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.
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