DEBATE ON SPIRITUOUS LIQUORS.

The bill for altering the duties on spirituous liquors, and permitting

them again to be sold with less restraint, which was sent up by the

commons to the house of lords, produced there very long and serious

deliberations, to which the lords had every day each a particular

summons, as in cases of the highest concern.

The bill was entitled, An act for repealing certain duties on

spirituous liquors, and on licenses for retailing the same, and for

laying other duties on spirituous liquors, and on licenses for

retailing the said liquors.

The duties which were proposed to be repealed, were those laid by the

act 9 Geo. II. which permitted no person to sell spirituous liquors in

less quantity than two gallons without a license, for which fifty

pounds were to be paid. Whereas by the new bill a small duty per

gallon was laid on at the still-head, and the license was to cost but

twenty shillings, which was to be granted only to such as had licenses

for selling ale. On the credit of this act, as soon as it was passed

by the commons, the ministry borrowed a large sum at three per cent,

but it was understood that the sinking fund was pledged as a

collateral security to pay any deficiency.

In about a fortnight this bill passed all the forms in the house of

commons, almost without opposition; and with little or no alteration

from the scheme brought into the committee on ways and means for

raising the supply for the current year, by Mr. SANDYS, then

chancellor of the exchequer.

It was immediately carried up to the house of lords, where it was read

for the first time on the 17th of February; and ordered a second

reading on the twenty-second. On that day the commissioners of excise,

according to an order of the house, brought an account of the sums

arising by the last act, and a yearly account for several years past;

and attending were interrogated concerning the execution of the last

act.

The bishop of ORFORD particularly inquired, whether it had been

effectually put in force, and questions of the same kind were asked by

lord LONSDALE and others; to which the commissioners answered, that it

had been diligently and vigorously executed, so far as they or their

officers had power to enforce it; but that the justices had not always

been equally zealous in seconding their endeavours; and that it was

impossible to discover all the petty dealers by whom it was infringed,

spirituous liquors still continuing to be sold in small obscure shops,

and at the corners of the streets.

A motion was also made, that three of the physicians of most note for

their learning and experience, should be summoned to attend the house,

to declare their opinion with regard to the effects of spirituous

liquors upon the human body. But this was rejected by 33 against 17.

The bill was read the second time on the day appointed, when the

question being put, whether it should be committed, lord HERVEY rose,

and spoke to the following effect:--

My lords, though I doubt not but the bill now before us will be

promoted in this house, by the same influence by which it has been

conducted through the other; yet I hope its success will be very

different, and that those arts by which its consequences, however

formidable, have been hitherto concealed, or by which those whose

business it was to have detected and exposed them, have been induced

to turn their eyes aside, will not be practised here with the same

efficacy, though they should happen to be attempted with the same

confidence. I hope that zeal for the promotion of virtue, and that

regard to publick happiness, which has on all occasions distinguished

this illustrious assembly, will operate now with uncommon energy, and

prevent the approbation of a bill, by which vice is to be made legal,

by which the fences of subordination are to be thrown down, and all

the order of society, and decency of regular establishments be

obliterated by universal licentiousness, and lost in the wild

confusions of debauchery; of debauchery encouraged by law, and

promoted for the support of measures expensive, ridiculous, and

unnecessary.

A law of so pernicious a tendency shall, at least, not pass through

this house without opposition; nor shall drunkenness be established

among us without the endeavour of one voice, at least, to withhold its

progress; for I now declare that I oppose the commitment of this bill,

and that I am determined to continue my opposition to it in all the

steps by which the forms of our house make it necessary that it should

pass before it can become a law.

Nor do I speak, my lords, on this occasion, with that distrust and

mental hesitation which are both natural and decent, when questions

are dubious, when probability seems to be almost equally divided, when

truth appears to hover between two parties, and by turns to favour

every speaker; when specious arguments are urged on both sides, and

the number of circumstances to be collected, and of relations to be

adjusted, is so great, that an exact and indubitable decision is

scarcely to be attained by human reason. I do not, my lords, now speak

with the diffidence of inquiry, or the uncertainty of conjecture, nor

imagine that I am now examining a political expedient, of which the

success can only be perfectly known by experience, and of which,

therefore, no man can absolutely determine, whether it will be useful

or pernicious, or a metaphysical difficulty, which may be discussed

for ever without being decided.

In considering this bill, my lords, I proceed upon stated and

invariable principles. I have no facts to examine but such as, to the

last degree, are notorious, such as have been experienced every hour,

since the existence of society; and shall appeal, not to transitory

opinions, or casual assertions, but to the laws of all civilized

nations, and to the determinations of every man whose wisdom or virtue

have given him a claim to regard.

All the decrees of all the legislators of the earth, or the

declarations of wise men, all the observations which nature furnishes,

and all the examples which history affords, concur in condemning this

bill before us, as a bill injurious to society, destructive of private

virtue, and, by consequence, of publick happiness, detrimental to the

human species, and, therefore, such as ought to be rejected in that

assembly to which the care of the nation is committed; that assembly

which ought to meet only for the benefit of mankind, and of which the

resolutions ought to have no other end, than the suppression of those

vices by which the happiness of life is obstructed or impaired.

The bill now before you, my lords, is fundamentally wrong, as it is

formed upon a hateful project of increasing the consumption of

spirituous liquors, and, consequently, of promoting drunkenness among

a people reproached already for it throughout the whole world. It

contains such a concatenation of enormities, teems with so vast a

number of mischiefs, and therefore produces, in those minds that

attend to its nature, and pursue its consequences, such endless

variety of arguments against it, that the memory is perplexed, the

imagination crowded, and utterance overburdened. Before any one of its

pernicious effects is fully dilated a thousand others appear; the

hydra still shoots out new heads, and every head vomits out new poison

to infect society, and lay the nation desolate.

I am, therefore, at a loss, my lords, not how to raise arguments

against this bill, which cannot be read or mentioned without,

furnishing them by thousands; but how to methodise those that occur to

me, and under what heads to range my thoughts, that I may pursue my

design without confusion, that I may understand myself, and be

understood by your lordships.

A multitude of considerations are obvious, all of importance

sufficient to claim attention, and to outweigh the advantages proposed

by this hateful bill, but which cannot all be mentioned, or at least

not with that exactness which they deserve; I shall, therefore,

confine myself at present to three considerations, and shall entreat

the attention of your lordships, while I examine the bill now before

us, with regard to its influence on the health and morals of the

people, the arguments by which it has been hitherto supported, and the

effects which it will have on the sinking fund.

The first head, my lords, is so copious, that I find myself very

little relieved by the division which I have made. The moral

arguments, though separated from those which are either political or

temporary, are sufficient to overpower the strongest reason, and

overflow the most extensive comprehension.

It is not necessary, I suppose, to show that health of body is a

blessing, that the duties of life in which the greatest part of the

world is employed, require vigour and activity, and that to want

strength of limbs, and to want the necessary supports of nature, are

to the lower classes of mankind the same. I need not observe to your

lordships, whose legislative character obliges you to consider the

general concatenation of society, that all the advantages which high

stations or large possessions can confer, are derived from the labours

of the poor; that to the plough and the anvil, the loom and the

quarry, pride is indebted for its magnificence, luxury for its

dainties, and delicacy for its ease. A very little consideration will

be sufficient to show, that the lowest orders of mankind supply

commerce with manufacturers, navigation with mariners, and war with

soldiers; that they constitute the strength and riches of every

nation; and that, though they generally move only by superiour

direction, they are the immediate support of the community; and that

without their concurrence, policy would project in vain, wisdom would

end in idle speculation, and the determinations of this assembly would

be empty sounds.

