An Enquiry into the Causes of the late Increase of Robbers/Section 2

SECT. II

Of, a econd Conequence of Luxury among the Vulgar.

But the Expence of Money, and Los of Time, with their certain Conequences, are not the only Evils which attend the Luxury of the Vulgar. Drunkennes is almot ineparably annexed to the Pleaures of uch People. A Vice by no means to be contrued as a piritual Offence alone, ince o many temporal Michiefs arie from it; amongt which are very frequently Robbery and Murder itelf.

I do not know a more excellent Intitution than that of Pittacus, mentioned by Aritotle in his Politics ; by which a Blow given by a drunken Man, was more everely punihed than if it had been given by one that was ober; for Pittacus, ays Aritotle, conidered the Utility of the Public, (as drunken Men are more apt to trike) and not the Excue, which might otherwie be allowed to their Drunkennes. And o far both the Civil Law and our own have followed this Intitution, that neither have admitted Drunkennes to be an Excue for any Crime.

This odious Vice (indeed the Parent of all others) as Hitory informs us, was firt introduced into this Kingdom by the Danes, and with very michievous Effects. Wherefore that excellent Prince Edgar the Peaceable, when he et about reforming the Manners of his People, applied himelf very particularly to the Remedy of this great Evil, and ordered Silver or Gold Pins to be fixed to the Sides of their Pots and Cups, beyond which it was not lawful for any Peron to drink.

What Penalty was affixed to the Breach of this Intitution, I know not; nor do I find any Punihment in our Books for the Crime of Drunkennes, till the Time of Jac. I in the fourth Year of whoe Reign it was enacted, 'That every Peron lawfully convicted of Drunkennes, hall, for every uch Offence, forfeit the Sum of Five Shillings, to be paid within a Week next after his, her, or their Conviction, to the Hands of the Churchwardens of the Parih where, &c. to the Ue of the Poor. In Default of Payment, the Sum to be levied by Ditres, and, in Default of Ditres, the Offender is to be committed to the Stocks, there to remain for the Space of ix Hours.

For the econd Offence they are to be bound to their good Behaviour, with two Sureties, in a Recognizance of Ten Pounds.

Nor is only that Degree of Drunkennes forbidden, which Mr. Dalton decribes, 'o as to tagger and reel to and fro, and where the ame Legs which carry him into a Houe, cannot carry him out again ;' for, by the ame Act of Parliament, all Perons who continue drinking or tipling in any Inn, Victualling-houe, or Ale-houe, in their own City, Town or Parih )unles uch as being invited by a Traveller, hall accompany him during his necesary Abode there; or except Labouring and Handicraftmen in Cities, and Corporate and Market Towns, upon a working Day, for an Hour at Dinner-time, in Alehoues, where they take their Diet; and except Labourers and Workmen, who, during their Continuance in any Work, hall lodge or victual in any Inn, &c. or except for ome urgent and necesary Occaion, to be allowed by two Jutices of the Peace) hall forfeit the Sum of Three Shillings and Sixpence, for the Ue of the Poor; to be levied as before, and, for Want of Ditres, to be put in the Stocks for four Hours.

This Act hath been till farther enforced by another in the ame Reign. By the latter Act, the Tipler is liable, whether his Habitation be within the ame or any other Parih. 2dly, The Proof by one Witnes is made ufficient; and, 3dly, A very extraordinary Claue is added, by which the Oath of the Party offending, after having confesed his own Crime, is made Evidence againt any oher Offender, tho' at the ame Time.

Thus we ee the Legilature have taken the utmot Care not only to punih, but even to prevent this Vice of Drunkennes, which the Preamble of one of the foregoing Statutes calls a loathome and odious Sin, and the Root and Foundation of many other enormous Sins, as Murder, &c. Nor doth the Widom of our Law top here. Our cautious Ancetors have endeavoured to remove the Temptation, and, in a great meaure, to take away from the People their very Power of offending this way. And this by going to the Fountain-head, and endeavouring to regulate and retrain the Scenes of thee Diorders, and to confine them to thoe Ues for which they were at firt deigned; namely, for the Ret, Refrehment and Convenience of Travellers.

A curory View of the Statutes on this Head, will demontrate of what Conequence to Society the Suppresion of this Vice was in the Opinion of our Ancetors.

By the Common Law, Inns and Alehoues might be kept ad libitum; but if any Diorders were uffered in them, they were indictable as a common Nuiance.

The firt Reform which I find to have been made by Parliament, was in the Reign of Henry VII. when two Jutices were empowered to uppres an Ale-houe.

The Statute of Edward VI. is the firt which requires a precedent Licence. By this Act no man can keep an Ale-houe, without being licened by the Sesions, or by two Jutices; but now, by a late Statute, all Licences granted by Jutices out of their Sesions are void.

