ABSTAINING LAWYERS.

Press, Volume LVI, Issue 10263, 4 February 1899, Page 5

ABSTAINING LAWYERS.

THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL ADVOCATES TEETOTALISM. Speaking last, night at the annual social meeting in conr_ection with the Royal Courts of Justice Temperance Society, held at Sion College, Sir Richard Wetster, the AttorneyGeneral, spoke in high terms advantages of total abstinence. ' He said he had been connected wit_ r the Society from its conMnencement, and knew the good work it did among banisters, solicitors, and their clerks. In his own career he had known clever men Who had given way to the fearful temptation of drink ; and others who had spent that which should have supported them in their old age in over-indulgence in intoxicants. For eighteen years, he said, he had been a total abstainer, and he could vouch for the fact that alcoholic liquors were not at all necessary for anyone engaged in hard mental work. The Church of England Temperance Society, and also this Society, wisely included* a moderate section, but they must remember that there were those who were not able to draw the line between moderation amd excess, and that very often the former led to the latter. In conclusion, he urged upon all engaged in the legal profession to use their influence in favour of total abstinence amongst those with whom they were brought in contact. — "Daily Chronicle," London. A correspondent sends tihe following: — "It was whiskey did it," whimpered a prisoner, lately sent to the penitentiary for an infamous crime. Wrong you are, it was you. who did it. You, who voluntarily, wilfully, and deliberately swallowed stuff that stole away your brains, and turned you into a demon, don't blame it on whiskey. Nobody compelled You to drink; perhaps you were not even asked to do so. There is no excuse for the wretch who whines for sympathy, putting the blame on whiskey. God never gave a man his senses to barter them away, as the whisky wretch does. It will not be whiskey that will suffer in the next world ; it will be the drunkard. Of him it has been said he shall not inherit the Kingdom of God. "It was the whiskey"" will not be accepted as an excuse at the bar of final justice: 9100