ot submit. They, therefore, determined to
mark out all those who by their informations promoted its execution,
as publick enemies, as wretches who, for the sake of a reward, carried
on a trade of perjury and persecution, and who harassed their innocent
neighbours only for carrying on a lawful employment for supplying the
wants of the poor, relieving the weariness of the labourer,
administering solace to the dejected, and cordials to the sick.

The word was, therefore, given that no informer should be spared; and
when an offender was summoned by the civil officers, crowds watched at
the door of the magistrate to rescue the prisoner, and to discover and
seize the witness upon whose testimony he was convicted; and
unfortunate was the wretch who, with the imputation of this crime upon
him, fell into their hands; it is well remembered by every man who at
that time was conversant in this city, with what outcries of vengeance
an informer was pursued in the publick streets, and in the open day;
with what exclamations of triumph he was seized, and with what rage of
cruelty he was tormented.

One instance of their fury I very particularly remember: as a man was
passing along the streets, the alarm was given that he was an informer
against the retailers of spirituous liquors, the populace were
immediately gathered as in a time of common danger, and united in the
pursuit as of a beast of prey, which it was criminal not to destroy;
the man discovered, either by consciousness or intelligence, his
danger, and fled for his life with the utmost precipitation; but no
housekeeper durst afford him shelter, the cry increased upon him on
all hands, and the populace rolled on after him with a torrent not to
be resisted; and he was upon the point of being overtaken, and like
some others destroyed, when one of the greatest persons in the nation,
hearing the tumult, and inquiring the reason, opened his doors to the
distressed fugitive, and sheltered him from a cruel death.

Soon afterwards there was a stop put to all information; no man dared
afterwards, for the sake of a reward, expose himself to the fury of
the people, and the use of these destructive liquors was no longer
obstructed. How much the practice of this kind of debauchery
prevailed, after this short restraint, and how much the consumption of
these destructive liquors has increased, the noble lord who spoke last
has very accurately informed us, nor can any argument be offered for