I think it necessary to propose, that the house be resolved into a committee to-morrow morning; and hope all that shall assemble on this occasion, will bring with them no other passion than zeal for their country.
[The speaker having taken the chair, the chairman of the committee reported, that they had made some progress; and desiring leave to sit again, it was resolved to go into the committee again on the morrow.]
MARCH 4, 1740-1
On the sixty-second day the affair was put off; but on the sixty-third, the house resolving itself into a committee, a clause was offered, by which five pounds were proposed to be advanced to an able seaman, and three pounds to every other man that should enter voluntarily into his majesty's service, after twenty days, and within sixty.
After which, Mr. WINNINGTON spoke as follows:—Sir, this is a clause in which no opposition can be apprehended, as those gentlemen who declared their disapprobation of the former, were almost unanimous in proposing this expedient, as the least expensive, and the most likely to succeed.
The time for the reception of volunteers upon this condition, is, sir, in my opinion, judiciously determined. If it was extended to a greater length, or left uncertain, the reward would lose its efficacy, the sailors would neglect that which they might accept at any time, and would only have recourse to the ships of war when they could find no other employment.
Yet I cannot conceal my apprehensions, that this bounty will not alone be sufficient to man our fleets with proper expedition; and that as allurements may be useful on one hand, force will be found necessary on the other; that the sailors may not only be incited to engage in the service by the hopes of a reward, but by the fear of having their negligence to accept it punished, by being compelled into the same service, and forfeiting their claim by staying to be compelled.
Lord BALTIMORE then spoke to the following effect:—Sir, to the reward proposed in this clause, I have declared in the former conference on this bill, that I have no objection, and, therefore, have no amendment to propose, except with regard to the time limited for the payment.
As our need of seamen, sir, is immediate, why should not a law for their encouragement immediately operate? What advantage can arise from delays? Or why is not that proper to be advanced now, that will be proper in twenty days? That all the time between the enaction and operation of this law must be lost, is evident; for who will enter for two pounds, that may gain five by withholding himself from the service twenty days longer?
Nor do I think the time now limited sufficient; many sailors who are now in the service of the merchants, may not return soon enough to lay claim to the bounty, who would gladly accept it, and who will either not serve the crown without it, or will serve with disgust and complaints; as the loss of it cannot be imputed to their backwardness, but to an accident against which they could not provide.
Mr. WINNINGTON replied:—Sir, though I think the time now fixed by the bill sufficient, as I hope that our present exigency will be but of short continuance, and that we shall soon be able to raise naval forces at a cheaper rate, yet as the reasons alleged for an alteration of the time may appear to others of more weight than to me, I shall not oppose the amendment.
Sir John BARNARD next rose, and said:—Sir, with regard to the duration of the time fixed for the advancement of this bounty, we may have leisure to deliberate; but surely it must be readily granted by those who have expatiated so copiously upon the present exigencies of our affairs, that it ought immediately to commence. And if this be the general determination of the house, nothing can be more proper than to address his majesty to offer, by proclamation, an advance of five pounds, instead of two, which have been hitherto given; that while we are concerting other measures for the advantage of our country, those in which we have already concurred may be put in execution.
Mr. PULTENEY rose up next, and spoke as follows:—Sir, I take this opportunity to lay before the house a grievance which very much retards the equipment of our fleets, and which must be redressed before any measures for reconciling the sailors to the publick service can be pursued with the least probability of success.
Observation, sir, has informed me, that to remove the detestation of the king's service, it is not necessary to raise the wages of the seamen; it is necessary only to secure them; it is necessary to destroy those hateful insects that fatten in idleness and debauchery upon the gains of the industrious and honest.
When a sailor, sir, after the fatigues and hazards of a long voyage, brings his ticket to the pay-office, and demands his wages, the despicable wretch to whom he is obliged to apply, looks upon his ticket with an air of importance, acknowledges his right, and demands a reward for present payment; with this demand, however exorbitant, the necessities of his family oblige him to comply.
