ituents, a method is now
proposed, by which the errours of this bill may be corrected, without
any concession of either house. The commons may easily be informed of
the dangers which are justly dreaded from this bill; and may,
therefore, prepare another, by which a tax of the same kind may be
laid, without a general license of drunkenness; or if a method of
laying a duty upon these liquors, which may at once hinder their
excessive use, and increase the revenue of the government, cannot be
discovered, they may raise the supplies for the year by some other
scheme.

Lord CARTERET:--My lords, as the expedient proposed by these noble
lords, however it may be recommended, as being at once moderate and
efficacious, has, in reality, no other tendency than to procure an
absolute rejection of this bill, it is proper to consider the
consequences which may be reasonably expected from the measures which
they have hitherto proposed.

In order to the effectual restraint of the common people from the use
of these pernicious liquors, they assert the necessity of imposing a
very large duty to be paid by the distiller, which might, indeed,
produce, in some degree, the effect which they expect from it, but
would produce it by giving rise to innumerable frauds and
inconveniencies.

The immediate consequence of a heavy duty would be the ruin of our
distillery, which is now a very extensive and profitable trade, in
which great multitudes are employed, who must instantly, upon the
cessation of it, sink into poverty. Our stills, my lords, not only
supply our natives with liquors, which they used formerly to purchase
from foreign countries, and therefore increase, or at least preserve
the wealth of our country; but they likewise furnish large quantities
for exportation to Guernsey, Jersey, and other places. But no sooner
will the duty proposed to be laid upon this liquor take place, than
all this trade will be at an end, and those who now follow it will be
reduced to support themselves by other employments; and those
countries in which our spirits are now drank will be soon supplied
from other nations with liquors at once cheaper and more pleasant.

It may be proposed, as an expedient for the preservation of our
foreign trade, that the duty shall be repaid upon exportation; but the
event of this provision, my lords, will be, that great quantities will
be sent to sea for the sake of obtaining a repayment of the duty,
which, instead of being