at if they were generally sold by those who could
procure the best of each sort, these petty traders would be
immediately undone; for it is reasonable to imagine, my lords, that
they buy the cheapest liquors, and sell them at the dearest rate.

When, therefore, reputable houses shall be opened for the sale of
these liquors, decency will restrain some, and prudence will hinder
others from endangering their health by purchasing those liquors which
are offered in the street, and from hazarding their morals, or perhaps
their lives, by drinking to excess in obscure places.

It is likewise to be remembered, my lords, that many of those who now
poison their countrymen with petty shops of debauchery, are not able
to purchase a license, even at the cheap rate at which it is now
proposed, and that therefore they will be restrained from their trade
by a legal inability; for it is not, my lords, to be imagined, that
they will be defended with equal zeal by the populace, when the
liquors may be had without their assistance, nor will information be
equally infamous, when it is not the act only of profligates, who
pursue the practice of it as a trade, but of the proper officers of
every place, incited by the lawful venders of the same commodities, or
of the venders themselves, who will now be numerous enough to protect
each other, and whom their common interest will incite against
clandestine dealers.

The price of licenses, therefore, appears to me very happily adjusted:
had it been greater there would not have been a sufficient number of
lawful retailers to put a stop to clandestine sellers; and if it was
lower, every petty dealer in this commodity might, by pretending to
keep an alehouse, continue the practice of affording an harbour to
thieves, and of propagating debauchery.

Thus, my lords, it appears to me that the bill will lessen the
consumption of these destructive spirits, certainly in a great degree,
by raising the price, and probably by transferring the trade of
selling them into more reputable hands. What more can be done by human
care or industry I do not conceive. To prohibit the use of them is
impossible, to raise the price of them to the same height with that of
foreign spirits, is, indeed, practicable, but surely at this time no
eligible method; for so general is this kind of debauchery, that no
degree of expense would entirely suppress it; and as foreign spirits,
if they were to be sold at the same price, would