The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. Volume 10

If it be urged, that we ought not to enact any laws which may obstruct the gain of our fellow-subjects, may it not be asked, why all trade with Spain is prohibited; may not the trade be equally gainful with the insurance, and may not the gain be more generally distributed, and, therefore, be more properly national?

But this trade was prohibited, because it was more necessary to our enemies than to ourselves; it was prohibited, because the laws of war require, that a less evil should be suffered to inflict a greater; it is upon this principle that every battle is fought, and that we fire our own ships to consume the navies of the enemy.

For this reason, sir, it appears to me evident beyond contradiction, that the insurance of Spanish ships ought to be prohibited: we shall, indeed, lose the profit of the insurance, but we shall be reimbursed by the captures, which is an argument that cannot be produced for the prohibition of commerce.

It is urged, sir, that they may insure their ships in other countries; an assertion, of which, whether it be true or not, I am not able to decide; but it is acknowledged, that the necessity of establishing new correspondence will be at least a temporary obstruction of their trade, and an obstruction of even a short continuance may lay them at our mercy.

But let us, sir, reflect upon the weakness of this argument,—they must be allowed to insure here, because they may insure in other places; will it not be equally just to urge, that they must trade with us, because they may trade with other nations? And may it not be answered, that though we cannot wholly suspend their commerce, it is yet our business to obstruct it as far as we are able?

May it-not, sir, be farther affirmed, that by insuring in other nations, they may injure their allies by falling into our hands, but do not the less benefit us? that if they do not grow weaker, we at least are strengthened; but that by insuring among us, whatever steps are taken, the equilibrium of the war is preserved always the same?

It is asserted, and I suppose with truth, that we insure at a lower rate than others, and it will, therefore, follow, that the Spaniards, whenever their ships shall escape us, will suffer more by having-insured amongst foreigners, than if they had contracted with our merchants.

Thus it appears, sir, that there are stronger reasons for prohibiting the insurance of Spanish ships, than for putting a stop to our commerce with them; and that whether their ships are taken by us, or escape us, it is the general interest of the nation, that they shall be insured by foreign merchants.

With respect, sir, to the East India company, I have no regard to their interest, considered as distinct from that of the rest of the nation; nor have received any solicitations from them to promote this bill, or to espouse their interest; but cannot, without concealing my real sentiments, deny, that as they have the grant of an exclusive trade to the East Indies, to insure the ships that are sent thither without their permission, is to invade their rights, and to infringe their charter; and that the practice, if the validity of their charter be admitted, is illegal, and ought to be discountenanced.

The practice, sir, of insuring, interest or no interest, or of assigning to ships an imaginary value, is nothing more than a particular game, a mere solemn species of hazard, and ought, therefore, to be prohibited, for every reason that can be urged against games of chance.

With regard to this bill in general, it is, in my opinion, highly necessary, nor can I discover any important objection that can be made against it. Some law of this kind, and to this purpose, I have long intended to offer to the consideration of this assembly, and since it is now before us, I think we ought to consider it with the attention which may be justly expected from us.

Lord BALTIMORE spoke thus:—Sir, I know not how properly the practice of insuring may be termed a species of hazard, nor do I think any thing more is to be considered, than whether the game be gainful to the nation, or not, for I cannot discover that there is any absurdity in enriching ourselves at the expense of other nations, whether enemies or allies. That we ought to prefer the general good to the advantage of individuals, is undoubted, but I cannot conceive that in this case there can be any opposition between private and publick interest. If our insurers gain by securing the ships of our enemies, the nation is benefited, for all national gain must circulate through the hands of individuals.

No man will assert that we ought to assist our enemies, nor will any man imagine that we assist them by impoverishing them, and if our insurers gain by their practice, the Spaniards must undoubtedly be losers.

Mr. WILLIMOT spoke next, to the following purpose:—Sir, I have conversed on the question to which this bill relates, with men engaged in various kinds of traffick, and who have no common interest but that of their country. I have dispersed among the merchants, most eminent for their acquaintance with the whole extent of commerce, and for their knowledge of the true interest of the nation, copies of this bill, and cannot find any of them so sensible of the grievance of which we have so loud complaints, as to desire that it should be redressed by the measures now proposed.

That frauds are practised on every side, in this, as well as in other trades, the general corruption of our age gives us sufficient reason to suspect; but what is common to every sort of traffick, cannot be produced as an argument for the prohibition of any.

That the practice of insuring an imaginary value may give opportunity for greater frauds than can be practised in common dealings, is likewise evident, but I cannot discover such frauds to require the interposition of the legislature.

If they are practised only by those of our own nation, the publick does not suffer; for property is only transferred from one subject to another: the fraud ought, indeed, to be severely punished in the courts of criminal justice, but the custom which gave the opportunity of practising it, ought not to be restrained, any more than any other profession not criminal in itself, but liable to accidental abuses.

