Selected quad for the lemma: enemy_n
Text snippets containing the quad
|
ID |
Title |
Author |
Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) |
STC |
Words |
Pages |
|
A35156
|
England's glory reviv'd, demonstrated in several propositions shewing an easie and speedy method for fully manning the Royal Navy with saylers, without charge or obstruction to trade : as likewise reasons proving from whence all our losses have happen'd, with proper remedies for the better securing of trade for the future : by making due provision for all saylers that shall be wounded (or the widows and children of such of them as shall be slain) in the publick service, and the building of hospitals ... : as likewise propositions for an act of tonnage / by Robert Crosfeild.
|
Crosfeild, Robert.
|
1693
(1693)
|
Wing C7243; ESTC R8868
|
21,817
|
54
|
Shipping and Saylers who bring the Riches into the Kingdom And I conceive we have been much wanting to our selves in not making due provision for the Saylers therefore judge it a thing highly necessary to be looked into being that which will greatly promote Navigation and increase their Numbers And as the Romans were sedulous in taking care to provide for their Souldiery so much the more ought we to study the interest of the Saylers upon whom the welfare of these Kingdoms doth very much depend The matter that I have to propose on their hebalf is that such of them as shall lose their Limbs or be maimed in the publick Service or in defence of our Ships of Trade and so made uncapable of getting their Livelihood may have due Provision made for them during Life and to be punctually paid quarterly which will not only be an inducement to Men to be bold and brave on board the Royal Navy but it will likewise make them resolute in Defence of our Merchant-men as knowing if they have the misfortune to be Maimed or lose their Limbs they shall have a competent Provision made for them and I would humbly propose to extend this so far that if any Man be slain and leave a Wife and two or three Children behind him as it may be the Case of many they shall receive the same Pension for seven years as if he were living and all this may be done without any Charge to the Government And those who are concern'd will have no just cause of complaint So that this would plainly be an inducement to many thousands of People to take to the Sea who are now afraid of it for fear of losing their Limbs and becoming Vagabonds whereas on Shore they live free from any such danger but if such Provision were made that Obstacle would be Removed And I not only conceive it to be the Interest of the Nation but an Action humane and Christian to make Provision for such as are not capable of doing it themselves And I do apprehend there will much good and many advantages arise from this Charity much more than is to be discern'd at first sight and will have a great influence many ways By it many Merchant men will be prevented falling into the Enemies Hands For as things now stand the Saylers can have little Courage to fight and oppose the Enemy knowing if they are Maim'd they are utterly ruin'd notwithstanding they do beat off the Enemy for if the Owners do but pay them their Wages it s as much as they are oblig'd to And certainly there can be no greater hardship in the World than these poor Mens case is who by their courage and bravery often preserve the Merchants effects and bring great Riches into the Kingdom and at the same time it 's there unhappy fate to lose their Limbs and by it are ever after made Miserable This is too much Matter of Fact and Truth And no doubt it 's the apprehension of these things that makes many Ships resign to the Enemy as knowing the greatest loss is their Wages and they will not venture their Limbs for other Men. There 's just reason to believe this for we have many instances of some of our shipping who have defended themselves from the Algerines and other Pirates to admiration and bravely acquitted themselves from them to their great Honour and advantage of their Merchants and Owners but it was not so much love to them as kindness to themselves that made them so resolute being sensible what misery they should undergo if they should be taken So we see the apprehension of misery will make Men stout and Rewards will have the same effect but if they are in danger of being taken by our Enemies Privateers they have now no such fear upon them and their loss not great so that they will not venture their lives to that degree they might and ought for the good of the publick only for want of that due incouragement that Men should have and if there were such provision made for them no Men under the Copes of Heaven would be more bold and brave and it 's but for Bread that these poor Men Plow the Seas and if they have a reasonable prospect of injoying that they will fear nothing And we cannot grutch them that which Principally proceeds from their own labours And things being thus established upon these Foundations will be an extraordinary incouragement for Men to take to the Seas as seeing a fairer prospect of raising themselves that way than by any labour or service by Land Having this assurance that if they should be Maim'd yet they should not want Which is that which Men generally fear more than Death And one great advantage may be made to the publick by this being past into an Act viz. that by these means that all Saylers whatever that have Pay due to them from the Government shall relinquish one moiety and this can no ways appear any hardship upon them For what Man is there under their circumstances that would not willingly withgo a greater debt that by so doing shall be assured of a maintenance for Life in case he grow into years and past labour or happen to be maim'd and so made uncapapable of getting his Livelihood they can lay no claim to it so can pretend no Title to it therefore it 's but reasonable they should make an acknowledgment to the Government for passing such an Act in their favour This would soon reduce the extravagant ways that Saylers now have and in little time they would fall to the old rate notwithstanding it be time of War which would be a great benefit to all Coasters Merchants and Owners as likewise an ease to the People in General We may in great measure judg the benefit that may be reap'd by this being past into an Act by taking notice of the several Offices erected in this Town for the Insurance of Houses from Fire particularly that which is called the Friendly Society where so many Persons have mutually subscribed to each other upon such conditions as it s look'd upon to be a very good Security for many persons may help one or two with little detriment to themselves which otherwise would be ruin'd But this is a matter more extensive as being National and of much greater consequence than they are but differs not much in nature being an Insurance as well as they and so properly enough may be called Insurance Mony And it 's past all dispute or controversy that all due incouragement should be given to Saylers so far as is consistent with their Circumstances and the rules of Government If an Abstract be but taken of all Entries made in all Ports of the Kingdom for one year then a true estimate may be made and all errors remov'd as likewise what this following Act of Tunnage may amount to Prop. I. That all Shipping using the Coasting Trade that exceed not one hundred Tun burthen do
