points. The motion, submitted to the house, appeared to him to rest on two grounds: first, the increased advances made by the bank on treasury-bills; secondly, the loans and remittances made to the emperor. He argued, at considerable length, that there were many other circumstances, and those very powerful in their operation, that had contributed to the extraordinary demand for cash, exclusively of those assigned by the honourable gentleman.-As to the alleged breach of promise to -the bank, in sending remittances to the emperor, without meaning any personal application to himself, he required the house to weigh, with peculiar caution, an evidence arising out of a verbal correspondence, and in which one of the parties was absent, and not even consulted, when it was committed to writing, after an interval of two or three days. The advances to the emperor, which had taken place since the applications of the directors to him, arose evidently out of a new state of existing circumstances, to which any discussion on that subject, which had previously taken place between them, could not be applicable. Mr. Grey's motion was supported by Mr. Fox, and Mr. W. Smith: but the previous question moved by Mr. Thornton, was carried by 206, against 05. When a national bank stops pay ment, under a despotic government, there is ground for alarm, and despair; because there is none who can say to the despot, What dost thou? No third party to whom to appeal. If a national bank, or one under the influence and control of government, stop payment, in a free country, an inquiry, if not offered, may be demanded: an appeal may be made, by the creditors, to a third party; to that justice and good faith, and that regard to the maintenance of public credit, which, in the present age, constitute the spirit and strength of free governments. Whatever may be thought of the causes that rendered the interference of the privy council, in the affairs of the bank, necessary, there are few who will affirm, that this interference was not prudent and indispensible. They said no more than this :-" Check a precipitation, which may convert an imaginary, into a real, evil. Have patience for a limited and a little time, and of the responsibility of the bank and government you shall be fully satisfied."-The fulfilment of this prediction is a credit, at once, to the character of Englishmen, and of the British constitution. CHAP. CHAP. XII. Causes of Discontents in the British Navy and Army.-Notices given of these Discontents.--Mutinous Combination among all the Ships in the Channel Fleet.Organization of this Naval Democracy.-Petitions from the Mutineers to the Admiralty ard the House of Commons. — General Alarm.-The Board of Admiralty transferred to Portsmouth.—Conciliatory Terms of a Return to Subordination and Duty proposed to the Seamen-Demands of the Seamen-Complied with.In consequence of a Mistrust of Government, a fresh Mutiny.-Zealous, prudent, and successful, Exertions of the Earl Howe.--The Affairs of the Navy with the Estimates of the additional Expences now become necessary, brought into the House of Commons--Ministry accused of Procrastination and scandalous Neglect of Duty-Motion for a Vote of Censure-Negatived.A Mutiny, more alarming still than that in the Chunnel. Fleet, breaks out at the Nore.-A Board of Admiralty held at Sheerness.— Audacious Behaviour of the Mutineers.-The Lords of the Admiralty return from Sheerness to Town, without the least Success in their Endeavours for the Restoration of Order.-Transactions in the Fleet at the Nore-Condemned ly the Divisions of the Fleet at Plymouth and Portsmouth.As well as by the Nation at large.-Intelligence of this produces, in the Ships Crews, at the Nore, Divisions, Terror, and Despair.-The principal Conductor of the Mutiny seized, condemned to Death, and executed.--Bill for preventing the Seduction of Soldiers and Sailors. HE seamen and soldiers in the British navy and army had long complained of the smallness of their pay, and that, contrarily to the clearest justice, it continued the same as when the price of necessaries, and of all articles, was incomparably lower than at the present period. They were not alone in this complaint; it was justified by the concurrence of all men. Those who endeavoured to exculpate government, alleged, the multiplicity of business, in which those at the helm were incessantly involved, and that with the best in tentions, it was not in their power to remedy the abuses that had crept into the various departments of the state. But this exculpation was trite and obsolete in the opinion of the equitable part of the public; and the patience with which so resolute a class of men had so long submitted to a treatment which they did not certainly deserve, was inuch more an object of surprise, than the determination they came to finally, to insist upon, and to enforce a redress of their grievances. Other causes have been assigned for the discontents that prevailed in the the navy. The principal of these was, a igorous discipline too severely maintained, and the harsh behaviour to the men of several of their officers, especially of those for whom they,entertained little respect, and whom they represented as most forward, at all times, to exercise authority in the most odious manner. Another cause, not so frequently mentioned, but not the less real, was the striking disproportion observed in the distribution of prize-money: this they considered not only as inequitable, but as a proof of the contempt in which they were held by their officers; and yet, it was evident, that, to the bravery of the seamen, was principally due the success in most engagements. These latent causes of discontent, by the contagion of a general spirit of inquiry into rights, natural and conventional, were kindled, in the navy, into an open flame. That part of the fleet which led the way, in expressing discontent, was the division commanded by lord Bridport, and yet no symptoms of this nature had been perceived by the officers. Hence, it was surmised, that a spirit of dissatisfaction had been diffused into the ships companies, by those who had lately entered among them: several of whom were known to be of qualifications superior to the situation to which they were driven by unprosperous circumstances, and, in some degree, allured by the greatness of the bounties given Of these, several were discovered afterwards to have been disqualified attorneys, and cashiered excisemen, clerks dismissed from employment, and other individuals in similar cases. It was also suggested, that, besides these, many persons had entered on-board the ships, as common seamen, completely qualified to breed disturbances, by acting in that station, and selected, for that very purpose, by the enemies of government. Certain it is, that the plan of operations, concerted among the disaffected, evinced great judgment and sagacity. They were conducted with spirit and ability, and plainly shewed, that the authors were persons of no coutemptible capacities ; as no measures could have been taken more effectually conducive to the end proposed. The first notice given, of a dissatisfied spirit in the navy, was to lord Howe. In the course of February and March, he received several letters, inclosing petitions, from different ships companies in the channel fleet. They