It is already admitted that an army is necessary; the pay of that army is already established; the accidental scarcity of forage and victuals is such, that the pay is not sufficient to maintain them; how then must the deficiency be supplied? It has been proposed, either to fix the price of provisions with respect to them, or to advance their wages in some proportion to the price of provisions. Both these methods seem to meet with disapprobation, and yet the army is to be supported.
Those who reason thus, do surely not expect to be answered, or at least expect from a reply no other satisfaction than that of seeing the time of the session wasted, and the administration harassed with trivial delays; for what can be urged with any hope of success to him who will openly deny contradictory propositions, who will neither move nor stand still, who will neither disband an army nor support it?
Whether these gentlemen conceive that an army may subsist without victuals till the time of scarcity is over, or whether they have raised those forces only to starve them, I am not sagacious enough to conjecture, but shall venture to observe, that if they have such a confidence in the moderation and regularity of the soldiers, as to imagine that they will starve with weapons in their hands, that they will live within the sight of full tables, and languish with hunger, and perish for want of necessaries, rather than diminish the superfluities of others, they ought for ever to cease their outcries about the licentiousness, insolence, and danger of a standing army.
But, not to sink into levity unworthy of this assembly, may I be permitted to hint that these arts of protracting our debates, are by no means consistent with the reasons for which we are assembled, and that it is a much better proof, both of ability and integrity, to remove objections, than to raise them, and to facilitate, than to retard, the business of the publick.
The proposal made at first was only to elucidate a law which had been regularly observed for fifty years, and to remove such ambiguities as tended only to embarrass the innholders, not to relieve them.
To this many objections have been made, and much declamation has been employed to display the hardships of maintaining soldiers, but no better method has been yet discovered, nor do I expect that any will be started not attended with greater difficulties.
In all political questions, questions too extensive to be fully comprehended by speculative reason, experience is the guide which a wise man will follow with the least distrust, and it is no trivial recommendation of the present method, that it has been so long pursued without any formidable inconvenience or loud complaints.
Hardships, even when real, are alleviated by long custom; we bear any present uneasiness with less regret, as we less remember the time in which we were more happy: at least, by long acquaintance with any grievance we gain this advantage, that we know it in its whole extent, that it cannot be aggravated by our imagination, and that there is no room for suspecting that any misery is yet behind more heavy than that which we have already borne.
Such is the present state of the practice now recommended to this assembly, a practice to which the innkeepers have long submitted, and found it at least tolerable, to which they knew themselves exposed when they took out a license for the exercise of that profession, and which they consider as a tax upon them, to be balanced against the advantages which they expect from their employment.
This tax cannot be denied at present to be burdensome in a very uncommon degree, but this weight has not been of long continuance, and it may be reasonably hoped that it will now be made every day lighter. It is, indeed, true, that no unnecessary impositions ought to be laid upon the nation even for a day; and if any gentleman can propose a method by which this may be taken off or alleviated, I shall readily comply with his proposal, and concur in the establishment of new regulations.
With regard to barracks, I cannot deny that they are justly names of terrour to a free nation, that they tend to make an army seem part of our constitution, and may contribute to infuse into the soldiers a disregard of their fellow-subjects, and an indifference about the liberties of their country; but I cannot discover any connexion between a provision for the support of soldiers in publick-houses, in a state of constant familiarity with their countrymen, and the erection of barracks, by which they will be, perhaps for ever, separated from them, nor can discover any thing in the method of supporting them now recommended that does not tend rather to the promotion of mutual good offices, and the confirmation of friendship and benevolence.
The advocate CAMPBELL next spoke, in substance as follows:—Sir, whence the impropriety of raising objections to any measures that are proposed is imagined to arise I am unable to discover, having hitherto admitted as an incontrovertible opinion, that it is the duty of every member of this assembly to deliver, without reserve, his sentiments upon any question which is brought before him, and to approve or censure, according to his conviction.
If it be his duty, sir, to condemn what he thinks dangerous or inconvenient, it seems by no means contrary to his duty, to show the reason of his censure, or to lay before the house those objections which he cannot surmount by his own reflection. It certainly is not necessary to admit implicitly all that is asserted; and to deny, or disapprove without reason, can he no proof of duty, or of wisdom; and how shall it be known, that he who produces no objections, acts from any other motives, than private malevolence, discontent, or caprice?
Nor is it, sir, to be imputed as a just reason for censure to those who have opposed the motion, that no other measures have been offered by them to the consideration of the committee. It is necessary to demolish a useless or shattered edifice, before a firm and habitable building can be erected in its place: the first step to the amendment of a law is to show its defects; for why should any alteration be made where no inconveniency is discovered?