It is, therefore, my lords, of the utmost importance, that all

practices should be suppressed by which the lower orders of the people

are enfeebled and enervated; for if they should be no longer able to

bear fatigues or hardships, if any epidemical weakness of body should

be diffused among them, our power must be at an end, our mines would

be an useless treasure, and would no longer afford us either the

weapons of war, or the ornaments of domestick elegance; we should no

longer give law to mankind by our naval power, nor send out armies to

fight for the liberty of distant nations; we should no longer supply

the markets of the continent with our commodities, or share in all the

advantages which nature has bestowed upon distant countries, for all

these, my lords, are the effects of indigent industry, and mechanick

labour.

All these blessings or conveniencies are procured by that strength of

body, which nature has bestowed upon the natives of this country, who

have hitherto been remarkably robust and hardy, able to support long

fatigues, and to contend with the inclemency of rigorous climates, the

violence of storms, and the turbulence of waves, and who have,

therefore, extended their conquests with uncommon success, and been

equally adapted to the toils of trade and of war, and have excelled

those who endeavoured to rival them either in the praise of

workmanship or of valour.

But, my lords, if the use of spirituous liquors be encouraged, their

diligence, which can only be supported by health, will quickly

languish; every day will diminish the numbers of the manufacturers,

and, by consequence, augment the price of labour; those who continue

to follow their employments, will be partly enervated by corruption,

and partly made wanton by the plenty which the advancement of their

wages will afford them, and partly by the knowledge that no degree of

negligence will deprive them of that employment in which there will be

none to succeed them. All our commodities, therefore, will be wrought

with less care and at a higher price, and therefore, will be rejected

at foreign markets in favour of those which other nations will exhibit

of more value, and yet at a lower rate.

No sooner, my lords, will this bill make drunkenness unexpensive and

commodious, no sooner will shops be opened in every corner of the

streets, in every petty village, and in every obscure cellar for the

retail of these liquors, than the workrooms will be forsaken, when the

artificer has, by the labour of a small part of the day, procured what

will be sufficient to intoxicate him for the remaining hours; for he

will hold it ridiculous to waste any part of his life in superfluous

diligence, and will readily assign to merriment and frolicks that time

which he now spends in useful occupations.

But such is the quality of these liquors, that he will not long be

able to divide his life between labour and debauchery, he will soon

find himself disabled by his excesses from the prosecution of his

work, and those shops which were before abandoned for the sake of

pleasure, will soon be made desolate by sickness; those who were

before idle, will become diseased, and either perish by untimely

deaths, or languish in misery and want, an useless burden to the

publick.

Nor, my lords, will the nation only suffer by the deduction of such

numbers from useful employments, but by the addition of great

multitudes to those who must be supported by the charity of the

publick. The manufacturer, who by the use of spirituous liquors

weakens his limbs or destroys his health, at once, takes from the

community to which he belongs, a member by which the common stock was

increased, and by leaving a helpless family behind him, increases the

burden which the common stock must necessarily support. And the trader

or husbandman is obliged to pay more towards the maintenance of the

poor, by the same accident which diminishes his trade or his harvest,

which takes away part of the assistance which he received, and raises

the price of the rest.

That these liquors, my lords, liquors of which the strength is

heightened by distillation, have a natural tendency to inflame the

blood, to consume the vital juices, destroy the force of the vessels,

contract the nerves, and weaken the sinews, that they not only

disorder the mind for a time, but by a frequent use precipitate old

age, exasperate diseases, and multiply and increase all the

infirmities to which the body of man is liable, is generally known to

all whose regard to their own health, or study to preserve that of

others, has at any time engaged them in such inquiries, and would have

been more clearly explained to your lordships, had the learned

physicians been suffered to have given their opinions on this subject,

as was yesterday proposed.

Why that proposal was rejected, my lords; for what reason, in the

discussion of so important a question, any kind of evidence was

refused, posterity will find it difficult to explain, without imputing

to your lordships such motives as, I hope, will never operate in this

assembly. It will be, perhaps, thought that the danger was generally

known, though not acknowledged; and that those who resolved to pass

the bill, had no other care than to obstruct such information as might

prove to mankind, that they were incited by other designs than that of

promoting the publick good.

It is not, however, necessary that any very curious inquiries should

be made for the discovery of that which, indeed, cannot be concealed,

and which every man has an opportunity of remarking that passes

through the streets.

So publick, so enormous, and so pernicious has been this dreadful

method of debauchery, that it has excited and baffled the diligence of

the magistrates, who have endeavoured to stop its progress or hinder

its effects. They found their efforts ineffectual, and their diligence

not only not useful to the publick, but dangerous to themselves. They

quickly experienced, my lords, the folly of those laws which punish

crimes instead of preventing them; they found that legal authority had

little influence, when opposed to the madness of multitudes

intoxicated with spirits, and that the voice of justice was but very

little heard amidst the clamours of riot and drunkenness.

We live, my lords, in a nation where the effects of strong liquors

have been for a long time too well known; we know that they produce,

in almost every one, a high opinion of his own merit; that they blow

the latent sparks of pride into flame, and, therefore, destroy all

voluntary submission; they put an end to subordination, and raise

every man to an equality with his master, or his governour. They

repress all that awe by which men are restrained within the limits of

their proper spheres, and incite every man to press upon him that

stands before him, that stands in the place of which that sudden

elevation of heart, which drunkenness bestows, makes him think himself

more worthy.

Pride, my lords, is the parent, and intrepidity the fosterer of

resentment; for this reason, men are almost always inclined, in their

debauches, to quarrels and to bloodshed; they think more highly of

their own merit, and, therefore, more readily conclude themselves

injured; they are wholly divested of fear, insensible of present

danger, superiour to all authority, and, therefore, thoughtless of

future punishment; and what then can hinder them from expressing their

resentment with the most offensive freedom, or pursuing their revenge

with the most daring violence.

Thus, my lords, are forgotten disputes often revived, and after having

been long reconciled, are at last terminated by blows; thus are lives

destroyed upon the most trifling occasions, upon provocations often

imaginary, upon chimerical points of honour, where he who gave the

offence, perhaps without design, supports it only because he has given

it; and he who resents it, pursues his resentment only because he will

not acknowledge his mistake.

Thus are lives lost, my lords, at a time when those who set them to

hazard, are without consciousness of their value, without sense of the

laws which they violate, and without regard to any motives but the

immediate influence of rage and malice.

When we consider, my lords, these effects of drunkenness, it can be no

subject of wonder, that the magistrate finds himself overborne by a

multitude united against him, and united by general debauchery.

Government, my lords, subsists upon reverence, and what reverence can

be paid to the laws, by a crowd, of which every man is exalted by the

enchantment of those intoxicating spirits, to the independence of a

monarch, the wisdom of a legislator, and the intrepidity of a hero?

when every man thinks those laws oppressive that oppose the execution

of his present intentions, and considers every magistrate as his

persecutor and enemy?

Laws, my lords, suppose reason; for who ever attempted to restrain

beasts but by force; and, therefore, those that propose the promotion

of publick happiness, which can be produced only by an exact

conformity to good laws, ought to endeavour to preserve what may

properly be called the publick reason; they ought to prevent a general

depravation of the faculties of those whose benefit is intended, and

whose obedience is required; they ought to take care that the laws may

be known, for how else can they be observed? and how can they be

known, or at least, how can they be remembered in the heats of

drunkenness?

That the laws are universally neglected and defied among the lower

class of mankind, among those whose want of the lights of knowledge

and instruction, makes positive and compulsory directions more

necessary for the regulation of their conduct, is apparent from the

representation of the magistrates, in which the general disorders of

this great city, the open wickedness, the daring insolence, and

unbounded licentiousness of the common people, is very justly

described.

Their wickedness and insolence, my lords, is, indeed, such, that order

is almost at an end, rank no longer confers respect, nor does dignity

afford security. The same confidence produces insults and robberies,

and that insensibility with which debauchery arms the mind equally

against fear and pity, frequently aggravates the guilt of robbery with

greater crimes; those who are so unhappy as to fall into the hands of

thieves, heated by spirits into madmen, seldom escape without

suffering greater cruelties than the loss of money.

