Anno g. Geo. II. 1736. The Claufe now offered is, in my Opinion, Sir, drawn up fo cautiously, that it is impoffible to make any Handle of it for evading the Law. The Punch, to be retailed by this Claufe, must be mixed with two third Parts Water at leaft, in the Prefence of the Buyer, and must not be retailed in a lefs Quantity than one Pint, or at a lefs Price than after the Rate of 5 s. per Gallon: It will therefore be impoffible to fell any fpirituous Liquor under the Name of Punch, unless it be mixed with two third Parts Water; and the not allowing it to be fold at a lefs Price than 5 s. per Gallon, or in a lefs Quantity than one Pint, will prevent Tippling as much as poffible. To pretend that the Frauds cannot be discovered, because the Drinkers will always be Parties to the Evafion, is an Objection that will hold equally ftrong against every Claufe in the Bill; for the Drinkers must be Parties to every Fraud that can be committed, and yet it is to be prefumed, that they will generally be the Informers: Nay, even with Refpect to the retailing of Gin, it may fafely be fold and drank in a private Corner, without any Danger of Discovery, unless the Drinkers themfelves become Informers. The Bill now before us may indeed, Sir, very properly be called an Experiment: It is, I believe, one of the boldest Experiments in Politicks that was ever made in a free Country; and feems as if intended to try the Submiffion and Obedience of our People: Even, tho' the Claufe now proposed be added, like Saul, it will ruin its Thousands; but if this Claufe be not added, like David, it will ruin its ten Thoufands; and if by this Bill our Sugar-Trade fhould be deftroyed, it will ruin the whole Nation at laft. I truly, Sir, make no Question, but that the Bill will be found to fland in need of fome Amendments in the very next Seffion; I do not know but a great Part of it may then be repealed; but as for that Part of it which relates to the Civil-Lift, I doubt much if it will ever be in our Power to get it repealed: I am convinced, that before next Seffion it will be found neceffary to alter the whole Scheme of this Bill, and to contrive fome new Method for preventing the exceffive Ufe of Spirituous Liquors among our common People; but in the mean time Thousands of our People abroad and at home will be utterly undone And as fuch Perfons cannot be recovered, nor receive any Benefit, by thofe Alterations we may then think proper to make, I am for preventing the fpreading of this Defolation as much as poffible, and therefore am for adding the Claufe now propofed.' The Queftion was then put, Whether the above Claufe be added to the Bill; which pafs'd in the Negative, by 203 to 98. And then the Bill was ordered to be engrofs'd. 1736. The Bill relating to Spirituous Li Lords. Farther Debate on Farther Proceed ings on the York thire Election. April 20. The Bill relating to Spirituous Liquors was read Anno 9. Geo. 11. a third Time, and pafs'd without a Divifion; and Sir Charles Turner was ordered to carry it up to the Lords. April 21. The House refolved itself into a Committee up- quors pafs'd, and on the Quakers Bill, when great Alterations were made to fent up to the every Claufe; and it was proposed to leave to every Person intitled to Tythes, an Option to fue for the Recovery of the Quaker's Bill. them, either before the Juftices of the Peace, as directed by that Bill, or before any of his Majesty's Courts in Weftminfter-Hall: But as this feemed to be inconfiftent with the Preamble of the Bill, and with the Intention of the whole, it was ftrenuously opposed; and upon the Question's being put, it was upon a Divifion carried in the Negative by 202 to 96. April 22. The House proceeded on the Hearing of the Petition complaining of an undue Election for the County of York, (on which Affair they had fat every Tuesday and Thursday fince the prefenting of the faid Petition, p. 147.) and the Counfel for the Petitioner Sir Rowland Winn, fummed up their Evidence; by which they alledged they had disqualified several Perfons as not being affeffed to the Publick Taxes, Church Rates, and Parish Duties; Others, as having no Freehold in the Place where they fwore that their Freehold did lie; and of them several as having no Estate at all, being Curates, Schoolmafters, Parish-Clerks, HospitalMen, Leafeholders and Copyholders; Others, as not having Freeholds of the Value of 40 s. per Annum; Others, as being Minors; Others, as having purchased their Freeholds within one Year before the Election; Others, as having been influenced to vote by Threats; Others, as having