The only argument which can be offered in defence of this bill, is the

necessity of supporting the expenses of the war, and the difficulty of

raising money by any other method. The necessity of the war, my lords,

I am not about to call in question, nor is it very consistent with my

character to examine the method in which it has been carried on; but

this I can boldly assert, that however just, however necessary,

however prudently prosecuted, and however successfully concluded, it

can produce no advantages equivalent to the national sobriety and

industry, and am certain that no publick advantage ought to be

purchased at the expense of publick virtue.

But, my lords, I hope we are not yet reduced to the unhappy choice

either of corrupting our people, or submitting to our enemies; nor do

I doubt but that supplies may be obtained by methods less pernicious

to the publick, and that funds sufficient for the present occasion may

be established without a legal establishment of drunkenness.

I hope, my lords, we shall not suffer our endeavours to be baffled by

the obstinacy of drunkards; and that we shall not desist from

endeavouring the recovery of the nation from this hateful vice,

because our first attempt has failed, since it failed only by the

negligence or the cowardice of those whose duty required them to

promote the execution of a just law.

Against the bill now before us I have thought it my duty to declare,

as it appears to me opposite to every principle of virtue, and every

just purpose of government; and therefore, though I have engrossed so

much of your time in speaking on a subject with which it cannot

reasonably be expected that I should be well acquainted, I hope I

shall easily be pardoned by your lordships, since I have no private

views either of interest or resentment to promote, and have spoken

only what my conscience dictates, and my duty requires.

Lord TALBOT then rose up, and spoke to the following purport:--My

lords, I am ashamed that there should be any necessity of opposing in

this assembly a bill like that which is now before us; a bill crowded

with absurdities, which no strength of eloquence can exaggerate, nor

any force of reason make more evident.

This bill, my lords, is, however, the first proof that our new

ministers have given of their capacity for the task which they have

undertaken; this is a specimen of their sagacity, and is designed by

them as an instance of the gentle methods by which the expenses of the

government are hereafter to be levied upon the people. The nation

shall no longer see its manufactures subjected to imposts, nor the

fruits of industry taken from the laborious artificer; but drunkenness

shall hereafter supply what has hitherto been paid by diligence and

traffick; the restraints of vice shall be taken away, the barriers of

virtue and religion broken, and an universal licentiousness shall

overspread the land, that the schemes of the ministry may be executed.

What are the projects, my lords, that are to be pursued by such means,

it is not my present purpose to inquire: it is not necessary to add

any aggravations to the present charge, or to examine what has been

the former conduct, or what will be the future actions of men who lie

open by their present proposal to the most atrocious accusations; who

are publickly endeavouring the propagation of the most pernicious of

all vices, who are laying poison in the way of their countrymen,

poison by which not only the body, but the mind is contaminated; who

are attempting to establish by a law a practice productive of all the

miseries to which human nature is incident; a practice which will at

once disperse diseases and sedition, and promote beggary and

rebellion.

This, my lords, is the expedient by which the acuteness of our

ministry proposes to raise the supplies of the present year, and by

this they hope to convince the nation that they are qualified for the

high trusts to which they are advanced; and that they owe their

exaltation only to the superiority of their abilities, the extent of

their knowledge, and the maturity of their experience: by this

masterstroke of policy they hope to lay for their authority a firm and

durable foundation, and to possess themselves, by this happy

contrivance, at once of the confidence of the crown, and the

affections of the people.

But, my lords, I am so little convinced of their abilities, that

amidst all the exultation which this new scheme produces, I will

venture to predict the decline of their influence, and to fix the

period of their greatness; for I am persuaded, that notwithstanding

the readiness with which they have hitherto sacrificed the interest of

their country, notwithstanding the desperate precipitation with which

they have blindly engaged in the most dangerous measures, they will

not be able to continue a year in their present stations.

The bill now under our consideration, my lords, will undoubtedly make

all those their enemies whom it does not corrupt; for what can be

expected from it, but universal disorder and boundless wickedness?

wickedness made insolent by the protection of the law, and disorder

promoted by all those whose wealth is increased by the increase of the

revenues of the government.

Had it been urged, my lords, in defence of this bill, that it was

necessary to raise money, and that money could only be raised by

increasing the consumption of distilled spirits, it would have been

apparent that it was well calculated to promote the purposes intended;

but, surely, to assert that it will obstruct the use of these liquors,

is to discover a degree either of ignorance, of effrontery, or of

folly, by which few statesmen have been, hitherto, distinguished.

If we receive, without examination, the estimates which have been laid

down, and allow the duty to rise as high as those by whom it is

projected have ventured to assert, the price of these liquors can be

raised but a halfpenny a pint; and there are few, even among the

lowest of those who indulge themselves in this fatal luxury, whom the

want of a single halfpenny can often debar from it.

And though these accurate calculators should insist that men may

sometimes be compelled to sobriety by this addition to the expense of

being drunk, yet how far will this restraint be found from being

equivalent to the new temptation, which will be thrown into the way of

thousands, yet uncorrupted by the multitude of new shops that will be

opened for the distribution of poison, 'and the security which

debauchery will obtain from the countenance of the legislature.

What will be the consequences of any encouragement given to a vice

already almost irresistibly prevalent, I cannot determine; but surely

nothing is too dismal to be expected from universal drunkenness, from

a general depravity of all the most useful part of mankind, from an

epidemical fury of debauchery, and an unbounded exemption from

restraint.

How little any encouragement is wanting to promote the consumption of

those execrable liquors, how much it concerns every man who has been

informed of their quality, and who has seen their consequences, to

oppose the use of them with his utmost influence, appears from the

enormous quantity which the stills of this nation annually produce.

The number of gallons which appears from the accounts on the table to

have been consumed last year, is seven millions; 'a quantity

sufficient to-destroy the health, interrupt the labour, and deprave

the morals of a very great part of the nation; a quantity which, if it

be suffered to continue undiminished, will, even without any legal

encouragement of its use, in a short time destroy the happiness of the

publick; and by impairing the strength, and lessening the number of

manufacturers and labourers, introduce poverty and famine.

Instead, therefore, of promoting a practice so evidently detrimental

to society, let us oppose it with the most vigorous efforts; let us

begin our opposition by rejecting this bill, and then consider whether

the execution of the former law shall be--enforced, or whether another

more efficacious can be formed.

Lord CHOLMONDELEY then spoke to the following effect:--My lords,

though it is undoubtedly the right of every person in this assembly to

utter his sentiments with freedom, yet surely decency ought to

restrain us from virulent, and justice from undeserved reproaches; we

ought not to censure any conduct with more severity than it deserves,

nor condemn any man for practices of which he is innocent.

This rule, which will not, I suppose, be controverted, has not, in my

opinion, been very carefully observed in this debate; for surely

nothing is more unjust than to assert or insinuate that the government

has looked idly upon the advances of debauchery, or has suffered

drunkenness to prevail without opposition.

Of the care with which this licentiousness has been opposed, no other

proof can be required, than the laws which have, in the present reign,

been made against it. Soon after the succession of his majesty, the

use of compound spirits was prohibited; but this law being eluded by

substituting liquors, so drawn as not to be included in the statutes,

it was soon after repealed; and the people were, for a time, indeed,

suffered to drink distilled liquors without restraint, because a

proper method of restraining them was not easily to be found.

How-difficult it was to contrive means by which this vice might

safely be prevented, appeared more plainly soon afterwards, when the

outrageous licentiousness of the populace made it necessary to

contrive some new law by which the use of that liquor might be

prohibited, to which so much insolence, idleness, and dissoluteness

were imputed.

The law which it is now proposed to repeal, was then zealously

promoted by those who were then most distinguished for their virtue

and their prudence. Every man who had any regard for the happiness of

the publick, was alarmed at the inundation of licentiousness that

overflowed this city, and began to spread itself to the remoter parts

of the kingdom; and it was determined that nothing but a total.

prohibition of distilled liquors could preserve the peace, and restore

the virtue of the nation.

