member to lay before the house, and I shall, therefore, propose that the
inducements to the discovery of any provisions illegally exported, and
the manner of levying the forfeiture, may be particularly discussed; for
by a defect in this part, the regulation lately established by the
regency, however seasonable, produced tumults and distractions, which
every good government ought studiously to obviate.

By their proclamation, sir, half the corn that should be found designed
for exportation was to be given to those who should discover and seize
it. The populace, alarmed at once with the danger of a famine, and
animated by a proclamation that put into their own hands the means of
preventing it, and the punishment of those from whose avarice they
apprehended it, rose in throngs to execute so grateful a law. Every
man, sir, whose distress had exasperated him, was incited to gratify his
resentment; every man, whose idleness prompted him to maintain his
family by methods more easy than that of daily labour, was delighted
with the prospect of growing rich on a sudden by a lucky seizure. All
the seditious and the profligate combined together in the welcome
employment of violence and rapine, and when they had once raised their
expectations, there was no small danger lest their impatience of
disappointment should determine them to conclude, that corn, wherever
found, was designed for exportation, and to seize it as a lawful prize.

Thus, sir, by an imprudent regulation, was every man's property brought
into hazard, and his person exposed to the insults of a hungry, a
rapacious, and ungovernable rabble, let loose by a publick proclamation,
and encouraged to search houses and carriages by an imaginary law.

That we may not give occasion to violence and injustice of the same
kind, let us carefully consider the measures which are proposed, before