voted wice; One, as being an Alien; and Others, whofe Votes ppeared upon the Poll, though there were no fuch Perfons either in the Place where they fwore their Freeholds did lie, or in the Places where they fwore that their Abode was: Hereupon the farther Hearing of the Affair was adjourned o the 29th; when it was farther adjourned to the 4th of May. April 29. A Motion being made for an Addrefs of Conratulation to the King, on Account of the Nuptials of the 'rince of Wales with the Princefs of Saxe-Gotha, to whom is Royal Highness was married on the 27th, Mr Lyttleton ood up, and spoke as follows: Mr Speaker, Though I have nothing to add to what has been faid fo well by other Gentlemen, on this happy and agreeable Occaon; yet, as I think, that nobody fhould be filent on a Point o which nobody can be indifferent, I beg to be indulg'd in few Words, to declare with how much Pleasure I concur the Motion that has been made you; And indeed he must Motion for an Addrefs to the King, on the Marriage of the Prince of Wales. Mr Lyttleton's " be 1736. Anno g. Geo. II. be void of all Affection to the Safety, Peace, and Liberty of his Country, who does not rejoice in the Increase of the Royal Family, on the Support and Continuance of which among us all thofe Bleflings immediately depend. But, Sir, there is yet another Reafon for our Joy on this Occafion, a Reason, which every Gentleman that hears me will allow to be a ftrong one; I mean, a particular Regard to the Happinefs of the Prince, which can no more be separated from our Duty to his Majefty, than the Interests, or Inclinations of fo good a Father from thofe of fo dutiful a Son. There may be fomething in the Dignity of Perfons rais'd very high above the Rank of other Men, which might fet them at, perhaps, too great a Distance from the Love of their Inferiors; and make us often participate no farther in their Pleasures, or their Pains, than Duty or Intereft requires: But he, who in a Station thus exalted above the Wants and Miseries of Mankind, can feel them with the Tenderness of an Equal, while he relieves them with the Beneficence of a Superior; whofe Heart is as open to the Sentiments of Humanity and Benevolence, as his Mind to the Impreffions of Truth and Justice; fuch a Prince, in all the Incidents of Life, will find every body fympathife with himself; his Grief will be a national Affliction, his Joy the Joy of a whole People. Sir, It is right and decent, and agreeable to our Inclinotions, to ascribe every Thing that is done for the publick Good to the paternal Cares and Goodness of the King: But in this Inftance it is peculiarly our Duty; for this is a Merit which must belong to him alone: In this, none of his Servants can have a Share: The most affuming Minifter could lay no claim to it; it is his own Act; to him we are obliged for it, and to him our Acknowledgments are due. He has heard the Wishes of his People, who forefaw the Dangers they were expofed to, if his Royal Highness, by marrying too late in Life, fhould, according to the ordinary Course of Nature, leave an Heir to the Crown in a Minority; a Minority, which is always a State of Weakness, Diftraction, and Oppreffion; a Minority, the molt pernicious of all Governments, because it is the Government of Minifters. It was therefore the general Defire of every good Englishman, that a Marriage fo neceflary to the Publick fhould no longer be delay'd; and his Majefty has graciously been pleased to comply with that Defire: He has remov'd thofe uneafy Apprehenfions; and by strengthening, and increafing the Royal Family, has added a new Security to our Happiness, and, we may hope, entail'd it on our Pofterity. As our Thanks are due to him for the Marriage, they are no less so for his Choice of a Daughter-in-Law; a Prin cef's 1736. Cefs in whom Piety and Virtue are hereditary Qualities: Anno 9 Geo. II. The eminent Merit of whofe great Ancestor in the Defence of the Proteftant Religion, which was then in Germany, as it now is in Great Britain, united to the Caufe of publick Liberty, has been fo amply fet forth by other Gentlemen, particularly the honourable Perfon [Mr Pulteney] who made this Motion, whose great Abilities are most equal to this, or any Subject, that nothing is left for me to add, but an ardent With that the fame Virtues may revive again with equal Luftre, and happier Fortune, in her Pofterity. For all thefe Reasons, for many more, more than the Zeal of my Heart can now fuggeft to me, more than the Eloquence of others can exprefs, we ought moft joyfully to congratulate his Majefty on an Event, which must give