable baronet had made no statement to justify the House in agreeing either to the propositions he had advanced in his speech, or to the motion which he had made. He could not perceive any ground stated by the honourable baronet for convincing the House that the practice of which he complained ought to be altered, and a new system introduced. Was it not right that the lower clerks should be prevented from disclosing that information which was in other places at all times to be had? Was the Treasurer of the Navy, the Secretary of the Admiralty, or the Comptroller of the Navy more obscure than any one of the petty clerks who had entered into the bonds of which the 298noble lord had complained? Was it not their duty to supply the information when duly applied for; and was there any charge preferred, or any case made out, of their having refused to do so?”

This mode of meeting the case showed, beyond a doubt, the justice of the complaint and the necessity for the acquiescence of the House in the motion of the honourable baronet. Sir Francis complained that bonds were taken of the clerks, subjecting their securities to penalties and themselves to dismissal if they gave information of any matters within their respective departments. Mr. Croker not only admitted but justified this, on the ground that it was the duty of the Secretary of the Admiralty and the Comptroller of the Navy to supply the information “when duly applied for.”

Before commencing his attack on me, Mr. Croker curtly informed Sir Francis that “if he wished to know what became of the wages and prize-money which remained due to the seamen, he would tell him. It was carried to the chest at Greenwich. The interest was employed in paying the pensions of meritorious seamen, and the capital was preserved untouched for the claimants whenever they might appear.”

Had this been in reality the case, Mr. Croker would gladly have proved the fact to the House, as an answer to my previous motion for all papers relating to Greenwich. In place of so doing, he made it convenient—as has been shown in a former chapter—to stay away from the House during the debate on that motion, which it was “his duty” to meet. After I had quitted the House, he then appeared in his place and 299said that my statements were without any foundation in fact, though he had not listened to them! and could only have heard them at second-hand from those whose interest it was to misrepresent what I had said. Imagine a secretary of the treasury pursuing the same course and adopting the same language in the present day, and the reader will have little difficulty in arriving at the motives or the accuracy of Mr. Croker’s imaginary statements, in reply to one who made the Navy his entire study, and was practically acquainted with everything relating to its administration.

The preceding reply was all that was vouchsafed to the honourable baronet, Mr. Croker converting the subject into a lengthened attack on me, a course which the House permitted without question. As the speech of the Secretary of the Navy admitted of easy refutation, and as—amongst civilised persons in modern times—it tells far more against himself than against me, Mr. Croker shall enjoy the benefit of it with posterity.

“He was happy to see the noble lord opposite in his place (Lord Cochrane), as he would give him the opportunity of making amends for the mis-statement of which he had been guilty on a former evening. He could now flatly contradict the noble lord’s assertions in point of fact, as he had before contradicted them in point of principle. The first case was that of William Ford. The noble lord had stated that William Ford had paid 80l. for his discharge from harbour-duty. He had not paid 80l. nor any other sum for his discharge. The fact was directly contrary. William Ford was an able seaman on board the Impérieuse, the very ship commanded by, and which exposed the ignorance of, the noble lord. Ford’s wife wrote a letter to him requesting her husband’s 300release on providing proper substitutes. It was attended to by the Admiralty and Ford was discharged, having never been invalided, and having been favoured by those very arrangements on which the noble lord had founded this charge.

“The next case stated by the noble lord was that of J. Milton, his coxswain. The assertion made by the noble lord was, that John Milton, after being invalided for harbour-duty, and a Greenwich pensioner, had also paid 80l. for his discharge.

“Now, what would the House think of the veracity of the noble lord when he could prove beyond a possibility of doubt that J. Milton was neither a harbour-duty man nor a Greenwich pensioner? He had also received a letter from J. Milton’s wife requesting the Board to discharge her husband upon the usual provision of substitutes being made. A compliance with the prayer of the letter took place, and her husband was discharged. He surely, after such misrepresentations, would not be thought to go too far in maintaining that the noble lord’s assertions should have little or no weight, since it was so very clearly proved that he was ignorant of what passed in his own ship. John Milton, however, after having been discharged, contrived, through the means of Gawler, whose frauds he himself had detected, to obtain upon a false certificate a pension of 12l. a year from Greenwich. The fraud was discovered, and the pension was withdrawn.