A law was therefore made, which prohibited the retail of distilled

spirits; and it was expected that the people would immediately return

to the use of more innocent and healthful liquors, and that the new

art of sudden intoxication would be wholly suppressed; but with how

little knowledge of the dispositions of the nation this hope was

formed, the event quickly discovered; for no sooner was the darling

liquor withheld, than a general murmur was raised over all parts of

this great city; and all the lower orders of the people testified

their discontent in the most open manner. Multitudes were immediately

tempted by the prospect of uncommon gain, to retail the prohibited

liquors; of these many were detected, and many punished; and the trade

of information was so lucrative, and so closely followed, that there

was no doubt but the law would produce the effect expected from it,

and that the most obstinate retailers would, by repeated prosecutions,

be discouraged from the practice.

But no sooner did the people find their favourite gratification in

real danger, than they unanimously engaged in its defence; they

discovered that without informers, the new law was without operation;

and the informers were, therefore, persecuted by them without mercy,

and without remission, till at last no man would venture to provoke

the resentment of the populace for the reward to which information

entitled him.

Thus, my lords, one law has been eluded by artifice, and another

defeated by violence; the practice of drinking spirits, however

pernicious, still continued to prevail; the magistrates could not

punish a crime of which they were not informed, and they could obtain

no information of a practice vindicated by the populace.

It is not, indeed, to be allowed that the custom of drinking distilled

liquors, however prevalent, has yet arisen to the height at which the

noble lord, who spoke last, seems to imagine it arrived; for though it

is undoubtedly true that seven millions of gallons are annually

distilled, it is not to be imagined that the whole quantity is wasted

in debauchery! some is, exhausted by the necessities, and some by the

conveniencies of life; a great part is exported to other countries,

and the distillery promotes many other purposes than those of riot and

licentiousness.

That too much, however, is used by the common people, and that

intemperance has for some time prevailed in a degree unknown to any

former age, cannot be denied; and, therefore, some means of reclaiming

them ought to be tried. What then, my lords, is to be done? The first

law was eluded, the second is defied: the first was executed, but

produced no restraint; the second produces a restraint so violent,

that it cannot be executed.

That the present law is ineffectual, cannot be doubted by those who

assert, that the quantity of spirits distilled has every year

increased; and there seems to remain, therefore, no other choice than

that of suffering this increase to proceed, or to endeavour to prevent

it by new regulations. The present law ought to be repealed, because

it is useless; but surely some other ought to supply its place, which

may be more easily enforced, and less violently opposed.

The bill now before us, my lords, will, in my opinion, answer all the

purposes of the last, without noise, and without disturbance. By

lessening the price of licenses, it will put a stop to clandestine

retail; and by raising that of the liquors, it will hinder the common

people from drinking them in their usual excess. Those who have

hitherto lost their reason and limbs twice a-day by their drunkenness,

will not be able, under the intended regulations, to commit the same

crime twice in a week; and as the temptation of cheapness will be

taken away, it may be hoped that the next generation will not fall

into the same vice.

Since, therefore, my lords, the arguments in favour of this bill are

at least plausible and specious; since the design appears to be worthy

of this assembly, and the method proposed such as may be hoped to

produce the effects which the projectors of the bill desire; and since

the opinions of this house are at least divided, and the other has

passed it almost without opposition, we ought at least, in my opinion,

not to reject it with precipitation, but to refer it to a committee,

that it may be fully considered; and those objections which cannot be

answered, removed by proper alterations.

Lord CARTERET spoke to the following purport:--My lords, the bill now

under our consideration appears to me to deserve a much more close

regard than seems to have been paid to it in the other house, through

which it was hurried with the utmost precipitation, and where it was

passed, almost without the formality of a debate; nor can I think that

earnestness with which some lords seem inclined to press it forward

here, consistent with the importance of the consequences which may be

with great reason expected from it,

It has been urged, that where so great a number have formed

expectations of a national benefit from any bill, so much deference,

at least, is due to their judgment, as that the bill should be

considered in a committee. This, my lords, I admit to be in other

cases a just and reasonable demand, and will readily allow that the

proposal not only of a considerable number, but even of any single

lord, ought to be fully examined, and regularly debated, according to

the usual forms of this assembly. But in the present case, my lords,

and in all cases like the present, this demand is improper, because it

is useless; and it is useless, because we can do now all that we can

do hereafter in a committee. For the bill before us is a money bill,

which, according to the present opinion of the commons, we have no

right to amend; and which, therefore, we have no need of considering

in a committee, since the event of all our deliberations must be, that

we are either to reject or pass it in its present state. For I suppose

no lord will think this a proper time to enter into a controversy with

the commons for the revival of those privileges to which I believe we

have a right, and such a controversy the least attempt to amend a

money bill will certainly produce.

To desire, therefore, my lords, that this bill may be considered in a

committee, is only to desire that it may gain one step without

opposition; that it may proceed through the forms of the house by

stealth, and that the consideration of it maybe delayed till the

exigencies of the government shall be so great as not to allow time

for raising the supplies by any other method.

By this artifice, gross as it is, the patrons of this wonderful bill

hope to obstruct a plain and open detection of its tendency. They

hope, my lords, that the bill shall operate in the same manner with

the liquor which it is intended to bring into more general use; and

that as those that drink spirits are drunk before they are well aware

that they are drinking, the effects of this law shall be perceived

before we know that we have made it. Their intent is to give us a dram

of policy, which is to be swallowed before it is tasted, and which,

when once it is swallowed, will turn our heads.

But, my lords, I hope we shall be so cautious as to examine the

draught which these state empirics have thought proper to offer us;

and I am confident that a very little examination will convince us of

the pernicious qualities of their new preparation, and show that it

can have no other effect than that of poisoning the publick.

The law before us, my lords, seems to be the effect of that practice,

of which it is intended likewise to be the cause, and to be dictated

by the liquor of which it so effectually promotes the use; for surely

it never before was conceived, by any man intrusted with the

administration of publick affairs, to raise taxes by the destruction

of the people.

Nothing, my lords, but the destruction of all the most laborious and

useful part of the nation can be expected, from the license which is

now proposed to be given not only to drunkenness, but to drunkenness

of the most detestable and dangerous kind, to the abuse not only of

intoxicating, but of poisonous liquors.

Nothing, my lords, is more absurd than to assert, that the use of

spirits will be hindered by the bill now before us, or indeed that it

will not be in a very great degree promoted by it. For what produces

all kind of wickedness, but the prospect of impunity on one part, or

the solicitation of opportunity on the other; either of these has too

frequently been sufficient to overpower the sense of morality, and

even of religion; and what is not to be feared from them, when they

shall unite their force, and operate together; when temptations shall

be increased, and terrour taken away?

It is allowed by those who have hitherto disputed on either side of

this question, that the people appear obstinately enamoured of this

new liquor; it is allowed on both parts, that this liquor corrupts the

mind, enervates the body, and destroys vigour and virtue at the same

time; that it makes those who drink it too idle and too feeble for

work; and, while it impoverishes them by the present expense, disables

them from retrieving its ill consequences by subsequent industry.

It might be imagined, my lords, that those who had thus far agreed

would not easily find any occasion of dispute; nor would any man,

unacquainted with the motives by which senatorial debates are too

often influenced, suspect, that after the pernicious qualities of this

liquor, and the general inclination among the people to the immoderate

use of it, had been generally admitted, it could be afterwards

inquired, whether it ought to be made more common, whether this

universal thirst for poison ought to be encouraged by the legislature,

and whether a new statute ought to be made to secure drunkards in the

gratification, of their appetites.

To pretend, my lords, that the design of this bill is to prevent or

diminish the use of spirits, is to trample upon common sense, and to

violate the rules of decency as well as of reason. For when did any

man hear, that a commodity was prohibited by licensing its sale? or

that to offer and refuse is the same action?