To the chief objection that was offered, no answer has yet been made, nor has the assembly been informed how the innkeeper shall be able to discover when he has paid the tax which this law lays upon him. This is, indeed, a tax of a very particular kind, a tax without limits, and to be levied at the discretion of him for whose benefit it is paid. Soldiers quartered upon these terms, are more properly raising contributions in an enemy's country, than receiving wages in their own.
Is it intended, by this motion, that the innkeepers shall judge what ought to be allowed the soldier for his money? I do not see, then, that any alteration is proposed in the present condition of our army; for who has ever refused to sell them food for their money at the common price, or what necessity is there for a law to enforce a practice equally to the advantage of all parties? If it be proposed that the soldier shall judge for himself, that he shall set what value he shall think fit on his own money, and that he shall be at once the interpreter and executioner of this new law, the condition of the innkeeper will then be such as no slave in the mines of America can envy, and such as he will gladly quit for better treatment under the most arbitrary and oppressive government.
Nor will the insolence of the soldier, thus invested with unlimited authority, thus entitled to implicit obedience, and exalted above the rest of mankind, by seeing his claim only bounded by his own moderation, be confined to his unhappy landlord. Every guest will become subject to his intrusion, and the passenger must be content to want his dinner, whenever the lord of the inn shall like it better than his own.
That these apprehensions, sir, are not groundless, may be proved from the conduct of these men, even when the law was not so favourable to their designs; some of them have already claimed the sole dominion of the houses in which they have been quartered, and insulted persons of very high rank, and whom our ancient laws had intended to set above the insults of a turbulent soldier. They have seen the provisions which they had ordered taken away by force, partly, perhaps, to please the appetite of the invader, and partly to gratify his insolence, and give him an opportunity of boasting among his comrades, how successfully he blustered.
If it be necessary, sir, to insert a new clause in the act to prevent lawsuits, which, however advantageous they may sometimes be to me, I shall always be ready to obviate, it is surely proper to limit the claim of one party as well as that of the other, for how else is the ambiguity taken away? The difficulty may be, indeed, transferred, but is by no means removed, and the innkeeper must wholly repose himself upon the lenity and justice of the soldier, or apply to the courts of law for the interpretation of the act.
The question before us is said to be so free from perplexity, that it can scarcely give occasion for harangues or disputations; and, indeed, it cannot but be allowed, that the controversy may soon be brought to a single point, and I think nothing more is necessary than to inquire, if innholders shall be obliged to provide victuals for soldiers at a stated price, what, and how much the soldier shall demand.
The power of raising money at pleasure, has been hitherto denied to our kings, and surely we ought not to place that confidence in the lowest, that has been refused to the most exalted of mankind, or invest our soldiers with power, which neither the most warlike of our monarchs could constrain us, nor the most popular allure us to grant.
The power now proposed to be granted, is nothing less than the power of levying money, or what is exactly equivalent, the power of raising the money in their own hands, to any imaginary value. A soldier may, if this motion be complied with, demand for a penny, what another man must purchase at forty times that price. While this is the state of our property, it is surely not very necessary to raise armies for the defence of it; for why should we preserve it from one enemy only to throw it into the hands of another, equally rapacious, equally merciless, and only distinguished from foreign invaders by this circumstance, that he received from our own hands the authority by which he plunders us.
Having thus evinced the necessity of determining the soldier's privileges, and the innkeeper's rights, I think it necessary to recommend to this assembly an uncommon degree of attention to the regulation of our military establishment, which is become not only more burdensome to our fellow-subjects by the present famine, but by the increase of our forces; an increase which the nation will not behold without impatience, unless they be enabled to discern for what end they have been raised.
The people of this nation are, for very just reasons, displeased, even with the appearance of a standing army, and surely it is not prudent to exasperate them, by augmenting the troops in a year of famine, and giving them, at the same time, new powers of extortion and oppression.
Mr. WINNINGTON spoke to this purpose:—Sir, I have heard nothing in this debate, but doubts and objections, which afford no real information, nor tend to the alleviation of those grievances, which are so loudly lamented.
It is not sufficient to point out inconveniencies, or to give striking representations of the hardships to which the people are exposed; for unless some better expedient can be proposed, or some method discovered by which we may receive the benefits, without suffering the disadvantages of the present practice, how does it appear that these hardships, however severe, are not inseparable from our present condition, and such as can only be removed by exposing ourselves to more formidable evils?