If our insurers are defrauded by foreigners, the nation is then, indeed, more nearly affected, but even in that case, it is to be remembered, that the private interest of the insurers, who must be immediately ruined, is a sufficient security for the publick. For it cannot, sir, be conceived that any man will obstinately carry on a business, by which he becomes every day poorer, or, that when he desists he will be succeeded by another, who cannot but know that he engages in that traffick to his certain ruin.

The true state of this affair is, that frauds are, indeed, often committed, and are for that reason always suspected, and that the insurers, when they insure the ship and cargo against accidents, reckon, among other chances, the probability of being cheated, and proportion their demands, not only to the length and danger of the voyage, but to the character, likewise, of the man with whom they contract.

This, sir, is always the practice of those whom experience has made acquainted with the danger of implicit confidence and unsuspecting credulity, nor do any but the young and unskilful suffer themselves to be so exposed to frauds, as that their fortunes should be injured, or the general gain of their business overbalanced, by a few deceits.

Thus it appears, that notwithstanding the ease and safety with which the present methods of insurance admit fraud to be practised, the insurers, by a proportionate degree of caution, secure themselves from being injured, and, by consequence, the nation.

The insurance of foreign ships is now to be considered, by which great profit arises to the nation. We insure, sir, as it has been observed, at lower rates than other nations, because we have more business of this kind, and the smallness of our profit is compensated by the frequency; the cheapness of insurances, and eagerness of foreigners to insure here, reciprocally contribute to each other; we are often applied to, because we insure at an easy rate, and we can insure at an easy rate, because we are often applied to.

Nor is the cheapness of British insurance the only motive to the preference which it preserves among foreigners, who are induced to apply to this nation, by the reputation which our merchants have deservedly gained for probity and punctuality superiour to that of any other traders. Our merchants, sir, bargain without artifice, pay without subterfuges, and are ready on all occasions to preserve their character at the hazard of their profit.

From these two considerations we may draw unanswerable arguments against any restraints upon the practice of insuring: if foreigners are once disappointed in their applications to us, our business will in a great part cease, and as we shall not then be able to insure at lower rates than other nations, we shall never recover that branch of our trade. And as the character of the British merchants exempts them from any suspicion of practices pernicious to the publick, why should they be restrained? Why, sir, should they appear to be suspected by the legislature of their own country, whom foreigners trust without hesitation.

It has been objected to them with great warmth, and urged with much rhetorical exaggeration, that they assist the enemies of their country, that they prolong the war, and defeat those advantages which our situation and commerce have given us; imputations sufficiently atrocious, if they were founded upon truth.

But let us, sir, examine the arguments by which this accusation has been supported, and inquire whether this triumph of eloquence has been occasioned by any real superiority of evidence or reason; it is urged, that we have already prohibited commerce with the Spaniards, and that, therefore, we ought, likewise, to prohibit the insurance of their ships.

It will not require, sir, an imagination very fertile, or a knowledge very extensive, to supply arguments sufficient to refute the supposed demonstration; in opposition to which it may be urged, that this kind of commerce is of a peculiar nature, that it subsists upon opinion, and is preserved by the reputation of our insurers; a reputation that the insurers of other nations may obtain by the same means, and from whom we shall, therefore, never recover it.

It may be observed, sir, that other commodities are the peculiar product of different countries, and that there is no danger of losing our other trade by suspending it, because it depends upon the excellence of our manufactures; but that insurance may be the commodity of any country, where money and common honesty are to be found.

This argument may, perhaps, be yet more effectually invalidated, or, perhaps, entirely subverted, by denying the expedience of that prohibition which is produced as a precedent for another restraint. Nor, indeed, does it appear why we should preclude ourselves from a gainful trade, because the money is drawn by it out of the hands of our enemies; or why the product of our lands should lie unconsumed, or our manufactures stand unemployed, rather than we should sell to our enemies what they will purchase at another place, or by the intervention of a neutral power.

To sell to an enemy that which may enable him to injure us, that which he must necessarily obtain, and which he could buy from no other, would, indeed, be to the last degree, absurd; but that may surely be sold them without any breach of morality or policy, which they can want with less inconvenience than we can keep. If we were besieging a town, I should not advise our soldiers to sell to the inhabitants ammunition or provisions, but cannot discover the folly of admitting them to purchase ornaments for their houses, or brocades for their ladies.

But, without examining with the utmost accuracy, whether the late prohibition was rational or not, I have, I hope, suggested objections sufficient to make the question doubtful, and to incline us to try the success of one experiment, before we venture upon another more hazardous.

