THE

Parliamentary Register;

O R,

HISTORY

OF THE

PROCEEDINGS. AND DEBATES

OF THE

HOUSE OF COMMONS;

CONTAINING AN ACCOUNT OF

The most interefting SPEECHES and MOTIONS; accurate
Copies of the most remarkable LETTERS and PAPERS;
of the most material EVIDENCE, PETITIONS, &c.
laid before and offered to the HOUSE,

DURING THE

FIFTH SESSION of the FOURTEENTH PARLIAMENT

OF

GREAT BRITAIN.

VOL. XII.

BLONDON:

Printed for J. ALMON, oppofite BURLINGTON-HOUSE,

U. S. 2515:10

THE

HISTORY

O F THE

PROCEEDINGS and DEBATES.

Of the FIFTH SESSION of the

HOUSE of COMMONS

OF THE

Fourteenth Parliament of Great-Britain.

MR.

February 23, 1779.

R. FOX made the following motion, "That an hum- Mr. Fexi ble addrefs be prefented to his Majefty, that he will be graciously pleased to give directions that there be laid before this House, copies or extracts of all letters received by any of his Majefty's minifters, or the lords commiffioners of the admiralty, containing any intelligence relative to the equipment, number, and force of the fleet that failed from Breft, under the command of Monf. D'Orvilliers, in July laft." He would not, he faid, enter into the whole of the enquiry this motion was intended to produce, but he would fo far ex plain the expediency of it, that miniftry, if they mean to refufe the papers, might affign reafons for fuch refufal. His reafons for defiring thefe papers were, to know if the miniftry had any intelligence of the force of the French fleet in Breft water, when they firft fent Admiral Keppel out with only twenty fhips of the line. If they did not know it, they were guilty of the groffeft ignorance; for there were many channels open to obtain information. If they did know it, they were culpaple in the highest degree for fending out that brave admiral with fo unequal a force; that if he had not providentially taken the Pallas and the Licorne, and thereby discovered that the French had thirty-three fhips of the line, the British fleet and their gallant commander might have fallen a facrifice. He wished to know what grounds of defence administration meant to take on the day of enquiry, which must come, and could not be evaded, as the falvation of this VOL. XII. country

B