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.
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