What followed afterwards is a very serious business, indeed; but I trust I shall be pardoned by a noble Lord opposite to me, high in character, and in the esteem of his country, if I freely say, as my opinion, that Monsieur D’Estaign’s fleet ought to have been attacked by the Br[i]t[i]sh at Rhode-Island, as soon as the French came out of the harbour to fight them. And I will further say, considering the spirit, the gallantry, and the heroism of the British Seamen, the inequality of the force of the fleets was not sufficient to justify the not attacking the French fleet, without waiting a length of time to gain the weather guage, and trusting so long as the Engl[i]sh fleet did there to an unruly element. Sir, in the actions in the West-Indies, between the English and French fleets, last war, where the former were greatly inferior both in number and weight of metal, the French were beat off and obliged to fly for it. So, in the case of the Monmouth, the Dorsetshire, and several other instances, inferiority in the outset of the contest proved victorious in the end. I will not, however, dwell upon matters which merely depend upon opinion, and upon which the best officer in the world may be mistaken. But, Sir, after the tempest at Rhode-Island, when the Noble Lord returned to New-York to refit, was not time lost? the very time that might have been employed in separating D’Estaign from Boston harbour? I might say, Sir, in the defeat of D’Estaign; for, after the arrival of some of B[y]r[o]n’s squadron, the Noble Lord was superior to him.⸺It is a very unpleasant task to speak out, but I cannot avoid giving my opinion as a seaman, and as one upon the spot, acquainted with the delays in this business. Upon the whole, Sir, my opinion, in a very few words is this: The violent and impolitic measures of the M[i]n[i]stry of this country first lost America⸺the Br[i]t[i]sh army might have regained it⸺and our fleet has lost more than one opportunity of crushing that of France, upon which American resistance chiefly depended for protection and support. [Sidenote: Lord H[o]we.]