JimC wrote: ↑Fri Nov 20, 2020 1:46 am
It was a quote from John Jervis, 1st Earl of St Vincent, when he was First Lord of the Admiralty...
Not quite accurate. Jervis was an Admiral in command of the Channel Fleet at the time he wrote that letter, addressed to the then appointed First Lord of the Admiralty, Earl Spencer. He was appointed First Lord of the Admiralty a short time later, where he made a lot of waves, so to speak.
Jervis created a storm by pursuing corruption within the navy, both real and imagined. Among other things this eventually led to the impeachment (from which he was acquitted) of a previous treasurer of the Admiralty and successor to Jervis, Lord Melville. The other disturbance was Jervis's effort to have promotions determined by competence rather than social standing. His activities set in train all manner of overdue reforms.
When the Whig government of Henry Addington was replaced by yet another Tory term under William Pitt (the Younger) Jervis felt compelled to resign. He was reinstated as Admiral of the Fleet after another change of government (Lord Grenville, Whigs) in 1806, but retired on grounds of health the following year at the age of 71 and died in 1823, aged 88.