ABSTRACT
Sir Benjamin Hall also charged that several men had been 'discharged without any reason' from the dockyard establishments in order to make room for Tory partisans. According to Hall, who pushed for the appointment of the Select Committee to investigate the matter, between 19 April and 30 June some fifty-seven men were added to the dockyard work force, whereas only seven had been entered in the three preceding months. Such actions prompted Walker to write to Northumberland on 10 May. Yet at the same time Northumberland was being urged by Sir Baldwin Walker to adhere to the system of merit promotion, partisan pressure was being brought to bear by others. A Whig Private Secretary is in itself fatal, and Walker, I am afraid, exercises a very mischievous influence. Walker, immediately took issue with Stafford's claim, and demanded that he 'call the attention of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty to Letters from me' of 21 April and 10 May.
