But, from the petition of the merchants of Bristol, it appears that there are other reasons of equal force for this indulgence, and that our regard for the inhabitants of that particular province, however necessary and just, is not the only motive for complying with their request.
It is shown, sir, in this petition, that the prohibition of rice will very little incommode our enemies, or retard their preparations; for they are not accustomed to be supplied with it from our plantations. We ought, therefore, not to load our fellow-subjects with embarrassments and inconveniencies, which will not in any degree extend to our enemies.
It appears, sir, not only that a very important part of our commerce will be obstructed, but that it will, probably, be lost beyond recovery; for, as only a small quantity of the rice of Carolina is consumed at home, and the rest is carried to other countries, it is easy to conceive that those who shall be disappointed by our merchants will procure so necessary a commodity from other places, as there are many from which it may be easily purchased; and it is well known that trade, if it be once diverted, is not to be recalled, and, therefore, that trade which may be without difficulty transferred, ought never to be interrupted without the most urgent necessity.
To prove, sir, that there is now no such necessity, by a long train of arguments, would be superfluous, for it has been shown already, that our enemies will not suffer by the prohibition, and the miseries that inevitably arise from a state of war, are too numerous and oppressive, to admit of any increase or aggravation upon trivial motives.
The province of Carolina, sir, has already suffered the inconveniencies of this war beyond any other part of his majesty's dominions, as it is situate upon the borders of the Spanish dominions, and as it is weak by the paucity of the inhabitants in proportion to its extent; let us, therefore, pay a particular regard to this petition, lest we aggravate the terrour which the neighbourhood of a powerful enemy naturally produces, by the severer miseries of poverty and famine.
Sir Robert WALPOLE spoke next, in substance as follows:Sir, nothing is more absurd than for those who declare, on all occasions, with great solemnity, their sincere zeal for the service of the publick, to protract the debates of this house by personal invectives, and delay the prosecution of the business of the nation, by trivial objections, repeated after confutation, and, perhaps, after conviction of their invalidity.
I need not observe how much time would be spared, and how much the despatch of affairs would be facilitated by the suppression of this practice, a practice by which truth is levelled with falsehood, and knowledge with ignorance; since, if scurrility and merriment are to determine us, it is not necessary either to be honest or wise to obtain the superiority in any debate, it will only be necessary to rail and to laugh, which one man may generally perform with as much success as another.
The embargo in Ireland was an expedient so necessary and timely, that the reputation of it is thought too great to be allowed to the administration, of whom it has been for many years the hard fate, to hear their actions censured only because they were not the actions of others, and to be represented as traitors to their country for doing always what they thought best themselves, and perhaps sometimes what was in reality approved by those who opposed them.
This, sir, they have borne without much uneasiness, and have contented themselves with the consciousness of doing right, in expectation that truth and integrity must at last prevail, and that the prudence of their conduct and success of their measures would at last evince the justice of their intentions.
They hoped, sir, that there would be some occasions on which their enemies would not deny the expedience of their counsels, and did not expect that after having been so long accused of engrossing exorbitant power, of rejecting advice, and pursuing their own schemes with the most invincible obstinacy, they should be supposed on a sudden to have laid aside their arrogance, to have descended to adopt the opinions, and give themselves up to the direction of others, only because no objection could be made to this instance of their conduct.
How unhappy, sir, must be the state of that man who is only allowed to be a free agent, when he acts wrong, and whose motions, whenever they tend to the proper point, are supposed to be regulated by another!
Whether such capricious censurers expect that any regard should be paid by the publick to their invectives, I am not able to determine, but I am inclined to think so well of their understandings, as to believe that they intend only to amuse themselves, and perplex those whom they profess to oppose. In one part of their scheme I know not but they may have succeeded, but in the other it is evident how generally they have failed. It must, at least, sir, be observed of these great patrons of the people, that if they expect to gain them by artifices like this, they have no high opinion of their discernment, however they may sometimes magnify it as the last appeal, and highest tribunal.
With regard, sir, to the manner in which the embargo was laid, and the expedients made use of to enforce the observation of it, they were not the effects of a sudden resolution, but of long and deliberate reflection, assisted by the counsels of the most experienced and judicious persons of both nations; so that if any mistake was committed, it proceeded not from arrogance or carelessness, but a compliance with reasons, that if laid before the house, would, whether just or not, be allowed to be specious.
But, sir, it has not appeared that any improper measures have been pursued, or that any inconveniencies have arisen from them which it was possible to have avoided by a different conduct; for when any expedient fails of producing the end for which it was proposed, or gives occasion to inconveniencies which were neither expected nor designed, it is not immediately to be condemned; for it might fail from such obstacles as nothing could surmount, and the inconveniencies which are complained of might be the consequences of other causes acting at the same time, or cooperating, not by the nature of things, but by the practices of those who prefer their own interest to that of their country.
But though it is, in my opinion, easy to defend the conduct of the ministry, I am far from thinking this a proper time to engage in their vindication. The important business before us, must now wholly engage us, nor ought we to employ our attention upon the past, but the future. Whatever has been the ignorance or knowledge, whatever the corruption or integrity of the ministry, this bill is equally useful, equally necessary. The question is now concerning an act of the senate, not of the ministry, and the bill may proceed without obstructing future examinations.
If the bill, sir, now before us be so far approved as to be conceived of any real benefit to the nation, if it can at all contribute to the distress or disappointment of our enemies, or the prevention of those domestic disturbances which are naturally produced by scarcity and misery, there is no need of arguments to evince the necessity of despatch in passing it. For if these effects are to be produced by preventing the exportation of provisions, and a law is necessary for that purpose, it is certain that the law must be enacted, while our provisions are yet in our own hands, and before time has been given for the execution of those contracts which are already made.
That contracts, sir, are entered into for quantities that justly claim the care of the legislative power, I have been informed by such intelligence as I cannot suspect of deceiving me. In one small town in the western part of this kingdom, fifty thousand barrels of corn are sold by contract, and will be exported, if time be allowed for collecting and for shipping them.