to their
nominal strength; that part of the flotilla was unseaworthy; that the
difficulties of getting under way were never overcome; and that the
unwieldy mass would probably have been routed, if not destroyed, by the
cruisers and gunboats stationed on the Kentish coast. Still, even if
part of it made land, the crisis would be serious in view of the
paucity and want of organization of the British forces. As bearing on
this subject, a letter of Lord Melville to a relative deserves
quotation:

"Dunira, _16 Dec., 1803_.[663]

"DEAR ALEXANDER,

"I received your letter from Walmer and was extreamly happy to
learn from it that Mr. Pitt was in such excellent health. Long,
I pray, may it continue. He has been very usefully and
creditably employed, but not exactly in the way his country
could have wished; but that is a subject on which I never now
allow myself to think.... If Mr. Pitt, from what he feels within
himself or from the enthusiasm he may have inspired in those he
commands, conceives that the defence of the country could at any
time be safely entrusted with the Volunteers alone, as the
newspapers seem to convey as his sentiments, he is by much too
sanguine. On the other hand it is talking wildly, or like old
women, to contend, as Mr. Windham and Mr. Fox do, that great
bodies of Britains [_sic_], with arms in their hands and trained
to the use of them, are not a most important bulwark of security
to the Empire. My opinion, however, lays perhaps in the middle,
and I would have greatly preferred a much smaller number to have
secured more effectually their uniform efficiency. I would much
rather have had 200,000 on the footing of Lord Hobart's first
letter in June than double that number selected and formed in
the loose and desultory manner they have more recently been
under the variety of contradictory orders they have since
received and by which Government have annoyed every corner of
the country." Melville adds that they would be useful if
thoroughly trained and not allowed to leave their corps; but
exemptions from the Militia and Army of Reserve ballots granted
to the recent Volunteer Corps are mischievous, and interfere
with the recruiting. The Militia is unnecessarily large and
interferes with recruiting for the regular army. He would have
enough trained tro