Complete Works of Samuel Johnson

by Samuel Johnson

  These pestilential shops, these storehouses of mischief, will, upon the encouragement which this law will give them, be set open again; new invitations will be hung out to catch the eyes of passengers, who will again be enticed with promises of being made drunk for a penny, and that universal debauchery and astonishing licentiousness which gave occasion to the former act will return upon us.

  It is to little purpose, my lords, that the licenses for selling distilled spirits are to be granted only to those who profess to keep houses for the sale of other liquors, since nothing will be more easy than to elude this part of the law. Whoever is inclined to open a shop for the retail of spirits, may take a license for selling ale; and the sale of one barrel of more innocent liquors in a year will entitle to dispense poison with impunity, and to contribute without control to the corruption of mankind.

  It is confessed, that since this law was made, these liquors, have been sold only at corners of the streets in petty shops, and in private cellars; and, therefore, it must be allowed, that if the consumption has increased, it, has, at least, increased less than if the free and open sale had been permitted; for the necessity of secrecy is always a restraint, and every restraint must in some degree obstruct any practice, since those that follow it under restraint would pursue it more vigorously, if that restraint were taken away; and those that are now totally hindered, would, at least, be more strongly tempted by greater liberty; and where the temptation is more powerful, more will probably be overcome by it.

  But, my lords, however the law may in this crowded city have been eluded and defied, however drunkenness may here have been protected by the insolence which it produces, and crimes have been sheltered by the multitudes of offenders, I am informed, that in parts less populous, the efficacy of the late act never was denied; and that it has in many parts rescued the people from the miseries of debauchery, and only failed in others by the negligence of those to whom the execution of it was committed.

  Negligently and faintly as it was executed, it did in effect hinder many from pursuing this destructive kind of trade; and even in the metropolis itself, almost a total stop was for a time put to the use of spirits; and had the magistrates performed their duty with steadiness and resolution, it is probable, that no plea would have arisen in favour of this bill from the inefficacy of the last.

  I cannot, indeed, deny, that the multitude of false informers furnished the magistrates with a very specious pretence for relaxing their vigilance; but it was only, my lords, a specious pretence, not a warrantable reason; for the same diligence should have been used to punish false informers as clandestine retailers; the traders in poison and in perjury should have been both pursued with incessant vigour, the sword of justice should have been drawn against them, nor should it have been laid aside, till either species of wickedness had been exterminated.

  In the execution of this, as of other penal laws, my lords, it will be always possible for the judge to be misled by false testimonies; and, therefore, the argument which false informations furnish may be used against every other law, where information is encouraged. Yet, my lords, it has been long the practice of this nation to incite criminals to detect each other; and when any enormous crime is committed, to proclaim at once pardon and rewards to him that shall discover his accomplices. This, my lords, is an apparent temptation to perjury; and yet no inconvenieucies have arisen from it, that can reasonably induce us to lay it aside.

  Perjury may in the execution of this law be detected by the same means as on other occasions; and whenever it is detected, ought to be rigorously punished; and I doubt not but in a short time the difficulties and inconveniencies which are asserted in the preamble of this bill to have attended the putting the late act in execution, would speedily have vanished; the number of delinquents would have been every day lessened, and the virtue and industry of the nation would have been restored.

  It is not, indeed, asserted, that the execution of the late act was impossible, but that it was attended with difficulties; and when, my lords, was any design of great importance effected without difficulties? It is difficult, without doubt, to restrain a nation from vice; and to reform a nation already corrupted, is still more difficult. But as both, however difficult, are necessary, it is the duty of government to endeavour them, till it shall appear that no endeavours can succeed.

  For my part, my lords, I am not easily persuaded to believe that remissness will succeed, where assiduity has failed; and, therefore, if it be true, as is supposed in the preamble, that the former act was ineffectual by any defects in itself, I cannot conceive that this will operate with greater force. I cannot imagine that appetites will be weakened by lessening the danger of gratifying them, or that men who will break down the fences of the law to possess themselves of what long habits have, in their opinion, made necessary to them, will neglect it, merely because it is laid in their way.

  With regard to this act, my lords, it is to be inquired, whether it is likely to be executed with more diligence than the former, and whether the same obstacles may not equally obstruct the execution of both.

  The great difficulty of the former method, a method certainly in itself reasonable and efficacious, arose from the necessity of receiving informations from the meanest and most profligate of the people, who were often tempted to lay hold of the opportunities which that law put into their hands, of relieving their wants, or gratifying their resentment; and very frequently intimidated the innocent by threats of accusations, which were not easily to be confuted. They were, therefore, equally dangerous to those that obeyed the act, and to those that disregarded it; for they sometimes put their threats in execution, and raised prosecutions against those who had committed no other crime than that of refusing to bribe them to silence.

  An abuse so notorious, my lords, produced a general detestation of all informers, or, at least, concurred with other causes to produce it; and that detestation became so prevalent in the minds of the populace, that at last it became to the highest degree dangerous to attempt the conviction of those, who, in the most open and contemptuous manner, every day violated the laws of their country; and in time the retailers trusting to the protection of the people, laid aside all cautions, at least in this great city, and prosecuted their former practice with the utmost security.

