[489] The Lords of the Admiralty were directed to produce a great mass of documentary evidence.

The King sent down copies of the examinations taken before the Committee of Council which Mary had appointed to inquire into the grievances of the Turkey merchants.

The Turkey merchants themselves were called in and interrogated.

Rooke, though too ill to stand or speak, was brought in a chair to the bar, and there delivered in a narrative of his proceedings.

The Whigs soon thought that sufficient ground had been laid for a vote condemning the naval administration, and moved a resolution attributing the miscarriage of the Smyrna fleet to notorious and treacherous mismanagement.