The order of the day being read for the house to resolve itself into a
committee of the whole house, to consider the bill for punishing mutiny
and desertion, and the better paying the army and their quarters,
Sir William YONGE spoke, in substance as follows:--Sir, the last day
which was assigned to the consideration of this bill, was spent in long
altercations, in vague and unnecessary disquisitions, in retrospective
reflections upon events long past, and in aggravating of grievances that
may never happen; much sagacity was exerted, and much eloquence
displayed, but no determination was attained, nor even that expedient
examined, by which those objections might be removed which appeared so
important, or those dangers obviated which were represented so
formidable and so near.
I hope, sir, part of the time which has intervened between that debate
and the present day, has been employed by the gentlemen, whose scruples
were so numerous, and whose caution is so vigilant, in contriving some
methods of maintaining the army without oppressing the victuallers, and
of providing for our defence against foreign enemies without subjecting
us to the evils of discontent and disaffection, which they impute to the
present state of the military establishment.
To object for ever, and to advance nothing, is an easy method of
disputation upon any question, but contributes very little to the
increase of knowledge: an artful and acute objector may confound, and
darken, and disturb, but never assists inquiry, or illustrates truth.
In political questions, sir, it is still more easy and less ingenuous;
for all political measures are in some degree right and wrong at the
same time: to benefit some they very frequently bear hard upon others,
and are, therefore, only to be approved or rejected as advantages appear
to overbalance the inconveniencies, or the inconveniencies to outweigh
the advantages.
It is, sir, the proper province of a senator to promote, not to obstruct
the publick counsels; and when he declares his disapprobation of any
expedient, to endeavour to substitute a better: for how can he be said
to sustain his part of the general burden of publick affairs, who lays
others under the necessity of forming every plan, and inventing every
expedient, and contents himself with only censuring what he never
endeavours to amend?
That every man, who is called forth by his country to sit here as the
guardian of the publick happiness, is obliged, by the nature of his
office, to propose, in this assembly, whatever his penetration or
experience may suggest to him as advantageous to the nation, I doubt not
but all that hear me are sufficiently convinced; and, therefore, cannot
but suppose that they have so far attended to their duty, as to be able
to inform us how the present inconveniencies of this bill may be
remedied, and its defects supplied.
To show, sir, at least my inclination to expedite an affair so
important, I shall lay before the house an amendment that I have made to
the clause, pursuant to a hint offered the last day by an honourable
member, "That all innholders, victuallers, etc. shall be obliged to
furnish soldiers with salt, vinegar, small beer, candles, fire, and
utensils to dress their victuals, and so doing shall not be obliged to
supply the troops with provisions, except on a march."
I am far, sir, from thinking the clause, as it will stand after this
amendment, complete and unexceptionable, being conscious that some
articles in it may require explanation. The quantity of small beer to be
allowed to each soldier must necessarily be ascertained, in order to
prevent endless and indeterminable disputes; for one man, sir, may
demand a greater quantity than another, and a man may be prompted by
malice or wantonness to demand more than health requires; it will,
therefore, be proper to limit the quantity which must be furnished, that
neither the soldier may suffer by the avarice of his landlord, nor the
landlord be oppressed by the gluttony of the soldier.
With regard to this question, sir, I expect to find different opinions
in this assembly, which every man is at liberty to offer and to
vindicate; and I shall take this opportunity of proposing on my part,
that every man may have a daily allowance of three quarts. One quart to
each meal may be allowed in my opinion to be sufficient, and sure no
gentleman can imagine that by this limitation much superfluity is
indulged.
There are some parts, sir, of this kingdom, in which cider is more
plentiful, and cheaper than small beer; consequently, it may be for the
ease of the victualler to have the choice allowed him of furnishing one
or the other; it will, therefore, be a very proper addition to this
clause, that the innkeepers shall allow the soldier, every day, three
quarts of either small beer or cider.
That penal sanctions, sir, are essential to laws, and that no man will
submit to any regulations inconvenient to himself, but that he may avoid
some heavier evil, requires not to be proved; and, therefore, to
complete this clause, I propose that the victualler who shall neglect or
refuse to observe it, shall be subject to some fine for his
non-compliance.
