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 made for the same purpose, in the wars of the queen Anne; but I cannot forbear to observe, that the original law, though not one of those to which much of the success of that war is to be ascribed, was drawn up with more discernment than the bill before us.  It was, at least, intelligible; the number of cruisers was limited, and it was, therefore, possible to know when it was obeyed; but of this bill I can confidently assert, that as no man can understand, so no man can observe it.

I have spoken more largely, my lords, on this occasion, because this bill relates particularly to my present employment, in which, as I desire to do my duty, I desire to know it; and, surely, I cannot be condemned by your lordships for opposing a bill, of which the only tendency is to make my province difficult, to render one part of my office inconsistent with another, and engage me in the task of superintending the execution of impracticable measures.