Dec. 17th. Mr. Burke gave, notice of his intentions to move, foon after the expiration of the receis, for leave to bring in a bill to regulate the mode of exchanging prifoners with America. The law as it theu flood, he faid, was not only unjust and oppreffive in its principle, but liable to the moft enormous abufes. Its operation, inftead of being directed by the nature of the offences it was intended to affect, was confined to diftinctions purely geogra phical. Thus it depended, not on the imputed criminality of a prifoner, but on the place where he was taken, or the place to whch he was conveyed, whether he should be confidered as a traitor, a pirate, or a prifoner of war.

Amongst the abuses, which had arifen from the exercife of the power given to govern ment, by the act alluded to, he adverted particularly to the situation of Mr. Laurens and Lieutenant General Burgoyne. With respect to the former, he reprehended with great feverity the cruelty, the injustice, and the impolicy of the treatment that diftinguifhed perfon had met with. He meant at the proper time to contend, that he was entitled to his freedom on parole, as a prifoner of war; but whether the house fhould Coincide with him in that opinion or not, the unexampled rigour and feverity of his confinement admitted of no excufe. He bad called the attention of the house to this very ferious bufinefs at the beginning of the feffion, and had propofed that the lieutenant of the Tower should be examined on the fubject at the bar of the house, But from fome appearance of difinclination in government to this step, and the fear of injuring by any hafty proceeding, the person whofe fituation he wished to relieve, and partly from a perfuafion that minifters would the mfelves be defirous of preventing any further difcuffion, by redreffing the grievance, complained of; he had declined making any motion on the subject..

The cafe of Lieutenant General Burgoyne was not leis cruel and oppreffive, his exchange having been prevented by a manoeuvre, that vas likely to doom him to perpetual captivity: A party of the Americans having been cut off by a detachment of British troops, joined by a large party of Indians, the commander, in order to fave the lives of his prifoners from the babarity of his allies, was obliged to connive at their efcape, having however firft ftipulated with one of the American generals, that the men thus Juffered to escape, fhould be accounted for in the next exchange. This ftipulation Congrefs had retufed to ratify; and accordingly, thefe men (who from the name of the poft where they were taken, were called Cedar men) though generally claimed, had always been tacitly alTowed to be fet afide in the fubfequent cartels. But when the American commiffioners had agreed to accept of 1040 prifoners, in exchange for Lieutenant General Burgoyne, minifters had for the fift time infifted on their taking the Ce dar men as a part of that number; and the Americans being equally determined in refufing them, his exchange, under fuch circumftances, became a matter of abfolute impoffibility.

As a farther proof of the partial and oppreffive conduct of government towards the lieutemant general, Mr. Burke informed the house tha

he had received a letter from Dr. Franklin, in clofing a refolution of Congress, by which he was empowered to treat with the British miniftry for the purpose of exchanging General Burgoyne for Mr. Laurens. This negociation Dr. Franklin had requested Mr. Burke to under take; and he had accordingly made the proper official applications, but hitherto without effect.

In the converfation which afterwards took place on this lubject, the charge of Mr. Laurens's having been treated with any unufual rigour wa pofitively denied. In proof of this affertion, a letter was read from the lieutenant governor of the Tower, dated November, 1780, in which he acquaints one of the secretaries of state, that he had waited on Mr. Laurens, for the express purpofe of fatisfying himself with refpect to the treatment he received, and that he had learned from his own mouth, that he had met with eve ry civility and kindness that he could poffibly hope for. A member alio, got up and declared that the lieutenant governor had again vifited his prifoner, within the last three days, and that he bad not heard there was the fmallelt ground of complaint.

Between these contradictory affertions, the matter remained fufpended till the day of the adjournment of the houfe, when Mr. Burke brought up a reprefentation and prayer, addreiled to the House of Commons, by Mr. Laurens himself, which was, on a motion, laid on the table. It was remarkable that this petition was written by Mr. Laurens himself, with a black-lead pencil; he having, as is supposed, refuted to accept of fome indulgences that had been lately offered him, and amongst the rest, that of pen and ink, the use of which had been, during the greatest part of his confinement, strictly forbidden him.

It may not be improper in this place, to add, that the admiffion of Mr. Laurens to bail, and the exchange of General Burgoyne, which foon after took place, together with the fubfequent alterations in the political government of the country, made it unneceffary for Mr. Burke to proceed with his intended bill of regulation.

In the House of Lords, the ordinary business of government was fuffered to proceed without any oppofition till the day appointed Dec. 19th. for paffing the malt and land-tax bills, when the Marquis of Rockingham moved, that the third reading of the bills should be deferred till the first Wednesday after the recefs..

He prefaced this motion by declaring, that a recent public calamity, the retreat of the fleet under Admiral Kempenfelt, had brought him down that day to the house; that he came without confultation with any perfon whatever, and with the expectation that he fhould probably not meet with a fingle peer who would unite in opi nion with him; but that he was neither to be deterred from the faithful difcharge of his duty, by fuperiority of numbers, nor disheartened by the thin attendance of his friends.

