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Vindication of the conduct of Capt. Chriftopher Middleton, late Commander of the Furnace man of war, and F.R.S. 45. [See Mag. 1742, p. 509.]

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1743.

433

22. upon the usual motion for committing, af er reading a fecond time, the bill for repealing certain duties on fpirituous liquors, and on licences for retaling the fame, and for laying other duties on faid iquors and licences, [p.182.]; beginning with what was faid by the member who firft oppofed the motion.

The fpeech of C. Helvius.

My Lords,

T

HE very first appearance of this bill in this houfe, gave me a moft extraordinary, a moft fhocking and melancholy furife. Confidering how much, and how ely, the practice of gin-drinking was ademned, confidering how much it must condemned by every man who has in › breast the least spark of compaffion for fellow-creatures, I was furprised to d, that fuch a method of raising money d entered into the head of any of my antrymen I was surprised to find, that h a method had been approved of by other house: I was aftonished to hear its having paffed through that houfe thout any great oppofition; and my onishment was accompanied with this lancholy reflection, that I looked on is the laft effort of the expiring credit my country. We have already establishwe have mortgaged almost every fund it can with decency be thought of; and w, in order to raise a new fund, we to establish the worft fort of drunkens by a law, and to mortgage it for deying an expence, which, in my opinion, both unneceffary and ridiculous. This is lly like a tradefman's mortgaging the ftitation of his wife or daughter, for fake of raifing money to fupply his ury or extravagance. Drunkenness, my Lords, is of all vices VOL. V.

the most abominable; and of all forts of

gin is the most destructive. It is not only the most deftructive with respect to the health and vigour of the patient, but also with refpect to the health and vigour of our moft neceffary and ufeful fort of peothe ftate; because it prevails most among our most neceffary and useful fort of people. Our poor labourers are the support of our trade, our manufactures, our riches, nay and our luxury too. This vice, if it be indulged, will deftroy thofe we have, and prevent the procreation of any to fucceed them. It will destroy our foldiers : it will deftroy our feamen. It renders men too feeble for labour, too indolent for application, too ftupid for ingenuity, and too daring for the peace of fociety. I will therefore confider this bill in three lights; as it concerns the health of the people, as it concerns their morals, and as it concerns the publick quiet.

With regard to the health of the people, if your Lordships had agreed to the motion I made the other day, [motion for several of our most eminent phyficians to attend], you would now have had, viva voce, the opinion of those who are the best judges, as to the fatal effects of the immoderate ufe of gin, upon the conftitution and health of thofe that fall into that fort of debauchery. But fince your Lordships would not agree to have it viva voce, I have been at the pains to get it in writing, and fhall beg leave to read it to you. It is a reprefentation of the college of phyficians in the year 1736, when this affair was last under the confideration of parliament; and I have good reafon to believe, that none of the fubfcribers have fince altered their opinion. [Here he read the reprefentation, as also the names of those that fubfcribed it, and then went on as follows]. Your Lordfhips all know the capacity and experience of those who figned this repre3 L fentation,

they fometimes pawned the only rag they had to cover their nakedness. The rea fon of fuch a conduct may be eafily guef fed at: When they got drunk with this liquor, which they could do in a very fhort time, and at an eafier rate than would purchase a dinner of the coarseft food for their families, it for a time appeafed the cravings of appetite, deafened their ean to the cries of their ftarving children, and delivered them from the fenfe of fhame, and the pangs of remorse." Their wickednefs led them into crimes, and they got drunk again to forget the crimes they had been guilty of, which generally produced a new scene of villany or wickedness.

fentation, and you see how pofitively they declare, both from reafon and experience, that this poifonous liquor destroys the health and vigour, not only of thofe who fall into an immoderate ufe of it, but alfo of their unhappy children; fo that the latter either die in their infancy of the poison they fuck in with the milk of their mother, or, if they live, they become a burden upon, instead of being of ufe to the fociety to which they belong. Will your Lordships, when you confider this, grant a licence to every little ale-houfe in the kingdom to difpenfe this poifon, in what quantities they pleafe, to their inconfiderate and unfortunate cuftomers? Can any distress, or any neceffity we may be under at prefent, authorife our expofing the people to fuch a baneful, and, at the fame time, such a bewitching temptation? Then, my Lords, with regard to the morals of the people, it is well known that drunkenness of every kind inflames all the paffions of mankind, and at the fame time deprives them of that which is defigned by nature as a check upon our paffions, I mean our reafon; fo that every man, whilst the drunken fit is upon him, may in fome degree be faid to be mad. And of all forts of drunken madnefs, that which proceeds from an exceffive drinking of fpirituous liquors is the most extravagant, the moft malicious, and the most cruel. The moft horrid imprecations, the moft open and deteftable proftitutions and pollutions, the most daring and cruel robberies and murders, are generally the effect of getting drunk with fuch liquors. This we were fully convinced of by experience in the year 1736, when the law was paffed, which is now to be repealed; and from hence many of our molt eminent divines, and fome who are now mcft defervedly honoured with feats in this houfe, took occafion to make this vice the fubject of feveral fermons; one of which I remember has this juft and pathetick expreffion, That even neceffity itself was now become luxurious. It was fo, my Lords: The hungry, the naked, by the eafy and cheap access they had to the liquor called gin, were become luxurious in this fort of liquor, and, rather than go without it, they often went without a dinner; nay