him the greatest Pleasure, because it does fo to his People, for the Satisfaction of neither can be perfect but when it is reciprocal. Let us therefore join our Thanks to our Felicitations, and let our Unanimity in doing it, refute the Calumnies of those, who dare to infinuate out of Doors, that Gentlemen who sometimes differ here from the Measures of the Court, differ at all from those whom they oppofe, I mean the very Beft of them, in fincere Attachment to the Government, and affectionate Regard for the Royal Family.' Mr Lyttleton was feconded by Mr William Pitt, as follows: Mr Will. Pitt. Mr Speaker, I am unable to offer any Thing that has not been faid by the honourable Perfons, who made you the Motion, in a Manner much more fuitable to the Dignity and Importance of this great Occafion: But, Sir, as I am really affected with the Profpect of the Bleffings, to be derived to my Country from this fo defireable and fo long defired Meafure, the Marriage of his Royal Highnefs the Prince of Wales; I cannot forbear troubling you with a few Words to exprefs my Joy, and to mingle my humble Offering, inconfiderable as it is, with this great Oblation of Thanks and Congratulation to his Majesty. • How great foever the Joy of the Publick may be, and very great it certainly is, in receiving this Benefit from his Majefty, it must be inferior to that high Satisfaction which he himfelf enjoys in beftowing it: And if I may be allowed to fuppofe, that to a Royal Mind any thing can tranfcend the Pleasure of gratifying the impatient Wishes of a Loyal People, it can only be the paternal Delight of tenderly indulging the most dutiful Application, and most humble Request of a fubmiffive obedient Son. I mention, Sir, his Royal Highness's having afk'd a Marriage, becaufe fomething is in Juftice due to him, for having asked what we are fo ftrongly bound, by all the Ties of Duty and of Gratitude, to Anno 9. Geo. 11. to return his Majesty our most humble Acknowledgments 1736. for having granted. The Marriage of a Prince of Wales, Sir, has at all Times, been a Matter of the higheit Importance to the Publick Welfare, to prefent and to future Generations; but at no Time has it been a more important, a more dear Confideration, than at this Day; if a Character at once amiable and refpectable, can embellish and even dignify the elevated Rank of a Prince of Wales. Were it not a Sort of Prefumption to follow fo great a Person through his Hours of Retirement, to view him in the milder Light of domeftick Life, we should find him bufy'd in the noble Exercife of Humanity, Benevolence, and of every focial Virtue : But, Sir, how pleafing, how captivating foever fuch a Scene may be, yet, as it is a private one, I fear I fhould offend the Delicacy of that Virtue I fo ardently defire to do Juftice to, fhould I offer it to the Confideration of this Houfe: But, Sir, filial Duty to his Royal Parents, a generous Love for Liberty, and a juft Reverence for the British Conftitution; thefe are publick Virtues, and cannot escape the Applause and Benedictions of the Publick: They are Virtues, Sir, which render his Royal Highness not only a noble Ornament, but a firm Support, if any could poflibly be neceffary, of that Throne fo greatly filled by his Royal Father. I have been led to fay thus much of his Royal Highnefs's Character, because it is the Confideration of that Character which, above all Things, enforces the Juftice and Goodness of his Majefty in the Measure now before you; a Measure which the Nation thought could never come too foon, because it brings with it the Promife of an additional Strength to the Proteftant Succeffion in his Majefty's Illuftri ous and Royal Houfe: The Spirit of Liberty dictated that Succeffion, the fame Spirit now rejoices in the Profpect of its being perpetuated to lateft Pofterity: It rejoices in the wife and happy Choice, which his Majefty has been pleased to make of a Princefs fo amiably distinguished in herself, so illustrious in the Merit of her Family; the Glory of whofe great Ancestor it is, 'to have facrificed himself to the nobleft Caufe for which a Prince can draw his Sword, the Cause of Liberty and the Proteftant Religion. Such, Sir, is the Marriage, for which our most humble Acknowledgments are due to his Majefty; and may it afford the Comfort of feeing the Royal Family (numerous, as I thank God it is) till growing and rifing up in a third Generation; a Family, Sir, which I moft fincerely with may be as immortal as thofe Liberties, and that Conftitution which it came to maintain; and therefore I am heartily for the Motion.' After |