this occasion from
any of your lordships, who have conversed at large among mankind, that
it is not common for one man to neglect his own interest for fear of
promoting that of another. In the present question, my lords, I have
only supposed that envy may be one motive among many, and wish its
influence were so small, as that it might have been less proper to
mention it.

The practice of insurance, my lords, whether it contributes or not to
the number of the captures, undoubtedly increases the clamour which they
occasion; for as the loss is extended, the complaint is multiplied, and
both the merchant and insurer take the liberty of censuring the conduct
of the naval officers, and of condemning the measures of the government.
The ministry is charged with neglecting the protection of commerce, with
oppressing the merchants, and with conniving at the enemy's
preparations; that they who most eagerly solicited the war, may be the
first that shall repent it.

Another cause of the frequency of our losses in the present war, is the
general circulation of intelligence throughout Europe, by which it is
made impossible to conceal from our enemies the state of our armies, our
navies, or our trade. Every regiment that is raised, every ship that is
built, every fleet of trading vessels that lies waiting for the wind, is
minutely registered in the papers of the week, and accounts of it
transmitted to every nation of the world, where curiosity or interest
will pay for information. The Spaniards, therefore, need only regulate
their schemes according to their instructions from Britain, and watch
those fleets which are frequently sent out, for they may be confident
that some masters will wander from their protectors, enticed by avarice,
negligence, or temerity, and that they shall have opportunities of
enriching themselves without the necessity of engaging the convoy.

To protect ships which are to be steered each at the will of the master,
is no less impossible, my lords, than to conduct an army of which every
private man is at liberty to march according to his own caprice, to form
and pursue his own plan of operation, and to dispute and neglect the
orders of his leader. Nor is it more reasonable to subject the captains
of the ships of war to penalties for the loss of a vessel, over which
they have no authority, than to require from an officer in the army an
account of the lives of men, who perished by disobeying his commands.

In my