long
searches discovered, that cruisers on this side cape Finisterre, may be
of use against the Spaniards, and propose, therefore, that in all times
of war they are to be despatched to that individual station, though we
should be engaged in disputes with the northern crowns, or fit out
fleets to make conquests in the East Indies.

In all our wars, my lords, however judiciously concerted, and however
happily concluded, the pleasures of success have been abated by the
mortification of losses, and some complaints have been at all times
mingled with the shouts of triumph. How much soever the glory of the
nation has been elevated, the fortunes of particular persons have been
impaired, and those have never thought themselves recompensed by the
general advantages of the publick, who have suffered by the acquisition
of them; they have always imagined themselves marked out for ruin by
malevolence and resentment, and have concluded that those disasters
which fell upon them only by the common chance of war, were brought on
them by negligence or design.

The losses of our merchants in the present war must be acknowledged to
have been more than common, but if we examine accurately into the causes
that may be assigned for so great a number of captures, we shall find
them such as this law will have no tendency to remove, such as might be
easily imagined before the commencement of hostilities, and such as it
will be extremely difficult on any future occasion of the same kind, to
hinder from producing the same effects.

The first and greatest cause, my lords, of the number of our losses, is
the number of our ships, which cannot all be sufficiently protected. The
extent, therefore, of our commerce, in proportion to that of our
enemies, exposes us to double disadvantage; we necessarily lie open in
more parts to the depredations of privateers, and have no encouragement
to attempt reprisals, because they have few ships of value to be seized.
The profit of our commerce naturally withholds our sailors from our
ships of war, and makes part of our navy an idle show; the certainty of
plunder incites them to turn their merchant ships into cruisers, and to
suspend their trade for more profitable employment. Thus they at once
increase the number of plunderers, and take away from us the opportunity
of repairing our losses by the same practice.

And, my lords, if the losses of our merchants have been greater than in
former wars, our trade is mor