Mr. PELHAM spoke to this effect:--Sir, I cannot omit this opportunity of
observing how much the burden of the army is diminished by the judicious
regulations invariably observed in the late reigns, and how little the
assignment of troops is to be dreaded by the victualler.
In the reign of king William, sir, before funds were established, while
the credit of the government was low, the measures of the court were
often obviated or defeated by the superiority of the discontented party,
and the supplies denied which were necessary to support them, and in
expectation of which they had been undertaken, it was not uncommon for
the towns in which the troops were stationed, to murmur at their guests;
nor could they be charged with complaining without just reasons: for to
quarter soldiers upon a house, was in those days little less than to
send troops to live at discretion.
As all supplies, sir, were then occasional and temporary, and nothing
was granted but for the present exigence, the prevalence of the
opposition, for a single session, embarrassed all the measures of the
court in the highest degree; their designs were at a stand, the forces
were unpaid, and they were obliged to wait till another session for an
opportunity of prosecuting their schemes.
Thus, sir, the soldiers were sometimes five months without their pay,
and were necessarily supported by the innkeeper at his own expense, with
how much reluctance and discontent I need not mention. It cannot but be
immediately considered, upon hearing this account of the soldier's
condition, with how many reproaches he would receive his victuals, how
roughly he would be treated, how often he would be insulted as an idler,
and frowned upon as an intruder. Nor can it be imagined that such
affronts, however they might be provoked, would be borne without return,
by those who knew themselves not the authors of the provocation, and who
thought themselves equal suf-ferers with those who complained. When the
innkeeper growled at the soldier, the soldier, it may be supposed,
seldom failed to threaten or to plunder the innkeeper, and to rise in
his demands as his allowance was retrenched.
Thus, sir, the landlord and his guest were the constant enemies of each
other, and spent their lives in mutual complaints, injuries, and
insults.
But by the present regularity of our military establishment, this great
evil is taken away; as the soldier requires no credit of the victualler,
he is considered as no great incumbrance on his trade; and being treated
without indignities, like any other member of the community, he
inhabits his quarters without violence, insolence, or rapacity, and
endeavours to recommend himself by officiousness and civility.
In the present method of payment, sir, the troops have always one
month's pay advanced, and receive their regular allowance on the stated
day; so that every man has it in his power to pay his landlord every
night for what he has had in the day; or if he imagines himself able to
procure his own provisions at more advantage, he can now go to market
with his own money.
It appears, therefore, to me, sir, that the amendment now proposed is
the proper mean between the different interests of the innkeeper and
soldier; by which neither is made the slave of the other, and by which
we shall leave, to both, opportunities of kindness, but take from them
the power of oppression.
Mr. CAREW next spoke as follows:--Sir, the amendment now offered is not,
in my opinion, so unreasonable or unequitable as to demand a warm and
strenuous opposition, nor so complete as not to be subject to some
objections; objections which, however, may be easily removed, and which
would, perhaps, have been obviated, had they been foreseen by the
gentleman who proposed it.
The allowance, sir, of small liquors proposed, I cannot but think more
than sufficient; three quarts a-day are surely more than the demands of
nature make necessary, and I know not why the legislature should
promote, or confirm in the soldiery, a vice to which they are already
too much inclined, the habit of tippling.
The innkeeper, sir, will be heavily burdened by the obligation to supply
the soldier with so many of the necessaries of life without payment;
and, therefore, it may be justly expected by him, that no superfluities
should be enjoyed at his expense.
But there remains another objection, sir, of far more importance, and
which must be removed before this clause can be reasonably passed into a
law. It is not declared, or not with sufficient perspicuity, that it is
to be left to the choice of the innkeeper, whether he will furnish the
soldier with provisions at fourpence a-day, or with the necessaries
enumerated in the clause for nothing. If it is to be left to the choice
of the soldier, the victualler receives no relief from the amendment, to
whose option, since he must suffer in either case, it ought to be
referred, because he only can tell by which method he shall suffer
least.
