How little then, my lords, do our sagacious politicians understand
their own interest by promoting drunkenness and luxury, of which the
natural train of consequences are idleness, necessity, wickedness,
desperation, sedition, and anarchy! How little do they understand what
it is that gives stability to the fabrick of our constitution, if they
imagine it can long stand, when it is not supported by virtue.
In consequence of these maxims, another may be advanced, that all
trades which tend to impair either the health or virtue of the people,
should be interdicted; for since the strength of the community
consists in the number and happiness of the people, no trade deserves
to be cultivated which does not contribute to the one or the other;
for the end of trade, as of all other human attempts, is the
attainment of happiness.
If any trade that conduces not to the happiness of the community by
increasing either the number or the virtue of the people, be
industriously cultivated, the legislature ought to suppress it; if any
manufacture that administers temptations to wickedness be flourishing
and extensive, it has already been too long indulged; and the
government can atone for its remissness only by rigorous inhibition,
severe prosecutions, and vigilant inquiries.
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