In this manner, sir, are the wives of the sailors also treated when they come to receive the pay of their husbands; women, distressed, friendless, and unsupported; they are obliged to endure every insult, and to yield to every oppression. And to such a height do these merciless exacters raise their extortions, that sometimes a third part of the wages is deducted.
Thus, sir, do the vilest, the meanest of mankind, plunder those who have the highest claim to the esteem, the gratitude, and the protection of their country. This is the hardship which withholds the sailors from our navies, and forces them to seek for kinder treatment in other countries. This hardship, sir, both justice and prudence call upon us to remedy; and while we neglect it, all our deliberations will be ineffectual.
Mr. SOUTHWELL then spoke to this effect:—Sir, of the hardships mentioned by the honourable gentleman who spoke last, I have myself known an instance too remarkable not to be mentioned. A sailor in Ireland, after his voyage, met with so much difficulty in obtaining his wages, that he was at length reduced to the necessity of submitting to the reduction of near a sixth part. Such are the grievances with which those are oppressed, upon whom the power, security, and happiness of the nation are acknowledged to depend.
Sir Robert WALPOLE, the prime minister, then rose, and spoke as follows:—Sir, it is not without surprise that I hear the disgust of the sailors ascribed to any irregularity in the payment of their wages, which were never, in any former reign, so punctually discharged. They receive, at present, twelve months' pay in eighteen months, without deduction; so that there are never more than six months for which any demand remains unsatisfied.
But, sir, the punctuality of the payment has produced of late great inconveniencies; for there has been frequently a necessity of removing men from one ship to another; and it is the stated rule of the pay-office, to assign every man so removed his full pay. These men, when the government is no longer indebted to them, take the first opportunity of deserting the service, and engaging in business to which they are more inclined.
This is not a chimerical complaint, founded upon rare instances, and produced only to counterbalance an objection; the fact and the consequences are well known; so well, that near fourteen hundred sailors are computed to have been lost by this practice.
The PRESIDENT of the commons, who always in a committee takes his seat as another member, rose here, and spoke to the following effect, his honour being paymaster of the navy:—Mr. Chairman, the nature of the employment with which I am intrusted makes it my duty to endeavour that this question may be clearly understood, and the condition of the seamen, with regard to the reception of their pay, justly represented.
I have not been able to discover that any sailor, upon producing his ticket, was ever obliged to submit to the deduction of any part of his wages, nor should any clerk or officer under my inspection, escape, for such oppression, the severest punishment and most publick censure: I would give him up to the law without reserve, and mark him as infamous, and unworthy of any trust or employment.
But there are extortions, sir, by which those unhappy men, after having served their country with honesty and courage, are deprived of their lawful gains of diligence and labour. There are men to whom it is usual amongst the sailors to mortgage their pay before it becomes due, who never advance their money but upon such terms as cannot be mentioned without indignation. These men advance the sum which is stipulated, and by virtue of a letter of attorney are reimbursed at the pay-office.
This corruption is, I fear, not confined to particular places, but has spread even to America, where, as in his own country, the poor sailor is seduced, by the temptation of present money, to sell his labour to extortioners and usurers.
I appeal to the gentleman, whether the instance which he mentioned was not of this kind. I appeal to him without apprehension of receiving an answer that can tend to invalidate what I have asserted.
This, sir, is, indeed, a grievance pernicious and oppressive, which no endeavours of mine shall be deficient in attempting to remove; for by this the sailor is condemned, notwithstanding his industry and success, to perpetual poverty, and to labour only for the benefit of his plunderer.
[The clauses were then read, "empowering the justices of the peace, etc. to issue warrants to the constables, etc. to make general privy searches, by day or night, for finding out and securing such seamen and seafaring men as lie hid or conceal themselves; and making it lawful for the officers appointed to make such searches, to force open the doors of any house, where they shall suspect such seamen to be concealed, if entrance be not readily admitted; and for punishing those who shall harbour or conceal any seaman."]
