ART . I. EVERY Seaman who enters voluntarily with a Commission-Officer , Justice of the Peace , or Mayor of a Town , and appears within fourteen Days on board the Ship , if the Distance be within one hundred Miles , twenty Days if more , and thirty Days in North-Britain , shall begin Wages from the Time of his Entry , have Conduct Money , and receive two Months Wages Advance before the Ship goes to Sea .

It is undoubtedly in the Power of the Admiralty to publish by Proclamation what Conduct Money and advanced Wages they think proper to give for the Encouragement of Men ; therefore it is needless to have Recourse to Parliament .

Justices of Peace and Mayors of inland Towns cannot tell Seamen by their Faces , and therefore may very easily be imposed upon by Rogues , who by this Clause may demand a Certificate which will serve as a Pass to protect them from the Statutes against Rogues , Vagabonds , and sturdy Beggars , and this Article will fill the Countrey with that kind of Vermin by Certificate .

II . Every voluntary able Seaman shall have three Shillings a Month , and every ordinary Seaman one Shilling more Wages than he has now .

This also may be done by Proclamation , since 4 l. per Month is given for each Man aboard the Navy , and it is in the Power of the Admiralty to dispose of that Money in such manner as they shall think best for the Service ; and if they would abate upon the Head of rebuilding first Rates they might out of the Savings advance the Pay of the Men without having Recourse to Parliament .

It is presumed , that if Wages are thus advanced in a Time of Peace , the Men will expect a new Advance in a Time of War , and a Want of Seamen .

III . When a Ship has been eight Months in Pay , two Months Wages shall be paid to the Voluntiers ; after fourteen Months , two Months more ; and so every six Months till the final Pay of the Ship .

The Commissioners of the Navy are by this Clause requir'd to cause immediate Payment to be made of two Months Wages in six , but as there is no additional Money given them by this Act for to enable them to make those prompt Payments , and as there is no Penalty upon them in case they do not comply with this Direction , it is to be fear'd that this Clause will have as little Effect as a Promise of the same Nature in the Register Act. If the Money given by Parliament is sufficient for to make this prompt Payment , the Advance might be made by Order of the Admiralty without having Recourse to Parliament , and if the 4 l. per Man be not sufficient , this Bill does not augment it , so consequently does not give any Remedy .

IV . When a voluntary Seaman dies , his Wages shall be forthwith paid to his Executors , without staying for the Pay of the Ship .

This Disposition of the Seamens Pay is entirely in the Power of the Admiralty , and they need not have Recourse to Parliament on this Head .

V. Voluntary Seamen shall never be turned over into other Ships , but in Cases of extream Necessity , and then they shall not serve in worse Qualities than they had in the first Ship , and ( besides being paid all their Wages which they have a Right to by a former Law ) they shall have two Months Wages advanced before the Ship goes to Sea .

If this Clause passes , a Power will be given to the Admiralty which indeed they have not , and which will repeal the most valuable Part of the Magna Charta , the Petition of Right , and the Habeas Corpus Act. It says that no voluntary Seamen shall be turned over into other Ships ; this is granting nothing , for the turning of them over is already against Law ; it is banishing them without Tryal by their Peers , which is against the Magna Charta , and the Words which follow ( but in Cases of extream Necessity ) will , if passed , authorize by Act of Parliament the turning over in Cases of Necessity , and will make the Admiralty Judges of that Necessity ; if this Clause passes , it will give a Power to the Admiralty over the Liberties of the Seamen unknown to the Laws of this Realm , and justify a Practice which is the Terror of the Seamen and the greatest Reason of their Unwillingness to list .

VI . All the Preferments and petty Offices in the Ship , as Mates , Midshipmen , and so downwards , shall be conferred on voluntary Seamen only , and such as actually do the Duty of their Places .

This Clause insinuates as if pressing were to be continued , since it makes a Difference between Voluntiers and some other kind of Seamen , by whom if pressed Men are meant , it is presumed that this Distinction will make Bullies of the Voluntiers , and Slaves of the pressed Men ; besides which , the Government will be deprived by it of the Service of many excellent Mariners , since it is known that Mates of Merchant Men , who have had liberal Education , and who can get comfortable Livings will not go Voluntiers , but are often pressed on board the Men of War , and are as fit to make petty Officers of as any Men whatsoever .

VII . When the Ship is paid off , any voluntary Seaman may have a Protection for one Month from the Press , if there be one on Foot , and he desires it .

In this Clause the Meaning of the Bill begins to be seen ; it sets forth , that a Licence shall be given , which shall be to such Person a Security and Protection against being impressed for the Space of one Month , which is as much as to say they might be pressed if they had not such Licence : This is at once allowing all the illegal Acts which have been commi●ted under Press Warrants , and continuing the Power of Pressing in the Breast of the Admiralty without any Limitation whatsoever . It seems very extraordinary to have Recourse to Parliament to order Men to be protected for one Month only , against a Violence from which by their Birthright they ought to be eternally exempted .

VIII . If a Ship is fitted out at one Port , and laid up in another distant Port , the voluntary Seamen who live near the first Port , shall be allowed Conduct Money home .

This is a very good Clause , and in the Power of the Admiralty without Act of Parliament .

IX . Seamen who desert , shall forfeit no Wages but what are due in the Ship they deserted from .

This Clause shews , that the Custom of turning Men over is intended to be continued , and that it is not intended to pay off the Men as soon as the Ships are laid up ; for if all the Wages due unto them on board the last Ship on which they served be discharg'd , there can be no Arrears for them to forfeit .

