The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. Volume 10

Those who are chosen by the people to represent them, have undoubtedly, sir, some claim as individuals to their confidence and respect; for to imagine that they have committed the great charge of senatorial employments, that they have trusted their liberties and their happiness to those whose integrity they suspect, or whose understandings they despise, is to imagine them much more stupid than they have been represented by those who are censured as their enemies.

But far different is the regard due to the determinations formed by the collective wisdom of the senate; a regard which ought to border upon reverence, and which is scarcely consistent with the least murmur of dissatisfaction.

If we are to hear the present petitioners, is it not probable, that before we have despatched them, we shall be solicited by others, who will then plead the same right, supported by a new precedent? And is it not possible that by one interruption upon another, our measures may be delayed, till they shall be ineffectual?

It seems to me to be of much more importance to defend the merchants than to hear them; and I shall, therefore, think no concessions at this time expedient, which may obstruct the great end of our endeavours, the equipment of the fleet.

Mr. PULTENEY then spoke as follows:—Sir, notwithstanding the art and eloquence with which this grant of the merchants' petition has been opposed, I am not yet able to discover that any thing is asked unreasonable, unprecedented, or inconvenient; and I am confident, that no real objection can have been overlooked by the gentlemen who have spoken against it.

I have spent, sir, thirty-five years of my life in the senate, and know that information has always, upon important questions, been willingly received; and it cannot surely be doubted that the petitioners are best able to inform us of naval business, and to judge what will be the right method of reconciling the sailors to the publick service, and of supplying our fleets without injuring our trade.

Their abilities and importance have been hitherto so generally acknowledged, that no senate has yet refused to attend to their opinion; and surely we ought not to be ambitious of being the first assembly of the representatives of the people, that has refused an audience to the merchants.

With regard to the expedience of delaying the bill at the present conjuncture, he must think very contemptuously of the petitioners, who imagines that they have nothing to offer that will counterbalance a delay of two days, and must entertain an elevated idea of the vigilance and activity of our enemies, enemies never before eminent for expedition, if he believes that they can gain great advantages in so short a time.

The chief reason of the opposition appears, indeed, not to be either the irregularity or inexpediency of hearing them, but the offence which some have received from an irreverent mention of the power of impressing, a power which never can be mentioned without complaint or detestation.

It is not, indeed, impossible that they may intend to represent to the house, how much the sailors are oppressed, how much our commerce is impeded, and how much the power of the nation is exhausted, by this cruel method. They may propose to show that sailors, not having the choice of their voyages, are often hurried through a sudden change of climates, from one extreme to another, and that nothing can be expected from such vicissitudes, but sickness, lameness, and death. They may propose, that to have just arrived from the south may be pleaded as an exemption from an immediate voyage to the north, and that the seaman may have some time to prepare himself for so great an alteration, by a residence of a few months in a temperate climate.

If this should be their intention, it cannot, in my opinion, sir, be called either unreasonable or disrespectful, nor will their allegations be easily disproved.

But it is insinuated, that their grievances are probably such as affect them only as distinct from the rest of the community, and that they have nothing to complain of but a temporary interruption of their private advantage.

I have, indeed, no idea of the private advantage of a legal trader: for unless, sir, we neglect our duty of providing that no commerce shall be carried on to the detriment of the publick, the merchant's profit must be the profit of the nation, and their interests inseparably combined.

It may, however, be possible, that the merchants may, like other men, prefer their immediate to their greater advantage, and may be impatient of a painful remedy, though necessary to prevent a more grievous evil. But let us not censure them by suspicion, and punish them for a crime which it is only possible they may commit; let us, sir, at least have all the certainty that can be obtained, and allow them an audience; let us neither be so positive as not to receive information, nor so rigorous as not to listen to entreaties.

