empty ship, he can build as well, and as quickly, as you can; and
though he may not find enough of practised sailors to man large
fighting-fleets--it is not possible to conceive that he can want
sailors for such sort of purposes as I have stated. He is at
present the despotic monarch of above twenty thousand miles of sea-
coast, and yet you suppose he cannot procure sailors for the
invasion of Ireland. Believe, if you please, that such a fleet met
at sea by any number of our ships at all comparable to them in point
of force, would be immediately taken, let it be so; I count nothing
upon their power of resistance, only upon their power of escaping
unobserved. If experience has taught us anything, it is the
impossibility of perpetual blockades. The instances are
innumerable, during the course of this war, where whole fleets have
sailed in and out of harbour, in spite of every vigilance used to
prevent it. I shall only mention those cases where Ireland is
concerned. In December, 1796, seven ships of the line, and ten
transports, reached Bantry Bay from Brest, without having seen an
English ship in their passage. It blew a storm when they were off
shore, and therefore England still continues to be an independent
kingdom. You will observe that at the very time the French fleet
sailed out of Brest Harbour, Admiral Colpoys was cruising off there
with a powerful squadron, and still, from the particular
circumstances of the weather, found it impossible to prevent the
French from coming out. During the time that Admiral Colpoys was
cruising off Brest, Admiral Richery, with six ships of the line,
passed him, and got safe into the harbour. At the very moment when
the French squadron was lying in Bantry Bay, Lord Bridport with his
fleet was locked up by a foul wind in the Channel, and for several
days could not stir to the assistance of Ireland. Admiral Colpoys,
totally unable to find the French fleet, came home. Lord Bridport,