CHAPTER IX.

PROGRESS :

A SUMMARY VIEW OF TEMPERANCE OPERATIONS TO

THE PRESENT TIME.

Ithough it seems expedient to close the connected History of the Movement with the preceding chapter, yet a general view of the operations of the various existing organizations to the present time, may, perhaps, be considered necessary to the completion of our scheme. The cause is still progressing; and, notwithstanding the various opposing influences by which it has been surrounded, it never occupied a better position than it does at this day. The temperance movement has changed the whole aspect of society, in reference to the drinking customs. It cannot now be said of any class of society, as was said by Lord Macaulay of the upper classes, in the reign of Queen Anne, "Such excess was in that age regarded, even by grave men, as the most venial of all peccadilloes, and was so far from being a mark of ill breeding, that it was almost essential to the character of a fine gentle

man ;"* and, indeed, so accustomed were the aristocracy of that time to intoxicating drinks, that Macaulay further remarks, that "we should no more think of saying that he sometimes took too much wine, than that he wore a long wig and a sword." These times have passed away, and, as a general rule, society finds it necessary, to apologize for the use of intoxicating liquors, and to profess opinions in favour of abstinence.

How much the temperance movement has had to do in effecting this change we cannot now stay to inquire; doubtless it has had a considerable influence in promoting this reformation, although some other agencies may have been at work at the same time: and among other causes which have tended to change public opinion in reference to intoxicating drinks, we must certainly not omit to specify the increased scientific knowledge of the faculty in regard to the nature and properties of alcohol. It is now no longer regarded as a necessary article of diet; and the researches of Dr. Carpenter and others have clearly shown that it is altogether unnecessary to men in health. Within the past year, these discoveries have been pushed still further, and the heatproducing theory of Leibig has been entirely overthrown by the experiments of three distinguished Parisian physiologists and chemists, MM. Lallemand, Perrin, and Duroy, and by other experiments to the same effect by Dr. Edward Smith of London. Professor Miller of Edinburgh, has also done much good by his popular

* Macaulay's Essays. Edition 1854. Vol. II., p. 337.

writings on this subject; his Alcohol, its Place and Power, and his Nephalism, the True Temperance of Scripture, Science, and Experience, having had a large circulation among the more intelligent portion of the community.

Thus temperance has gone hand in hand with science, and it is no wonder, therefore, that as the literature of the movement advanced, and the advocacy improved, that men of learning should give in their adhesion to our principles, and that the people generally should follow their example.

The press has done much to aid the cause. In this department of labour, the Scottish Temperance League has been pre-eminently successful. The Scottish Review (quarterly), The Adviser (monthly), and The League Journal (weekly), all have a large circulation. The Monthly Pictorial Tract, written for the new year by Dr. Guthrie, sold to the extent of 250,000 copies. Many of the larger works issued by the Scottish League, also circulate to the number of 30,000 or 40,000 copies. In England, likewise, too much cannot be said of the good done by The Band of Hope Review, The British Workman, and The Children's Friend. A new class of works has also been circulated, reaching many persons not hitherto accessible to temperance literature. Mrs. Bayly's Ragged Homes, and How to Mend them, and her Workmen and their Difficulties, together with Mrs. Wightman's Haste to the Rescue, and her Annals of the Rescued, have largely contributed to bring about

an altered feeling in the minds of the religious and influential classes on the subject of total abstinence; many ministers having joined the movement through reading the works of these christian and benevolent ladies.

Taking these and other signs of progress into account, Mr. Edward Baines, M.P., was quite justified in making the following statement last year, in his place in the House of Commons:

“There still remains another class of institutions indicative of virtuous aspirations, and which prevails chiefly among the upper and better portion of the working classes, namely, the temperance societies, the members of which abstain wholly from intoxicating liquors, either as a safeguard to their own morality, or by way of example to others. There are no general statistics of these societies; but I believe Mr. Tweedie, the publisher, who has for many years been one of their most active promoters, has more knowledge of them than any other individual, and he writes to me as follows:-'I should say there are at least 4,000 temperance societies in the United Kingdom, and not less than 3,000,000 teetotalers, including all ages, three-fourths of whom are not likely to belong to any society. During last year I sold pledge-books sufficient to take 270,000 names, and during the same time sold over 200,000 pledge-cards. In the United Kingdom, during last year, there were thirteen large temperance associations, employing forty paid lecturers, with an united

annual income of £22,000. The movement sustains three weekly newspapers, with an united circulation of 25,000 weekly; also six monthly magazines, with an united circulation of over 20,000. The British Workman may also be classed as a temperance monthly; and its circulation is upwards of 250,000. Besides these there are two periodicals for the young, viz., The Adviser, whose circulation is over 50,000, and the Band of Hope Review, with a circulation over 250,000. There are also two Quarterly Reviews, with a joint circulation of about 10,000. There are two societies on a large scale supported by teetotalers-the first, the Temperance Provident Institution, with an annual income of £114,000, and the second the Temperance Permanent Land and Building Society, with an income of £77,000. As the excessive use of strong drink is the greatest curse of the country, so these societies must be reckoned among its greatest blessings."

But let us enter into a few particulars. In England, the BRITISH TEMPERANCE LEAGUE is still actively and usefully employed in promoting the cause of total abstinence. The agents find constant employment in lecturing to societies and in visiting among the people; and much new ground has been thus broken up. At present they have eight agents employed. During the past year the number of lectures delivered was 2,317, of which 196 were delivered to Bands of Hope. The Rev. S. A. Steinthal, of Liverpool, and the Rev. E. F. Quant of Bolton, are the secretaries. The British