He then entered into a concife but comprehentive detail of the ftate of the nation, and ùrged from thence the neceflity of coming to liome immediate

have been, whether the cabinet had acted right in ordering out 12 fail of the line, to watch the motions of 19; and the fecond, whether the board had been negligent in equipping and getting this force ready. For the firft, he contended Lord Sandwich was not more refponsible than any other lord who fat at the council; for the fecond, he was, in conjunction with the rest of his colleagues at the board, undoubtedly refponfible.

After a fpeech of confiderable length, which was delivered with an unusual exertion of voice, and a flow of genuine eloquence, he concluded with calling on the noble lords prefent, to join him in delaying for a few days the granting of the propofed fupplies, in order that in a fuller affembly, and after a more mature deliberation, they might be better able to judge bow far it was prudent, to entrust any longer the expenditure of the public money to perfous, whofe grofs mifconduct was every day the caufe of accumulate ing fresh misfortunes on the country.

The objections made to the propofitions of the Marquis, were founded on the mitchiefs that would arif from any delay in granting the current fupplies of the year, and were nearly the fame with thofe that had been urged before on the like occafion in the other houfe. The question, as amended, being put, was carried in the nega• tive, and the buls paled without a divifion.

On the 20th, as foon as the royal affent was given to the money bill, and the speaker had returned to the Houfe of Commons, one of the fecretaries of the treasury rofe, and moved, that the house at its rifing fhould adjourn to the 220 day of January.

This motion gave rife to a warm and animated debate, in which the recent inftance of miiconduct in the first lord of the admiralty, was ftrongly infitted on as an additional proof of the necelfity of proceeding, without delay, into an inveltigation of the caufes of the difgraceful and ruinous events that had attended all our na❤ val operations. The houfe was reminded, that four years before, an adjournment of fix weeks had coft the nation thirteen provinces; and they were now cautioned, as they had loft America by one recefs, not to rk the long of the Well Indies by another.

The conduct of the Earl of Sandwich was defended in a long and able ipeech by lord Mulgrave; but his doctrine relative to the relponsibility of official minifters, was ftrongly reprobated. He had argued that the noble Earl, against whom the members on the other fide had been fo liberal in their charges, acted in two distinct capacities, that of a cabinet minifter, and of a first lord of the admiralty; and therefore, that it was unfair to make him folely refponfible in his official character for faults, which might have originated in the cabinet council of which he was only one member. Thus, he faid, with refpe&t to the blame imputed to the noble earl for tending out Admiral Kempenfelt, with oply 12 fail of the line,

This doctrine was condemned, as being of a moft dangerous and novel kind, and totally incompatible with the principles of the British conflitution. The, conftitution, it was faid, knew of no cabinet council; but in whatever department caufe of complaint should exift, the minifter at the head of that department was fpecially accountable to the public, whether he acted on his own judgment, or by the directions of others. It was not merely for the equipment of fleets, but for their arrangement and deftination, and, in fhort, for every thing that related to the management of the naval forces of the country, that the first lord of the admiralty was by the conftitution refponible.

A compromile at length took place on the queftion before the house, by which the day of adjournment was altered to the 21ft of January, and the call of the house, which had been ordered for the 31st, altered for the fame day.

CHA P. VII.

Mction of Mr. Fox, for a committee of the whole house, to enquire into the causes of the want of fuccefs of his Majefty's naval forces during the war, and more particularly in the year 1781. Debate on the ordnance effimates. Motions by Mr. Barré and Mr. Burke. Motion for the recommitment of the report negatived. Motion and debate in the House of Lords relative to the execution of Colonel Haynes. Committee on naval affairs. Refolution of cenfure rejected by a Jmall majority. Motion and debate in the Houfe of Lords on the intended advancement of Lord. George Sackville Germaine to the peerage. Motion on the fame subject, after bis creation. An address to the king, to put an end to the American war, moved by General Conaway, and rejected by a majority of one. Committee of the lords, on the loss of the army at York Town. Refolution against the American avar carried in the Houfe of Commons. Address to the king. The King's answer, and address of thanks. Second rejolution against the American war. Jolutions of cenfure on his majesty's minifters moved by Lord John Cavendish, and rejected by a majority of ten. Motion by Sir John Rous, for withdrawing the confidence of parliament from his majesty's minister, loft by a majority of nine. Intimation, by Lord North, to the house, of his majesty's intentions to change his minifters. Jan. 23d, HE first object that engaged the 1782. attention of parliament, after the receis, was the long meditated enquiry into the conduct of the firft lord of the admiralty. The lead in this butinels was taken on the fide of oppofition, by Mr. Fox, who opened his motion

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for a commitee of enquiry, in a very long and able speech.