That the use of these poisonous draughts quickly debilitates the

limbs, and destroys the strength of the body; however this quality may

impair our manufactures, weaken our armies, and diminish our commerce;

however it may reduce our fleets to an empty show, and enable our

enemies to triumph in the field, or our rivals to supplant us in the

market, can scarcely, my lords, come under consideration, when we

reflect how debauchery operates upon the morals.

It is happy, my lords, that those who are inclined to mischief, are

disabled in a short time from executing their intentions, by the same

causes which excite them; that they are obliged to stop in the career

of their crimes, that they are preserved from the hand of the

executioner by the liquor which exposes them to it, and that palsies

either disable them from pursuing their villanies, or fevers put an

end to their lives.

It is happy, my lords, that what is thus violent, cannot be lasting;

that those lives which are employed in mischief, are generally short;

and that since it is the quality of this malignant liquor to corrupt

the mind, it likewise destroys the body.

But this effect, my lords, is not constant or regular; men sometimes

continue for many years, to supply the, expenses of drunkenness by

rapine, and to exasperate the fury of rapine by drunkenness. And,

therefore, though there could be any one so regardless of the

happiness of mankind, as to look without concern upon them who hurry

themselves to the grave with poison, he may yet be incited by his own

interest to prevent the progress of this practice, a practice which

tends to the subversion of all order, and the destruction of all

happiness.

It is well known, my lords, that publick happiness must be on a stated

proportion to publick virtue; that mutual trust is the cement of

society, and that no man can be trusted but as he is reputed honest.

To promote trust, my lords, is the apparent tendency of all laws. When

the ties of morality are enforced by penal sanctions, men are more

afraid to violate them, and, therefore, are trusted with less danger;

but when they no longer fear the law, they are to be restrained only

by their consciences; and if neither law nor conscience has any

influence upon their conduct, they are only a herd of wild beasts, let

loose to prey upon each other, and every man will inflict or suffer

pain, as he meets with one stronger or weaker than himself. Thus, my

lords, will all authority cease, property will become dangerous to him

that possesses it, and confusion will overspread the whole community;

nor can it be easily conceived, by the most extensive comprehension

how far the mischiefs may spread, or where the chain of destructive

consequences will end.

If we consider our fleet or our army, my lords, it is apparent, that

neither obedience nor fidelity can be expected from men upon whom all

the ties of morality, and all the sanctions of law have lost their

influence; they will mutiny without fear, and desert without scruple,

and like wild beasts, will, upon the least provocation, turn upon

those by whom they ought to be governed.

But drunkenness, my lords, not only corrupts men, by taking away the

sense of those restraints by which they are generally kept in awe, and

withheld from the perpetration of villanies, but by superadding the

temptations of poverty, temptations not easily to be resisted, even by

those whose eyes are open to the consequences of their actions, and

which, therefore, will certainly prevail over those whose

apprehensions are laid asleep, and who never extend their views beyond

the gratification of the present moment.

Drunkenness, my lords, is the parent of idleness; for no man can apply

himself to the business of his trade, either while he is drinking, or

when he is drunk. Part of his time is spent in jollity, and part in

imbecility; when he is amidst his companions he is too gay to think of

the consequences of neglecting his employment; and when he has

overburdened himself with liquor, he is too feeble and too stupid to

follow it.

Poverty, my lords, is the offspring of idleness, as idleness of

drunkenness; the drunkard's work is little and his expenses are great;

and, therefore, he must soon see his family distressed, and his

substance reduced to nothing: and surely, my lords, it needs not much

sagacity to discover what will be the consequence of poverty produced

by vice.

It is not to be expected, my lords, that a man thus corrupted will be

warned by the approach of misery, that he will recollect his

understanding, and awaken his attention; that he will apply himself to

his business with new diligence, endeavour to recover, by an increase

of application, what he has lost by inattention, and make the

remembrance of his former vices, and the difficulties and diseases

which they brought upon him, an incitement to his industry, a

confirmation of his resolution, and a support to his virtue.

That this is, indeed, possible, I do not intend to deny; but the bare

possibility of an event so desirable, is the utmost that can be

admitted; for it can scarcely be expected, that any man should be able

to break through all the obstacles that will obstruct his return to

honesty and wisdom; his companions will endeavour to continue the

infatuating amusements which have so long deluded him; his appetite

will assist their solicitations; the desire of present ease by which

all mankind are sometimes led aside from virtue, will operate with

unusual strength; since, to retrieve his misconduct, he must not only

deny himself the pleasure which he has so long indulged, but must bear

the full view of his distress from which he will naturally turn aside

his eyes. The general difficulty of reformation will incline him to

seek for ease by any other means, and to delay that amendment which he

knows to be necessary, from hour to hour, and from day to day, till

his resolutions are too much weakened to prove of any effect, and his

habits confirmed beyond opposition.

At length, necessity, immediate necessity, presses upon him; his

family is made clamorous by want, and his calls of nature and of

luxury are equally importunate; he has now lost his credit in the

world, and none will employ him, because none will trust him, or

employment cannot immediately be, perhaps, obtained; because his place

has for a long time been supplied by others. And, even if he could

obtain a readmission to his former business, his wants are now too

great and too pressing to be supplied by the slow methods of regular

industry; he must repair his losses by more efficacious expedients,

and must find some methods of acquisition, by which the importunity of

his creditors may be satisfied.

Industry is now, by long habits of idleness, become almost

impracticable; his attention having been long amused by pleasing

objects, and dissipated by jollity and merriment, is not readily

recalled to a task which is unpleasing, because it is enjoined; and

his limbs, enervated by hot and strong liquors, liquors of the most

pernicious kind, cannot support the fatigues necessary in the practice

of his trade; what was once wholesome exercise is now insupportable

fatigue; and he has not now time to habituate himself, by degrees, to

that application which he has intermitted, that labour which he has

disused, or those arts which he has forgotten.

In this state, my lords, he easily persuades himself that his

condition is desperate, that no legal methods will relieve him; and

that, therefore, he has nothing to hope but from the efforts of

despair. These thoughts are quickly confirmed by his companions, whom

the same misconduct has reduced to the same distress, and who have

already tried the pleasures of being supported by the labour of

others. They do not fail to explain to him the possibility of sudden

affluence, and, at worst, to celebrate the satisfaction of short-lived

merriment. He, therefore, engages with them in their nocturnal

expeditions, an association of wickedness is formed, and that man, who

before he tasted this infatuating liquor, contributed every day, by

honest labour, to the happiness or convenience of life, who supported

his family in decent plenty, and was himself at ease, becomes at once

miserable and wicked; is detested as a nuisance by the community, and

hunted by the officers of justice; nor has mankind any thing now to

wish or hope with regard to him, but that by his speedy destruction,

the security of the roads may be restored, and the tranquillity of the

night be set free from the alarms of robbery and murder.

These, my lords, are the consequences which necessarily ensue from the

use of those pernicious, those infatuating spirits, which have justly

alarmed every man whom pleasure or sloth has not wholly engrossed, and

who has ever looked upon the various scenes of life with that

attention which their importance demands.

Among these, my lords, the clergy have distinguished themselves by a

zealous opposition to this growing evil, and have warned their hearers

with the warmest concern against the misery and wickedness which must

always be the attendants or the followers of drunkenness. One among

them [Footnote: Bishop of SARUM.], whose merit has raised him to a

seat in this august, assembly, and whose instructions are enforced by

the sanctity of his life, has, in a very cogent and pathetical manner,

displayed the enormity of this detestable sin, the universality of its

prevalence, and the malignity of its effects; and in his discourse on

the infirmary of this city, has observed with too much justness, that

the lowest of the people are infected with this vice, and that _even

necessity is become luxurious_.

