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

by Henry Fielding

SECT. II

Of Drunkenness, a second Consequence of Luxury among the Vulgar.

But the Expence of Money, and Loss of Time, with their certain Consequences, are not the only Evils which attend the Luxury of the Vulgar. Drunkenness is almost inseparably annexed to the Pleasures of such People. A Vice by no means to be construed as a spiritual Offence alone, since so many temporal Mischiefs arise from it; amongst which are very frequently Robbery and Murder itself.

I do not know a more excellent Institution than that of Pittacus, mentioned by Aristotle in his Politics^[1]; by which a Blow given by a drunken Man, was more severely punished than if it had been given by one that was sober; for Pittacus, says Aristotle, considered the Utility of the Public, (as drunken Men are more apt to strike) and not the Excuse, which might otherwise be allowed to their Drunkenness. And so far both the Civil Law and our own have followed this Institution, that neither have admitted Drunkenness to be an Excuse for any Crime.

This odious Vice (indeed the Parent of all others) as History informs us, was first introduced into this Kingdom by the Danes, and with very mischievous Effects. Wherefore that excellent Prince Edgar the Peaceable, when he set about reforming the Manners of his People, applied himself 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 Person to drink^[2].

What Penalty was affixed to the Breach of this Institution, I know not; nor do I find any Punishment in our Books for the Crime of Drunkenness, till the Time of Jac. I in the fourth Year of whose Reign it was enacted, 'That every Person lawfully convicted of Drunkenness, shall, for every such 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 Parish where, &c. to the Use of the Poor. In Default of Payment, the Sum to be levied by Distress, and, in Default of Distress, the Offender is to be committed to the Stocks, there to remain for the Space of six Hours^[3].

For the second Offence they are to be bound to their good Behaviour, with two Sureties, in a Recognizance of Ten Pounds^[4].

Nor is only that Degree of Drunkenness forbidden, which Mr. Dalton describes, 'so as to stagger and reel to and fro, and where the same Legs which carry him into a House, cannot carry him out again^[5];' for, by the same Act of Parliament, all Persons who continue drinking or tipling in any Inn, Victualling-house, or Ale-house, in their own City, Town or Parish )unless such as being invited by a Traveller, shall accompany him during his necessary Abode there; or except Labouring and Handicraftsmen in Cities, and Corporate and Market Towns, upon a working Day, for an Hour at Dinner-time, in Alehouses, where they take their Diet; and except Labourers and Workmen, who, during their Continuance in any Work, shall lodge or victual in any Inn, &c. or except for some urgent and necessary Occasion, to be allowed by two Justices of the Peace) shall forfeit the Sum of Three Shillings and Sixpence, for the Use of the Poor; to be levied as before, and, for Want of Distress, to be put in the Stocks for four Hours^[6].

This Act hath been still farther enforced by another in the same Reign^[7]. By the latter Act, the Tipler is liable, whether his Habitation be within the same or any other Parish. 2dly, The Proof by one Witness is made sufficient; and, 3dly, A very extraordinary Clause is added, by which the Oath of the Party offending, after having confessed his own Crime, is made Evidence against any oher Offender, tho' at the same Time.

Thus we see the Legislature have taken the utmost Care not only to punish, but even to prevent this Vice of Drunkenness, which the Preamble of one of the foregoing Statutes calls a loathsome and odious Sin, and the Root and Foundation of many other enormous Sins, as Murder, &c. Nor doth the Wisdom of our Law stop here. Our cautious Ancestors have endeavoured to remove the Temptation, and, in a great measure, 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 restrain the Scenes of these Disorders, and to confine them to those Uses for which they were at first designed; namely, for the Rest, Refreshment and Convenience of Travellers.

A cursory View of the Statutes on this Head, will demonstrate of what Consequence to Society the Suppression of this Vice was in the Opinion of our Ancestors.

By the Common Law, Inns and Alehouses might be kept ad libitum; but if any Disorders were suffered in them, they were indictable as a common Nuisance.

The first Reform which I find to have been made by Parliament, was in the Reign of Henry VII.^[8] when two Justices were empowered to suppress an Ale-house.

The Statute of Edward VI.^[9] is the first which requires a precedent Licence. By this Act no man can keep an Ale-house, without being licensed by the Sessions, or by two Justices; but now, by a late Statute, all Licences granted by Justices out of their Sessions are void^[10].

By the Statute of Charles I.^[11] which alters the Penalties of that of Edward VI. the Punishment of keeping an Ale-house, or commonly selling Ale, Beer, Cyder and Perry, without a Licence, is to pay Twenty Shillings to the Use of the Poor, to be levied by Distress; which, if Satisfaction be not made within three Days, is to be sold. And if there be no Goods whereon to distrain, and the Money be not paid within six Days after Conviction, the Offender is to be delivered to the Constable, or some inferior Officer, to be whipped. For the second Offence, he is to be committed to the House of Correction for a Month; and for the third, he is to be committed to the said House, till by Order of the Justices, at their General Sessions, he be discharged.

