The whole practice of insurance, sir, is, in its present state, I believe, so perplexed with frauds, and of such manifest tendency to the obstruction of commerce, that it absolutely requires some legal regulations.
Sir John BARNARD then spoke to this purpose:—Of frauds in the practice of insurance, with regard to which the honourable gentleman has appealed to me, I can confidently affirm that I am totally ignorant: I know not of any fraudulent practices openly carried on, or established by custom, which I suppose are meant: for with regard to single acts of fraud, committed by particular men, it is not to be supposed but that they have been detected in this, as in all other branches of traffick: nor can I conceive that any argument can be drawn from them against the practice; for if every part of commerce is to be prohibited, which has furnished villains with opportunities of deceit, we shall contract trade into a narrow compass.
With regard, sir, to the instance of the Royal George, though the proceedings of the officers are not wholly to be vindicated, yet part of their conduct is less inexplicable than it has been represented. Their return to Antigua, when they were bound for Britain, and were within a week's sailing of their port, is easily to be defended, if the wind was contrary to their intended course; for it is not difficult to conceive that they might reach a distant port, with a favourable wind, much sooner than one much nearer, with the wind against them.
I have always observed, sir, that the gentlemen engaged in the trade to the East Indies, assume an air of superiority, to which I know not what claim they can produce, and seem to imagine, that their charter gives them more extensive knowledge, and more acute sagacity, than falls to the lot of men not combined in their association.
But however these gentlemen may disapprove my arguments, and however they may misrepresent them, I shall be satisfied, that they will have, with the disinterested and impartial, their just weight, and that this affair will not be hastily determined upon an imperfect examination.
Sir Robert WALPOLE replied to this effect:—Whether the merchants are satisfied with the present methods of insuring, or what is the opinion of any separate body of men, I think it absolutely unnecessary to inquire. We are constituted for the publick advantage, and are engaged by our senatorial character to consider, not the private interest of particular men, but the general advantage of our country.
In our pursuit, sir, of national interest, we shall be obliged frequently to oppose the schemes which private men or separate fraternities, have formed for their own advantage, and which they may be expected to defend with all their art; both because every man is unwilling to imagine that the publick interest and his own are opposite, and because it is to be feared, that many may consider the publick only in subordination to themselves, and be very little solicitous about the general prosperity of their country, provided none of the calamities which afflict it extend their influence to themselves.
We are in the discussion of this question, sir, to consider that we are engaged in a war against a nation from which insults, depredations, oppressions, and cruelties, have been long complained of, and against which we are, therefore, to act with a resolution proportioned to the injuries which we have suffered, and to our desire of vengeance. We are to practice every method of distressing them, and to promote the success of our arms even at the expense of present gain, and the interest of private men.
It is well known, sir, to all who have either heard or read of the Spaniards, that they live in carelessness and indolence, neglect all the natural advantages of their own country, despise the gain of foreign commerce, and depend wholly on their American settlements, for all the conveniences, and, perhaps, for most of the necessaries of life.
This is the particular circumstance that makes a war with Britain so much to be dreaded by them. A nation superiour to them by sea holds them besieged, like a garrison surrounded by an army, precludes them from supplies, intercepts their succours, and if it cannot force their walls by attack, can, at least, by a blockade, starve them to a capitulation.