As no remedy, sir, has been proposed by those who appear dissatisfied with the present custom, it is reasonable to imagine that none will be easily discovered; and, therefore, I cannot but think it reasonable that the motion should be complied with. By it no new imposition is intended, nor any thing more than the establishment of a practice which has continued for more than fifty years, and never, except on two occasions, been denied to be legal. It is only proposed that the senate should confirm that interpretation of the act which has been almost universally received; that they should do what can produce no disturbance, because it will make no alterations; but may prevent them, because it may prevent any attempts of innovation, or diversity of opinions.
Sir John BARNARD spoke next, to the following effect:—Sir, whether the interpretation of the act which is now contended for, has been universally admitted, it is impossible to know; but it is at least certain, that the practice which is founded upon it, has in many places never been followed, nor, indeed, can it be made general without great impropriety.
Many of those, sir, who are styled keepers of publick-houses, and on whom soldiers are quartered under that denomination, have no conveniency of furnishing provisions, because they never sell them; such are many of the keepers of livery stables, among whom it is the common method to pay soldiers a small weekly allowance, instead of lodging them in their houses, a lodging being all which they conceive themselves obliged to provide, and all that the soldiers have hitherto required; nor can we make any alteration in this method without introducing the license and insolence of soldiers into private houses; into houses hitherto unacquainted with any degree of riot, incivility, or uproar.
The reason for which publick-houses are assigned for the quarters of soldiers, is partly the greater conveniency of accommodating them in families that subsist, by the entertainment of strangers, and partly the nature of their profession, which, by exposing them to frequent encounters with the rude and the debauched, enables them either to bear or repress the insolence of a soldier.
But with regard, sir, to the persons whom I have mentioned, neither of these reasons have any place; they have not, from their daily employment, any opportunities of furnishing soldiery with beds or victuals, nor, by their manner of life, are adapted to support intrusion or struggle with perverseness. Nor can I discover why any man should force soldiers into their houses, who would not willingly admit them into his own.
Mr. COCKS spoke to this effect:—Sir, the practice mentioned by the honourable gentleman, I know to be generally followed by all those that keep alehouses in the suburbs of this metropolis, who pay the soldiers billeted on them a composition for their lodging, nor ever see them but when they come to receive it; so far are they from imagining that they can claim their whole subsistence at any stated price.
It is apparent, therefore, that by admitting this motion, we should not confirm a law already received, but establish a new regulation unknown to the people; that we should lay a tax upon the nation, and send our soldiers to collect it.
General WADE rose, and spoke to this purpose:—Sir, I have been long conversant with military affairs; and, therefore, may perhaps be able to give a more exact account, from my own knowledge, of the antiquity and extent of this practice, than other gentlemen have had, from their way of life; an opportunity of obtaining.
It was, sir, in the reign of king William, the constant method by which the army was supported, as may be easily imagined by those who reflect, that it was common for the soldiers to remain for eight or ten months unpaid, and that they had, therefore, no possibility of providing for themselves the necessaries of life. Their pay never was received in those times by themselves, but issued in exchequer bills for large sums, which the innkeepers procured to be exchanged and divided among themselves, in proportion to their debts.
Such was the practice, sir, in that reign, which has been generally followed to this time, and the rates then fixed have not since been changed; and as no inconveniency has arisen from this method, I can discover no reason against confirming and continuing it.
Mr. PULTKNEY spoke next, in the manner following:—Sir, those that have spoken in defence of the motion, have accused their opponents, with great confidence, of declaiming without arguments, and of wasting the time of the session in a useless repetition of objections. I do not, indeed, wonder that the objections which have been raised should have given some disgust, for who can be pleased with hearing his opponent produce arguments which he cannot answer? But surely the repetitions may be excused; for an objection is to be urged in every debate till it is answered, or is discovered to be unanswerable.
But what, sir, have those urged in defence of their own opinions, who so freely animadvert upon the reasonings of others? What proofs, sir, have they given of the superiority of their own abilities, of the depth of their researches, or the acuteness of their penetration?
They have not produced one argument in favour of their motion, but that it is founded on custom; they have not discovered, however wise and sagacious, that it is always necessary to inquire whether a custom be good or bad; for surely without such inquiry no custom ought to be confirmed. The motion which they would support, is, indeed, useless in either case, for a good custom will continue of itself, and one that is bad ought not to be continued. It is the business of the legislature to reform abuses, and eradicate corruptions, not to give them new strength by the sanction of a law.
It has been urged, sir, that the law in reality exists already in that the act has been interpreted in this sense by the attorney general; and that his interpretation is generally received. This is then the state of the question: if the practice, founded upon this sense of the act, generally prevails, there is no need of a new clause to enforce what is already complied with; if it does not prevail, all that has been urged in defence of the motion falls to the ground.
