Complete Works of Samuel Johnson, page 228
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that made it necessary: but long experience has informed us, that severe laws are enacted more readily than they are repealed; and that most men are too fond of power to suffer willingly the diminution of it.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.
Upon the whole, sir, I am not able to discover, that any man should be exempted from an impress merely because he finds means to escape it, or because idleness or disinclination to the publick service prompts him to abscond.
If any men deserve indulgence, in opposition to the demands of the publick, they are rather those who have already, in some degree, discharged their duty to it, by contributing to bring in that wealth which is the consequence of a prosperous and well-regulated commerce, and without which war cannot be supported.
It is not without grief and regret, that I am obliged to represent, on this occasion, the obstructions which the war has suffered from those at whose request it was undertaken; and to declare, that the conduct of the merchants, has afforded proof that some law of this tendency is absolutely necessary.
The merchants, sir, who have so loudly complained of the decline of trade, the interruption of navigation, and the insolence, rapacity, and cruelty of the Spaniards; the merchants, who filled the nation with representations of their hardships, discouragements, and miseries, and lamented in the most publick manner, that they were the only body for whom the legislature had no regard, who were abandoned to the caprice of other nations, were plundered abroad, and neglected at home; the merchants, after having at length by their importunities engaged the state in a war, of which they have themselves certainly not the least pretensions to question either the justice or necessity, now, when by the natural consequences of a naval armament, sailors become less numerous, and ships more difficult to be equipped, contract in private with such sailors as they are inclined to employ, and conceal them in garrets, hired for that purpose, till the freight is ready, or the danger of an impress is past, and thus secure their own private affairs at the hazard of the publick, and hinder the operations of a war, which they, and they only, solicited.
The danger of having other enemies than the Spaniards, enemies, sir, more active, more powerful, and more ambitious, has already been mentioned; a danger so near, and so formidable, that he will not be thought very solicitous for his country, whom the bare mention of it does not alarm. This danger we are, therefore, to obviate by vigorous preparations, and unanimous resolutions; nor do I doubt but both our enemies, if they find us united, will repent of attacking us.
Sir, the most efficacious method of manning our fleets, which law or custom has yet put into our hands, is that of suspending our commerce by an embargo; and yet the whole nation knows how much, and by what means, it has been eluded: no sooner was it known that an embargo was laid, than the sailors flew away into the country, or hid themselves in corners of this great city, as from the most formidable danger; and no sooner did the embargo cease, than the banks of the river were again crowded with sailors, and all the trading vessels were immediately supplied.
As I cannot doubt, sir, that every gentleman is equally zealous for the success of the war, and the prosperity of his country; and as the insufficiency of the present methods of providing for them is apparent, I hope, that either the regulations proposed by this bill, to which I see no important objections, or some other of equal use, will be established by a general concurrence.
Lord BALTIMORE spoke next: — Though no gentleman in this assembly, sir, can more ardently wish the success of the British arms, or shall more willingly concur in any measure that may promote it, yet I cannot agree to the clause now under our consideration; I disapprove it both from moral and political motives; I disapprove it as neither just nor prudent.
The injustice of so flagrant an invasion of the liberty of particular men has been already exposed; nor is it, in my opinion, less easy to discover the imprudence of exhausting all our supplies at once, and sweeping away all our sailors, to supply a single exigency.
It has often been remarked, sir, in favour of a standing army, that it is requisite to have a number of regular forces, who, though too weak to oppose an invasion, might be able to establish discipline in a larger body. An observation which may, with much greater justness, be applied to the seamen, whose art is much more difficult to be attained, and who are equally necessary in war and peace.
If our stock of seamen, sir, be destroyed, if there is not left in our trading vessels a sufficient number of experienced artists to initiate novices, and propagate the profession, not only our ships of war must lie useless, but our commerce sink to nothing.
Nor have I reason to believe the naval power of France so formidable, as that we ought to be terrified by the apprehensions of it into any extraordinary methods of procedure. I am informed that they have now very few ships of force left in their harbours; and that they have exerted their whole strength in the American fleet.
I am not, therefore, sir, for providing against present dangers, without regard to our future security; and think nothing more worthy of the consideration of this assembly, than the means of encouraging and increasing our seamen, which will not be effected by the bill before us.
Land forces may be hired upon emergencies; but sailors are our own peculiar strength, and the growth of our own soil; we are, therefore, above all other regards, to attend, if I may use the term, to the preservation of the species.
Mr. VYNER next spoke: — Mr. Chairman, as there can be no stronger objection to any law than ambiguity, or indeterminate latitude of meaning, I think it necessary to propose, that some word of known and limited import, be substituted in the place of seafaring men; an expression which, if I was asked the meaning of it, I should find it difficult to explain.
Are seafaring men those only who navigate in the sea? The term is then superfluous, for all such are evidently comprised in the word seamen. Are they bargemen or watermen, who ply on rivers and transport provision or commodities from one inland town to another? In that sense nobody will affirm that it is a proper word; and impropriety in the expression of laws, produces uncertainty in the execution of them.
Captain CORNWALL rose up: — Sir, the term seafaring men, of which an explication is desired, is intended to include all those who live by conveying goods or passengers upon the water, whether the sea or inland rivers: nor can we restrain it to a narrower sense, without exempting from the publick service great numbers, whose manner of life has qualified them for it, and from whom their country may, with equal justice, expect assistance, as from those who are engaged in foreign traffick.
Mr. VYNER replied: — Sir, I am far from concurring with the honourable gentleman in his opinion, that the inland watermen are, by their profession, in any degree qualified for sea service, or can properly be called seafaring men.
All qualifications for the service must consist either in some knowledge of the arts of navigation, or in some familiarity with the dangers of the sea. With regard to any previous knowledge of naval business, it is well known that they have no advantage over any common labourer; for the manner of navigating a ship and a barge have, for the most part, nothing in common.
Nor are these watermen, sir, more able to stand firm in the terrours of the storm, or the noise of a battle, than those who follow any other occupation. Many of them never saw the sea, nor have less dread of its danger than the other inhabitants of the inland counties. They are, therefore, neither seafaring men, nor peculiarly capable of being made seamen.
But the hardship upon particular men is not the strongest objection to this clause, which, by obstructing our inland navigation, may make our rivers useless, and set the whole trade of the nation at a stand. For who will bring up his son a waterman, who knows him exposed by that profession to be impressed for a seaman?
It seems, therefore, necessary, sir, either to omit the term seafaring men [Footnote: Agreed to be omitted.], or to explain it in such a manner, that inland watermen may not be included.
Lord GAGE spoke next: — Sir, so much has been urged against the compulsive methods proposed in this clause, and so little produced in favour of them, that it may seem superfluous to add any thing, or to endeavour, by a multiplicity of arguments, to prove what common reason must immediately discover. But there is one consequence of this clause which has not yet been observed, and which is yet too important not to be obviated by a particular proviso.
It is well known, sir, that many of those to whom this act will extend, are freeholders and voters, for electing the representatives of the nation; and it is therefore apparent, that elections may be influenced by an ill-timed or partial execution of it. How easy will it be, when an election approaches, to raise a false alarm, to propose some secret expedition, or threaten us with an invasion from some unknown country, and to seize on all the seafaring voters whose affections are suspected, and confine them at Spithead till the contest is over.
I cannot, therefore, sir, but think it necessary, that if this clause be suffered to pass, some part of its hateful consequences should be prevented by an exception in favour of freeholders and voters, which, surely, is no less than what every man owes to his own security, to the welfare of his country, and to those by whom he has been honoured with the care of their liberties.
