The noble lord has remarked, that the act of queen Anne, on which the
present bill is founded, exacted a determinate number of ships to be
employed in this particular service, and that it was, therefore, more
prudently drawn up than the present bill. But I cannot see the wisdom of
diminishing the authority of the lord high admiral; for had that act
been extended in the same manner to other services, it would have left
him only the name and shadow of an office, without power and without
use.
This clause, my lords, rightly understood, is only a declaration of
confidence in his majesty's officers, an evident confession of their
abilities to discern the interest of the publick, and of their zeal for
the prosecution of it.
With as little reason, my lords, can it be objected, that the ships are
required to be careened three times a-year. The necessity of careening
frequently those ships, of which the chief use arises from their
celerity, every sailor can declare to your lordships; nor will any man
whom his employments or his amusements have made acquainted with
navigation, allege that any thing is proposed in the bill, which it
would not be detrimental to the publick service to neglect.
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