I hope, my lords, it portends well to my inquiry, that the first
position which I have to examine is true, nor can I forbear to
congratulate your lordships upon having heard from the new ministry
one assertion not to be contradicted.
It is evident, my lords, from daily observation, and demonstrable from
the papers upon the table, that every year, since the enaction of the
last law, that vice has increased which it was intended to repress,
and that no time has been so favourable to the retailers of spirits as
that which has passed since they were prohibited.
It may, therefore, be expected, my lords, that having agreed with the
ministers in their fundamental proposition, I shall concur with them
in the consequence which they draw from it; and having allowed that
the present law is ineffectual, should admit that another is
necessary.
But, my lords, in order to discover whether this consequence be
necessary, it must first be inquired why the present law is of no
force? For, my lords, it will be found, upon reflection, that there
are certain degrees of corruption that may hinder the effects of the
best laws. The magistrates may be vitious, and forbear to enforce that
law, by which themselves are condemned; they may be indolent, and
inclined rather to connive at wickedness by which they are not injured
themselves, than to repress it by a laborious exertion of their
authority; or they may be timorous, and, instead of awing the vitious,
may be awed by them.
Pages:
738
739
740
741
742
743
744
745
746
747
748
749
750
751
752
753
754
755
756
757
758
759
760
761
762