I am never willing, sir, to load trade with restraints; trade is, in its own nature, so fugitive and variable, that no constant course can be prescribed to it; and those regulations which were proper when they were made, may, in a few months, become difficulties and obstructions. We well know, that many of the measures which our ancestors pursued for the encouragement of commerce, have been found of pernicious consequence; and even in this age, which, perhaps, experience, more than wisdom, has enlightened, I have known few attempts of that kind which have not defeated the end for which they were made.

It is more prudent to leave the merchants at liberty to pursue those measures which experience shall dictate upon every occasion, and suffer them to snatch the present opportunity of honest gain, whenever it shall happen; they will never injure their own interest by the use of this liberty, and by preserving themselves, they will preserve the nation from detriment; nor will they need to be restrained by a law proposed without their solicitation, and of which they cannot discover any beneficial consequences.

Mr. Horace WALPOLE spoke next, to this purpose:—Sir, for the bill now before us I have no particular fondness, nor desire that it should be promoted by any other means than rational arguments, and the representation of indubitable facts.

I have no regard, sir, in this inquiry, to any private interest, or any other desire than that of securing the interest of my country, which, in my opinion, evidently requires that we should give no assistance to our enemies, that our merchants should cooperate with our navies, and that we should endeavour to withhold every thing that may make the war less burdensome to them, and, consequently, of longer continuance.

It was observed, sir, in the beginning of the debate, by a gentleman eminently skilled in mercantile affairs, that insurance was practised by many nations; but he did not inform us of what one of the clauses makes it proper to inquire, whether they allowed the method of insuring interest or no interest, and rating ships at an imaginary value. This is, I know, prohibited by the Dutch, a nation whose authority on commercial questions will not be disputed, nor do they allow their East Indian ships to be insured at all.

The difficulty of estimating the value of any cargo has been urged in defence of this practice, nor is the defence wholly without weight, because the cargo in many voyages cannot be ascertained. I shall, however, take this opportunity of observing, though I may somewhat digress from the present argument, how necessary it is that some of our exported cargoes should be exactly specified.

I have been lately informed, sir, that six ships laden with British wool, have entered at one time into a port of France; nor do I know how this practice, which is justly complained of as pernicious to our trade, and threatening the ruin of our country, can be prevented but by a constant and regular particularization of every cargo carried to France.

I admit, sir, that some cargoes which are imported cannot be particularly registered; such is the gold with which we are daily supplied by our commerce with the Portuguese, in opposition to their laws, and which our merchants are, therefore, under the necessity of concealing.

It is not, indeed, easy to foresee all the inconveniencies that may arise from new regulations of commerce; but the difficulty is not so great as has been represented, nor can I conceive why all our consultations on trade should be without effect. Gentlemen may obtain some knowledge of commerce from their own observation, which they may enlarge by an unconfined and indifferent conversation with traders of various classes, and by inquiries into the different branches of commerce; inquiries, sir, which are generally neglected by those whose employments confine their attention to particular parts of commerce, or whose application to business hinders them from attending to any opinions but those which their own personal experience enables them to form.

From these informations impartially collected, and diligently compared, a man not engaged in the profession of a merchant may form general principles, and draw consequences, more certain, and more extensive in their relations, than those which are struck out only from the observation of one subdivided species of commerce.

A member of this house, sir, thus enlightened by inquiry, and whose judgment is not diverted from its natural rectitude by the impulse of any private consideration, may judge of any commercial debate with less danger of errour or partiality than the merchants, of whom, nevertheless, I have the highest esteem, and whose knowledge, or probity, I do not intend to depreciate, when I declare my fears that they may sometimes confound general maxims of trade with the opinions of particular branches, and sometimes mistake their own gain for the interest of the publick.

The interest of the merchants ought, indeed, always to be considered in this house; but then it ought to be regarded only in subordination to that of the whole community, a subordination which the gentleman who spoke last seems to have forgotten. He may, perhaps, not intend long to retain his senatorial character, and, therefore, delivered his opinion only as a merchant.

He has distinguished between the conduct of experienced and unskilful insurers, with how much justice I shall not determine. I am afraid that a vigorous inquiry would discover, that neither age nor youth has been able to resist strong temptations to some practices, which neither law nor justice can support, and that those, whose experience has made them cautious, have not been always equally honest.

But this is a subject upon which I am not inclined to dwell, and only mention as the reason which convinces me of the propriety of the bill before us.

Sir William YONGE spoke to this effect:—Sir, there appears no probability that the different opinions which have been formed of this bill will be reconciled by this debate; nor, indeed, is there any reason for wondering at this contrariety of sentiments.

The several clauses of the bill have relations and consequences so different, that scarce any one man can approve them all; and in our present deliberation, an objection to a particular clause is considered as an argument against the whole bill.