If the merchants have nothing to offer, nothing but complaints, and can propose no better measures than those which they lament, if their arguments should be found to regard only their present interest, and to be formed upon narrow views and private purposes, it will be easy to detect the imposture, and reject it with the indignation it shall deserve; nor will our proceedings be then censured by the nation, which requires not that the merchants should be implicitly believed, though it expects that they should be heard. Let us at least have a convention, though we should not be able to conclude a treaty.

I know not, sir, why we have not taken care to obviate all these difficulties, and to remove the necessity of petitions, debates, searches, and impresses, by the plain and easy method of a voluntary register; by retaining such a number of seamen as may probably be requisite upon sudden emergencies. Would not the nation with more cheerfulness contribute half-pay to those who are daily labouring for the publick good, than to the caterpillars of the land service, that grow old in laziness, and are disabled only by vice?

Let ten thousand men receive daily a small salary, upon condition that they shall be ready, whenever called upon, to engage in the service of the crown, and the difficulty of our naval preparations will be at an end.

That it is necessary to exert ourselves on this occasion, and to strike out some measures for securing the dominion of the ocean, cannot be denied by any one who considers that we have now no other pretensions to maintain; that all our influence on the continent, at whatever expense gained and supported, is now in a manner lost, and only the reputation of our naval strength remains to preserve us from being trampled on and insulted by every power, and from finding Spaniards in every climate.

Sir William YONGE spoke, in substance, as follows:—Sir, the violence and severity of impresses, so often and so pathetically complained of, appears to be now nothing more than a punishment inflicted upon those who neglect or refuse to receive the encouragement offered, with the utmost liberality, by the government, and decline the service of their country from a spirit of avarice, obstinacy, or resentment.

That such men deserve some severities, cannot be doubted, and therefore a law by which no penalty should be enacted, would be imperfect and ineffectual. The observation, sir, of all laws is to be enforced by rewards on one side, and punishments on the other, that every passion may be influenced, and even our weakness made instrumental to the performance of our duty.

In the bill before us no punishment is, indeed, expressly decreed, because the sailors who shall disregard it, are only left to their former hardships, from which those who engage voluntarily in the service of the navy are exempted.

Why so many rewards and so much violence should be necessary to allure or force the sailors into the publick service, I am unable to comprehend: for, excepting the sudden change of climates, which may, doubtless, sometimes bring on distempers, the service of the king has no disadvantages which are not common to that of the merchants.

The wages in the navy are, indeed, less: but then it is to be remembered, that they are certainly paid, and that the sailor is in less danger of losing, by a tempest or a wreck, the whole profits of his voyage; because, if he can preserve his life, he receives his pay. But in trading voyages, the seamen mortgage their wages, as a security for their care, which, if the ship is lost, they are condemned to forfeit.

Thus, sir, the hardships of the navy appear not so great when compared with those of the merchants' service, as they have been hitherto represented; and I doubt not, that if counsellors were to be heard on both sides, the measures taken for supplying the fleet would be found to be reasonable and just.

Sir John BARNARD rose to speak, when Mr. FOX called to order, and proceeded:

Sir, it is well known to be one of the standing and unvariable orders of this house, that no member shall speak twice in a debate on the same question, except when for greater freedom we resolve ourselves into a committee. Upon this question the honourable gentleman has already spoken, and cannot, therefore, be heard again without such a transgression of our orders as must inevitably produce confusion.

Sir John BARNARD spoke thus:—Sir, I know not for what reason the honourable gentleman apprehends any violation of the order of the house; for, as I have not yet spoken upon the present question, I have an undoubted right to be heard, a right which that gentleman cannot take away.

Sir William YONGE next spoke, to this effect:—Sir, I know not by what secret distinction the gentleman supports in his own mind this declaration, which, to the whole house, must appear very difficult to be defended; for we must, before we can admit it, allow our memories to have forsaken us, and our eyes and ears to have been deceived.

Did he not, as soon as the clause before us was read, rise and assert the characters of the petitioners, and their right to the attention of the house? Did he not dwell upon their importance, their abilities, and their integrity; and enforce, with his usual eloquence, every motive to the reception of the petition? How then can he assert that he has not spoken in the present debate, and how can he expect to be heard a second time, since, however his eloquence may please, and his arguments convince, that pleasure and conviction cannot now be obtained, without infringing the standing orders of the house.

