What, my lords, can a drunkard or a profligate be supposed to wish,
but that the law may still remain in its present state, that he may
still be pursued in a track by which he knows how to escape, and
opposed by restraints which he is able to break? What can he desire,
but that the book of statutes should lie useless, and that no laws
should be made against him, but such as cannot be put in execution?
The defects of the present law, are, indeed, very numerous; nor ought
it to be continued, even though no other were to be substituted. It
seems to suppose the use of distilled liquors absolutely unlawful,
and, therefore, imposed upon licenses a duty so enormous, that only
three were taken in the whole kingdom, and the people were therefore
obliged to obtain by illegal methods, what they could not persuade
themselves wholly to forbear.
The method of detecting offenders was likewise such as gave
opportunity for villany to triumph over innocence, and for perjury to
grow rich with the plunder of the poor. Even charity itself might be
punished by it; and he that gave a glass of spirits to a man fainting
under poverty, or sickness, or fatigue, might be punished as a
retailer of spirits without a license.
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