Sir John BARNARD upon this rose up, and spoke to the following effect:—Mr. Chairman, we have been hitherto deliberating upon questions, in which diversity of opinions might naturally be expected, and in which every man might indulge his own opinion, whatever it might be, without any dangerous consequences to the publick. But the clauses now before us are of a different kind; clauses which cannot be read without astonishment and indignation, nor defended without betraying the liberty of the best, the bravest, and most useful of our fellow-subjects.
If these clauses, sir, should pass into a law, a sailor and a slave will become terms of the same signification. Every man who has devoted himself to the most useful profession, and most dangerous service of his country, will see himself deprived of every advantage which he has laboured to obtain, and made the mere passive property of those who live in security by his valour, and owe to his labour that affluence which hardens them to insensibility, and that pride that swells them to ingratitude.
Why must the sailors alone, sir, be marked out from all the other orders of men for ignominy and misery? Why must they be ranked with the enemies of society, stopped like vagabonds, and pursued like the thief and the murderer by publick officers? How or when have they forfeited the common privilege of human nature, or the general protection of the laws of their country? If it is a just maxim, sir, that he who contributes most to the welfare of the publick, deserves most to be protected in the enjoyment of his private right or fortune; a principle which surely will not be controverted; where is the man that dares stand forth and assert, that he has juster claims than the brave, the honest, the diligent sailor?
I am extremely unwilling, sir, to engage in so invidious an undertaking as the comparison of the harmless, inoffensive, resolute sailor, with those who think themselves entitled to treat him with contempt, to overlook his merit, invade his liberty, and laugh at his remonstrances.
Nor is it, sir, necessary to dwell upon the peculiar merit of this body of men; it is sufficient that they have the same claims, founded upon the same reasons with our own, that they have never forfeited them by any crime, and, therefore, that they cannot be taken away without the most flagrant violation of the laws of nature, of reason, and of our country.
Let us consider the present condition of a sailor, let us reflect a little upon the calamities to which custom, though not law, has already made him subject, and it will surely not be thought that his unhappiness needs any aggravation.
He is already exposed to be forced, upon his return from a tedious voyage, into new hardships, without the intermission of a day, and without the sight of his family; he is liable, after a contract for a pleasing and gainful voyage, to be hurried away from his prospects of interest, and condemned amidst oppression and insolence, to labour and to danger, almost without the possibility of a recompense. He has neither the privilege of choosing his commander, nor of leaving him when he is defrauded and oppressed.
These, sir, I say, are the calamities to which he is now subject, but there is now a possibility of escaping them. He is not yet deprived of the right of resistance, or the power of flight; he may now retire to his friend, and be protected by him; he may take shelter in his own cottage, and treat any man as a robber, that shall attempt to force his doors.
When any crews are returning home in time of war, they are acquainted with the dangers of an impress, but they comfort themselves with contriving stratagems to elude it, or with the prospect of obtaining an exemption from it by the favour of their friends; prospects which are often deceitful, and stratagems frequently defeated, but which yet support their spirits, and animate their industry.
But if this bill, sir, should become a law, the sailor, instead of amusing himself on his return with the prospects of ease, or of pleasure, will consider his country as a place of slavery, a residence less to be desired than any other part of the world. He will probably seek, in the service of some foreign prince, a kinder treatment; and will not fail, in any country but his own, to see himself, at least, on a level with other men.
Nor will this bill, sir, only give the seamen new reasons of disgust, but it will tend, likewise, to aggravate those grievances, which already have produced a detestation of the publick service, scarcely to be conquered.
