Complete Works of Samuel Johnson

by Samuel Johnson

  Part of the clauses the noble duke has, indeed, attempted to defend, but has been obliged by his regard to reason and to truth, to make such concessions, as are, in my opinion, sufficient arguments for the rejection of the bill. He has admitted of almost every clause that it is imperfect, that it may be amended by farther consideration, and that, though not wholly to be neglected, it yet requires some farther improvements to become effectual to the advantage of our merchants.

  The last three clauses, his natural abilities and just discernment immediately showed him to be indefensible; and he has too much regard to the interest of his country to attempt the vindication of a bill, which could not be passed without weakening it by impairing its naval force, and, yet more sensibly, by diminishing the reputation of its legislature.

  I hope, therefore, my lords, that I shall not undergo the common censure of disregard to our commercial interest, or be ranked amongst the enemies of the merchants, though I declare, that in my opinion, this bill ought to be rejected as unnecessary and injudicious, and that we should only, by considering in a committee what no consideration can amend, waste that time in a fruitless attempt, which may be spent much more usefully upon other subjects.

  Lord CARTERET spoke next, to the following purpose: — My lords, though I do not approve equally of every part of the bill now before us, though I think some of the provisions unnecessary, others unlikely to produce any beneficial effects, and some already established by former acts of the senate, or rules of the admiralty, yet I cannot agree with the noble lord that it is unworthy of farther consideration.

  In my opinion, my lords, it is necessary, for many reasons, to amend this bill rather than reject it; and I hope, that when I shall have laid before you the result of those inquiries and those reflections which I have made on this occasion, your lordships will judge it not improper to refer it to a committee.

  Nothing, my lords, is more necessary to the legislature than the affection and esteem of the people; all government consists in the authority of the few over the many, and authority, therefore, can be founded only on opinion, and must always fall to the ground, when that which supports it is taken away.

  For this reason, my lords, it is worthy of this most august and awful assembly, to endeavour to convince the people of our solicitude for their happiness, and our compassion for their sufferings; lest we should seem elevated by the casual advantages of birth and fortune above regard to the lower classes of mankind; lest we should seem exalted above others only to neglect them, and invested with power only to exert it in acts of wanton oppression; lest high rank should in time produce hatred rather than reverence, and superiority of fortune only tempt rapine and excite rebellion.

  The bill now under our consideration, my lords, cannot be rejected without danger of exasperating the nation, without affording to the discontented and malevolent an opportunity of representing this house as regardless of the publick miseries, and deaf to the cries of our fellow-subjects languishing in captivity, and mourning in poverty. The melancholy and dejected will naturally conceive us inebriated with affluence, and elated with dignity, endeavouring to remove from our eyes every spectacle of misery, and to turn aside from those lamentations which may interrupt the enjoyment of our felicity.

  Nor, indeed, can it be justly said, that such representations are without grounds, when we consider the important occasion on which this bill is drawn up, the bitterness of those calamities which it is intended to redress, and the authority by which it is recommended to us.

  It may naturally be expected, my lords, that the title of a bill for the protection and security of trade, should raise an uncommon degree of ardour and attention; it might be conceived that every lord in this house would be ambitious of signalizing his zeal for the interest of his country, by proposing, on this occasion, every expedient which experience or information had suggested to him; and that instead of setting ourselves free from the labour of inquiry and the anxiety of deliberation, by raising objections to the bill and rejecting it, we should labour with unanimous endeavours, and incessant assiduity, to supply its defects, and correct its improprieties; to show that a design so beneficial can never be proposed to us without effect, and that whenever we find honest zeal, we shall be ready to assist it with judgment and experience.

  Compassion might likewise concur to invigorate our endeavours on this occasion. For who, my lords, can reflect on families one day flourishing in affluence, and contributing to the general prosperity of their country, and on a sudden, without the crime of extravagance or negligence, reduced to penury and distress, harassed by creditors, and plundered by the vultures of the law, without wishing that such misfortunes might by some expedient be averted? But this, my lords, is not the only nor the greatest calamity, which this bill is intended to prevent. The loss of wealth, however grievous, is yet less to be dreaded than that of liberty, and indigence added to captivity is the highest degree of human misery. Yet even this, however dreadful, is now the lot of multitudes of our fellow-subjects, who are languishing with want in the prisons of Spain.

  Surely, my lords, every proposal must be well received that intends the prevention or relief of calamities like these. Surely the ruin of its merchants must alarm every trading nation, nor can a British senate sit unconcerned at the captivity of those men by whom liberty is chiefly supported.

  Of the importance of the merchants, by whom this bill is recommended to our consideration, and by whose influence it has already passed the other house, it is not necessary to remind your lordships, who know, that to this class of men our nation is indebted for all the advantages that it possesses above those which we behold with compassion or contempt, for its wealth and power, and perhaps for its liberty and civility. To the merchants, my lords, we owe that our name is known beyond our own coasts, and that our influence is not confined to the narrow limits of a single island.

