Like all bodies too who call for monopolies, 

 they have not limited their argument, in sug- 

 gesting the present measure, to their own ne- 

 cessities. They have endeavoured to persuade 

 their countrymen, that the public interest is as 

 much concerned in the suspension of the corn dis- 

 tillery as that of the colonists ; and, as is usual, 

 they have persuaded many uninterested per- 

 sons that this is the case. We have been told 

 so even from very high authority, and are daily 

 told so in a mass of crude speculation on this sub- 

 ject, which now overflows the country. The Re- 

 port of the Committee likewise, though, of course, 

 it enlarges on the colonial difficulties, does, how- 

 ever, urge certain grounds for the adoption of 

 the present measure, on public views, connected 

 with the present state of our foreign relations. 

 This makes it necessary to consider the ques- 

 tion on general principles, as well as with a 

 particular view to the present distresses of the 

 colonists. Nor are such general principles 

 confined in their application to the question 

 now agitated, but will enable us to judge 

 of the same, or similar proposals, at all 



* c to be limited, in the breweries and distilleries, one that would 

 *' give to the West Indian trade any relief adequate to its distresses, 

 " consistent with the interests of other branches of the community , 

 " or with the safety of the revenue." Rep. from the Distillery 

 Committee, Feb. 1807. 