The officers of the navy, sir, will hardly be made less insolent by an increase of power; they whose tyranny has already alienated their fellow-subjects from the king's service, though they could only depend upon the character of probity and moderation for the prospect of manning their ships in succeeding expeditions, will probably, when they are animated by a law like this, and made absolute both by land and sea, indulge themselves in the enjoyment of their new authority, contrive new hardships and oppressions, and tyrannise without fear and without mercy. Thus, sir, will the bill not only be tyrannical in itself, but the parent of tyranny; it will give security to the cruel, and confidence to the arrogant.
That any man, at least any man bred from his infancy to change his residence, and accustomed to different climates and to foreign nations, will fix by choice in that country where he finds the worst reception, is hardly to be imagined. We see indeed, that men unqualified to support themselves in other countries, or who have, by long custom, contracted a fondness for particular methods of life, will bear very uncomfortable circumstances, without endeavouring to improve their conditions by a change of their habitations. But the temper of a sailor, acquainted with all parts, and indifferent to all, is of another kind. Such, sir, is his love of change, arising either from wantonness, or curiosity, that he is hard to be retained by the kindest treatment and most liberal rewards; and will, therefore, never struggle with his habitual dispositions, only to continue in a state of slavery.
I think it, therefore, sir, very evident that this new method of encouraging sailors will be so far from increasing them, that it may probably drive them out of the empire, and at once ruin our trade and our navy; at once beggar and disarm us.
Let me now suppose, sir, for a moment, the bill less pernicious in its consequences, and consider only the difficulties of executing it. Every seafaring man is to be seized, at pleasure, by the magistrate; but what definition is given of a seafaring man? Or by what characteristick is the magistrate to distinguish him? I have never been able to discover any peculiarities in the form of a seaman that mark him out from the rest of the species. There is, indeed, less servility in his air, and less effeminacy in his face, than in those that are commonly to be seen in drawing-rooms, in brothels, and at reviews; but I know not that a seaman can be distinguished from any other man of equal industry or use, who has never enervated himself by vice, nor polished himself into corruption. So that this bill, sir, if it shall pass into a law, will put it at once in the power of the magistrate to dispose of seamen at his pleasure, and to term whom he pleases a seaman.
Another expedient, sir, has been offered on this occasion, not equally tyrannical, but equally inadequate to the end in view. It is proposed to restrain the merchants from giving wages beyond a certain rate, on the supposition that the sailors have no motive but that of larger wages, to prefer the service of the merchants to that of the crown.
This, sir, is a mistake which might easily arise from a partial and imperfect knowledge of the affair, with which very few gentlemen have opportunities of being well acquainted. The wages, sir, are the smallest inducements which fix the seamen in their choice. The prospect of kinder treatment, the certainty of returning home in a fixed time, and the power of choosing what voyages they will undertake, cannot but be acknowledged very reasonable motives of preference.
On the contrary, sir, when they are once engaged in a ship of war, they know neither whither they are going, what dangers they shall encounter, what hardships they shall suffer, nor when they shall be dismissed.
Besides, sir, I do not think it possible by any law to limit the wages to be paid by merchants, since they will change the term of wages into that of a present, or admit the sailors to a small share in the freight, and so all the precaution we can take will become ineffectual.
In the mean time, sir, how much shall we embarrass our own commerce, and impair our natural strength—the power of our fleets? We shall terrify our sailors on the one hand, and endeavour to starve them on the other; we shall not only drive them from us by unheard-of severities, but take away every motive that can induce them to expose themselves to the danger of suffering them.
If we consider, sir, with what effect methods nearly approaching these were practised in the reign of the late queen, we shall find that not more than one thousand five hundred seamen were raised, and those at the expense of more than four thousand pounds; so that the effects bore no proportion to the means; our laws were infringed, and our constitution violated to no purpose.
But what reason, sir, can be assigned for which it must be more difficult to supply the fleet now with sailors than at any other time? This war, sir, was demanded by the publick voice, in pursuance of the particular remonstrances of the merchants, and it is not to be supposed that the sailors or any other body of men engage in it with a particular reluctance.