  Let us not, therefore, my lords, reject with contempt what is proposed and solicited by men of this class; men whose experience and knowledge cannot but have enabled them to offer something useful and important, though, perhaps, for want of acquaintance with former laws, they may have imagined those provisions now first suggested, which have only been forgotten, and petitioned for the enaction of a new law, when they needed only an enforcement of former statutes.

  That our naval force has, in the present war, been misapplied; that our commerce has been exposed to petty spoilers, in a degree never known before; that our convoys have been far from adding security to our traders; and that with the most powerful fleet in the world, we have suffered all that can fall upon the most defenceless nation, cannot be denied.

  Nor is it any degree of temerity, my lords, to affirm, that these misfortunes have been brought upon us by either negligence or treachery; for, besides that no other cause can be assigned for the losses which a powerful people suffer from an enemy of inferiour force, there is the strongest authority for asserting, that our maritime affairs have been ill conducted, and that, therefore, the regulation of them is very seasonably and properly solicited by the merchants.

  For this assertion, my lords, we may produce the authority of the other house, by which a remonstrance was drawn up against the conduct of the commissioners of the admiralty. This alone ought to influence us to an accurate discussion of this affair. But when an authority yet more venerable is produced, when it appears that his majesty, by the dismission of the commissioners from their employments, admitted the justice of the representation of the commons, it surely can be of no use to evince, by arguments, the necessity of new regulations.

  It is, indeed, certain, that men of integrity and prudence, men of ability to discern their duty, and of resolution to execute it, can receive very little assistance from rules and prescriptions; nor can I deny what the noble lord has affirmed, that they may be sometimes embarrassed in their measures, and hindered from snatching opportunities of success, and complying with emergent occasions; but, my lords, we are to consider mankind, not a
s we wish them, but as we find them, frequently corrupt, and always fallible.

  If men were all honest and wise, laws of all kinds would be superfluous, a legislature would become useless, and our authority must cease for want of objects to employ it; but we find, my lords, that there are men whom nothing but laws and penalties can make supportable to society; that there are men, who, if they are not told their duty, will never know it, and who will, at last, only perform what they shall be punished for neglecting.

  Were all men, like the noble lord whom I am now attempting to answer, vigilant to discover, sagacious to distinguish, and industrious to prosecute the interest of the publick, I should be very far from proposing that they should be constrained by rules, or required to follow any guide but their own reason; I should resign my own prosperity, and that of my country, implicitly into their hands, and rest in full security that nothing would be omitted that human wisdom could dictate for our advantage.

  I am not persuading your lordships to lay restraints upon virtue and prudence, but to consider how seldom virtue and authority are found together, how often prudence degenerates into selfishness, and all generous regard for the publick is contracted into narrow views of private interest. I am endeavouring to show, that since laws must be equally obligatory to all, it is the interest of the few good men to submit to restraints, which, though they may sometimes obstruct the influence of their virtue, will abundantly recompense them, by securing them from the mischiefs that wickedness, reigning almost without limits, and operating without opposition, might bring upon them.

  It may not be improper to add, my lords, that no degree of human wisdom is exempt from errour; that he who claims the privilege of acting at discretion, subjects himself likewise to the necessity of answering for the consequences of his conduct, and that ill success will at least subject him to reproach and suspicion, from which, he whose conduct is regulated by established rules, may always have an opportunity of setting himself free.

  Fixed and certain regulations are, therefore, my lords, useful to the wisest and best men; and to those whose abilities are less conspicuous, and whose integrity is at best doubtful, I suppose it will not be doubted that they are indispensably necessary.

  Some of the expedients mentioned in this bill, I shall readily concur with the noble lord in censuring and rejecting; I am very far from thinking it expedient to invest the governours of our colonies with any new degree of power, or to subject the captains of our ships of war to their command. I have lived, my lords, to see many successions of those petty monarchs, and have known few whom I would willingly trust with the exercise of great authority. It is not uncommon, my lords, for those to be made cruel and capricious by power, who were moderate and prudent in lower stations; and if the effects of exaltation are to be feared even in good men, what may not be expected from it in those, whom nothing but a distant employment could secure from the laws, and who, if they had not been sent to America to govern, must probably have gone thither on a different occasion?

  The noble duke, who has vindicated the bill with arguments to which very little can be added, and to which I believe nothing can be replied, has expressed his unwillingness to concur in any measures for the execution of which new officers must be appointed. An increase of officers, my lords, is, indeed, a dreadful sound, a sound that cannot but forebode the ruin of our country; the number of officers already established is abundantly sufficient for all useful purposes, nor can any addition be made but to the ruin of our constitution.

  I am, therefore, of opinion, that no new officer was intended by those that drew up the bill, and that they proposed only to furnish those that loiter in our ports, at the expense of the publick, with an opportunity of earning their salaries by some useful employment.