He began with acknowledging the inconfiften cy of the part he was about to act, with opini ons that he had delivered frequently, and without referve, both in that boufe, and elsewhere; namely, that enquiries of the kind he meant to inftitute, ought ever to be the fecond (and not the firit) ftep taken by parliament, in their proceeding against a minifter, into whofe conduct circumstances warranted an enquiry. This opimion arofe, he said, from a conviction of the impoffibility of procuring a fair and impartial body of evidence, whilft fuch a minifter remained poffeffed of his employments. An addrefs, therefore, to the throne, for his removal, was, in his judgment, the firft ftep neceffary; and this, not only from a regard to the public juftice, but to the character and reputation of the mini fter himielf, which, he contended, could not, on' any other ground, stand honourably acquitted.

Mr. Fox here adverted to a doctrine, which he did not wonder to find zealously propagated by the adherents of the prefent miniftry, that to ddrefs the king for the removal of a minister, before any proof of misconduct was fubftantiated, was to condemn a fervant of the public unheard, and to proceed to pafs fentence, without allow ing him the liberty of entering on his defence. Against fuch opinions, he begged leave most so Jemnly to proteft. Parliament, he contended, had a right to advife the crown to difmifs any of the public fervants, with or without affigning a Specific charge; with or without intending to proceed to any farther measures againft them, But when great national calamities called for an enquiry into the causes that produced them, pare liament, which was bound to fee justice done to the public, was neceffarily competent to take fuch previous steps as fhould lead to a full and impartial investigation.

The pretended injuftice of requiring the difmiffion of a minifter, without affigning any caufe, or of removing him, previous to enquiry into his conduct, must, he faid, be founded on an opinion, as falfe, as it was abfurd and ridiculous; that minifters held their offices as a fort of eftates, or franchifes, of which they ought not to be difpoffeffed, but by due courfe of law. He knew that no member could venture to avow, in terms, fuch an opinion; and yet the house had so long been in the habit of acting upon it, that he found himself under the neceffity of giving way to the prejudice of the times; and, confequently, of proceeding in a manner totally contrary to his own decided judgment.

He next proceeded to state the difficulties which he would unavoidably have to encounter in the profecution of the intended enquiry. The inAuence arifing from the official fituation of the firft lord of the admiralty, was, he faid, fuperior to that of any other minifter whatever; and befides this, the noble earl was fuppofed to enjoy, in the highest degree, the favour and confidence of his fovereign. From thefe, it was alfo well known, he had acquired a third and no contemptible acceffion of influence; a predominant antirrefiftible weight in the direction of the af. fare of the East India Company.

The length and complexity of the investigation, if carried to its full extent, he was apprehenfive would also prove a very ferious difficulty. He knew that the zeal and induftry of the House of Commons, collectively confidered, was too feeble to fuffer him to entertain a hope, that they would attend to the dry detail of official evidence; that they would examine into a variety of tedious documents, and acquire that full knowledge of their contents, which might enable them to pronounce with juftice on the merits of the queftion before them.

The fubject matter of the enquiry, he said, naturally refolved itself into two heads; the firft, whether the first lord of the admiralty had availed himself of the means in his power of procur ing a navy adequate to the occafions of the state? The fecond, whether he had employed the force, he actually had, to the best advantage? With respect to the first of these questions, though he was most firmly convinced that the noble earl would be found not lefs criminal og that ground than on the latter, yet, for the reafons he had already flated, he did not mean to enter, at that time, into the investigation of it. It would require a long detail of parole evidence; all the witnesses to be examined would come from under the noble earl's immediate pa» tronage; the points to be difcuffed, being many of them matters of opinion, would afford occa fion for the undue exertion of that influence, which he was known to poffefs; and lastly, the length of time it would neceffarily require, left him little room to hope that gentlemen would give it a proper attention. He fhould content himself with making a few general obfervations. of the ftate, was a fact allowed and confeffed on That the navy was inadequate to the occafions all fides. In excufe of the admiralty, it had been afferted, that it was fuperior to that which Lord Hawke left, when he went out of office. But this, he faid, even if true, which, neverthelefs, he would undertake to prove was falfe; could not be admitted as an exculpation of the prefent board of admiralty. It was with the ftate of the French and Spanish navy, that the comparison ought to have been made. It was the duty of the firft lord to keep the fleet in a condition to meet that of the enemy, whatever it might be; and when he faw the armaments preparing in the French and Spanish ports, it was his indifpenfable duty to have taken the alarm, and to have exerted every nerve of the country, in order to keep pace with them. Would any man venture to fay, that the means had been denied him? Would any man venture to flander. the House of Commons with the charge of parfimony? He believed no one would.

After making several other pointed obfervations on this fubject, Mr. Fox proceeded to the fecond branch of the enquiry. He enumerated in their order, the feveral inftances of mifconduct with which he meant to charge the noble earl in the committee, as the grounds of a ftring of motions, which he afterwards brought forward, for the production of the papers and do cuments neceffary to fubftantiate his criminality. As these facts were afterwards urged more at large in the committee, where the advocates of