Then the PRESIDENT rose, and spoke to this purport: It is not without uneasiness that I see the time of the house, and of the publick, wasted in fruitless cavils and unnecessary controversies. Every gentleman ought now to consider that we are consulting upon no trivial question, and that expedition is not less necessary than accuracy. It cannot be denied, sir, [to sir John BARNARD] that you have already spoken on this question, and that the rules of the house do not allow you to speak a second time.

Sir Robert WALPOLE said:—Sir, I am far from thinking the order of the house so sacred, as that it may not be neglected on some important occasions; and if the gentleman has any thing to urge so momentous, that, in his own opinion, it outweighs the regard due to our rules, I shall willingly consent that he shall be heard.

Sir John BARNARD spoke as follows:—Sir, I am far from being inclined to receive as a favour, what, in my own opinion, I may claim as a right, and desire not to owe the liberty of speaking to the condescension of the right honourable gentleman.

What I have to urge is no less against the bill in general, than the particular clause now immediately under our consideration, and though the petition should relate likewise to the whole bill, I cannot discover why we should refuse to hear it.

Petitions from men of much inferiour rank, and whose interest is much less closely connected with that of the publick, have been thought necessary to be heard, nor is the meanest individual to be injured or restrained, without being admitted to offer his arguments in his own favour. Even the journeymen shoemakers, one of the lowest classes of the community, have been permitted to bring their counsel to our bar, and remonstrate against the inconveniencies to which they were afraid of being subjected.

Mr. WINNINGTON spoke thus:—Sir, I am always willing to hear petitions, when respectfully drawn up, and regularly subscribed, but can by no means discover that this is a real petition, for I have heard of no names affixed to it; it is, therefore, a request from nobody, and by rejecting it no man is refused. It may, so far as can be discovered, be drawn up by the gentleman who offered it, and, perhaps, no other person may be acquainted with it.

Mr. HAY spoke to the following purport:—Sir, it is, in my opinion, necessary that a petition in the name of the merchants of London should be subscribed by the whole number, for if only a few should put their names to it, how does it appear that it is any thing more than an apprehension of danger to their own particular interest, which, perhaps, the other part, their rivals in trade, may consider as an advantage, or at least regard with indifference. This suspicion is much more reasonable, when a petition is subscribed by a smaller number, who may easily be imagined to have partial views, and designs not wholly consistent with the interest of the publick.

Admiral WAGER then spoke thus:—Sir, if I am rightly informed, another petition is preparing by several eminent merchants, that this clause may stand part of the bill; and, certainly, they ought to be heard as well as the present petitioners, which will occasion great and unnecessary delays, and, therefore, I am against the motion.

Advocate CAMPBELL answered to this effect:—Sir, I agree with that honourable gentleman, that if the merchants are divided in opinion upon this point, one side ought to be heard as well as the other, and hope the house will come to a resolution for that purpose: for I shall invariably promote every proposal which tends to procure the fullest information in all affairs that shall come before us.

[Then the question was put, that the farther consideration of the report be adjourned for two days, in order to hear the merchants, and it passed in the negative, ayes, 142; noes, 192.]

[On the report this day, the eleven clauses of severity were given up without any division, and a clause was added, viz. "Provided that nothing in this bill shall be construed to extend to any contracts or agreements for the hire of seamen (or persons employed as such) in voyages from parts beyond the seas, to any other parts beyond the seas, or to Great Britain."]

The engrossed bill "for the increase and encouragement of seamen," was read, according to order, when Mr. DIGBY rose, and spoke as follows:—

Sir, I have a clause to be offered to the house, as necessary to be inserted in the bill before us, which was put into my hands by a member, whom a sudden misfortune has made unable to attend his duty, and which, in his opinion, and mine, is of great importance, and I shall, therefore, take the liberty of reading it.

