VOTE OF THANKS TO LORD GAMBIER. (Hansard, 29 January 1810)

The Chancellor of the Exchequer,
in pursuance of his notice, rose to propose a Vote of Thanks to lord Gambier for his eminent services in destroying the French fleet in the Basque roads. In doing this he conceived it would be unnecessary for him to take up much of the time of the House in detailing the services which the noble lord had performed, as from the nature of the debate just concluded, they were in possession of every information they could desire. He might fairly anticipate that the House having judged it inexpedient to produce the Minutes of the court martial, would not be anxious to listen to any arguments in support of the motion which he was about to submit. It had, however, been stated by some gentlemen, that the nature of the service was not such as to justify the House to vote its thanks to the noble lord. But when the nature of that service was known and considered, it was impossible that the House could come to any other conclusion than a Vote of Thanks. The conduct of lord Gambier on that occasion was so eminent that even those who were most disposed to object to thanks being voted on ordinary occasions, and who grounded themselves on precedent, would not find any for withholding them from commanders in chief when with the force placed under them they achieved any great service. The Sentence even of the court-martial was itself a proof that the service was performed in such a manner as to deserve thanks; he had not merely superintended the enterprise, but had, as the Sentence affirmed, conducted it with a proper regard to the interest of the state, and with peculiar zeal for the good of the service. The execution of the service deserved, therefore, peculiar notice, and he would shortly detain the House by stating some of the circumstances attending the accomplishment of it. The French fleet had escaped from Brest on the 23d of March; they were seen by admiral Stopford, who had at that time three sail of the line, and some small frigates going into Basque roads. The French fleet consisted of eight sail of the line, and several frigates. Admiral Stopford gave the sig- 243 nal that the enemy had escaped, and proceeded to blockade them with his small force, until he was joined by four sail more. The Rochefort squadron, consisting of three ships of the line, having joined the Brest fleet, continued to be blockaded by those seven sail, until the 11th or 12th of April, when lord Gambier having arrived, made those arrangements for the attack, which was began by the Mediator, capt. Wooldridge. There were some circumstances which he must mention with respect to this gallant officer, which the House would be glad to hear, as they reflected the greatest credit upon his gallantry. As the Mediator bore down to her station, the fuze was set on fire. At length the crew were dismissed; and the Captain, with the first lieutenant and a gunner, alone remained on board. They remained not merely till they were in danger, but till they were actually blown up! The captain and his lieutenant escaped with their lives; the gunner was killed—a most noble instance of the most daring and heroic bravery. The attack, having been thus commenced on the night of the 13th successively, was followed up the next day by the noble lord (Cochrane) with peculiar gallantry; the consequence was, that no less than three sail of the line and a fifty gun ship were completely destroyed. The House therefore would not be disposed, he trusted, to refuse its thanks for eminent services when performed under such great peril arid risk whilst the enemy were possessed of the protection of their own batteries, and other advantages which in harbour they could bring into play for the security of their own vessels. It was an enterprise of great and peculiar hazard and difficulty. The result had been highly injurious to the enemy, and had the effect of not only disabling, but of removing the enemy's whole squadron from the possibility of being for a considerable time available for the purposes of the naval campaign. Was not that an object of great magnitude? The fleet no doubt was destined to perform some great operation, which this service had rendered them not only incapable of accomplishing, but had entirely annihilated their whole force. Of this service in which lord Gambier had been employed, and had so successfully executed, the utmost attention had been paid to the interests of the state: not more than 20 lives had been lost, and not more than 30 or forty wounded. The right hon. gent. concluded with moving 244 the following Resolutions. 1."That the thanks of this House be given to admiral the right hon. lord Gambier, for the zeal, judgment, ability, and anxious attention to the welfare of his Majesty's service, which marked his lordship's conduct as commander in chief of the fleet in Basque roads, by which the French fleet, which had taken refuge under the protection of their own batteries, were driven on shore and disabled, and a considerable part of them destroyed on the 11th and 12th of April 1809. 2. That the thanks of this House be given to rear-admiral the hon. Robert Stopford, captain sir Harry Burrard Neale, bart., captain of the fleet, and to the several captains and officers of the fleet under the command of admiral lord Gambier, for their gallant and highly meritorious conduct on that glorious occasion, particularly marked by the brilliant and unexampled success of the difficult and perilous mode of attack by fire-ships, conducted under the immediate direction of capt. lord Cochrane. 3. That this House doth highly approve of and acknowledge the services of the seamen and royal marines on board the ships under the command of admiral lord Gambier, in the late glorious and successful attack on the French fleet in Basque roads, and that the captains and commanders of the several ships do signify the same to their respective crews, and do thank them for their meritorious and gallant conduct."