It is, therefore, necessary, to prevent an unprofitable expense of time, to resolve the house into a committee, in which the bill may be considered by single clauses, and that part which cannot be defended may be rejected, and that only retained which deserves our approbation. In the committee, when we have considered the first clause, and heard the objections against it, we may mend it; or, if it cannot be amended, reject or postpone it, and so proceed through the whole bill with much greater expedition, and at the same time, with a more diligent view of every clause, than while we are obliged to take the whole at once into our consideration.

I shall, for my part, approve some clauses, and make objections to others; but think it proper to reserve my objections, and the reasons of my approbation, for the committee into which we ought to go on this occasion.

[The bill was referred to a committee, but not forty members staying in the house, it was dropped.]

HOUSE OF COMMONS, MARCH 2, 1740-1

DEBATE ON THE BILL FOR THE ENCOURAGEMENT ANDINCREASE OF SEAMEN

The bill was ordered to be read the second time, and to be printed for the use of the members, that it might be thoroughly examined and understood.

On the forty-fourth day, the second reading of the bill was postponed to the fiftieth; but the grand motion being debated on that day, nothing else was heard.

On the fifty-first it was again put off; but

On the fifty-sixth day, being read a second time, it was, after some opposition, referred to a committee of the whole house, to sit five days after. In the meanwhile,

On the fifty-seventh, it was ordered that the proper officers do lay before this house an account of what persons were authorized, by virtue of the act in the 4th of queen Anne, for "the encouragement and increase of seamen, and for the better and speedier manning her fleet;" to conduct seamen or seafaring men taken upon privy searches made by applications to justices; and what number of seamen or seafaring men were returned; also, the charge attending the same.

On the sixty-first day, moved that the said account should be read; which being done, the house resolved itself into a grand committee on the present bill; and the first clause being read, proposing the blanks to be filled thus: that every volunteer seamen, after five years' service, be entitled to six pounds per year, during life.

Sir John BARNARD rose, and spoke as follows:—Sir, as it is our duty to provide laws, by which all frauds and oppressions may be punished, when they are detected, we are no less obliged to obviate such practices as shall make punishments necessary; nor are we only to facilitate the detection, but take away, as far as it is possible, the opportunities of guilt. It is to no purpose that punishments are threatened, if they can be evaded, or that rewards are offered, if they may by any mean artifices be withheld.

For this reason, sir, I think it necessary to observe, that the intent of this clause, the most favourable and alluring clause in the bill, may lose its effect by a practice not uncommon, by which any man, however inclined to serve his country, may be defrauded of the right of a volunteer.

Many men have voluntarily applied to the officers of ships of war, and after having been rejected by them as unfit for the service, have been dragged on board within a few days, perhaps within a few hours afterwards, to undergo all the hardships, without the merit, of volunteers.

When any man, sir, has been rejected by the sea officers, he ought to have a certificate given him, which shall be an exemption from an impress, that if any other commander shall judge more favourably of his qualifications, he may always have the privilege of a volunteer, and be entitled to the reward which he deserved, by his readiness to enter the service.

If such provisions are not made, this hateful practice, a practice, sir, common and notorious, and very discouraging to such as would enter the service of the publick, may so far prevail, that no man shall be able to denominate himself a volunteer, or claim the reward proposed by the bill.

Admiral WAGER spoke next, to the following effect:—Sir, it is not common for men to receive injuries without applying for redress, when it may certainly be obtained. If any proceedings like those which are now complained of, had been mentioned at the board of admiralty, they had been immediately censured and redressed; but as no such accusations were offered, I think it may probably be concluded, that no such crimes have been committed.

For what purpose oppressions of this kind should be practised, it is not easy to conceive; for the officers are not at all rewarded for impressing sailors. As, therefore, it is not probable that any man acts wickedly or cruelly without temptation: as I have never heard any such injury complained of by those that suffered it, I cannot but imagine, that it is one of those reports which arise from mistake, or are forged by malice, to injure the officers, and obstruct the service.

Lord BALTIMORE rose next, and spoke to the following effect:—That the practice now complained of, sir, is very frequent, and, whatever may be the temptation to it, such as every day produces some instances of, I have reasons for asserting with great confidence. I have, within these few days, as I was accidentally upon the river, informed myself of two watermen ignominiously dragged by force into the service to which they had voluntarily offered themselves a few days before. The reasons of such oppression, it is the business of those gentlemen to inquire, whom his majesty intrusts with the care of his fleet; but to interrupt the course of wickedness, to hinder it from frustrating the rewards offered by the publick, is the province of the representatives of the people. And I hope, sir, some proviso will be made in this case.

Admiral NORRIS rose and said:—Sir, if any such practices had been frequent, to what can it be imputed, that those who employ their lives in maritime business should be strangers to them? Why have no complaints been made by those that have been injured? Or why should officers expose themselves to the hazard of censure without advantage? I cannot discover why these hardships should be inflicted, nor how they could have been concealed, and, therefore, think the officers of the navy may be cleared from the imputation, without farther inquiry.