By the Statute of Charles I. which alters the Penalties of that of Edward VI. the Punihment of keeping an Ale-houe, or commonly elling Ale, Beer, Cyder and Perry, without a Licence, is to pay Twenty Shillings to the Ue of the Poor, to be levied by Ditres; which, if Satifaction be not made within three Days, is to be old. And if there be no Goods whereon to ditrain, and the Money be not paid within ix Days after Conviction, the Offender is to be delivered to the Contable, or ome inferior Officer, to be whipped. For the econd Offence, he is to be committed to the Houe of Correction for a Month; and for the third, he is to be committed to the aid Houe, till by Order of the Jutices, at their General Sesions, he be dicharged.

The Conviction is to be on the View of the Jutice, Confesion of the party, or by the Oath of two Witneses.

And by this Statute, if the Contable or Officer to whom the Party is committed to be whipt, &c. do not execute his Warrant, the Jutice hall commit him to Prion, there to remain till he hall procure ome one to execute the aid Warrant, or until he hall pay Forty Shillings to the Ue of the Poor.

The Jutices, at the Time of granting the Licence, hall take a Recognizance from the Party, not to uffer any unlawful Games, nor other Diorders, in his Houe; which is to be certified to the Sesions, and the Jutices there have a Power to proceed for the Forfeiture.

By the Statute of Jac. I. Alehoue-keepers, who uffer Townmen to it tipling (unles in the Caes abovementioned ) forfeit Ten Shillings to the Poor; the Ditres to be old within ix Days; and if no Ditres can be had, the Party is to be committed till the Forfeiture is paid.

Vintners, who keep Inns or Victualling-houes, are within this Act.

And by two everal Statutes, Alehoue-keepers, convicted of this Offence, are prohibited from keeping an Alehoue for the Space of three Years.

Jutices of Peace likewie, for any Diorders committed in Alehoues contrary to the Condition of the Recognizance, may uppres uch Houes ; but then the Proceeding mut be on the Recognizance, and the Breach of the Condition proved.

Now, on the concie View of thee everal Laws, it appears, that the Legilature have been abundantly careful on this Head; and that the only Blame lies on the Remisnes with which thee wholeome Proviions have been executed.

But though I will not undertake to defend the Magitrates of former Times, who have urely been guilty of ome neglect of their Duty; yet, on behalf of the preent Commisioners of the Peace, I mut oberve, their Cae is very different. What Phyicians tells us of the animal Functions, will hold true when applied to Laws: Both, by long Diuse, loe all their Elaticity and Force. Froward Habits grow on Men, as they do on Children, by long Indulgence; nor will either ubmit eaily to Correction in Matters where they have been accutomed to act at their Pleaure. They are very different Offices to execute a new or a well known Law and to revive one which is obolete. In the Cae of a known Law, Cutom brings Men to Submision; and in all new Proviions, the Ill-will, if any, is levelled at the Legilature, who are much more able to upport it than a few, or a ingle Magitrate. If therefore it be thought proper to uppres this Vice, the Legilature mut once more take the Matter into their Hands; and to this, perhaps, they will be the more inclined, when it comes to their Knowledge, that a new Kind of Drunkennes, unknown to our Ancetors, is lately prung up amongt us, and which, if not put a Stop to, will infallibly detroy a great Part of the inferiour People.

The Drunkennes I here intend, is that acquired by the tronget intoxicating Liquors, and particularly by that Poion called Gin; which, I have great reaon to think, is the principal Sutenance (if it may be o called) of more than an hundred thouand People in this Metropolis. Many of thee Wretche there are, who wallow Pints of this Poion within the Twenty-four Hours; the dreadful Effects of which I have the Mifortune every Day to ee, and to mell too. But I have no need to inist on my own Credit, or on that of my Informers; the great Revenue ariing from the Tax on this Liquor (the Conumption of which is almot wholly confined to the lowet Order of People) will prove the Quantity conumed better than any other Evidence.

Now, beides the moral ill Conequences occaioned by this Drunkennes, with which, in this Treatie, I profes not to deal; how greatly mut this be uppoed to contribute to thoe political Michiefs which this Esay propoes to remedy? This will appear from conidering, that however cheap this vile Potion may be, the poorer Sort will not eaily be able to upply themelves with the Quantities they deire; for the intoxicating Draught itelf diqualifies them from uing any honet Means to acquire it, at the ame time that it removes all Sene of Fear and Shame, and emboldens them to commit every wicked and deperate Enterprize. Many Intances of this I ee daily: Wretches are often brought before me, charged with Theft and Robbery, whom I am forced to confine before they are in a Condition to be examined; and when they have afterwards become ober, I have plainly perceived, from the State of the Cae, that the Gin alone was the Caue of the Trangresion, and have been ometimes orry that I was obliged to commit them to a Prion.

