difficulties will be avoided by trying, for a
single year, the experiment which is now proposed; and which, if that
should fail, may be better adjusted in the time of leisure, which the
beginning of the next session will undoubtedly afford; before which
time I am afraid no amendment can possibly be made.

It has been proposed, indeed, by the noble lord, that three shillings
should be laid upon every gallon of distilled liquors, which would
undoubtedly lessen the consumption, but would at the same time destroy
the trade; a trade from which large profits may be in time gained;
since our distillers have now acquired such skill, that the most
delicate palate cannot distinguish their liquors from those which
foreigners import.

If the duty be raised to the height proposed, it must be allowed to be
repaid for all that shall be exported; otherwise foreign nations will
deprive us of this part of our trade; and it has been already shown,
that by mock exportations the duty may be frequently evaded.

Thus, my lords, there will be difficulties on either hand; if a duty
so high be paid, the manufacturer will be ruined; if it be evaded, the
consumption will be lessened.

One inconvenience will easily be discovered to be the necessary
consequence of any considerable advance of the price. We may be
certain that an act of the senate will not moderate the passions, or
alter the appetites of the people; and that they will not be less
desirous of their usual gratifications, because they are denied them.
The poor may, indeed, yield to necessity, unless they find themselves
able to resist the law, or to evade it; but those who can afford to
please their taste, or exalt their spirits at a greater expense, will
still riot as before, but with this difference, that their excesses
will produce no advantage to the publick.

If an additional duty of three shillings be laid upon every gallon of
distilled liquors, the product of our own distillery will be dearer
than those liquors which are imported from foreign parts; and,
therefore, it cannot but be expected that the money which now
circulates amongst us, will in a short time be clandestinely carried
into other countries.

Such, my lords, will be the effect of those taxes which are so
strongly recommended; and, therefore, they ought not to be imposed
till all other methods of proceeding have been found ineffectual.

It is possible, indeed, that the regulation specified in this bill may
no