like it if it be carried on by a Conjunction of some of the Forces of the Confederates and back'd by a strong Fleet. Then would it soon alter the Scene and distract the Councils and break the Measures of the Enemy as not knowing where the Storm will fall which will consequently oblige them to make a Defensive War in all Parts and would England but Exert its Strength I doubt not but it would soon pull down the Pride and Haughty Look of that Aspiring Monarch whose Insatiable Ambition is such that he hath made Europe a Golgotha a Field of Blood And there 's nothing like pushing on the War with Vigour a Lingering Consumption being worse than Death least render'd all Attempts of this Nature more difficult And it was ever the Genius and Temper of the English as do witness their Wars both Foreign and Domestick to push on a War and come to Action leaving the Event to Providence And whereas the Number of Loose and Vagrant Persons are exceedingly increas'd in the Kingdom through the Laws not being duly put in Execution and the King having ever had a Power of taking these up by Warrants from the Justices of the Peace to be sent on Board the Royal Navy Therefore I humbly conceive it would much Contribute to the Publick Service that his Majesty may have the same Liberty by Act of Parliament of taking them up by the same Methods and Employ them as he shall think fit either in mixing them with the Regular Troops or otherwise which would be the Raising of several Thousands of stout and able Men fit for Service who are now but Drones and as it were the Vermin of the Land but by these means may be made Serviceable to the Publick and a great Kindness it will be to all Parts of the Kingdom I am My Lords and Gentlemen Your Honours most Faithful and Obedient Servant Robert Crosfeild TO THE READER I Here present to your View some Propositions which I hope may be of use to the Publick and Posterity for which they were intended But as I have handled the matter but weakly though to the best of my Skill so it is evident through the whole Book that it may be much improv'd But having observ'd with much Regret under what unhappy Circumstances things lay in reference to Sea-Affairs and matters growing daily worse and worse by our Merchants being so long detained in Port to the great damage of their Majesties and the whole Kingdom I conceived there must be some Natural Obstruction that occasioned it or that there must be some great defect in those Measures that were taken and by long ruminating upon the matter my thoughts suggested to me that I had discover'd from whence those Evils did proceed which after having drawn into some Form I then presumed to Address my self to the Government and now have ventured to expose my self to the Censure of the World And it s not any vain desire of Applause that hath induc'd me thus to appear in Print but a due Sense of that Duty which I owe to their Majesties and my Native Country for I was under much and great Reluctancy before I could bring my self to a Resolution of doing it and not without just Cause For I was not bred a Schollar nor ever was concerned either in Shipping or Custom-house Affairs So that if these things prove successful as I have no great reason to doubt then must I wholly attribute it to the Hand of Providence 'T is the Opinion of a great many and those Good Men too that we have been betrayed and a general Out-cry there is of it through the Town and Kingdom and prosecuted with much Heat and I believe it as much as they But 't is the sins of the Nation which have betrayed us this is no imposing at all or any desire I have of being Advocate for any But setting them aside and calmly waying and considering things it will be found that otherwise the Original of all our Misfortunes arise from those Methods that are taken for the supplying the Royal Navy with Saylers and this being but the Effects of Natural Causes I hope no Man will be Offended if I do in a great measure make it so appear if he will seriously and impartially peruse the ensuing Discourse before he gives Judgment for so long as these Methods continue in use we can humanely expect no better success War was always an Enemy to Trade and Losses will come whenever it s on foot notwithstanding all the Industry that can be us'd but it s seldom a Nation doth obstruct and annoy its own Trade but that hath been our misfortune For for near half the year all Ports have in them those that are Enemies both to King and Kingdom though not in Person or Affection yet being arm'd with Power do obstruct Trade and prevent the Merchants from making their several Voyages who would carry off the Product of the Country By which means the King loses vast Sums of Mony and the Trade of the Nation 's greatly impair'd It s the Press Ketches which are guilty of all this and it s by reason of their slowness and difficulty they meet with in getting Men for their Majesties Service which is the grand Cause why our Merchants have been so long detain'd in Port and they and the Coasters have been so much expos'd to the Violence of the Enemy Therefore those Methods we have hitherto taken being the same that were in use an Hundred Years ago will not do in this Age. So it s from our being wanting to our selves in our Maritime Affairs and not making due Provision for the Sailers which hath been the Fountain from whence our Evils have sprung and not from any great Force of the Enemy Notwithstanding all this the Sailers are as Zealous for the Publick Service as any Men in the Kingdom but Interest and Self-preservation is that which governs the Actions of Men and there is now a great Incongruity between the Sailers Interest as shall be made appear and that of the Publick and so long as that remains it must always be expected they will decline the Publick Service But if the Government will be pleas'd to put the first of these Propositions in execution and pass the second into an Act then will they be Consentaneous For by them the Sailers Wages will be reduced and as there will be little odds between the King's Pay and that of Merchant-men so they will have no cause to shun the Service neither indeed can they and their Encouragement to it will be great for they will have the benefit of enjoying two Charities whereas those on Board Ships of Trade can enjoy but one I cannot without Amazement call to mind his most Gracious Majesties great Courage Bravery and Conduct in the late Battle at Landen which was to the Astonishment of his Enemies But at the same time tremble to think to what Dangers he expos'd his Royal Person for our Safeties