86 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1800. 



to continue, the situation of things 

 would be very different from what 

 it was before. He (Sir S. R.) had 

 formerly attempted an improve- 

 ment on the criminal law of the 

 country. If the house could pass 

 a law to do away temptations to 

 commit crimes, that would be the 

 most effectual mode of improving 

 the criminal code. But what were 

 they now about to do ? To pass a 

 law to allow and encourage crimes, 

 bj' encouraging the temptation to 

 commit them. The most active 

 agents were employed to seduce 

 persons to the commission of the 

 crimes to which lotteries gave 

 birth ; and the most ingenious pa- 

 ragraphs in newspapers were in- 

 vented for the furtherance of this 

 purpose. He could point out pa- 

 ragraphs holding out lures to ap- 

 prentice boys to embark in this 

 trade, and to begin with their 

 Christmas boxes, under the assur- 

 ance, that by perseverance they 

 would soon ride in their coaches. 

 These practices were now spread 

 from the capital, to every village in 

 the kingdom. By attempts to render 

 the practices less pernicious, the 

 public would be put off" their guard; 

 the system would return with all its 

 pernicious effects. — The Chancel- 

 lor of the Exchequer said, the 

 subject had been discussed over 

 and over again, and that the result 

 had been uniformly in favour of 

 lotteries, — Mr. W. Smith consi- 

 dered the bills concerning lotteries 

 as libels on public morals, sanc- 

 tioned by governn.ent.— Sir John 

 Newport objected to lotteries as a 

 financial measure. The test of a 

 good tax was, that it put into the 

 exchequer the greater part of what 

 was drawn out of the pockets of 



the people. Here, however, the 

 greater part went into the hand of 

 the agent. The resolutions were 

 agreed to, and ordered to be re- 

 ported. 



The question concerning lotte- 

 ries was again agitated, when Mr. 

 Wharton brought up the report of 

 the committee of ways and means. 

 May the 18th. It wo'uld be wholly 

 superfluous, did our limits admit, 

 to enter much further than has been 

 done, into the arguments against 

 lotteries which are reducible to 

 two, namely, that they tended to 

 encourage vice, with its pernici- 

 ous consequences, both to the in- 

 dividual and the state; and that 

 the profits arising from them to 

 the public had dwindled to the 

 small sum of 300,000/. We can- 

 not refrain, however, from ex- 

 tracting a short paragraph from 

 Mr. Whitbread's speech against 

 lotteries, as it contains a very cu- 

 rious fact. *' There was a society 

 existing for the suppression of 

 vice ; one of the rules of which 

 was, that no man should be admitted 

 into the fraternity of suppressors 

 of vice, unless he was a member of 

 the established church. This re- 

 gulation, said Mr. Whitbread, 

 would certainly be highly relished 

 by the no-popery gentlemen. But 

 if they were to set their faces 

 against minor offences, and yet to 

 countenance the lottery, it would 

 be like casting out seven devils 

 from a man, when a legion of other 

 devils were immediately to enter. 

 He believed that there was not a 

 sin pointed at in the decalogue, 

 which was not encouraged by the 

 lottery. 



In defence of the lottery, it was 

 observed by Sir Thomas Turton, 



that 