  I know not, indeed, my lords, whether any good effects can be reasonably hoped from this provision; whether men accustomed to connivance and negligence in affairs of less importance, ought to be trusted with the care of our naval preparations, and engaged in service, on which the prosperity of the publick may depend; and cannot conceal my apprehensions, that such men, if commissioned to superintend others, may themselves require a superintendent.

  But, my lords, this and every other clause may, in a committee, be carefully examined and deliberately corrected; and since it appears evident to me, that some law is necessary for the security of our commerce, I think this bill ought not to be rejected without farther consideration.

  Lord WINCHELSEA rose again, and spoke thus: — My lords, as the known sincerity of that noble lord allows no room for suspecting, that he would bestow any praises where he did not believe there was some desert, and as his penetration and acuteness secure him from being deceived by any false appearances of merit, I cannot but applaud myself for having obtained his esteem, which I hope will not be forfeited by my future conduct.

  Having happily gained the regard of so exact a judge of mankind, I am the less solicitous what opinion may be conceived of my abilities or intentions by those whose censures I less fear, and whose praises I less value, and shall, therefore, cheerfully hazard any degree of popularity, which I may have hitherto possessed, by continuing my opposition to this bill, of which I am still convinced that it will produce nothing but embarrassment, losses, and disgrace.

  The necessity of gaining and preserving the esteem of the people I very willingly allow, but am of opinion that though it may sometimes be gained by flattering their passions and complying with their importunities, by false appearances of relief, and momentary alleviations of their grievances, it is only to be preserved by real and permanent benefits, by a steady attention to the great ends of government, and a vigorous prosecution of the means by which they may be obtained, without regard to present prejudices or temporary clamours.

  I believe, my lords, it will always be found that it is dangerous to gratify the people at their own expense, and to sacrifice their interest to their caprices; for I have so high a veneration of their wisdom, as to pronounce without scruple, that however they may, for a time, be deceived by artful misrepresentations, they will, at length, learn to esteem those most, who have the resolution to promote their happiness in opposition to their prejudices.

  I am, therefore, confident, my lords, of regaining the popularity which I may lose by declaring, once more, that this bill ought to be rejected, since no endeavours shall be wanting to show how little it is necessary, by an effectual protection of every part of our trade, and a diligent provision for the naval service.

  The duke of BEDFORD rose, and spoke to this effect: — My lords, I am convinced that this bill is very far from being either absurd or useless, nor can imagine that they by whom it was drawn up could fail of producing some expedients that may deserve consideration.

  It is probable, that a farther inquiry may show the propriety of some clauses, which at present appear most liable to censure; and that, if we reject this bill thus precipitately, we shall condemn what we do not fully comprehend. No clause appeared to me more unworthy of the judgment and penetration of the merchants than the last, nor was there any which I should have rejected at the first perusal with less regret; yet, having taken this opportunity of considering it a second time, I find it by no means indefensible, for the direction of ships stationed for the defence of our American territories, is not committed to the governours alone. The council of each province is joined with them in authority, by whom any private regards may be overborne, and who cannot be supposed to concur in any directions which will not promote the general interest of the colony.

  I doubt not, my lords, but other clauses have been equally mistaken, and, therefore, think it necessary to consider them in a committee, where every lord may declare his sentiments, without the restraint of a formal debate, and where the bill may be deliberately revised, and accommodated more exactly to the present exigencies of the nation.

  Lord WINCHELSEA spoke again, in substance as follows: — My lords, the only reason which has been urged for considering this bil
l in a committee, is the necessity of gratifying the merchants, and of showing our concern for the prosperity of commerce. If therefore it shall appear, that the merchants are indifferent with regard to its success, I hope it will be rejected without opposition.

  I was this morning, my lords, informed by a merchant, who has many opportunities of acquainting himself with the opinions of the trading part of the nation, that they were fully convinced of the impossibility of adapting fixed rules to variable exigencies, or of establishing any certain method of obviating the chances of war, and defeating enemies who were every day altering their schemes; and declared that they had no hopes of security but from the vigilance of a board of admiralty, solicitous for the welfare of the merchants, and the honour of the nation.

  Lord CHOLMONDELEY rose and spoke to the following purpose: — My lords, as three clauses of this bill have been universally given up, and almost all the rest plainly proved by the noble lord to be either absurd or superfluous, I cannot see why it should not be rejected without the solemnity of farther consideration, to which, indeed, nothing but the title can give it any claim.

  The title, my lords, is, indeed, specious, and well fitted to the design of gaining attention and promoting popularity; but with this title there is nothing that corresponds, nor is any thing to be found but confusion and contradictions, which grow more numerous upon farther search.

  That the whole bill, my lords, is unnecessary, cannot be denied, if it be considered that nothing is proposed in it which is not already in the power of your lordships, who may call at pleasure for the lists of the navy, the accounts of the cruisers, the duties of their commissions, and the journals of their commanders, (as you did in the sixth of queen Anne,) and detect every act of negligence or treachery, and every instance of desertion, or of cowardice.