I am, therefore, inclined to believe that the suspicion of great numbers hid in the country, at a distance from the coast, is merely chimerical; and that if we should pass this bill, we should do nothing more than grant an oppressive and unconstitutional power of search for what, in reality, is not to be found.
How oppressive this power may become in the hands of a corrupt or insolent magistrate, any man may discover, who remembers that the magistrate is made judge without appeal, of his own right to denominate any man a sailor, and that he may break open any man's doors at any time, without alleging any other reason than his own suspicion; so that no man can secure his house from being searched, or, perhaps, his person from being seized.
It may, indeed, be alleged, sir, that this will be only a temporary law, and is to cease with the exigence that made it necessary: but long experience has informed us, that severe laws are enacted more readily than they are repealed; and that most men are too fond of power to suffer willingly the diminution of it.
But, sir, though this law should not be perpetuated, every precedent of an infringement of our constitution, makes way for its dissolution; and the very cessation of an oppressive law, may be a plea, hereafter, for the revival of it.
This bill, therefore, must be confessed to be at once violent and ineffectual; to be a transgression of the laws of justice to particular men, without any prospect of real benefit to the community; and, therefore, cannot be passed without deviating at once from prudence and our constitution.
Captain CORNWALL then rose, and spoke to this effect:—I have observed, sir, that every man is apt to think himself ill treated, who is not treated according to his own opinion of his deserts, and will endeavour to diffuse his own notion of the partiality and tyranny of the naval officers; general clamours, therefore, are little to be regarded.
I have had, from my early years, a command in the sea service, and can assert, that I never knew more than one instance of injustice, and that was punished with the severity which it deserved.
The PRIME MINISTER rose next, and spoke to this effect:—Mr. Chairman, it is with uncommon satisfaction that I see every clause of this bill regularly debated, without unbecoming impatience, or passionate exclamations. I am willing to collect from this conduct, that the disposition of every gentleman is, on this occasion, the same with my own; and that every expedient here proposed will be diligently examined, and either be seriously approved, or be calmly rejected.
Such coolness and impartiality, sir, is certainly required by the importance of the present question; a question which cannot but influence the prosperity of the nation for many years.
It is not necessary to remind any gentleman of the importance of our trade, of the power of the enemy against whom we have declared war in defence of it, or of the necessity of showing the world that our declarations of war are not empty noises, or farces of resentment. But it may be proper, sir, to remark, that this is not the only enemy, nor the most powerful, whose attempts we have reason to provide against, and who may oblige us to exert our whole power, and practise every expedient to increase our forces.
The war has been, hitherto, prosecuted with the utmost vigour, with all the attention that its importance requires, and with success not disproportioned to our preparations; nor will it ever be suffered to languish, if the powers necessary for carrying it on are not denied.
Nothing is more evident, sir, than that the natural power of the nation consists in its fleets, which are now, by the care of the government, so numerous, that the united power of many nations cannot equal them. But what are fleets unfurnished with men? How will they maintain the dominion of the sea, by lying unactive in our harbours?
That no methods, hitherto used, have been sufficient to man our navies, and that our preparations have, therefore, been little more than an expensive show of war, the whole nation is sufficiently informed; it is, therefore, not doubtful that some new measures must be taken; whether any better can be suggested than are offered in this bill, must be inquired.
With regard, sir, to the clause now under our consideration, it is to be remembered, that little more is proposed by it, than to add the sanction of legality to a power which has long been exercised by the admiralty, without any other authority than that of long prescription, the power of issuing warrants of impress upon emergent occasions, by which sailors are forced into the publick service.
This power, in its present state, must be allowed to have no foundation in any law, and, by consequence, to be unlimited, arbitrary, and easily abused, and, upon the whole, to be justifiable only by necessity: but that necessity is so frequent, that it is often exercised, and, therefore, ought to be regulated by the legislature; and by making such regulations, we may rather be said to remove than introduce a grievance.