§ Lord Cochrane
warned the House, that even its verdict was not conclusive upon character; that, there was another tribunal to which even that House was amenable, and that the public would exercise a judgment, if the House would not exercise one. He still required to know what part of lord Gambier's exploit deserved the thanks, or what had been his exploit. He lay at a distance; he never brought his fleet into the place of action, or of danger; and yet he was for this supineness to receive the highest honours of the country. The ground of ministers was childish and frivilous; that in truth where the subordinates deserved praise, the superiors must receive it. Was admiral Parker thanked for his bravery at Copenhagen? But the public would take the question into its own hands. The public would read the Minutes, though the House might not; the public would judge from the facts, though the House 245 might not; the public would not submit to have their eyes bound, because the House chose to keep theirs shut. Let a single reason for the thanks be adduced, and he was ready to vote for them. He could not condescend to call those arguments, which had already been obtruded on the House, reasons.

§ Sir John Orde.
Mr. Speaker; I rise to declare my opinion, that admiral lord Gambler is as fully entitled to the thanks of this House as any commander in chief could be for the performance of a service such as that we now deliberate upon; and therefore, as thanks to his lordship have been proposed, I shall vote for them. Sir, I entertained this opinion of lord Gambier's conduct in the service alluded to before the prorogation of Parliament, and their lordships of the admiralty appeared to do the same. I could not, therefore, but much regret the cause which prevented the proposition for thanks being submitted to parliament when first intended, as at that time the service was fresh in the recollection of the community.

Sir Francis Burdett
desired to know whether the service of lord Gambier was worthy of the thanks of parliament, admitting it to have all the value that could be attributed to it, by any thing but the unblushing and profuse spirit of ministerial favouritism. He would ask whether, on the other hand, there was not the full and decided testimony of a man adequate to give his judgment, and of whose admirable valour and good fortune the House and the nation had but one opinion. He felt that in making these remarks, he might be treading on perilous ground. He was probably bringing upon himself some charitable remarks, particularly those of a gentleman, whose charity was of a very peculiar nature. But he was careless about such remarks; he deprecated that person's charity; he would not shun, he would rather solicit his hostility. Had there been any thing said to make out a reason for the vote which was demanded of them on that night? Where was the evidence of intrepidity or skill, of that boldness which bursts its way through all obstacles; of that genius before which obstacles vanished? For all this they were only insulted with a dry catalogue of negatives, and an account that the noble, admiral inspected the action at a distance of seven miles. The question had been treated lightly; but levity was unbe- 246 coming the grave matter for their deliberation. The subject was of great importance; and it merited to be most seriously considered.

§ Mr. Windham
having doubts on the vote which he should give, would wish to state what they were, but still more strongly what they were not. He was adverse to the revisal of the decisions of courts-martial; but the Vote of Thanks forced him to put himself to the trouble of thinking a little. He thought a motion for papers on such a subject was unnecessary; the thanks of that House did not deserve to be lavished on any man, unless his service was of that rank which forced itself into universal report, and universal admiration. It was not to be evolved in some obscure process of official chemistry; not to be drawn out from under bundles of obscure records; not to be elicited by any keen, cunning, recondite, subtilizing process, beyond the practice or perception of the general mass of mankind. To be praised it must be known; to be matter of thanks it must be matter of publicity. He then adverted to the instance of sir Home Popham, in which he accused the conduct of the admiralty, as taking away its effect from the sentence of a court-martial, by conferring situations of confidence on him, subsequently to his having received a reprimand. Lord Gambier never came into the action. This was admitted by all the evidence, yet this should not throw a stain upon him. It was not his place. The aspersion thrown upon him for sparing the lives of his men was idle. It was the highest praise of the first military characters that they saved blood. Great commanders hated the unnecessary waste of human lives. They were careful of their men, and it was their proudest boast that they accomplished their victories without the unnecessary expenditure of a single soldier. But in voting thanks it was time to pause. Their old rewards were become worthless. It had been said, that nothing was left but the peerage, and even the most lavish disposal of that high honour; they gave it away by two steps at once. This was the natural process where there was no distinct scale of merit and reward; but it was time to stop. They had in their hands the great provision for national virtue; they had the honours of the country intrusted to them, and it became them, as legislators, not to suffer its streams to be idly diverted, nor 247 to be prodigally and profusely poured forth, to slake the thirst of undeserving ambition; still panting, still insatiable.

For the Motion	161
Against it	39
Majority	—122