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    householders * , in favour of ( he petitioner ; which certificates must be re . newed annually . These certificates are not attestations to character which may be demanded in the manner of subpoenaing a witness ; but may be given or withheld at pleasure ; and though in populous towns any pereon of creditable character would probably have little difficulty in obtaining them , in a rural district the small number of ten-pound

    householders , together with the known sentiments of the landed gentry , render the exaction of such a condition tantamount to the entire suppression of beer-houses . We regret to see Lord Howick chiming in with the prevailing false sentiment ; though the amendment he proposes would be far less mischievous than the original proposition . His plan is , not to interfere with the opening of beer-houses , but to empower the vestry to close them , by a majority of two-thirds * on a representation from a certain number of householders that any particular beer-house is a

    nuisance . This is perhaps the least exceptionable form in which the discretionary power of interference , proposed to be created , could exist ; and if by a clause in the Bill , the keeper of the criminated place of entertainment were secured a public hearing in his defence , and the right of cross-examining his accusers , with the benefit of an appeal to the judge of assize , or to the local court when such shall be established , Lord Howick ' s proposition might not be seriously objectionable .

    But there is in the Bill , even if it were thus amended , one fatal provision , with which Lord Howick does not propose to interfere , and which brands the whole measure with the double stamp of tyranny and hypocrisy . We allude to the clauses which prohibit the houses from selling beer to be drank on the premises . The debate on this subject was replete with cant ; for the expression even of just feelings deserves the name of cant , when the party expressing them would be confounded by

    being merely taken at his word . Mr . Buckingham said , that if beer is a necessary of life , the labourer might surely fetch it home and drink it there , forhe ought not to wish to have his enjoyments separately from his wife and from his children . Very fine certainly ; brit we detest fine sentiments which are never meant to be acted upon . Do we find Mr . Buckingham , or any other supporter of the Bill , proposing to prevent all houses from taking in labourers to drink with one another , apart from their families ? No ; the object is to permit one set of houses and to forbid others ; ( o let the houses licensed by the * magistrates retain this obnoxious privilege , and to take it away from the remainder ; to create a monopoly of the evil they complain of , in favour of the landlords * houses . The obvious effect , doubtless by many of the promoters of the bill clearly foreseen and calculated upon , is to confine the sale of beer to the landlords houses . The labourer , as every person of common sense muat foresee , will generally prefer the place where he can obtain rest as well as refreshment , and where alone he can have the

    excitements and the pleasures of society . Scarcely a member opened his lips in favour of the measures who did not think it decent to disavow any wish of restoring the former monopoly : is it possible that any one of all who made the disavowal , ahould not tee , that whether this be the purpose or not , it will certainly be the effect ? We , too , detest , probably as much as these careful guardians of other people ' s morality , the selfishness with which the demoralized and brutal part of the working population squander their earning * ou their own

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    448 tfoies on the Ntw » paper $ .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1834, page 448, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2634/page/66/