d to obey Bridport's orders to weigh
anchor. The men arrested Colpoys and sent fifteen officers on shore.
Pitt thereupon, on 8th May, moved a resolution in the terms of the
decision framed at Windsor on 22nd April. He begged the House for a
silent vote on this question; but Fox and Sheridan could not resist the
temptation to accuse him of being the cause of this second mutiny.
Clearly it resulted from the remarks in the House of Lords on 3rd May,
which led the seamen to believe that Pitt was about to play them false.

The Commons passed the resolution; but Whitbread, on the morrow, moved a
vote of censure on Pitt for delay in dealing with this important
question. Again Pitt pointed out that the promise given during the
Budget debate sufficed for the time, but he admitted that preliminary
forms and inquiries had absorbed an undue amount of time. Fox and
Sheridan pounced down on this admission, the latter inveighing against
the "criminal and murderous delay" of Ministers, whose incapacity
earned the contempt of the House. Spying a party advantage in
protracting these debates, Whitbread renewed his attack on the next day
(10th May). Pitt replied with admirable temper, and showed that the
delay in presenting a Bill arose partly from the action of the
Opposition itself. Will it be believed that Parliament wasted two days,
while the navy was in mutiny, in discussing whether Pitt had or had not
been guilty of delay? The results were deplorable. An anonymous
chronicler, hostile to Pitt, confessed that the men at Spithead were
"better pleased with reading Fox and Sheridan's speeches than with the
long-expected settlement of their claims."[454]

In this state of things Pitt despatched Howe ("Black Dick"), the most
popular of the admirals, in order to convince the seamen of the
sincerity of Government. The following is the letter in which he
apprised Bridport of Howe's mission:

Downing Street, _May 10, 1797_.[455]

The account we have received this morning led to a great degree
of hope that the distressful embarrassments which you have
experienced may already in a great degree have subsided. You
will, however, have learnt that in the suspense in which we
remained yesterday, it had been determined to send Lord Howe
with such instructions under the sign manual as seemed to us
best adapted to the very difficult emergency. His presenting
this commission seems still [mor