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.
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