, till they have represented their
distress to some distant power, and received a gracious permission to
save their lives.

Misery like this, my lords, admits no exaggeration, nor need I dwell
long on the absurdity of establishing regulations which cannot be
observed, and which if they were enforced by any sanctions,
proportioned, as all penal sanctions ought to be, to the temptations of
violating them, must drive all our sailors into foreign service, or urge
them, upon the first distress, to defiance of law, and fill America with
pirates, and with rebels.

By the ninth clause, my lords, nothing is proposed but a relaxation of
the present discipline. It requires, that the commanders of ships of war
shall send only once in six months those accounts of their conduct and
their service, which they are at present obliged to transmit by every
ship that returns from America; so that by passing this bill, we shall
only be disabled from receiving regular and seasonable informations of
the transactions of our distant squadrons and colonies, shall be
disturbed with groundless suspicions, and tortured with unnecessary
suspense.

I have arrived at length at the last clause, a clause, my lords, worthy
to be the concluding paragraph of a bill like this; a clause in which
the power of the admiralty is communicated to the governours of our
colonies; men, my lords, not hitherto much celebrated for their
superiour wisdom, moderation, or integrity; of whom, at least, it is no
reproach to assert, that they are known to be, for the most part, wholly
unacquainted with maritime affairs, and very little famed for military
knowledge; and of whom it is above all to be considered, that they
generally commence merchants at their arrival in America, and may more
probably direct ships sent to guard the colonies, to stations in which
they may preserve their own vessels, than to those where they may
contribute most to the general security of trade.

Thus my lords, I have examined without prejudice every paragraph of this
bill, and believe, that from the objections which I have made, it
appears now plainly to your lordships, that all the regulations which
are of any use, are such as are already established by long custom, or
by former statutes; and such, therefore, as it is unnecessary to mention
in a new law; and that whatever is here to be found new, is absurd,
unintelligible, or pernicious.

This bill, my lords, is said to be founded on the act