“But the noble lord did not seem satisfied with exposing his own ignorance, where he had the best opportunities of being informed; he went much farther, he exposed his own faults and condemned himself. The noble lord declared he had discharged sixty men belonging to the Pallas in consequence of their incapacity, and risked all the responsibility of the measure at the hazard of a court-martial. If the noble lord did so, he would tell the noble lord he had done that which he ought not to have done—he had falsified the books of the ship entrusted to his honour and care. (Hear, hear.) For the books which he had signed with his own 301hand contradicted his positive assertion. The fact was, that fifteen men only were discharged from the Pallas within the period mentioned by the noble lord; no such entry there appeared; and he could not have exchanged them for supernumeraries, because from these books it was seen that only twenty-nine supernumeraries had been taken on board.”

When I said that Ford had been obliged to pay 80l. for his discharge, instead of the representation being false the amount was much understated. He had been compelled to find four substitutes, which cost ninety pounds! and was then, as a matter of course, discharged without further personal payment. The case of Milton was a matter of veracity between myself and Mr. Croker. I offered to prove to the House that Milton had paid nearly 100l. for substitutes, which Mr. Croker construed into paying nothing, for his discharge, an offer which Mr. Croker did not accept, though he admitted the substitutes! which had been provided—a fact which he did not attempt to disprove otherwise than by his own perverted statements. As Mr. Croker himself said “he had contradicted my main assertion; how did I get rid of that?” Not anticipating an attack on myself, I had not come to the House prepared with documents, so that the only way in which I could possibly have got rid of Mr. Croker’s “contradictions” would have been to imitate his example, viz. to convert myself into a bully for the sake of outbullying him, a resource from which I was, as a gentleman, averse. My reply, presently to be adduced, will, I have no doubt, be sufficiently satisfactory to the reader.

Again, Mr. Croker appealed to the House whether 302my veracity was to be depended upon, for having stated that Milton was a Greenwich pensioner, and in the same breath himself stated that he was one! though through, as he alleged, a false certificate obtained from another man, about which, if true, I could have known nothing except from Admiralty investigations, which were kept secret. All I could have known was, that when Milton’s case was brought under my notice he was a Greenwich pensioner, which Mr. Croker, when appealing to the House not to trust my veracity, confirmed by stating “that he had a pension of 12l. a year from Greenwich!”

Mr. Croker’s explanation with regard to Farley was even less to his credit. My complaint to the House had been that Farley, a man useless from hard service, had been returned to me on board the Impérieuse, and that he had died completely worn out. As an instance of my want of veracity, Mr. Croker assured the House that “he was not invalided for harbour-duty, neither died in the service.” The fact was, that the man was not invalided at all till within a few days of his death, when, unable to return to his friends, I retained him on board from a motive of humanity after his discharge, and he died on board the Impérieuse. Mr. Croker spoke truth when he said he “was not invalided for harbour-duty, and that he did not die in the service;” but he most unwarrantably concealed truth when he suppressed the circumstances under which the man really died, which were more disgraceful to the nation than invaliding a worn out man for harbour-duty.

Unworthy as was this course, it was as nothing compared 303with what fell from the lips of Mr. Croker in the subsequent portion of his address to the House; in which address he asserted that my resolutions were “gross and scandalous libels against the honour, the valour, and the character of the British navy”—accused me of having traduced the commander of the Java and Macedonian, though the names of either ships or their commanders had never passed my lips, nor were in my thoughts—and wound up by asserting that I had grossly libelled Captain Broke of the Shannon frigate!!! though I had never mentioned the name of one or the other in the House, and only regarded them either in or out of the House with the highest admiration!

As this would be incredible were I not to introduce Mr. Croker’s own words, Iwords, I shall do so without abridgment. 1st, to show the impudence of the falsehood, and 2ndly, as a really clever tribute to the gallant Captain Broke, had it been uttered in common honesty and not to get rid of Sir Francis Burdett’s motion; which was thus converted into a pretext of vilifying me in such language as no modern House of Commons would for a moment tolerate.

