testified their discontent in the most open manner.  Multitudes were immediately tempted by the prospect of uncommon gain, to retail the prohibited liquors; of these many were detected, and many punished; and the trade of information was so lucrative, and so closely followed, that there was no doubt but the law would produce the effect expected from it, and that the most obstinate retailers would, by repeated prosecutions, be discouraged from the practice.

But no sooner did the people find their favourite gratification in real danger, than they unanimously engaged in its defence; they discovered that without informers, the new law was without operation; and the informers were, therefore, persecuted by them without mercy, and without remission, till at last no man would venture to provoke the resentment of the populace for the reward to which information entitled him.

Thus, my lords, one law has been eluded by artifice, and another defeated by violence; the practice of drinking spirits, however pernicious, still continued to prevail; the magistrates could not punish a crime of which they were not informed, and they could obtain no information of a practice vindicated by the populace.

It is not, indeed, to be allowed that the custom of drinking distilled liquors, however prevalent, has yet arisen to the height at which the noble lord, who spoke last, seems to imagine it arrived; for though it is undoubtedly true that seven millions of gallons are annually distilled, it is not to be imagined that the whole quantity is wasted in debauchery! some is, exhausted by the necessities, and some by the conveniencies of life; a great part is exported to other countries, and the distillery promotes many other purposes than those of riot and licentiousness.

That too much, however, is used by the common people, and that intemperance has for some time prevailed in a degree unknown to any former age, cannot be denied; and, therefore, some means of reclaiming them ought to be tried.  What then, my lords, is to be done?  The first law was eluded, the second is defied:  the first was executed, but produced no restraint; the second produces a restraint so violent, that it cannot be executed.

That the present law is ineffectual, cannot be doubted by those who assert, that the quantity of spirits distilled has every year increased; and there seems to remain, therefore, no other choice than that of suffering this increase to proceed, or to endeavour to prevent it by new regulations.  The present law ought to be repealed, because it is useless; but surely some other ought to supply its place, which may be more easily enforced, and less violently opposed.

The bill now before us, my lords, will, in my opinion, answer all the purposes of the last, without noise, and without disturbance.  By lessening the price of licenses, it will put a stop to clandestine retail; and by raising that of the liquors, it will hinder the common people from drinking them in their usual excess.  Those who have hitherto lost their reason and limbs twice a-day by their drunkenness, will not be able, under the intended regulations, to commit the same crime twice in a week; and as the temptation of cheapness will be taken away, it may be hoped that the next generation will not fall into the same vice.