  This, my lords, was the chief difficulty and inconvenience hitherto discovered in the law which is now to be repealed. Thus was its execution obstructed, and the provisions enacted by it made ineffectual. This defect, therefore, ought to be chiefly regarded in any new regulations. But what securities, my lords, are provided against the same evil in the bill before us? Or why should we imagine that this law will be executed with less opposition than the last? The informers will undoubtedly be of the same class as before; they are still to be incited by a reward; and, therefore, it may be reasonably feared, that they will act upon the same motives, and be persecuted with the same fury.

  To obviate this inconvenience appears to me very easy, by converting the duty upon licenses to a large duty upon the liquors to be paid by the distiller; the payment of which will be carefully exacted by proper officers, who, though their employment is not very reputable, pursue it at least without any personal danger; and who inform their superiours of any attempts to defraud the revenue, without being censured as officious or revengeful, and, therefore, are without any terrours to hinder them from their duty.

  It has been asserted, indeed, that the price of a license is now so small, that none who are inclined to deal in spirits will neglect to secure themselves from punishment and vexation by procuring it; and that no man will subject himself to the malice of a profligate, by carrying on an illicit trade, which the annual expense of twenty shillings will make legal.

  If this argument be just, my lords, and to the greatest part of this assembly I believe it will appear very plausible, how will this law lessen the consumption of distilled liquors? It is confessed that it will hinder nobody from selling them; and it has been found, by
experience, that nothing can restrain the people from buying them, but such laws as hinder them from being sold.

  This plea, therefore, by removing an objection to a particular clause, will strengthen the great argument against the tenour of the bill, that instead of lessening, it will increase the consumption of those liquors which are allowed to be destructive to the people, to enfeeble the body, and to vitiate the mind, and, consequently, to impair the strength and commerce of the nation, and to destroy the happiness and security of life.

  That the cheapness of licenses will induce multitudes to buy them, may be expected; but it cannot be hoped that every one will cease to sell spirits without a license; for they, are, as I am informed, offered every hour in the streets by those to whom twenty shillings make a very large sum, and who, therefore, will not, or cannot purchase a license. These ought, undoubtedly, to be detected and punished; but there is no provision made for discovering them, but what has been found already to be ineffectual.

  It appears, therefore, my lords, that this bill will increase the number of lawful retailers, without diminishing that of private dealers; so that the opportunities of debauchery will be multiplied, in proportion to the numbers who shall take licenses.

  There is another fallacy by which the duties upon distilled liquors have been hitherto avoided, and which will still make this bill equally useless as the former, for the ends which are to be promoted by it.

  It is expected, my lords, by those who purchase spirits from the distillers, that they should be of a certain degree of strength, which they call proof: if they are of a lower degree, their price is diminished; and if of a higher, it is raised proportionally; because if the spirits exceed the degree of strength required, they may be mixed with other liquors of little value, and still be sold to the drinker at the common price.

  It is, therefore, the practice of the distillers to give their spirits thrice the degree of strength required, by which contrivance, though they pay only the duty of one pint, they sell their liquors at the price of three; because it may be increased to thrice the quantity distilled, and yet retain sufficient strength to promote the purposes of wickedness.

  This practice, my lords, should be likewise obviated; for while one gallon, after having paid the present low duty which is laid upon it, may be multiplied to three, the additional price will, in the small quantities which are usually demanded, become imperceptible.

  But to show yet farther the inefficacy of this bill, let us suppose, what will not be found by experience, that a halfpenny is added to the price of every pint, it will yet be very practicable to revel in drunkenness for a penny, since a very small quantity of these hateful liquors is sufficient to intoxicate those who have not been habituated to the use of them; who though their reformation is, undoubtedly, to be desired, do not so much demand the care of the legislature, as those who are yet untainted with this pernicious practice, and who may, perhaps, by the frequency of temptation, and the prevalence of example, be induced in time to taste these execrable liquors, and perish in their first essays of debauchery. For such is the quality of these spirits, that they are sometimes fatal to those who indiscreetly venture upon them without caution, and whose stomachs have not been prepared for large draughts, by proper gradations of intemperance; a single spoonful has been found sufficient to hurry two children to the grave.

  It is, therefore, my opinion, that those whose stations and employments make it their duty to superintend the conduct of their fellow-subjects, ought to contrive some other law on this occasion; ought to endeavour to rescue the common people from the infatuation which is become general amongst them, and to withhold from them the means of wickedness. That instead of complying with their prejudices, and flattering their appetites, they should exert that authority with which they are intrusted in a steady and resolute opposition to predominant vices; and without having recourse to gentle arts, and temporizing expedients, snatch out of their hands at once those instruments which are only of use for criminal purposes, and take from their mouths that draught with which, however delicious it may seem, they poison at once themselves and their posterity.