It is, indeed, pleaded, that it will be made dearer by the tax which

is proposed, and that the increase of the price will diminish the

numbers of the purchasers; but it is at the same time expected, that

this tax shall supply the expense of a war on the continent: it is

asserted, therefore, that the consumption of spirits will be hindered,

and yet that it will be such as may be expected to furnish, from a

very small tax, a revenue sufficient for the support of armies, for

the reestablishment of the Austrian family, and the repression of the

attempts of France.

Surely, my lords, these expectations are not very consistent, nor can

it be imagined that they are both formed in the same head, though they

may be expressed by the same mouth. It is, however, some

recommendation of a statesman, when of his assertions one can be found

reasonable or true; and this praise cannot be denied to our present

ministers; for though it is undoubtedly false, that this tax will

lessen the consumption of spirits, it is certainly true, that it will

produce a very large revenue, a revenue that will not fail but with

the people from whose debaucheries it arises.

Our ministers will, therefore, have the same honour with their

predecessors, of having given rise to a new fund, not indeed for the

payment of our debts, but for much more valuable purposes, for the

exaltation of our hearts under oppression, for the elevation of our

spirits amidst miscarriages and disappointments, and for the cheerful

support of those debts which we have lost hopes of paying. They are

resolved, my lords, that the nation, which nothing can make wise,

shall, while they are at its head, at least be merry; and since

publick happiness is the end of government, they seem to imagine that

they shall deserve applause by an expedient, which will enable every

man to lay his cares asleep, to drown sorrow, and lose in the delights

of drunkenness both the publick miseries and his own.

Surely, my lords, men of this unbounded benevolence, and this exalted

genius, deserve such honours as were never paid before; they deserve

to bestride a butt upon every signpost in the metropolis, or to have

their countenances exhibited as tokens where this liquor is to be

sold by the license which they have procured. They must be at least

remembered to future ages, as the happy politicians who, after all

expedients for raising taxes had been employed, discovered a new

method of draining the last relicks of the publick wealth, and added a

new revenue to the government; nor will those, who shall hereafter

enumerate the several funds now established among us, forget, among

the benefactors to their country, the illustrious authors of the

_drinking fund_.

May I be allowed, my lords, to congratulate my countrymen and

fellow-subjects upon the happy times which are now approaching, in

which no man will be disqualified for the privilege of being drunk,

when all discontent and disloyalty shall be forgotten, and the people,

though now considered by the ministry as their enemies, shall

acknowledge the lenity of that government, under which all restraints

are taken away.

But to a bill for such desirable purposes, it would be proper, my

lords, to prefix a preamble, in which the kindness of our intentions

should be more fully explained, that the nation may not mistake our

indulgence for cruelty, nor consider their benefactors as their

persecutors. If, therefore, this bill be considered and amended, (for

why else should it be considered?) in a committee, I shall humbly

propose, that it shall be introduced in this manner: "Whereas the

designs of the present ministry, whatever they are, cannot be executed

without a great number of mercenaries, which mercenaries cannot be

hired without money; and whereas the present disposition of this

nation to drunkenness inclines us to believe, that they will pay more

cheerfully for the undisturbed enjoyment of distilled liquors, than

for any other concession that can be made by the government, be it

enacted, by the king's most excellent majesty, that no man shall

hereafter be denied the right of being drunk, on the following

conditions."

This, my lords, to trifle no longer, is the proper preamble to this

bill, which contains only the conditions on which the people of this

kingdom are to be allowed henceforward to riot in debauchery, in

debauchery licensed by law, and countenanced by the magistrates; for

there is no doubt but those on whom the inventors of this tax shall

confer authority, will be directed to assist their masters in their

design to encourage the consumption of that liquor from which such

large revenues are expected, and to multiply, without end, those

licenses which are to pay a yearly tribute to the crown.

By this unbounded license, my lords, that price will be lessened, from

the increase of which the expectations of the efficacy of this law are

pretended; for the number of retailers will lessen the value as in all

other cases, and lessen it more than this tax will increase it.

Besides, it is to be considered, that at present the retailer expects

to be paid for the danger which he incurs by an unlawful trade, and

will not trust his reputation or his purse to the mercy of his

customer, without a profit proportioned to the hazard; but when once

the restraint shall be taken away, he will sell for common gain; and

it can hardly be imagined, that at present he subjects himself to

informations and penalties for less than sixpence a gallon.

The specious pretence on which this bill is founded, and, indeed, the

only pretence that deserves to be termed specious, is the propriety of

taxing vice; but this maxim of government has, on this occasion, been

either mistaken or perverted. Vice, my lords, is not properly to be

taxed, but suppressed; and heavy taxes are sometimes the only means by

which that suppression can be attained. Luxury, my lords, or the

excess of that which is pernicious only by its excess, may very

properly be taxed, that such excess, though not strictly unlawful, may

be made more difficult. But the use of those things which are simply

hurtful, hurtful in their own nature, and in every degree, is to be

prohibited. None, my lords, ever heard in any nation of a tax upon

theft or adultery, because a tax implies a license granted for the use

of that which is taxed, to all who shall be willing to pay it.

Drunkenness, my lords, is universally and in all circumstances an

evil, and, therefore, ought not to be taxed, but punished; and the

means of it not to be made easy by a slight impost, which none can

feel, but to be removed out of the reach of the people, and secured by

the heaviest taxes, levied with the utmost rigour. I hope those to

whose care the religion of the nation is particularly consigned, will

unanimously join with me in maintaining the necessity, not of taxing

vice, but suppressing it; and unite for the rejection of a bill, by

which the future as well as present happiness of thousands must be

destroyed.

Lord LONSDALE spoke as follows:--My lords, the bill now before us,

has, from its first appearance in the other house, seemed to me of

such importance as to deserve the greatest attention, and to demand

the most diligent inquiry; and I have, therefore, considered it with

uncommon care, and pursued all those inquiries from which I could

expect any assistance for discovering its tendency and its

consequences, with the nicest and most anxious vigilance.

That my attention and diligence may not wholly terminate in the

gratification of idle and useless curiosity, it is proper to inform

your lordships of their result; by which I hope to convince you, as I

am myself convinced, that this bill cannot become a law, without

endangering the lives of thousands, without dispersing diseases over

the nation, or without multiplying crimes beyond the possibility of

restraint or punishment; that it will fill the land with confusion for

a time, by infatuating the people, and afterwards lay it desolate by

destroying them.

All my inquiries, my lords, have had one constant and uniform Effect.

On what side soever I have turned my speculations, I have found new

arguments against this bill, and have discovered new mischiefs

comprised in it; mischiefs which, however some may endeavour to

overlook them, and others to despise them, will be found in a short

time too general to be concealed, and too formidable to be neglected.

The first consideration, in which the necessity of deliberating on

this bill engaged me, related to the quality of the liquors which are

mentioned in it. With regard to this question, my lords, there was no

possibility of long suspense; for the pernicious effects of spirits

were confessed equally by all those who countenanced and opposed this

new project; nor could any man take a survey of this city without

meeting in his way such objects as might make all farther inquiry

superfluous. The idleness, the insolence, the debauchery of the common

people, and their natural and certain consequences, poverty, diseases,

misery, and wickedness, are to be observed without any intention of

indulging such disagreeable speculations; in every part of this great

metropolis, whoever shall pass along the streets, will find wretches

stretched upon the pavement, insensible and motionless, and only

removed by the charity of passengers from the danger of being crushed

by carriages, or trampled by horses, or strangled with filth in the

common sewers; and others, less helpless perhaps, but more dangerous,

who have drank too much to fear punishment, but not enough to hinder

them from provoking it; who think themselves, in the elevation of

drunkenness, entitled to treat all those with contempt whom their

dress distinguishes from them, and to resent every injury which, in

the heat of their imagination, they suppose themselves to suffer, with

the utmost rage of resentment, violence of rudeness, and scurrility of

tongue.