"Be it enacted, that every seaman offering himself to serve his majesty, shall, upon being refused, receive from such captain, lieutenant, or justice of the peace, a certificate, setting forth the reasons for which he is refused, which certificate may be produced by him, as an exemption from being seized by a warrant of impress."

I hope the reasonableness and equity of this clause is so incontestably apparent, that it will find no opposition; for what can be more cruel, unjust, or oppressive, than to punish men for neglect of a law which they have endeavoured to obey. To what purpose are rewards offered, if they are denied to those who come to claim them? What is it less than theft, and fraud, to force a man into the service, who would willingly have entered, and subject him to hardships, without the recompense which he may justly demand from the solemn promise of the legislature.

Admiral WAGER next spoke to this effect:—Sir, to this clause, which the gentleman has represented as so reasonable and just, objections may, in my opinion, be easily made, of which he will himself acknowledge the force. The great obstruction of publick measures is partiality, whether from friendship, bribery, or any other motive; against partiality alone the clause which is now offered, is levelled; and, indeed, it is so dangerous an evil, that it cannot be obviated with too much caution.

But this clause, instead of preventing private correspondence, and illegal combinations, has an evident tendency to produce them, by inciting men to apply with pretended offers of service to those who are before suborned to refuse them, then make a merit of their readiness, and demand a certificate.

By such artifices multitudes may exempt themselves from the impress, who may be known to be able sailors, even by those that conduct it; and may, under the protection of a certificate, fallaciously obtained, laugh at all endeavours to engage them in the publick service.

Mr. DIGBY spoke thus:—Sir, if this authority, lodged in the hands of those who are proposed in the clause to be intrusted with it, be in danger of being executed, without due regard to the end for which it is granted, let it be placed where there is neither temptation nor opportunity to abuse it. Let the admiralty alone have the power of granting such certificates, the officers of which will be able to judge whether the sailor is really unfit for the service, and deliver those whom age or accidents have disabled from the terrour of impresses; for surely, he that is fit to serve, when taken by violence, is no less qualified when he enters voluntarily, and he who could not be admitted when he tendered himself, ought not to be dragged away, when, perhaps, he has contracted for another voyage.

Mr. WAGER replied:—Sir, it is, doubtless, more proper to place such authority in the officers of the admiralty, than in any other; but it does not appear that the benefit which the sailors may receive from it, to whatever hands it is intrusted, will not be overbalanced by the injury which the publick will probably suffer.

Sailors are frequently levied in remote parts of the kingdom; in ports where the admiralty cannot speedily be informed of the reasons for which those that may petition for certificates have been refused, and therefore cannot grant them without danger of being deceived by fraudulent accounts.

The grievance for which the remedy is proposed cannot frequently occur; for it is not probable that in a time of naval preparations, any man qualified for the service should be rejected, since the officers gain nothing by their refusal.

Mr. HAY spoke as follows:—Sir, it is very possible that those instances which may be produced of men, who have been impressed by one officer, after they have been rejected by another, may be only the consequences of the high value which every man is ready to set upon his own abilities: for he that offers himself, no doubt, demands the highest premium, though he be not an able sailor; and, if rejected, and afterwards impressed as a novice, thinks himself at liberty to complain, with the most importunate vehemence, of fraud, partiality, and oppression.

[The question being put was resolved in the negative, almost unanimously.]

Mr. SOUTHWELL offered a clause, importing, "That all sailors who should take advance-money of the merchants, should be obliged to perform their agreements, or be liable to be taken up by any magistrate or justice of the peace, and deemed deserters, except they were in his majesty's ships of war."

He was seconded by lord GAGE:—Sir, as this clause has no other tendency than to promote the interest of the merchants, without obstructing the publick preparations; as it tends only to confirm legal contracts, and facilitate that commerce from whence the wealth and power of this nation arises, I hope it will readily be admitted; as we may, by adding this sanction to the contracts made between the merchants and sailors, in some degree balance the obstructions wherewith we have embarrassed trade by the other clauses.