were anonymous, and asked for no more than an increase of pay, to enable them to provide better for their families. These petitions appeared obviously to proceed from one person: the style and hand-writing being the same in each. The novelty of the circumstance, however, induced Jord Howe to make particular inquiry, from the commanding officer at Portsmouth, whether any dissatisfaction prevailed in the fleet. He was answered in the negative, and the whole represented as a scandalous endeavour to give government to understand, that the navy disapproved of their conduct in that department. The admiralty, to which lord Howe transmitted these petitions, seemed to be of the same opinion, and they were laid by without farther notice; when, suddenly, the transactions that took place at Ports mouth shewed that they were only the prelude to proceedings of much more 1 more serious importance. On the return of the channel fleet into port, a secret correspondence was immediately settled between all the ships that composed it, which ended in an unanimous agreement, that no ship should lift an anchor till a redress of grievances was obtained. In this state the fleet remained till the fifteenth of April, when lord Bridport ordered the signal to prepare for sea; but, instead of proceeding to weigh anchor, three cheers were given, from the Queen Charlotte, as the signal for mutiny, and every other ship followed the example. The officers of every ship exerted themselves with all the spirit and activity adequate to so extraordinary an emergency, to bring back their people to obedience; but all the motives they urged, and all the endeavours they used were vain. The fleet being now in the complete possession of the seamen, every ship's company appointed two delegates, and lord Howe's cabin was fixed upon as the place where to hold their consultations. On the seventeenth. an oath was administered to every man in the fleet, to support the cause in which they had engaged; ropes were then reaved to the yard-arm, in every ship, as a signal of the punishment that would be inflicted on those that betrayed it; and several officers were sent on shore, who were particularly obnoxious to their respective crews. In the mean time, though the admiral was restricted from putting to sea, he retained the command of the fleet in every other respect; the strictest discipline was maintained, and the severest orders and regulations enacted, by the delegates, for that purpose, enjoining the most reVOL. XXXIX. spectful attention to their officers, and threatening the faulty with rigerous chastisement. On the eighteenth, two petitions, one to the admiralty, and the other to the house of commons, were drawn up, and signed by the delegates. They were both worded with the highest propriety of expression and respect. The petition to parliament stated, that, the price of all articles, necessary for subsistence, being advanced at least thirty per cent. since the reign of Charles II when the seamen's pay was settled as at present, they requested that a proportionate relief might be granted to them. It represented, at the same time, that, while their loyalty to their king and country, was equal to that of the army, nevertheless, the pensions of Chelsea had been augmented to thirteen pounds a year, but those of Greenwich still remained at seven. The petition to the admiralty contained a recital of the services done by the petitioners, and a war declaration of their readiness to be true to their character as Englishmen and defenders of their country. It stated the low rate of their pay, and the insufficiency of their allowance of provisions, demanding an increase of both, together with the liberty of going ashore while in harbour, and the continuance of pay to wounded seamen till cured and discharged. Such, in the mean while, was the alarm of the public, and particularly of government, that it was judged necessary to transfer the board of admiralty to Portsmouth, in order to be near at Lad, to inspect the transactions on board the fleet, and to consult on the readiest and most likely ineans of queling so danger. [P] ous ous a spirit of discontent, the consequences of which, if it were not timely suppressed, might prove ruinous to the nation in its most essential interests, by throwing open the channel, and all the neighbouring seas, to the uncontrouled dominion of the French fleets and cruizers. These would not fail, upon the first intelligence of the variance between the British fleets and the government, to avail themselves, with all speed, of so favourable an opportu nity of distressing the trade and the navigation of this country. The first lord of the admiralty, earl Spencer, accompanied by lord Arden, andadmiral Young, repaired, accordingly, to Portsmouth, where they directly proceeded to take into consideration the petition that had been transmitted to the board. They authorized lord Bridport to inform the ships companies, that they would recommend it to the king, to propose to parliament an augmentation of pay, to the seamen in the navy, at the rate of four shillings a month to petty officers and able seamen; three shillings to ordinary seamen; and two shilings to landmen. Seamen wounded in action were also to continue in the receipt of their pay, till cured or declared unable to serve, when they should be allowed a pension, or admitted into Greenwich-hospital. To this notification the seamen replied, by requesting that the longestablished distinctions in the navy, of able and ordinary seamen, should be retained: the pay of the former to be raised to one shilling a day, and that of petty officers and ordinary seamen in the usual proportion: they also requested that the pay of the marines, while on board, should be the same as of ordinary seamen, and that the pensions of Greenwich-hospital should be increased to ten pounds. On the twentieth of April, the lords of the admiralty notified to lord Bridport their compliance with the demands of the seamen, directing him to make it known through the fleet, and to require, in consequence, an immediate return of the people to their duty, on pain of forfeiting their right to smart-money, to pensions from the chest of Chatham, and to an admission into Greenwich-hospital, and of being made responsible for the consequences that might ensue from the continuance of their disobedience. They were informed, at the same time, that an unqualified pardon, for all that had passed, would be granted to every ship's company that should, within one hour of these resolutions being communicated to them, submit to their of ficers, and cease to hold farther intercourse with those who remained in a state of mutiny. On the twenty-first, admirals Gardner, Colpoys, and Poole, went on-board the Royal Charlotte, in order to confer with the delegates, who explicitly informed them, that it was the determination of the crews, to agree to nothing that should not be sanctioned by parliament, and guaranteed by the king's proclamation. Admiral Gardner was so irritated by this declara tion, that he seized one of the delegates by the collar, and swore he would have them all hanged, with every fifth man throughout the fleet. This behaviour of the admiral so exasperated the ship's company of the Queen Charlotte, that it was with difficulty he escaped with his life. The |