It is, I suppose, sir, the intent of the bill, that no man shall miss the reward but by his own fault; and, therefore, it may be inquired, what is to be the fate of him who shall be disabled in his first adventure, whom in the first year, or month, of his service, an unlucky shot shall confine for the remaining part of his life to inactivity: as the bill is now formed, he must be miserable without a recompense; and his wounds, which make him unable to support himself, will, though received in defence of his country, entitle him to no support from the publick.
Nor is this the only difficulty that may arise from the specifying of so long a service; for how can any man that shall enter on board the fleet be informed that the war will continue for five years? May we not all justly hope, that alacrity, unanimity, and prudence, may, in a much shorter time, reduce our enemies to beg for peace? And shall our sailors lose the reward of their hazards and their labours, only because they have been successful? What will this be less than making their bravery a crime or folly, and punishing them for not protracting the war by cowardice or treachery?
But let us suppose, sir, those defects supplied by a more explicit and determinate specification; there will yet arise an objection far more formidable; an objection, which the present state of our revenues will not suffer to be answered. The consideration of the greatness of the annual payment which this proposal requires, ought to incite every man to employ all his sagacity in search of some other method, equally efficacious, and less expensive.
We have already, sir, forty thousand seamen in our pay, to whom eight thousand more are speedily to be added: when each of these shall demand his stipend, a new burden of two hundred and eighty-eight thousand pounds must be laid upon the nation; upon a nation, whose lands are mortgaged, whose revenues are anticipated, and whose taxes cannot be borne without murmurs, nor increased without sedition.
The nation has found, by experience, that taxes once imposed for just reasons, and continued upon plausible pretences, till they are become familiar, are afterwards continued upon motives less laudable, are too productive of influence, and too instrumental towards facilitating the measures of the ministry, to be ever willingly remitted.
Mr. BLADEN spoke next, as follows:—Sir, it is obvious, that when the balance is unequal, it may be reduced to an equilibrium, as well by taking weight out of one scale, as adding it to the other. The wages offered by the merchants overbalance, at present, those which are proposed by the crown; to raise the allowance in the ships of war, will be, to lay new loads upon the publick, and will incommode the merchants, whose wages must always bear the same proportion to the king's. The only method, then, that remains, is to lighten the opposite scale, by restraining the merchants from giving wages, in time of war, beyond a certain value; for, as the service of the crown is then more immediately necessarv to the general advantage than that of the merchants, it ought to be made more gainful. Sailors, sir, are not, generally, men of very extensive views; and, therefore, we cannot expect that they should prefer the general good of their country before their own present interest; a motive of such power, that even in men of curious researches, refined sentiments, and generous education, we see, too often, that it surmounts every other consideration.
Lord BALTIMORE then spoke again:—Sir, to the expedient which the honourable gentleman who spoke last has suggested, and which he must be confessed to have placed in the strongest light, many objections may be raised, which I am afraid will not easily be removed.
The first, sir, which occurs to me on this short reflection is not less than the impossibility of putting his scheme in execution. The prescription of wages which he proposes, may be eluded by a thousand artifices, by advanced money, by gratuitous acknowledgments, the payment of money for pretended services, or by secret contracts, which it would be the interest of both parties to conceal.
But if this objection could be surmounted by severity and vigilance, would not this expedient help to defeat the general intention of the bill? A bill not designed as an immediate resource, a mere temporary project to supply our fleets for the present year, but as a method for removing the only obstruction of the British power, the difficulty of manning our ships of war.
It is, I hope, sir, the intention of every man who has offered his sentiments on this occasion, to contrive some general encouragement for seamen, which shall not only invite them to assist their country at the first summons, but shall allure others to qualify themselves for the publick service, by engaging in the same profession.