The power of searching for sailors, however it has been represented, is far from setting them on a level with felons, murderers, or vagabonds; or, indeed, from distinguishing them, to their disadvantage, from the rest of the community, of which every individual is obliged to support the government.
Those that possess estates, or carry on trades, transfer part of their property to the publick; and those ought, by parity of reason, to serve the publick in person, that have no property to transfer. Every man is secured by the constitution in the enjoyment of his life, his liberty, or his fortune; and, therefore, every man ought reciprocally to defend the constitution to which he is himself indebted for safety and protection.
I am, therefore, sir, unable to discover in what consists the hardship of a law by which no new duties are enjoined, nor any thing required, which is not already every man's duty. Every man, indeed, who is desirous of evading the performance of any of the duties of society, will consider every compulsion as a hardship, by which he is obliged to contribute to the general happiness; but his murmurs will prove nothing but his own folly and ingratitude, and will certainly deserve no regard from the legislative power.
There is in the bill before us, sir, encouragement sufficient for volunteers, and an offer of greater rewards than some gentlemen think consistent with the present state of the national revenues; and what remains to be done with respect to those who are deaf to all invitations, and blind to all offers of advantage? Are they to sit at ease only because they are idle, or to be distinguished with indulgence only for want of deserving it?
It seems generally granted, sir, that such drones are the proper objects of an impress. Let us then suppose that every man who is willing to serve his country, has laid hold of the reward proposed, and entered a volunteer. The fleets are not yet sufficiently manned, and more sailors must be procured. Warrants are issued out in the common form. The negligent, the imprudent, the necessitous, are taken. The vigilant, the cunning, and those that have more money, find shelter and escape. Can it be said, that those whose circumstances, or good fortune, enable them to secure themselves from the officers of the impress, deserve any exemption from the publick service, or from the hardships to which their companions are exposed? Have they discharged their debt of gratitude to the publick so effectually by running away from its service, that no search ought to be made after them? It seems evident, that if it was right to seize the one, it is likewise right to pursue the other; and if it be right to pursue him, it is likewise right to hinder him from escaping the pursuers. It is then right to vest some persons with the power of apprehending him, and in whom is that power to be lodged, but in the civil magistrate?
Every man, sir, is obliged by compulsive methods to serve his country, if he can be prevailed upon by no other. If any man shall refuse to pay his rates or his taxes, will not his goods be seized by force, and sold before his face? If any particular methods are proposed for obliging seamen to contribute to the publick safety, it is only because their service is necessary upon more pressing occasions than that of others; upon occasions which do not admit of delay, without the hazard of the whole community.
I must confess, sir, there are instances in which the hardships of the seafaring part of the nation are peculiar, and truly calamitous. A sailor, after the dangers and toils of a long voyage, when he is now in the sight of the port, where he hopes to enjoy that quiet which he has deserved by so long a series of fatigues, to repair the injuries which his health has suffered, by change of climate, and the diet of the ships, and to recover that strength which incessant vigilance has worn away; when he is in expectation of being received by his family with those caresses, which the succours that he brings them naturally produce, and designs to rest awhile from danger and from care; in the midst of these pleasing views, he is, on the sudden, seized by an impress, and forced into a repetition of all his miseries, without any interval of refreshment.
Let no man who can think without compassion on such a scene as this, boast his zeal for freedom, his regard for bravery, or his gratitude to those who contribute to the wealth and power of their country; let every man who declares himself touched with the pity which the slightest reflection upon such a disappointment must naturally produce, sincerely endeavour to obviate the necessity of such oppressive measures, which may, at least in part, be prevented, by assigning to magistrates the power of hunting out of their retreats, those who neglect the business of their callings, and linger at once in laziness and want.
There are great numbers who retire not from weariness but idleness, or an unreasonable prepossession against the publick service; and, surely, nothing is more unreasonable, than that bad dispositions should be gratified, and that industry should expose any man to penalties.