f the number of our people were equal
to that of the two nations against which we are engaged, the
narrowness of our dominions would give us a resistless superiority; as
we have fewer posts to defend, we might send more forces to attack our
enemies, who must be weak in every part, because they must be
dispersed to a very great extent. The torrent of war, as a flood of
water, is only violent while it is confined, but loses its force as it
is more diffused.

In consequence of this maxim, my lords, it is proposed, that because
we are at war against two mighty powers, we shall endeavour to destroy
by spirits at home, those who cannot fall by the sword of the enemy,
and that we endeavour to hinder the production of another generation;
for it is well known, my lords, and has in this debate been
universally allowed, that the present practice of drinking spirits
will not only destroy the present race, but debilitate the next.

This surely, my lords, is a time at which we ought very studiously to
watch over the preservation of those lives which we are not compelled
to expose, and endeavour to retrieve the losses of war by encouraging
industry, temperance, and sobriety.

Another principle of government which the wisdom of our progenitors
established, was to suppress vice with the utmost diligence; for as
vice must always produce misery to those whom it infects, and danger
to those who are considered as its enemies, it is contrary to the end
of government; and the government which encourages vice is necessarily
labouring for its own destruction; for the good will not support it,
because they are not benefited by it, and the wicked will betray it,
because they are wicked.

How little then, my lords, do our sagacious politicians understand
their own interest by promoting drunkenness and luxury, of which the
natural train of consequences are idleness, necessity, wickedness,
desperation, sedition, and anarchy! How little do they understand what
it is that gives stability to the fabrick of our constitution, if they
imagine it can long stand, when it is not supported by virtue.

In consequence of these maxims, another may be advanced, that all
trades which tend to impair either the health or virtue of the people,
should be interdicted; for since the strength of the community
consists in the number and happiness of the people, no trade deserves
to be cultivated which does not contribute to the one or the other;
for the end of trade