“Having shown, he trusted, to the satisfaction of the House, the ignorance and unfounded statement of the noble lord, he could not suffer the present opportunity to pass by without also showing that the resolutions lately proposed by his Lordship were gross and scandalous libels against the honour, the valour, and the character of the British navy. The noble lord appeared to be peculiarly and most unseasonably unfortunate both in his mis-statements and libels. It was not necessary for him to tell either the noble lord or the House that he alluded to the gallant action fought by the Shannon frigate with the Chesapeake American frigate. The communication 304which he was about to make to the House had not been sought for or prepared by him. It had presented itself to him as if from a divinity to confute and confound the noble lord’s misrepresentations and libels, and rescue the honour of the British navy from unfounded aspersions, and raise the glory of the British flag still higher than ever. As he was coming to the House the official information of that glorious engagement was put into his hands!! He should not trouble the House at any length with the character of Captain Broke, who commanded the Shannon. It would be sufficient for him to say that Captain Broke was an officer no less distinguished for his indefatigable activity and unwearied enterprise than for his skill and valour. With many occasions of making and preserving the valuable prizes which must have materially contributed to increase his private fortune, he had uniformly preferred the cause of his country and the good of the service to his own interests. Cases had even occurred, when, although he might have fairly preserved his prizes, he rather chose to send them, with all they contained, to the bottom of the sea than let any opportunity slip in which his exertions and co-operation could be useful in another quarter. The action which he fought with the Chesapeake was in every respect unexampled. It was not—and he knew it was a bold assertion which he made—to be surpassed by any engagement which graced the annals of Great Britain; the enemy’s ship was superior in size, superior in weight of metal, superior in numbers. She entered into the contest with the previous conviction of all her superior advantages, and with a confirmed confidence of victory resulting from that conviction. All this superiority served but to heighten the brilliancy of Captain Broke’s achievement. What, continued Mr. Croker, will, or rather what can, the noble lord say now? Will he persist in still maintaining that the captures made by the Americans have been caused by the decayed and disheartened state of our seamen, and not by the enemy’s superiority in numbers and weight of metal? He begged leave to assure the House, that he had 305not introduced the account of the glorious victory gained by Captain Broke as a single instance of the success of one of our frigates; but it had come so opportunely to confound the noble lord’s statement and confute his misrepresentations, that he felt he would be doing an act of injustice to our gallant officers and seamen, to the House, and to the country at large were he to pass it over unnoticed, at a moment so peculiarly fitted and seasonable for its introduction. It was not, he knew, the day or the hour which could enhance the value and glory of Captain Broke’s great achievement, nor had he any occasion to strengthen by its effects his arguments and statements against the noble lord, for he sincerely believed there could not be any day or hour in the course of the year in which he would not have more than ample means of contradicting and disproving such assertions as the noble lord had made on this occasion. Mr. Croker concluded with observing that he trusted he had shown not only the impropriety, but the danger of adopting the motion proposed by the honourable baronet.”

The reader may possibly inquire what this tirade could possibly have to do with Sir Francis Burdett’s motion? or with anything that I had said? He may wonder too that the House should have patiently listened for an hour to an imaginary charge against me for what I had never said! and the Secretary of the Navy’s refutation of a charge which his own ingenuity had trumped up! In our day it could not be that gentlemen by birth or education should have endured such claptrap, when its object was to malign one of their own body without a shadow of foundation for the malice displayed. The history of the period, however, so fully details the reasons for all this, that I may be spared the trouble of recapitulating them.

306Unpractised in oratorical arts, whether professionally or as the hired advocate of a faction, my reply may appear tame; yet what it lacked in eloquence it made up by facts which had been contradicted, because they could not be impugned.

“Lord Cochrane admitted all that could be said of the gallantry of our seamen; but maintained that a great and a rapid decay had been produced in their physical powers by the cause to which he had felt it his duty to call the attention of the House. He was pleased that he had done so in the form of a resolution which could neither be misrepresented or misquoted without detection. It was in the recollection of the House that he had not cast the slightest reflection either on officers or men, collectively or individually, although the honourable secretary had chosen to defend them in both cases. Such a line of conduct might be best calculated to excite a feeling of disapprobation towards him (Lord Cochrane) in the minds of those who had not attended to the subject, but it was not an honourable or a candid mode of proceeding to put words into his mouth and then argue to refute them. He had never mentioned the name of Captain Broke or alluded to him in the slightest degree, although the secretary had spared no pains to defend him. Captain Broke had done his duty; his men proved adequate to the task he had imposed upon them; but, if his information was correct, the Shannon was the only frigate on the American station in which the captain would have been justified in trusting to the physical strength of his crew.

