the Fleet he can employ in actual service, is the twenty-gun Ships and small crafts; for which reason he has been obliged to purchase several Schooners to perform the King's service; that the rest of the Fleet are frozen up, and reduced to act upon the defensive. But, sir, I must request that the letter of the 14th of January, from the Lords of the Admiralty to the Earl of Dartmouth, may be read. Now, sir, I believe there is not a Member in this House that would not expect as much as I did, that the information alluded to in that letter, and the correspondence said to accompany it, should of course follow; and I had indeed some curiosity to see by what magick art the Admiral could station and dispose of a Fleet, which, according to his account and my belief, may be long since locked up in the ice, and attackable from the shore. Loaded wagons have been known to pass upon the ice at Boston at this season of the year. But, sir, not one line of this information is laid before us, though it clearly relates to matters of fact, not of opinion. I conclude there are reasons of state for suppressing it, and therefore shall make no comments on the subject. The House will draw their inferences; I, as a seaman, know how to draw mine. Sir, if the epithet of Traitor be applicable to him who feels for the commerce and persecutions of America, I think the English language wants a name for that man who knowingly and wantonly disarms this country, with no better view nor no other hope than to destroy her Colonies. The Americans, however, feel this consolation, that every Ship and every Regiment you send to Boston, serves but to add strength to their cause; for without much pretension to prophecy, I think I may venture to foretel, that the history of these dissensions will be similar to that in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, when the troubles subsisted in Ireland. Sir, the Queen, as impatient to subdue the Irish as you have been the Americans, sent a large Army into that country; and did it immediately answer the end proposed? By no means; the Irish continued to gain strength daily, insomuch, that the Queen, demanding of her Ministers to know the cause of it, received for answer, that her Majesty's Army being there was the true reason; for that their money had found its way into the country, which not only enabled her opponents to purchase Ammunition, and all sorts of warlike Stores, but even to hire foreign officers to act against her. Sir, let us look towards America, and see if this anecdote is not applicable to the present times. But, sir, I must express my surprise, when I consider our insular situation and the true interest of this great commercial country, at the precipitate and indecent manner in which the reduction of the Navy at this important crisis was determined on. Sir, a partial letter produced from one of the Ports, not the most considerable one neither, and a lumped account of a supposed number of seamen in that country or in this, was all the information the House seemed entitled to, to enable us to judge of the eligibility of reducing our Naval force; but it is true, a certain noble Lord did afterwards condescend to re-assume the subject, though in a language which appeared to me strange and ungracious. Sir, his Lordship congratulated us upon being able to reduce the Navy Establishment to that of the year 1769; but, sir, he very ingeniously forgot to remind us, that there are one thousand six hundred effective men gone in four large Ships towards America, which are the complement of five sail of Guard-Ships; so that though the establishment be the same, our Naval force at home is already a quarter part inferiour to what it was in 1769; and, sir, I am sorry to see this reduction made at a time when, I believe, it is pretty well known that the Spaniards maintain a large Fleet, under pretence of being at war with the Emperor of Morocco; and that the French, without paying them much compliment, are not less formidable in these Seas than we are; for, sir, from the best accounts I can procure at the different Ports, the numbers of seamen and marines left for the defence of this country, on board the several Guard-Ships and at quarters, do not exceed six thousand five hundred effective men, out of the twenty thousand voted last year by Parliament; how many of the remainder are in other parts of the world, is neither possible nor necessary for me to determine. But, sir, in this situation, is it sensible, is it politick, nay, is it safe, to pursue such coercive measures as, in my opinion, could only be justified if America and Great Britain were contending for the sovereignty of another Empire? Are we sure, sir, a desperate people, made so by persecution and oppression, will not commit a desperate act; and, in imitation of ourselves in former times, sue to some other Power for protection? Can we believe, sir, that the French and Spaniards will look any longer with an eye of indifference on these disputes, than may be consistent with their interest to do so; or that they have not, at this very hour, priests and emissaries in America, aided, perhaps, by your new Roman Catholick subjects, to blow the coal of contention between America and this country? Do we not know, sir, that the Spaniards have never abandoned the claim they set up to Jamaica; and may we not expect, from their conduct at Falkland's Island, they wait such a favourable opportunity as this to commence hostilities against us? Or can we believe that the French will ever forget the manner in which you made reprisals previous to the commencement of the late war? I fear, indeed, we are about to pursue an effectual, unconquerable, though unconstitutional method, to lay a permanent embargo on our trade; but it is still possible that the French, by way of reciprocity, may insult your Coasts, while great part of your Fleet is frozen up in a distant country. But, sir, I must do the noble Lord on the opposite bench the justice to say, that he has been uniformly explicit in his principles respecting the Navy; he tells us to be jealous of it; that it is the favourite service, and that we must be cautious not to bestow too much upon our Fleet. Alas, sir, the officers of the Navy know by experience, that under the present Administration there is little prospect of either honours or emoluments being bestowed on their service, that need create a jealousy; though, sir, I am aware it may be accounted ungrateful if I omit to acknowledge those very high and distinguished marks of his Majesty's favour conferred on a late memorable occasion, no doubt at the recommendation of the Ministers too, upon some of the oldest flag-officers and most respectable characters in the English Navy; sir, I mean the honour of Knighthood. Such flattering testimony of royal approbation, I admit was sufficient to create a sort of jealousy wherever the news went forth. Sir, those dignified characters will undoubtedly command uncommon respect both abroad and at home. The event has given a consequence to the Naval service, and the youth of it look up with emulation to those high honours they may possibly arrive at, on the close of a life of danger and fatigue, spent in the service of their country. But, sir, I marvel not at this, because the noble Lord, upon a former occasion, was pleased to tell us, that the question with him was, how cheap we could be served? Sir, such an expression might possibly be well adapted to a parcel of Hessians, for I would give his Lordship's economy all due credit where it was consistent with the honour and safety of the Nation; and it might probably prove useful to this country, if he will extend them to the Civil as well as the Military departments of the state. Then, sir, on a fair investigation of the merits, should it appear that the Navy and Army receive more than a proportionable share of the loaves and fishes, let a part of them be appropriated to the inestimable services of the Lords of Treasury, Admiralty, and Trade. Sir, I think the noble Lord who moved this Address, has ventured to assert that Administration have a plan to intercept the trade of the Americans, by means of our Fleet cruizing on their Coast. Now, sir, I can divine but one source from whence such an idea can possibly spring; and if I am right in my suggestion, I must dread the future consequences of a certain summer excursion. Sir, I have long been aware that they are attended with a very great and unnecessary expense to the publick, and that the honours of the flag have been shamefully prostituted to the supercilious vanity of those who, as individuals, are by no means entitled to the distinctions they have desired and exacted. But, sir, I have hitherto considered these Naval expeditions to be more like the pageantry of the luxurious Queen of Egypt on the Cydnus, than like a serious and official inspection into the real state of our marine. If, sir, however, from exploring our cold shore, a judgment has been formed of the frozen Coasts of America, I fear we shall, ere long, experience the fatal consequences of such a conjecture. Sir, it is next to impossible that the King's Ships should keep the Sea in the Northern parts of that country, from November to June; and therefore, sir, however the leaders of Government may be disposed to-