Mr. CORNWALL spoke in the manner following:--Sir, it is not without the
greatest diffidence that I rise to oppose the gentleman who offered the
amendment; for his abilities are so far superiour to mine, that I
object without hope of being able to support my objection, and contend
with an absolute certainty of being overcome. I know not whether it may
be allowed me to observe, that the difference between our faculties is,
with regard to strength and quickness, the same as between the cider of
his county and that of mine, except that in one part of the parallel the
advantage is on our side, and in the other on his.
The cider, sir, of our county is one of our most valuable commodities;
so much esteemed in distant places, that our merchants often sell it by
the bottle, for more than the soldier has to give for the provision of a
day; and of such strength, that I, who am accustomed to the use of it,
never was able to drink three quarts in any single day.
If, therefore, sir, the soldier is to have three quarts of this cider,
when small beer is not easily to be procured, not only the innkeeper,
but the army will be injured; for what greater harm can be done to any
man, than to initiate him in a habit of intemperance? and what outrages
and insolencies may not be expected from men trusted with swords, and
kept, from day to day, and from month to month, in habitual drunkenness
by a decree of the senate?
Sir William YONGE replied to this purpose:--Sir, I know not why the
gentleman has thought this a proper opportunity for displaying his
eloquence in the praise of his own cider. That he loves his own county
cannot be wondered, for no passion is more universal, and few less to be
censured;-but he is not to imagine that the produce of his native soil
will be generally allowed to excel that of other counties, because early
habits have endeared it to him, and familiarized it to his particular
palate.
The natives of every place prefer their own fruits and their own liquor,
and, therefore, no inference can be drawn from approbation so apparently
partial. From this prejudice I am far from suspecting myself free, nor
am desirous or industrious to overcome it: neither am I afraid of
exposing myself to all the censure that so innocent a prepossession may
bring upon me, by declaring that, in my opinion, the cider of my native
county is of equal excellence with that which this gentleman has so
liberally extolled.
Mr. CORNWALL answered to the following effect:--Sir, how little I expect
victory in this controversy I have already declared, and I need not
observe of how small importance it is what soil produces cider of the
greatest excellence and value; since, if there be other places where the
cider is equally esteemed, and purchased at the same rate, it is yet
more necessary to provide, by some exception, that the soldier shall not
be entitled to demand, of the victualler, liquor to more than thrice the
value of his pay, nor be allowed to revel in continual drunkenness, and
to corrupt his morals, and enervate his limbs by incessant debauchery.
But since, sir, the preference due to the cider of my county has been
denied, in my opinion, with great partiality and injustice, I think
myself obliged, by all the laws of honour and gratitude, to stand up
once more to vindicate its superiority, and assert its value.
The laws of honour, sir, require this from me, as they oblige every man
to stand forth a vindicator of merit slighted and oppressed; and
gratitude calls loudly upon me to exert myself in the protection of that
to which I have been often indebted for a pleasing suspense of care, and
a welcome flow of spirit and gaiety.
The cider, sir, which I am now rescuing from contemptuous comparisons,
has often exhilarated my social hours, enlivened the freedom of
conversation, and improved the tenderness of friendship, and shall not,
therefore, now want a panegyrist. It is one of those few subjects on
which an encomiast may expatiate without deviating from the truth.
Would the honourable gentleman, sir, who has thus vilified this
wonder-working nectar, but honour my table with his company, he would
quickly be forced to retract his censures; and, as many of his
countrymen have done, confess that nothing equal to it is produced in
any other part of the globe; nor will this confession be the effect of
his regard to politeness, but of his adherence to truth.
Of liquor like this, sir, two quarts is, undoubtedly, sufficient for a
daily allowance, in the lieu of small beer; nor ought even that to be
determined by the choice of the soldier, but of the innkeeper, for whose
benefit this clause is said to be inserted, and from whose grievances I
hope we shall not suffer our attention to be diverted by any incidental
questions, or ludicrous disputes.
