William Pulteney

“ A standing army is still a standing army, whatever name it be called by. They are a body of men distinct from the body of the people; they are governed by different laws; and blind obedience, and an entire submission to the orders of their commanding officer, is their only principle. The nations around us, sir, are already enslaved, and have been enslaved by these very means: by means of their standing armies they have every one lost their liberties. It is indeed impossible that the liberties of the people can be preserved in any country where a numerous standing army is kept up. ”

“ So long as the Company carries on its trade with advantage to itself and the nation, and preserves entire, an ample sufficiency of funds to pay all its debts, and repay its capital, there can be no reason in common sense for preventing its employing its credit in the purchase of as great a quantity as possible of our own commodities to send to India, and employing as great a number of shipping as the trade will possibly allow. ”

“ If it had been therefore the intention of the Legislature to restrain the Company from purchasing goods on credit, or from incurring freights or other such debts, and that their whole debts of every kind should not exceed six millions, it is very plain to those who are versant in mercantile transactions, and who know the state of this company's trade, that they could not have carried on their affairs in such a manner as they have done, nor have rendered the trade of India so great an object as it is, to this commercial kingdom. ”

“ I know that neither the Protestant succession in his Majesty's most illustrious house, nor any succession, can ever be safe so long as there is a standing army in the country. Armies, sir, have no regard to hereditary successions. ”

“ Therefore do not let us vainly imagine that an army raised and maintained by authority of Parliament will always be submissive to them. If an army be so numerous as to have it in their power to overawe the Parliament, they will be submissive as long as the Parliament does nothing to disoblige their favorite general; but when that case happens, I am afraid that, in place of Parliament's dismissing the army, the army will dismiss the Parliament, as they have done heretofore. ”

“ The creditors to whom the book debts are owing are under no uneasiness, nor do they complain of the increase of dividend, which it is now allowed the Company are fully able to pay, and to continue that payment out of the profits of their trade alone.
Every merchant, when he regulates the sum to be bestowed by him upon his subsistence, or the annual expence of his family, considers, first, what is the total amount of his effects, compared with his debts ”

“ This nation, already overburdened with debts and taxes, must be loaded with the heavy charge of perpetually supporting a numerous standing army; and remain forever exposed to the danger of having its liberties and privileges trampled upon by any future king or ministry, who shall take in their head to do so, and shall take a proper care to model the army for that purpose. ”

“ The Company's trade is so much extended of late years beyond its former limits, that its power of borrowing on annuities and bonds ought also to have been increased; for if six millions was thought reasonable forty or fifty years ago, the publick ought now by the same parity of reason to allow at least eight or ten millions to be borrowed under seal, especially as the wealth of the nation, and of consequence the market for borrowing has so greatly increased during that period. ”

“ By the military law, the administration of justice is so quick, and the punishments so severe, that neither officer nor soldier dares offer to dispute the orders of his supreme commander; he must not consult his own inclinations. ”

“ But indeed upon the footing of the Directors argument that the Company can never divide if they have other debts besides their bonds and annuities, no dividend can ever take place, for the Company cannot carry on their trade in a proper manner without contracting such debts as the price of goods purchased on credit, and the freights of ships employed by them. ”

“ They knew that no opinion could be procured to give a foundation for the doubt which they pretended to entertain, and therefore they took no opinions, but made use of their pretended doubt as a mask to cover the real motives which induced them to engage in their conspiracy against the interest of the proprietors whose servants they are. ”

“ If an officer were commanded to pull his own father out of this House, he must do it; he dares not disobey; immediate death would be the sure consequence of the least grumbling. And if an officer were sent into the Court of Requests, accompanied by a body of musketeers with screwed bayonets, and with orders to tell us what we ought to do, and how we were to vote, I know what would be the duty of this House ”

“ It is the duty of every British subject to submit with reverence and veneration, to whatever obtains the sanction of the three branches of the Legislature; but when any particular bill appears, to common apprehension, to be of dangerous consequence, we are entitled to hope and presume that it never will pass into a law. [Pg 22]
State of the East India Company's affairs with respect to the cash which will come into their treasury, and what must be issued from thence at different periods. ”

“ Our army is now to be reduced, or never will. From his Majesty's own mouth we are assured of a profound tranquillity abroad, and we know there is one at home. If this is not a proper time, if these circumstances do not afford us a safe opportunity for reducing at least a part of our regular forces, we never can expect to see any reduction. ”

“ It is impossible that we could either have carried on these wars which have ended with so much success, or have extended our commerce and the exportation of home commodities to the amazing degree we have done, if the statutes restricting our borrowing under seal had been understood to prohibit the using our credit in the purchase of goods. ”

“ In the course of the Company's trade, they have been in the practice, like all other merchants, of purchasing goods upon credit, and of contracting for ships upon freight, and only advancing a part of that freight 'till after the voyage was compleated. ”

“ The debts due by the Company at present, exclusive of its bonds and annuities, are particularly set forth in an account delivered in by order of the House of Commons, the particulars of which debts are these: [Pg 7]
The customs are not payable till the goods are sold, and even as to those sold, a long delay of payment is always allowed. ”