Many other authorities [Footnote: He read the preamble to a former

bill, the opinion of the college of physicians.] might be produced,

and some others I have now in my hand; but the recital of them would

waste the day to no purpose: for surely it is not necessary to show,

by a long deduction of authorities, the guilt of drunkenness, or to

prove that it weakens the body, or that it depraves the mind, that it

makes mankind too feeble for labour, too indolent for application, too

stupid for ingenuity, and too daring for the peace of society.

This, surely, my lords, is, therefore, a vice which ought, with the

utmost care, to be discouraged by those whose birth or station has

conferred upon them the province of watching over the publick

happiness; and which, surely, no prospect of present advantage, no

arguments of political convenience, will prevail upon this house to

promote.

That the natural and evident tendency of this bill is the propagation

of drunkenness, cannot be denied, when it is considered that it will

increase the temptations to it by making that liquor, which is the

favourite of the common people, more common, by multiplying the places

at which it is sold, so that none can want an opportunity of yielding

to any sudden impulse of his appetite, which will solicit him more

powerfully and more incessantly as they are more frequently and more

easily gratified.

In defence of a bill like this, my lords, it might be expected, that

at least many specious arguments should be offered. It may be justly

hoped that no man will rise up in opposition to all laws of heaven and

earth, to the wisdom of all legislators, and the experience of every

human being, without having formed such a train of arguments as will

not easily be disconcerted, or having formed at least such a chain of

sophistry as cannot be broken but with difficulty.

And yet, my lords, when I consider what has been offered by all who

have hitherto appeared either in publick assemblies, or in private

conversation, as advocates for this bill, I can scarcely believe, that

they perceive themselves any force in their own arguments; and am

inclined to conclude, that they speak only to avoid the imputation of

being able to say nothing in defence of their own scheme; that their

hope is not to convince by their reasons, but to overpower by their

numbers; that they are themselves influenced, not by reason, but by

necessity; and that they only encourage luxury, because money is to be

raised for the execution of their schemes: and they imagine, that the

people will pay more cheerfully for liberty to indulge their

appetites, than for any other enjoyment.

The arguments which have been offered, my lords, in vindication of

this bill, or at least which I have hitherto heard, are only two, and

those two so unhappily associated, that they destroy each other;

whatever shall be urged to enforce the second, must in the same

proportion invalidate the first; and whoever shall assert, that the

first is true, must admit that the second is false.

These positions, my lords, the unlucky positions which are laid down

by the defenders of this pernicious bill, are, that it will supply the

necessities of the government with a very large standing revenue, on

the credit of which, strengthened by the additional security of the

sinking fund, a sum will be advanced sufficient to support the

expenses of a foreign war; and that at the same time it will lessen

the consumption of the liquors from whence this duty is to arise.

By what arts of political ratiocination these propositions are to be

reconciled, I am not able to discover. It appears evident, my lords,

that large revenues can only be raised by the sale of large

quantities; and that larger quantities will in reality be sold, as the

price is little or nothing raised, and the venders are greatly

increased.

If this will not be the effect, my lords, and if this effect is not

expected, why is this bill proposed as sufficient to raise the immense

sums which our present exigencies require? Can duties be paid without

consumption of the commodity on which they are laid? and is there any

other use of spirituous liquors than that of drinking them?

Surely, my lords, it is not expected, that any arguments should be

admitted in this house without examination; and yet it might be justly

imagined, that this assertion could only be offered in full confidence

of an implicit reception, and this tenet be proposed only to those who

had resigned their understandings to the dictates of the ministry; for

it is implied in this position, that the plenty of a commodity

diminishes the demand for it; and that the more freely it is sold, the

less it will be bought. It implies, that men will lay voluntary

restraints upon themselves, in proportion as they are indulged by

their governours; and that all prohibitory laws tend to the promotion

of the practices which they condemn; it implies, that a stop can only

be put to fornication by increasing the number of prostitutes, and

that theft is only to be restrained by leaving your doors open.

I am, for my part, convinced, that drunkards, as well as thieves, are

made by opportunity; and that no man will deny himself what he

desires, merely because it is allowed him by the laws of his country.

This, my lords, is so evident, that I shall no longer dwell upon the

assertion, that the unbounded liberty of retailing spirits will make

spirits less used in the nation; but shall examine the second

argument, and consider how far it is possible or proper to raise

supplies by a tax upon drunkenness.

That large sums will be raised by the bill to which the consent of

your lordships is now required, I can readily admit, because the

consumption of spirits will certainly be greater, and the licenses

taken for retailing them so numerous, that a much lower duty than is

proposed will amount yearly to a very large sum; for if the felicity

of drunkenness can be more cheaply obtained by buying spirits than

ale, when both are to be found at the same place, it is easy to see

which will be preferred; this argument, therefore, is irrefragable,

and may be urged in favour of the bill without danger of confutation.

But, my lords, it is the business of governours not so much to drain

the purses, as to regulate the morals of the people; not only to raise

taxes, but to levy them in such a manner as may be least burdensome,

and to apply them to purposes which may be most useful; not to raise

money by corrupting the nation, that it may be spent in enslaving it.

It has been mentioned by a very celebrated writer, as a rational

practice in the exercise of government, to tax such commodities as

were abused to the increase of vice, that vice may be discouraged by

being made more expensive; and therefore the community in time be set

free from it: but the tax which is now proposed, my lords, is of a

different kind; it is a tax laid upon vice, indeed, but it is to arise

from the licenses granted to wickedness, and its consequences must be

the increase of debauchery, not the restraint. It is a tax which will

be readily paid, because it will be little felt; and because it will

be little felt, it is hoped that multitudes will subject themselves to

it.

The act which is now to be repealed, was, indeed, of a very different

nature, though perhaps not free from very just objections. It had this

advantage at least, that so far as it was put in execution, it

obstructed drunkenness; nor has the examination of the officers of

excise discovered any imperfection in the law; for it has only failed,

because it was timorously or negligently executed. Why it was not

vigorously and diligently enforced, I have never yet been able to

discover. If the magistrates were threatened by the populace, the

necessity of such laws was more plainly proved; for what justifies the

severity of coercion but the prevalence of the crime? and what may not

be feared from crowds intoxicated with spirits, whose insolence and

fury is already such, that they dare to threaten the government by

which they are debarred from the use of them?

This, my lords, is a reflection that ought not to be passed slightly

over. The nature of our constitution, happy as it is, must be

acknowledged to produce this inconvenience, that it inclines the

common people to turbulence and sedition; the nature of spirituous

liquors is such, that they inflame these dispositions, already too

much predominant; and yet the turbulence of the people is made a

reason for licensing drunkenness, and allowing, without limitation,

the sale of those spirits by which that turbulence must be certainly

increased.

It may be, perhaps, urged, (for indeed I know not what else can be

decently alleged,) that there is a necessity of raising money, that no

other method can be invented, and that, therefore, this ought not to

be opposed.

I know, my lords, that ministers generally consider, as the test of

each man's loyalty, the readiness with which he concurs with them in

their schemes for raising money; and that they think all opposition to

these schemes, which are calculated for the support of the government,

the effect of a criminal disaffection; that they always think it a

sufficient vindication of any law, that it will bring in very large

sums; and that they think no measures pernicious, nor laws dangerous,

by which the revenue is not impaired.

If government was instituted only to raise money, these ministerial

schemes of policy would be without exception; nor could it be denied,

that the present ministers show themselves, by this expedient,

uncommon masters of their profession. But the end of government is

only to promote virtue, of which happiness is the consequence; and,

therefore, to support government by propagating vice, is to support it

by means which destroy the end for which it was originally

established, and for which its continuance is to be desired.

If money, therefore, cannot be raised but by this bill, if the

expenses of the government cannot be defrayed but by corrupting the

morals of the people, I shall without scruple declare, that money

ought not to be raised, nor the designs of the government supported,

because the people can suffer nothing from the failure of publick

measures, or even from the dissolution of the government itself, which

will be equally to be dreaded or avoided with an universal depravity

of morals, and a general decay of corporeal vigour. Even the insolence

of a foreign conqueror can inflict nothing more severe than the

diseases which debauchery produces; nor can any thing be feared from

the disorders of anarchy more dangerous or more calamitous, than the

madness of sedition, or the miseries which must ensue to each

individual from universal wickedness.

