No other argument can, indeed, be urged in vindication of a bill which every principle of policy or justice must incite us to condemn; a bill by which the sense of morality and religion will be extinguished, and the restraints, of law made ineffectual; by which the labourer and manufacturer will be at once debilitated and corrupted, and by which the roads will be filled with thieves, and the streets with beggars.
It appears, my lords, from the papers on the table, that seven millions of gallons are every year distilled; and experience shows us, that the quality of the liquor is such, that a quarter of a pint is sufficient to intoxicate the brain. Upon this computation, my lords, it is reasonable to believe, that a twentieth part of the labouring hands of this nation are detained from their proper occupations by this kind of drunkenness; and, consequently, that a twentieth part of the trade is every year lost, or, perhaps, a twentieth part of our people every year hurried to the grave, or disabled from contributing to the publick good.
These, my lords, are no doubtful facts, or conjectural calculations, they are confirmed by the most incontestable evidence, and established by all the demonstration of arithmetick; and therefore your lordships are in no danger of errour from either ignorance or uncertainty, but must determine, if you approve this bill, in opposition to all the powers of conviction, and must set aside testimony and reason at the same time.
These facts, my lords, are so plain, that the warmest advocates for the bill have tacitly acknowledged them, by proposing that, if it be found ineffectual, it shall be amended in the next session. What effect this proposal may have upon others, I know not; but for my part, I shall never think it allowable to sport with the prosperity of the publick, or to try experiments by which, if they fail, the lives of thousands must be destroyed.
Such a scheme, my lords, very ill becomes those to whom their ancestors have transmitted the illustrious character of guardians of the people; for surely such cruelty was never practised by the utmost wantonness of tyranny, or the most savage rage of invasion. No man ever before conceived the design of scattering poison for a certain period of time among the people, only to try what havock it would make.
What will be the effects of unrestrained and licensed debauchery may be known, without the guilt of so dreadful an experiment, only by observing the present conduct of the people, even while they are hindered from the full enjoyment of their pleasures, by the terrours of a penal law. Whoever shall be so far touched with the interest of the publick, as to extend his inquiries to the lowest classes of the people, will find some diseased, and others vitiated; he will find some imprisoned by their creditors, and others starving their children; and if he traces all these calamities and crimes to their original cause, will find them all to proceed from the love of distilled liquors.
I know, my lords, that in answer to all these expostulations, and a thousand more, it will be urged by the ministers and their friends, that there is no other method to be found of raising the supplies, and that the demands of the government must be satisfied at whatever rate, and by whatever means.
Though I am very far from approving this assertion, I do not wonder at its prevalence among those who are enriched by every tax, and whose only claim to the preferments which they enjoy arises from their readiness to concur in every scheme for increasing the burdens of the publick; and, therefore, shall never expect their approbation of any proposal, by which a new tax may be retarded. Yet I cannot but declare that, in my opinion, we ought to suspend our proceedings, that the commons may discover what danger their negligence, precipitation, or blind compliance, has brought upon the nation; and that the people may, by so signal a proof of our disapprobation, be alarmed against any attempt of the same kind under any future administration.
This, my lords, will be considered, not only by posterity, but by all the wise and honest men of the present time, as a proof of our regard for virtue, and our attention to the publick welfare. This conduct will be secretly approved, even by those who may think themselves obliged to oppose it in publick; and, as it will be moderate and decent, may probably preserve the nation without irritating the other house.
I therefore move, my lords, that instead of proceeding in the superfluous forms of a committee, we should resume the house, and endeavour to obtain farther information.