No man can pass a single hour in publick places without meeting such

objects, or hearing such expressions as disgrace human nature; such as

cannot be looked upon without horrour, or heard without indignation,

and which there is, however, no possibility of removing or preventing,

whilst this hateful liquor is publickly sold. But the visible and

obvious effects of these pernicious draughts, however offensive or

inconvenient, are yet much less to be dreaded than their more slow and

secret operations. That excess of distilled spirits inflames the poor

to insolence and fury; that it exposes them either to hurt, by making

them insensible of danger, or to punishment, by making them fearless

of authority, is not to be reckoned the most fatal consequence of

their use; for these effects, though their frequency makes it

necessary to suppress them, with regard to each individual are of no

long duration; the understanding is in a short time recovered after a

single debauch, and the drunkard may return to his employment.

But though the pleasures of drunkenness are quickly at an end, its

pains are of longer continuance. These liquors not only infatuate the

mind, but poison the body; nor do they produce only momentary fury,

but incurable debility and lingering diseases; they not only fill our

streets with madmen, and our prisons with criminals, but our hospitals

with cripples. Those who have for a time infested the publick walks

with their insults, quickly disturb them with their lamentations, and

are soon reduced from bullies to beggars, and obliged to solicit alms

from those they used to threaten and insult.

Nor does the use of spirits, my lords, only impoverish the publick, by

lessening the number of useful and laborious hands, but by cutting off

those recruits by which its natural and inevitable losses are to be

supplied. The use of distilled liquors impairs the fecundity of the

human race, and hinders that increase which providence has ordained

for the support of the world. Those women who riot in this poisonous

debauchery are quickly disabled from bearing children, by bringing on

themselves, in a short time, all the infirmities and weaknesses of

age; or, what is yet more destructive to general happiness, produce

children diseased from their birth by the vices of their parents,

children whose blood is tainted with inveterate and accumulated

maladies, for which no cure can be expected;'and who, therefore, are

an additional burden to the community, and must be supported through a

miserable life by that labour which they cannot share, and must be

protected by that community of which they cannot contribute to the

defence.

Thus, my lords, is the great source of power and wealth dried up, the

numbers of the people are every day diminished, and, by consequence,

our armies must be weakened, our trade abandoned, and our lands

uncultivated. To diminish the people of any nation is the most

atrocious political crime that it is possible to commit; for it tends

not to enslave or impoverish, but to annihilate; not to make a nation

miserable, but to make it no longer a nation.

Such, my lords, are the effects of distilled liquors; effects of which

I would not have shocked you with the enumeration, had it not been

with a design of preventing them; and surely no man will be charged

with so trivial an offence as negligence of delicacy, when he is

pleading, not for the honour or the life of a single man, but for the

peace of the present age, the health of posterity, and the existence

of the British people.

After having examined the nature of these liquors, it is natural to

inquire, how much they are in use; whether mankind appear to know

their quality, and avoid and detest them like other poisons; or

whether they are considered as inoffensive, and drank, like other

liquors, to raise the spirits, or to gladden the heart; whether they

make part of social entertainments, and whether they are handed round

at publick tables, without any suspicion of their fatal consequences.

It is well known, my lords, that these liquors have not been long in

use among the common people. Spirits were at first only imported from

foreign countries, and were, by consequence, too dear for the luxuries

of the vulgar. In time it was discovered, that it was practicable to

draw from grain, and other products of our own soil, such liquors as,

though not equally pleasing to elegant palates with those of other

nations, resembled them, at least in their inebriating quality, and

might be afforded at an easy rate, and consequently generally

purchased.

This discovery, my lords, gave rise to the new trade of distilling,

which has been now for many years carried on in this nation, and of

the progress of which, since the duties were laid upon its produce, an

exact account may be easily obtained, which I thought so necessary in

our deliberations on this bill, that I have procured it to be drawn

out.

From this account, my lords, it will be discovered, what cannot be

related without the utmost grief, that there has prevailed, for many

years, a kind of contagious infatuation among the common people, by

which they have been incited to poison themselves and their children

with distilled spirits; they have forsaken those liquors which in

former times enlivened their conversation and exalted their merriment,

and, instead of ale and beer, rioted of late in distilled spirits.

The amazing increase of the consumption of spirits for the last ten

years, is a proof too evident of the prevalence of this destructive

species of drunkenness; and I shall, therefore, without troubling your

lordships with earlier accounts, only mention in round numbers, the

vast quantities for which the duty has been paid for a few years in

that period. In the year 1733, the number of gallons distilled was

three millions and nine hundred thousand, which in 1735 was increased

to five millions and three hundred thousand; soon afterwards the law

was made which we are now persuaded to repeal, by the execution of

which, however feeble and irresolute, the number was reduced in the

first year afterwards to three millions, and might, perhaps, by steady

perseverance have been every year lessened; but in a short time the

people prevailed in the contest with the legislators, they intimidated

information, and wearied prosecution; and were at length allowed to

indulge themselves in the enjoyment of their favourite vice without

any farther molestation.

The effects of this indulgence, my lords, have been very remarkable;

nor can it be denied, that the government betrayed great weakness in

suffering the laws to be overruled by drunkenness, and the meanest and

most profligate of the people to set the statutes at defiance; for the

vice which had been so feebly opposed spread wider and wider, and

every year added regularly another million of gallons to the quantity

of spirits distilled, till in the last year they rose to seven

millions and one hundred thousand gallons.

Such, my lords, is at present the state of the nation; twelve millions

of gallons of these poisonous liquors are every year swallowed by the

inhabitants of this kingdom; and this quantity, enormous as it is,

will probably every year increase, till the number of the people shall

be sensibly diminished by the diseases which it must produce; nor

shall we find any decay of this pernicious trade, but by the general

mortality that will overspread the kingdom.

At least, if this vice should be suppressed, it must be suppressed by

some supernatural interposition of providence; for nothing is more

absurd, than to imagine, that the bill now before us can produce any

such effect. For what, my lords, encourages any man to a crime but

security from punishment, or what tempts him to the commission of it

but frequent opportunity? We are, however, about to reform the

practice of drinking spirits, by making spirits more easy to be

procured; we are about to hinder them from being bought, by exempting

the vender from all fear of punishment.

It has, indeed, been asserted, that the tax now to be laid upon these

liquors will have such wonderful effects, that those who are at

present drunk twice a-day, will not be henceforward able to commit the

same crime twice a-week; an assertion which I could not hear without

wondering at the new discoveries which ministerial sagacity can

sometimes make. In deliberations on a subject of such importance, my

lords, no man ought to content himself with conjecture, where

certainty may, at whatsoever expense of labour, be attained; nor ought

any man to neglect a careful and attentive examination of his notions,

before he offers them in publick consultations; for if they were

erroneous, and no man can he certain that he is in the right, who has

never brought his own opinions to the test of inquiry, he exposes

himself to be detected in ignorance or temerity, and to that contempt

which such detection naturally and justly produces; or if his audience

submit their reason to his authority, and neglect to examine his

assertions, in confidence that he has sufficiently examined them

himself, he may suffer what to an honest mind must be far more painful

than any personal ignominy, he may languish under the consciousness of

having influenced the publick counsels by false declarations, and

having by his negligence betrayed his country to calamities which a

closer attention might have enabled him to have foreseen.

Whether the noble lord, who alleged the certainty of reformation which

this bill will produce, ever examined his own opinion, I know not; but

think it necessary at least to consider it more particularly, to

supply that proof of it which, if it be true, he neglected to produce,

or to show, if it be found false, how little confident assertions are

to be regarded.

Between twice a-day and twice a-week, the noble lord will not deny the

proportion to be as seven to one; and, therefore, to prevent

drunkenness in the degree which he persuades us to expect, the price

of the liquor must be raised in the same proportion; but the duty laid

upon the gallon will not increase the price a fifth part, even though

it should not be eluded by distilling liquors of an extraordinary

strength; one fifth part of the price is, therefore, in his lordship's

estimate, equal to the whole price seven times multiplied. Such are

the arguments which have been produced in favour of this bill; and

such is the diligence with which the publick happiness is promoted by

those who have hopes of being enriched by publick calamities.