The Conviction is to be on the View of the Justice, Confession of the party, or by the Oath of two Witnesses.

And by this Statute, if the Constable or Officer to whom the Party is committed to be whipt, &c. do not execute his Warrant, the Justice shall commit him to Prison, there to remain till he shall procure some one to execute the said Warrant, or until he shall pay Forty Shillings to the Use of the Poor.

The Justices, at the Time of granting the Licence, shall take a Recognizance from the Party, not to suffer any unlawful Games, nor other Disorders, in his House; which is to be certified to the Sessions, and the Justices there have a Power to proceed for the Forfeiture^[12].

By the Statute of Jac. I.^[13] Alehouse-keepers, who suffer Townsmen to sit tipling (unless in the Cases abovementioned^[14]) forfeit Ten Shillings to the Poor; the Distress to be sold within six Days; and if no Distress can be had, the Party is to be committed till the Forfeiture is paid.

Vintners, who keep Inns or Victualling-houses, are within this Act^[15].

And by two several Statutes^[16], Alehouse-keepers, convicted of this Offence, are prohibited from keeping an Alehouse for the Space of three Years.

Justices of Peace likewise, for any Disorders committed in Alehouses contrary to the Condition of the Recognizance, may suppress such Houses^[17]; but then the Proceeding must be on the Recognizance, and the Breach of the Condition proved^[18].

Now, on the concise View of these several Laws, it appears, that the Legislature have been abundantly careful on this Head; and that the only Blame lies on the Remissness with which these wholesome Provisions have been executed.

But though I will not undertake to defend the Magistrates of former Times, who have surely been guilty of some neglect of their Duty; yet, on behalf of the present Commissioners of the Peace, I must observe, their Case is very different. What Physicians tells us of the animal Functions, will hold true when applied to Laws: Both, by long Disuse, lose all their Elasticity and Force. Froward Habits grow on Men, as they do on Children, by long Indulgence; nor will either submit easily to Correction in Matters where they have been accustomed to act at their Pleasure. They are very different Offices to execute a new or a well known Law and to revive one which is obsolete. In the Case of a known Law, Custom brings Men to Submission; and in all new Provisions, the Ill-will, if any, is levelled at the Legislature, who are much more able to support it than a few, or a single Magistrate. If therefore it be thought proper to suppress this Vice, the Legislature must 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 Drunkenness, unknown to our Ancestors, is lately sprung up amongst us, and which, if not put a Stop to, will infallibly destroy a great Part of the inferiour People.

The Drunkenness I here intend, is that acquired by the strongest intoxicating Liquors, and particularly by that Poison called Gin; which, I have great reason to think, is the principal Sustenance (if it may be so called) of more than an hundred thousand People in this Metropolis. Many of these Wretche there are, who swallow Pints of this Poison within the Twenty-four Hours; the dreadful Effects of which I have the Misfortune every Day to see, and to smell too. But I have no need to insist on my own Credit, or on that of my Informers; the great Revenue arising from the Tax on this Liquor (the Consumption of which is almost wholly confined to the lowest Order of People) will prove the Quantity consumed better than any other Evidence.

Now, besides the moral ill Consequences occasioned by this Drunkenness, with which, in this Treatise, I profess not to deal; how greatly must this be supposed to contribute to those political Mischiefs which this Essay proposes to remedy? This will appear from considering, that however cheap this vile Potion may be, the poorer Sort will not easily be able to supply themselves with the Quantities they desire; for the intoxicating Draught itself disqualifies them from using any honest Means to acquire it, at the same time that it removes all Sense of Fear and Shame, and emboldens them to commit every wicked and desperate Enterprize. Many Instances of this I see 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 sober, I have plainly perceived, from the State of the Case, that the Gin alone was the Cause of the Transgression, and have been sometimes sorry that I was obliged to commit them to a Prison.