“The honourable secretary seemed to flatter himself, from the exulting manner in which he had delivered his speech, that he had also refuted those facts, which he (Lord Cochrane) did state. ‘Ford,’ says he, ‘did not pay 80l. for his discharge, or any other sum.’ But does not the honourable secretary know that this man raised four substitutes, and that he (W. Ford) could not procure them otherwise than by 307money?^[90] Was not the difficulty of getting seamen such that the Admiralty demanded four men for the discharge of one? Under such circumstances it was obvious that the navy was manned not by the national bounty or the prospect of reward from the service, but out of the funds of those who had long served their country. The noble lord pledged himself to establish at the bar of the House every circumstance stated in the resolutions which he had moved on a former evening. Ford, he repeated, paid 90l. for his discharge—a sum equal to all that he could have saved during eighteen years’ service! No man of feeling could justify the continuance of such a practice.

“As to the case of Farley, the honourable secretary assured the House that he was not invalided for harbour-duty, neither had he died in the service—facts which will not be deemed important when it is known (and it can be proved) that this respectable petty officer, who had been in thirteen general actions, and thirty-two years in the navy, was not invalided until within a few days of his death; and that, unable to return to his friends, he died on board the Impérieuse. Ought not seamen to be entitled to their discharge before they are reduced to this state? Can ships be efficient whilst men so debilitated form part of their crews?

“It is impossible. The honourable secretary laid particular emphasis on the case of Milton, as above all the most unfounded of his (Lord Cochrane’s) unfounded assertions. He had discovered that Milton had received his pension through Gawler, perhaps this was the easiest way; but he (Lord Cochrane) knew that Milton deserved that pension, having been wounded under his command. He was the first man who boarded the Tapageuse in the river of Bordeaux, when that ship’s corvette was captured by the boats of the Pallas alone. This led him to observe that the lieutenant of the Pallas, who executed this service was not promoted by the Admiralty until Sir Samuel Hood’s first lieutenant had brought out 308another sloop, long afterwards, from the same place with the boats of a whole squadron—nor, is it probable that he ever would have obtained the reward of his gallant conduct, unless the Admiralty had felt that the one could not longer be neglected if the other was promoted. So much for impartiality! He pledged himself to prove to the House the literal fact that Milton had served seventeen years, and had paid nearly 100l. for his discharge. Surely such length of service should entitle seamen to some deduction from so oppressive an expense! This was not the case, however; neither was there any period fixed to which they could look forward as the termination of their compulsory confinement.

“He (Lord Cochrane) did not accuse the present Admiralty of originating these abuses; possibly they were even ignorant of their existence. Boards never listen to individuals, and therefore he had adopted the present mode of calling the attention of parliament and of the country to the state of the navy. Could any person have believed that the Admiralty, instead of decreasing the sum to be paid by meritorious seamen after long service, actually increase the amount? He wished that the present first lord would look into his father’s papers, who had it in contemplation to have made many alterations and improvements in naval affairs, with which he was well acquainted. Probably had he remained in office the seamen would have had no cause now to lament the continuance of those evils of which he (Lord Cochrane) was desirous to inform the House, with a view that they might investigate the subject.

“Here the noble lord read an extract from a letter he had received that morning from a seaman’s wife, the mother of a family, and whose husband was compelled to pay 60l. for a discharge, which left their children without bread. She owed 7l. to her doctor, who had written to Mr. Croker, stating her extraordinary exertions for her family’s support as the cause of her illness. The husband after a long service had but 17l. remaining; and he was obliged to go down to Plymouth before he could get his discharge. Was this the 309situation in which British sailors should be placed? He was in the judgment of the whole navy, and he would prove his facts at the bar. If the honourable secretary had any feelings they ought to wring his breast, and prevent him from daring to defend such abuses. He would not detain the House longer than to say that the army was now a model on which to form the navy—so much had circumstances changed. Their service was limited, and officers who did gallant acts were rewarded by promotion and brevet. He named Lieutenant Johnson, who served under his command in the Basque Roads, as an instance to prove the unwillingness of the Admiralty to do justice unless by favour.”

“Mr. Croker would not permit the noble lord to lead the House away! by stating that his material facts had not been disproved. He (Mr. Croker) had contradicted his main assertions. The noble lord had not got rid of that; and if he would give him further opportunities he would give him an equally satisfactory answer!

“Lord Cochrane admitted that the honourable secretary had contradicted his assertions, but he defied him to disprove one word contained in his resolution. As the feelings of his brother officers might be excited by the statement of the honourable secretary who had stood forward in their defence, though they had not been attacked, he would again add, that he had not even thought disrespectfully of any individual to whom the honourable secretary had alluded. He admired the gallant conduct of Captain Broke, and asserted that if the Admiralty did their duty no 38-gun frigate of ours need shrink from a contest with the Americans.

