the undoing of their own work; this is about all that they can do. Beyond all question, the most prominent of all the sins of the people is their INTEMPERANCE; this is a vice to which there always must have been a strange propensity in our land, but the drunkenness of our day still seems to be a new feature. The publichouse of modern times, especially, is the source of intemperance and destitution to the whole of the surrounding neighbourhood. The second Act of James I. c. 9, entitled, “An Act to restrain from inordinate tippling in ale-houses," in the preamble, truly observes, "the ancient true and principal use of inns, ale-houses, and victualling-houses, was for the receipt, relief, and lodgment of wayfaring people, travelling from place to place for the supply of such people as were not able, by greater quantities, to make their provision of victuals—and not meant for entertainment and harbouring of lewd, idle, people, to spend and consume their money in a rude, idle manner." This act therefore enjoined, that if any inn-keeper, victualler, or ale-house keeper, permitted any person, in any city, town, village, or hamlet, to continue drinking and tippling in his inn or ale-house, other than should be invited by any traveller, and should accompany him during his necessary abode there or labourers, on the usual working-days and times of repast and diet, should forfeit £10. to the use of the poor of the parish.” This law is not unlike some which are now in being on the American continent. From the last Report of the American Temperance Union, we find "that the legislature of Pennsylvania have compelled all licensed venders to pay into the State-treasury a sum proportioned to the amount of their sales. But in the far west, we have the most cheering action for humanity. A new State just rising into being, and desirous of laying all its foundations for the safety and prosperity of future generations, has enacted a law, allowing "no man to vend or retail spirituous liquors, until he shall have given bonds to pay all damages the community or individuals may sustain by such traffic, to support all paupers, widows, and orphans, and pay the expenses of all civil and criminal prosecutions growing out of, or justly attributable to, such traffic. A married woman may sue for damage done to her husband; and no suit shall be maintained for liquor bills."-We confess that, in laws like these we see only the regulations of justice and wisdom. We have long since subscribed to the truth of the observations of Dr. Southey :"At a time," said he, "when the legislature is taking into its consideration the momentous question of the poorlaws, it is more than ever of importance that it should be well understood. How large a part of the evil arises from causes which are completely within the power of the local magistrates, and how much might be accomplished by the efforts of benevolent individuals, which cannot be reached by a legislative enactment. As the establishment of inns is one of the surest proofs and accompaniments of increasing civilization, so the multiplication of ale-houses is not less surely the effect and the cause of an increased and increasing depravity of manners. It may be affirmed, broadly, and without qualification, that every publichouse in the country which is not required for the convenience of travellers, wayfarers, and persons frequenting a market, is a seminary for idleness, misery, and pauperism. To advise any sudden reduction of their numbers would be absurd. Hasty reformations bring always with them greater evils than those which they are intended to correct * For the labouring man, the ale-house is now a place of pure unmingled evil; where, while he is single, he squanders the money which ought to be laid up as a provision for marriage, or old age; and where, if he frequent it after he is married, he commits the far heavier sin of spending for his own selfish gratification the earnings upon which the woman whom he has rendered dependent on him, and the children to whom he has given birth, have the strongest of all claims. The diminution of these houses is one of the most practicable and efficient means of real radical reform.' In support of these most wholesome suggestions, there stand forward most promptly a tremendous array of facts of the most startling character, facts at once informing us of the average habits, as well as the detailed expenditure, of the people, on the pernicious sin of intemperance. Thus, in the great metropolitan cities of our empire, "nine-tenths of all the * Southey's Essays, vol. ii. pp. 116, 117, 120. crime which exists may be traced immediately to the intemperance of the people;" of all their sins, this is the most glaring, startling, appalling. Let the following facts speak, from thousands of others which might be adduced : 1. A few years since, it was found that Bury in Lancashire, with a population of 25,000 inhabitants, was spending above £54,000. in the articles of beer and spirits. The condition of the town was put in other words by Mr. Chadwick, when he said the sum spent by the people of this town is £2. 38. 4d. per head for each man, woman, and child; “and that this sum would pay the rent and taxes of upwards of 6,770 new cottages, at £8. per annum.” 2. In Dundee, in 1841, the bakers shops were found to be 11!-the publicans, or places licensed to sell spirits, 108!!-the whole earnings of the people by the year to amount to £73,190. The parish tavern bill was £19,710. per annum ! 3. Mr. Alison, the distinguished author of the History of the French Revolution, says, "In Glasgow, among 290,000 persons, included in 58,000 families, there are 3010 houses for the sale of intoxicating drinks, being nearly one public-house for every twenty families. The number of inhabited houses is about 30,000, so that every tenth house is appropriated to the sale of spirits, a proportion unexampled, it is believed, in any other part of the globe. This number, 3010, has risen from 1600 since the year 1821, though not more than 140,000 souls have been added to the population." |