Such, my lords, is the expedient by which we are now about to raise

the supplies for the present year; and such is the new method of

taxation which the sagacity of our ministers has luckily discovered. A

foreign war is to be supported by the destruction of our people at

home, and the revenue of the government to be improved by the decay of

our manufactures. We are to owe henceforward our power to epidemical

diseases, our wealth to the declension of our commerce, and our

security to riot and to tumult.

There is yet another consideration, my lords, which ought well to be

regarded, before we suffer this bill to pass. Many laws are merely

experimental, and have been made, not because the legislature thought

them indisputably proper, but because no better could at that time be

struck out, and because the arguments in their favour appeared

stronger than those against them, or because the questions to which

they related were so dark and intricate that nothing was to be

determined with certainty, and no other method could therefore be

followed, but that of making the first attempts at hazard, and

correcting these errours, or supplying these defects which might

hereafter be discovered by those lights which time should afford.

Though I am far from thinking, my lords, that the question relating to

the effects of this law is either doubtful or obscure; though I am

certain that the means of reforming the vice which its advocates

pretend it is designed to prevent, are obvious and easy; yet I should

have hoped, that the projectors of such a scheme would have allowed at

least the uncertainty of the salutary effects expected from it, and

would, therefore, have made some provision for the repeal of it when

it should be found to fail.

But, my lords, our ministers appear to have thought it sufficient to

endear them to their country, and immortalize their names, that they

have invented a new method of raising money, and seem to have very

little regard to any part of the art of government; they will, at

least in their own opinion, have deserved applause, if they leave the

publick revenue greater, by whatever diminution of the publick virtue.

They have, therefore, my lords, wisely contrived a necessity of

continuing this law, whatever may be its consequences, and how fatal

soever its abuses; for they not only mortgage the duties upon spirits

for the present supply, but substitute them in the place of another

security given to the bank by the pot act; and, therefore, since it

will not be easy to form another tax of equal produce, we can have

very little hope that this will be remitted.

There will be, indeed, only one method of setting the nation free from

the calamities which this law will bring upon it; and as I doubt not

but that method will at last be followed, it will certainly deserve

the attention of your lordships, as the third consideration to which,

in our debates on this bill, particular regard ought to be paid.

That the license of drunkenness, and the unlimited consumption of

spirituous liquors, will fill the whole kingdom with idleness,

diseases, riots, and confusion, cannot be doubted; nor can it be

questioned, but that in a very short time the senate will be crowded

with petitions from all the trading bodies in the kingdom, for the

regulation of the workmen and servants, for the extinction of

turbulence and riot, and for the removal of irresistible temptations

to idleness and fraud. These representations may be for a time

neglected, but must soon or late be heard; the ministers will be

obliged to repeal this law, for the same reason that induced them to

propose it. Idleness and sickness will impair our manufactures, and

the diminution of our trade will lessen the revenue.

They will then, my lords, find that their scheme, with whatever

prospects of profit it may now flatter them, was formed with no

extensive views; and that it was only the expedient of political

avarice, which sacrificed a greater distant advantage to the immediate

satisfaction of present gain. They will find, that they have corrupted

the people without obtaining any advantage by their crime, and that

they must have recourse to some new contrivance by which their own

errours may be retrieved.

In this distress, my lords, they can only do what indeed they now seem

to design; they can only repeal this act by charging the debt, which

it has enabled them to contract, upon the sinking fund, upon that

sacred deposit which was for a time supposed unalienable, and from

which arose all the hopes that were sometimes formed by the nation, of

being delivered from that load of imposts, which it cannot much longer

support. They can only give security for this new debt, by disabling

us for ever from paying the former.

The bill now before us, my lords, will, therefore, be equally

pernicious in its immediate and remoter consequences; it will first

corrupt the people, and destroy our trade, and afterwards intercept

that fund which is appropriated to the most useful and desirable of

all political purposes, the gradual alleviation of the publick debt.

I hope, my lords, that a bill of this portentous kind, a bill big with

innumerable mischiefs, and without one beneficial tendency, will be

rejected by this house, without the form of commitment; that it will

not be the subject of a debate amongst us, whether we shall consent to

poison the nation; and that instead of inquiring, whether the measures

which are now pursued by the ministry ought to be supported at the

expense of virtue, tranquillity, and trade, we should examine, whether

they are not such as ought to be opposed for their own sake, even

without the consideration of the immense sums which they apparently

demand.

I am, indeed, of opinion, that the success of the present schemes will

not be of any benefit to the nation, and believe, likewise, that there

is very little prospect of success. I am, at least, convinced, that no

advantage can countervail the mischiefs of this detestable bill;

which, therefore, I shall steadily oppose, though I have already dwelt

upon this subject perhaps too long; yet as I speak only from an

unprejudiced regard to the publick, I hope, if any new arguments shall

be attempted, that I shall be allowed the liberty of making a reply.

Lord BATHURST replied to the following purport:--My lords, I doubt not

but the noble lord has delivered, on this occasion, his real

sentiments, and that, in his opinion, the happiness of our country,

the regard which ought always to be paid to the promotion of virtue,

require that this bill should be rejected. I am far from suspecting,

that such an appearance of zeal can conceal any private views, or that

such pathetick exclamations can proceed but from a mind really

affected with honest anxiety.

This anxiety, my lords, I shall endeavour to dissipate before it has

been communicated to others; for I think it no less the duty of every

man who approves the publick measures, to vindicate them from

misrepresentation, than of him to whom they appear pernicious or

dangerous, to warn his fellow-subjects of that danger.

I, my lords, am one of those who are convinced that the bill now

before us, which has been censured as fundamentally wrong, is in

reality fundamentally right; that the end which is proposed by it is

just, and the means which are prescribed in it will accomplish the

purpose for which they were contrived.

The end of this bill, my lords, is to diminish the consumption of

distilled spirits, to restrain the populace of these kingdoms from a

liquor which, when used in excess, has a malignity to the last degree

dangerous, which at once inebriates and poisons, impairs the force of

the understanding, and destroys the vigour of the body; and to attain

this, I think it absolutely right to lay a tax upon these liquors.

Of the vice of drunkenness, my lords, no man has a stronger abhorrence

than myself; of the pernicious consequences of these liquors, which

are now chiefly used by the common people, no man is more fully

convinced, and therefore, none can more zealously wish that

drunkenness may be suppressed, and distilled spirits withheld from the

people.

The disorders mentioned by the noble lord, are undoubtedly the

consequences of the present use of these liquors, but these are not

its worst effects. The offenders against the law, may by the law be

sometimes reclaimed, and at other times cutoff; nor can these

practices, however injurious to particular persons, in any great

degree impair the general happiness. The worst effects, therefore, of

the use of spirits, are that idleness and extravagance which it has

introduced among the common people, by which our commerce must be

obstructed, and our present riches and plenty every day diminished.

This pernicious practice, my lords, is disseminated farther than could

be reasonably believed by those whose interest has not incited, or

curiosity induced them to inquire into the practice of the different

classes of men. It is well known, that the farmers have been hitherto

distinguished by the virtues of frugality, temperance, and industry;

that they laboured hard, and spent little; and were, therefore, justly

considered as an innocent and useful part of the community, whose

employment and parsimony preserved them in a great measure from the

general infection of vice which spread its influence among the traders

and men of estates.

But even this abstemious class of men, my lords, have of late relaxed

their frugality, and suffered themselves to be tempted by this

infatuating liquor; nor is any thing now more common than to find it

in those houses in which ale, a few years ago, was the highest pitch

of luxury to which they aspired, and to see those hours wasted in

intoxicating entertainments, which were formerly dedicated wholly to

the care of their farms, and the improvement of their fortunes.