“Lord Cochrane repelled with scorn the accusation made against him of endeavouring to excite dissatisfaction in the navy.”

The end of Mr. Croker’s attack on me was fully answered, viz. that of averting the attention of the House from Sir Francis Burdett’s motion, which fell to the ground.

310So far I have vindicated myself, I will now appeal to authorities far more reliable than Mr. Croker.

“You may guess my surprise and disappointment on viewing forty-five of the most filthy creatures that ever were embarked, sent as part of our complement.”—(Letter of Lord St. Vincent to Admiral Markham, quoted by Brenton.)

If such men were sent as part of the complement of the ship of the commander-in-chief, the public may judge of the description furnished to private ships of war. Captain Brenton when confirming the above opinion of Lord St. Vincent, shall describe them.

“I can vouch for the correctness of the above picture of the men who used to infest our ships. Their personal appearance, in spite of every attention, was most miserable, particularly the importations at Plymouth. I remember being ordered on a survey of some of them in 1811; and so truly wretched and unlike men did they appear, that I took portraits of them, which I gave to Captain Nash, of the Salvador del Mundo. My wonder is that more of our ships were not taken by the Americans in the late struggle, when it is considered how shamefully they were manned”!!—(Brenton’s St. Vincent, vol. ii. p. 246.)

Yet for speaking of them in 1813, after our ships were everywhere beaten by the Americans, I was denounced by Mr. Croker as wanting in veracity! My arguments all pointed to the reorganisation of a noble service whose cause of failure was solely attributable to a want of proper ships, well-trained men, and an armament capable of contending with a nation which, in this respect, had gone ahead of us.

This is not the place to enter into a description of 311our disasters in the American war, or it would be easy for me to show their origin in the abuses embodied in my resolutions. Nor is it to be wondered at that seamen who were so ill treated, and who suffered so much in former wars, should have recounted their sufferings to their descendants, now arrived at manhood. Which of them, who could obtain a better livelihood, would be likely, after such a description of the miseries of naval life, to enter on board an English man-of-war? It was no wonder they preferred the American service.

Had Mr. Croker been candid, he would, when speaking of the victory of the Shannon, have adduced the fact, which must have been known to the Admiralty that one-third of the Chesapeake’s crew were British seamen, driven from their own national service by ill-treatment. A man in Captain Broke’s frigate found his own brother amongst the enemy’s wounded!

I will adduce the following extracts from Brenton.

“Sir Sidney Smith never spared himself. He was ever present in danger, and the last to retreat from it. He was equally gallant and enterprising with his contemporary, Cochrane, but less cautious and less of a sailor. Both these valuable officers were latterly lost to the service, because the Admiralty would not, when they might have done it, give them sufficient employment at sea to keep them at work.” (p. 461.)

“Vernon owed much of his celebrity to his manly and straightforward dealing in the House of Commons.” (p. 347.)

“The services of the gallant Vernon were rewarded by his being struck out of the list by a weak and wicked government. 312Vernon was supposed to have been the author of two pamphlets, reflecting on the conduct of the Admiralty, and the gallant Admiral very shortly afterwards received a letter from Mr. Corbett, the secretary, announcing that His Majesty had been pleased to direct their Lordships to strike his name off the list of flag officers.” (p. 345.)

“If we would have good and faithful seamen to man our ships, we must give them full and ample remuneration for their services, with security from want and penury in old age. I most earnestly pray God that the next parliament may have sense and influence enough to listen to men belonging to our profession who will fearlessly advocate the cause of our sailors.”—(Brenton.)

It would not be difficult to multiply these extracts by dozens from naval writers of this and a subsequent period. These, however, being well known to students of naval history, need not be recapitulated. The following extract from a letter of Lord Collingwood, quoted by Brenton, vol. i. p. 436, embraces the whole subject.

“What day is there that I do not lament the continuance of the war? Nothing good can happen to us short of peace. Every officer and man of the fleet is impatient for release from a situation which daily becomes more irksome to all. I see disgust growing around me very fast.”

The debates in parliament sealed my fate.

It is, however a remarkable fact, that, notwithstanding my resolutions respecting the navy were thrown out without a division—that everything I advanced for the good of the navy was pooh-poohed—and that every fact I brought forward was flatly denied by Mr. Croker, in his position as Secretary of the Admiralty—the Government secretly proceeded to adopt nearly 313every one of the reforms which had been originated and advanced by myself. Thus instead of my plans, my efforts for the removal of naval abuses became their plans!