  The only argument which can be offered in defence of this bill, is the necessity of supporting the expenses of the war, and the difficulty of raising money by any other method. The necessity of the war, my lords, I am not about to call in question, nor is it very consistent with my character to examine the method in which it has been carried on; but this I can boldly assert, that however just, however necessary, however prudently prosecuted, and however successfully concluded, it can produce no advantages equivalent to the national sobriety and industry, and am certain that no publick advantage ought to be purchased at the expense of publick virtue.

  But, my lords, I hope we are not yet reduced to the unhappy choice either of corrupting our people, or submitting to our enemies; nor do I doubt but that supplies may be obtained by methods less pernicious to the publick, and that funds sufficient for the present occasion may be established without a legal establishment of drunkenness.

  I hope, my lords, we shall not suffer our endeavours to be baffled by the obstinacy of drunkards; and that we shall not desist from endeavouring the recovery of the nation from this hateful vice, because our first attempt has failed, since it failed only by the negligence or the cowardice of those whose duty required them to promote the execution of a just law.

  Against the bill now before us I have thought it my duty to declare, as it appears to me opposite to every principle of virtue, and every just purpose of government; and therefore, though I have engrossed so much of your time in speaking on a subject with which it cannot reasonably be expected that I should be well acquainted, I hope I shall easily be pardoned by your lordships, since I have no private views either of interest or resentment to promote, and have spoken only what my conscience dictates, and my duty requires.

  Lord TALBOT then rose up, and spoke to the following purport: — My lords, I am ashamed that there should be any necessity of opposing in this assembly a bill like that which is now before us; a bill crowded with absurdities, which no strength of eloquence can exaggerate, nor any force of reason make more evident.

  This bill, my lords, is, however, the first proof that our new ministers have given of their capacity for the task which they have undertaken; this is a specimen of their sagacity, and is designed by them as an instance of the gentle methods by which the expenses of the government are hereafter to be levied upon the people. The nation shall no longer see its manufactures subjected to imposts, nor the fruits of industry taken from the laborious artificer; but drunkenness shall hereafter supply what has hitherto been paid by diligence and traffick; the restraints of vice shall be taken away, the barriers of virtue and religion broken, and an universal licentiousness shall overspread the land, that the schemes of the ministry may be executed.

  What are the projects, my lords, that are to be pursued by such means, it is not my present purpose to inquire: it is not necessary to add any aggravations to the present charge, or to examine what has been the former conduct, or what will be the future actions of men who lie open by their present proposal to the most atrocious accusations; who are publickly endeavouring the propagation of the most pernicious of all vices, who are laying poison in the way of their countrymen, poison by which not only the body, but the mind is contaminated; who are attempting to establish by a law a practice productive of all the miseries to which human nature is incident; a practice which will at once disperse diseases and sedition, and promote beggary and rebellion.

  This, my lords, is the expedient by which the acuteness of our ministry proposes to raise the supplies of the present year, and by this they hope to convince the nation that they are qualified for the high trusts to which they are advanced; and that they owe their exaltation only to the superiority of their abilities, the extent of their knowledge, and the maturity of their experience: by this masterstroke of policy they hope to lay for their authority a firm and durable foundation
, and to possess themselves, by this happy contrivance, at once of the confidence of the crown, and the affections of the people.

  But, my lords, I am so little convinced of their abilities, that amidst all the exultation which this new scheme produces, I will venture to predict the decline of their influence, and to fix the period of their greatness; for I am persuaded, that notwithstanding the readiness with which they have hitherto sacrificed the interest of their country, notwithstanding the desperate precipitation with which they have blindly engaged in the most dangerous measures, they will not be able to continue a year in their present stations.

  The bill now under our consideration, my lords, will undoubtedly make all those their enemies whom it does not corrupt; for what can be expected from it, but universal disorder and boundless wickedness? wickedness made insolent by the protection of the law, and disorder promoted by all those whose wealth is increased by the increase of the revenues of the government.

  Had it been urged, my lords, in defence of this bill, that it was necessary to raise money, and that money could only be raised by increasing the consumption of distilled spirits, it would have been apparent that it was well calculated to promote the purposes intended; but, surely, to assert that it will obstruct the use of these liquors, is to discover a degree either of ignorance, of effrontery, or of folly, by which few statesmen have been, hitherto, distinguished.

  If we receive, without examination, the estimates which have been laid down, and allow the duty to rise as high as those by whom it is projected have ventured to assert, the price of these liquors can be raised but a halfpenny a pint; and there are few, even among the lowest of those who indulge themselves in this fatal luxury, whom the want of a single halfpenny can often debar from it.

  And though these accurate calculators should insist that men may sometimes be compelled to sobriety by this addition to the expense of being drunk, yet how far will this restraint be found from being equivalent to the new temptation, which will be thrown into the way of thousands, yet uncorrupted by the multitude of new shops that will be opened for the distribution of poison, ‘and the security which debauchery will obtain from the countenance of the legislature.