Thus, my lords, it appears, that the corruption is become universal,

and, therefore, that some remedy ought to be attempted; nor can I

conceive any measures more consistent with justice, or more likely to

produce the end intended by them, than those which are now offered to

your consideration, by which the liquor will be made dearer, too dear

to be lavishly drank by those who are in most danger of using it to

excess; and the number of those who retail it will be diminished by

the necessity of taking a license, and of renewing them every year at

the same expense.

The inefficacy, my lords, of violent methods, and the impossibility of

a total deprivation of any enjoyment which the people have by custom

made familiar and dear to them, sufficiently appears from the event of

the law which is now to be repealed. It is well known, that by that

law the use of spirituous liquors was prohibited to the common people;

that retailers were deterred from vending them by the utmost

encouragement that could be given to informers; and that discoveries

were incited by every art that could be practised, and offenders

punished with the utmost rigour.

Yet what was the effect, my lords, of all this diligence and vigour? A

general panick suppressed, for a few weeks, the practice of selling

the prohibited liquors; but, in a very short time, necessity forced

some, who had nothing to lose, to return to their former trade; these

were suffered sometimes to escape, because nothing was to be gained by

informing against them, and others were encouraged by their example to

imitate them, though with more secrecy and caution; of those, indeed,

many were punished, but many more escaped, and such as were fined

often found the profit greater than the loss.

The prospect of raising money by detecting their practices, incited

many to turn information into a trade; and the facility with which the

crime was to be proved, encouraged some to gratify their malice by

perjury, and others their avarice; so that the multitude of

informations became a publick grievance, and the magistrates

themselves complained that the law was not to be executed.

The perjuries of informers were now so flagrant and common, that the

people thought all informations malicious; or, at least, thinking

themselves oppressed by the law, they looked upon every man that

promoted its execution, as their enemy; and, therefore, now began to

declare war against informers, many of whom they treated with great

cruelty, and some they murdered in the streets.

By their obstinacy they at last wearied the magistrates, and by their

violence they intimidated those who might be inclined to make

discoveries; so that the law, however just might be the intention with

which it was enacted, or however seasonable the methods prescribed by

it, has been now for some years totally disused; nor has any one been

punished for the violation of it, because no man has dared to offer

informations. Even the vigilance of the magistrates has been obliged

to connive at these offences, nor has any man been found willing to

engage in a task, at once odious and endless, or to punish offences

which every day multiplied, and of which the whole body of the common

people, a body very formidable when united, was universally engaged.

The practice, therefore, of vending and of drinking distilled spirits,

has prevailed for some time without opposition; nor can any man enter

a tavern or an alehouse, in which they will be denied him, or walk

along the streets without being incited to drink them at every corner;

they have been sold for several years, with no less openness and

security than any other commodity; and whoever walks in this great

city, will find his way very frequently obstructed by those who are

selling these pernicious liquors to the greedy populace, or by those

who have drank them till they are unable to move.

But the strongest proof of the inefficacy of the late law, and

consequently of the necessity of another, which may not be so easily

eluded or so violently resisted, is given by the papers which lie upon

the table. From these it appears that the quantity of spirits

distilled has increased from year to year to the present time; and,

therefore, that drunkenness is become more prevalent, and the reasons

for repressing it more urgent than ever before.

Let us, therefore, calmly consider, my lords, what can in this

exigence be done; that the people should be allowed to poison

themselves and their posterity without restraint, is certainly not the

intent of any good man; and therefore we are now to consider how it

may be prevented. That the people are infected with the vice of

drunkenness, that they debauch themselves chiefly with spirituous

liquors, and that those liquors are in a high degree pernicious, is

confessed both by those who oppose the bill, and those who defend it;

but with this advantage on the part of those that defend it, that they

only propose a probable method of reforming the abuses which they

deplore. I know that the warm resentment which some lords have on

former occasions expressed against the disorders which distilled

liquors are supposed to produce, may naturally incline them to wish

that they were totally prohibited, and that this _liquid fire_, as it

has been termed, were to be extinguished for ever.

Whether such wishes are not more ardent than rational; whether their

zeal against the abuse of things, indifferent in themselves, has not,

as has often happened in other cases, hurried them into an indiscreet

censure of the lawful use, I shall not now inquire; because it is

superfluous to dispute about the propriety of measures, of which the

possibility may be justly questioned.

This last act, my lords, was of this kind; the duties established by

it were so high that they wholly debarred the lower classes of the,

people from the liquor on which they were laid; and, therefore, it was

found by a very short experience, that it was impossible to preserve

it from violation; that there would be no end of punishing those who

offended against it; and that severity produced rather compassion than

terrour. Those who have suffered the penalties were considered as

persons under unjust persecution, whom every one was obliged by the

ties of humanity to encourage, reward, and protect; and those who

informed against them, or encouraged informations, were detested, as

the oppressors of the people. The law had, indeed, this effect, that

it debarred, at least for a short time, all those from retailing

spirits who lived in reputation; and, therefore, encouraged others to

vend them in private places, where they were more likely to be drank

to excess.

Having, therefore, made trial of violent and severe methods, and had

an opportunity of obtaining a full conviction of their inefficacy, it

is surely proper to profit by our experience, by that experience which

shows us that the use of distilled liquors, under its present

discouragements, has every year increased; and, therefore, proves at

once the unprofitableness of the law now in force, and the necessity

of some other by which the same purposes may be more certainly

promoted.

The reformation of a vice so prevalent must be slow and gradual; for

it is not to be hoped, that the whole bulk of the people will at once

be divested of their habits; and, therefore, it will be rational to

endeavour, not wholly to debar them from any thing in which, however

absurdly, they place their happiness, but to make the attainment of it

more and more difficult, that they may insensibly remit their ardour,

and cease from their pursuit.

This, my lords, is proposed in the present bill, which, by the duties

which are to be laid upon distilled spirits, will raise the price a

third part, and as it is reasonable to expect, hinder a third part of

the consumption; for it is observed, that those who drink them set no

limits to their excesses, but indulge their appetites to the utmost of

their power; if he, therefore, who used to spend threepence a-day in

spirits, can now have no more than could formerly be bought for

twopence, he must necessarily content himself with only two thirds of

the quantity which he has hitherto drank; and, therefore, must by

force, though, perhaps, not by inclination, be less intemperate.

It is not to be doubted, my lords, but that spirits will, by this

additional duty, be made one third part dearer; for it has been

hitherto observed, that retailers levy upon the buyer twice the duty

that is paid to the government, as is every day apparent in other

commodities; so that the yearly quantity of spirits which is usually

distilled will cost five hundred thousand pounds more than before, a

tax which, I suppose, those who are charged with this kind of

debauchery will not be supposed able to pay, and which yet must be

paid by them, unless they will be content with a less quantity.

That spirits will now be sold in every publick-house, of whatever

denomination, has been, I believe, justly asserted; but the assertion

has not been properly urged as an argument against the bill. One of

the circumstances which has contributed to the enormous abuse of these

liquors, has been the practice of retailing them in obscure places, by

persons without character and without money; who, therefore, neither

feared penalties nor infamy, and offended against law and decency with

equal security. But when the cheapness of licenses shall make it

convenient for every man that pleases to retail spirits in a publick

manner, they will be generally drank in houses visited by publick

officers, observed by the neighbouring inhabitants, and frequented by

persons of morals and civility, who will always endeavour to restrain

all enormous excesses, and oblige the masters of the houses to pay

some regard to the laws. Those whose appetites are too importunate to

be restrained, may now gratify them without being tempted to enter

into houses of infamy, or mingling with beggars, or thieves, or

'profligates; and, therefore, though the use of spirits should

continue the same, its consequences will be less fatal, since they may

be had without the necessity of associating with wickedness.

