THE TEMPERANCE QUESTION.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IV, Issue 279, 27 November 1869, Page 2

THE TEMPERANCE QUESTION.

0 A paper on this subject was lately read at Canterbury by the Very Rev. the Dean of Christchurch, from which we make the following extract : — The evils of intemperance are denied by none, not even by the drunkard himself, in the lucid intervals of this terrible madness. It thins our churches, it fills our gaols, it lays waste our homes,- it ruins souls. Our hospitals, our lunatic asylums, and our orphanages too, if they could render up a full account, would swell the loud outcry against the evils of intemperance. Out of a thousand testimonies of the same kind which might readily be adduced, take the following statements of known and trustworthy men, Judges and Magistrates of England, which are to be found 'in a recent report on this subject. Sir Fitzßoy Kelly, Chief Baron of the Exchequer, states that " two-thirds of the criminals brought before the Judge? were made so by intemperance," Judge Keating says that "men respectable and respected go into public-bouses and come out felons." Commissioner Hill, formerly Recorder of Birmingham, states that " drunkenness is the cause of almost all the crimes which come before the Courts in one way or another, for if the man who commits a crime is sober* it frequently happens that the helpless state of drunkenness of his victim invites the outrage." Our own Mr. Selfe, the police-magistrate of Thames-street, states that, " supposing the police-sheet placed before him to contain twenty names, it happened that fifteen out of twenty were charges arising out of drunkenness." The Resident Magistrates of Christchurch and Ly Melton* who are present here this evening, would have, I fear, precisely the same tale to tell. The cause of the apparent apathy, for I am persuaded that it is only apparent, that has hitherto prevailed with regard to this

important subject, among the majority both of clergy and laity, at home as well as here, the reason, at least why no strong and united effort has been made by the members of our Church generally to grapple with this gigantic evil, is not far to seek. There has been enough — I do not say to justify it— -but certainly to account for it. Rightly or wroDgly, men have been sickened and repelled by what they could not but regard as the errors and extravagance of many who have put themselves most forward in the cause of temperance. The loudest advocates of temperance have been themselves intemperate in their opinions and statements. Soberminded men have turned from the subject in disgust when they have read of one, whom they met awhile ago a reeling drunkard in the streets, getting up in a meeting of the advocates of teetotalism, and not only making a parade of all his vices and all the horrors of his past career to signalise his conversion the more, but loudly denouncing the moderate drinker— that is, the sober man — as a much worse and more dangerous character than the drunkard, and calling upon all such blinded individuals to follow his example and take the pledge. Their writers and lecturers advocate views respecting God's good gifts and the teaching of the Holy Scriptures, which the great majority of sensible and educated men find it impossible to accept. There is no doubt that the best, if not the only remedy for the inveterate drunkard, and for every man who cannot touch wine, or beer, or spirits without danger of excess, is total abstinence ; but let not this remedy be imposed on thosn who do not need it; let not one man's intemperance put a restraint upon another's Christian liberty. Why should my abuse prevent another's thankful use of God's gifts ? "If thy right hand offend thee, cut it off and cast it from thee." But you have no a right to ask another man to cut off his right hand if it does not offend him. * * * * I am not about to propound any nostrum or panacea of my own, but simply to propose the adoptfon of a course which, if takeu up with zeal and carried out with perseverauce, would lead, I believe, to many practical good results. I propose that a committee should be formed of men who have given much thought to this subject, or who have special experience of the evils of intemperance, and of the working of the laws by which the liquor traffic is at present regulated; and that they should earnestly and carefully consider, with a view to subsequent action, the best means to be adopted for checking and counteracting this great mischief, so far as this object is attainable. The committee might divide itself into two or more sub-committeesj one of which should consider what means are available, and within our reach at the present time, whether of a legal or of a moral and social character, for the repression of drunkenness, the reformation of the drunkard, and the encouragement of temperance; while another should devote itself to the inquiry as to what reforms and amendments should be aimed at in the laws which affect the Liquor Traffic, the. Granting of Licenses, and the Regulation, of Public Houses. Here is a wide field open, and one in which 1 am satisfied that much practical good may be effected, under the blessing of God. The best mode of initiating the movement may be a matter for further consideration ; I ana satisfied at present with having ventilated the subject. Let us take up this matter with earnestness and determination, bearing in mind the magnitude of the evil, and 1 say again, with the blessing of God, we cannot fail of a large measure of success.