the present bill more strong than that which his computations have
already furnished.

For if it appears, my lords, and it cannot be doubted after such
authentick testimonies, that seven millions of gallons of spirits are
every year consumed in this kingdom, and that of these far the
greatest quantity is wasted in the most flagitious and destructive
debauchery; it is surely at length necessary to consider by what means
this consumption, which cannot be stopped, may be lessened, and this
vice obstructed, which cannot be reformed.

By opening a sufficient number of licensed shops, the number of
unlicensed retailers will be necessarily lessened, and by raising the
price of the liquor, the quantity which the poor drink must, with
equal certainty, be diminished; and as it cannot be imagined that the
number of those who will pay annually for licenses, can be equal to
that of the petty traders, who now dispose of spirits in cellars and
in the streets; it is reasonable to believe that since there will be
fewer sellers, less will be sold.

Some lords have, indeed, declared their suspicion, that the number of
licensed shops will be such as will endanger the health of the people,
and the peace of the commonwealth; and one has so far indulged his
imagination, as to declare that he expects fifteen hundred shops to be
set open for the sale of spirits, in a short time after the
publication of this law.

If it be answered, that no spirits can be sold but by those who keep a
house of publick entertainment by a license from the justices of the
peace, the opponents of the bill have a reply ready, that the justices
will take all opportunities to promote the increase of the revenue,
and will always grant a license when it is demanded, without regard to
the mischiefs that may arise from the increase of the retreats of
idleness and receptacles of vice; and that, therefore, to allow
justices to grant licenses for the retail of any commodity upon which
a tax is laid, is to permit the sale of it without limits.

But, my lords, this argument will vanish, when it is considered that
those justices to whom the law commits the superintendency of
publick-houses, are superintended themselves by men who derive their
authority from a higher power, and whose censures are more formidable
than judicial penalties. The conduct of the justices, my lords, as of
every other person, lies open to the observation of the reverend
clergy, by whose counsels it i