This would certainly never have been known to me, but for the recent publication of the “Diaries and Correspondence of the Right Hon. George Rose,” the Treasurer to the Navy. From this work I will cull a few extracts. Mr. Rose thus writes:—

“I dined at Lord Mulgrave’s with the Board of Admiralty, to discuss some points respecting my plan for ensuring regular adjudication and speedy distribution of the proceeds of prizes.... At the Levee to day, Mr. Wellesley Pole kissed hands as principal Secretary for Ireland, and Mr. Croker as his successor as Secretary to the Admiralty. I continue to think this last appointment, without any impeachment of the gentleman’s character, VERY MUCH TO BE REGRETTED.” (Vol. ii. p. 411.)

Nothing of the kind, Mr. Rose, Mr. Croker was the only man who could be found to contradict my facts, and then induce his superiors to act upon them—to ridicule my plans, and then adopt them. So far from being out of his place, he was a necessity, since being thoroughly acquainted with all my plans and aspirations in our days of friendship, he could effectively defeat my efforts in the House of Commons and profit by them in Whitehall. Mr. Rose possibly did not suspect the causes for Mr. Croker’s appointment.

At page 503 of the same work, is an intimation from Mr. Perceval to Lord Bathurst of “some future arrangement of the interests of Greenwich Hospital in 314prize-money;” the very subject I had for the first time introduced into the House under the disadvantage of not knowing what papers to call for! My motions for the proper payment of seamen, though repudiated in the House, were completely successful in the Administration, as is shown by the subjoined correspondence between Lord Melville and Mr. Rose on the subject:—

“Admiralty, September 15th, 1814.

“Dear Rose,—I do not trouble you with the inclosed from any special consideration of the particular case, but as a specimen of a considerable and increased number which I have of late received. The circumstance may be accidental, and I have little doubt that the several instances may be satisfactorily accounted for.... I have no doubt that real neglect does not occur, but it is very desirable that there should not be even the appearance of it. On your return to town, you will probably examine into the subject, with a view to ascertain whether in the inferior branches of the Pay Office, the business is conducted to your satisfaction.

“Believe me, &c. &c.

“Melville.”

The business was not conducted to Mr. Rose’s satisfaction, for in his reply to Lord Melville, he says:—

“I gave the most positive orders, accompanied by strong assurances of my severe displeasure if they should not be complied with, for insuring early answers to all applications, and, finding these ineffectual, from not knowing on whom individually to fix blame, where there was an appearance of neglect, I divided the alphabet amongst the clerks in the inspection branch, assigning to each certain letters in it, that I might know with whom the responsibility rested, who should not perform his duty. That has been followed up by mulcts and reprimands. At one time I had the whole branch into my room, and stated to them in the most impressive 315terms, my fixed determination to dismiss the first person against whom a well founded complaint should be made; on which I had remonstrances for having disgraced the branch!

* * * * * * *

“My servants have general orders, never, under any pressure of business, to refuse admittance to seamen or their relations, or, indeed, to any poor inquiring person. I have sometimes picked up stragglers in the country and maintained them till I could ascertain whether I could be useful to them, either in getting their prize-money, or obtaining for them admission to Greenwich Hospital!... I have by the aid of a law I brought in, punished frauds of every description practised upon the seamen, even in cases where only larger prices have been exacted than ought to have been paid for articles sold to them.”

Formidable admissions, truly, despite the virtuous indignation of Mr. Croker on the supposition that anything could be wrong at the Admiralty. Yet here, after my attempts at remedying abuses, the Treasurer to the Navy testifies to the difficulty of seamen obtaining access to the Admiralty—to their begging about the country in the character of common tramps for want of their prize-money, whilst even the wounded and aged required Mr. Rose’s humane intervention to get them a chance of Greenwich Hospital—to the fact, that frauds of all kinds were practised upon them—whilst the “branch which was disgraced,” by merely being told of its misconduct, was in the habit of charging to the seamen “larger prices than ought to have been paid for articles sold to them!!”

I had brought nothing before the House half so bad as this testimony of the Treasurer of the Navy. Yet 316for bringing forward what I did on behalf of the navy, I was, as will presently be seen, hunted on a false accusation into prison, whilst those who marked me down were quietly adopting as their own the reforms I had advocated!!

317