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.
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