I do not doubt, sir, that this custom has been received without many exceptions, and therefore think it ought still to remain a custom, rather than be changed into a law; because it will be complied with as a custom, where there are no obstacles to the observation of it; and it ought not to be enforced by law, where it is inconvenient and oppressive.
While the soldier, sir, is moderate in his demands, and peaceable and modest in his behaviour, the innkeeper will cheerfully furnish him even more than he can afford at the stated price; and certainly, rudeness, insolence, and unreasonable expectations, may justly be punished by the forfeiture of some conveniencies. Thus, sir, the innkeeper will preserve some degree of authority in his own house, a place where the laws of nature give every man dominion, and the soldier will continue a regular and inoffensive member of civil society.
The absurdity of leaving the soldier at large in his demands, and limiting the price which the innkeeper is to require, has been already exposed beyond the possibility of reply; nor, indeed, has the least attempt been made to invalidate this objection; for it has been passed in silence by those who have most zealously espoused the motion. The account given by the honourable gentleman of the reason for which this regulation was first introduced in the reign of king William, is undoubtedly just; but it proves, sir, that there is no necessity of continuing it; for the soldiers are now constantly paid, and therefore need not that assistance from the innkeeper, which was absolutely requisite when they were sometimes six months without money.
It has been urged, sir, with great importunity and vehemence, that some expedient should be proposed in the place of this, which so many gentlemen who have spoken on this occasion seem inclined to reject, and which, indeed, cannot be mentioned without contempt or abhorrence. That the soldiers should know, as well as their landlord, their own rights, is undoubtedly just, as well as that they should have some certain means of procuring the necessaries of life; it may, therefore, be proper to enact, that the innkeeper shall either furnish them with diet at the established rates, or permit them to dress the victuals which they shall buy for themselves, with his fire and utensils, and allow them candles, salt, vinegar, and pepper. By this method the soldiers can never be much injured by the incivility of their landlord, nor can the innkeeper be subjected to arbitrary demands. The soldier will still gain, by decency and humanity, greater conveniencies than he can procure for himself by his pay alone, and all opportunities of oppression on either side will, in a great measure, be taken away.
I cannot but express my hopes that this method will be generally approved. Those that have opposed the establishment of an army will be pleased to see it made less grievous to the people; and those that have declared in its favour, ought surely to adopt, without opposition, any measures, by the pursuit of which it may be borne with fewer complaints, and less reluctance.
[The consideration of this question was deferred, and the chairman having moved for leave to sit again, it was resolved to proceed on this business upon the next day but one, in a committee of the whole house.]
HOUSE OF COMMONS, MARCH 15, 1740-1
The order of the day being read for the house to resolve itself into a committee of the whole house, to consider the bill for punishing mutiny and desertion, and the better paying the army and their quarters,
Sir William YONGE spoke, in substance as follows:—Sir, the last day which was assigned to the consideration of this bill, was spent in long altercations, in vague and unnecessary disquisitions, in retrospective reflections upon events long past, and in aggravating of grievances that may never happen; much sagacity was exerted, and much eloquence displayed, but no determination was attained, nor even that expedient examined, by which those objections might be removed which appeared so important, or those dangers obviated which were represented so formidable and so near.
I hope, sir, part of the time which has intervened between that debate and the present day, has been employed by the gentlemen, whose scruples were so numerous, and whose caution is so vigilant, in contriving some methods of maintaining the army without oppressing the victuallers, and of providing for our defence against foreign enemies without subjecting us to the evils of discontent and disaffection, which they impute to the present state of the military establishment.
To object for ever, and to advance nothing, is an easy method of disputation upon any question, but contributes very little to the increase of knowledge: an artful and acute objector may confound, and darken, and disturb, but never assists inquiry, or illustrates truth.
In political questions, sir, it is still more easy and less ingenuous; for all political measures are in some degree right and wrong at the same time: to benefit some they very frequently bear hard upon others, and are, therefore, only to be approved or rejected as advantages appear to overbalance the inconveniencies, or the inconveniencies to outweigh the advantages.
It is, sir, the proper province of a senator to promote, not to obstruct the publick counsels; and when he declares his disapprobation of any expedient, to endeavour to substitute a better: for how can he be said to sustain his part of the general burden of publick affairs, who lays others under the necessity of forming every plan, and inventing every expedient, and contents himself with only censuring what he never endeavours to amend?
