It is not without grief and regret, that I am obliged to represent, on this occasion, the obstructions which the war has suffered from those at whose request it was undertaken; and to declare, that the conduct of the merchants, has afforded proof that some law of this tendency is absolutely necessary. The merchants, sir, who have so loudly complained of the decline of trade, the interruption of navigation, and the insolence, rapacity, and cruelty of the Spaniards; the merchants, who filled the nation with representations of their hardships, discouragements, and miseries, and lamented in the most publick manner, that they were the only body for whom the legislature had no regard, who were abandoned to the caprice of other nations, were plundered abroad, and neglected at home; the merchants, after having at length by their importunities engaged the state in a war, of which they have themselves certainly not the least pretensions to question either the justice or necessity, now, when by the natural consequences of a naval armament, sailors become less numerous, and ships more difficult to be equipped, contract in private with such sailors as they are inclined to employ, and conceal them in garrets, hired for that purpose, till the freight is ready, or the danger of an impress is past, and thus secure their own private affairs at the hazard of the publick, and hinder the operations of a war, which they, and they only, solicited. The danger of having other enemies than the Spaniards, enemies, sir, more active, more powerful, and more ambitious, has already been mentioned; a danger so near, and so formidable, that he will not be thought very solicitous for his country, whom the bare mention of it does not alarm. This danger we are, therefore, to obviate by vigorous preparations, and unanimous resolutions; nor do I doubt but both our enemies, if they find us united, will repent of attacking us. Sir, the most efficacious method of manning our fleets, which law or custom has yet put into our hands, is that of suspending our commerce by an embargo; and yet the whole nation knows how much, and by what means, it has been eluded: no sooner was it known that an embargo was laid, than the sailors flew away into the country, or hid themselves in corners of this great city, as from the most formidable danger; and no sooner did the embargo cease, than the banks of the river were again crowded with sailors, and all the trading vessels were immediately supplied. As I cannot doubt, sir, that every gentleman is equally zealous for the success of the war, and the prosperity of his country; and as the insufficiency of the present methods of providing for them is apparent, I hope, that either the regulations proposed by this bill, to which I see no important objections, or some other of equal use, will be established by a general concurrence.