n, before the great council of the nation,
that near eight millions of gallons of distilled spirits, at the
standard it is commonly reduced to for drinking, was actually consumed
annually in drams! the shocking difference in the numbers of the sick,
and, we may presume, of the dead also, was supposed to keep pace with
gin; and the most ingenious and unprejudiced physicians ascribed it to
this cause. What is to be done under these melancholy circumstances?
shall we still countenance the distillery, for the sake of the revenue;
out of tenderness to the few, who will suffer by its being abolished;
for fear of the madness of the people; or that foreigners will run it in
upon us? There can be no evil so great as that we now suffer, except the
making the same consumption, and paying for it to foreigners in money,
which I hope never will be the case.

"As to the revenue, it certainly may be replaced by taxes upon the
necessaries of life, even upon the bread we eat, or, in other words,
upon the land, which is the great source of supply to the public, and to
individuals. Nor can I persuade myself, but that the people may be
weaned from the habit of poisoning themselves. The difficulty of
smuggling a bulky liquid, joined to the severity which ought to be
exercised towards smugglers, whose illegal commerce is of so infernal a
nature, must, in time, produce the effect desired. Spirituous liquors
being abolished, instead of having the most undisciplined and abandoned
poor, we might soon boast a race of men, temperate, religious, and
industrious, even to a proverb. We should soon see the ponderous burden
of the poor's rate decrease, and the beauty and strength of the land
rejuvenate. Schools, workhouses, and hospitals, might then be sufficient
to clear our streets of distress and misery, which never will be the
case, whilst the love of poison prevails, and the means of ruin is sold
in above one thousand houses in the city of London, in two thousand two
hundred in Westminster, and one thousand nine hundred and thirty in
Holborn and St. Giles's.

"But if other uses still demand liquid fire, I would really propose,
that it should be sold only in quart bottles, sealed up, with the king's
seal, with a very high duty, and none sold without being mixed with a
strong emetic.

"Many become objects of charity by their intemperance, and this excludes
others, who are such by the unavoidable accidents of life, or who
cannot, by any means, supp