But, my lords, it is not improbable, that by this bill the number of

retailers, at least in this city, where they are most pernicious, may

be lessened. It is well known, that the reason for which they are sold

in cellars, and in the streets, is the danger of retailing them in

other places; and that if they were generally sold by those who could

procure the best of each sort, these petty traders would be

immediately undone; for it is reasonable to imagine, my lords, that

they buy the cheapest liquors, and sell them at the dearest rate.

When, therefore, reputable houses shall be opened for the sale of

these liquors, decency will restrain some, and prudence will hinder

others from endangering their health by purchasing those liquors which

are offered in the street, and from hazarding their morals, or perhaps

their lives, by drinking to excess in obscure places.

It is likewise to be remembered, my lords, that many of those who now

poison their countrymen with petty shops of debauchery, are not able

to purchase a license, even at the cheap rate at which it is now

proposed, and that therefore they will be restrained from their trade

by a legal inability; for it is not, my lords, to be imagined, that

they will be defended with equal zeal by the populace, when the

liquors may be had without their assistance, nor will information be

equally infamous, when it is not the act only of profligates, who

pursue the practice of it as a trade, but of the proper officers of

every place, incited by the lawful venders of the same commodities, or

of the venders themselves, who will now be numerous enough to protect

each other, and whom their common interest will incite against

clandestine dealers.

The price of licenses, therefore, appears to me very happily adjusted:

had it been greater there would not have been a sufficient number of

lawful retailers to put a stop to clandestine sellers; and if it was

lower, every petty dealer in this commodity might, by pretending to

keep an alehouse, continue the practice of affording an harbour to

thieves, and of propagating debauchery.

Thus, my lords, it appears to me that the bill will lessen the

consumption of these destructive spirits, certainly in a great degree,

by raising the price, and probably by transferring the trade of

selling them into more reputable hands. What more can be done by human

care or industry I do not conceive. To prohibit the use of them is

impossible, to raise the price of them to the same height with that of

foreign spirits, is, indeed, practicable, but surely at this time no

eligible method; for so general is this kind of debauchery, that no

degree of expense would entirely suppress it; and as foreign spirits,

if they were to be sold at the same price, would always be preferred

to our own, we should only send into other nations that money which

now circulates among ourselves, and impoverish the people without

reforming them.

The regulation provided by the bill before us is, therefore, in my

opinion, the most likely method for recovering the ancient industry

and sobriety of the common people; and, my lords, I shall approve it,

till experience has shown it to be defective. I shall approve it, not

with a view of obtaining or securing the favour of any of those who

may be thought to interest themselves in its success, but because I

find some new law for this purpose indispensably necessary, and

believe that no better can be contrived. We are now, my lords, to

contend with the passions of all the common people. We are

endeavouring to reform a vice almost universal; a vice which, however

destructive, is now no longer reproachful. We have tried the force of

violent methods and found them unsuccessful; we are now, therefore, to

treat the vulgar as children, with a kind of artful indulgence, and to

take from them secretly, and by degrees, what cannot be wholly denied

them, without exasperating them almost to rebellion. This is the first

attempt, and by this, if one third of the consumption be diminished,

we may next year double the duty, and, by a new augmentation of the

price, take away another third, and what will then be drank, will,

perhaps, by the strictest moralists, be allowed to be rather

beneficial than hurtful. By this gradual procedure, we shall give

those, who have accustomed themselves to this liquor, time to reclaim

their appetites, and those that live by distilling, opportunities of

engaging in some other employment; we shall remove the distemper of

the publick, without any painful remedies, and shall reform the people

insensibly, without exasperating or persecuting them.

The bishop of OXFORD spoke to the following purport:--My lords, as I

am not yet convinced of the expedience of the bill now before us, nor

can discover any reason for believing that the advantages will

countervail the mischiefs which it will produce, I think it my duty to

declare, that I shall oppose it, as destructive to virtue, and

contrary to the inviolable rules of religion.

It appears to me, my lords, that the liberty of selling liquors, which

are allowed to be equally injurious to health and virtue, will by this

law become general and boundless; and I can discover no reason for

doubting that the purchasers will be multiplied by increasing the

numbers of the venders, and the increase of the sale of distilled

spirits, and the propagation of all kinds of wickedness are the same;

I must conclude that bill to be destructive to the publick by which

the sale of spirits will be increased.

It has been urged that other more vigorous methods have been tried,

and that they are now to be laid aside, because experience has shown

them to be ineffectual, because the people unanimously asserted the

privilege of debauchery, opposed the execution of justice, and pursued

those with the utmost malice that offered informations.

I should think, my lords, that government approaching to its

dissolution, that was reduced to submit its decrees to their judgment

who are chiefly accused of the abuse of these liquors; for surely,

when the lowest, the most corrupt part of the people, have obtained

such a degree of influence as to dictate to the legislature those laws

by which they expect to be governed, all subordination is at an end.

This, my lords, I hope I shall never see the state of my own country:

I hope I shall never see the government without authority to enforce

obedience to the laws, nor have I, indeed, seen any such weakness on

this occasion: the opposition that was made, and the discontent that

was excited, were no greater than might be reasonably expected, when

the vice which was to be reformed was so enormously predominant; nor

was the effect of the law less than any one who foresaw such

opposition might reasonably have conceived.

In this city alone there were, before the commencement of that law,

fifteen hundred large shops, in which no other trade was carried on

than that of retailing these pernicious liquors; in which no

temptation to debauchery was forgotten; and, what cannot be mentioned

without horrour, back rooms and secret places were contrived for

receptacles of those who had drank till they had lost their reason and

their limbs; there they were crowded together till they recovered

strength sufficient to go away or drink more.

These pestilential shops, these storehouses of mischief, will, upon

the encouragement which this law will give them, be set open again;

new invitations will be hung out to catch the eyes of passengers, who

will again be enticed with promises of being made drunk for a penny,

and that universal debauchery and astonishing licentiousness which

gave occasion to the former act will return upon us.

It is to little purpose, my lords, that the licenses for selling

distilled spirits are to be granted only to those who profess to keep

houses for the sale of other liquors, since nothing will be more easy

than to elude this part of the law. Whoever is inclined to open a shop

for the retail of spirits, may take a license for selling ale; and the

sale of one barrel of more innocent liquors in a year will entitle to

dispense poison with impunity, and to contribute without control to

the corruption of mankind.

It is confessed, that since this law was made, these liquors, have

been sold only at corners of the streets in petty shops, and in

private cellars; and, therefore, it must be allowed, that if the

consumption has increased, it, has, at least, increased less than if

the free and open sale had been permitted; for the necessity of

secrecy is always a restraint, and every restraint must in some degree

obstruct any practice, since those that follow it under restraint

would pursue it more vigorously, if that restraint were taken away;

and those that are now totally hindered, would, at least, be more

strongly tempted by greater liberty; and where the temptation is more

powerful, more will probably be overcome by it.

But, my lords, however the law may in this crowded city have been

eluded and defied, however drunkenness may here have been protected by

the insolence which it produces, and crimes have been sheltered by the

multitudes of offenders, I am informed, that in parts less populous,

the efficacy of the late act never was denied; and that it has in many

parts rescued the people from the miseries of debauchery, and only

failed in others by the negligence of those to whom the execution of

it was committed.

Negligently and faintly as it was executed, it did in effect hinder

many from pursuing this destructive kind of trade; and even in the

metropolis itself, almost a total stop was for a time put to the use

of spirits; and had the magistrates performed their duty with

steadiness and resolution, it is probable, that no plea would have

arisen in favour of this bill from the inefficacy of the last.

I cannot, indeed, deny, that the multitude of false informers

furnished the magistrates with a very specious pretence for relaxing

their vigilance; but it was only, my lords, a specious pretence, not a

warrantable reason; for the same diligence should have been used to

punish false informers as clandestine retailers; the traders in poison

and in perjury should have been both pursued with incessant vigour,

the sword of justice should have been drawn against them, nor should

it have been laid aside, till either species of wickedness had been

exterminated.