This, my Lords, was the effect, this will be the effect of a toleration of publick gin-fhops under any denomination whatever, with regard to the morals of the people: And with respect to the publick quiet, it may produce still more fatal ef fects; for, when those that are made defpe rate by their poverty, are rendered void of all fear by their being drunk with gin, no man can fay what they will not undertake. I fhall grant, that fuch men cannot enter into any regular concert for dif turbing or overturning the government; but, if any accidental publick misfortune fhould render the people generally incli ned to mutiny, an infurrection begun by a parcel of drunken fellows at a gin-fhop might foon grow to fuch a height as migh occafion the overthrow of our government, or at least a great deal of bloodshed. The first mutineers would probably be joined by all thofe in se fame condition, from the feveral githops in town; and thi alone would produce fuch a multitude, a might give hopes of fuccefs to the mon fober and thoughtful, especially among thofe who have nothing to lose but thei lives: and if fuch a mob as this fhould get the reins of government into thei hands, I must defire your Lordships, and all the men of property in the kingdom to confider what fecurity you could hav for your money, your goods, your eftate or your lives. A mob of this kind migh perhaps proceed upon the fame levelling maxims with that under Wat Tyler, the reign of Richard II. They might folve to deftroy all the Nobility and Ge

ry in the kingdom; and their being drunk ith gin would make them pursue their axims with more rapidity and cruelty, poffible.

But now, my Lords, to confirm all I ave faid against tolerating in any shape le free ufe of this pernicious liquor, I all beg leave to read to you the preamle to the act of the 2d year of his prent Majefty's reign, for laying a duty up1 compound waters, and for licenfing the talers of fuch waters. The preamble in these words: "Whereas the drinkg of fpirits and strong waters is become ry common amongst the people of infeor rank, and the conftant and exceffive fe thereof tends greatly to the deftruction f their healths, enervating them, and ndering them unfit for ufeful labour and rvice, intoxicating them, and debauchg their morals, and driving them into all anner of vices and wickedness, the preention whereof would be of the greateft iblick good and benefit; and whereas it found by experience, that the great temation to fuch licentious ufe of these pernious liquors is from the cheapnefs there, occafioned by new inventions for mix g and compounding of brandy, low ines, and fpirits of the firft extraction, 1 which duties have been heretofore anted, with other fpirits or materials ich pay little or no duty, and by an limited liberty for all forts of perfons, retale, fell, and difpofe of fuch mixed d compound fpirits at their will and afure: for remedy therefore of cuftoms d practices fo dangerous and mifchie as to the health, manners, and peace of your Majefty's fubjects, may it please ur Moft Excellent Majefty that it may enacted, and be it enacted, &c." Thefe, my Lords, are the words of that amble: these words fhew what your rdships opinion was at that time; and hould be glad to know what reafons a have for altering your opinion. When Fook round me, I fee many Lords here o were members of this or the other afe at that time, and who declared this be their opinion by giving their affent his preamble: I am glad to fee fo maof fuch Lords here now, not only on ount of the pleasure it gives me to fee

their lives prolonged, but because I muft from thence fuppofe, that this bill will be rejected, unless fome of them have changed their opinion as to the ufe of those liquors; and, if they have, I hope they will give us their reafons for fuch change; for I am fure, I can fuggeft none to myfelf. On the contrary, the great comfumption of thefe liquors, notwithstanding the high duties, or rather prohibition, they have lain under for five or fix years paft, convinces me, that the inclinations of the lower fort of people are as ftrong as ever, to intoxicate themselves with thefe liquors: and indeed common reafon may convince us of the fame; for we know the power of cuftom in many things, as ridiculous, tho' not fo pernicious, as this of drinking gin. It is very hard to forfake what we have been long accustomed to, if by any means we can comply with it; and the cuftom of drinking drams of any kind is, we know, as hard to get free from as any cuftom whatever: therefore I forefee, that if you again open gin-fhops under the denomination of coffee-houfes or ale-houfes, we fhall presently have a new deluge of all thofe calamities, which were fo feverely felt, and fo much complained of in the year 1736.

I fhall grant, my Lords, the law then made has not proved effectual; and indeed no reasonable man expected it should; becaufe by making the prohibition fo whimfically general, you gave a thorough turn to the fpirit of the people, and turned their contempt of gin-felling and gin-drinking into a fort of compaffion, which made the informers liable to be fo ill treated by the mob: whereas, if you had laid fuch a duty upon the ftill-head, as would have raised the price of all home-made fpirits as high as that of brandy or rum, and made proper regulations for preventing the continuing of licences to fuch as made an ill ufe of them, it would have put it out of the power of indigent perfons to get drunk with fuch liquors; and the fury of the mob would have been directed against any man that offered to fell them in a clandeftine way, I believe, with more violence, and, I am fure, with more reafon, than it is now directed against little clandeftine brothel houfes. Every tradef3 L 2

man,