As the tax will not make a fifth part of the price, and even that may

be in some measure evaded, the duty paid for licenses scarcely

deserves consideration; for it is not intended to hinder retailers,

but to make them useful in some degree to the ministry, by paying a

yearly tax for the license of poisoning.

It is, therefore, apparent, upon the noble lord's supposition, that

the price of the liquor will be raised in consequence of this tax,

that no man can be hindered from more than a fifth part of his usual

debauchery, which, however, would be some advantage to the publick;

but even this small advantage cannot be expected from the bill,

because one part will obstruct the benefits that might be hoped from

another.

The duty upon liquors, however inconsiderable, will be necessarily an

augmentation of the price to the first buyer, but probably that

augmentation will be very little felt by the consumer. For, my lords,

it must be considered, that many circumstances concur to constitute

the price of any commodity; the price of what is in itself cheap, may

be raised by the art or the condition of those that sell it; what is

engrossed by a few hands, is sold dearer than when the same quantity

is dispersed in many; and what is sold in security, and under the

protection of the law, is cheaper than that which exposes the vender

to prosecutions and penalties.

At present, my lords, distilled spirits are sold in opposition to the

laws of the kingdom; and, therefore, it is reasonable, as has been

before observed, to believe that an extraordinary profit is expected,

because no man will incur danger without advantage. It is at present

retailed, for the greatest part, by indigent persons, who cannot be

supposed to buy it in large quantities, and, consequently, not at the

cheapest rate; and who must, of necessity, gain a large profit,

because they are to subsist upon a very small stock.

These causes concurring, may be easily imagined to raise the price

more than a fifth part above the profit which is expected in other

traffick; but when this bill shall become a law, the necessity of

large profit will no longer subsist; for there will then be no danger

in retailing spirits, and they will be chiefly sold in houses by

persons who can afford to purchase them in great quantities, who can

be trusted by the distiller, for the usual time allowed in other

trades; and who, therefore, may sell them without any exorbitant

advantage.

Besides, my lords, it is reasonable to imagine, that the present

profit to the retailer is very great, since, like that which arises

from the clandestine exportation of wool, it is sufficient to tempt

multitudes to a breach of the law, a contempt of penalties, and a

defiance of the magistrates; and it may be therefore imagined, that

there is room for a considerable abatement of the price, which may

subtract much more than is added by this new duty.

This deduction from the price, my lords, will probably be soon

produced by the emulation of retailers, who, when the trade becomes

safe and publick, will endeavour to attract buyers by low rates; for

what the noble lord, whose ingenious assertion I am now opposing, has

declared with respect to traders, that for a tax of a penny upon any

commodity, they oblige the consumers to advance twopence, is not

universally true; and I believe it is as likely, that the people will

insist upon having the same liquor at the usual price, without regard

to the tax, as that the venders will be able to raise their price in

an unreasonable proportion. The obstinacy of the people with regard to

this liquor, my lords, has already appeared; and I am inclined to

believe, that they who have confessedly conquered the legislature,

will not suffer themselves to be overcome in the same cause by the

avarice of alehouse keepers.

I am, therefore, confident, my lords, that this bill will produce no

beneficial effects, even in this city; and that in the country, where

the sale of spirits was hindered by the late law, or where, at least,

it might have been hindered in a great measure, it will propagate

wickedness and debauchery in a degree never yet known; the torrent of

licentiousness will break at once upon it, and a sudden freedom from

restraint will produce a wanton enjoyment of privileges which had

never been thought so valuable, had they never been taken away. Thus,

while the crowds of the capital are every day thinned by the licensed

distributors of poison, the country, which is to be considered as the

nursery in which the human species is chiefly propagated, will be made

barren; and that race of men will be intercepted, which is to defend

the liberty of the neighbouring nations in the next age, which is to

extend our commerce to other kingdoms, or repel the encroachments of

future usurpation.

The bill, my lords, will, therefore, produce none of the advantages

which those who promote it have had the confidence to promise the

publick. But let us now examine whether they have not been more

sagacious in securing the benefits which they expect from it

themselves.

That one of the intentions of it is to raise a sum to supply the

present exigencies of the government is not denied; that this is the

only intention is generally believed, and believed upon the strongest

reasons; for it is the only effect which it can possibly produce; and

to this end it is calculated with all the skill of men long versed in

the laudable art of contriving taxes and of raising money.

I have already shown to your lordships, that seven millions of gallons

of spirits are annually distilled in this kingdom; this consumption,

at the small duty of sixpence a gallon, now to be imposed, will

produce a yearly revenue of £175,000. and the tax upon licenses may be

rated at a very large sum; so that there is a fund sufficient, I hope,

for the expenses which a land war is to bring upon us.

But we are not to forget, my lords, that this is only the produce of

the first year, and that the tax is likely to afford every year a

larger revenue. As the consumption of those liquors, under its late

discouragements, has advanced a million of gallons every year, it may

be reasonably imagined, that by the countenance of the legislature,

and the protection of authority, it will increase in a double

proportion; and that in ten years more, twenty millions will be

distilled every year for the destruction of the people.

Thus far, my lords, the scheme of the ministry appears prosperous; but

all prosperity, at least all the prosperity of dishonesty, must in

time have an end. The practice of drinking cannot be for ever

continued, because it will hurry the present generation to the grave,

and prevent the production of another; the revenue must cease with the

consumption, and the consumption must be at an end when the consumers

are destroyed.

But this, my lords, cannot speedily happen, nor have our ministers any

dread of miseries which are only to fall in distant times upon another

generation. It is sufficient for them, if their expedient can supply

those exigencies which their counsels have brought upon the publick;

if they pay their court to the crown with success, at whatever

disadvantage to the people, and continue in power till they have

enlarged their fortunes, and then without punishment retire to enjoy

them.

But I hope, my lords, that we shall act upon very different

principles; that we shall examine the most distant consequences of our

resolutions, and consider ourselves, not as the agents of the crown to

levy taxes, but as the guardians of the people to promote the publick

happiness; that we shall always remember that happiness can be

produced only by virtue; and that since this bill can tend only to the

increase of debauchery, we shall, without the formality of a

commitment, unanimously reject it with indignation and abhorrence.

Lord CARTERET spoke to the following effect:--My lords, the bill now

before us has been examined with the utmost acuteness, and opposed

with all the arts of eloquence and argumentation; nor has any topick

been forgotten that could speciously be employed against it. It has

been represented by some as contrary to policy, and by others as

opposite to religion; its consequences have been displayed with all

the confidence of prediction, and the motives upon which it has been

formed, declared to be such as I hope every man abhors who projected

or defends it.

It has been asserted, that this bill owes its existence only to the

necessity of raising taxes for the support of unnecessary troops, to

be employed in useless and dangerous expeditions; and that those who

defend it have no regard to the happiness or virtue of the people, nor

any other design than to raise supplies, and gratify the ministry.

In pursuance of this scheme of argument, the consequences of this bill

have been very artfully deduced, and very copiously explained; and it

has been asserted that by passing it, we shall show ourselves the

patrons of vice, the defenders of debauchery, and the promoters of

drunkenness.

It has been declared, that in consequence of this law, by which the

use of distilled liquors is intended to be restrained, the retailers

of them will be multiplied, and multiplied without end; till the

corruption, which is already too extensive, is become general, and the

nation is transformed into a herd of drunkards.

With regard to the uses to which the money which shall arise from this

tax is to be applied, though it has been more than once mentioned in

this debate, I shall pass it over, as without any connexion with the

question before us. To confound different topicks may be useful to

those whose design is to impose upon the inattention or weakness of

their opponents, as they may be enabled by it to alter sometimes the

state of the controversy, and to hide their fallacies in perplexity

and confusion; but always to be avoided by those who endeavour to

discover and to establish truth, who dispute not to confound but to

convince, and who intend not to disturb the publick deliberations, but

assist them.