Mr. GORE then spoke to the following effect:--Sir, that the allowance of
two quarts a-day is sufficient, and that to demand more is a wanton
indulgence of appetite, is experimentally known, and, therefore, no more
ought to be imposed upon the innkeeper.
Nor is this, sir, the only part of the clause that requires our
consideration; for some of the other particulars to be provided by the
victualler, may easily furnish perverse tempers with an opportunity of
wrangling: vinegar is not to be had in every part, of the kingdom, and,
where it cannot be procured, ought not to be required; for neither
reason nor experience will inform us that vinegar ought to be ranked
among the necessaries of life.
Sir William YONGE made the following reply:--Sir, by the alteration now
made in the clause, the innkeepers are effectually relieved from a great
part of the burden which, in my opinion, this act has hitherto laid upon
them; the necessity of furnishing the soldiers quartered upon them, with
provisions at the stated price, whatever might be the scarcity of the
season or of the country. That this was the intention of the act, is
asserted by those whose reputation and promotion are sufficient
evidences of their ability in the interpretation of our laws.
The innkeeper may now either accept or refuse the limited price, as it
shall appear to him most consistent with his interest; nor will there
be, for the future, any room for murmuring at unreasonable demands,
since he may oblige that soldier whom he cannot satisfy, to please
himself better at his own expense.
The choice of the liquor is, likewise, wholly referred to the innkeeper;
for the words in the clause requiring that he shall furnish three quarts
of small beer or cider, he complies, indisputably, with the law by
supplying either; and, therefore, the value of cider in any particular
county is not of much importance in the question before us; if cider be
more valuable than small beer, it may be withheld; if it be cheaper, it
may be substituted in its place; so that the innkeeper has nothing to
consult but his own interest.
That this is the meaning of the clause, is, I suppose, obvious to every
man that hears it read; and, therefore, I see no reason for any
alterations, because I know not any effect which they can possibly have,
except that of obscuring the sense which is now too clear to be
mistaken.
Sir John BARNARD spoke next, to the effect following:--Sir, though it
should be granted, that the clause before us is intelligible to every
member of this assembly, it will not certainly follow, that there is no
necessity of farther elucidations; for a law very easily understood by
those who make it, may be obscure to others who are less acquainted with
our general intention, less skilled in the niceties of language, or less
accustomed to the style of laws.
It is to be considered, that this law will chiefly affect a class of men
very little instructed in literature, and very unable to draw
inferences; men to whom we often find it necessary, in common cases, to
use long explanations, and familiar illustrations, and of whom it maybe
not unreasonably suspected, that the same want of education, which makes
them ignorant, may make them petulant, and at once incline them to
wrangle, and deprive them of the means of deciding their controversies.
That both innholders and soldiers are, for the greatest part, of this
rank and temper, I suppose, sir, every gentleman knows, from daily
observation; and, therefore, it will, I hope, be thought necessary to
descend to their understandings, and to give them laws in terms of which
they will know the meaning; we shall, otherwise, more consult the
interest of the lawyers than the innholders, and only, by one
alteration, produce a necessity of another.
I am therefore desirous, sir, that all the difficulties which have been
mentioned by every gentleman on this occasion, should be removed by
clear, familiar, and determinate expressions; for what they have found
difficult, may easily be, to an innholder or soldier, absolutely
inexplicable.
I cannot but declare, while I am speaking on this subject, that in my
opinion, two quarts of liquor will be a sufficient allowance. If we
consider the demands of nature, more cannot be required; if we examine
the expense of the innholder, he ought not to supply soldiers with a
greater quantity for nothing. It is to be remembered, that small beer,
like other liquors, is charged with an excise in publick-houses; and
that two quarts will probably cost the landlord a penny, and as we
cannot suppose that fire, candles, vinegar, salt, pepper, and the use of
utensils, and lodging, can be furnished for less than threepence a-day,
every soldier that is quartered upon a publick-house, may be considered
as a tax of six pounds a-year--a heavy burden, which surely ought not to
be aggravated by unnecessary impositions.
[The committee having gone through the bill, and settled the amendments,
the chairman was ordered to make his report the next day.]