After this Clause follows a Proviso not inserted in the Articles : Provided nevertheless , that nothing in this Act contained , shall extend to take away or alter the Punishment appointed by an Act made in the thirteenth Year of King Charles the Second , for such Captains , Officers or Mariners as shall desert the Service of his Majesty , his Heirs or Successors , in his Ships , or entice others so to do : And the Clause referr'd to , 13 Car . II . cap . 9. sect . 17. All Sea-Captains , Officers or Mariners , that shall desert the Services or their Employment in the Ships , or shall run away , or entice any others so to do , shall be punished with Death .

X. All Bills of Sale of Seamens Wages shall be void in Law , and the Treasurer shall pay all Wages to the Parties themselves , or to the lawful Attorneys , or their Executors .

Bills of Sale are suppressed , but Letters of Attorney are constituted in their Stead , and the Treasurer of the Navy made Judge whether the Sailor shall be paid his Wages or not . Doubtless the Sailor ought , like other Subjects , to have the Liberty of Receiving his Wages , and let the Creditor be left to his Remedy at Law .

XI . All Letters of Attorney shall be witnessed either by the Captain of the Ship , a Clerk of the Checque at any of the Dock Yards , or a Mayor of a Town , or a Notary Publick in London and Westminster .

This enableth the Sailor to give many Letters Attorney , and consequently lessens the Security of any one of them ; for he may give a Letter of Attorney sign'd by the Captain of the Ship , another by the Mayor of a Town , and as many more different Letters of Attorney for the same Pay as there are Notary Publicks in London and Westminster ; and if many different Letters of Attorney , sign'd by the same Person and for the same Wages , come to the Pay-Table together , there is no Rule laid down for the Treasurer to proceed upon , and 't is left in his Breast which of the Creditors shall receive and which lose their Money .

Here comes in another Proviso not mentioned in the Abstract , by which Masters are to receive the Wages of their Servants . This gives a Power of making Slaves , because the Age of the Servant is not limited ; therefore a Sailor of full Age being arrested or made drunk by his Creditor , may be drawn in to sign an Indenture by which he may bind himself for a Number of Years , and that Creditor may sell him to a Man of War , and receive all his Pay at the Pay-Table for as many Years as his Indenture lasts .

XII . Seamen may dispose of their Tickets by Sale , which shall be paid to the lawful Purchaser , even though the Party deserts afterwards .

This seems to be an Encouragement to Desertion .

XIII . Seamen applying for their Wages after the Ships Books are made up and closed , shall have Tickets made out for their Wages , payable in a Month .

Tickets are continued but ordered to be paid within a Month , but no Provision is made for the Paying of them .

XIV . If a Land Officer enlists a Seaman , upon Proof made that he is such , he shall be discharged .

If this Clause passes , all the Captains in the Land Service may be undone ; for after they have been at great Expence in listing a Man , and bringing him to the Regiment , he may , even the Day before the Muster , be demanded as having served on Board a Ship .

XV . Governours , Ministers , Consuls , and Merchants abroad , shall subsist poor straggling Seamen , at the Rate of Six-pence a Day , and send them Home by the first Opportunity ; and Masters of Merchant-Ships shall bring them Home , and be allow'd Six-pence a Day for their Passage and Provisions .

XVI . Foreign Seamen serving three Years voluntarily in his Majesty's Ships , shall have the same Privileges as natural born Englishmen .

It is presumed that this Clause cannot be reconciled to the following Part of the Act of Navigation , 12 Car . II . Cap. 18. Sect . 1. No Goods or Commodities whatsoever shall be imported into , or exported out of any Lands , Islands , Plantations , or Territories to his Majesty belonging or in his Possession , or which may hereafter belong unto , or be in the Possession of his Majesty , his Heirs and Successors , in Asia , Africa , or America , in any other Ship or Ships , Vessel or Vessels whatsoever , but in such Ships or Vessels as do truly and without Fraud belong only to the People of England or Ireland , Dominion of Wales , or Town of Berwick upon Tweed ; or are of the Built of , and belonging to any of the said Lands , Islands , Plantations , or Territories , as the Proprietors and right Owners thereof , and whereof the Master and three fourths of the Mariners at least are English .

12 Car . II . Cap. 4. Sect . 1. We the Commons , &c. Give and grant unto you our Supream Leige Lord and Sovereign , one Subsidy called Tunnage , that is to say , of every Tun of Wine of the Growth of France , or of any the Dominions of the French King , or Crown of France , that shall come into the Port of London , and the Members thereof , by Way of Merchandize , by your natural born Subjects the Sum of 4 l. 10 s . of current English Money ; and so after that Rate , and by Strangers and Aliens six Pounds of like Money .

It is presumed that if this Clause passes , the Dutch or any other Foreigners may , by sending their Mariners on Board an English Man of War for three Years , make them Englishmen . By Manning their Ships with such Englishmen , and entering them in some of their Names , they may elude the King of his Foreign Duties , and destroy the Trade of the Merchants , besides which , it is liable to infinite Frauds , since there is no Register nor Certificate to be produced of their having served .

XVII . Seamen who serve voluntarily Twenty Years , and are not under Fifty Five Years of Age , shall be protected for ever from the Press , shall be free from all Parish Offices , and shall be admitted into Greenwich Hospital preferable to any others .

This Clause , under the Pretence of giving Ease to the Sailors , admits Pressing to be lawful , and sanctifies all the Oppression that has or may be committed by that extraordinary Manner of Raising Seamen ; if this Clause passes as it now stands , it may be pleaded as the Sense of the Legislature against any Person who shall bring an Action of Damage for having been beaten , plundred , or abused by a Press-Gang : And how apt they are already to beat , plunder , and abuse , every Merchant in the Kingdom is deeply sensible .