confidence, that the period is not far remote when this house will see the justice and sound policy of conceding this salutary, wise, and beneficent measure.

Sir John Newport, Mr. Maurice Fitzgerald, Mr. Dillon, Mr. John Latouche, Sir John Hippesley, Colonel Hutchinson, and Mr. Hawthorn supported the motion. Mr. Archdall, Mr. Shaw, Mr. Hiley Addington, Sir George Hill, and Sir William Dolben opposed it. After Mr. Fox had replied, the house divided, when there appeared,

CAPT. WRIGHT'S IMPRISONMENT.

July 9, 1805.

MR. WINDHAM felt it to be his duty, previously to the separation of the house for the session, to recall to their recollection a subject of much interest, which he had twice before had occasion to mention, once at the close of the last session and again at the commencement of the present. This was the case of Captain Wright, an officer who had been captured with his ship, when serving on the high seas in the regular course of his profession, and with His Majesty's commission in his pocket. This was material to shew that his case was not distinguished by any circumstances from that of the other prisoners of war; but the French Emperor, it appeared, thought he had been employed on other services, as in landing men upon the coast of France, which placed him on a different footing from prisoners of war. When questioned on this head, Captain Wright very properly, and as might have been expected from men even far less determined than he, refused to give an answer though menaced, not obscurely, with proceedings that went

to affect his life. Nothing so atrocious, however, had been perpetrated, but he had been committed a close prisoner to the Temple, denied pen, ink, and paper, and excluded from all communication with persons without. The severity of the confinement there could be explained from experience by a gallant officer then in his eye (Sir Sydney Smith), who had, after escaping confinement there, nobly revenged himself upon his oppressors by his illustrious exploits in the defence of Acre; exploits, he would venture to say, not to be exceeded by any thing which could be found in the naval or military annals of any country.

As to the truth of the charge against Captain Wright, he thought it unnecessary to inquire into it; it being a matter of perfect indifference for the present purpose whether it was true or not. Nobody, he supposed, would contend, that to put on shore upon an enemy's coast persons meaning to excite commotion or insurrection, was contrary to the laws of war. If it was, what would become of all which the French had done during the course of the last war, in landing Tandy and others on the coast of Ireland? If men so landed were not of the nation on whose coast they landed, and yet did not avow themselves as enemies, they were liable to be treated as spies. If they were subjects of that nation, they might be treated as rebels or traitors: but neither in one case or the other, was there any ground for charging with a breach of the laws of war those by whom they were landed. The fact was, that the hostility of the French Emperor to

Captain Wright arose from his having been the close friend and intimate associate of the gallant officer to whom he had before alluded.

How Captain Wright was to be relieved now, he could not say; and though that officer had every claim on the country, his relief was not the principal consideration, but the prevention of similar acts of violence in future. Retaliation in the first instance was the only means of preventing such violence. The omission of that retaliation was as much as to tell Bonaparté he might do what he pleased, and we should not retaliate for fear of what he should afterwards do. If we were once to admit this, it would amount to a confession of inferiority, which must have the most fatal effect upon the country and upon every man employed in its service. What officer would enter a service when exposed to such violence? But what people would not flock to it, if assured that any unwarrantable violence offered them would be repelled with the whole weight of the nation?—This principle, he was sorry to say, had suffered considerable relaxation in its application towards the enemy with whom we have had to do in the last and present war. The admission of inferiority that would follow from our being afraid to retaliate would be the most grievous degradation. It had been said, that Bonaparte had a hold upon us through the persons that had been detained at the commencement of the war at Verdun. These were no doubt so many hostages, but not distinguishable from those who became hostages by being

made prisoners of war in the service of their country. If they were to be distinguished, as many of them undoubtedly might, it was in a way not to entitle them to any preference. If they had not less, they had not greater claims upon the feelings of the country, especially such as had gone to France for amusement without business or necessity. So far, he stated, if it should be supposed that retaliation would be productive of the intended apprehended consequences. But what ground was there to suppose that it would be productive of such consequences? The French Emperor, great as he was, was not released from the obligations of public faith, nor without the reach of the public opinion of his subjects, on whom the effects of the retaliation would fall. He saw that the attempt would be made with infinitely less advantage late than at first. Without pretending to answer for it now, or at any time, he was strongly of opinion that it would have been effectual in the first instance. It must be grievously affecting to the country to know, that a meritorious officer had been suffered to languish under severity which he had drawn upon himself by his zealous exertions in its service.

He had mentioned this subject last session, and had been given to understand that some steps would be taken. If he were to proceed with the business now, he should conclude what he had to say with a motion for an account of what steps had been taken. He should omit that, however, as long as he had any ground to hope that further measures would be taken