GEORGE III. 1786-1787
Meeting of Parliament..... Bill for the Fortification of the Dock-yards it Portsmouth and Plymouth..... Pitt’s Financial Measures..... Debates on India, etc...... A retrospective View of Indian Affairs..... Attempt on the King’s Life..... Treaties with France and Spain..... Affairs of the Prince of Wales.
A.D. 1786
MEETING OF PARLIAMENT.
Parliament re-assembled on the 24th of January. In his speech, the king expressed great satisfaction at the prosperous condition of the country, in the extension of trade, the improvement of revenue, and the increase of public credit, and said that he relied on their continued zeal and industry for the further advancement of these important interests. His majesty also informed the houses that the disputes which had threatened the peace of Europe, had been brought to an amicable conclusion, and that he continued to receive friendly assurances from foreign powers; but at the same time, he recommended particular attention to our naval strength. He added,—“But above all let me recommend to your attention the reduction of the national debt.”
In the debate which followed upon the address, Fox condemned the whole of our recent foreign policy. Ministers were reproached by him for not cultivating continental alliances, and for their negligence in all their foreign negociations. It was owing, he said, to their criminal misconduct, that the House of Bourbon had been enabled to conclude their advantageous compact with Holland, and he maintained that great danger was to be apprehended from the union of three such maritime powers as France, Spain, and Holland, in a confederacy against England. Fox also attempted to prove that the accession of his majesty to the Germanic confederation, as Elector of Hanover, would give mortal offence to the Emperor Joseph, and would indispose him to an alliance with Great Britain in the event of a future war. He argued, that it was our interest to conciliate and captivate Austria, as the only power in Europe able to keep France in awe. Fox next adverted to a favourable opportunity for an alliance with Russia, which had been lost, and then condemned a commercial treaty, which government had begun to negociate with France. The experience of past ages, he said, proved that England always prospered in proportion as she had relinquished her commercial connexions with that country. He concluded his speech with making some strictures on the Irish propositions and the India Bill. Pitt replied in a cold sarcastic tone, and the address was carried without a division.
BILL FOR THE FORTIFICATION OF THE DOCK-YARDS AT PORTSMOUTH AND PLYMOUTH.
On the 27th of February, Pitt called the attention of the house to a plan, which originated with the Duke of Richmond, for the fortification of the dock-yards at Portsmouth and Plymouth. In the preceding session, the commons had expressed their unwillingness to vote any money for these objects, until they were made acquainted with the merits of the plan by some competent persons; and in consequence of this intimation, his majesty had appointed a committee of military and naval officers, with the Duke of Richmond at then head, to investigate the plan, and to send in a report upon it, with an estimate of the cost. Pitt had laid this estimate, which amounted to £760,000 before the house on the 10th of February, with the ordinary ordnance estimates, thinking that the house would be disposed to consider it as a mere collateral question. The report was kept out of sight, but General Burgoyne, who had been one of the board of officers to investigate the plan, called for it; alleging that it did not wholly sanction the measure. On a subsequent day, Sheridan, in addition to the demand made by Burgoyne, moved “for a copy of the appointment of the board of naval officers, and of such parts of their instructions, and of their report, as his majesty’s discretion might deem proper to be made public with perfect consistency to the safety of the state.” In consequence of these demands, Pitt found himself compelled to produce the papers, and in laying them upon the table, he introduced the Duke of Richmond’s measure in the form of a general resolution. He moved, that “it appeared to the house, that to provide for securing the dockyards at Portsmouth and Plymouth, by a system of fortification, founded on the most economical principles, was an essential object for the safety of the state; intimately connected with the general defence of the kingdom; and necessary for enabling the fleet to act with full vigour and effect for the protection of commerce, the support of our distant possessions, and the prosecution of offensive operations in any future war.” In his speech Pitt attempted to prove that the fortification of Portsmouth and Plymouth was a measure of absolute necessity; that the duke’s plan was the best that could be devised; and that these fortifications would give a greater scope to the operations of our fleets, and have a direct tendency to diminish the standing army. The arguments were powerfully controverted by members in opposition, among the most distinguished of which was Sheridan, who argued, that the plan was, in itself and its consequences, both dangerous and unconstitutional, and that the report itself did not authorise or favour the plan. Sheridan remarked:—“These strongholds maintained by numerous and disciplined garrisons, will afford tenfold means of curbing and subduing the country more than would arise from doubling the present army establishment. Can any one imagine that the system now recommended will end with Portsmouth and Plymouth? May we not figure to ourselves the same board of officers, acting under the same instructions, and deliberating with the same data, while they take a circuit round the coasts. The reasons which justify this measure in the present instance, will apply to every port in the kingdom, which is sufficiently important to require defence. But the whole plan proceeds on two suppositions extremely improbable; first, that we shall be so inferior on our own seas, as to permit an enemy to land; secondly, that if they do land, they will choose to attack the only places which we have fortified. If such be our defence, there must be a circle of fortresses round our shores; but the safety of England rests on the courage and enterprise of its people, not on ramparts and fortifications. And after all the plan is unauthorised by the report of the board; the opinion of naval officers has been withheld; and the opinion of military officers is founded on hypothetical or conditional suggestions, and on such data as were proposed to them, for the truth or probability of which they refuse to make themselves responsible.” In the debates, both Sheridan and all the orators on his side, treated the Duke of Richmond as a renegade, and made the whole matter a mere party question, and from this cause Pitt was doomed to suffer a defeat. Upon a division there was an equal number of ayes and noes, and when the speaker was called upon to give his vote, he gave it on the side of opposition; the project therefore fell to the ground.