I shall, therefore, my lords, only endeavour to show that the

consequence, of which some lords express, and I believe with

sincerity, such dreadful apprehensions, is not in reality to be feared

from this bill; that it will probably promote the purpose for which it

is declared to be calculated, and that it will by no means produce

that havock in the human species which seems to be suspected, or

diffuse that corruption through the people which has been confidently

foretold.

The present state of this vice, my lords, has been fully explained, as

well by those who oppose the bill as by those who defend it. The use

of distilled liquors is now prohibited by a penal law, but the

execution of this law, as of all others of the same kind, necessarily

supposes a regular information of the breach of it to be laid before

the magistrate. The people consider this law, however just or

necessary, as an act of the most tyrannical cruelty, which ought to be

opposed with the utmost steadiness and vigour, as an insupportable

hardship from which they ought at any rate to set themselves free.

They have determined, therefore, not to be governed by this law, and

have, consequently, endeavoured to hinder its execution; and so

vigorous have been their efforts, that they have at last prevailed. At

first they only opposed it by their perseverance and obstinacy, they

resolved to persist in the practice of retailing liquors without

regard to the penalties which they might incur by it; and, therefore,

as one was put to prison, his place was immediately supplied by

another; and so frequent were the informations and so fruitless the

penalties, that the chief magistrate of the metropolis lamented

publickly in the other house, the unpleasing necessity to which he was

subjected by that law, of fining and imprisoning without end, and

without hopes of procuring the reformation that was intended. Thus

they proceeded for some time, and appeared to hope that the

magistrates would after a while connive at a practice, which they

should find no degree of severity sufficient to suppress; that they

would sink under the fatigue of punishing to no purpose, that they

would by degrees relax their vigilance, and leave the people in quiet

possession of that felicity which they appeared to rate at so high a

price.

At length, my lords, instead of wearying the magistrates, they grew

weary themselves, and determined no longer to bear persecution for

their enjoyments, but to resist that law which they could not evade,

and to which they would not submit. They, therefore, determined to

mark out all those who by their informations promoted its execution,

as publick enemies, as wretches who, for the sake of a reward, carried

on a trade of perjury and persecution, and who harassed their innocent

neighbours only for carrying on a lawful employment for supplying the

wants of the poor, relieving the weariness of the labourer,

administering solace to the dejected, and cordials to the sick.

The word was, therefore, given that no informer should be spared; and

when an offender was summoned by the civil officers, crowds watched at

the door of the magistrate to rescue the prisoner, and to discover and

seize the witness upon whose testimony he was convicted; and

unfortunate was the wretch who, with the imputation of this crime upon

him, fell into their hands; it is well remembered by every man who at

that time was conversant in this city, with what outcries of vengeance

an informer was pursued in the publick streets, and in the open day;

with what exclamations of triumph he was seized, and with what rage of

cruelty he was tormented.

One instance of their fury I very particularly remember: as a man was

passing along the streets, the alarm was given that he was an informer

against the retailers of spirituous liquors, the populace were

immediately gathered as in a time of common danger, and united in the

pursuit as of a beast of prey, which it was criminal not to destroy;

the man discovered, either by consciousness or intelligence, his

danger, and fled for his life with the utmost precipitation; but no

housekeeper durst afford him shelter, the cry increased upon him on

all hands, and the populace rolled on after him with a torrent not to

be resisted; and he was upon the point of being overtaken, and like

some others destroyed, when one of the greatest persons in the nation,

hearing the tumult, and inquiring the reason, opened his doors to the

distressed fugitive, and sheltered him from a cruel death.

Soon afterwards there was a stop put to all information; no man dared

afterwards, for the sake of a reward, expose himself to the fury of

the people, and the use of these destructive liquors was no longer

obstructed. How much the practice of this kind of debauchery

prevailed, after this short restraint, and how much the consumption of

these destructive liquors has increased, the noble lord who spoke last

has very accurately informed us, nor can any argument be offered for

the present bill more strong than that which his computations have

already furnished.

For if it appears, my lords, and it cannot be doubted after such

authentick testimonies, that seven millions of gallons of spirits are

every year consumed in this kingdom, and that of these far the

greatest quantity is wasted in the most flagitious and destructive

debauchery; it is surely at length necessary to consider by what means

this consumption, which cannot be stopped, may be lessened, and this

vice obstructed, which cannot be reformed.

By opening a sufficient number of licensed shops, the number of

unlicensed retailers will be necessarily lessened, and by raising the

price of the liquor, the quantity which the poor drink must, with

equal certainty, be diminished; and as it cannot be imagined that the

number of those who will pay annually for licenses, can be equal to

that of the petty traders, who now dispose of spirits in cellars and

in the streets; it is reasonable to believe that since there will be

fewer sellers, less will be sold.

Some lords have, indeed, declared their suspicion, that the number of

licensed shops will be such as will endanger the health of the people,

and the peace of the commonwealth; and one has so far indulged his

imagination, as to declare that he expects fifteen hundred shops to be

set open for the sale of spirits, in a short time after the

publication of this law.

If it be answered, that no spirits can be sold but by those who keep a

house of publick entertainment by a license from the justices of the

peace, the opponents of the bill have a reply ready, that the justices

will take all opportunities to promote the increase of the revenue,

and will always grant a license when it is demanded, without regard to

the mischiefs that may arise from the increase of the retreats of

idleness and receptacles of vice; and that, therefore, to allow

justices to grant licenses for the retail of any commodity upon which

a tax is laid, is to permit the sale of it without limits.

But, my lords, this argument will vanish, when it is considered that

those justices to whom the law commits the superintendency of

publick-houses, are superintended themselves by men who derive their

authority from a higher power, and whose censures are more formidable

than judicial penalties. The conduct of the justices, my lords, as of

every other person, lies open to the observation of the reverend

clergy, by whose counsels it is to be regulated, and by whose

admonitions it ought to be reformed; admonitions which cannot be

supposed to be without force from men to whom the great province of

preaching virtue and truth is committed, and whose profession is so

much reverenced, that reputation and infamy are generally in their

power.

Should the justices, my lords, abuse their authority, either for the

increase of the revenue, or any other purpose, what could they expect

but to be marked out on the next day of publick worship for reproach

and derision? What could they hope but that their crimes should be

displayed in the most odious view to their neighbours, their children,

and their dependants; and that all those from whom nature or interest

teaches them to desire friendship, reverence, or esteem, will be

taught to consider them as the slaves of power and the agents of

villany, as the propagators of debauchery, and the enemies of mankind?

There is, therefore, my lords, reason to hope that the bill may be

useful, because it will be hindered from being detrimental; and as

there is an absolute necessity of doing something, and no better

method can at present be proposed, I think this ought not to be

rejected. We have found by experience that the publick is not to be

reformed at once, and that the progress from corruption to reformation

must be gradual; and as this bill enforces some degrees of amendment,

it is at least more eligible than the present law, which is wholly

without effect, because no man will dare to put it in execution.

Every man must be convinced, by his own experience, of the difficulty

with-which long habits are surmounted. I myself suffer some indulgence

which yet I cannot prevail upon myself to forbear; this indulgence is

the use of too much snuff, to which it is well known that many persons

of rank are not less addicted; and, therefore, I do not wonder that

the law is ineffectual, which is to encounter with the habits and

appetites of the whole mass of the common people.

For this reason, my lords, I cannot approve what has been recommended

in this debate, any new law that may put the enjoyment of this liquor

yet farther from them, by facilitating prosecutions, or enforcing

penalties, as I am convinced that the natural force of the people is

superiour to the law, and that their natural force will be exerted for

the defence of their darling spirits, and the whole nation be shaken

with universal sedition.

It has been objected by the noble lord, that the tax now proposed is

such as never was raised in any government, because, though luxury may

confessedly be taxed, vice ought to be constantly suppressed; and

this, in his lordship's opinion, is a tax upon vice.

