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SPEECHES

OF THE

RIGHT HONOURABLE

CHARLES JAMES FOX,

&c. &c.

MR. FOX'S MOTION FOR AN ENQUIRY INTO THE ILL SUCCESS OF THE BRITISH NAVY.

January 24. 1782.

HE first object that engaged the attention of parliament after

the conduct of the first lord of the admiralty. In pursuance of the notice he had given,

Mr. Fox rose. He began with saying, that he was perfectly convinced of the difficulty of the undertaking, and also of the general impropriety of instituting an enquiry into the conduct of men intrusted with the powers and influence of government. It was always ineligible and at times dangerous; for the men intrusted with the powers of the administration had it in their power to rise superior to the impotence of inquiry, however just; and by means of the influence and the strength of office were able to crush the efforts of those who endeavoured to expose their misconduct. Gentlemen were, therefore, averse from the institution of inquiries, and they were seldom made, because they were seldom productive of advantage to the public. In such an inquiry the evidence was in the hands of the persons accused; they had it in their power to manage it as they pleased, and without the evidence of office, it was not to be expected that any benefit could arise from inquiry. That influence, therefore, exerted in favour of a minister to be accused, ought to deter any man from accusing a person so shielded, so protected. But of all the ministers in the cabinet, there was not

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one more formidable, perhaps not one so formidable from influence, as the Earl of Sandwich: his situation gave him the influence of a whole profession; as a cabinet minister, he of course would find himself supported by the influence of his colleagues; but the noble earl had, independent of those two sources of influence, another, which though not equal to that of the crown, was a powerful addition to it; and with it, sufficient to crush any member who should bring charges against him: this influence he derived from the East India company.

It was easy, then, to foresee that he was about to undertake an arduous task indeed. But all this he was ready and prepared to encounter in this case; at the same time that he was convinced that this was not the way which, in more virtuous and vigorous times, à subject of this sort would be taken up. He was convinced that, as a prelude to an inquiry, he ought to move for an address to the king, to remove the Earl of Sandwich from his councils. If there was nerve, honesty, and independence in that House, that would be the mode in which they would set about this business; but the evil effects of that influence which he had mentioned were, that they had poisoned the understanding as well as the heart of that House. Gentlemen forgot what was right and necessary, and adopted, with their eyes open, what was wrong and nugatory; such was the habit of that House, that it would be an idle attempt to endeavour to convince them that there was a manifest and an essential distinction between a motion of removal, and an implication of censure. Gentlemen had adopted an idea, that to move for an address to remove a minister, was to act unfairly; that it was to condemn a servant of the public unheard, and to proceed to pass sentence without allowing him to make his own defence. Nothing could be more absurd, more false, and more foolish than this idea: but he wondered not that it prevailed, for ministers entertained the same idea themselves. Being men of less property than official emolument ; for such now were the extravagant incomes of placemen, that their salaries and douceurs must be superior to their private estates; they clung to their offices, and considered them as so rich and valuable, that at last they blended them with inheritance, and looked upon them as sacred franchises, in the possession of which they were secured by the law of the land.

*

The contrary of this the honourable gentleman particularly insisted upon. In his opinion, there was no occasion to criminate a minister, in order to address the throne for his removal from office. It was sufficient that he was incapable,

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