Lord HERVEY spoke next, to the following effect:—My lords, it is not without that concern which every man ought to feel at the apparent approach of publick calamities, that I have heard the measures which are now the subject of our inquiry so weakly defended, when their vindication is endeavoured with so much ardour, and laboured with so much address.
The objections which press upon the mind, at the first and slightest view of our proceedings, are such as require the closest attention, such as cannot but alarm every man who has studied the interest of his country, and who sincerely endeavours to promote it; and therefore it might be hoped, that those who appear to have thought them insufficient, are able to produce, in opposition to them, the strongest arguments, and the clearest deductions.
When we attempt the consideration of our present condition, and inquire by what means our prosperity may be secured, the first reflection that occurs, is, that we are traders, that all our power is the consequence of our wealth, and our wealth the product of our trade. It is well known, that trade can only be pursued under the security of peace; that a nation which has a larger commerce, must make war on disadvantageous terms against one that has less; as of two contiguous countries, the more fruitful has most to fear from an invasion by its neighbour.
It is visible, likewise, to any man who considers the situation of Britain, that there is no nation by which our trade can in time of war be so much obstructed as by France, of which the coasts are opposite to ours, and which can send out small vessels, and seize our merchants in the mouths of our harbours, or in the Channel of which we boast the sovereignty: and all those who have heard or read of the last war, in which we gained so much honour, and so little advantage, know that the privateers of France injured us more than its navies or its armies; and that a thousand victories on the continent, where we were only contending for the rights of others, were a very small recompense for the obstruction of our commerce; nor can he feel much tenderness for mankind, who would purchase by the ruin and distress of a thousand families, industrious and innocent, the momentary festivity of a triumph, or the idle glare of an illumination.
Yet, my lords, this nation, however zealous for its commerce, is about to engage in a war, in a war with the only state by which our commerce can be impaired; it is about to support new armies on the continent without allies, and without treasure.
That we are without treasure, and that our trade, by which only our funds can be supplied, has lately been very much diminished, is too easy to prove in opposition to the specious display which the noble lord, who spoke last, has been pleased to make of the exuberance of our wealth.
If the abundance of our riches be such as it has been represented, why are no measures formed for the payment of the publick debts? of which no man will say, that they are not in themselves a calamity, and the source of many calamities yet greater; of which it cannot be denied, that they multiply dependence by which our constitution may sometimes be endangered. Why are those debts not only unpaid, but increased by annual additions to such a height, that the payment of them must soon become desperate, and the publick sink under the burden?
That our trade, my lords, and by consequence our wealth, is of late diminished, may be proved beyond controversy, even to those whose interest it is not to believe it, and upon whom, therefore, it cannot be expected, that arguments will have a great effect. The produce of the customs was the last year less by half a million than the mean revenue; and as our customs must always bear a certain proportion to trade, we may form an indisputable estimate from them of its increase or its decline.
The rise of our stocks, my lords, is such a proof of riches, as dropsical tumours are of health; it shows not the circulation, but the stagnation of our money; and though it may flatter us with a false appearance of plenty for a time, will soon prove, that it is both the effect and cause of poverty, and will end in weakness and destruction.
When commerce flourishes, when its profit is certain and secure, men will employ their money in the exchange of commodities, by which greater advantage may be gained, than by putting it into the hands of brokers; but when every ship is in danger of being intercepted by privateers, and the insurer divides the profit of every voyage with the merchant, it is natural to choose a safer, though a less profitable traffick; and rather to treasure money in the funds, than expose it on the ocean.