3 , 



shew, that it is improper in every view ; im- 

 politic in regard to the public interest ; and 

 unjust towards our home cultivators. 



When the subject of prohibiting distillation 

 from grain was so much agitated a few years 

 ago, the complexion of the question differed 

 materially from what it is at present. It was 

 then debated entirely on general grounds. The 

 only interests considered were those of the public, 

 and of the home grower ; the consumer and 

 producer of our domestic supplies. The inter- 

 ests of the colonists were not at all insisted on. 

 Indeed the idea of distilling from sugar does 

 not then seem to have been generally enter- 

 tained. The question was argued as if the 

 stoppage of the distillery would altogether sus- 

 pend the formation of ardent spirit ; and hence 

 two arguments were applied to it, on either 

 side, which do not touch it in its present shape. 

 The one was in favour of the distillery, on the 

 score of its use to the revenue : the other 

 against it, on the effects of the consumption of 

 distilled spirit on the health, morals, and happi- 

 ness, of the people. 



As an object of revenue, the distillery cer- 

 tainly has its advantages, chiefly in the view of 

 easy collection. In any other light, it seems 

 less important, as the grain used there, if con- 