His lordship's distinction between luxury and vice, between the use of

things unlawful, and the excess of things lawful, is undoubtedly just,

but by no means applicable on this occasion; nor, indeed, has the

noble lord, with all his art, been able to apply it; for he was

obliged to change the terms in his argument; and, instead of calling

this tax, a tax upon strong liquors, to stigmatize it with the odious

appellation of a tax upon drunkenness.

To call any thing what it really is not, and then to censure it, is

very easy; too easy, my lords, to be done with success. To confute the

argument it is only necessary to observe, that this tax is not a tax

upon drunkenness, but a tax laid upon strong liquors for the

prevention of drunkenness; and, by consequence, such as falls within

the compass of his own definition.

That it is not a tax upon luxury cannot be inferred from the indigence

of those whom it is intended to reform; for luxury is, my lords, _ad

modum possidentis_, of different kinds, in proportion to different

conditions of life, and one man may very decently enjoy those

delicacies or pleasures to which it would be foolish and criminal in

another to aspire. Whoever spends upon superfluities what he must want

for the necessities of life, is luxurious; and excess, therefore, of

distilled spirits may be termed, with the utmost propriety, the luxury

of the poor.

This, my lords, appeared to be the opinion of the noble lord who spoke

so copiously on this question at the beginning of the debate; of this

opinion was the reverend prelate when he observed, that _necessity

itself was become luxurious_, and of this opinion must every man be

who advises such a duty to be laid upon these liquors as may at once

debar the poor from the use of them; for such a proposal evidently

supposes them unnecessary, and all enjoyment of things not necessary

is a degree of luxury.

To tax this luxury, which is, perhaps, the most pernicious of all

others, is now proposed; but it is proposed to tax it only to suppress

it, to suppress it by such slow degrees as may be borne by the people;

and I hope a law so salutary will not be opposed only because it may

afford the government a present supply.

The duke of NEWCASTLE then rose up, and spoke to the following

effect:--My lords, I am of opinion that this debate would have been

much shorter, had not the noble lords who have spoken in it suffered

themselves to be led away, either by their own zeal, or the zeal of

their opponents, from the true state of the question, to which I shall

take the liberty of recalling their attention, that this important

controversy may have at length an end.

The point, the only point that is, in my opinion, now to be

considered, is this: the people of this nation have for some time

practised a most pernicious and hateful kind of debauchery; against

which several laws have been already made, which experience has shown

to be so far without effect, that the disorder has every year

increased among them; [while the duke was speaking, the bishop of

ORFORD said, without intention to be overheard, "Yes, that is the true

state of the case," upon which the duke stopped, and asked whether his

lordship had any objection to make, who answered that he had no design

of interrupting him; and he, therefore, proceeded.] A new law,

therefore, is proposed, less severe, indeed, than the former, but

which it is hoped will be for that reason more efficacious; this law

having passed through the other house, is now, in the common course of

our procedure, to be considered by us in a committee.

We are now, my lords, therefore, to resolve, whether a bill for the

reformation of this flagrant vice deserves any farther deliberation,

whether we shall join with the other house in their endeavours to

restore the ancient sobriety and virtue of the British people, or, by

an open disapprobation of their attempt, discourage them from

prosecuting their design, and debar them from using the opportunities

that succeeding years may afford, and the new lights which experience

may supply for improving this essay, however imperfect, to a salutary

and unexceptionable law.

The prelates whose laudable zeal for the promotion of virtue has

prompted them to distinguish themselves on this occasion by an

uncommon warmth of opposition, ought, as they appear fully sensible of

the calamities which intemperance brings upon mankind, to consider

likewise the consequences of refusing to examine, in a committee, a

bill professedly drawn up to restrain intemperance. They ought to

remember, that by rejecting this bill without a particular examination

of the several clauses which it contains, and without those particular

objections which such examinations necessarily produce, we shall

discover a contempt of the wisdom or virtue of the other house, which

may incline them in their turn to obstruct the measures of the

government, or at least to neglect that evil, however great, for the

redress of which they have no reason to expect our concurrence.

Those whose particular province it is to inspect the lives of the

people, to recal them from vice, and strengthen them in virtue, should

certainly reflect on this occasion, that the safest method ought to be

chosen; and, therefore, that this bill ought to be promoted; because,

not to affirm too much, it is possible that it may produce some degree

of reformation; and the worst that can be feared is, that, like the

present law, it will be ineffectual; for the corruption and

licentiousness of the people are already such, that nothing can

increase them.

The bishop of SARUM then spoke to the following purpose:--My lords, I

am so far from being convinced by the arguments of the noble duke,

that the bill now before us ought to be committed without farther

opposition, that, in my opinion, nothing can be more unworthy of the

honour of this house, or more unsuitable to the character which those

who sit on this bench ought to desire, than to agree to any vote which

may have the most distant appearance of approbation.

That a bill drawn up for the reformation of manners, for the restraint

of a predominant and destructive vice, for the promotion of virtue,

and the enforcement of religion, ought, at least, to be calmly and

particularly considered; that the laudable endeavours of the commons

ought not to be discouraged by a precipitate and contemptuous

rejection of the measures which they have formed for the attainment of

a purpose so important, is, indeed, a specious and plausible method of

persuasion; but, my lords, it can affect only those who come to

deliberate upon this bill without having read it.

A very slight and cursory perusal of the bill, my lords, will

dissipate all the mists which eloquence can raise; it will show that

the law now proposed can neither be useful nor ineffectual, but that

it must operate very powerfully, though in a manner by no means

agreeable to its title.

To prevent the excessive use of any thing, by allowing it to be sold

without restraint, is an expedient which the wisdom of no former age

ever discovered; it is, indeed, a fallacy too gross to be admitted,

even by the most inconsiderate negligence, or the most contemptuous

stupidity; nor am I at all inclined to believe, that the commons will

impute the rejection of this bill to our disregard of virtue, or think

that we have defeated any endeavours for the suppression of

wickedness.

It has been affirmed, that though by the bill the sale is permitted,

it is permitted only because it cannot be hindered; and that the price

is raised so high, that, though the lawful venders may be multiplied,

the number of the purchasers must be diminished. But even this

argument, like all others that have yet been advanced, is confuted by

the bill itself, from which the tax now proposed appears to be such

as, when subdivided by the small measures in which retailers sell

these liquors, will scarcely be perceived, and which, though it may

enrich the government, will not impoverish the people, except by

destroying their health, and enervating their limbs.

The tax, my lords, even supposing it paid without any method of

evasion, is so low, that in a quarter of a pint, the quantity which

the lower people usually demand at once, it does not amount to any

denomination of money; and so small an addition will be easily

overbalanced by the sale of a larger quantity than formerly; for it

cannot be doubted but the practice which prevailed in opposition to

the law, will grow yet more predominant by its encouragement; and

that, therefore, the advantage of a large and quick sale, will lessen

the price more than so slight a tax can possibly increase it.

The noble duke has endeavoured to reduce us to difficulties, by

urging, that since the corruption of the people cannot be greater, we

ought willingly to agree to any law, of which the title declares that

it is intended to produce a reformation, because the worst that can be

feared is, that it may be without effect.

But, my lords, such is the enormous absurdity of this bill, that no

plea can be offered for it with the least appearance of reason; and

the greatest abilities, when they are exerted in its defence, are able

only to show, by fruitless efforts, that it cannot be vindicated. If

the state of the nation be really such as has been supposed, if the

most detestable and odious vice has overspread the kingdom to its

utmost limits, if the people are universally abandoned to drunkenness,

sloth, and villany, what can be more absurd than to trifle with

doubtful experiments, and to make laws which must be suspected of

inefficacy? In the diseases of the state, as in those of the body, the

force of the remedy ought to be proportioned to the strength and

danger of the disease; and surely no political malady can be more

formidable than the prevalence of wickedness, nor can any time require

more firmness, vigilance, and activity, in the legislative power.