Admiral WAGER replied:—This clause is unquestionably reasonable, but not necessary; for it is to be found already in an act made for the encouragement of the merchants, which is still in force, and ought, whenever any such frauds are committed, to be rigorously observed.

Sir Robert WALPOLE then desired that the clerk might read the act, in which the clause was accordingly found, and Mr. SOUTHWELL withdrew his motion.

[Then the question was put, whether the bill "for the increase and encouragement of sailors" do pass, which was resolved in the affirmative, 153 against 79.]

HOUSE OF COMMONS, MARCH 13, 1740-1

[DEBATE ON THE BILL FOR THE PUNISHMENT OFMUTINY AND DESERTION.]

The house being resolved into a committee for the consideration of the bill for the punishment of mutiny and desertion, and for the better payment of the army and their quarters, etc. sir William YONGE desired that the twentieth and twenty-sixth clauses of the late act might be read, which were read as follows:

XX. It is hereby enacted, that the officers and soldiers, so quartered and billeted, shall be received by the owners of the inns, livery-stables, ale-houses, victualling-houses, and other houses in which they are allowed to be quartered and billeted by this act; and shall pay such reasonable prices as shall be appointed, from time to time, by the justices of the peace, in their general and quarter-sessions of each county, city, or division, within their respective jurisdictions: and the justices of the peace aforesaid, are hereby empowered and required to set and appoint, in their general or quarter-sessions aforesaid, such reasonable rates, for all necessary provisions for such officers and soldiers, for one or more nights, in the several cities, towns, villages and other places, which they shall come to in their march, or which shall be appointed for their residence and quarters.

XXVI. That the quarters, both of officers and soldiers in Great Britain, may be duly paid and satisfied, be it enacted, that every officer, to whom it belongs to receive the pay or subsistence-money, either for a whole regiment, or particular troops and companies, shall immediately, upon each receipt of every particular sum, on account of pay or subsistence, give publick notice thereof to all persons keeping inns, or other places where officers or soldiers are quartered by virtue of this act: also appoint them and others to repair to their quarters, within four days at the farthest, after the receipt of the same, to declare the accounts or debts (if any shall be) between them and the officers and soldiers quartered in their respective houses: which accounts the said officer or officers are hereby required immediately to discharge, before any part of the said pay or subsistence be distributed to the officers or soldiers: provided the said accounts exceed not for a commission officer of horse, under a captain, for one day's diet and small beer, two shillings; for one commission officer of dragoons, under a captain, one shilling; for one commission officer of foot, under a captain one shilling; and for hay and straw, for one horse, sixpence; for one dragoon or light horseman's diet and small beer, each day sixpence, and hay and straw for his horse, sixpence; and also not to exceed fourpence a-day, for one foot soldier's diet and small beer.

He then spoke to the following effect:—Sir, whether there is any real difficulty in the clauses which you have now heard read, or whether there are such passages as may be easily understood by those who have no interest to mistake them, and which are only clouded by an artificial obscurity, whether they are in themselves capable of different meanings, or whether avarice or poverty have produced unreasonable interpretations, and found ambiguities only because they were determined not to be disappointed in their search; whether this law is disobeyed because it is misunderstood, or only misunderstood by those who have resolved to disobey it, the committee must determine.

It has been for many years understood that innholders and keepers of publick-houses were obliged by this law to supply soldiers quartered upon them with diet and small beer, and hay and straw for their horses, at such rates as are mentioned in the act; nor can I discover that these clauses admit of any other interpretation, or that any other could be intended by the senate by which it was enacted. The pay of the soldiers, sir, was well known to those who gave their consent to this law, it was intended by them that the soldiers should be supplied with necessaries, and it could not be meant that they should pay for them more than they received; they, therefore, established the rate at which they were to be furnished, and fixed the highest rate which the wages of a soldier allow him to pay.