But beyond all this, there is a political ill Consequence of this Drunkenness, which, though it doth not strictly fall within my present Purpose, I shall be excused for mentioning, it being indeed the greatest Evil of all, and which must, I think, awaken our Legislature, to put a final Period to so destructive a Practice. And this is that dreadful Consequence which must attend the poisonous Quality of this pernicious Liquor to the Health, the Strength, and the very Being of Numbers of his Majesty's most useful Subjects. I have not enough of physical Knowledge, to display the ill Effects which such poisonous Liquors produce in the Constitution: For these I shall refer the Reader to The Physical Account of the Nature of all distilled spirituous Liquors, and the Effect they have on human Bodies^[19]. And tho', perhaps, the Consequence of this Poison, as it operates slowly, may not so visibly appear in the Diminution of the Strength, Health and Lives of the present Generation; yet let a Man cast his Eyes but a Moment towards our Posterity, and there the dreadful Consequences must strike on the meanest Capacity, and must alarm, I think, the most sluggish Degree of Public Spirit. What must become of the Infant who is conceived in Gin? with the poisonous Distillations of which it is nourished both in the Womb and at the Breast. Are these wretched Infants (if such can be supposed capable of arriving at the Age of Maturity) to become our future Sailors, and our future Grenadiers? Is it by the Labour of such as these, 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 such Wretches? Doth not this polluted Source, instead of producing Servants for the Husbandman, or Artificer; instead of providing Recruits for the Sea or the Field, promise only to fill Alms-houses and Hospitals, and to infect the Streets with Stench and Diseases?

In solemn Truth, there is nothing of more serious Consideration, nor which more loudly calls for a Remedy, than the Evil now complained against. For what can be more worthy the Care of the Legislature, than to preserve the Morals, the Innocence, the Health, Strength and Lives of a great Part (I will repeat, the most useful Part) of the People? So far am I, in my own Opinion, from representing this in too serious or too strong a Light, that I can find no Words, or Metaphor, adequate to my Ideas on this Subject. The first Inventor of this diabolical Liquor may be compared to the Poisoner of a Fountain, whence a large City was to derive its Waters; the highest 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 surely if such was ever practised, the Governors of that City could not be thought blameless, did they not endeavour, to the utmost, to with-hold the Citizens from drinking the poisonous Draught; and if such a general Thirst after it prevailed, as, we are told, possessed the People of Athens at the Time of the Plague^[20], what could justify the not effectually cutting off all Aqueducts, by which the Poison was dispersed among the People?

Nor will any Thing less than absolute Deletion serve on the present Occasion. It is not making Men pay 50l. or 500l. for a Licence to poison; nor enlarging the Quantity from two Gallons to ten, which will extirpate so stubborn an Evil. Here may, perhaps, be no little Difficulty. To lay the Axe to the Still-head, and prohibit all Distillery in general, would destroy the Chemist. If distilling this or that Spirit was forbidden, we know how easily all partial Prohibitions are evaded; nay the Chemist (was the Matter confined to him) would soon probably become a common Distiller, and his Shop no better than a Gin-shop; since 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 Mischief. Suppose all spirituous Liquors were, together with other Poison, to be locked up in the Chemists or Apothecaries Shops, thence never to be drawn, till some excellent Physician calls them forth for the Cure of nervous Distempers! Or suppose the Price was to be raised so high, by a sever Impost, that Gin would be placed entirely beyond the Reach of the Vulgar! Or perhaps the Wisdom of the Legislature may devise a better and more effectual Way.

But if the Difficulty be really insuperable, or if there be any political Reason against the total Demolition of this Poison, so strong as to countervail the Preservation of the Morals, Health and Beings of such Numbers of his Majesty's Subjects, let us, however, in some measure, palliate the Evil, and lessen its immediate ill Consequences, by a more effectual Provision against Drunkenness than any we have at present, in which the Method of Conviction is too tedious and dilatory. Some little Care on this Head is surely necessary: For though the Encrease of Thieves, and the Destruction of Morality; though the Loss of our Labourers, our Sailors, and our Soldiers, should not be sufficient Reasons, there is one which seems to be unanswerable, and that is, the Loss of our Gin-drinkers: Since, should the drinking this Poison be continued in its present Height during the next twenty Years, there will, by that Time, be very few of the common People left to drink it.

Notes

1. L. 2. c. 10.
2. Eachard, p. 88.
3. Jac. I. chap. 5.
4. Ib. sect. 6.
5. Dalt. chap. 7. sect. 5.
6. 4 Jac. I. chap. 4. sect. 4. & 1 Jac. I chap. 9.
7. 21 Jac. I. chap. 7.
8. 11 H. VII.
9. 5 Edw. VI. c. 25.
10. 2 G. II. c. 28. sect 11.
11. 3 Car. I. cap. 4.
12. 5 E. VI. ubi sup.
13. Cap. 9. ubi sup.
14. Supra, p. 14. in the Case of Tiplers.
15. 1 Car. I. cap. 4.
16. 7 Jac. I. cap. 10. 21 Jac. I. cap. 7.
17. 5 E. VI. ubi sup.
18. Salk. 45.
19. This was composed by a very learned Divine, with the Assistance of several Physicians, and published in the year 1736. The Title is, Distilled Spirituous Liquors the Bane of the Nation.
20. Ἔδρασαν ἐς φρέατα, τῇ δίψῃ ξυνεχόμενοι. They ran into the Wells, being constantly possessed by an inexhausted Thirst. Thucyd. p. 112. Edit. Hudsoni.