That the law, therefore, may be without effect, is, in the present

state of corruption, if it has been truly represented, a sufficient

reason for rejecting it, without allowing it to be committed; because

there is now no time for indulgence, or for delays; a nation

universally corrupt, must be speedily reformed, or speedily ruined.

Those habits which have been confessed to be already too powerful for

the laws now in being, may in a short time be absolutely irresistible;

and that licentiousness which intimidates the officers of justice, may

in another year insult the legislature.

But, my lords, I am yet willing to hope that the noble duke's account

of the wickedness of the people, was rather a rhetorical exaggeration,

uttered in the ardour of dispute, than a strict assertion of facts;

and am of opinion that, though vice has, indeed, of late spread its

contagion with great rapidity, there are yet great numbers uninfected,

and cannot believe that our condition is such as that nothing can make

it more miserable.

In many parts of the country, my lords, these liquors have not yet

been much used, nor is it likely that those who have never sold them,

when the law allowed them, will begin an unnecessary trade, when it

will expose them to penalties. But a new law in favour of spirits will

produce a general inclination, and a kind of emulation will incite

every one to take a license for the retail of this new liquor; and so

every part of the kingdom will be equally debauched, and no place will

be without a vender of statutable poison. The luxury of the vulgar,

for luxury, in my opinion, it may very properly be called, will still

increase, and vices and diseases will increase with it.

There is at least one part of the nation yet untainted, a part which

deserves the utmost care of the legislature, and which must be

endangered by a law like this before us. The children, my lords, to

whom the affairs of the present generation must be transferred, and by

whom the nation must be continued, are surely no ignoble part of the

publick. They are yet innocent, and it is our province to take care

that they may in time be virtuous; we ought, therefore, to remove from

before them those examples that may infect, and those temptations that

may corrupt them. We ought to reform their parents, lest they should

imitate them; and to destroy those provocatives to vice, by which the

present generation has been intoxicated, lest they should with equal

force operate upon the next.

There is, therefore, no occasion, my lords, for any farther

deliberation upon this bill; which, if the nation be yet in any part

untainted, will infect it; and if it be universally corrupted, will

have no tendency to amend it; and which we ought, for these reasons to

reject, that our abhorrence of vice may be publickly known, and that

no part of the calamities which wickedness must produce, may be

imputed to us.

Lord DELAWARE then spoke to the following effect:--My lords, as I am

entirely of opinion that a more accurate examination of this bill will

evince its usefulness and propriety to many of the lords who are now

most ardent in opposing it, I cannot but think it necessary to

consider it in a committee.

It is to be remembered, my lords, that this bill is intended for two

purposes of very great importance to the publick; it is designed that

the liberties of mankind shall be secured by the same provisions by

which the vices of our own people are to be reclaimed, and supplies

for carrying on the war shall be raised by a reformation of the

manners of the people.

This, my lords, is surely a great and generous design; this is a

complication of publick benefits, worthy the most exalted virtue, and

the most refined policy; and though a bill in which views so distant

are to be reconciled, should appear not to be absolutely perfect, it

must yet be allowed to deserve regard; nor ought we to reject, without

very cautious deliberation, any probable method of reforming the

nation, or any easy way of raising supplies.

The encroachment of usurpation without, and the prevalence of vice

within, is a conjunction of circumstances very dangerous; and to

remove both by the same means, is an undertaking that surely cannot

deserve either censure or contempt: if it succeeds, it may demand the

loudest acclamations; and if it fails, must be at least approved.

The use, my lords, of spirituous liquors, though in the excess now so

frequently to be observed, undoubtedly detrimental to multitudes, is

not, in a proper degree, either criminal or unwholesome; and,

therefore, ought not to be prohibited by a tax so heavy as has been

proposed by a noble lord, who, if he pursues his reasoning, must

propose to tax in the same proportion every other liquor that can

administer to vice.

It is, however, certain, that too much is wasted in riot and

debauchery; and that, therefore, some addition to the price of this

liquor ought to be made, that, though the use of it may be continued,

the excess may be restrained.

What will be the effects of this bill, and whether either of these

benefits are to be expected from it, can be known only by an impartial

examination; and therefore it ought to be discussed with that accuracy

which is peculiar to a committee.

Lord LONSDALE here got up again, and spoke to this purpose:--My lords,

that a bill which shall restrain the excess of drinking distilled

liquors without hindering their moderate use, will deserve the

applause of every lover of his country, I cannot deny; but that any

such bill can be contrived, may very justly be doubted; for in

proportion to their price they will always be used, and nothing can

hinder excess but a high tax, such as I have already proposed.

The bill now before us, my lords, will, indeed, by no means obstruct

the moderate use, because it will give an unbounded license to the

most luxurious excess; if, therefore, nothing more be intended in the

committee, than to consider how far this bill will promote the

reformation of the people, it is surely not necessary to engage in any

farther inquiries.

It has appeared already, to those who do not obstinately shut their

eyes, that there is in it no provision for the prevention of that

abuse of spirits which universally prevails. It has appeared, that the

cheapness of licenses will not hinder the present retailers from

carrying on an illegal trade; that information will not now be more

safe or more frequent than before, and that the duty, if not in part

evaded, may yet be probably abated from the present profits of the

sale.

It has appeared, my lords, that no effect can be produced by this bill

but the promotion of debauchery, the increase of drunkenness, the

subversion of order, and the decay of industry; the miseries of

disease, and the rage of want.

But that this bill will not produce, at least for some time, a large

addition to the publick revenues, has not yet been proved; and while

it is allowed that it will raise money, I do not wonder to hear it

steadily defended, because nothing more is expected from it. But as I

have not yet conversed enough with statesmen to persuade myself that

the government ought to be supported by means contrary to the end for

which government is instituted, I am still convinced that this bill

ought to be rejected with contempt, because it will lessen the wealth

of the nation without any equivalent advantage, and will at once

impoverish the people, and corrupt them.

Lord ISLAY then spoke to this effect:--My lords, I cannot but be of

opinion that this debate has been carried on with a vehemence by no

means necessary, and that the question has been perplexed by a

mistaken zeal, that the effects of this bill have been exaggerated,

perhaps, on both sides, and that the opinions which have been formed

with relation to it, are not really so opposite as they appear.

Those who oppose the bill, think the duty upon spirits not so high as

to hinder that debauchery which so much prevails among us; and those

that vindicate it, declare that more violent restraints will not be

borne. Both parties have reason, and the vindicators of the bill have,

likewise, experience on their side.

But, my lords, though severe restraints suddenly opposed to the habits

and inclinations of the people, operating in their full force, may be

broken through by restless struggles and obstinate resistance, yet a

diminution of those gratifications will be borne which cannot wholly

be taken away, and the same laws, introduced by proper degrees, will

be patiently obeyed; this, therefore, may be very properly considered

as the first tax necessary to be laid, which, though it may produce no

great effects in itself, may at least make way for a second that shall

be more sensibly felt, till at length these fatal spirits shall be

raised to a price at which few will be able, and none willing, to

purchase one pleasure of drunkenness.

But it is not impossible that even this tax, with the other provisions

in the bill, may produce the reformation which is unanimously desired;

and as violence should never be used till gentle methods have been

tried, this bill ought, in my opinion, to be passed, and, therefore,

to be referred to a committee without farther debate; for it will be

thought, both by our allies and our enemies, that a great part of this

assembly is very indifferent about the success of the war, if we delay

the supplies, by disputing in what manner they shall be raised.

[The question being then put, whether the bill shall be committed, it

was carried in the affirmative. And the lords DELAWARE and HERVEY

being appointed tellers, the numbers were, Contents 59, Proxies

23--82. Not contents 38, Proxies 16--54.

It was remarked on this occasion, that there being ten prelates in the

house, they all divided against the question; upon which the earl of

CHESTERFIELD seeing them come towards him, said, he doubted if he had

not mistaken the side, not having had the honour of their company for

many years.

Two days after, the same bill was considered by the house of lords in

a committee to which all of them were summoned, and occasioned another

very important and curious debate.]