SIR W. LAWSON ON COMPENSATION.

Thames Star, Volume XI, Issue 3727, 4 December 1880, Page 1

SIR W. LAWSON ON COMPENSATION.

The cry now is, "Ton cannot atop these publicans without compensation;" It would be pleasant to them to get it, and I am sure they will get it if they deserve it. But.they must prove their, case. They must prove that -they had an understanding given to them that they had their licenses for more than one year. I don't stop them till the year is up, and then I say let the public make the bargain \ again, or let the public say that they don't want to make the bargain again, and let the publicans retire with their profits. v JPer- v* haps they may get compensation when the thing comes to be settled, and I some-' times look forward to the pleasing sight of a retired licensed victualler. I fancy I. see him sitting in a garden in his old age* with his little grandchildren playing around him. One says» "Grandfather, what prised you to do in former dayaP" He would say* " I was one of the grand army of licensed victuallers;. there were 140,000 of us." Bhe would ask, " What were you fighting about?" And he would reply, " Ah, if you had read Mr Buxton, the great brewer's book, you would have seen that we were carrying on the war of hell against heaven. We fought vigorously great honor was paid to us; princes and peers, and members of Parliament used to attend our banquets; great monuments were set up in our honor—workhouses and gaols, and lunatic asylums—and we. did such a quantity of business that in one year we disabled 350,000 people, and handed them over to the police to take charge of them. For there was a great army of police, who waited on our movements and attended our manoeuvres. The legislature was in our favor, laws were passed to promote the welfare of this great army, and nobody fiad . any fault with us, except Sir . Wilfred Lawson who condemned us; but nobody paid any attention to him, for he was a bad character, except the Good Templars, who were distinctly mad." And then the little clild would ask, " How did it end?" And he would say, "Oh, the Good Templar did not do us any harm. The nation got tired of us at last, but we were held in sucb honor and had 1 done such good. service we were entitled to compensation, and I got a handsome pension, and here I sit in my own garden, under my own vine add fig tree, the very type and embodiment of 'peace and honor.',"