The National Register.
London, England, 1817-01-27 00:00:00

r~~sLZ~~I:,UsE LI VSIN;.

From tae Report oa o! the Met-or:oils,
which was presented to tile :Morse ot' Cora-rms last
.ession, it abundantly appeared, that great and 4.lsgrant
partiality was oftea exercised, is the licznsing of puit-
de houses. In a cfmntry MC% as thhi, Nvhere the law
recognizes no d's,ioetiou of perwm, and throws its
shield equally overall, it in a matter of ....2rlot concera
to the public, whether Each abuses shall be /Inger suf-
fered to exist. The question is, shall the Ma...;.i.itrates
be allowed to give or re.i.tse licznses at the nem° will
and pleasure ? Shall they have it in their power to
build or to overthrew the forttmes of individuais, with-
out any other controul than that of their awn personal
dispositions ? We firmly reply that t'tey ought not,
and we arc much gratified to find that this highly
important subject has at lersth bren taken up by a
very respectable magistrate. We trust that the iltea-
sity and perseverance of the public. atteatiou on the
cme.stion will be coinmeasurate with its magnitude.
fit be, we arc c ilident that the resnitssvill ECEOIII-
- their cautious. With these hopes we present
this day to their waice some interesting extracts from
a Lever, just published, addressed to Lord Sidmouth,
.by J T. BARBER BEAUMONT, Fsq. one of his Majesty's
.!nstices of the Peace thr Middlesex and IVestininster.
It contains a luminous esposition of the evils to which
we have all: led, and concludes with proposing their
constituti(mol remedies.

I am q lite convinced, from observations which I have made
on pub.te-honse management iu ditierent countries on the
,antinent, as well as ::t England, that the. system pursued here
is the very worst whielt 1..a11'4 evil groins could have devised.
It commits the property of the subject to an interested judg.
ment, a id a•t tinconstitotional disposal, without yielding any
good to the state. in return : the system Is all-powerful for the
purposes of r.ttifying individual aviwier and made': ; but sill-
gillarly inellitient for any one good 11111/111' 1/Wet. The dele-
gation of an toleontrolable and inset-amble power to local jus-
tices over victuallers, event.) the extinction of their means of
esistence, has cast that useful ettss of tradesmen out of the
pale and protection of the laws—generally speaking, they are
the slaves of pat tinlity, or the victims of oppression. Unlike
tither men, they cannot reckon upon good eaniltuct as the means
of success, or even of satety front proscription—whence it is
that they throw themselves into the arms of great brewers
mid distillers for security, and become dependent 011 trades-
men, of whom, for the public good, they ought to be tree.

I have attended the normal licensing for two years in the
divisions of the Tosser hamlets and of Kensingtou. (hi these
occasions we have had deputations from parishes, also from
magistrates, parishaacer, un:l individuals out of smother,
co oplai JJ ii aZithISE certain house-, as being the resort o•
thieves and prostitnti s by day aunt night ; %%here drunkenness.
obscenity and riots were practised continually, insomuch that
decent per►ons avoided the streets. Shopkeepers were rhos
injured in their business, and others in their feelings and mo-
rals. It was stated, that owing to the closeness together of
these public-houses (every -seventh or eighth house being a
public house), that they could only be supported by :melt
)practices. Public:sus of orderly dispositions, it was stated,
had their customers drawn from them, by the licentiens pro.
vocatis es allowed at certain houses. Not one of these li-
censes was taken awa► i—l■ the course of the two years, the
renewal of nearly two thousand fora• Int mire,' licenses was ap-
plied for. Of the notorious tlaslwhouses. cock and hen chub
houses, and gin-shops, not one was put doss n; but the unimoiony
of this complaisance was broken in one iu•t:utce—and the cir-
cumstances of that solitary exception deserve particular no-
tice.

A constable bring called on to state what irregalarities be
had •bserved among the public-Wows in his district titscribcd
set end, among others the tolloß•iuG :

On a certain night. between ten and eleven, he had entered
the Castle public house, at Breinford, kept hy Joseph Har-
ding ; the 'anise was shut up, but within it he saw four or live
women drinking, whom Ise knew to be of indifferent charai7-
ter. It aid nut appear that they were drunken, noisy, ob-
scene, or in any way disorderly. The high constable and the
parish constable were both examined—they deposed that they
had never seen any thing exceptionable in the conducting of
she house either !rebore or since ; and acknowledged that the
latillord was a very discreet, sober person. On the adjourned
tiny se% eral respectable neighbours attending, described Har...
ding to be a superior man to the generality of publicans: a man
%flat was always industrious, sober, and correct in his own
conduct, and who took care that his inmates should behave in
a similar manner. 'Try said, they never saw or heard of a
single disorderly occur ence in the house. His appearance
continued their testimony. He accounted for the women beirg.
iu his house, by saying, that his wife was at the time ill in bed :
that he had ;one up stairs to her, leaving her mother, an aged
woman unused to their business, in chit rek of the bar ; she al-
lowed the wanien to enter and have some beer. Upon these
facts a majority of the licensers decided to shan't the house.
Harding was called in, and told simply' that hi., license
was refilsed. Upon the intelligence, lie appeared ready to
sink into the eat th. He r.tcl.tisned, in unresisting anguish,
" I have a wife and children—they must go to tile work home!
—What can Ido ?" The appeal was heard with mute hid&
ference, and the next license was taken up. I felt interesteii
iu the hard fate of this ruined Mindy : I could nut discovra
any faidt iu the maws conduct, nor Caen in the coo-hurt of the
aged woman left in charge of the bar ; for as lieenstal elect.
atlas they w-re bound by law to furnish refreshment to any
persons, whether pate or impure, who . orderly manner
demanded it. The landlord would have been liable to an
action had this beer been refused—there was mailing in on%
mind that wore the semblance of a reason for thus &lids in.:
Mr. Harding and hi • lamily of thr it means of subsistence. :\
hint that wits thrown out that the house was unnecessary ,
because it was directly opposite to a house of Alr.Thompsme,
( 6o• brewer's at Chisw iek appeared to use to he no reason,
1 Theo efore wrote to a respeetahle inhabitant at Mention!,
requesting hint to make diligent inquiry into foe general con-
duct awl character of Harding. His rlply was, that he Hid-
vernally bare ant xecllent eharacter, :tad that his house was
conducted with greater decorum thin the generality of poli-
tic houses at Brentford. I have tat" ly written again to kilo
whether the ;nod opinion of the aeighltourhood remained ea.
i,ated. or, %shether any thing had transpired to the disail-
aratirage of his diameter. FM: answer says," The (Onion uf
411,allationtitOtttl w umultaed; llardiug aui