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112 The Autobiography of Archbishop Thomas Seeker
Gin Bill: in 1736 (9 Geo. II c. 23) such heavy excise duties and license
fees for retailers had been placed on "Brandy, Rum, Arrack, Usquebaugh,
Geneva, Aqua Vitae, or any other distilled Spirituous Liquors,
or Strong Water, unmixed or mixed with themselves or any other
Ingredients" as would be prohibitive of their retail sale. Instead there
developed a large clandestine sale. The promoters of the statute of 1743
(16 Geo. II. c. 8) intended that by duties less severe, but still high, the
sale of these liquors might be confined to the well-to-do. Seeker thought,
as did the ten other bishops who voted against the bill, that spirituous
liquors might be dispensed, but should not be retailed to anybody. "An
excess in strong liquors may make a man drunk, an excess in spirituous
liquors makes him mad" (Pari Deb. xi, col. 1191, 1294 n., 1296 n.).
FOLIO 34 (1743-44)
Mr Sandys: Samuel Sandys (1695-1770), a country Whig long in
opposition to Walpole, who was M.R for Worcester 1718-43 and
chancellor of the exchequer February 1742-December 1743. He was
created Lord Sandys, Baron of Ombersley, in 1743, and was chief
promoter in the House of Commons of the Gin Bill of 1743 (Sedgwick,
H.C, II, pp. 407-08).
Bp Hough: John Hough (1651-1743), who was successively bishop of
Oxford 1690, of Lichfield and Coventry 1699 and of Worcester 1717; he
was also offered but declined the primacy on the death of Tenison in
1715. He was better known as that president of Magdalen college,
Oxford, who was ejected by James II in 1687. Apart from this and his
liberal benefactions, his biographers so far have found difficulty in
saying much about him. "His constant beverage after dinner, when
upwards of ninety years of age," is said to have been "strong beer and
sugar" [Treadway Russell Nash, Collections for the History of Worcestershire
(London, 1799), supplement vol. II, p. clxiii].
Hanover Troops was another issue, like places and pensions, for the
opposition to attack the ministry. The decision in 1742 to take Hanoverian
troops into British pay brought the issue to the fore and kept it
constantly before Parliament for two years. The vote on 18 January,
1744 gained opponents to using the troops the rather large vote of 226.
Anti-Hanoverian sentiment undoubtedly encouraged the Jacobites and
contributed to the '45 rising (A.S. Foord, His Majesty's Opposition, p.
245).
Pretenders Son: Charles Edward Stuart (1720-1788), the "Young
Pretender" and eldest son of the titular James III. The outbreak of war