The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D.: Parliamentary debatesW. Pickering, 1825 |
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advantage affairs appear arguments army asserted assistance bill Britain Britons censure clause common conduct consequence considered corruption crime danger debate debauchery declare defence degree discover distilled dominions drunkenness duty effect elector of Hanover emperour employed endeavour enemies engaged equally errours Europe examine expected expedient expense favour Flanders force France Hanoverian happiness hinder hired hitherto honour hope house of Austria house of Bourbon imagined inclined inquiry interest justice king of Prussia least liberty liquors Lord CARTERET Lord HERVEY lord high admiral lordships majesty mankind measures ment merchants method ministers ministry motion nation necessary necessity never noble lord occasion opinion oppose pernicious Pragmatick sanction present preserve princes produce promote proposed publick punishment queen of Hungary raised reason regard scheme senate ships Spain Spaniards spirits spoke suffer sufficient suppose surely tion trade treaties troops of Hanover utmost vice virtue wickedness
Popular passages
Page 146 - And to the end that it may appear what service the ships so stationed shall perform, be it enacted by the authority aforesaid, that the captain or commanding oflicer on board every such ship or vessel, shall keep a distinct and separate account, digested into proper columns, of the times when the said ship or vessel sailed out of port, when such ship or vessel came in, the service she was upon, together with the number of days cast up, that such ship or vessel was out upon such duty, and shall 'cause...
Page 496 - ... our ministers, however sincere, may be defeated, and drunkenness, legal drunkenness, established in the nation. This, my lords, is very reasonable ; and therefore we ought to exert ourselves for the safety of the nation, while the power is yet in our own hands ; and, without regard to the opinion or proceedings of the other house, show that we are yet the chief guardians of the people. The ready compliance of the commons, with the measures proposed in this bill, has been mentioned here, with...
Page 493 - ... for I never heard that a law against theft was repealed or delayed because thieves were numerous.
Page 499 - With regard to these motives and designs, however artfully concealed, every lord in this house is at liberty to offer his conjectures. When I consider, my lords, the tendency of this bill, I find it calculated only for the propagation of diseases, the suppression of industry, and the destruction of mankind. I find it the most fatal engine that ever was pointed at a people ; an engine by which those who are not killed will be disabled, and those who preserve their limbs will be deprived of their senses.
Page 228 - It is now too apparent, that this great, this powerful, this formidable kingdom, is considered only as a province to a despicable Electorate...
Page 423 - Ljpf their appetites. To pretend, my lords, that the design of this bill is to prevent or diminish the use of spirits, is to trample upon common sense, and to violate the rules of decency as well as of reason. For when did any man hear, that a commodity was prohibited by licensing its sale ? or that to offer and refuse is the same action...
Page 497 - ... till it was known in what expeditions it was to be employed, to what princes subsidies were to be paid, and what advantages were to be purchased by it for our country. I should rejoice, my Lords, to hear that the lottery by which the deficiencies ] of this duty are to be supplied was not filled, and that the people were grown at last wise enough to discern the fraud and to prefer honest commerce, by which all may be gainers, to a game by which the greatest number must certainly be losers. The...
Page 491 - ... to enforce it, so that perhaps its only defect may be that it will not execute itself. Nor, though I should allow that the law is at present impeded by difficulties which cannot be broken through, but by men of more spirit and dignity than the ministers may be inclined to trust with commissions of the peace, yet it can only be collected that another law is necessary, not that the law now proposed will be of any advantage. Great use has been made of the inefficacy of the present law to decry the...
Page 228 - To dwell upon all the instances of partiality which have been shown, to remark the yearly visits that have been made to that delightful country, to reckon up all the sums that have been spent to...
Page 428 - ... of age ; or, what is yet more destructive to general happiness, produce children diseased from their birth by the vices of their parents, children whose blood is tainted with inveterate and accumulated maladies, for which no cure can be expected ; and who, therefore, are an additional burden...