eaning of the senate, upon whose wisdom it
would be a censure too severe to suppose them capable of enacting
impossibilities.

But to the innholder, sir, whose utensils are always in use, and whose
fire is always burning, the diet of a soldier costs only the original
price paid to the butcher; and, in years of common plenty, may be
afforded, without loss, at the price mentioned in the act. It cannot,
indeed, be denied, that, at present, every soldier is a burden to the
family on which he is quartered, in many parts of the kingdom; but, it
may be reasonably hoped, that the present scarcity will quickly cease,
and that provisions will fall back to their former value; and even,
amidst all the complaints with which the severity and irregularity of
the late seasons have filled the nation, there are many places where
soldiers may be maintained at the stated rates, with very little
hardship to their landlords.

However, sir, as this interpretation of the act, though thus supported,
both by authority and reason, has been disputed and denied; as some
lawyers may be of a different opinion from those whom I have consulted;
and as it is not likely that the practice, thus interrupted, will now be
complied with as a prescription; I think it necessary to propose, that
the price of a soldier's diet be more explicitly ascertained, that no
room may remain for future controversies.

Mr. SANDYS then rose, and spoke as follows:--Sir, I am very far from
thinking the authority of these learned gentlemen, whose letters are
produced, incontrovertible proof of the justness of an interpretation of
an act of the senate, where that interpretation is not in itself
warranted by reason, nor consistent with the preservation or enjoyment
of property. Much less shall I agree to support their interpretation by
a new law; or establish, by an act of the legislature, a kind of
oppression, for which, however tacitly submitted to, nothing could be
pleaded hitherto but custom.

The burden, sir, of a standing army, is already too heavy to be much
longer supported, nor ought we to add weight to it by new impositions;
it surely much better becomes the representatives of the nation to
attend to the complaints of their constituents; and where they are found
to arise from real grievances, to contrive some expedient for
alleviating their calamities.

A heavy and dreadful calamity, sir, lies now, in a particular manner,
upon the people; the calamity of famine, on