fairs, could not easily have proposed many other imposts;
but it may be imagined, that they chose this out of many, without
suspecting that it would be opposed; and believed, that they were at
once raising supplies, and protecting the virtue of the people.

Nor, indeed, my lords, does it yet appear that they have been
mistaken; for though the arguments of the noble lords who oppose the
bill are acute and plausible, yet since they agree that the
consumption of these liquors is, at last, to be hindered by raising
their price, it is reasonable to conceive, that every augmentation of
the price must produce a proportionate diminution of the consumption;
and that, therefore, this duty will contribute, in some degree, to the
reformation of the people. It seems, at least, in the highest degree
probable, that it cannot increase the evil which it is intended to
remedy; and that, therefore, we may reasonably concur in it, as it
will furnish the government with supplies, without any inconvenience
to those that pay them.

The bishop of OXFORD next spoke to this effect:--My lords, this
subject has already been so acutely considered, and so copiously
discussed, that I rise up in despair of proposing any thing new, of
explaining any argument more clearly, or urging it more forcibly, of
starting any other subject of consideration, or pointing out any
circumstance yet untouched in those that have been proposed.

Yet, my lords, though I cannot hope to add any thing to the knowledge
which your lordships have already obtained of the subject in debate, I
think it my duty to add one voice to the truth, and to declare, that
in the balance of my understanding, the arguments against the bill
very much outweigh those that have been offered in its favour.

It is always presumed by those who vindicate it, that every
augmentation of the price will necessarily produce a proportionate
decrease of the consumption. This, my lords, is the chief, if not the
only argument that has been advanced, except that which is drawn from
the necessity of raising supplies, and the danger of disgusting the
other house. But this argument, my lords, is evidently fallacious; and
therefore the bill, if it passes, must pass without a single reason,
except immediate convenience.

Let us examine, my lords, this potent argument, which has been
successively urged by all who have endeavoured to vindicate the bill,
and echoed from one to another with all the confidence of
i