That every man, who is called forth by his country to sit here as the guardian of the publick happiness, is obliged, by the nature of his office, to propose, in this assembly, whatever his penetration or experience may suggest to him as advantageous to the nation, I doubt not but all that hear me are sufficiently convinced; and, therefore, cannot but suppose that they have so far attended to their duty, as to be able to inform us how the present inconveniencies of this bill may be remedied, and its defects supplied.
To show, sir, at least my inclination to expedite an affair so important, I shall lay before the house an amendment that I have made to the clause, pursuant to a hint offered the last day by an honourable member, "That all innholders, victuallers, etc. shall be obliged to furnish soldiers with salt, vinegar, small beer, candles, fire, and utensils to dress their victuals, and so doing shall not be obliged to supply the troops with provisions, except on a march."
I am far, sir, from thinking the clause, as it will stand after this amendment, complete and unexceptionable, being conscious that some articles in it may require explanation. The quantity of small beer to be allowed to each soldier must necessarily be ascertained, in order to prevent endless and indeterminable disputes; for one man, sir, may demand a greater quantity than another, and a man may be prompted by malice or wantonness to demand more than health requires; it will, therefore, be proper to limit the quantity which must be furnished, that neither the soldier may suffer by the avarice of his landlord, nor the landlord be oppressed by the gluttony of the soldier.
With regard to this question, sir, I expect to find different opinions in this assembly, which every man is at liberty to offer and to vindicate; and I shall take this opportunity of proposing on my part, that every man may have a daily allowance of three quarts. One quart to each meal may be allowed in my opinion to be sufficient, and sure no gentleman can imagine that by this limitation much superfluity is indulged.
There are some parts, sir, of this kingdom, in which cider is more plentiful, and cheaper than small beer; consequently, it may be for the ease of the victualler to have the choice allowed him of furnishing one or the other; it will, therefore, be a very proper addition to this clause, that the innkeepers shall allow the soldier, every day, three quarts of either small beer or cider.
That penal sanctions, sir, are essential to laws, and that no man will submit to any regulations inconvenient to himself, but that he may avoid some heavier evil, requires not to be proved; and, therefore, to complete this clause, I propose that the victualler who shall neglect or refuse to observe it, shall be subject to some fine for his non-compliance.
Mr. PELHAM spoke to this effect:—Sir, I cannot omit this opportunity of observing how much the burden of the army is diminished by the judicious regulations invariably observed in the late reigns, and how little the assignment of troops is to be dreaded by the victualler.
In the reign of king William, sir, before funds were established, while the credit of the government was low, the measures of the court were often obviated or defeated by the superiority of the discontented party, and the supplies denied which were necessary to support them, and in expectation of which they had been undertaken, it was not uncommon for the towns in which the troops were stationed, to murmur at their guests; nor could they be charged with complaining without just reasons: for to quarter soldiers upon a house, was in those days little less than to send troops to live at discretion.
As all supplies, sir, were then occasional and temporary, and nothing was granted but for the present exigence, the prevalence of the opposition, for a single session, embarrassed all the measures of the court in the highest degree; their designs were at a stand, the forces were unpaid, and they were obliged to wait till another session for an opportunity of prosecuting their schemes.
Thus, sir, the soldiers were sometimes five months without their pay, and were necessarily supported by the innkeeper at his own expense, with how much reluctance and discontent I need not mention. It cannot but be immediately considered, upon hearing this account of the soldier's condition, with how many reproaches he would receive his victuals, how roughly he would be treated, how often he would be insulted as an idler, and frowned upon as an intruder. Nor can it be imagined that such affronts, however they might be provoked, would be borne without return, by those who knew themselves not the authors of the provocation, and who thought themselves equal suf-ferers with those who complained. When the innkeeper growled at the soldier, the soldier, it may be supposed, seldom failed to threaten or to plunder the innkeeper, and to rise in his demands as his allowance was retrenched.
Thus, sir, the landlord and his guest were the constant enemies of each other, and spent their lives in mutual complaints, injuries, and insults.
But by the present regularity of our military establishment, this great evil is taken away; as the soldier requires no credit of the victualler, he is considered as no great incumbrance on his trade; and being treated without indignities, like any other member of the community, he inhabits his quarters without violence, insolence, or rapacity, and endeavours to recommend himself by officiousness and civility.
In the present method of payment, sir, the troops have always one month's pay advanced, and receive their regular allowance on the stated day; so that every man has it in his power to pay his landlord every night for what he has had in the day; or if he imagines himself able to procure his own provisions at more advantage, he can now go to market with his own money.
It appears, therefore, to me, sir, that the amendment now proposed is the proper mean between the different interests of the innkeeper and soldier; by which neither is made the slave of the other, and by which we shall leave, to both, opportunities of kindness, but take from them the power of oppression.