But beyond all this, there is a political ill Conequence of this Drunkennes, which, though it doth not trictly fall within my preent Purpoe, I hall be excued for mentioning, it being indeed the greatet Evil of all, and which mut, I think, awaken our Legilature, to put a final Period to o detructive a Practice. And this is that dreadful Conequence which mut attend the poionous Quality of this pernicious Liquor to the Health, the Strength, and the very Being of Numbers of his Majety's mot ueful Subjects. I have not enough of phyical Knowledge, to diplay the ill Effects which uch poionous Liquors produce in the Contitution: For thee I hall refer the Reader to The Phyical Account of the Nature of all ditilled pirituous Liquors, and the Effect they have on human Bodies. And tho', perhaps, the Conequence of this Poion, as it operates lowly, may not o viibly appear in the Diminution of the Strength, Health and Lives of the preent Generation; yet let a Man cat his Eyes but a Moment towards our Poterity, and there the dreadful Conequences mut trike on the meanet Capacity, and mut alarm, I think, the mot luggih Degree of Public Spirit. What mut become of the Infant who is conceived in Gin? with the poionous Ditillations of which it is nourihed both in the Womb and at the Breat. Are thee wretched Infants (if uch can be uppoed capable of arriving at the Age of Maturity) to become our future Sailors, and our future Grenadiers? Is it by the Labour of uch as thee, that all the Emoluments of Peace are to be procured us, and all the Dangers of War averted from us? What could an Edward or a Henry, a Marlborough or a Cumberland, effect with an Army of uch Wretches? Doth not this polluted Source, intead of producing Servants for the Hubandman, or Artificer; intead of providing Recruits for the Sea or the Field, promie only to fill Alms-houes and Hopitals, and to infect the Streets with Stench and Dieaes?

In olemn Truth, there is nothing of more erious Conideration, nor which more loudly calls for a Remedy, than the Evil now complained againt. For what can be more worthy the Care of the Legilature, than to preerve the Morals, the Innocence, the Health, Strength and Lives of a great Part (I will repeat, the mot ueful Part) of the People? So far am I, in my own Opinion, from repreenting this in too erious or too trong a Light, that I can find no Words, or Metaphor, adequate to my Ideas on this Subject. The firt Inventor of this diabolical Liquor may be compared to the Poioner of a Fountain, whence a large City was to derive its Waters; the highet Crime, as it hath been thought, of which Human Nature is capable. A Degree of Villainy, indeed, of which I cannot recollect any Example: But urely if uch was ever practied, the Governors of that City could not be thought blameles, did they not endeavour, to the utmot, to with-hold the Citizens from drinking the poionous Draught; and if uch a general Thirt after it prevailed, as, we are told, posesed the People of Athens at the Time of the Plague, what could jutify the not effectually cutting off all Aqueducts, by which the Poion was dipered among the People?

Nor will any Thing les than abolute Deletion erve on the preent Occaion. It is not making Men pay 50l. or 500l. for a Licence to poion; nor enlarging the Quantity from two Gallons to ten, which will extirpate o tubborn an Evil. Here may, perhaps, be no little Difficulty. To lay the Axe to the Still-head, and prohibit all Ditillery in general, would detroy the Chemit. If ditilling this or that Spirit was forbidden, we know how eaily all partial Prohibitions are evaded; nay the Chemit (was the Matter confined to him) would oon probably become a common Ditiller, and his Shop no better than a Gin-shop; ince what is more common than for Men to adopt the Morals of a Thief at a Fire, and to work their own private Emolument out of a public Michief. Suppoe all pirituous Liquors were, together with other Poion, to be locked up in the Chemits or Apothecaries Shops, thence never to be drawn, till ome excellent Phyician calls them forth for the Cure of nervous Ditempers! Or uppoe the Price was to be raied o high, by a ever Impot, that Gin would be placed entirely beyond the Reach of the Vulgar! Or perhaps the Widom of the Legilature may devie a better and more effectual Way.

But if the Difficulty be really inuperable, or if there be any political Reaon againt the total Demolition of this Poion, o trong as to countervail the Preervation of the Morals, Health and Beings of uch Numbers of his Majety's Subjects, let us, however, in ome meaure, palliate the Evil, and lesen its immediate ill Conequences, by a more effectual Proviion againt Drunkennes than any we have at preent, in which the Method of Conviction is too tedious and dilatory. Some little Care on this Head is urely necesary: For though the Encreae of Thieves, and the Detruction of Morality; though the Los of our Labourers, our Sailors, and our Soldiers, hould not be ufficient Reaons, there is one which eems to be unanwerable, and that is, the Los of our Gin-drinkers: Since, hould the drinking this Poion be continued in its preent Height during the next twenty Years, there will, by that Time, be very few of the common People left to drink it.