In the execution of this, as of other penal laws, my lords, it will be

always possible for the judge to be misled by false testimonies; and,

therefore, the argument which false informations furnish may be used

against every other law, where information is encouraged. Yet, my

lords, it has been long the practice of this nation to incite

criminals to detect each other; and when any enormous crime is

committed, to proclaim at once pardon and rewards to him that shall

discover his accomplices. This, my lords, is an apparent temptation to

perjury; and yet no inconvenieucies have arisen from it, that can

reasonably induce us to lay it aside.

Perjury may in the execution of this law be detected by the same means

as on other occasions; and whenever it is detected, ought to be

rigorously punished; and I doubt not but in a short time the

_difficulties_ and _inconveniencies_ which are asserted in the

preamble of this bill to have _attended the putting the late act in

execution_, would speedily have vanished; the number of delinquents

would have been every day lessened, and the virtue and industry of the

nation would have been restored.

It is not, indeed, asserted, that the execution of the late act was

impossible, but that it was attended with difficulties; and when, my

lords, was any design of great importance effected without

difficulties? It is difficult, without doubt, to restrain a nation

from vice; and to reform a nation already corrupted, is still more

difficult. But as both, however difficult, are necessary, it is the

duty of government to endeavour them, till it shall appear that no

endeavours can succeed.

For my part, my lords, I am not easily persuaded to believe that

remissness will succeed, where assiduity has failed; and, therefore,

if it be true, as is supposed in the preamble, that the former act was

ineffectual by any defects in itself, I cannot conceive that this will

operate with greater force. I cannot imagine that appetites will be

weakened by lessening the danger of gratifying them, or that men who

will break down the fences of the law to possess themselves of what

long habits have, in their opinion, made necessary to them, will

neglect it, merely because it is laid in their way.

With regard to this act, my lords, it is to be inquired, whether it is

likely to be executed with more diligence than the former, and whether

the same obstacles may not equally obstruct the execution of both.

The great difficulty of the former method, a method certainly in

itself reasonable and efficacious, arose from the necessity of

receiving informations from the meanest and most profligate of the

people, who were often tempted to lay hold of the opportunities which

that law put into their hands, of relieving their wants, or gratifying

their resentment; and very frequently intimidated the innocent by

threats of accusations, which were not easily to be confuted. They

were, therefore, equally dangerous to those that obeyed the act, and

to those that disregarded it; for they sometimes put their threats in

execution, and raised prosecutions against those who had committed no

other crime than that of refusing to bribe them to silence.

An abuse so notorious, my lords, produced a general detestation of all

informers, or, at least, concurred with other causes to produce it;

and that detestation became so prevalent in the minds of the populace,

that at last it became to the highest degree dangerous to attempt the

conviction of those, who, in the most open and contemptuous manner,

every day violated the laws of their country; and in time the

retailers trusting to the protection of the people, laid aside all

cautions, at least in this great city, and prosecuted their former

practice with the utmost security.

This, my lords, was the chief difficulty and inconvenience hitherto

discovered in the law which is now to be repealed. Thus was its

execution obstructed, and the provisions enacted by it made

ineffectual. This defect, therefore, ought to be chiefly regarded in

any new regulations. But what securities, my lords, are provided

against the same evil in the bill before us? Or why should we imagine

that this law will be executed with less opposition than the last?

The informers will undoubtedly be of the same class as before; they

are still to be incited by a reward; and, therefore, it may be

reasonably feared, that they will act upon the same motives, and be

persecuted with the same fury.

To obviate this inconvenience appears to me very easy, by converting

the duty upon licenses to a large duty upon the liquors to be paid by

the distiller; the payment of which will be carefully exacted by

proper officers, who, though their employment is not very reputable,

pursue it at least without any personal danger; and who inform their

superiours of any attempts to defraud the revenue, without being

censured as officious or revengeful, and, therefore, are without any

terrours to hinder them from their duty.

It has been asserted, indeed, that the price of a license is now so

small, that none who are inclined to deal in spirits will neglect to

secure themselves from punishment and vexation by procuring it; and

that no man will subject himself to the malice of a profligate, by

carrying on an illicit trade, which the annual expense of twenty

shillings will make legal.

If this argument be just, my lords, and to the greatest part of this

assembly I believe it will appear very plausible, how will this law

lessen the consumption of distilled liquors? It is confessed that it

will hinder nobody from selling them; and it has been found, by

experience, that nothing can restrain the people from buying them, but

such laws as hinder them from being sold.

This plea, therefore, by removing an objection to a particular clause,

will strengthen the great argument against the tenour of the bill,

that instead of lessening, it will increase the consumption of those

liquors which are allowed to be destructive to the people, to enfeeble

the body, and to vitiate the mind, and, consequently, to impair the

strength and commerce of the nation, and to destroy the happiness and

security of life.

That the cheapness of licenses will induce multitudes to buy them, may

be expected; but it cannot be hoped that every one will cease to sell

spirits without a license; for they, are, as I am informed, offered

every hour in the streets by those to whom twenty shillings make a

very large sum, and who, therefore, will not, or cannot purchase a

license. These ought, undoubtedly, to be detected and punished; but

there is no provision made for discovering them, but what has been

found already to be ineffectual.

It appears, therefore, my lords, that this bill will increase the

number of lawful retailers, without diminishing that of private

dealers; so that the opportunities of debauchery will be multiplied,

in proportion to the numbers who shall take licenses.

There is another fallacy by which the duties upon distilled liquors

have been hitherto avoided, and which will still make this bill

equally useless as the former, for the ends which are to be promoted

by it.

It is expected, my lords, by those who purchase spirits from the

distillers, that they should be of a certain degree of strength, which

they call proof: if they are of a lower degree, their price is

diminished; and if of a higher, it is raised proportionally; because

if the spirits exceed the degree of strength required, they may be

mixed with other liquors of little value, and still be sold to the

drinker at the common price.

It is, therefore, the practice of the distillers to give their spirits

thrice the degree of strength required, by which contrivance, though

they pay only the duty of one pint, they sell their liquors at the

price of three; because it may be increased to thrice the quantity

distilled, and yet retain sufficient strength to promote the purposes

of wickedness.

This practice, my lords, should be likewise obviated; for while one

gallon, after having paid the present low duty which is laid upon it,

may be multiplied to three, the additional price will, in the small

quantities which are usually demanded, become imperceptible.

But to show yet farther the inefficacy of this bill, let us suppose,

what will not be found by experience, that a halfpenny is added to the

price of every pint, it will yet be very practicable to revel in

drunkenness for a penny, since a very small quantity of these hateful

liquors is sufficient to intoxicate those who have not been habituated

to the use of them; who though their reformation is, undoubtedly, to

be desired, do not so much demand the care of the legislature, as

those who are yet untainted with this pernicious practice, and who

may, perhaps, by the frequency of temptation, and the prevalence of

example, be induced in time to taste these execrable liquors, and

perish in their first essays of debauchery. For such is the quality of

these spirits, that they are sometimes fatal to those who indiscreetly

venture upon them without caution, and whose stomachs have not been

prepared for large draughts, by proper gradations of intemperance; a

single spoonful has been found sufficient to hurry two children to the

grave.

It is, therefore, my opinion, that those whose stations and

employments make it their duty to superintend the conduct of their

fellow-subjects, ought to contrive some other law on this occasion;

ought to endeavour to rescue the common people from the infatuation

which is become general amongst them, and to withhold from them the

means of wickedness. That instead of complying with their prejudices,

and flattering their appetites, they should exert that authority with

which they are intrusted in a steady and resolute opposition to

predominant vices; and without having recourse to gentle arts, and

temporizing expedients, snatch out of their hands at once those

instruments which are only of use for criminal purposes, and take from

their mouths that draught with which, however delicious it may seem,

they poison at once themselves and their posterity.