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.

It is confessed, that since this law was made, these liquors, have been sold only at corners of the streets in petty shops, and in private cellars; and, therefore, it must be allowed, that if the consumption has increased, it, has, at least, increased less than if the free and open sale had been permitted; for the necessity of secrecy is always a restraint, and every restraint must in some degree obstruct any practice, since those that follow it under restraint would pursue it more vigorously, if that restraint were taken away; and those that are now totally hindered, would, at least, be more strongly tempted by greater liberty; and where the temptation is more powerful, more will probably be overcome by it.

But, my lords, however the law may in this crowded city have been eluded and defied, however drunkenness may here have been protected by the insolence which it produces, and crimes have been sheltered by the multitudes of offenders, I am informed, that in parts less populous, the efficacy of the late act never was denied; and that it has in many parts rescued the people from the miseries of debauchery, and only failed in others by the negligence of those to whom the execution of it was committed.

Negligently and faintly as it was executed, it did in effect hinder many from pursuing this destructive kind of trade; and even in the metropolis itself, almost a total stop was for a time put to the use of spirits; and had the magistrates performed their duty with steadiness and resolution, it is probable, that no plea would have arisen in favour of this bill from the inefficacy of the last.